The Massachusetts Spy, And Worcester County Advertiser

THE WANDERER
From the Independent Public Ledger.

Instructive Tale. We have seldom
heard of a tale of humble life more instructive
than that we are about to relate. We
heard the substance of it related by a
friend, and have taken the liberty to throw
it into the present shape and lay it before
our readers. It is a fine illustration of
what Franklin so much insisted on, that
Industry and Temperance are almost certain
to lead to independence and comfort.

Thomas P., at the age of 18, was
by the death of his master, turned loose
upon the world to gain a livelihood as a
shoemaker. He shouldered his Kit and
went from house to house making the farmer's
leather, or mending his children's
shoes. At length a good old man pleased
with Tom's industrious and steady habits,
offered him a small building as a shop.
Here Tom applied himself to work with
persevering industry and untiring ardor.
Earlier than the sun he was whistling over
his work, and his hammer song was often
heard until the "noon of night." He thus
gained a good reputation, and some of this
world's goods. He soon married a virtuous
female--one whose kind disposition
added new joys to his existence, and whose
busy neatness rendered pleasant and comfortable
their little tenement. The time
passed smoothly on--they were blessed
with the smiling pledges of their affection,
and in a few years Tom was the possessor
of a neat little cottage and a piece of land.
This they handsomely improved; and it
was evidently the abode of plenty and
felicity. But now Tom began to relax
from his strict habits, and would occasionally
walk down to a tavern in the neighborhood.
This soon became a habit--and
the habit imperceptibly grew upon him, until,
to the grief of all who knew him, he became
a constant lounger about the tavern
and extremely dissipated. The inevitable
consequence soon followed: he got into
debt, and his creditors soon stripped him
of all he had. His poor wife used all her
arts of persuasion to reclaim him; and she
could not think of using him harshly, for
she loved him even in his degradation, and
he had always been kind to her. Many
an earnest petition did she proffer to heaven
for his reformation, and often did she endeavor
to work upon his parental feeling.
He often promised to reform--a few days together:
and his solicitous companion
began to cherish hope of returning
happiness. But he could endure it no
longer--"Betsey," said he, as he rose from
his work, "give me that decanter." These
words pierced her very heart--and seemed
to sound the knell of all her cherished
hopes; but she could not disobey him. He
went to the tavern, and after some persuasion
he induced the landlord to fill the
decanter; he returned and placed it in the
window immediately before him, "for, "
said he, "I can face my enemy." With a
resolution fixed upon overcoming his pernicious
habits, he went earnestly to work--
always having the decanter before him;
but never touched it. Again he began to
thrive--and in a few years he was once
more the owner of his former delightful
residence. His children grew up and are
now respectable members of society. Old
age came upon Tom, but he always kept
the decanter in the window where he first
put it; and often when his head was silvered
over with age, he would refer to his decanter
and laugh heartily at its singular effect;
and he never permitted it to be removed
from that window while he lived, nor was
it until he had been consigned to his narrow
home.