mercy!" Mrs. Lee responded--"I did not mean to
offend you. Pardon me this once, and I will never again allude to the
subject."

A sullen silence followed on the part of Lee, who drank frequently
during the meal, and seemed to do so more with the evil pleasure of
paining his wife than from any other motive. So sadly perverting is the
influence of liquor upon some men, when opposed, changing those who are
kind and affectionate into cruel and malicious beings.

From that hour Mrs. Lee was a changed woman. She felt that the star of
love, which for so many happy years had thrown its rays into the very
midst of their fireside circle, had become hidden amid clouds, from
which she looked at every moment for the bursting of a desolating
storm. And her husband was, likewise, a changed man. His pride and
self-love had been wounded, and he could not forgive her who had thus
wounded him, even though she were his wife. Whenever he was under the
influence of liquor, he would brood over her words, and indulge in
bitter thoughts against her because she had presumed to insinuate that
there was danger of his becoming a drunkard.

At last he was brought home in a state of drunken insensibility. This
humbled him for a time, but did not cause him to abandon the use of
intoxicating drinks. And it was not long before he was again in the
same condition.

But we cannot linger to trace, step by step, his downward course, nor
to describe its effects upon the mind of his wife; but will pass over
five years more, and again introduce them to the reader.

How sadly altered is every thing! The large and comfortable house, in
an eligible position, has been changed for a small, close, ill-arranged
tenement. The elegant furniture has disappeared, and in its place are
but few articles, and those old and common. But the saddest change of
all is apparent in the face, dress, and air of Mrs. Lee. Her pale,
thin, sorrow-stricken countenance--her old and faded garments--her
slow, melancholy movements, contrast sadly with what she was a few
years before.

A lot of incessant toil is now her portion. Lee has, in consequence of
intemperance, causing neglect of business, failed, and had every thing
taken from him to pay his debts. For a while after this event, he
contributed to the support of his wife and child by acting in the
capacity of a clerk. But he soon became so dissipated, that no merchant
would employ him, and the entire support of the family fell up