The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1867-06-28
Che GaStaliam funnt.
A CURSE.


Curse there is Of emple bound,
In human circles ever found,
gaugrene thing OF fatal tolls
Iusidious, lile-consumng coils,
Winding around the human frame,
Round head aud heart and soul and brain,
With dread embrace its victims round,
Dread as fell Boa ever wound
His scay, nervous twists around;
Till crushed aud bleeding, litelcss lay
The creature Of tho Monsters prey.
But all q winning, pleasing foe,
This Curse which charms to utter woe
In friendly guise, deceptive worn,
Seductive, willy, cheerful borne,
And blandly to its court invites;
This gilded bane of false delights
Cheers on with subtle, artful voice;
And Pandemonium's hosts rejoice,
Till treaeherous Vice triumphant stands,
And smiles DER ruin Of her hands.
II further Of this Curse you'd know,
Read these lines lay bare and show
Its baue, its victims, vice and WOO.
Then come, my friend, no wizard hand
lllusive points at my command,
No foul 1mpostcr here | stand,
No dark deluson to present,
But truth unfold with good intcut
If such you seek, with me agreed,
Inquire and learn as we proceed,
To scan Crimes wretchcd victims DER,
And probe this Curse into its core.
Ask him on gallows scotl0ld bound,
Ask him with gbbet-irons crownd,
Ask impious hand and deep gory-dyed
In the fell blood ot-the Suicide
Ask Incest in its foul array;
Ask the Adulterer flushed for prey;
Ask the Deceiver, as he flies
To gaia Seductiou's glowing prize;
Ask Prostitution, stecp'd in WocS
Ask the Bhsphemer, big with oaths
Ask Set-rcSpect, in charnel weeds;
Ask dark Dishouors reckng deeds
Ask Cheat, and Sycoplaut, and Liar;
Ask mind dcbased by ahject hires
Ask Destitution, vasrant, lean;
Ask sponging loarers, sickly, mean
Ask the mam'd limb and broken brow;
Ask him with tremcns raving now;
Ask him with blood stained, heavy eyes
Ask him who in the gutter lies
Ask each whose hope is but shred
Ask those for whom Affections dead;
Ask her who groans with weepings wid
Ask Poverty's sad, hungry child;
Ask pallid cheeks and loathesome forms;
Ask Bcauty's wrecks and Passions storms
Ask Regulations mangled name;
Ask Health destroyed ask fallen Fame;
Ask Friendships bond in piteous twain
Ask Love in ruin robed in pain;
Ask broken heart and tortured brain;
Ask dying one aud tombstone drear,
Who writhcs, who rests untmely here ?
hbh lll6 pOOI lildlldC III MS CSllJ
In some short, lucid interval;
Ask him to Genius brightly we'd
Who bcgs along the streets for bread;
Ask homes where Discord rampant rcars,
And blows and curses rend their spheres
Ask the selfbanished, wayward one
Poor exile from an aching home;
Ask Misery's rags that flaunt the gale;
Ask starving millions in their wall,
Why ilunger's pangs incessaut prey,
And waste their bones and flesh away,
And bloat and blotch with loathesome sore,
The face which first fresh Beauty wore
Ask Sin and Woe Of every birth,
Which reeking mars this glorious earth;
And when y0u've asked and probed the root
And found when each assumed the brute,
And whence the shaft which pierced him thro
And his fair pristine virtue slew;
What cheered him on to many crimes,
That stain the past and present times.
And fouled the heavenly image there,
And stamped upon his heart Despair,
Aud hurled him o'cr Distinctions brink?
Each fatal tale begins with Drink
Degrading deadly ALCOHOL,
Commanding the mind, heart, soul, all.