The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-03-08

hold of extreme penury-upon the
brink of actual starvation. At this
particular crisis in her life wealthy
young married lady of Baltimore
heard of her pitiable condition. This
lady had been school companion of
the mOrphine.eater when both were
young misses at a fashionable board.
ing school for young ladies at Bur-
lington, N. j. She had lost sight of
her for a number of years, but when
she found her in her utter destitute
and sad plight she remembered the
many happy hours they had spent
together during the joyous days of
their Childhood, and at once took the
poor sufferer to her own luxuriously
furnished home on her carriage. Here
she was surrounded By every com fort
imaginable, and nothing she desired
was denied her except the one fatal
curse. This kinG-hearted, wealthy
young lady, kept the victim Of opium
fastened in handsomely furnished
r.om in her house for three months.
and had strong hopes of etfecting a
permanent cure when, one day, the
young widow was found in helpless
condition on the floor of the apart
ment. The family physician pro-
nounced the cause of the mysterious
illness to be solely morphine. How
she succee ded in obtaining the drug
will never be known, as she refused
to tell, but it is supposed some of
the cOlOred servants to whom she
was very kind, moved TO compassion
by her earnest entreaties, secretly
procured the opium in one of its
many forms for her. After elal
exhibitions of this kind, and many
broken reformation promises on the
part of the now wretched woman, the
husband of the kindly disposed wo
man turned the once beautiful blonde
belle out of the house, and she had
no where to seek shelter except the
resorts of the depraveu. To one OF
these places she went, and brief
sojourn there, on account of her loss
Of beauty and attractiveness, she was
again turned into the street. Moth.
ing now remained for the forsaken
creature but charitable home, and
after being almost starved for the
lack of food and almost frozen by
being without shelter. on last Christ.
mas day-when it seemed as if all
the world was filled with holiday joys,
and mirth held high carnival even in
the remutest corners of the earth
she was admitted to an institution of
this kind. The once lovely face had
50 changed that there was now
not even the shadow of a resembla nee
between its now hideous distortions
and contractions and the lily and
roses commingled, and the beaming
blue eyes which charmed all behold
ers only ten brief years ago. And the
stately, graceful figure, once SO en-
We'd by every woman who saw it.,
had now shrunk into miserable bur
lesque upon what it once had been.
In a few weeks this sor:owful and
eventful lie was brought to a close
by the advent of the king of terrors.
A few hours before her death she
feebly wrote the following sorrowful
note, which shows that she was only
too glad to escape from the woes of
her life and the anguish of her exis.
tence:
Il have not only ruined my life,
but l have ruined that OF my loving
husbund. and am truly his murderer ;
just as much so as if 1 had personal.
ly dealt him death blow :; had killed
him with my own hand. ] am going
to die in q very few hours, and am
thankful to God that the end to my
wretched, weary existence has come
at last. My only hope now is that
l will meet my dear husband in the
next world, whatever that may be for
me. Opium ruined me, and by de-
stroying me killed him. After &C
quiring the fatal appetite for that
damnable drug l could not resist its
terrible seductions. Great God, how
1 have suffered /; how 1 have wildly
fought, but all in vain! See what
ana, how l die, and what 1 might be
and my dear loving husband might
De-. too. had 1t no. been for that aw
full appetite. do not fear the hell
ministers talk about in the next
world-the world l very soon shall
be in-for even in its worst aspect it
cannot be more terrible hell than
have suffered here for five years past.
Oh, if this is made public, if it should
happen to get into the papers, girls.
women, you of my own sex wLolead
it, l beseech you never touch opium
in any one Of its many seductive
forms. No matter what your family
doctor may say, never. never think
Here the note came to an abrupt
termination. The wretched sufferer 5
strength had evidently failed her at
this moment and she could write no
more. Her hand was stilled forever
by the icy touch of death. She was
quietly buried by the authorities, and
the once beautiful blonde Baltimore
belle, OF only ten years ago, now
rests beyond all the cares and sor-
rows Of her bitter liie of anguish i'll a
nameless paupcr's grave.
1t is hard to eradicate the old
fogy i'd a that, because our grand