The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-07-19

He was drunk as fool here yesterday,
And gave him a hint as ! went to till
And the folks blame me! why bless their giz-
ards
If I don't sell he will go to lizards.
I've right to engage in a lawful trade
And take my chance where there cash to be
made.
{" If men get drunk and go home to turn
Their wives out doors, tbs their own concern,
But hate to have women coming to me
With their tweede-dum and their tweedle-dee,
With their swollen eyes and their haggard
And their speeches learned from Temperance
books,
With their pale lean children, the whimpering
fools,
Why don't they go to the public schools?
" Let the huzzics mind their own affairs,
For never have ! interfered with theirs;
j will turn no customer away
Who is willing to buy and abe to pay,
For business IS business, he he! he he!'
And he rubbed his hands in his chuckling
glee.
:. Many lark have I caught in my net;
have them safe and III fleece them YETI
d" He, he! h0 hol Twas an echoed sound. q
Amazed, the erog-selier looked around.
This side and that, through the smoke peered
he,
But naught but the chairs could the grog-seller
see.
80 Ho no! he. her with cultural note,
1T seemed to come from an iron throat.
And his knees they shook and his hair did
rise,
And he opened his mouth and strained his
eyes;
And 10! in a corner dark and dim,
Stood an uncouth form with an aspect grim.
From his grizzly head through his snaky hair,
Sprouted OF hard, rough horns pair
An redly, his shaggy brows below
Like sulphurous flames did his small eyes
glow.
And his lips were curled with a sinister smile
And the smoke belched from his mouth the
While.
Folded and buttQned around his breast
Was quaint and silvery cleaning vest;
Asbestos it seemed, but we only guess
Why he should fancy so cold dress;
Brooches he wore of an amber hue,
From the rear of which q tail peered through;
His feet were shaped like bullock hoot,
And the boots he wore were caloric proof
Whose fingers were shaped like vulture' S
claws,
AEthree-tined fork, and its prongs so dull
Through the sockets were thrust of grin
ming skull.
Like a sccpter he waved it to and fro,
And he softly cluclled: 'ha, ha! no, hc!"
And all the while his eyes, tina. burned
Like sulphurous flames, on the grog-seller
turned
And how did he feel beneath that look?
shook,
And quiyered and qualed in every limb,
As if an ague had hold of him!
And his eyes to the monster grim were glued
And his tongue was us stiff as billet of wood
But the tlend laughed on: "Ha, ha! he, he!'
And he twitched his tail in his quiet glee.
"Why, what do you fear, my friend?' he said,
! And he nodded the horns of his grizzly head !;
You're an ally of mine, and love you we'll
In very warm country, that men call he'll,
hFNl1 Inv Att.t nd slV11 fNArA 70
/ have not faithfuler friend IN pay
Than you. dear sir, for a work of evil
/ Mayhap you don't know me; lam called the
devil!
Like galvanized corpse, SO pale and wan
! Up started, instanter; the horror struck man,
! And he turned up the whites OF his google
With look half terror and half surprise,
/ And his tongue was l0osed but his words were
few.
The devil-you don't?' Eyes, faith do!''
Interrupted old Nick, land here's the proofs,
Just twig my tail, my horns and my hoofs>
Having come from warmer elimes below,
! To chat with a friend for an hour or so,
! And the night being somewhat chilly, / think
You might ask an old fellow to take drink;
/ Now let it be strOng-the pure clean stuff,
Sweetened with brimstone-a quart is enough
Stir up the mess in an iron Gun
And heat up the fire till it bubbles up
AS the devil babe, so the grog-seller did,
/ Filling fiagon with gin to the lid,
And when it boiled and bubbled DER
| The fiery draught to his guest he bore.
| Nick in jiffy the liquor did quaiI,
And thanked his host with cultural laugh,
But faint and few were the Smiles ween,
| That on the grog- sellers face were seen.
For mortal fear was on him then.
And he deemed thar the way of living men
He should walk no more, that his hour mao
come,
And his master too, to call him home.
Thought went back on the darkened past.
| And shrieks we're heard on the wintry blast,
And gliding before him pale and dim
Were gibbering tiends and specters grim!
"Ho, how said Nick, otis welcome cold
You give TO a friend so true and old,
Who has been for years in your employ,
Running about like an errandboy:
But wen not fan out, for plainly see
| You're rather afraid dts stranger of me.
DO you think I've come for you? never fear
You can't be spared for long while, here
"There are hearts to break, there are souls tC
From the ways of peace TO the paths of sin,
There are homes to render desOlate,
There is trusting love to be turned 10 hate,
There are hands that murder must crimson
| red,
There are hopes to be crushed there are
| blights to be shed
Over the young, the pure and the fair
Till their lives are crushed by the tiend de
spair.
"This is the work you have done so well,
Cursing the earth and peopling hell,
Quenching the light on the inner shrine
| OF the human soul, till You make It mine;
While want and sorrow, disease and shame
And crimes that even shudder to name
Dance and howl in their hellish glee
Around the souls you have marked for me.
"Selng grog is n good device
To make hell of paradise;
, | Where e'er may roll the hery Hood
/ 10 CNyn ar uTIt "a wi
And the voice that was heard erewhile il
prayer
With its muttered curses stirs the air,
And the hand that shielded the wife from i'll
| In is drunken wrath is raised to kill.