Wheeling Sunday Register in Wheeling, West Virginia

Inebriate’s Lament and a Hard Night Far From Home

A first person memoir fragment describes a drunken bargain and its brutal consequences. The narrator recalls a harsh contract to drink twelve miles daily, a collapse into delirium tremens, loss of appetite and dignity, and life with a cruel master. He endures hunger, isolation, and the slow erosion of identity as addiction dominates his days. He records a temporary respite, a hoped return, and the crushing reality of relapse.