The Brookhaven leader., 1883-09-27
Temperance.
PETER II M'BRIDE AND HIS TER
RIFLE RIDE.


RIFLE RIDE.
Have You heard of the rido of old Peter Nc
Bride
or that midsummer night full of horrors for
him,
OF the frght that he had-how he thought
that he died.
How they found him at morn bruised in
will tell you the tale for it shows what may
To man when he foolishly meda.os Nth rum.
A merry old topper was Peter McBridei
He was fond of his glass as II school boy Of
jam.
And tipplng to him was a matter of pride.
He rode every night for his regular dram
To the village hotel, on his old chestnut mare
lie loved tine black bottle that greeted him
there.
But o. what a foe was that bottle to him!
1t shattered his nerves ana it Redeemed his
HE round cheeks grew hollow, his eyesight
grew DIN;
Began to appear on his temples; yet more
He added each night TO the rumseller's store.
What a price do men pay for the pleasures of
life,
In manhood, in usefulness, wisdom and
wealth
Rum conqmcrs, it seldom is crushed in the
strife,
II RUNS amDuiOn, II ulSSlpdteS Dtdltn-
Yet thousands are wasting and losing their
all,
And millions unborn in the battle will fall.
One night to the tavern came Peter McTride
He tied his thin steed to the sgn-post near
by;
The rickety bar with wearsOme sigh,
For he felt what a slave he had weakly be-
come
In the merciless, pitiless bondage of rum.
So he called for drink and he guzzlcd it
down.
To drown his dull care and to make him feel
He drank and he drank till the lamplight
looked brown,
Till the tavern turned round in a mystical
way,
He drank TIL his stomach was tortured with
pain,
Till horrible phantoms distracted his brain.
But, sce from corner there cautiously
A little red serpent: how happened it there?
Its eyes CLEAN like diamonds, it wriggles, it
1t coils iticIf quietly under his chair
He leaps from his seat with howl of dismay,
The little red serpent has vanished away.
Look! look! 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 the
glasses and mugs;
How they creep Ger the counter and in at the
door;
How they wrigglc and writhe, as they fall on
the floor!
They climb up his limbs and they twine on
He drops his old bottle! He throws off his
They creep on his body! He wiggles, he
twists,
uo To
his throat.
He stamps on the floor and he clutches the
| Then rushes in rage for his old chestnut
mare!
But the boys of the village, who longed for a
row,
Loosed his neghing old beast from the sign
post ana tied
In her place, with a BEDFORD, big brindle
All saddied all brdcd and ready to ride,
When rushed from the tavern, with snakes in
his track,
Old Peter, who pounccd with a yell on her
back.
| The cord snapped in twain, and away in af-
fright,
With the stars overhead dimly lighting the
road,
| Passed Peter Mcbride in pitiful plight
! In the tracks of his steed toward his distant
abode.
The dogs ticrccy barkcd and the cocks loud
ly crew.
| As the believing COW by the farm houses flew.
| The villagers leapcd in alarm from their beds,
They threw up their windows, i'll wonder
they gaZed,
And pecred through the darkness, with I'M
covered heads:
| Such IL row in that region had never been
raised;
| While swift as the wings of the wind DER the
tide
| In terrible tempest rode Peter Mcbride!
He saw the strange horns of the beast that he
strobe;
The folr coven hoofs of the feet footed
thing.
With the horrible thought, twas the devil he
rode!
He saw its stiff tail, like n snake on the wing !!
| The air all around had a sulphurOuS smell!
| He lost his firm grip on the saddle and fell.
Friends found him and carried him over the
hills,
To his dcsoate home, where they put him to
bed;
They bled him, they fed him with camomile
pills;
They plastered his chest and they poulticed
his head,
| To tipple and toy with the devil no mOre.g
Are you wasting the years of your manhood
| away?
Is the demon of drunkenness dragging you
down?
| Are you rushing and hasting TO early decay,
| The bywnrd and sport of the boys of the
town?
| Some dragon may carry You OFF in your pride,
| With snakes at your heels like old Peter Nc
Bride.
-ELyene j. Han. IN Chicago Inter Ocean.