73 / 100
\
f
DEVIL'S GRIST
A
WRETCHED
mother who had been imbibing strong ale
in
a dram shop, entered the door of her home with her
child on one arm and a bag of flour on the other. By
mistake she threw her child in the meal chest in a closet near at
hand, and placed 'the bag of flour
in
the cradle; then threw
herself upon her bed to sleep.
During the night the mother was occasionally aroused by
the cries of the poor child and once or twice she actually got up
and rocked the bag of flour.
Morning came and with it the discovery of the darling babe
dead in the meal chest,
Since then that wretched mother has signed the Pledge.
Cold Water Magazine,
1842.
[ 73]