Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1899-04-18
A DRUNKARDS SPEECH.
An Unexpected Response to a Re-
quest Frofn Two Young Men.

1t was growing ldte' nc NuS vi
humanity that earlier in the even
ing had ebbed and flowed through
the streets of the great city and
swept onward, leaving the strange
AND (almost appalling sense OF DESC
latIon that comes when the noises
of the town are hushed. The cleo
trio lights flared unnoticed on the
corners; the street cars passed at
further intervals; now and then a
night worker hurried by, his foot
steps ringing out loud and clear IN
the stiffness. In front of a saloon,
whose lights shone out bright and
rudy across the pavement, stood a
tramp, unshorn, ragged, dirty, dis
gushing. He watched with envious
eyes the men who passed IN and
out the swinging doors, and then
he turned his eyes toward two
young fellows in evening dress VINO
we're coming down the street to-
ward him. They had been drink
ing deeply, and they stopped be-
before the saloon door and looked
curiously at him.
"By Jove," said one, "thlnk OF
having thirst like that, and not
the price of an extinguisher IN your
pocket" Beats old Tantalus all
to pieces, Ell? Liquor, liquor, ev-
erywhere, and not drop to
drink
He ran his hand in his pocket
and proffered the tramp dime
UM before it could be accepted the
other young fellow interposed.
Say" he said, "let's do the
good Samaritan and set Hobo up to
good drink.
The other hilariously consented,
and the tramp slouched into the sa-
loon at the heels of the two gilded
youths. The barkeeper sat before
them glasses and liquors, and, with
4 hand that shook the tramp poured
out a brimming glass and raised 1t
to his lips.
! STOP" cried one of the young
men drunkenly, "make us aspeech.
1t is poor liquor that doesn't I'M
loosen a mans tongue.
The tramp hastily swallowed
down the drink, and as the rich
liquor coursed through his blood he
Strengthened himself and stood be-
fore them with a grace and dignity
that all his rags and dirt could not
obscure.
"Gentlemen, he said. II look to-
night at you and at myself and 1t
seems to me look upon the picture
of nv lost manhood. This bloated
face was once as young and hand
some as yours. This shambllng
figure once walked as proudly as
yours, a man in a world OF men. |,
too. once had a home, and friends
and position. l had a wife as beau
tiful as an artists dream, and |
dropped the priceless pearl OF her
honor and respect in the wine cup,
and Cleopatra-like, saw it dissolve
and quaffed it down in the brlm-
ming draught. l had children as
sweet and lovely as the flowers OF
spring, and ! saw them fade and
die under the blighting curse OF
drunken father. ! had a home
where love lit and famed upon the
altar and minister before it, and
put out the holly fire, and darkness
and desolation reigned in its stead.
| had aspirations and ambitions
that scared as high as the morning
star, and / broke and bruised their
beautiful wings, and, at last,
straugled them that / might be tor
tured with their cries no more.
To-day, l am husband without a
wife. a father without a child, a
tramp with no home to call to his
own. a man in whom every good i'm
nu,se is dead. All, all, swallowed
nm in the maelstorm of drink. "
The tramp ceased speaking. The
glass fell from his nerveless fingers
Md shivered into a thousand frag-
ments on the floor. The swinging
"a ooan ord shut foil