Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-11-03

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rutfianly- looking men with Charles and
Estabrook. They all had cards in their
hands and it only needed one glance at
my brothers intamed face, and eyes
flashing with drunken rage, to make nv
heart sink with shame and grief. A re-
volver lay on the table before one of
them. +''>''
"'Hes cheat, a thief, cried Esta-
brook, trying to rise on his unsteady
legs. Il say, Charles, with terrible
oath, 'that scoundrel drew that card
from his sleeve. I saw him. Let's 90
into EN-
You scoundrels!' cried my brother,
grasping the man nearest him by the
shoulder. 1t was the man before whom
the pistollay. He STREET he'd out his hand
to seize it, but Charles had caught 1t
| before him. [ sprang through the low
window, but Ormond by that time had
reached the struggling men. I saw him
throw himself upon Charles, and then
almost instantly heard the flash and re-
port of the pistol. The crowd fell back
with ordinations of horror Lila 't
| "sHe's shot him.. He's shot his best
friend, 1 heard somebody say, as, blind
with terror, I strove to make nv way
amongst the struggling crowd. Who
was shot? What words could paint my
| feelings?. Was my brother killed.? :
''Then [ heard d faint voice say. 1T
was an accident He never meant it.
The pistol went off. / know, Charles,
! you did not see me. ta5a l5 s.'aa'.
''Those were his last words. Yes,
there lay noble Will Ormond, and my
brother kneeling over him, very white
| now, and with a look of horror in his
| eyes which never quite left them until I
closed the lids over them few short
months afterwards. "i-7 @tat p. ..ttIf
'He never spoke one word in defence
or extenuation of his act. 1t was easily
proved that the pistol went off in the
I struggle, as Ormond tried to wrest il
from my brothers hand CrGzed with
| drink, he did not even know who was
! trying to take it from him, nor how the
trigger was pulled. But from that hour
he held himself the grliltiest wretch Oh
| earth. ia s..".u3 ..1st
6 A stronger and more stubborn nature
would have resisted and conquered the
despalrlng consequences of this dread
flll accident. But my poor brother drift
ed as INTERESTINGLY on this sea of misery
as he had done on a sea of pleasure.
| Drink numbed the pain of remorse, SC
| he fled to it for relief. He did not drink
among boon companions, nor was he
ever excited in the slightest degree by
| the liquor. He poured it down to stupe-
/ fy himself when he was alone, and grew
/ more and more silent after every glass.
81 demonstrated with him. I showed
! l.,xr- FL L.
almost broken by the suicidal course OF
/ the son of whose brilliant career he had
had such hope. / implored him not to
let a woeful accident, for an accident it
was, destroy all power of life.
'''I never had any, he answered, with
pitlful smile, or, at least, if L had, it
was feeble, and it is too late to strengthen
it. You can't turn a reed all at once
into an oak, can you! / try to spare my
fathers pride, for If / am drllnkard no
one sees it but you and these four walls.
It's easier for me to drift in this numbed
state out of life than to face the world
again with this weight upon my heart
always You know J. always do what is
| easiest.
"The end was not long coming. His
sensitive frame soon gave way to a cruel
! poison. But his mind, unobscured b.
/ liquor, was clearer a few hours before
| his death, than it had been since the
fatal night.
1 't.!sIt's nearly over, Harry, he said,
! feebly, and I've been all wrong, ali
wrong. I've drifted to the end. I've
been craving, but what lies beyond? It's
/ too late now to worry. Perhaps God
may have mercy ON the creature he made
| SO weak, and who made himself SO selfish
and wicked So then he closed his
eyes, and in little hour drifted from
time to eternity. A *a
"Do you wonder, Max, why I was SC
shocked at your thoughtless words? OF
! late have seen in you some of your
uncle's traits; not his brilliant genius.
but his susceptibility to all outward i'm
presslons, and his easy Incidence in sur
rendering himself to them. Nothing
else would have induced me to open the
old wound by telling his story, and by
laying bare his faults befo1e you. ]
loved him SO dearly, I have mourned him
so faithfully, that after all these years
cannot hear the word drifting without
seeing him before me in all his wonder
full beauty. Sitting as you do now in
the sunset, and then-but let the cur
tain be drawn over that picture forever. >
Cheapness of Human Life in the ArctIcs.
IN. N. Herald's Arctic Correspondence