And the suburbs of thy graces ;
And in thy borders take delight,
An unconquered Canaanite.

CHARLES LAMB.

And chained her there mid want and strife,
That lowly thing, - a drunkard's wife !
And stamped on childhood's brow, so mild,
That withering blight, - a drunkard's child !

ANONYMOUS.

Go, hear, and see, and feel, and know GO, FEEL WHAT I HAVE FELT.

All that my soul hath felt and known,

Then look within the wine-cup's glow; By a young lady who was told that she was a monomaniac in her

See if its brightness can atone; hatred of alcoholic liquors.]

Think if its flavor you would try,
Go, feel what I have felt,

If all proclaimed, - 'T is drink and die.
Go, bear what I have borne ;

Tell me I hate the bowl, -
Sink 'neath a blow a father dealt,

Hate is a feeble word ;
And the cold, proud world's scorn.

I loathe, abhor, my very soul
Thus struggle on from year to year,

By strong disgust is stirred
Thy sole relief the scalding tear.

Whene'er I see, or hear, or tell
Go, weep as I have wept

Of the DARK BEVERAGE OF HELL!
O'er a loved father's fall ;
See every cherished promise swept,

Yonth's sweetness turned to gall;
Hope's faded flowers strewed all the way

THE VAGABONDS.
That led me up to woman's day.

We are two travellers, Roger and I.
Go, kneel as I have knelt;

Roger's my dog :- come here, you scamp!
Implore, beseech, and pray,

Jump for the gentlemen, — mind your eye ! Strive the besotted heart to melt,

Over the table, - look out for the lamp ! The downward course to stay ;

The rogue is growing a little old ; Be cast with bitter curse aside, —

Five years we've tramped through wind and Thy prayers burlesqued, thy tears defied.

weather, Go, stand where I have stood,

And slept out-doors when nights were cold, And see the strong man bow ;

And ate and drank — and starved together. With gnashing teeth, lips bathed in blood, we've

| We've learned what comfort is, I tell you ! And cold and livid brow;

A bed on the floor, a bit of rosin, Go, catch his wandering glance, and see

A fire to thaw our thumbs (poor fellow ! There mirrored his soul's misery.

The paw he holds up there's been frozen),

Plenty of catgut for my fiddle
Go, hear what I have heard, -

(This out-door business is bad for the strings), The sobs of sad despair,

Then a few nice buckwheats hot from the griddle,
As memory's feeling fount hath stirred,

And Roger and I set up for kings !
And its revealings there
Have told him what he might have been,

No, thank ye, sir, — I never drink ;
Had he the drunkard's fate foreseen.

Roger and I are exceedingly moral, —

Are n't we, Roger ?- see him wink!-
Go to my mother's side,

Well, something hot, then, - we won't quarrel.
And her crushed spirit cheer;

He's thirsty too, -- see him nod his head ?
Thine own deep anguish hide,

What a pity, sir, that dogs can't talk !
Wipe from her cheek the tear ;

He understands every word that's said, -
Mark her dimmed eye, her furrowed brow,

And he knows good milk from water-and-chalk. The gray that streaks her dark hair now, The toil-worn frame, the trembling limb, The truth is, sir, now I reflect, And trace the ruin back to him

I've been so sadly given to grog, Whose plighted faith, in early youth, I wonder I've not lost the respect Promised eternal love and truth,

(Here's to you, sir !) even of my dog. But who, forsworn, hath yielded up

But he sticks by through thick and thin ; This promise to the deadly cup,

And this old coat, with its empty pockets, And led her down from love and light, And rags that smell of tobacco and gin, From all that made her pathway bright, I He 'll follow while he has eyes in his sockets. There is n't another creature living

| She's married since, — a parson's wife; Would do it, and prove, through every disaster,' 'T was better for her that we should part, So fond, so faithful, and so forgiving

Better the soberest, prosiest life To such a miserable, thankless master! Than a blasted home and a broken heart. No, sir ! — see him wag his tail and grin ! I have seen her ? Once: I was weak and spent

By George ! it makes my old eyes water! On the dusty road, a carriage stopped ; That is, there's something in this gin

But little she dreamed, as on she went, That chokes a fellow. But no matter! . Who kissed the coin that her fingers dropped ! We'll have some music, if you're willing, You've set me talking, sir ; I'm sorry ; And Roger (hem! what a plague a cough is, It makes me wild to think of the change! sir !)

What do you care for a beggar's story? Shall march a little. Start, you villain !

Is it amusing ? you find it strange ? Stand straight ! 'Bout face ! Salute your offi- I had a mother so proud of me! cer!

I 'T was well she died before - Do you know Put up that paw! Dress! Take your rifle ! If the happy spirits in heaven can see (Some dogs have arms, you see !) Now hold. The ruin and wretchedness here below?

your Cap while the gentlemen give a trifle,

Another glass, and strong, to deaden • To aid a poor old patriot soldier !

This pain ; then Roger and I will start.

I wonder, has he such a lumpish, leaden, March! Halt! Now show how the rebel shakes Aching thing in place of a heart?

When he stands up to hear his sentence. | He is sad sometimes, and would weep, if he could, Now tell us how many drams it takes

No doubt, remembering things that were, — To honor a jolly new acquaintance.

A virtuous kennel, with plenty of food,
Five yelps, – that's five; he's mighty knowing! And himself a sober, respectable cur.

The night's before us, fill the glasses !-
Quick, sir! I'm ill, - my brain is going? I'm better now; that glass was warming.
Some brandy, - thank you, – there ! - it You rascal ! limber your lazy feet !
passes !

We must be fiddling and performing

For supper and bed, or starve in the street. Why not reform ? That's easily said ;

Not a very gay life to lead, you think ! But I've gone through such wretched treat. But soon we shall go where lodgings are free, ment,

And the sleepers need neither victuals nor Sometimes forgetting the taste of bread,

drink;
And scarce remembering what meat meant, The sooner the better for Roger and me!
That my poor stomach 's past reform ;

And there are times when, mad with thinking,
I'd sell out heaven for something warm
To prop a horrible inward sinking.

THE POOR MAN AND THE FIEND. Is there a way to forget to think?

A FIEND once met a humble man
At your age, sir, home, fortune, friends, At night, in the cold dark street,
A dear girl's love, — but I took to drink, — And led him into a palace fair,

The same old story; you know how it ends. | Where music circled sweet;
If you could have seen these classic features, – And light and warmth cheered the wanderer's
You need n't laugh, sir ; they were not then

heart, Such a burning libel on God's creatures ;

From frost and darkness screened, I was one of your handsome men !

Till his brain grew mad beneath the joy,

And he worshipped before the fiend. If you had seen her, so fair and young,

Whose head was happy on this breast ! Ah! well if he ne'er had knelt to that fiend, If you could have heard the songs I sung

For a taskmaster grim was he; When the wine went round, you would n't have And he said, “One half of thy life on earth guessed

I enjoin thee to yield to me; That ever I, sir, should be straying

And when, from rising till set of sun, From door to door, with fiddle and dog, í Thou hast toiled in the heat or snow, Ragged and penniless, and playing

Let thy gains on mine altar an offering be”; To you to-night for a glass of grog !

1 And the poor man ne'er said “No!"

T. TROWBRIDGE.

The poor man had health, more dear than gold; Canst drink the waters of the crispéd spring ? Stout bone and muscle strong,

O sweet content ! That neither faint nor weary grew,

Swimm'st thou in wealth, yet sink'st in thine To toil the June day long;

own tears? And the fiend, his god, cried hoarse and loud,

O punishment ! “Thy strength thou must forego,

Then he that patiently want's burden bears Or thou no worshipper art of mine";

No burden bears, but is a king, a king! And the poor man ne'er said “No!”

O sweet content ! O sweet, O sweet content !

Work apace, apace, apace, apace ; Three children blest the poor man's home, –

Honest labor bears a lovely face; Stray angels dropped on earth, —

Then hey nonny nonny, hey nonny nonny! The fiend beheld their sweet blue eyes,

T. DECKER. And he laughed in fearful mirth : “Bring forth thy little ones," quoth he, “My godhead wills it so !

SWEET IS THE PLEASURE.
I want an evening sacrifice";
And the poor man ne'er said “No!"

SWEET is the pleasure

Itself cannot spoil ! A young wife sat by the poor man's fire,

Is not true leisure
Who, since she blushed a bride,

One with true toil ?
Had gilded his sorrow, and brightened his joys,
His guardian, friend, and guide.

Thou that wouldst taste it,
Foul fall the fiend ! he gave command,

Still do thy best; “ Come, mix the cup of woe,

Use it, not waste it, — Bid thy young wife drain it to the dregs" ;

Else 't is no rest. And the poor man ne'er said “No!”

Wouldst behold beauty O, misery now for this poor man !

Near thee ? all round? O, deepest of misery!

Only hath duty Next the fiend his godlike reason took,

Such a sight found. And amongst beasts fed he;

Rest is not quitting And when the sentinel mind was gone,

The busy career; He pilfered his soul also;

Rest is the fitting And — marvel of marvels !— he murmured not;

Of self to its sphere. The poor man ne'er said “No!”.

'T is the brook's motion, Now, men and matrons in your prime,

Clear without strife, Children and grandsires old,

Fleeing to ocean Come listen, with soul as well as ear,

After its life. This saying whilst I unfold; 0, listen ! till your brain whirls round,

Deeper devotion And your heart is sick to think,

Nowhere hath knelt; That in England's isle all this befell,

Fuller emotion
And the name of the fiend was — DRINK !

Heart never felt.
REV. MR. MACLELLAN.

'T is loving and serving

The highest and best ;

"T is onwards ! unswerving, – THE HAPPY HEART.

And that is true rest.

JOHN SULLIVAN DWIGHT. ART thou poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers ?

O sweet content!
Art thou rich, yet is thy mind perplexed ?

THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH.
O punishment !
Dost thou laugh to see how fools are vexed

UNDER a spreading chestnut-tree
To add to golden numbers, golden numbers ?

The village smithy stands ; O sweet content ! O sweet, O sweet content!

The smith, a mighty man is he, Work apace, apace, apace, apace;

With large and sinewy hands; Honest labor bears a lovely face ;

And the muscles of his brawny arms Then hey nonny nonny, hey nonny nonny !

Are strong as iron bands.