The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1881-05-19
The First and Last Drink.
ny SAKE DEMAyNE.


II am getting so very tired, mamma,
But papa is not coming yet,
I wonder II he won't soon be here,
Or has he forgotten his little pet"
As these words were waited to me,
BY the evening breeze, so warm
Those sweet words our darling uttered
As he gazed out over the lawn.
Ny feelings were stirred within me,
BY the sadness Of the tone,
As heard him slowly utter,
Why don't papa come home"
Oh that could paint the picture
That on turning met my gaze
Twas so sad and still more touching
Than imagination ever portrays.
On the sofa there reclining
With her face so calm and white
Lay the darling's sainted mother
Her soul almost ready to take its
flight.
Down onthe velvet covered floor be-
side her,
The darling In innocent beauty knelt
With his face so full OF childish sadness
That the starting tears, could not
help.
With his arms entwined about her,
In his innocent loving way,
He raised his small white hand,
And brushed her falling tears away.
While the son in mellow softness
Sending forth its last bright CLEAN;
With all its beauty and its glory
Lit up the entire scene.
Suddenly the darling started
Asan approaching step he hears
And as he smiles, and runs forward
All his sorrow quickly disappears.
Down the walk he quickly hastens
Shouting merrily as he ran:
''Papa's coming! papa's comingw
And he clapped his little hands.
But he paused as he drew nearer
Started as II by some sudden fear
As he gazcd upon the countenance
OF his father; whom he held so dear.
Could 1t be and yet what was it,
That made him look SO strange and
wild
As he sprang forward, and clasped
In his arms, his loving child.
Twas so soon, n moment only,
That he held him there so tight.
Then with the cry OF maniac,
Threw him against the marble pillar
30 white.
Tearfully ! raised our darling
But his little life had fled,
Saw little mark upon his forehead
But he was numbered with the dead.
But cry of bitter anguish
AT that moment fell upon my ear
And there stood the darling's mother
In the fading twilight drear.
With her arms extended towards him
Husband Husband ~ she loudly
Then low moan escapes her
And fainting on the floor, she lies.
Bee he kneels beside her, he Is sober
now,
All his wildness, all his strangeness
gone,
AS he moans, in broken accents:
my wife my child Oh, God what
have done"
IT'S morn, and DER that beautiful
mansion,
The sun its brightest rays has shed,
But 1t calls forth no rejoicings,
ALI still and mourning for the dead.
But In an elegant upper chamber,
Pacing wildly to and fro,
Is that husband, and that father
Of few short hours ago.
His past life floats before him
And he sees his father, once SO brave
Dragged down by the cup OF intem'
perance
Until he fills a drunlard's grave.
Then he kneels besides his mother
And solemnly takes the vow
never to touch the bowl of intemper-
ance
And he hears her prayers even now.
But soon his mother fades away
And he is left desoiate, sad and alone,
with no friends to look to for aid,
A mere outcast without a home.
Zine files on, and he sees himself
Attaining wealth, honor and position
while ne keeps his promise true
And avoids all liquor by intuition.
81 ddenly change comes DER him
A. these scenes fade away
With hands clasped, and flashing eve
Ne b maniac from that day. "
Ons short year he passes thus
Ther heside his wife and child wa
An .,, ns had drank OF the fatal win
ser which he had most dearly paid
psa1h g The Slowing ~ine-cup.