Polynesian., 1852-08-07
WHAT WILL YOU HAVE?
By REV. ]. w. ALEXANDER, d. d.

After days work of calculation and copying
| was under the necessity of waiting an hour II
the tap-room of tavern, to secure the services o
a mail-guard, who was to carry parcel for M
employers. Amidst the smoke the splitting, ant
the clatter of crowd of inn haunters, could nc
but find subjects for reflection.
| The presiding genius of the bar was bloated
whiskered young man, whom had long known a!
the abandoned son of deceased friend. ! sighed
and was silent. Ever and anon as one after ano
ther, or squads of two or three, approached hi:
Shrine to receive and empty their glasses, and de-
posit their sxpences, heard the short peremptory
formula of the Bacchanal minister" What will
You have? Brandy? gin? punch? What will you
have z" And the victims severally made their bids
for smaller, cocktail, sling, or juep, as the
case might be. The constant repetition of the
" form in that case made and provided" set me
upon drowsy meditation OIL the pregnant ques-
tion What will you have? "Methinks can an
swer the question" said to myself, as l cast a
glance around the murky apartment. And first to
the young shoemaker, who, with pair of newly
inished.boots, is asking for grog." What will
you have? Young man, you will soon have an
empty pocket.
There is trembling, ragged man, with lvid
spots under the eyes. He is a machine-maker
and has lodgings in the house. What will you
have? All! the bar-keeper knows without an an
swer: he takes gin and water. Poor man. also
know what you will have. Already you have been
twice at deaths door, and gin will not drive off
that chill. You will have typhus ferer.
The glasses are washed out, not cleansed, in the
slop tub under the bar shelf. Now fresh bevy
comes up, cigar in hand. Gentlemen, what will
you have? supply the answer for myself The
baker there will have an apoplery or a sudden
fall in his shop That tailor in green glasses, will
have consumption. And fear that the three idlers
in their train will have the next epidemic that shall
sweep off our refuse drunkards.
Sorry, indeed, am | to see in this place MIR.
Scantlng the cooper. Not to speak of himself,
have reason to believe that both his grown sons
are beginning to drink. He looks about him sus-
piciously. Now he has plucked up courage. He
takes whiskey. You will have pair Of drunken
sons.
That young fellow in the green frock-coat and
colored neckcloth is musician, a man of reading,
and the husband of lovely English woman. He
takes his glass with the air of Greek, drinking
hemlock. You will have a heart-broken wife.
What! is that lad of fifteen going to the barr
He is; and he tosses off his Cogniac with an air..
You will have an early death. The old man that
totters out of the door has doubtless come hlther
to drown his grief. His last son has died IN prison.
from the effects of brawl in theatre. Wretch
ed old man. You will have the halter of a SUI
eide
I must take the rest in mass, for it is Saturday
night, and the throng increases. The bar-keeperI
has an assistant, in the person of pale sorrowfu
girl. Two voices now reiterate the challenge
What will you haye2 Misguided friends! am
greatly afraid you will all have death-bed triih-
Dut hope.
NV man has arrived. AS walked home across
The common, | thought thus: And what will he
nave who, day after day, and year after year, doles
out the devils bounty to his recruits and receives
his sixpences as it were, over the coffin of his VIC
inns |? You, hardened tempter! tif memory live
lereafter) will have the recollection of your tri
,mphs and the vision of their eternal results. You
will have terrible judgment, and an eternity of
ucb retribution as BELTS your life.-.imeriean
Mechanic.