The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1893-09-02
hen | added 'Great heavens, what il I

should
at seems absurd TO be sentimental
about few sticks OF furniture. but when
man ls newly married and has home
for the first time in ten years, he may be
pardoned for an excessive anxiety To
keep il undisturbed. That anxiety was,
of course, my chief danger. The drunk
ard is always on the edge OF precipice,
and il he looks down he will cast him
self into the depths. II is the same,
perhaps, with all moral perils they have
a fascination. / looked down that day
and was dragged over the brink.
"That was the beginning Of such deg
radiation as / could not name 10 any man
but true friend. The poverty which
drunkenness entails is not nearly the
worst OF it, and yet that alone is heart
rending 20 endure or TO look back upon.
What Alice suffered doubtless do not
even know. How she unfailingly for
gave the Angel of the Book must have
recorded in words we have not learned
on earth. Through it all think her
principal anxiety was to preserve our
| home.
~ will not weary you with the story
mean as money, and the less you have OF
1t the meaner it is. One can reap for
tune at arms length, but few pennies
will sneak into an intimacy with their
owner which will desperately assail his
self-respoot. May Heaven forgive the
man who will not guard his wife from
that, il he can and | could, but did not,
for the sake Of my appetite.
"At last there came TO me day like
that when | borrowed the money from
Ennis. only far more serious. IL vas
Wednesday, and the polite collector had
mentioned Friday-the day when men
are banged-as the probable occasion OF
humiliating experience for me. After
many heartbreaking disappointments l
raised the necessary amount. had pre-
served my connection with Allen d
Graves, and was still in charge Of their
New York Office, but my position was Ill
! jeopardy because OF my habits, and my
salary was overdrawn and squandered. |
borrowed that money Of one OF our Gus
toners, Andy Playson. You know him.
! He said that he wanted to talk bust
ness. Andy cannot talk business com
fortably except in liquor saloon. The
| demon inside me welcomed him as n
friend. Here was certainly an excuse.
IL was matter OF business TO preserve
my friendly relations with Andy.
"The next thing remember distinctly
is opening my eyes in total darkness.
/ tbought Mt first ! was blind. How
| long IL took me TO discover where ] was
am unable to say. In reality ! was
lying in the little vcstibule of my office.
| got upon my feet, opened the inner
door and turned on the electric light.
My watch had stopped, but from the
window could see the illuminated dial
in the tower Of City Hall. 1t was nearly
midnight.
"But what midnight? / had no idea
whether / had been unconscious three
days or month. My mind was 80
stupeied that could not ascertain the
date OF any of the ways which would
have suggested themselves TO me in my
normal condition. There was news
paper on my desk. My eyes rested upon
II without intent, but at least one word
seemed TO detach itself from the page.
IL was the day Of the week in the date
line of the paper and that day was Friday ;
then il was already too late.
"There was pistol in the drawer OF
my desk, aud, somehow, though my
hands trembled so that | could hardly
hold key, i managed to open the lock
and at last to secure the weapon. Yet
il It seemed an idle and cowardly thing
TO do, TO die without e struggle, to
accept the consequences of my fall rs
final. | put the pistol into my pocket
and hastened from the Office. But one
thought was in my mind, to learn the
worst at once She would forgive me
certainly. Even brother can claim
seventy times seven, and | with fur
more potent right would plead again.
This fall should be my last.
1T seemed ] was at home as if by
magic. The key turned in the street
door climed the dark stairs and came
to the third landing breathless with my
haste. The small key turned in the
lock but the door did not open. There
was nothing alarming about that; Alice
often used the second lock TO make her
self more secure.
"Alicew called, and shook the door.
There was no response, l listened.
Surely there was n confused sound with
in, n murmur as of the weeping of one
who is exhausted with the shedding Of
tears. II was almost relief TO find that
she was there We had no friends to
whom she could go in an emergency,
but if the rooms were bare she might
have taken refuge even with comparative
strangers. spoke her name again; 1t
seemed ms il the noise within ceased. /
thought that she was coming to the
door, but she dbl not. Certainly she had
heard me.
"Did she deliberately exclude mel
Had she learned of my debauchl Had
been guilty of something more dis
graceful thaa drunkennessl In the
darkness which concealed the last three
days what madness and folly lay, for
gotten but irrevocably written in my
past2 But perhaps she was asleep. |
made loud noise at the door, as loud
rs dared, fearing TO let the other in
mates in the house know of my disgrace