The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1881-07-01


''You?" he said. ''You ought to be
at home this time Of night
80 ought we both" said Ruth.
"Come, dear"
He threw her hand off.
I'm my own master, he said. I'm
not tied to any womans apron stringl"
and staggered away again, Ruth follow
ing through the long streets with every
face turned toward them as they passed
some laughing, some contemptuous,
some terrified; out at last npon the
wharyes, and there the besotted man sat
down more stupefed by the liquor he
had swallowed, in that fresh, cold air.
Ruth was thinly clad--the chill Of the
sea-blast seemed to reach her very heart.
She thought of the babe ut home and
tears coursed down her cheeks Again
and again she pied with the mad man
at her side. Again and again she tried
to bring to his mind some lingering
memory of the past days when his love
and protection had been hers. In vain.
Wild fancies filed his brain, demons
born of the fumes Of rum held posses
sion of his senses. Sometimes he thrust
her from him, sometimes he gave her
lnaudlin embrace, and bade her bring
him more liquor, but go home he would
not. The distant hum of the city died
out at last, all was still with the strange
stiffness of a city night. The frosty
stars twinkled overhead. Now and then
night boat passed up the river, with
measured beat and throb. Once a ruff
fianly-looking fellow sauntered past
them on the pier, but though he flung
her an insolent word and yet more inso-
lent laugh, and went away singing yet
more lnsoIently, he did not approach
them. So benumbed had Ruth grown,
80 cold to the very heart was she, that
the power of motion had almost deserted
her, when at last, as the church clock
not far away tolled the hour Of four, the
degraded man staggered to his feet and
.eeled homeward. She followed feebly.
and only by clinging to the balustrade
could she mount the wretched stairs. 1t
was bitter cold within as without, but she
, was glad to find herself at last under
shelter. Her babe still slumbered and
/ she did not walxen it. Her frozen bosom
, could only have chilled the little crea-
! ture. There were few bits OF broken
wood in one corner, and with these she
: made fire in the old stove, and crouched
l over it, striving to gain some little
j, warmth, while her husband slumbered
heavily upon the bed iii the corner,
S to which he had staggered on his en-
d trance.
n Thus an hour passed by, and Ruth
8 also fell asleep The silence, the pleas
!, ant warmth at her feet the fancy that
! all her trouble was over for the night,
Il lulled her to pleasant dreams. From
4 them she was awakened by the loud
4 ringing Of the factory bell and by the
1t sound Of cries and shouts in the street
8 below. She cast her eyes toward th'
bed-her husband was not there 10
: ward the cradle-it was empty. She new
y y TO the window-the street was full 0
y factory BOYS with their tin kettles. Som'
a great lest amused them nightly. The,
= roared, they danced, they tossed thel
r. ragged caps on high, they shrleked II
10 unmusical laughter, and the object g
1t all this mad mirth was only too evident
G. On the steps of the liquor store OF
= posite stood Edward Holly, holding hi
y - child in his arms and exhibiting for tn
~ ~ benefit of the delighted crowd all thos
q antics Of which an intoxicated man alon
" is capable. He called on the GRIMM
II. master of the gin-cellar to ''give tn
6, child tsome brandy" and turned tn
at screaming infant about in manner tins
nd left no doubt that he would end by droI
Ie ping it upon the broken pavement
r. Wild with terror Ruth rushed out int
lly the street, and made her way throug
le- the crowd to the spot where her husban
stood, but before she reached him IL
u u scene had changed.
he Some boy more brutal than the re
m, had thrown handful Of mud INTO II
M ward Holly's face, and he, reeling al
his blaspheming, had dashed forward to T
elf venge the act.
lid The child had been flung away at Il
the first step, but fortunately had be-
eet caurht by an old woman who, though
degraded creature herself, had enouI
as of the woman remaining to save an
iaa FAINT from injury.
his And now the whole horde Of boys be
nd the drunken man. peltng, nm W
her sticks and stones and decayed vegetab
of from the kennel, and revelng IN
set, brutal delight with which such SCI
,me always seem to inspire boys OF the 10y
-of- classes.
red Ruth saw that her babe was safe
yht, that her husband was in danger, a
uth foroetful of all else, flew toward b
ing She cared nothing for the jeers OF
mob; before them all she flung her az
she about him and interposed her beaut
I in ..o,, hotwaen him and his assailal
heI The head that had carried itself Il
ned proudly in the presence OF the highes
DAY the land-that had seemed more que
the like than that of the Empress hersel
the court Of France--that had awake
the the envy Of titled English women "
OF the young Aineii Ila5 ;,saif Low !,
and among tnem--9roppeu, lsS0n ,,rot",, .Jc
rers, are was the ieer and scorn Of low mob,
q go of only in love and pity, not in anger,