. Sixty and six : chips from literary workshops . recovered himself. He must appear wellbefore his host. But his eyes closed, and again his handslipped slowly down. Once more he recovered himself, but in vain; bothhand and paper were at rest on the chair. He had given himself up to the alluring dreams ofhis drugged brain. He is ill ? inquired the host. No, it is no illness. It is death, death at the topfirst; death of head and heart. No active thought, nogenerous impulse can now be his. He has killed themall. And she, his wife? The drunkards wife is happycompared with her. The drunkard is some
. Sixty and six : chips from literary workshops . recovered himself. He must appear wellbefore his host. But his eyes closed, and again his handslipped slowly down. Once more he recovered himself, but in vain; bothhand and paper were at rest on the chair. He had given himself up to the alluring dreams ofhis drugged brain. He is ill ? inquired the host. No, it is no illness. It is death, death at the topfirst; death of head and heart. No active thought, nogenerous impulse can now be his. He has killed themall. And she, his wife? The drunkards wife is happycompared with her. The drunkard is sometimes him-self. There are moments when he remembers that oncehe loved. There are hours when his children may creepinto his lap and his arms close around them in a strongembrace. But O, that cursed drugl Not one lucid momentdoes it grant its victim. Slowly she roused him. Out of the home and oninto the shadow of the ever-darkening future theymoved; he, the opium eater, and she, his bondwoman,chained to the body of a Hving death. E. MESERVE
Size: 2188px × 1142px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectamericanliterature
