X.] MELANCHOLY HOURS. 3G9 



wretched situation, and she looks only to sudden death 

 as her refuge, against that time when her charms shall 

 cease to allure the eye of incontinence, when even the 

 lowest haunts of infamy shall be shut against her, and, 

 without a friend or a hope, she must sink under the pres- 

 sure of want and disease. 



But we will now shift the scene a little, and select an- 

 other object. Behold yon poor weary wretch, who, with a 

 cliild wrapt in her arms, with difficulty drags along the 

 road. The man with a knapsack, who is walking before 

 her, is her husband, and is marching to join his regi- 

 ment. He has been spending, at a dram-shop in the 

 town they have just left, the supply which the pale and 

 weak appearance of his wife proclaims was necessary for 

 her sustenance. He is now half drunk, and is venting 

 the artificial spirits which intoxication excites in the 

 abuse of his weary help-mate behind him. She seems 

 to listen to his reproaches in patient silence. Her face 

 will tell you more than many words, as with a wan and 

 meaning look she surveys the little wretch who is asleep 

 on her arm. The turbulent brutality of the man excites 

 no attention : she is pondering on the future chance of 

 life, and the probable lot of her heedless little one. 



One other picture, and I have done. The man pacing 

 with a slow step and languid asjoect over yon prison court, 

 was once a fine dashing fellow, the admiration of the 

 ladies and the envy of the men. He is the only repre- 

 sentative of a once respectable family, and is brought to 

 tliis situation by unlimited indulgence at that time when 

 the check is most necessary.- He began to figure in gen- 

 teel life at an early age. His misjudging mother, to 

 whose sole care he was left, thinking no alliance too good 

 for her darling, cheerfully supplied his extravagance, 

 under the idea that it would not last long, and that it 

 would enable him to shine in those circles where she 

 wished him to rise. But he soon found that habits of pro- 

 digality once well gained are never eradicated. His for - 

 tune, though genteel, was not adequate to such habits of 

 expense. His unhappy parent lived to see him make a 

 degrading alliance, and come in danger of a jail, and 



