Smyrna times., 1867-06-05
POET r Y .
Intemperance and the Licence Law.

Read before the East Baltimore COnferel
Temperance SOctety.l
Tell me thou child of Hadean birth,
Whom devils love and wise men fear,
Why dost thou wander from thy home?
What kind of mission hast thou here :"
" come invoked by love of gold,
And labO.r o intoxicate,
10 increase sin, % ruin souls,
Destruction to inaugurate.
lure men from their peaceful homes
To morbid appetites create,
Then deal them out the liquid fire
Their burning thirst to satate.
/ fill the window-panes with rags,
Tear down the shutters, break the doors.
Offurniture l rob the home,
And steal the carpet from the floors.
rob the home Of Joy and peace,
And constant misery create;
Then leave it as thoug cursed of God,
Jerusalem the desOLdte.
The brow of every drunkard's wife
l wreathe with lines of anxious care,
And on her once fond loving heart,
set the seal Of deep despair.
pluck the roses from he. cheeks,
The light from out her brilliant eye,
In scorn call her drunkard's wife,
And leave her in disgrace to die.
clohte her little brood with rags,
And driUe them from my cheerful home,
To go as beggGrs, CagrGnts forth,
This friendLess, selfish isOrId to roam.
Iquench the fires of genius,
And GddLe every drinkers brain,
And send my liquid poison out
To circulate in every vein.
rob my victim of his health,
And mar the beauty of his face,
And with my rum paralysis,
soon destroy his native grace.
His money soon call my own,
And cheat him out of his estate,
Then kick the drunken UagrGnt out,
And leave him to his cheerless fate.
His self.respect take away,
His noble manhood debase,
And make of him loOrthless sOt,
The most degraded of his race.
Isquench the spirit in his heart,
His soul with sin contaminate,
Till mercy's sun goes down on him
A lost and hopeless rePrObate.
let him wander forth alone,
TO face the chilling wintry breeze,
And weep not though he stupid lie,
Or by some lonely roadside freeze.
Or if he in delirium die,
With deamons dread fill his room,
Who come in haste invoked by me,
A fitting prelude to his doom.
/ lay my victim in the grave,
And send his soul beneath the swell,
t. h.
The doleiul anthem-icdiL Of he'll
| stir up riots, mobs, and fights,
fill your jails with culprts too,
Your arsons, murders, thefts and crimes,
Without my help would be but few.
Full sixty thousand men this year,
Shall own my scepter's potent sway;
Their forehead bear the beast.lIke mark
That indicates my lawful prey.
A broken outline of my work,
My feeble pen to you has given,
My mission is to opsH hell,
And lock for aye the gates Of heGren.
In my proceedings some may dare
To upbraid me, or pick flaw,
My murders, robberies and wrongs,
Are cOUered by the LICENSE LAW!
We welcome benefactors here,
With shouts that make the welkiE ring;
| On the same principal claim
Ovations, as Relormers King.
Sell out your penitentiaries
| And jails, unclose your pris'ners rough,
Turn every william out at large,
| OF punishment we've had enough.
Tear down your prison-pens and forts,
My wondrous reformation see,
Unlock the doors, unbolL the gates,
Let every earth-born devil free.
If men to my words give head,
/ My precious gift will confer,
Then crimes will soon be obsolete,
And numbered with 'the things that were,'
l murder, steal and rob by law,
And call it honorable too,
But then you see this privilege
Is only granted to a Jet0.
We rum licentiates It's plain,
| Most truly are favored race,
| We sell damnation by the drink,
And yet enjoy the legal grace
While common murderers are hung,
| We murder and are not despised,
| This License LaW Is just the best
| That Rortals ever have devised.
This selling grOg-a perfdy-
Would indicate unspedkdbLe.
Did not our glorious License Law
Make IL at once respectable.
Thus whisky seller drives a trade
| That is legitimate you know,
| MY reformation wipes out then
4 DISTINCTIONS, ALL, that makes men low.
Come gather all your rsscals here,
And grant to each LICENSE, then
Their trade DiH be legitimate,
| And all our race be gentlemen.
Newport, Pa.
MISCELLANEOUS.