South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1888-01-13

FRIDAY. JANUARY IS. 1889.


OF drink. i ought TO l am sa-
loon keepers son, and was . hard
driDker at sixteen.
My first recoll ections are of u
grand bar-room. costly pictures,
shining silver, the tihkle of gla ses
and tue polished richly dressed
gentlemen that came there to drink
aud chat. Oh how lively and jol-
~ they were! Often would they
give me the sugar in the bottom
of their glssses, and laugh to Gee
how ! liked it, saying I was a chip
off the old block
Where were my parents You ask?
Well, ~ l said, father was behind
the bar, and mother. my pretty.
fashionable mother. was at home
in her parlor, or perhaps OFT ON a
pleasure trip-iOr there was no
lack Of money then, for father was
doing fiourishing business.
But the time came, as l grew
older, when money was not 80
plenty, when the grand bar.room
was changed for q low den in q
bad part OF the town, and father
was cross and swore at the judges
and women meddlers, and mother
looked worried and ill i'm the few
plain rooms she now lived in
poor mother!
Things went from bad to worse;
lather was bloated and hardened
from excess of drink: mother be-
came seriously ilI;and beautiful lit
tie Rosa, my baby sister, grew
thin and pale. l was a brawny
boy Of fifteen, earning u chance
dime as l could, sometimes giving
it to my half starved mother, and
more often spending it for drink.
All! | can see now my mothers
white scared lace as father and I
came stumbling home. All gid
Giness and frivolity were gone
from her life. Only the most terri
Dle reliity renamed.
Things could not go on so forev-
er-it's fortunate they cannoi {.
One cold night the crisis came
came and changed the entire
course of our lives. Father was
drunk, very, very drunk. but still
able to walk. l saw by the flash
OF his blood shot eyes that liquor
was turning him into demon.
to-, had taken a drink too many
ana was hardly aware of what was
taking place about me, but l know
now that pretty little six-year-old
Rosa came to our saloon and told
father that mother was dying and
begged him to come home.
He gave q coarse laugh, bnt fol.
lowed her and lett me in charge Of
the bar-room. | never can tell
what it was whispered to my stup.
id brain to clole the shop and go
home Perhaps n y mothers de.
parting spirit. Anyway, l hustled
out the louDgers, locked up, and
ran home as fast as could.
As | approached the old shanty
we then called home | heard q
scream. -RCsa's voice, knew-a
dreadful scream that iroZe the
blood IN my veins and drove the
liquor from my brain.
burst in, and / would give all
/ pos se:s i'm the world to erase
from my mind the horrible scene
| beheld
Rosa-pretty, innocent little
Rosa lay OH the floor, blood
streaming from a cut in the head;
and mother, my own dear mother,
dead at her feet; while father
crouched i'll corner, now in a
horrible frenzy
ooh. my Godl' 1 cried, 'Rosal
mother!'
Even as | bent over them father
gave a horrible laugh, and seizlng
the small burning lamp on the ta-
BILE flung it with demoniac rage on
tie small straw bed in the corner
near him. There was an explosion
and fathers shrieks oftorture rang
upon the ear.
BY TINS time the neighbors had
rushed in. Some of them pmoth.
cred out the flames | lifted lit
tie Rosa in my arms aud bore her
out III to the street.
Some one bent over me, aud
shall never forget the gentle touch
that raieed my head aud whisper
ci words of comfort.
'She isn't dead. Oh, no. See!
the doctor is bringing new life in.
to her facer
'Motherr | gasped.
is with those who are far kind
or than those on earth can be-the
angels.
Then | broke down aud sobbed
until a voice reused me, a gentle
voice loved so well, the voice OF
little Rosa.
Dick che whispered, Dick,
don't cry, father didn'l mean to do
it--he was drunk
Yes | said, grIttIng my teeth,
that'S II. he was drunk. You can