The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-08-31
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE, OF MTEMPERANcE.

~ eAN
Of the Juggernaut behind them,
Rushing from the lofty portal
Wide and solid, high-arched portal
Of the brewers gloomy castle,
Built with dead walls far extended
Flush along the public footway
Mined beneath the reeking dungeons,
Rat-infested reeking caverns
Ger whose bricklaid arch resounding
Drives the monster vain deep-!oaded.
Wide and high and strangely freighted!
Who so comes with bursting thunder?
What so ponderous encumbers
Massive car and street and city
Till the %stagnant air must %shudder;
Window, pave and spire all shudder!
And a voice from out the black vaults
Hollow sounds, but dread and near:
II am Beer"
Der dull piles of brick and mortar
Far and broad and ,blankly ranging
Rise like towers black-throated chimneys
From the modern feudal castles
Of the modern malBter barons. ,
Slender, tall, cloud.belching chimneys
Night and day belch brooding shadows,
Ger the towns still brood their shadows.
In the wide and dim recesses
Mid the grinding and the splashing,
Mid the steaming and the stirring,
Mid the soaring and the rotting,
Giant arms ply IN the mash tubs.
Men like solemn ghosts are walking
Mid the monster watts and watching
All the mixing and the Tuning,
All the frothing and the sinking
Of the yeasty witch-broth making,
Which for turning enses sodden
Claims the price of half the comfort
Of the home-lifc of the humble.
Who has built this pile so sombre:
Who beclouds the town and city?
Who 80 tricks the stupid workman
Of the veal of wife and children?
From the wide and dim recesses
Comes a thick and drowsy murmm:
Itch vas Bier!"
Mark the vicious, kissing faucet,
Like the serpent tongue of Eden!
See the mighty foaming beakers,
Like the deadly foam:capped surses
For Columbia sixteen gallons
To each soul of seventy millions!
o Gambrinus, in Valhalla,
How much fills a Saxon pirate?
Four and fifty for Bavaria!
For Britannia seven and thirty!
Seven and thirty for each infant,
Thirsty father, youth and mother,
From the wage one hundred dollars
Lost to every berry household!
Oh! the long and cruel winter!
Oh! the famine and the fever!
Who brings poverty in bumpers?
Robs the man and loots the cottage!
Builds great paunches, weak and slusby?
Lays pink skins on muscles fabby?
Giving stupor' for ambition?
Making mothers harsh and bleary,
Whites embruting sons and fathers?
Who debars the weary soldier
From the health in God-made nectar?
Who serves every vicious contact,
Stirring up the human ferment?
From the bureau of Statistics"
From the canteen and the barracks,
From the howell and the revel,
"Midways'' of the world and "Plazas,"
From the gaudy orner taproom,
From the reeking, filthy basement,
And the ~foulness of the brothel-
From each cursed trap and vice den
All may hear:
Voiced in multitudinous concert,
II am beer!"
In the halls of legislation
Sits the bloated god of Mashpot,
And the courtiers pale before him
When the pri, 1thood call and beckoL-
Pushing pursy powerful lobbies!
The Republics plant %consuls,.
Delve in foreign lands and cities
Seeking channels OF new traffic,
Laying far worlds under tribute
For the overflow of maelstroms,
Froth of maelstroms ever whirling,
Swirling, seething, weltering, steamine
In the bowels of the castles
Under pressure tld eruptive
Like the waters of Mont Peiee.
In the heavens appeared a wonder
lin the heaven or, somewhat under,)
Men who loved to pay high taxes!
Oh, the wonder of excuses!
Oh, the dragons of the cities!
Oh, the Mayors and the councils!
Oh, the constables and sherifs!
Oh, the wonder of the people!
For the beast, that often wounded,
Lived, and still "spake as a dragon"
"SVhile you make our business legal
Tax us, tax us; We enjoy it!
We will make you roads and bridges.
Pave the streets and lay the cutters,
Build poor houses and asylums;
High OF low, still issue license,
And in any way restrict US;
Let US live, and name your contract"
Fairly spoken" shout the -apers,
Fairly spoken" said our statesmen;
"Fairly spoken" echoed people;
Politicians all applauded.
Village papers, and great dailies!
Free press" Of q Christian country!
Who to Cabinet and Congress
Comes with power and ready access?
Who enthrones the ~soulless Mammon.
Lord of Christian" towns and cities?
Who, alas! herds Christian voters
With the banded rogues and robbers,
All the truckers and the jobbers,
After schemes at best commercial"
Grinrcd the beast-and with q ieer:
Find the names marked II their tore
heads,
Every man as he has voted"
Said the dragon:
Il an Beer"
Leaning from the walls OF Jasper
All the angels blushed and whispered:
"Ah, alas! what do men worship
When they look and act SO queer?
But the ancient time-wise Devil,
With derisivc blink and sneer,
Laughed outright; the vhiles tie dragon
shouted:
81 am Bcer!"
"A. E. Aliabcn, in The New Voice.
The Crusade In Erief.
The Oakland City (Ind.) temperance
people are gaining in their fight against
the saloon. The colored people are falling
in line for the Anti-Saloon League.
The alcoholic subject has become sc
nrorninent q mart Of the evils Of the world