After A
Time, All These Resources Failed, And His Large Grant Of Eight
Hundred Acres Of Land Had Been Converted Into Whiskey, Except The
One Hundred Acres On Which His House And Barn Stood, Embracing The
Small Clearing From Which The Family Derived Their Scanty Supply Of
Wheat And Potatoes.
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.
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