notwithstanding his proneness to vice, he still tenderly regarded, bathed in tears.

She sat near the bed on which lay asleep their innocent unconscious babes. As their father approached her, and in a kind tone asked the cause of her depression, she was silent, but cast on him a glance, half-sorrowful, halfreproachful. He felt its meaning, and strove to animate her spirits by cheerful conversation.

She accused him of gaming, and told him what she had heard respecting his loss of property. He admitted that it was partly true, but ended with saying, I have recently been very successful at play, and hope soon, not only to recover what I have lost, but to win much more.'

He then descended the stairs, and entering the diningroom, took from the side-board a decanter of wine, and some glasses, which he carried to his chamber and placing them upon the table, said gaily to her, ' Let us drown our sadness in a glass of wine.' This she at first declined, yet soon allowed herself to yield to the persuasion of her husband. At first, she slowly sipped but part of a glass, but soon drank the remainder, with a keener relish. It was not long ere she felt its exhilarating effects upon her spirits, and became cheerful and animated under its influence.

Her husband, pleased with her lively manner, knowing full well the cause, yet considering not the fatal conse quences, urged her to take another glass. It required less persuasion to induce her to drink the second time than it had done the first; but the second draught somewhat bewildered her senses, so that she retired to rest soon after, and slept soundly until late the next morning.

In the morning, feeling the reaction of the excessive excitement of the previous night, she resorted to the winecup for relief. This practice she continued, day after day, feeling glad, if by any means she could drown unpleasant reflection. Her friends were pleased to perceive that she seemed to have recovered even more than her wonted cheerfulness, yet dreamed not that the intoxicating cup had caused the exhilaration of her spirits.

The state of Mr. Wilcot's affairs grew worse and worse, yet the mother of his wife was cheered by the thought that her daughter was then seldom if ever depressed under her trials. But alas! she was again soon called to mourn over the derelictions of her unprincipled child.

The cause of Mrs. Wilcot's temporary excitement soon became known to her domestics, who frequently saw her at the side-board, and not unfrequently surprised her while drinking deeply of the fatal cup. This truth, unwelcome as it was, soon reached the ears of her mother. With tears of bitter anguish she expostulated with Mrs. Wilcot; and urged her by all the motives that could be drawn from heaven, earth, and the world of final despair, never again to touch that cup, which had proved fatal to so many before her. She pictured, in glowing colors, the misery and disgrace that would soon be brought upon her children, if she paused not in her mad career.

Mrs. Wilcot, as on previous occasions, heeded not the admonition of this afflicted parent, who she felt occasioned herself unnecessary sorrow on her account. She told her mother that she need not distress herself about her, for she was capable of acting on her own responsibility, and that she drank wine because she considered it conducive

to her health, adding, 'I do not drink because I love its taste; and while that is the case there is no danger of my acquiring a habit of excessive drinking.'

In vain did her mother tell her that drinking at all, when in health, was drinking excessively. She was deaf to all her remonstrances; and, with a bleeding heart, this widowed mother was obliged, in silence, to watch the gradual descent of her daughter from the enviable station she had once enjoyed in society, to the lowest depths of vice and degradation.

Mr. Wilcot continued to follow the pernicious practice of gaming, until he was reduced to bankruptcy; and Mrs. Wilcot was obliged to quit the elegant mansion where she had for several years resided, and take up her abode in a small tenement, hired by her husband. This circumstance overwhelmed her with mortification and grief, which she strove to forget by plunging deeper and deeper in crime.

As their slender finances no longer afforded her wine, she found a substitute in the poisonous beverage in the manufacture of which is wasted so many millions of bushels of the rich produce of this fair earth, which our benevolent Creator intended for the support of man. As soon as her little boy could speak so as to be understood, she sent him almost daily to one of those despicable places where many a child has been made worse than an orphan.

Her little son was taught to ask for gin, which was sold him by the mercenary bar-keeper, notwithstanding the mother of Mrs. Wilcot conjured him, by all he held dear and sacred, not to do so. The poor little Edwin was compelled to procure the intoxicating draught for his miserable mother, until he was old enough to feel ashamed of being

seen by his school-mates carrying a bottle of gin which he knew they understood was for her.

child blush with playmates, with He would often

Often, while very young, did this poor shame, when taunted by his unfeeling the disgraceful conduct of his mother. weep bitterly when thus assailed, and say, 'My father says my mother did not always do so; that she was once a good mother, but wine has ruined her.' 'O, I wish,' said the little innocent, my mother had never drank wine.'

Mrs. Wilcot was kind to her family, when not under the influence of liquor; and even when intoxicated, she was not cross and abusive, though she shamefully neglected her children; and when she could not, by other means, procure spirit, she would pawn any article of furniture or clothing to get it. As her children became older, and saw their mother become more and more abandoned, while their father almost entirely left his home and family, they felt that they were indeed friendless.

It was true their grandmother sympathized with them, as far as she was able; but they felt that she did not really understand their feelings; and she often wounded them deeply by saying, that she expected the children of such parents to become gamblers and drunkards. Edwin would get very angry with his grandmother, and answer her in an unbecoming tone, to which she would again respond.

The little fellow would then turn from her house, with a feeling of disgust, and, as he would look into his own miserable home, where his wretched mother would lie for hours unconscious of anything that took place, he would think within himself, where shall I go-there is nothing in this wide world for me but misery-O how I wish I

was dead, or had never been born! Unfortunate youth! He had never been permitted to attend a sabbath school; and though his intellect had not been left entirely uncultivated, he seemed almost as ignorant of the precepts of the Christian religion as a heathen. No wonder, that, surrounded with such an influence, he, almost imperceptibly to himself, was early drawn into that vortex of dissipation and folly that had well-nigh destroyed his parents.

Edwin loved his sister, who was two years younger than himself, and could he have been kept from the company of the vicious, with whom he associated abroad, her influence over him would have been good. Anna was a lovely girl; and her pitiable situation, added to her lovely appearance, early gained for her the sympathy and friendship of a pious lady, who lived in a neighborhood where her parents, for a few months, resided.

This lady had been in the habit of inviting Anna, even while a little girl, to come to her house frequently; the helpless one had gladly accepted the invitation of the kindhearted lady, and, by thus being often in her society, had become greatly attached to her. This lady improved every opportunity of impressing upon the mind of Anna a sense of her obligations to perform her duty towards her parents, though they understood not their obligations to her.

She encouraged her to think that if she did well herself, she might not only be respected in this life, but be happy in eternity, even though she was the daughter of parents who disregarded the claims of virtue. Act well your own part,' she would say to Anna, 'looking unto Him who is able to help you, and you need not fear. If