Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1858-02-03
@geG. ..
YOft's Gurnsr.
For the Spirit Of the Age.
" SOMETHING TO DRINK"
BY EpoAR q. RoGAN.

SOMETHING TO DRINK"
BY ED0AR n. RoGAE.
"Let's moisten our whistles" says loaier"
lonfer; ~
Gay. AZ sir, exactly that's just what ! go
81. M . the bar with a swsggsring gate,
They strut like two BacOns or Lords OF the
State.
Come Landlord, a smashsr-be quick asa
Wen cheer up our spirits with +" something
10 drink"
The Landlord, a jolly, good trump ofhis class
Soon meets their demand with his bottle md
glass
Each loafer now armed with his drink in his
hand,
Turns right and left inward, and face to face
stand.
Then follows bow, and . wink Of the eye,
AS much as to say, may you live till you die,
Then striking their glass, " here's health"
says the one,
Here's wealth" says the Other-the next
that is done
Is q smacking Of lips and a mutual frOwn,
Their glasses go up and their contents 60
down.
Having wiped off their nOzzles and point for
their treat,
They bow themselves out again into the street
To loaf and to ogle each fair passer by
While the sweat Of their bodies, is pumping
them dry.
IT'S a very strange taste in these %loafers, |
think,
To 20 10 such places for : something to drink.
"0hl something to drink" says the sot with
q sigh,
While the devil peeps out of his blood-shot-
- lit -
Illumiuos his face with the CLEAN Of despair.
Poor creature be heeds not the Juggernaut
carr
But drags his sad way TO the rumseller's bar,
That place in which crime centers all Of its
roots,
Where men are made drunkards and drunk
ards made brutes.
There standing the lowest in earth's lowest
sink,
He pleads as a beggar for something tc
drink"
But the rumscller, deaf to his w~ailings OIL
woe,
Turns away from his pleading and bids hin
to 60.
His body is w%rithing with torturing pain,
Aud bells molten lava meanders his brain
His eyes leave their sockets-his hair start
on end,
His burning flesh quivers-his %nostrils dis
tend,
And yielding at last to his thirst kindle
fires,
His life cord is severed-he falls and expires
Oh sad is the fate Of that wretch who q
tains
To flames highest peak, by the conquest
brains
Who standing aloft on the heights Of renow
Looks dowE upon envy and smiles at j
frown;
But failing at length in some unguard'
hour
Yields up his position to habits vile power
First loOses his foot holt, then slips on I
brink
OF that terrible precipice something
drink"
Here's something to drink says the coqu
ish maid
While her hand on the arm Of her lover
laid,
And touching the glass to her own pouti
lips
She reaches il TO him, he takes it and sips
Sips lightly at first, but it flies to his brs
lie empties the goblet, she fills it again,
And splicing the draught with his Lowell
smile
The Needless young temptress u~nthinkinl
guile
Invites him to drink, and he loath to refr
Heeds not the effect that too much may I
duce
But yields to the taste Of that last fatal S
And drains TO it's bottom the merciless Gu
The stupor Of wine has exiled from its pl
The halo Of genius that frightened his
And kindled his piercing black eye wit
glenn
That speaks but too plainly the drunkai
wild dream.
Oh yes, be is drunk-all his faculties shr
o woman you did this with " something
drink"
This =" something to drink" is something
damn,
For crime Is aaoat in the innocent dram,
While death is concealed in the goblet
cursed
To sting with its venom the victim Of tn
Wives, mothers and children, have fel
abuse
And each has been deluged with tear
its use.
1t has swept DER the land like a beso
wrath,
Leaving terror and ruin to cumber it's
And hell now enlarges its ponderous ia,
And painting awaits for eternity's pause
To gulp at one swallow, the damned
shall sink
To atone in its pillows, for " somethi
drink
Lockhart, Texas.