Show 4 j ea CT j s ba A NOBLE reformation I 1 s a 0 0 r 1 BY U A a j ri iii N a miserable hovel a few 11 sul 11 miles from the populous city of D a woman lay JL dying toil toll caie and want had done their inevitable work for she was a drunk ard s wife the scant furniture fum fuin iture of the dilapidated room was shabby and worn and not e even een en the most meagre comforts of life were to be found within its squalid interior the dying wife with two daughters of the respective a ages es of three and fourteen ceals comprised the halt half itt starred arved and otherwise neglected tarn fam lly by of enoch Gol goldwait dwalt the half naked children hildren were wailing walling out their misery Q and grief at bleir tl air mother mothers s bedside for she had just acquainted ruth the alder elder with the startling fact that the dreaded n ament in which she must leave them to the cold mercies of the world was now rapidly approaching enoch Gol goldwait dwalt was stretched out upon the bare blaids in a drunken stupor a quart bottle halt half filled with whisky within easy leach of him he was seoung heavily his face purple and bloated and his whole appear lance betokened a most miserable and degraded wretch but in the midst of his besetting sin sla anoch Gol goldwait dwalt was not without some redeeming quail ties he never was known to abuse or mal mat treat his timily family either by word or blow but through his inordinate love for betiong drink was led to neglect them in a most shameful and unbar conable lo manner to use a trite phrase rum had bad mastered him had got the complete om upper hand of him if it was to be but one th ng either drink for blin himself self or food for his family he would have taken the drink though he saw the gaunt figure of starvation staring h s sick wife and hungry chit bren dren in the face he ile knew that his wife was failing dally daily and that the physician who at tended her as a matter of humanity not pay to his praise be it spoken encouraged no hopes of her recovery iland yet to his stupefied senses it could only amly appear that she must ever con dinue the drudge and martyr she had been he could not seem to realize the possibility of her dying or the still more startling reality that it was himself who was killing her he had once loved her truly and earnestly and would still were not all his bis senses blunted or paralyzed by the po son but now as he be lay out stretched upon the bare boards bloat cd ed and beastly and odorous with the ds disgusting fl effluvia of vile rum he looked as he really was a besotted brute and yet th s man hid md been blessed by nature in the beginning with more than average intellect for some the dying woman had been lying quite still and calm scarcely arcely ec deemin seeming to notice the heart fending rending grief of the children when she suddenly aroused herself from the temporary state of apathy into which the she had fallen aid qaid ruth darling wake your father I 1 must not die without making one last effort to reclaim him when I 1 first knew him no truer or more loyal heart ever over beat in the breast of man but alas the accursed rum has deadened all its finer impulses buth ruth the older daughter went hast lly ily and shook her father somewhat roughly by the shoulder before she could arouse him at length he raised himself blin self on his elbow and his blood shot eyes wandered vacantly for a moment around the desolate room he then reached for his bottle exclaiming as us he did so ble up nobody hurt I guess not hush said ruth tearfully 1 I 1 fear poor mother is dying and she wishes to talk with you don t drink again papa at least not now it will only stupefy you you won t remember what she says without heeding the child childs appeal or the sad moans of the heartbroken wife he drew out the cork with an unsteady hand and tools took a deep draught of the fiery poison it its s victuals and drink ruthy he said staggering to his feet and al ap pro preaching aching the bed what s the mat ter susie hie atilt the neighbors brought in nothing I 1 it is not of the neighbors kindness or neglect that I 1 would now speak s slid ild susie goldwait Gol dwalt in a feeble but earnest voice it Is of you enoch and the wretched end you are surely coming to unless you abandon that which has brutalized and will destroy you body and soul I 1 have always been a good and true wife to you a al ways willing to take my share and much more than my share of the bur flen den 1 I know it susie you re 8 sice nice old gal but what the deuce Is up interrupted the inebriate with a maudlin attempt to make light of the wife s solemn warning in the last five years I 1 have drudged myself to death for you and the chit dren and rum accursed rum has been the whole cause of it I 1 do not mention it to censure you for the past or waste further words about what might have been but it Is of the future that I 1 would now speak for 1 I am dying I 1 can already feel tho the touch of death upon me p tell you sin aint t going to die tall susie the slightly startled inebriate stubbornly tell yo i h c no such thing I 1 ive fit yeara longer bet sweet life on it no enoch I 1 shall not last till the midnight hour I 1 know I 1 feel it but I 1 am too neak eak to discus the point longer I 1 want you to be a sobel man enoch so that our children will have come some one bes de strangers to look after f A them and for them when I 1 am gone tell ye am ain t goin die again in ter posed tl drunkard swaggering back and forth unsteadily but still clinging with i viselike vise like grip to the bottle hie thousand year old bet your buttons the dying wife gave utterance to a despondent sigh for she saw how hard a task it would be to make an imbres sion slon upon his mind in his present con dialon but in her great anxiety for the future welfare of her children she felt that she could not dip without making another effort to bring him back in some degree to his sober senses we shall see with what eff effect act and then let its advocates answer if rum is sot not accursed oh my dear husband can you will you not be warned by my dying words the earnest beseeching tone seemed to fasten his attention for a moment with something ery nery nearly akin to partial understanding and sobriety but the effect was only momentary promise me if not tor for my sake I 1 the woman pleaded at least tor for the children s sake sale that you will become a sober man that you will never again raise the poison to your lips what mean by poison susie hie whisky yes husband whisky rum but mole properly poison that which has so long been your bane and the source of all our present misery swear to me before I 1 die that you will never never taste it again t think such thing susie 11 answered Gol goldwait dwalt with a drunken leer of stupid obstinacy for the last drink was beginning 0 to manifest itself powerfully drink when I 1 want it good tor for me victuals and drink both hie s don t say no more bout it old woman drink always sure s born bom and suiting the action to the word the miserable creature again drew the cork and raised the bottle to his parched and swollen lips but in the action he lost his equilibrium and fell heavily to the floor the next moment he rolled over on bis his side and was soon unconscious and in this state he continued up to the moment of his wife death which occurred about of course he was somewhat shocked when he came to a realizing sense of his bereavement but it did not last long for he drowned in strong dri drink whatever sorrow or remorse he was then capable of feeling the neighbors tidied up the children tor for the solemn occasion and mrs goldwait Gol dwalt was in berred at the public expense but the husband was too drunk to follow his wires remains to their list net resting place and the children went alone as chief mourners from th s hour if such a thing can be believed possible enoch Gol goldwait dwalt continued to grow worse and worse he sold one article after another of 0 the shabby furniture when he could find any one unprincipled enough to pur chase and the meagre sums he be ob tamed from time to time went for liquor instead of food for his half starved children As the cold autumn n gats approached he sold the very bed from under them and lay drunk for a week win fhe the neglected children slept on the bare floor and suffered for want of the commonest nourishment little ruth had often gazed at the indistinct outlines of the great cita only a few mile away and wondered if were not food enough for all there at length Z she determined to run away with I 1 er little sister eva and seek seel a home in the great city the father was too drunk to take any heed of their depasture depa iture and so the houseless little wanderers drifted out into the giedt world of which even the elder knew but little it was past the middle of november and the n 7 gats were chilly tom newcomb was reading the even ing paper to his wife he ile was a ing young trader in B lately mai mal ried to a most estimable and kind hearted young lady it was near the hour of ten and while occupied as we have stated they were aroused by the plaintive sobs of a child they opened the street door and discovered the little wan wardelers wand delers eiers seated on the steps scantily clad and shiver ing in the bleak night air the kind hearted trader and his wife took tool them in and were much affected by the sorrowful story of little bath ruth the next day she was st sti icken ilcken down with a fever and i weel after she was laid in her little coffin it was the verdict of sympathizing friends that her deith was the result of neglect and exposure the father was sent for and was found just recovering from his pro debauch he was in a most deplorable condition both in mind and body not a solitary article 0 of f furni ture save a broken backed 9 chair re in the hovel had hall gone for rum and he had kept on drinking day and night till money and credit both exhausted and then he was obliged to stop and in stop pill ping to reflect he lie upbraided himself now as the murderer of his wife and child and was when too late thor hughly humbled and repentant tom newcomb was not only a strong Ild advocate of temperance but a good samaritan he took tool enoch Gol goldwait dwalt home gave gaye him the advantages of a bath and shave and clothed him in a suitable manner to attend the funeral when tom encomb newcomb ew comb took h b in into the room where here little ruth lay in the cof fin fill he be knelt beside it and burst into tears I 1 killed hei he be said as he turned n his haggard face toward the solitary witness ai d I 1 killed hei hel mother too heaven forgive me 0 o answered tom it was not you it was ium aum and now 1 want you to make me a solemn promise over the dead form of your child and as you hope for mercy in the hereafter never to let the vile poison pollute your lipe more I 1 prom se said enoch solemnly as I 1 I 1 ope for salvation and it I 1 fall to keep my m woid wold may I 1 suffer in the hereafter never ending tortures and from that moment he rose up a redeemed man never more to bink sink under the power of the tempter he gave his consent to the newcomb s adopting little eva and a few days after the funeral enoch goldwait Gol dwalt started for california tomb newcomb furnish ing the money for his outfit and trav eling expenses this was at the height of the gold fever for the next few years they received an occasional letter from him stating that he was doing well and had kept his pledge and then all com munica eions ceased gradually the newcombe New combs came to the conclusion that he must be either dead or fallen back a again aln into his old habits of dissipation thus fifteen years had passed away since enoch goldwait Gol dwalt a departure and little eva had developed into a beautiful girl of eighteen during tl ese fifteen years the new comb family had been increased by the addition of three legitimate mem hers bers two girls and a boy but this did not prevent them from doing full jus tice to eva who had received every educational advantage that money could procure it Is true they could not riot see their way clear to do much more now that they had children of their own to pro vide for and settle in life and whee winfield marsh one of mr newcomb 9 clerks a ery very handsome fellow and of good moral character on a salary of a thousand dollars a s year paid court to eva the newcomb New combs IS th thought oil lit favorably of it and raised no appo con to the match mr newcomb gave his adopted daughter a good marriage outfit and raised marsh s salary to twelve hun bull dred a year the wedding day was fixed and the young couple were very happy over the prospect of their ap pro preaching aching nuptials they were to begin life humbly but they loved each other and the world was all before them the auspicious evening had arrived and the invited guests were assembler at the residence of the newcombe New combs the young couple had rented and fur dished a small cottage or rather mr newcomb had furnished it whither they were to retire after the ceremony and commence housekeeping everything was in readiness and mr newcomb was on the point 01 0 giving away the bride when the street bell rang and the servant ushered in a middle aged gentleman a st stran rangel gei to all present he approached mr newcomb with an expression of pleas ure exclaiming as he did so you do not seem to know in TOP I 1 am enoch goldwait Gol dwalt just returned ad the saying is with a pocket full ol 01 0 locks and not a drop of liquor had passed my lips since I 1 last saw you and you are just in season my dear cd n vit avit ness 5 3 our daughter 0 g marriage age to a poor but estimable man one of my clerks said newcomb all right ex exclaimed chimed the re returned californian I 1 will set him up in busu ness and he did new toik yolk weekly |