The Brookhaven leader., 1886-02-25

| Ine moor. After Few moments ne
stopped and looked first at the baby
and then at me. Such look. Love,
agony and bitterness combined.
If l thought he had inherited
my curse he said, he should not live
another hour
| 81 screamed in terror, but he only
laid the child in my arms and went out
without word. That night he was
brought home, incapable OF coming of
his own effort.
''The next ten years were SO full OF
woe that each seemed an eternity. /
then thought my cup of bitterness was
full. Ahl no heart may know its ca
| pacity for suffering. Sorrow had but
Just begun to throw her dark mantle
| over me.
my fathers business did not pros
per well for the few years succeeding
my marriage, and soon / began to know
that he was drinking heavily. Which
was cause and which effect l did not
know, but the two went together, and
the down-hill course was rapid. Final
| ly the crash came-our old home with
all its wealth of adornment was sold
under the hammer. My parents came
to my home temporarily, but they
never had another. Father drank to
such excess that in few months he
died of delirium tremens; and mother,
heart-broken, survived him but short
time.
"While my children were yet very
| young l saw unmistakable evidence
that the thirst for drink was born in
them. From their birth / tried to
guard against every avenue of danger,
hoping to save them by preventing
| their learning the taste of the poison.
But their fathers own hand mixed for
them the deadly draught. He was in.
toxicated at the time or he never would
| have done it. Ihad left the dning-room
for few moments and came back Just
in season to see the younger of my two
| little boys smacking his lips over the
sugar in the bottom of the tumbler
Like a mad woman | seized the bottle
for of course it was near-and hurled
it through the open window. Then
half dragged my boys to my own room,
telling them they had taken poison, and
treated them as heroically as though
it had been arsenic or strychnine. As
passed out of the door my husband
laughed drunken laugh. saying:
!" Seems to me you've changed your
mind since you taught me to drink
"When my third baby was laid in
my arms, prayed-for I had learned
to pray then-that he might be spared
from the curse As held him to my
breast l thought of the poor save
mother who gave laudanum to her
child and let it sleep to death in her
arms that it light not know the bond
age of slavery, and understood. For
is not the victim of alcohol a slayeP
What bondage so cruel. what fetters so
CALLING? Far better that body should
be loaded with chains and scourged
with the lash than that a soul should
be fettered and Scared with sin. %
God prayed, remove the curse if it
be possible, but if not, oh, take him to
Thyself! God heard my prayers. Only
day my baby stayed, and then my
arms were empty"
Tears were streaming down the pale
face, but a glow of solemn gladness
rested there.
"Oh, friendsr' she continued, "of
my three children, the one who never
knew his mothers love has been my
greatest comfort; l know he is safe
with God.
"My older boys I tried with all my
power to keep from strong drink. I
taught them of the ruin which would
surely follow its use. They had their
fathers example to shun. They
seemed to understand and want to do
right, but the fire was in their natures
it could not be kept down. Willie,
my first born, went to a drunkard's
grave before he was twenty-five.
"My husband, in one of his seasons of
despair and remorse, took his own life.
"And Frank, my Frank-can tell
you? A brighter, fairer, SUMMER
tempered boy never gladdened a
mothers heart. He fell as did his
father-a a0ofnan placed the soi'ae cup TO
his lips. Under the influence of wine
he committed crime, and to-day heis
behind the prison bars at Sing Sing,
a victim of ,0ine, WINE.
Sand can sit idly by and hear you
say that wine is good and harmlessF
You can see my whitened hair and
haggard face. Would that for one mo-
ment you could see the agony of soul
that has made me what j am and learn
lesson. All! he spake truly who said:
Wine is q mocker, strong drink is
raging and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise. "
There were few dry eyes when the
lady ceased speaking. But one of the
teachers drew from her reticule a copy
of the Murphy pledge and passed it
around. 1t was an opportune move .
ment, stroke while the iron was hot.
The bit of paper was warmly well
coined, and at the head of long list
was the name of the girl-artist who was
so positive that wine was harmless
Jennie HoOard Broom, in Christiap at
Work.
s