Year: 1863

"oUR NEIGHBoR OVER THE wAYP
By MRS. Z. N. BRUCE.


Many of the friends present may re.


member Spring time not many year;


ago, when cur city was blessed with


much more than its usual amount ol


new population. Business was in q


more thriving condition than it had


ever before, or has ever yet been since.
All hearts fejoiced with our seeming
prosperity, and we welcomed the fami-


lies moving in. as harbingers Of the
good time coming.


Among the many who came, there


was one family which particularly at
tracted my attention. Not by any at
tempt on their part for display, for
everything that they did was done in a
most unassuning manner. But there
was something in their quiet industry,
in the patient manner in which they
performed life's duties, which psrticu-
iarly pleased me. They rented first q
small tenement, and commenced house
keeping on very economical scale.


They dressed neatly, but always very
plain. They attended church regularly,
and every Monday morning, seemed to
take up the duties Of the new week with
fresh vigor and devotion.


Days. weeks, and months passed,


while we were enjoying the happy
presence of "our neighbors over the
way" when 1 learned one day, that
their condition had been SO far i'm
proved in worldly things, they were
about to build a house OF their own.
Very glad was to learn this, for their
neighbors seemed to me possessed Of
an additional Joy. ever since this happy
family moved into it. I watched with
unfailing delight the progress of the
neat little cottage, whose bleak, skeleton
frame soon grew into the proportions of
a sheltered home. Then came the
moving, and well ] remember the salts
faction with which first saw the home
lights burning in the cottage, and cheer
full smoke curling from its chimney tops.


Everything about the place grew in
beauty. Flowers of varied hues clus-
tered in the little yard, and vines clam
bered over the windows. and about the
doors. Prosperity and peace were
written on everything outside of the
cottage, these symbols. which, among
the humble classes, so surely indicate
peace and prosperity within. Words
cannot tell how much I enjoyed all the
symbols Of domestic joy. was bache.
lor then, and having no home of my
own, naturally felt the more interest
and concern for my neighbors. had
never formed intimate acquaintance
with the inhabitants of the cottage, as
1 was very retiring in my habits, and
felt myself quite satisfied in the knowl-
edge of their happiness. This was
sufficient for me, as long as l was per-
mitted to watch its unbroken progress,
and sun my lonely heart in the light Of
the cheerful faces over the way.


But there came a time when shadows
darkened the bright picture, and the
destroying angel sin, wrote his bitter
curse upon this little Eden. During
the second winter after the cottage was
occupied, I used to notice that there
was often light burning in it very
late at night. l, being student, kept
late hours, and often found myself
surprised to see my neighbors watch
ing later than myself. At first sup
posed there was sickness in the family;
but, on inquiry, 1 could not learn that
any one was known to be sick. / puz-
zled myself with mauy suppositions
with regard to the light, but at length
its mystery became plain to me, in q
way TO make my heart sad.


One night, about midnight, 1 had
extinguished the light in my own cham
Der. and was standing thoughtfully at
my window, looking at the light over
the way, when l saw man coming
down street, staggering and reeling at
every step. l could not mistake about
his condition, but was not more in
terested in the case than ordinarily, in
seeing man intoxicated on the street,
until he came to the door Of the cot
tage. and fell heavily on the door step.
Immediately the door was opened, and
a woman drew the unfortunate man in
to the hall, and closed the door again. !
Her movements were hurried, and the
whole scene transpired in less time than
it has taken me TO describe it; and yet
that moment was long enough to per-
NIT me to look forward, and backward
on the track Of their life-history.


Here was the secret Of the late watch
ing, and of many of little symptom
of neglect that had begun to be ap-
parent about the before happy home.
These increased when the spring time
came, and others, beside myself, came
to know the secret, that our neighbor
bad yielded to the tempter, and was
becoming drunkard. Oh, how our
hearts ached for the poor wife, as we
saw her taking up the burden of such
life, and striving patiently to bear it!
OF course, the burden grew daily
heavier, and harder to be borne; but
God was merciful to her, and he gather
ed her home when the harvest time
came, to the land Of the immortals.


We could none of us be sad when
we saw the funeral cortege wend its
way slowly from the cottage, for we
felt It blessed that her hour Of rest had