The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1883-10-25
Terrible Ride of Peter M Bride,

~SAAADAH A"iNS VI l. So~h AL ~ AoSs
Have you heard of the ride Of old Peter Mcbride
OF that midsummer night tul Of horrors for
Of the fright that he had-how he thought that
he died,
How they found him at morn bruised in body
and limb?
viii tell yC IL the tale, for it shows what may
come
To man when he foolishly NEEDLES with rum.
a merry old topper was Peter Mcbride:
He WIS fond of his glass as schoolboy of
jam,
And tipping to Kim was a matter of PRIDE
He rode every night for his regular dram
r" the village hotel, on his old chestnut mare
He loved the Llack bottle that greeted him
there.
But O, what a foe was that bottle to himI
IL scattered his nerves and rcddened his nose;
His round checks grew hollow, his eyesight
grew dim;
His form Eecame feeble; the tracks of the
crows
BEGAN 10 appear on his temples; yet more,
He added each night 10 the rumsel!er's store.
What price do men pay for the pleasures of
life.
In manhood, in usefulness, wisdom and
wealth?
Rum conqucrs it seldom is crushed in the strife,
IT ruins mbItion, it dssipaies health
Yet thousands are wasting and losing their ALL
and millions unborn in the battle will fall.
One night to the tavern came Peter Mcbride,
He tied lis thin stCed to the sign-post near by;
He entered the tap-rOom, he sat down beside
The rickety bar with a wearisome sigh.
For he felt what a slave he had weakly become
In the merctess, pitiless bondage of rum.
So he called for a drink and he quzz ed it down
10 drown his dull care and to make him feel
gay.
He drank and he drank till the lamplishk1poked
brown,
Til the tavern turned around in myst cal
wayI
He drank till his stomach was tortured with
PAIN
Till horrible phantoms distracted his brain.
But see! from corner there cautiously peeps
A little red serpent; how happened it there?
It's eyes CLEAN like diamonds, it wriggles, it
croeps
It coils Itself quietly under his chair.
He leaps from his scat with howl OF dismay,
The little red serpent has vanished away.
Look! Locl1l from the cracks in the ceiling and
wall,
From the barrels and kegs, from the bottles
and jugs
How the snakes. how the worms, and the green
lizards crawl!
How they twist, how they squirm in lie glasses
and mugs.
How they creep FER the counter, and in at the
door;
How they wriggle and writhe, as they fall on
the floor!
They climb up his limbs, and they twine on his
wrists,
lie drops his old bottlei He throws Off his
coat.
They creep OIL his body He wriggles and twists.
He struggles to tear thoir cold coils from his
throat
He STAMPS on the fIoor and he clutches the air.
Then rnshes in rage for his old chestnut mare!
But the boys of the village, who longed for a
Looscd his neishing old beast from the sign
post aIld Tied
In her place, with a hcd-cord, Il Zig brindle cow
AIIs.ldd ed, All hrilled, an'! ready TO ride,
When rushed from the tavern, with snakes in
his tracks,
Old Peter, who rounced with yell on her back
NJ. IL.
with the st' rs overhead dimy lighting the
Passed Peter Mcbride in pififnl plight
In the tracks of his stecd towards his distant
The dogs Ii rcely barlcd and the cocks loudly
crew,
As the bel.owing COW by the fam houses flew.
The villagers ral c, in alarm from their beds,
They threw UP their windows i'll wonder they
gaZcl!,
And pecred through the Darkness with uncov-
cred heads;-
Such & iii that region had never been
raised
While swift as the wings of the wind DER the
tile
In a terrible tempest, rode Peter McBrideI
He saw the strange horns of the beast that he
The ionr cioven hoots of the fleet footed
thing,
With the horrible thought twas the devil he
rode!
He saw as str tail, like snake on the wing!
I Itr IL l. all ars Ind had sIiiphurouS SMELL
He l. st his III IN grip on The saddle and tell.
Fricnus found him and carried him over the
hills,
TO his dCsolate home whc they put him to
They bic Inn, they fed him with chamomiIe
pills;
g'iey piasteied his chest and they poulticed
his head,
And when ne recovered, he socmnly swore
10 upple and toy with the devil no more.
Are YOU wasting the years of your manhood
away,
Is the dt mon of drunkenness dragging you
down,
Are you rusGng and hastinY 10 early decay,
Tie bywurd and sport of the boys of the town?
Some dragon may carry you or in your pride
With snakes 1T our ht els like Old Peter Nc
Bride