Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-11-30
.PRINTER.s INK.

"PRINTER'S INK
poem delivered by Mrs. L. Virginia Fren4 81,
DeIOre the Tennessee Press Association, at its
semi Annual Session held at Chattanooga, on
Ihursday. the 18th day of November, 1873.
BRoTEERsl with pens sharp as the sword of
Cortez
Mightiest of weapons in your wordy war
whose inks pleasant, pungent aQua-fortis,
syrup TO soothe,-or vitriOl to mar:
Since U Africaise Is all the fashion,
lMhatever wit, wisdom we may lack;)
We choose our subject by the ''rulirg passion
30 NINE Is black,-unutterably black:
In ruth as black as any curly kink
Upon the head of Erebus-'ts "Prnter's Esk.'s
You have your faults "they say"-(but that's be-
tween us,)
"They say" You sometimes tremble in your
And let old Bacchus, and his friend Silenus,
Back you" by laying you upon your backs!
put, brave "Bohemians," and dearest "Druid b."
Inc world perhaps should prize yon none the sss,
because. though you are powerful" fond Of
Conld ithave any wine, without the PREss9
ana Then, Of all duidities, the pink
Is your creation-namely. Printers Ink"
The days of Ed had many a potent liquor
Unless the sold Re-ti-afie" of History les
Dfsugnts that would drown your "seven senses''
quicker
Though you are sage as Solomon the Wise.
queen Cleopatra's pearl dissolved In acid,
Eor instance, what beverage rather raw,
scanning to tender throat, and muscle faccid
As Jersey lightning" taken through a straw.
II must nave made the lady blench and blink
Like parties vitrioiized- with printers Ink"
There was the draught that finished Alexander.
Inc princely potentate, almost divine
40 speak of that catastrophe " til candor,
The world was drowned within cup of wine!
But-do you know-I think, IL by some mystic
connection with warmer world to-day,
lSay some supernatural medium, spiritualistic)
v, we c0ald find out what Aleck has to say.
Inc Oonqueror would rap with realizing wink
Inki'n
Then comes the caustic-lcving. Queen Of Caria
Who drank her husbands ashes in her wine{
TO her 1t might be erich and racy" too-but
ssnarya
Drap" Of such alkali I'd take in minei
All sorts OF matrimonial caustic is unpleasant,
And flies, like contradiction, to your head
This Queens example wouldn't do at present.
She drank her husband after he was dead;
But even her soul Of slkAli would shrink
To take the concentrated I've" Of printers
Ink"
There was the vine Of sweet Lucretia Borgfa,
potent sangaree to stop the breath
Or, sske the 'code Of honor" down in Georgia.
A sherry cobbler brewed by certain Death.
Lucretia's blackberries az were slightly "pisorn
But her beneyolence go was grand and rich,
She "treated" friends with her peculiar yson
And wasn't troubled any more with "sicb -
But-were she living now, no other drink
Would suit her gentle charities, like Printers
Ink"
Tasse wss the slsshfpa Scandinavian heroes
Gay Vikings "eioshtDg round" in tub like huIls--
AZ full Of nun As any fddling Neros,
Who drank each others health from gorv skulls
Rough as the wild and rushing seas they rode in.
Drinking the blood OF enemies like mead
When qushlna elsret-cup to Thor and Odin--
bitter battle beverage indeed;
Aud vat fuwaa aTaOf@ NV
70 gall that sometimes seasons printers Ink
In later days zoe had brew would staEger
Lucretia's self, aud Caesar Borgia both
patriotic prison poisoned lager.
Denominated dam-1 mean-"he Data"
The drink was not at all Anaereontic,
Rather chslybeate-st least twas "iron-clsd,"
A liberal dose would give the great Propoutic
"Black enthusiastically bad:
But 10! our patriots nobly lined themselves with
And swallowed tin gulps of 'tPrinter's Inkl"
Now we have drinks that would distract Micaw-
The "Ssmian bowl' that Byron sings about
Counterfeit "comst wines" and crude Catawbs
Cnampagne-wiIp neither "sham" nor spain"
left out.
Brews that bring on the inevitable ohio oh.,-
And such as that adOred by Gilpin's spouse
Dashing, deceptive, dancing ''Widow Cliequot"
To whom, no doubt, you often pay your VOWS.
Their special mission" in the world, 1 think,
TO muddle men, and palsy Printers Ink"
In Noah's day the world was drowned with wat or
But Noah afterwards was drowned in wine
The story of the Patriarch chad oughter'
Teach us leSSOn-did we SO incline,
Water, it seems, could take him over seas
But wine could only keep him "hdlf seas over"
l never point m0rap'-if you please
The mOraPs there's little under cover.
For you're all HOah's, floating on the brink
OF small deluge-foods OF "Priater's Ink"
We're now in Chattanooga-( pleasant eityi)
The Indian name j. said to mean 'tLook oTlflp
Or, should you deem foreign language pretty
lis ''Prenes gards!" Take care what you're
about
If then on seas of circumstance" you've dOun-
dered-
If on the brine the stor n has laid you fat
In Winy desps, like Noah, are you foundered?
g Look outs" your watchword and your Ararat!
Far looming like the ''hils OF Never-sink''
70 all who stem the surge of printers Ink"
Through the dim By-gone rolled famous river,
Pactolus-'twas old Midas bath we're told.
He made the shining waves with silver shiver,
And freighted a ! its sands With lucid gold.
Look out" with courage and brave endurance
Seek the bright ,nds, I'D don't pretend to be
Ashamed of tive may with fell assurance
See far, and yet not be Phar-i-see
SO look and listen-and you'll hear the clink
Or gold upun the shores Of-tPriIter's Ink"
look Oars"' your Pharos with its watch-fres
Warning your vessels OFF that fatal shore,
Where men lie dazed and dreamless, broken,
blighted.
Drunken with Circe's popped madragore.
In lOtos-laRds the Sybarite reposes
Yet cold Charybdis PRstum, spite of all its roses
Is watered by the deadly Soils Fons;
In whose hot deeps your energies must sink
Beyond redemptiOn-lost to Printers Ink"
"Look cuts" the watch word-ever CAIN and |
steady.
Bending TO neither king nor kaiser's nod
Standing like stalTart champions ever ready
NObiy to work for man-and so for God.
Let hearts be high, and every head keep 'level,"
Then, if the life be right, aud honor true,
No fear of drifting downward TO the devil
mean, of course-the one that dl0elLs with youi
Or, the "ink kompara5le'' imp who scorns to |
shrink,
But lives and loves. and Resin Printers
Ink"
Shoulder to shoulder! ResoIute resistance
To WRoNG-and trGmple it beneath your feet
Still side by side, in brotherly assistance
Teaching Humanity's strong pulses how to beat |
Arm for the RIGHT Close up-and ono sur
render,"-
Show to your fellows in the fercest fight
How royal manhood in supremest splendoF
Becomes true HOnor's gallant Red Gross Knight
Staunch in your sable armor-linK on link,
Stand forth TO rule the world-with "BrGins"
and I" PriHteT's Ink"
L. VIRGINIA FRENCH
FOREST HoNB, Nov. Is, 1872.