Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 edition. Excerpt: ... RUM-SELLER. OT rum alone shall bear the curse Which thy traffic doth to man disburse; Thou hast scattered tares, and death hath sown In the souls of those God called His own. That fair, young boy, a mother's pride, By your direful trade a drunkard died; And that household draped in awful woe Is a curse which from your rum-shops flow. That father, by the road-side drunk, That brother, in debauchery sunk, That pale young wife with tearful face, Bowed with the shame of man's disgrace, That mother's agonizing heart, Her trembling fear, her sudden start As she hears her boy's leaden step, When vigils late at night she kept; When his reeling form came stagg'ring in, Debauched with rum and steeped in sin, --All these, rum-seller, will be arrayed To curse the awful traffic of your trade. Nor shall excuses serve you when God in His justice visits men; For then, rum-seller, thou shalt stand Wearing on thy brow the murderer's brand. What will avail thy hoarded gold Gained by the rum which thou hast sold, When conscience, furnace fierce, shall burn Where'er thy restless steps shall turn! When th' grave gives up her sleeping dead, And drunkards rise from ashen beds, Oh! then, rum-seller, thou shalt feel A grief not heaven nor hell can heal. What then shall be thy deep remorse, When thou shalt see full many a corpse Rise up again, and come in flame To brand on thee the murderer's name. That little babe on famished breast, That mother, robbed of peace and rest, That father's bowed and trembling form, That sister's plea which thou didst scorn, That drunkard's agonizing woe, His mind bereft of reason's glow, --These, too, shall come in burning flame To witness thy remorse and shame. What of the homes in ruin laid, And of the orphans thou hast made! What of.