was short as it was blissful. He met one day an old companion of
his, with whom he had associated in his native town, and was
induced by him, after much persuasion, to join in a friendly glass
for the sake of "Auld Lang Syne." He met Ruth when she ran to the
gate to welcome him that night with what seemed to her loving
heart a cold repulse, for he was drunk--yes, my dear reader--
crazily, brutally drunk. His poor wife was as much stunned as if
he had been brought home dead. She stood pale as death, with lips
tightly pressed, with wide open eyes staring wildly. Poor little
Eddie and Allie ran to their mother and nestled close to her for
protection, as birdlings run to the cover of the mother in seasons
of danger. And even poor little Mamie, for they had been blessed
by a little girl, whom they had thus named, shortly after they
arrived in Rochester, cuddled her head more closely to her
mother's bosom, and clung to her as if in mortal terror of one
whom she usually greeted with the fondest tokens of welcome.

From that time forward his descent to Avernus was very rapid. He
soon lost his situation and was unable to secure another. He also
became dissatisfied with the country. It is generally men who are
their own worst enemies, who become agitators against the existing
order of things.

The time of which I am writing was immediately after the American
War, and, at that period, there was a great deal of dissatisfaction
felt and expressed against England, because there were so many
of her citizens who sympathized with the Southern cause. And if any
of the more ignorant discovered a man to be an Englishman, he was
almost certain to seize the opportunity to rail against his country.
Ashton had to endure a great deal of this; for, in the hotels he met