Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1881-05-21


aud gently took his hand.
$50 you have come Lillian i
thought you would. wanted to
ask you to forgive me for all !
have made you suffer, and | wish
to tell you, 100, that it was not in
territorial that | broke my promise
to you never TO touch again the
iuebriating cup. / never blamed
you, dear, that you could not love
drunkard, though perhaps if you
had become my wife it would
have saved me-
As / sat in the shadow at the
farther end Of the room the truth
began to dawn upon my mind.
Merwin paused, and then Lilian's
grave, sweet tones stirred the ST
lencs.
mo, Msrwin; if to win me you
could not resist temptation, had |
become your wife 1t would still
have been the same. But you
may recover, and | know that if
you pray 10 God, He will give you
strength, and yours will not be a
WaSteu ZIG altST Hi.
"No," he said, tits too late. /
do not blind myself know that
I am dying, For the sake of the
days when my life and
lips were as pure as your own, kiss
me-once-twice-it is my last re-
quest"
She stopped and kissed him,
then with an uncomfortable burst
of sobs she left the room.
When she had gone, in a few
pathetic words, my cousin told me
the sad story of life blighted with
the curse of intempsrance.
He had begun by INDUCING
once in while, and the taste had
rapidly grown upon him. Soon
after their engagement, reports of
his intemperance had come to
Lillian; but refusing to believe
them she had gone to him. 1t
had been an easy thing, through
her entire confidence in his truth,
to deceive her, and assure her that
the rumors were only the fabrica-
ton of some enemy. But the time
came when one evening, not mas
ter of himself or conscious of what
he was doing, he had entered her
presence flushed with wine. What
had passed he had not remember
ed, but the following day Lillian
had broken their engagement.
Then for q while he did abstain,
and once more he pleaded with
the girl he loved land whose love
for him, though it had received a
rude shock, still struggled in her
hearty 10 forgive and forget what
had passed, binding himself by a
solemn promise never to drink
again. That promise he broke in
an unguardsd moment and entic-
ed by so-called friends Then
finding by his fatal weakness he
had forever lost all hope of Lillian
becoming his wife, he had sunk
from worse to worse, till at length
the incurable illness from which
he was dying, brought on by his
dissipated habits, had seized him.
"Harold !" the poor fellow ex-
| claimed, as he finished, "if ever
you marry and have son, when
he 10 old enough tell him my
story. 1t will be a warning to
him. Tell him if he values his
life's happiness, his peace upon
earth, and his hopes Of a future
salvation, to beware of Satan's
deadliest agent, the wine cup !"
A few days after, nay poor cous-
in died. i was oblig ed to 20
abroad again upon urgent bust
ness Immediately after the funeral,
and it was a year before 1 saw
Lillian again. Then sought her.
and confsssing how / had mis-
| Judged her, | asked her If she
could pardon and once more con-
slider me as friend. A faint flush
tingsd her sweet face as she re-
piled. The flush gave me courage,
and | used my privilege OF friend
ship 30 well shat when another
year had passed. and I laid my
heart at her dear feet-it was not
rejected. -
! Thus / won my precious wife.
Poor Merwin's dying words Of
ten recur to nay mind, and when
ever / see youth taking the first
careless step on tho road to ruin,
| cannot refrain from saying to
him in tones whose earnest warn
ing will make themselves felt:
"If you value your life's happi-
ness, your peace upon earth, and
your hopes of future salvation,
beware of Satan's deadliest agent
the wine cup"