The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1869-02-20

The is not more than half awake yet
"Whatll you have ?" ~uestions the bar
keeper, rather softly, lest he should wake
the ancient gent, as he brings himself up
with a shrug IN front of a particular bottle
to which he points knowingly. An "eye-
opener did you say, old mani? | tell you
of something else you willlave if you keep
up these morning calls-you will have APP
popleXy and a sudden death.
Yonder comes another customer of the
same ilk. "What'll you have?' 'Brandy-
straight" All, indeed! Listen to me, my
good friend, stop this business, CT you will
have drunken sons to follow you to a drunk
ards grave.
In steps another-he looks worsted bv
his nights debauch; all the frolic is out of
him now. 'What will you have =" "a
little of the hair of the dog is good for the
bite" quoth this Bacchanalian philosopher,
with a savage effort to smile, 80 will have
a finger of taH, fuced." Will you indeed?
And you will have the palsy, too, bv-and-
by, and sundry birthstone blossoms stand
and blue.
Do you see that prematurely gray-hcaded
man now coming III, holding his dram-money
between his fingers? He is a regular
"soaker,' not a drunkard-not he; h. is
never drunk, nor is he ever-sober. Would
you believe it.: that mans wife and children
are actually pinched with want at home; he
even gnzzles down what should 60 for the
ch:ldren's shoes and the wife's dress, s. and
leaves them shoeleSs and ragged. '.Nhat
will you have: % "Cock-tail.n Wretched
man, you will have a full cup of misery in
your old days, and perhaps the desperate
end of the suicide, if you don't take more
to PLAIN water for your chronic thirst.
Call with me again, Mr.. Editor, at this
same establishment. 1t is evening now
smoke, more swearing, more ba, king and
biting, than at any other time of the day.
There stands the whiskey-clcrk yet, greet
ing every new batch of customers with his
inex"raule "What will you have" as he
dashes the just emptled glasses through a
tub OF swill water near him, and hollis them
ready to fill again with the same vile decoc-
tons he has been doing ont all day. Gen
t%lernen, what'll you have ?" This time |
will answer for Them. That fast young man
putting his cigar so grandly, and draining
off his glass SO readily, while he rounds off
his buncombe with such new Matched oaths
he will have p violent death and an early
grave. That other bloated young man who
drinks down his dram silently, and smatk>
his lips as though the stuff were sw-cte,
than honey from the honey-comb-he will
have poverty in his pocket and a softening
In his brains; # he marry, or is married,
there will be a widow and some orphans fer
the parish or somebody else to feed before
many years. These three whiskered young
fellows on the left who are busting which
can hide away the most whiskey-what will
they have? They will huve govt in their
blood, ,heums in their tones, and cinders
instead of vitals in their bellies-the first
epidemic which COMES along will have all
of them. You see that group yonder, wait
ing to be supplied-they will have the
''blues' tomorrow, and those two having
pistols buckled at their sides are almost GER
tain to commit some crime in their drunken
frolics that will send them to the gallows,
or to the penltentiary for life.
But what Of him who has been so busy
all day and so far into the night retailing
his cursed stuff-what will he have-he
Who has been doing the devils work 50
bravcIy-what will he have, I say? When
he lies down at night, what sort of angels
over him? When he dies, who will
bear away his spirit, and whittier? What
will he have-he who is a vendor of strong
drink (and there are other vendors of the ar.
-lc.e than those who stand at grogshop
;ounters) will they have-in eternity?
Waiting an answer, Mr.. Editor, | leave you
% your reflections, and retire.
MINNIE.
OpeloIsas, Feb. 70, 1860.