From Wealth to Poverty; Or, the Tricks of the Traffic. A Story of the Drink CursePotter, Austin
General
From Wealth to Poverty; Or, the Tricks of the Traffic. A Story of the Drink Curse
Potter, Austin
Temperance -- Fiction
That evening she had a long consultation with her husband in
regard to the matter, the result of which was a very stormy
interview between the father and son, when the latter, having been
threatened with disinheritance if he did not break off from all
association with the Porter family, gave the father to understand
as it was a matter that more especially concerned himself, he
should observe his own mind in regard to it, and his father might
dispose of his property as it pleased him.
The climax was reached when the residents of Bay View--for that
was the name of their villa--heard that John, jun., and Angelina
Porter were married. He had, in fact, the license in his pocket at
the time he held his interview with his father, and had gone
directly after to the groggery of his intended father-in-law, and
having secured the services of the Rev. John Turnwell, the
ceremony was privately performed.
Porter and his son-in-law celebrated the wedding by getting
gloriously drunk. This caused the young bride intense pain; for
though she had been long accustomed to such scenes, it came closer
to her when her own husband was involved.
John, jun., did not go near his father's residence, nor indeed
take any steps towards reconciliation, for, he said, "the old man
will come around all right after awhile." He, for the time being,
kept bar for Joe Porter, and was one of his most bibulous, though
not one of his most profitable, customers. In fact, he was
generally intoxicated each day by noon, and before night was
stupidly drunk.
His father, who really thought as much of his boy as it was
possible for a man with such a nature as his to think of any one,
heard he was going rapidly to destruction, and felt some effort
must be made to save him. He had a conversation with his wife in
regard to the matter, and though she declared she would never
forgive her son for marrying into such a low family, as she knew
it would subject her to the cynical and sneering remarks of some
of the set with whom she associated, yet she concluded it was
better to make the best of the matter, and not, by a course of
coldness, drive him utterly to destruction; so she agreed with her
husband when he said he thought he had better go and see him, and,
if possible, wean him from his present debauch.
Mr. Sealy owned a farm of two hundred acres, which was situated on
the shores of the bay, about two miles east of Bayton. It had been
the old homestead, and he had always intended to will it to his
son; but since the memorable interview, when the latter had spoken
so defiantly, and then followed up his words by forming the
alliance against which his father had warned him, Mr. Sealy, in
his anger, determined to carry out his threat, and cut his son off
without a cent. But when he found he was likely, if left much
longer with his present surroundings, to degenerate into a
dissipated loafer, he relented, and now determined to offer it to
him if he would settle there immediately.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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