For The Sake Of Peace, His Wife Gave Up All Her
Ornaments And Household Plate, And The Best Articles Of A Once
Handsome And Ample Wardrobe, In The Hope Of Hiding Her Sorrows
From The World, And Keeping Her Husband At Home.
The pride, that had rendered him so obnoxious to his humbler
neighbours, yielded at length to the inordinate craving for drink;
the man who had held himself so high above his honest and
industrious fellow-settlers, could now unblushingly enter their
cabins and beg for a drop of whiskey.
The feeling of shame once
subdued, there was no end to his audacious mendacity. His whole
time was spent in wandering about the country, calling upon every
new settler, in the hope of being asked to partake of the coveted
poison. He was even known to enter by the window of an emigrant's
cabin, during the absence of the owner, and remain drinking in the
house while a drop of spirits could be found in the cupboard. When
driven forth by the angry owner of the hut, he wandered on to the
distant town of P - -, and lived there in a low tavern, while his
wife and children were starving at home.
"He is the filthiest beast in the township," said the
afore-mentioned neighbour to me; "it would be a good thing for his
wife and children if his worthless neck were broken in one of his
drunken sprees."
This might be the melancholy fact, but it was not the less dreadful
on that account. The husband of an affectionate wife - the father of
a lovely family - and his death to be a matter of rejoicing! - a
blessing, instead of being an affliction! - an agony not to be
thought upon without the deepest sorrow.
It was at this melancholy period of her sad history that Mrs. N - -
found, in Jenny Buchanan, a help in her hour of need. The heart of
the faithful creature bled for the misery which involved the wife
of her degraded master, and the children she so dearly loved. Their
want and destitution called all the sympathies of her ardent nature
into active operation; they were long indebted to her labour for
every morsel of food which they consumed. For them, she sowed, she
planted, she reaped. Every block of wood which shed a cheering
warmth around their desolate home was cut from the forest by her
own hands, and brought up a steep hill to the house upon her back.
For them, she coaxed the neighbours, with whom she was a general
favourite, out of many a mess of eggs for their especial benefit;
while with her cheerful songs, and hearty, hopeful disposition,
she dispelled much of the cramping despair which chilled the heart
of the unhappy mother in her deserted home.
For several years did this great, poor woman keep the wolf from the
door of her beloved mistress, toiling for her with the strength and
energy of a man. When was man ever so devoted, so devoid of all
selfishness, so attached to employers, yet poorer than herself,
as this uneducated Irishwoman?
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