The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-04-17
TEMPERANCE.
A LIFETIME TOO LATE.

Well, stranger, you ask for my story
And want to know just how it come
That am at work here in prison,
Instead of a-workin' at home.
Judge, from glimpse of your necktle,
You re one of them clerical chaps,
And will make it Il text for Ii sermon,
Or lecture on Temperance, perhaps.
You needn't apologize. stranger;
I'm entirely wllin you should
Just tell EN- the whole of the story
And may be twill do 'em some good;
For We done full share OF the evil
That allowed for one mau here to do,
And II can do any good now,
Twill be something entirely new.
We'll, to go to the very beginning
You know was innocent then
My mother died when | was Young, sir,
And father, he married again.
And tell from experience, stranger.
There no earthly power that can save
a FELLOW from more or less downfalls
whose own mother lies in her grave.
My father was fond of good living.
And liked good glass OF old wine;
And sometimes, when filling his gassful
He'd just color the water in mine
In that way the appetite started,
And MANY time / would 20
And take sly slip without water,
When | thought the old man wouldn't
know
You see, in those days, total abstinence
Want thought of, except with smile;
Most men took their bitters quite reg'lar,
And every one once i'll awhile
Well, by and by, / went to college;
A careless, wild. reckless young man,
I'd nothing like principle in me.
Aud that's where my wild oats began.
i was sixteen that fall and if ever
There a time when q fellows between
The good and the bad, Lord and devil,
That time s when he reaches sixteen;
His principles then are not founded,
No matter how well he's brought up;
He thinks that he almost a man then,
And temptation presents pleasure cup.
In my room kept all kinds of liquor
OF course twas forbidden. you know,
But when man bankers for whisky
Truth doesn't stand much of a show.
had plenty of friends always smiling,
And many aud many Il time
I've seen them st there ut my table,
And drank to my health in my wine.
We all swore most eternal of friendship;
They were all wild young fellows like me-
And twas ALWAYS in my room they gathered
When they wanted a bit of spree.
But all the time trouble was brewing,
The faculty pulled me at last;
The boys, to save themselves, "sQuealed" OF
me,
And my days in college were past.
Twas about that time father went under;
he failed and lost all that he had,
And was alone in the world, sir
Do YOU wonder we mt to the bad?
couldn't go into n village
But the first sign I'd See was "SalOon;'
/ always found there a warm welcome,
And glass followed only too soon.
And many a time have sat there.
Half drunk and I've wished that might
Just for once, have a good, cordial welcome
In somebody's home there that night:
For you see. sir, IA fellow gets lonesome,
With no home except II hotel
And that is just where the saloons are
The devils side doors into hell.
1t is useless to tell all the struggles
The ups and the downs I've been through
But when man falls. he falls farther
Than ever he thought he could go.
Sometimes I'd keep sober and steady
For months, but always would fall;
And now have got to the bottom
I'm reckoned the lowest of all.
You soc, Government licenses dealers
To sell MS the liquor. and then
They shut us up here in the prison,
II il makes us more demons than men.
They say they are going to prohibit
The keeping saloons in this State;
Well, there's thousands to come that it will
save,
But for mo. it's a lifetime too late
&C p b., - Dies 1HOtries, IA. Chicago IN
teTiOr