The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1881-12-08


kill her, 1 have kept my whereabouts
a profound secret. For two years l
/ have borne my awful homesickness
in silence for her sake"
AS HE BURIED HIS FACE
in his hands and heart-sick sobs
burst from his trembling frame, it
| seemed to me that could see a panO-
rama of the days and nights, the long
weeks of homesick longing that had
dragged their weary length out over
| two years.
! So l ventured to ask-"HOw much
longer have you to stay 2"
"Three yearsp ~ was the reply, as the
fair young hoad dropped lower, and
the frail little hands trembled with
suppressed emotion.
Give years at your age! / ex-
! claimed. How did this happen !"
"WelI," he replied. '.it's long story
| but I'll make it short. I started out
from home to try to do something for
myself. Coming to Leavenworth, I
found a cheap boarding house, and
one night accepted an invitation from
some Of the young men to go into a
drinking saloon For the first time in
my life drank glass of liquor. 1t
remembrance of quarrel.
SOMEBODY WAS STABBED.
The bloody Knife aoaS found fn nay
hand. | was indicted for assault with
intent to kill. Five years for the
thoughtless acceptance of a glass of
liquor is surely illustrating the Scrip
ture truth that "the way of the trans
gressor is hard -
was holding the cold trembling
hand that had crept into mine. He
earnestly tightened his grasp as i'm
plOringly he said:
"Oh Mrs. MollOy, want. to ask a
favor of YOU"
AT once l expected he was going to
ask me to help obtain a pardon, and
in an instant L measured the weight
of public reproach that rested upon
the victims of its legalized drink traf-
tic. 1t is all right to legaiZe a man
to craze the brains Of our boys, but
not by any means wise to ask that the
State pardon its victim. Interpreting
my thought, he said, ~ am not going
to ask you to get me pardon, but l
want you to write to my mother and
get letter from her and send it to
me. Don't for the world tell her
L
thing about me. just get line from
her so l can look upon it. Oh! l am
so homesick for my mother"
The head of the boy dropped down
into my lap with a wailing sob. I
laid MY hand upon his head. L thought
of my own boy, and for few mo-
ments was silent, and let the Outburst
of sorrow have vent.
Presently 1 said: MURRAY, if I
were your mother, and the odor of a
thousand prisons were upon you,
still you would be my boy. l should
want to know where you were. Is il
right to
KEEP THAT MOTHER IN SUSPENSE?
Do you suppose there has ever been a
day or night that she has not pray ed
for her wandering boy? No, Murray,
l will only consent to write to your
mother on consideration that you will
permit me to write the whole truth,
Just as one mother can write it to an
other" After some argument his
consent was finally obtained, letter
was hastily pcnned and sent on its
way. A week or so elapsed, when
! the following letter was received from
! Texas:
DEAR SISTER IN CHRIST: Your let
ter was this day received, and l has
! ten to thank you for your words of
tender sympathy and for tidinGs Ofmy
! boy-the first word we have had in
| two years. When Murray left home
we thought it would not be for long.
K AS the months have rolled
on the family have given him up as
/ dead, but ! felt sure God would give
me back my boy. AS l write from
the couch of an invalid-mv husband
is in W-nursing another son, who is
| lying at the gates of death with ty-
! phoid fever. / could not wait his re-
turn to write TO Murray. I wrote and
told him, if l could, how quickly l
| would go and pillow his dear head
upon my breast, just as / did when he
was little child. Ny poor dear boy
so generous, so kind, and loving.
What could he have done to deserve
this punishment. You
DO nor MENTION HIS CRIME,
but you say it was committed while
under the influence of drink.
Ibid not know he even tasted liquor.
We have raised six boys, and l have
never known one of them to be un-
der the influence of drink. Oh is
there no place in this Nation that is
safe when our boys have left the home
fold? O God! my sorrow is greater
than l can bear. l cannot go to him,
but, sister, 1 pray you to talk to him
and comfort him, as you would have
some mother talk to your boy were he
in his place. Tell him that when he is
released his place in the old~home
nest and in the mothers heart Is wait
ing for him.
Then followed loving mother words
for Murray in addition to those writ
ten. AS wept bitter tears over the
words so full of heartbreak / asked
myself the question, how long viii
this nation continue this covenant
of death, and league with hell to rob
us of our boys, and yet deprive Us
mothers ofthe power at the ballot-bOx
to protect those boys from the legal
ruin Of the grog-shop?
Look on this Picture.