The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1881-06-30

| at home this time of night"
( $50 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 string!"
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 upon the
| wharves, and there the besotted man sat
down more stupefied 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 at home and
tears coursed down her cheeks. Again
ana 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 filled 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 n
maudlln 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
stlllness OF city night. The frosty
stars twinkled overhead. Now and then
a night boat passed up the river With
measured beat and throb. Once q ruf-
tianly-looking fellow sauntered past
them on the pier, but though he flung
her an lnsolent word and yet more inso.
lent laugh, and went away singing vet
more lnsoIentIy, he did not approach
them. So benumbed had Ruth grown
so cold to the very heart was she. that
the power of motion had almost deserted
ner, 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 It
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 waken 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 O fire in the old stove; and crouched
over it, striving to gain some little
warmth, while her husband slumbered
heavily upon the bed in the corner,
to which he had staggered on his en-
trance.
Thus an hour passed by, and Ruth
also fell asleep. The silence, the pleas
ant warmth at her feet, the fancy that
all her trouble was over for the night,
lulled her to pleasant dreams. From
them she was awakened by the loud
ringing Of the factory bell and by the
sound Of cries and shouts in the street
below. She cast her eyes toward the
bed-her husband was not there to-
ward the cradle-it was empty. She flew
to the window-the street was full of
factory boys with their tin kettles. Some
great jest amused them nightly. They
roared, they danced, they tossed their
ragged caps on high, they shrieked in
unmusical laughter, and the object of
all this mad mirth was only too evident.
On the steps of the liquor store op-
posite stood Edward Holly, holding his
child in his arms and exhibiting for the
benefit Of the delighted crowd oil those
antics Of which an intoxicated man alone
is capable. He called on the grinning
master of the gin-cellar to "give this
child tsome brandy" and turned the
screaming infant about in manner that
left no doubt that he would end by drop
ping it upon the broken pavement.
Wild with terror Ruth rushed out into
the street, and made her way through
the crowd to the spot where her husband
stood, but before she reached him the
scene had changed.
Some boy more brutal than the rest
had thrown handful of mud into Ed
ward Holly's face, and he, reeling and
blaspheming, had dashed forward to re-
venge the act.
The child had been flung away at the
first step, but fortunately had been
caught by an old woman who, though
degraded creature herself, had enough
of the woman remaining to save an in
FAINT from injury.
And now the whole horde of boys beset
the drunken man, pelting him with
sticks and stones and decayed vegetables
from the kennel, and reveling in the
brutal delight with which such scene
always seem to inspire boys of the lower
classes.
Ruth saw that her babe was safe and
that her husband was in danger, and,
forgetful of all else, flew toward him.
She cared nothing for the jeers of the
mob; before them all she flung her arms
about him and interposed her beautiful
person between him and his assailants.
The head that had carried itself little
proudly in the presence of the highest of
the land-that had seemed more queen
like than that of the Empress herself at
the court of Frsnce-that had awakened
the envy of titled English women when
the young American woman dwelt
among them-dropped itself low upon
the bosom of the drunken wretch who
was the jeer and scorn of a low mob, and
only in love and pity, not in anger, did
aha eY1aalY IN him.