Poor Joe soon return'd, though his bacon was lost, When Joseph came back, he expected a sneer, How sincere was the gratitude Joseph express'd! "When my meat," Joseph cried, "was just now stol'n away, "And I had no prospect of eating to-day, "How could it appear to a short-sighted sinner, "That my life would be saved by the loss of my dinner?" THE GIN SHOP: OR, A PEEP INTO A PRISON. Look through the land from north to south, It is not want, though that is bad, Go where you will, throughout the realm, You'll find the reigning sin, In cities, villages, and towns, -The monster's name is GIN. The prince of darkness never sent "My name is Legion," it may say, Nor does the fiend alone deprive We say the times are grievous hard, But, drunkards, to your wives and babes The drunkard's tax is self-impos'd, The taxes altogether lay No weight so great as gin. The state compels no man to drink, 'Tis gin and gambling sink him down The kindest husband, chang'd by gin, The tend'rest heart that nature made In many a house the harmless babes Come, neighbour, take a walk with me, In hundreds we shall meet. We shall not need to travei far- He will relieve with liberal hand But where long scores at gin-shops stand, Behold that shiv'ring female there, That hopeless wretch has made. Look down those steps, and view below Yon cellar under ground, There ev'ry want and ev'ry wo, And ev'ry sin is found. Those little wretches trembling there, Blest be those friends to human kind Ere they have drunk the bitter dregs Look through that prison's iron bars, The debtor and the felon too, Though differing much in sin, Too oft you'll find were thither brought By all-destroying gin. Yet Heaven forbid I should confound Or name the debtor's lesser fault To prison dire misfortune oft See the pale manufact'rer there, He plied the loom with good success, Twice what the village lab'rer gains, No book-debts kept him from his cash, His wages on the Saturday * The Philanthropic Society. How amply had his gains sufficed, See that apprentice, young in years, What made him rob his master's till? That serving-man-I knew him once, But, hark! what dismal sound was that? 'Tis Saint Sepulchre's bell! It tolls, alas, for human guilt Some malefactor's knell. O! woful sound! O! what could cause Such punishment and sin! Hark! hear his words, he owns the cause- Bad company and gin. And when the future lot is fix'd, Of darkness, fire, and chains, How can the drunkard hope to 'scape Those everlasting pains? For if the murd'rer's doom'd to wo, As holy writ declares, The drunkard with self-murderers That dreadful portion shares. |