The Trials of the Soldier's Wife: A Tale of the Second American RevolutionAbrams, Alex. St. Clair (Alexander St. Clair)
History
The Trials of the Soldier's Wife: A Tale of the Second American Revolution
Abrams, Alex. St. Clair (Alexander St. Clair)
Confederate States of America -- Fiction; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
"The pittance thus obtained serves but a short time, and they are again
reduced to want. The eldest child--a lovely daughter, is taken ill, and
while lying on a heap of rags in a corner of the room, the man calls and
demands his rent. The poor woman has no money to satisfy his demands and
he orders her to leave. She appeals to him, points to her ill child; but
her prayers are unavailing--and in the hour of night she is thrust from
the room, homeless, penniless, friendless! Yes! he--that man who now
sits in the jury-box--he--Mr. Elder, the so-called _Christian_ and man
of CHARITY--he, ejected this helpless woman from the shelter and forced
her to wander in the night air with her sick child--her starving babes.
He--the _extortioner_"--continued Harry, with every feature expressing
the utmost scorn, "turned her from the wretched home she had found here,
and left her to die on the sidewalks, like the veriest beggar. No touch
of pity for the child, no feeling of sorrow for the innocent angel, no
thought of the patriot lingering in prison, ever entered the mind of the
extortioner. There was nothing but _self_ then, nothing but the
promptings of his own avarice, which could view with indifference the
miseries of others, so long as they should redound to his own benefit
and aggrandizement. I tell you that man dare not deny a word I utter. He
knows that every one is true, and if my language could wither him with
shame, could make him the detestation of the world, I would speak yet
stronger, for pity to him is but contempt for those he has injured.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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