The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-08-13

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der blossom, but these hands destroyed it,
and it liveth with the One who loyeth
children. Do not be startled, friends, l
am not murderer in the common accep.
tance of the term. Yet there is light in
my eveningsky. A spirit. mother rejoices
over the return of her prodigal son. The
wife smiles on him who turns back to
virtue and honor. The angel-child visits
me at nightfall, and feel the hallowed
touch of tiny palm upon my cheek.
My boy, if he yet lives, would forgive
the sorrowing old man for the treatment
which sent him out in the world, and the
blow which manned him for life. God
forgive me for the ruin which / have
brought on me and mine."
He again wiped tear from his eyes.
NV father watched him with intensity,
and countenance unusually pale and
excited by some strange emotion. But
the old man went on:
"I was once lunatic, and madly fol-
lowed the malign light which led me to
ruin. I was fanatic when l sacrificed
children, happiness and home to the ae,
cursed demon of the bowl. l once adored
the. gentle being whom so deeply
wronged. l was a drunkard; ftom re:
spectability and influence I plunged into
degradation and poverty. l dragged my
family down with me. For years saw
her check grow pale and her step weary.
I left her alone amid the wrecks of her
home idols and rioted at the tavern. She
never complained, yet she and her chill
dren often went hungry. One New
Years night I returned late to the hut
where charity had given us roof. She
was still up shivering over the Goals. I
demanded food, but she burst into tears
and told me there was none. I fercely
told her to 20 and get some. She turned
her eyes upon me, the tears fast rolling
down her pale cheeks; at this moment
the child in the cradle awoke and set up
famished wall, startling the despairing
mother like serpent's sting. 'We have
no food, James-I have had none for tTo
DAYS. 1 have nothing for the babe. My
once kind husband, must we starve?
That sad pleading face, and those stream.
ing eyes, and the feeble wall of the child
maddened me, and I-yes, I struck her
fierce blow in the face, and she fell for.
ward on the hearth. The furies of hell
boiled in my bosom, and with deep in.
tensity, as I felt had committed q wrong.
I had never struck Mary before, but nov
some terrible impulse bore me on, and /
stopped down, as we'll as I could in my
drunken state, and clinched both hands
in her hair. God cf mercy 7 exclaimed
my wife, as she looked up in my fendish
countenance, you will not kill US, you
will not harm Willie?' As she sprang to
the cradle to grasp him in her embrace |
caught her again by the hair and dragged
her to the door and as l lifted the latch
the wind burst in with cloud of snow.
With q wild laugh, I closed the door and
turned the button, her pleadiRaaafp CIV
ringing with the blast 4225Sfk was not com.
of her -baby.-.eRR to the little bed where
pletAny eldest son, and snatched him
from his slumbers, and against his half
awakened struggles, opened the door and
threw him out. In agony of fear he
called me by name | was not fit to bear,
and locked his little finger in my side
pocket. / could not wrench the frenzied
grasp. away, and with the GOODNESS of
devil, as 1 was, shut the door upon his
arm, and with my knife severed the
wrist" -,-------.----- ---4--
The speaker ceased moment and
buried his face in his hands as If to shut
out some fearful dream, and his deep
chest heaved like storm.swep! sea. My
father had risen from his seat and was
leaning forward, his countenance blood.
less, and the large drops standing out
upon his brow. Chills crept back to my
heart, and / wished was at home. The
old man looked up; I have never since
beheld such mortal agony pictured upon
q human face. He continued:
"It was morning when I woke, and the
storm had ceased, and the cold was in
tense. first secured drink of water,
and then 1 looked in the accustomed
place tor Mary. As / missed her, for the
first time shadowy sense of somo horrl-
BILE nightmare began to dawn upon my
wondering mind. l thought I had dream.
ed a fearful dream, but involuntarily
opened the outside door with shudder'
ing dread. As the door opened the snow
burst in, followed by fall of something
across the threshold, scattering the cold
snow and striking the floor with hard,
sharp sound. My blood shot like red
hot arrows through my veins, and rub.
bed my eyes to keep out the sight. 1t
was-it-oh God, how horrible 1t was
my injured Mary and her babe, frozen to
ice The ever true mother had bowed
herself over the child to shield it, and
wrapped all her own clothing around it,
leaving her person stark and bare. She
had placed her hair over the face of the
child, and the sleet had frozen it to the
white cheek. The frost was white in its
half open eyes, and upon its tiny fingers.
I know not what became of my brave
boy" ;,
Again the old man bowed his head and
wept, and all that were in the house wept
with him. In tones of low, heart-broken
pathos, the old man concluded:
II was arrested, and for long months
rayed in delirium. awoke was sen-
fenced to prison for ten years; but no
tortures could equal those in my own
bosom. O, God, no ! I am not fanatic
I wish to ipjure no one. But while l
live, let me strive to warn others not to
enter path which has been so dark and
feaful for me-"
The old man sat down, but spell as
deep and strange as that wrought by some
wizards breath rested upon the audience.
Hearts could have been heard in their
The old man then asked the people TO
sign the pledge. My father leaped from
his seat and snatched at it eagerly. l
had followed him as he hesitated a mo-
ment with his pen in the ink. A tear
fell from the old mans eye upon the
asign it! would write my name TO-,
600 times in blood if it would bring back
my loved ones"
My father wrote his name-Mortimer
Hudson.
The old man looked, wiped his fearful
49,, wi 1ooLod ouoio his countanonce