The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1889-08-02

Price of n Mans sRedemption-The Little
Mound Of Earth ON Crown Hiil-The
Neat Cottage of the Old Time Tom.
Tom Blinker was one of the "boys,"
and there are many in this city who
would know him should his right name
be given. He made good wages, spent
his money freely and was hale fellow
well met with every one.
When he and Mary stood before the
altar in the little church and linked their
lives together many were the compli-
ments they received, for indeed they
were fine couple. Their friends con-
graduated them and the future looked
bright. And when the first little pratt
tier came the acme of their happiness
scanned to have been reached.
But Toms old habits clung to him,
nnd ere many years had gone he began
to neglect his home. Often he would
come home late at night under the influ-
snce of liquor. Tho money he earned
passed over the bar of the saloon, and the
roses faded from Mary's cheeks. The
stars left her eyes; her face became
pmched, and deep lines Of sorrow chased
away the dimples. Still she did not COM
plain, and Tom did not see what great
changes were going on in his home.
From one house to another they moved
The little home on which Tom on his
wedding day had made the first payment
was gone, and at last his midnight reel
carried him to miserable hovel in which
heart broken woman and children ex-
listed.
THE ANGELS WING.
Tom had reached the bottom. So low
had he descended that he would scrub
out saloons that he might get the dregs
of alcoholic stimulants. He was Bum
mer Binker now with rum colored
nose and eyes bleared and bloodshot.
Many times he inhabited the "drunk
room" at the station house, and when he
was brought in the desk sergeant would
say, Hello, Blinker; you here again2
Why don't you brace up and be some
oneS You used to be pretty good kind
of fellow"
Tom would only humble and drop
down into a corner to sleep. In po-
lice court he was "chronic" and was
fined time and time again.
One cold and dismal night, when the
SNOW was on the ground and all nature
was ice clad. Tom was in a low barroom
asleep. Some cruel iokcrs had painted
his swollen face with lamp black nTd
were having rare sport with the drunkcu
man. When he awoke and realized his
condition he became angry, and the re-
suit was that he was badly beaten and
t..fI 1
homeward. That night while the father
was at the barroom 2-year-old baby
Mary, whose eyes and dimples were like
mothers used to be, was taken suddenly
i'll with that night dread of all mothers
the Group, and in few hours its little
life was ended. While the mother bent
over the form of her child and bathed
its face with her tears, Tom staggered in
and threw himself on to Il char, with a
besottcd oath; then, US sleep overcame
him, he fell to the floor, where he lay
till morning with Mary's faded and torn
shawl under his head for a pillow.
All night long the mother sat beside
her dead and sent her prayers heaven
ward. When mornings light appeared.
and Tom, benumbed with cold and par
TALLY sobered, saw his dead child and re-
allied that he had not been near to wipe
the death damp from its brow, or help it
battle for life, then an old feeling, be-
come new, came to him. Down on his
knees, with his face buried in the tat
tered bed clothing, he sobbed as only
great strong men can sob, and Mary, the
wreck of long ago, placed her wasted
ari alput lia mach nnI x-itl hn.
face against his, unnlindful of the lamp
black, the fumes Of vile liquor, mingled
her tears with his. But no promises of
reformation did Tom make.
Kind neighbors furnished n little coffin,
and when Tom, trembling in every Ii NIB
from dissipation, dropped hot, burning
tears Oh the little face upturned, and
with his shaking hand caressed the tiny
white hands peacefully crossed on the
bosom of white, people wondered IF
this will be Il lesson to him." The fu-
neral was unpretentious. Every clod
that fell on the coffin struck blow on
Toms heart. For two days Tom re
manned at home, and on the third, when
he started away, he took his wife in his
arms and kissed her as he did in times
gone by. And when he returned Mary
listened for his step, oh, SO anxiously,
and, when she heard it, thanked God it
was the step of II sober man.
Tom was missed from the bar room,
from the police station, from the poli'e
court. He quit drinking and went TO
work. Go to one of the largest factories
in the city. Pass among the whirring
wheels and ringing hammers See that
tall. broad slouldered man with u CHEEKY
face, begrirned not with lamp black, but
with the result of honest labor! That's
Tom Blinker.
When the whistle sounds he takes OIL
his apron, buttons his stout coat about
him aud with brisk swinging walk and
a CHEEKY whistle starts for home Fol
low linn TO neat little cottage and
watch the picture that the light throws
upon the curtains at the window. See
happy wife in tidy attire throw her arms
around his neck and kiss away the dirt
of the factory. See happy children
clamoring to kiss papa. See them at
their evening meal-and then If Tom
does 20 out after supper-Mary and the
children go along The neat cottage
isn't Toms yet, but it will be some day,
for he is the old time Tom, sober, hard
working and honest
Out In Crown Hill Is little mound of
earth that Tom and Mary visit every
Sunday. On this mound in summer the
flowers ever bloom, and winters fierce
gale that rends the oak and shakes the
evergreens sinks to low sweet and ten.
der lullaby as 1t passes over the spot
where rest the remains of Blinkers baby.
Indianapolis News.
On the New York Elevated.
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