The three inebriates : a poem

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THE

THREE INEBRIATES.

A POEM.

BY

S. V. LEECH, D.D., y

President of the New York State Temperance Society.

NEW YORK:
PHILLIPS & nUN7.

1886.

By Tracer

JUN i iwr

CONSENSUS OF THE POEM.

Cakto I.
The Muse witnesses a drunkard's career — In a
dream she sees Satan commissioning Intemperance as
his chief agent for the ruin of souls — She hears an
angel warning men against his wiles.

Canto II.
A lady of wealth adopts an orphan babe — The death
scene of the child's mother.

Canto III.

The drunkenness of the child's foster-father — His
wife's death — His vows of reformation — Again an
inebriate.

Canto IV.
The adopted child a student at college — The student
at home eloquently pleading with his inebriate foster-
father to reform — The sad address of response — The
foster-father's suicide.

4

Canto V.
Ralph, the adopted son of the suicide, elected to the
Senate — He first drinks at a banquet in his honor —
The senator in a famous gambling house.

Canto VI.
A "stag party" at the senator's residence — A
widely known libertine at the banquet — His song —
The weird dream of the senator.

Canto YH.
The restaurant — The debauched son of the senator
— The senator's death — The widow's story — The son's
ruin — The mother's prayer.

Canto YIH.

The dying son's lamentation — The death scene —
Prayer for prohibition.

THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Canto I.

IN memory's glass I see his shrouded form.
His death-sealed eye once danced in boy-
ish joy,
And on his cheek the rose of beauty

bloomed.
I saw him when with manly dignity
He vowed to love and cherish one, whose

heart
A sacred gift to him in trust was given.
But soon upon the brilliant scene there fell
A shadow that in blackness grew until
Its darkness hid life's sunny scenery.
He quaffed the cup — the bow that spanned

life's sky
With gaudy hues, dissolved in deep'ning
clouds.

I saw his burial : his coffined form
They laid within a drunkard's dreary grave.
His children bending o'er him vainly called
A father's name ; but the dull ear of Death
Responded not to tones of love. His wife

6 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

In solitude of soul, his grave bedewed
With bitter tears, and crushed in heart re-
traced
Her weary, homeward steps.

'T was midnight, and
The watchman's footfall on his lonely beat
With measured tread alone disturbed the

hush
Of Nature's deep repose. In dreamland

realms
I roamed in search of Truth's immortal fruit,
And, like to him who on the sea-girt isle
Received command the final scenes of Time
To paint for man ; so on my ear there fell
The mandate of a shining one : " The things
Unveiled before thine unsealed eye, the

same
To men unfold."

I stood in Hell's dark vaults
And saw the arch-satanic spirit stand
Upon a towering crag, enwrapped with fire.
Around him in dread council sat the chiefs
Of his demoniac hosts. In tones that shook
The mighty peaks about him piled, and

rocked
The sea of flame that 'neath him surged,

then spoke
The Demon King :

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 7

" Princes of Woe !
Long have ye pined to struggle with the God
Who hurled you from yon blazing battle-
ments,
And ages of pent wrath have well sufficed
To train your souls for combat with the One
Whose marshaled ranks resist my reign and

rule.
In yon fair world that brightly burns upon
God's arch, a queen star set in night's fair

crown,
I struggle now with Him whose cross is

reared
In far perspective — to redeem the prize
I snatched in Eden from the Christos' hand.
The soul of man in God's bright image found
And wrecked by my great garden victory,
I struggle to retain in hate of Him
Whose justice forged the chains that bind

us here.

" Murder ! thy mission know:
Thy drapery shall crimson be ; in blood
Thy vestments dyed. Where carnage reigns

display
Thy fearful power. In life's red current

bathe
Thy glittering sword, and revel where the

slain

8 THE THBEE INEBBIATES.

In silence sleep. Go in assassin form
Where slumber deep is on the weary one
With riches blest. While in Morphean

arms
He dreams of bliss and talks with angel

bands
Near hovering, approach his senseless form
And deep within his heart the dagger

plunge,
And send unwarned his soul before its

Judge.
A ' code of honor,5 falsely called, create,
And teach that foul revenge is noble born;
Forgiveness, coward's creed. Inflame the

mind
Until the turf shall drink most precious

blood,
And pall in grief a Nation's lustrous sky.

" 'Tis thine, Disease, to shatter man's
Corporeal frame. The soul's great citadel
Must conquered be by storming Nature's

works
Around it thrown. Thy fever-heated hand
Lay on the aching brow that it may burn
In agony. Plant on the fair young cheek
Consumption's rose, to bloom for death like

the
Pale bud unfolding on the virgin snow.

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 9

With icy touch lay cold the beautiful,
And with delirium drive man's intellect
In frightful ruin from its lofty throne.
Extorted groans and falling tears shall mark
Thy triumphs. Raise victorious thy song
Above the dead ! "
Then turned the Demon King and faced a

form
Whose cunning glare the fiends with terror

shook
That round him sat. Chief 'mong the

throng he seemed
Whose bitter vials on the hearts of men
Should yet be poured. A gilded cup he

held
With pleasure decked, and brimmed with

happiness.
Within the chalice fair empurpled flashed
Like molten rubies kissed by noontide sun
A crimson stimulus. " Nectar " was graved
Upon its burnished front ; but hid beneath
Its sparkling surface lurked poison most

dread,
And coiled within a latent adder lay
Whose bite was mortal and whose stins; was

death.
Before the chief this death-clad being stood
While thus addressed :

10 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

" Prime minister of Woe ! to thee
Shall unborn millions yet their homage pay.
'Tis thine to populate these halls of gloom
With souls created in a godlike mold ;
'Tis thine to throng this flaming tide with

barks
Dismantled in the storm that yet shall sweep
O'er Time's dark sea with wreck and ruin

strewn.
Go forth, great conqueror, nor hither come,
'Till wrapped in fire the sky shall, like a

scroll,
Be lit with flame : then come the victor-
chief
Of slaughtered souls."

Then backward swung
The gates of Hades, and in multitude
The evil angels who should, hand in hand,
Seduce from paths of virtue free-born souls,
Went forth to earth on errands dread with

fate.
Through weary days on light'ning wing they

sped
To that fair world whose peopled marts

and streams
Of moving life afar were seen by all.
When on the silvery confines of that orb
I saw them doff their panoply of Death

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 11

And robe their hideous forms in lustrouswhite.
Invisibly they joined the ranks of men.
And while I mused in wond'ring thought

absorbed
A song seraphic burst upon mine ear
In melody akin to angel choirs.
To thee who readest I shall sing the lines
From Heaven addressed; but as the diamond

dew,
Fair gem of morn, dissolves 'neath human

touch,
So songs seraphic lose celestial charms
When sung by mortal lips :

" The demon band whose flight
From worlds of deepest night
To this of joy and light

Thine eye could see,
On mission dark have come
To spread the pall of gloom
Above man's earthly home

Their work shall be.

The garments thrown aside
In sin's dark font were dyed ;
Such robes could never hide

A child of wrath.
But draped in loveliest hue
Entrancing human view,
Souls bought with blood they'll woo

From virtue's path.

12 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

But, 'mid the legion throng
That shall with syren song
Lure souls in virtue strong

To Ruin's tide,
One, crowned with fairy light,
Shall bear in mortal sight
A cup whose contents bright

Foul poisons hide.

That cup shall overflow
With bitterness and woe ;
Who drink shall only know

Life's starless night.
Beneath its magic power,
As falls the blighted flower,
Shall fall great minds that tower

In alpine height.

The scepter shall depart

From him whose ravished heart

Shall clasp this cup and part

With holy peace.
Great kings its golden brim
Shall press, till faint and dim
Their glory dies : life's hymn

Forever cease.

Its gleaming front shall blaze

'Neath marble domes that raise

Their tops toward heaven, whose praise

All lands proclaim.
Where costly fountains play
And toss their showers of spray
On queenly forms — there, gay

The cup shall flame.

THE THBEE INEBRIATES. 13

Where gorgeous pictures glow,
And wealth its dazzling show
Of grandeur makes, shall flow

Its crimsoned light.
Where forms of heavenly grace
With radiant eye and face
Shall join in life's young race

It dances bright.

Where list'ning crowds admire
True intellectual fire
Which kindled rises higher

'Till juries quake ;
Where youthful talents shine,
And states to praise incline,
Lo, there the flashing wine

Its conquests make.

Where stands the reverend one
Ordained of God's own Son
To warn the lost to shun

The broader road.
Where he, with burning zeal,
Doth for his God appeal,
E'en there this fiend his seal

Shall fix in blood.

Where want, disease, and pain,
With poverty have reign,
The cup its ruby stain

Will hold to view :
And savage, saint, and sage,
Youth, manhood, hoary age,
And all on life's vast stage

Its power shall rue.

14 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

O, man ! go forth — attend,
The footsteps of this fiend ;
Thy tempted race befriend,

And warnings write.
With garments none can see
Thy form shall vested be,
Farewell — peace be with thee !

Adieu ! good-night."

The voice which sweetly sang was hardly

hushed
When on the air, upborne by power unseen,
I rode. The moon with footsteps soft went

up
The spangled firmament — now hid behind
A cloud of fleecy form — and now aglow
With full-orbed face. And burning stars

of gold
Were thickly strewn upon the vault of night.
Unseen I watched the fiend who bore the

cup
To do its work of ruin 'mong the young
And old, the rich and poor, the bond and

free,
Till on the demon's neck the ponderous foot
Of Universal Prohibition rests.

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 15

Canto II.

Winter lay on the fields.
The bare old forest trees were bent with

freight
Of silvery gems, and snowy storms made

white
The virgin breast of earth, and merry bells
Their music poured as through the chilly air,
The gay and beautiful, with muffled forms
And blushing cheeks, on wintry pleasure

sped.
I saw a mansion brown, whose costly front
And royal elegance the praise secured
_ Of those who named its owner as they passed.
Within its massive walls, in chamber bright
Where ease reposed, a jeweled lady sang
With pensive melody her cradle song.
Around her neck a chain of purest gold
Hung carelessly, and in her tresses dark
With pearls entwined, shone gems of daz-
zling hue,
As shine the stars in evening's coronal.
And oft her brilliant eye fell, with a glance
Of love maternal and of tender thought,
On a fair cradled child. His large blue eyes
In which the throne of innocence seemed
built,

16 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Were sealed in sleep by holy angels, who
Our children guard. The watcher softly

rocked
The little couch and kissed the babe whose

curls
Of gold fell o'er a brow in symmetry
Superbly fair, as though, with sculptor skill,
An angel had a heavenly being carved
From earthly clay. He seemed more fair

because
In orphanage he slept unconscious of
His loss. For " orphan " is a chilling word
That thrills with sympathy the strings which

long
Have been hushed on the heart's myste-
rious lyre.
A father's form slept in its sea-weed shroud
A dreamless sleep. The giant mount of ice
Afar in arctic climes, unepitaphed,
Was his great grave-stone, for afar from

home
And wife and tender child his form went

down
To wait the final peal and trumpet clang,
That on the coral vaults of ocean old
Shall swell, and bid their slumbering legions

move
To the august assize. The mother slept

THE THBEE INEBRIATES. 17

Beneath the willow's shade, her grave

marked by
A sculptured shaft and floral urn.

Dark is her dying hour.
She passes friendless to that spirit land,
Wherein the meek of earth whose faith is

pure
Repose in rest profound. Her parched lips
None moisten with the cooling draught, nor

wipe
The gathering death-beads from her pallid

brow.
None catch the radiance of her parting smile
Or feel the pressure of her chilly hand.
Alone — alone she dies — pressing her boy
To Nature's emptied font as life fast ebbs.
Her waning eye is turned toward him in love,
E'en as the violet its blighted leaves
Turn s toward the autumn sun. But, see !

her lips
With paling tint in holy converse move.
Her eye, lit with Promethean fire, descries
A convoy bending o'er her humble couch
To bear her saintly soul back to its God.
A victor smile is on her angel face,
And faith, with triumph plumed, is soaring

high
2

18 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

To bathe its wings in rapturous atmosphere,
While far below extends the vale of doubt.
Her sinking head is pillowed on His breast
Who cheers His loved ones on through Jor-
dan's stream,
And from her lips touched with celestial fire
Faint bursts the gladsome song of battle

gained.
She gives her child in trusting confidence
To Him whose gaze is on a sparrow's fall,
While constellations pivot ®n His will.
Now o'er her languid eyes the death film

steals,
And the great pendulum of throbbing life
Swings lazily. The netted veins of blue
Are hastening to restore a sacred trust
To their strange font. Celestial music floats
From shores with heavenly beings lined.

But, list !
Approaching footsteps break the spell. A

knock
On the rude door is heard. A lady fair,
With wond'rous grace and modesty adorned,
Fain bends above the dying heroine.
Majestic is her brow, while from her eyes
That sparkle in their sockets dark and deep
Are flashed the marks of thorough culture
and

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 19

Of strong resolve. Returning homeward

from
A distant tour, she sought at this drear hut
An hour's repose. Transparent providence !
By Him ordained who feeds the hungry

worm.
The dying saint unfolds her life of want,
Then on the child's lips prints the final kiss,
The last fond token of maternal love.
To this sent messenger of God she gives
Her babe to nurse for Heaven : . . . .

Mother, come home.
Consumption's moth has gnawed the web of

life:
The spoiler tramples on the shattered vase :
A life of faith is thy memorial :
The golden sheaf the reaper gathers home :
Life's silver chord is loosed : the soul is

free :
The golden bowl is broke: the gem re-
stored :
The shattered pitcher crumbles at the font :
The wheel of life stands still and death is here.
The prattling child has won, like Miriam's

charge,
A home of splendor and a heart of love ;
And on a stranger's ear shall sweetly fall
His earliest lispings of a mother's name.

20 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Canto III.

How hurriedly the passing years have gone !
Like night stars darting down a moonlit sky,
Or silvery waves at play on summer streams,
Time sweeps along. Life dreams itself away.
But yesterday in memory's calendar
Eugene Van Allen was a man mature.
Yet two-score years have gone the past to

join.
The rose, by Nature painted on his cheek,
Blushes with deeper shade, as though some

power
Were struggling to supplant her mighty

work.
His form bespeaks a manly elegance,
And on his brow the seal of dignity
Has been impressed. His trembling lip —

his cheek
Reflecting back the wine-cup's scarlet ray —
His vision dimmed, and reeling step — these

loud
Proclaim sad intercourse with the drink-
fiend.

Amid the luxury
Of that fair home, where Providence his lot
In childhood cast, an idol Ralph became.
To minister to childhood's faintest wish

THE THREE INEBRIATE 8. 21

Love strained its powers, and wealth its

treasure bright
Into his lap poured out. The mother taught
Her charge in life's young morn to lisp

God's name
In reverential prayer and pious song.
To nourish this fair bud — to see it bloom —
To water it with tender, holy love —
To give it as a fragrant sacrifice
To Christ — she spent the oil in life's bright

lamp.
Ere yet the summer roses gay ly bloomed
Five seasons, Death, the princely halls be-

spoiled,
And from the pedestal of social worth
The image fell. Her spirit passed from earth
To Heaven's bright courts as sinks in crim-
son pomp
The dying sun. Her partner bowed beneath
The heavy stroke as the imperial oak
By tempest pressed ; and when the deathless

spark
Rose o'er the ruined clay, as " Phoenix " from
Its funeral urn, his manly pride gave way,
And tears fell on the alabaster cheek
Of her whose love had been Eugene's chief

pride.
Repentant prayers ascended from his lips,

22 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

And sacred vows he made to Christ his

Judge,
But ere the wild grass perished 'neath the

sweep
Of winter's storms, his covenant he forgot,
And like dead leaves they withered lay upon
The soul.

Vows in the crises of soul- suffering given,

Fade like a flower.
When mirth returns from the mind they are

driven.
'Mid cares of the world such covenants riven

Die with the hour.

Vows 'mid the billows of affliction born

Too often cloy.
Remorse is not repentance, and forlorn
The soul may lie, yet distant be the morn

Of holy joy.

Vows made when dying lips our own do
press

Are soon forgot.
Moved by emotion man his God may bless,
Then sin in life. True sorrow his address

To Heaven sends not.

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 23

Vows formed in youth's first hours, when
sunbeams gild
The spirit home,
Send incense pure to Heaven's fair hills, well

filled
With sweet perfume. On such a soul may
build

A life to come.

His grief he sought to drown
In alcohol, and 'neath its gloomy power
His sorrows hide. His flushed decanters

flamed
When at the board with plenty crowned he

sat
Beside his charge, passing the years of

youth.
He grasped the glass at midnight's quiet

hour
And, reeling, kissed his only child, who

slept
In calm repose. By the dim light within
The socket flickering he gazed upon
The portrait of the dead, whose look serene
In watchful love seemed fixed on his dull

eves ;
Then to the bowl for sad relief he fled
As the lone leper hastes to desert streams

24 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

His burning thirst to quench. The fiend

was there
Awaiting with infernal smile the hour
When o'er the ruined soul and mental wreck
His dismal banner should in triumph wave.

Canto IV.

Night and the study lamp !
Dark drapery has fallen on the walls
Of the old college pile. In a small room
A weary student delves, while Nature claims
Her needed rest. Gone is the noon of night,
And on the dial's face the moving hand
Tells of approaching day; but Ralph

writes on.
Four years the thorny path to Learning's font
His weary feet have trod. The classic page
And tome of musty lore have cheered his

hours,
While sheaves of knowledge have, by toil

severe,
Been stored in the vast granary of mind.
To-morrow, cheered by beauty's smile, the

palm
His hand will grasp : the warrior's sword

will rest
In sheath ; the weary racer then will reach

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 25

The dazzling goal, and 'mid the plaudits of
Savants and fairer forms, the parting gift
His Alma Mater gives he will receive.

'Tis noon — high noon.
Meridian splendor girds the car of fire,
And panting Nature lifeless seems and faint.
In halls where splendor once in state re-
posed,
A father and his son in manhood's years
In converse sit. The younger weeping

pleads
With his loved sire in plaintive tones :
" Father ! forsake the cup ; with thee I plead,
By thee adopted in mine orphanage,
And by thy tender love prepared for life.
When last we met thine eye was full of fire
And flashed with light that told of mental

power.
Its flame has paled — to-day it dimly shines
Gorged at its base writh blood. Thy cheek

was fair,
And o'er it glowed the scarlet blush of

health ;
But now 'tis bloated sadly, and with hue
Unnatural is spread. Thy massive brow
Unwrinkled was by Sorrow's pang ; but now
Its furrows speak captivity to pain.

26 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Thy strength is weakness now and bent thy

form.
This home how changed since last its hal-
lowed halls
I trod in youth ! Gone are its ornaments.
Its sumptuous elegance has disappeared
And left these chambers bare, while gifts

from her
Who filled a mother's place, have one by one
Departed, sold by thee when most de-
bauched.
Thy memory, adorned with polished gems,
Ts weaker now than erst — its culture has
Neglected been. Thy soul by Heaven en-
dowed
With talents great has to its trust proved

false.
Father ! give up the bowl, as self-respect
Its last appeal rings out and calls thee back,
And starward lift thine eye in deathless.

hope,
And struggle for the prize as strives the soul
To bribe the reaper Death. For shorn of

strength
Like Samson, thou hast lain on lap impure
Thy wearied brow and slept. My father,

wake !
Ere yet the fatal chain too strong becomes.

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 27

As round thy path the deep'ning shadows

close,
Bring high resolve with purpose ne'er to

swerve ;
And, as the wounded eagless smites the foe
That robs her eyrie of her unfledged brood,.
Thine influence lost contest, and with the

power
That wrecks thine all contend, till free once

more.
By her whose grave is dearer far to thee
Than all earth's wealth, renounce thy

wretchedness.
By thy firm vows dishonored long, retrace
Thy wayward steps; the madd'ning bowl

hurl from
Thy sight afar, and this crush'd heart will then
For aye be filled with purest joy serene.
For shore strike out as the wrecked seaman

leaps
The crested wave, and ere the rapids bear
Thy soul, unpardoned, to its dreadful fate,
Strike boldly for the shore where rest is

found."

The father's rugged cheeks were wet again
With briny tears. Deep sobs burst from
his lips

28 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Which quivered as the heart beneath them

rocked
With inward agony. He drew quite near
His manly charge and spoke :
"Too late — too late, my son! 'twere easier

far
To give fresh life to a consumptive man
In swift decline, than break this fatal spell.
The power of will, once held with deathless

grip,
Is gone : no cable now secures the soul
Totruth,and strength to practice high resolve
Is lost. I helpless lie on the cold wave
That moves with rapid sweep the plunge to

make,
And like a helpless bark on leeward shore
I drift with broken heart to strike the reef
Toward which the prow of destiny is turned.
Resolve no more its conquests grand achieves
And Purpose crumbles 'mid Conception's

plans.
As well might infancy attempt to shake
From its fair flesh a tiger's dreadful clutch,
Or threat of man beat back a torrent's tide,
Or human arm enchain the lurid flash,
As I to strive with Habit's dreadful power.
Repeated crimes have now confirmed my

soul

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 29

In wrong. 'Twere vain to combat more

with fate,
Or press by useless pleas fresh thorns-

about
My bleeding heart, for naught avails.

Alone —
Bereft of hope, I stand the sport of doom:
Nor taunt my wretched soul with words of

cheer.
As stands the lonely oak, in tempest wild,
With barren boughs and green leaves faded

long,
So now in solitude of mind I live
And cling to earth by Fate's unkind decree.
When in Misfortune's grave my form shall

rest
By my example swear to shun f ore'er
The glass that first shall win the appetite.
My heated lips, my boy, crave stimulant —
I go for a brief hour."

An hour passed on.
Another f oll'wing fled, yet came he not.
In prayer the son had plead with Him who

thus
Ordained an avenue through which frail man
May hold communion with the throne of

grace.
Submissively he asked that his loved sire —

30 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

An idler long in life's vast market-place —
Might throw his callous heart at Mercy's

feet.
Yet came he not. Then with a step as soft
As breezes kiss the velvet floor of earth,
He passed the flight of stairs, and at the door
Of his sad father's room in silence stood.
Within all seemed in breathless quietude,
As hushed as night's last hour. No answer

came
To his familiar knock. The burnished knob
He turned with anxious fear and looked

within,
'Then reeled in horror from the sick'ning

scene.
Upon his couch the father lay in blood.
Beside him was a costly miniature
Of her whose spirit basked in heavenly bliss
.And fadeless joy, and in his grasp was seen
The glittering steel whose keen and spark-
ling edge
Had drained life's font. His eye was glazed

and fixed,
And on his lips a fiendish smile still hung.
His throat was deeply gashed, and clotted

gore
Had gathered o'er the wound. No pulse

replied

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 31

To love's kind touch. The soul, self-mur-
dered, stood

Before its Judge to meet its fearful doom.

And near him lay a sheet whose ink, scarce
dry,

Explained the act most foul.

Canto V.

" We drink Ralph's health."
Thus spake a man of wealth, position, pride,
As the gay throng their sparkling glasses

drained.
It was a festive night, and Ralph had won
The day, and crowned with wreaths of honor,

now
His mansion doors threw wide to clamorous

friends.
The Legislature called with trumpet voice
His name, and bade him stand their proxy,

where
The eminent their blended tribute give
Of wisdom, and the Ship of State is manned.
His boon companions now were gathered

round,
And pressed his hand with words of hearty

cheer.
His table groaned beneath its luxury.

32 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

But 'mid the bounteous plenty given of

Heaven,
Rare wines and brandies flashed — Hell's

liquid fire,
To scorch damnation on th' immortal mind,
And slow consume the happiness of man.
His conscience battled long with Fashion's

power,
But conquered fell. The Bacchanalian feast
Must gladdened be by varied drinks to cheer
The revel hour. For Custom clamor made
And Etiquette its sword unsheathed and

plunged
Deep in the soul's sweet consciousness of

right.
This polished blade a guard for innocence
And not for crime was edged. Contested

long
The combat was, till Conscience bowed

herself
At Fashion's shrine and worshiped gods

impure.
The sand- grain shines with diamond light,

wrhen on
Its form minute the sunbeam throws its

smile,
While the uncrystalline surrounding earth
Reflects no ray — so Conscience, smiled upon

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 33

By knowledge of transgression, flames with

light
Amid the dull and ray less ruins of
A soul whose pristine purity has fled.

" We drink Ralph's health,"
Went round the crowd, whose cheeks the

bestial blush
Still bore of wild debauch. For almost lost
Were they to virtue ; dead to sympathy
With truth. The fiend's true friends, they

fought beneath
His flag, and sought to slay the innocent.
And Ralph, when honored by their com-
pliments,
Quaffed oft the poisonous tide, till now

forsworn,
And took along the drunkard's dreary

path
The first and dangerous step. Oft warned,

and well,
He spurned advice, and counsel sacred

waived.
He drained the glass, and as a mother screams
When high in air a condor bears her child
To its dread sea-girt crag, so Conscience

raised
Her voice in protest loud, as for despair
3

34 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

The birthright of the soul was bartered, and
Its purity fell slain.

'Tis night's lone hour, and 'mid her path

of stars
The climbing moon illumes the fleecy bars
Of formless cloud: earth's weary millions

sleep
While watching angels their bright vigils

keep.
In yon dark house, repulsive by design,
Fair goblets golden and of silver shine;
And seas of light from costly lamps poured

down
Enrich the pictured walls of polished stone.
Along the gay saloon, with soothing power,
Harp-notes are floating in melodious shower.
It is a place enchanting; all is bright,
And gorgeous visions rise to greet the sight.
In dazzling splendor shine Art's works most

rare ;
With fountain streams that fall in pools

most fair.
By master pencils touched are paintings

hung
On gilded walls, and odors have been flung
On the cool breeze by fair and fragrant

flowers,

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 35

By girlish fingers plucked from summer

bowers,
Exhaled from crystal vases, whose perfume
Falls like the breath of Spring on virtue's

tomb.
Prepared by skillful hands with dainty care
Are viands rich, well served in costly ware,
And girls with graceful step adorn the board
With regal taste, while sparkling wines are

poured
In flaming cups, and all that can delight
The sense, and win the eye, are here to-night.
This is a gambler's " Hell, " and thronged

the room
With men who dream not of the night's

dread doom.
The aged sire is here, whose ringlets gray
Admonish him to close life's misspent day
With great reform; but now he gayly smiles,
And life's last years in sinful sport beguiles.
As midnight's hours approach does he forget
His bartered home, where once his children

met
His bounding step, and where his wife is

laid
At rest beneath the cypress' mournful shade?
And in the chambers of his crime-blacked

heart

36 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Are there no holy memories ? Apart
Is there no shrinking from the fatal wave
That onward moves ? — no prayer to God to

save ?
Have severed ties no talismanic power ?
Comes there no fear of wrath's consuming

shower ?
Are the sweet names of mother, sister, wife,
Erased from the bright album leaves of life ?
And when the old yearn to depart from

earth,
Does he not scorn the gambler's board and

mirth ?
The merchant here is struggling to redeem
By faro luck his squandered wealth. A

gleam
Of joyish hope his wild eye lights — his blood
Is hot — he loses! Grief's tumultuous flood
Breaks o'er his soul. He, frenzied, stakes

yet more.
'Tis gone: he soon will fly to foreign shore
To pine in friendless exile, and shed tears
Afar from all he loved in earlier years.
I see the judge, whose shoulders daily wear
The ermine pure. His reputation fair
He soils by strengthening vice and breaking

laws
O'er which in crowded courts he daily pores.

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 37

With criminals whom but to-day, for gain,
He helped to 'scape their crime's recoiling

pain
He breaks the pack: by wrong his victim's

card
He covers, wins — a judge in crime grown

hard.
The statesman learned is here, who, but

to-day
The list'ning throng enchained, and bore

away
By eloquence impassioned his great peers,
And won by patriot pleas the people's

tears.
He plays — puts down the card and shining

gold.
The game is lost: the fiend in crime grown

old
With boisterous taunt and laugh, and 'riched

by fraud,
His ill-gain gathers up and leaves the board,
While the crushed victim of his hellish

art,
With eye by passion flamed and stricken

heart,
In anguish hies him through the midnight

gloom,
A beggared gambler, to his lonely home.

38 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

At yonder table, on which golden heaps
Are piled, sits Ralph. His eagle gaze he

keeps
On the shrewd wretch who seeks by subtle

trick
His victim to entrap; but he too quick
Discerns the bait, and shuns the well-laid

snare,
And turns the tables planned with master

care.
A moment they the well-played game sus-
pend
And drink the ruby punch; again they

bend
Above the fatal cards and shining dust,
In fashion's robbery of God accursed.
A gambler's Hell and Ralph ! He, too, has

turned
To that rash course he swore to shun, while

spurned
Enfeebled Conscience lies. The moral sense
Once keen, is dulled, and no pure penitence
Pervades his soul. Forgot and falsely kept
Have been his covenants, and he who wept
Love's scalding tears o'er one he fain would

save
From mental ruin and a drunkard's grave,
Is treading in the foot-prints of his sire,

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 39

And drinks, by copious draughts, damna-
tion's fire.
The sport of mocking fiends he naked stands,
Of shame and wisdom destitute. His hands
Outstretched, invite the tempter to destroy
His noble nature and his priceless joy.
" This once — this once," he thought when

first the bowl
He touched: the magic liquor sipped, his

soul
But craved another glass. " And but once

more "
He said, and drank again: the happy shore
Of innocence his life bark left: the sail
Was wide unfurled to battle with the gale :
To quiver 'neath the storm-king's dreadful

frown :
To fight the gale on ruin's sea: go down
Amid the whirlpool's rage where Death

careers,
And Mercy's heaven launched life-boat

never steers.
The game exciting grows: the long, long

night
Has thus been spent, and now with passion's

light
His wild eye flames. The city clock strikes

four,

40 TEE THREE INEBRIATES.

And all who trod the gambler's velvet floor
Have gone. His all is staked upon the

game :
He wins. The maddened gambler calls the

name
Of God in anger, and debauched, once more
The cup is drained, and the secreted door
Behind Ralph springs. To his lone, silent

room
His footsteps bend through night's dis-
persing gloom.
With kindled appetite, all night the bowl
Has pressed his lip and charmed his ruined

soul.
Its pristine innocence long since has fled,
And youth's fair vows are numbered with

the dead.
His is a drunkard's life, though yet he calls
His country's ear amid the gorgeous halls
His presence soils; where patriot spirits

tower,
And freedom's arm is clothed with might

and power.
A slave may be a moral hero, while
A senator may be a slave to guile.

THE THBEE INEBRIATES. 41

Canto VI.

'Tis Winter's carnival.
Cold winds career in fury 'long the streets,
And in the swaying pines make nightly

moan.
From every bough the glistening ice-gems

hang,
And the white snow appears a mirror 'neath
The sun's pale rays. The pauper child in

rags
Ascends the marble steps, relates its tale
Of suffering long endured, and begs a crust.
The wealth-clad throng are housed from

frigid air,
Forgetful of the countless, famished poor
In bleak winds shivering.

Around a hearth
Whose crackling flames laugh at the frosty

air,
And kiss away the fringe- work on the pane,
A boisterous trio midday revels keep.
The room has hallowed been in memory,
And from the same a saintly spirit rose
To wear her crown, while on the painted wall
Dim stains of blood tell where the suicide
His spirit tossed, uncalled, in Mercy's face.
The plate of blue and gold, once sacred ware,

42 THE THBEE INEBRIATES.

Is garnished now with viands delicate,

And cups that pressed pure lips, in death
long sealed,

Have smoked to-day and thrown their fra-
grance rich

Around. They celebrate with joke and wine

And Bacchanalian song a festal day.

The banquet o'er, each brims his glittering
glass

And lifts to lips profane a toast's response.

On yonder damask chair reclines in ease
A man in prime of life, whose sparkling eyes
Expressive are of mind capacious, strong,
And cultured; while his polished port be-
speaks
Communion with refinement perished now:
A brilliant senator, and yet a tomb
Where virtue, buried, lies. With princely

power
He reigned in social life, until his bark
Dashed on the fatal reef a hopeless wreck.
More rapidly he raced to ruin's brink
Than down the plane inclined the swift ball

leaps.
A libertine ! his intercourse is shunned.
Debauched, the beautiful his presence fly.
In the deep grave of public scorn he lies,

THE THBEE INEBRIATES. 48

No resurrection morn to know in time.
The merry crowd demand of him a song,
And in his honor each the well-filled glass
Exhausts. His revel words the drunkard sings
In cadence tremulous :

Lift up the red wine — lift it high :
It blushes bright as a sunset sky.
Its crimson drops like rubies shine:
Lift up the cup — lift up the wine.
Lift ye the red wine high.

Fill ye the silver bumpers up:
A priceless boon is a well-filled cup.
Rally around the mantling bowl :
Drink to the health of a noble soul.
Fill ye the bumpers up.

Sing as ye press its blazing brim:
Lift up your merry festive hymn.
Sing to the loved from our circle torn:
Memory wails the friends now gone.
Sing as ye press its brim.

The badge of friendship we will wear,
And o'er the wine-cup fondly swear
To kneel at Bacchus' shrine. Then sing
Our social song, and let it ring
The pledge of friendship strong.

He ceased his song.
A listener to its words erratical
Is Ralph, a drunkard gray. Such scenes to
him

44 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Familiar are, and on the soul's dark page
Is writ the history of wasted years.
The sun of fortune on the life of shade
Has thrown its gilding rays but transiently.
The flying years have prostituted been
To drunkenness and mirth, and gatherings

where
The wine-god holds foul court. His vacant

eye
Bedimmed and dreamy gives its evidence
Against his claim to purity. The laws
Of nature oft transgressed retribute now
Their penalties, like asps, to sting f ore'er
His happiness. He lives a monument
Of warning, epitaphed by countenance
Most wan ; and Cain-like brands of infamy
Scorched on his brow, proclaim that Nature

now
No longer owns her offspring, labeled o'er
With stamps of deep disgrace. Licentious

mirth
His loosened joints have shook with tremors

dread,
And when to his pale lips the cup is raised
His trembling hand the flashing purple

wastes.
As the fair face of woman beautiful
Its loveliness surrenders when upon

THE THREE INEBRIATES, 45

It sits the pestilence, so his has lost
All trace of manly worth and lofty thought,
And like to ruins of some structure grand
Whose glory perished when its pillars fell,
His mind that once in massive strength had

towered
Has parted with its pristine majesty.
Like pilgrim lone who stands upon the shore
Of some wide stream, and waits the coming

bark
To bear him o'er — Ralph stands with bended

ear
And quivering heart, on Death's chill Styx

and waits
The dismal boat whose keel the dark waves

cuts.
In turn they ask the wretched, haggard man
An offering of song, or tale, or dream
To give; whereon he ghastly smiled and said :

" I dreamed last night.
Methought the curls of boyhood's sunny

morn
Played round my forehead fair. I stood upon
The stage of action free, — whereon each

steps
While float youth's golden hours, with

chisel sharp

46 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

To carve high fortune from the rugged block
Of destiny. I saw the paths of life
Diverge, — one pressed by those in lovelier

climes,
And one o'er which the spirits lost have trod.
The one was strangely narrow, rough, and

drear.
No rainbow arched its way, nor clusters hung
Along its vales. Around me crowds of men
Were hastening on, and few turned in to

tread
The narrow way. With dusty sandals shod
Came weary pilgrims oft in white robes clad,
And 'mid the taunts and jeers of the gay

throng
Rich-robed in wealth's habiliments, passed in.
On arch above its gates was graved in words
Of time-worn age — ' The only path to

Heaven.'

The other way was wide, and on the cheek
Fell breezes in perfume unearthly steeped.
The rose its crimson breast exposed to view,
And the pale lily — type of purity:
The jessamine climbed high and tossed its

breath
Toward heaven. The blue- tinged violet

thick flung

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 47

Its scented treasures on .the ambient air,
And birds, whose plumage was with down

of gold
Besprinkled, caroled forth their happy

songs.
On harps whose strings were silver fairies

played,
And clustering pleasures hung from bowers

of bliss.
An arch of pearl the bright gates spanned,

from which,
In jeweled letters, flamed the blazing

words —
c The path of pleasure ; whoso enters here
Finds bliss ; this path connects with that

which leads
To Heaven, but shuns its thorns.5

Methought I sauntered in,
Aware that danger lurked in this bright

road.
The rugged way I knew led on to God,
Though dark and rough. This flower-strewn

road methought
Lured by deceptive lights the soul to death,
Yet it I freely chose. Choice strangely mad,
For man endowed with judgment to decide,
And will to execute her verdicts true.
I entered with intention to return,

48 THE THBEE INEBBIATES.

Resolved to tread but to a dazzling joy
That, like a golden apple hung afar.
I fain would pluck this distant joy and then
No blushing flower should lure me further

on,
But I would haste to Virtue's rugged road.
I wandered on and met, in virgin form,
One lovelier than the star which shines alone
On stormy skies — as royal queen of night.
She held a fragrant cup with crimson filled
Whose drops, she said, would chase away

each day
All sadness from the mind ; misdeeds inter
Beneath the Lethean wave ; create true joys;
Promote the health ; disease and pain ward

off;
Prolong the life which like a shuttle flies,
And wreathe with bliss its dark, declining

years.
By Heaven inspired, an inward monitor
Long urged me to reject her wily speech
Deceptive, and its solemn warning gave
Most tenderly, in words like these :

Trust not the fairy one.
She hides 'neath angel robes a demon form:
Her burnished cup contains a latent storm :

Its bursting terror shun.

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 49

With slaughtered souls she gems
The sea of fire, on which her victims cry:
Nor touch her chalice fair — its beauty fly

As Hell's devouring flames.

A syren spirit dark,
In life's rough sea she builds her rocky

home :
Her song enchanting wins to its dread doom

The soul's immortal bark.

The body, strong and fair,
Her touch will wreck — its harmony derange,
Its organs mar — destroy its functions
strange,

And naught of beauty spare.

The mind, God's masterpiece,
Shall 'neath her breath dissolve — its powers

decay,
Its noble thoughts and memories fade away;

Its godlike efforts cease.

God's image well impressed,
It proudly bears in life's tremendous war.
Her chalice dims the likeness — it will mar

The picture He has blessed.

The soul, man's noblest trust,
'Twill murder; its affections, pure and warm,
Will fall as withered flowers in Autumn's
storm :
Its grandeur lie in dust.
4

50 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

And still this fairy grew more beautiful
As conscience sought to warp my rising love.
I gazed enamored on her lovely form
As if naught else of earth a passing glance
Deserved. The cup she held magnetic grew.
I drank, and on my taste the nectar draught
Fell, as fair dew-drops fall at midnight's hour
Upon the fading rose bowed low with thirst.
I heedless ran and gathered joys which

blushed
As gaudy Spring's fair buds. The chalice

bright
In sweetness grew, until all other bliss
Insipid was.

Years sped and change came on.
The tinted fruits whose luscious bosoms once
Imparted bliss grew tasteless, and their joys
Impure and dull became. The sun was hid,
And flowers once fragrant threw a sick'ning

smell.
My feet were pierced, and weariness distilled
Was found within the fairy's chalice red.
Then yearned I to return, as the lost child
In wild woods wandering longs for its home.
"The steps of years retrace and speed

thee back."
A voice within exclaimed, while on my ear
As from afar behind me came, in sad

THE THBEE INEBRIATES. 51

And plaintive tones, which distance had

made faint,
The tender call, " Come back, O wanderer."
I paused, reflected, yearned aback to press
The trodden path, but, spell-bound, onward

ran
A distant flower to gain. The joy at first
Pursued, and set as the returning mark,
Had hung far back. One more of brilliant

hue
I fain would grasp and then return. I gained
The prize, but found a gilded bauble what
Reality had seemed. Life was unloved,
And careless as the candle-fly that sports
Around the flame, I toyed with wreathing

fire.
The child of fate, imperiled was my all,
Yet could I not the moral power command
To break the fatal chain around me thrown.
The stubborn will unbending stood, nor

bowed
Obedience, as judgment well convinced
Its verdict gave ; and as the charger turns
And courts the flame that leaps in fiery folds
His manger round, so on I madly dashed
As hideous visions glared along my way.
Around me pit-falls yawned, and fearful

groans

52 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Ascended, as their victims struggled hard
To gain release from dark despair and woe.
No star of promise lit the gloom around,
While Hope, with pinion bright their wild

cry scorned.
The fairy form, whose beauty once enchained
My ravished heart, imparted cheer in hours
Of gloom. Acratus old, encomiast,
Renowned of wine, sang of the fairer hills
Far on. Then on my ear the voice once

heard
Fell yet again. Faint as the echo of
The lute's last note, it fell, and sweetly

called,
"Come back, O wanderer." Afar behind
The bud last coveted had hung, while in
The distance dim I could discern the arch
Spanned by its gorgeous bow. My cloud-
wrapped path
Was darkening rapidly in densest night,
And on the sun's bright face huge shadows

piled
Their inky forms. Enfeebled thunder-peals,
Portentous, signalized the storm's dread war,
As 'long the angry sky they muttering

rolled.
Around me thickly strewn lay blighted

flowers

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 53

That mourned their sweet perfume and

fragrance lost.
To Fortuna, my guide, I closer pressed.
She clung responsive in embrace as strong
As clings the vine about the sapless oak.
Again I heard, as faintly as the breath
Of the wind-harp when kissed by zephyr airs,
And dying as it fell tone-spent on ear,
The tender voice. I stopped and quick re-
solved
The spell to break, and pass the backward

arch.
Then ghastly forms leaped 'round with

swords two-edged,
And quick as consciousness a thought con-
veys,
Or light is born, or ragged flash dissolves,
Fortuna dropped her angel drapery,
And stood, a loathsome form of frightful

mien
And hideous shape. And blackness closed

around,
While thunders crashed and formless flashes

fought
In angry strife. The sun fell from his car
As stately chieftain slain in battle's hour.
I w^oke and found that fact was masked in
dreams."

54 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

The gray-haired drunkard ceased.
In visions He who slumbers not had shown
His record dark, and doom, to snatch the

brand
Ere yet it was consumed from flames of vice.
By metaphor the Holy One on high —
Great Mediator at the court of heaven —
Had sought his heart ere yet the plunge it

made
In woe profound. O Love, surpassing

thought !
That woos the drunkard to his God, nor

gives
Him o'er to that dread doom he strives to

grasp,
Until the soul has fled terrestial scenes.
These midnight visions are the spirit-tones
Of God, communing with the mind when

freed
By fancy bright, from its dull clay, in sleep.
By these mysterious strokes in Night's dark

noon,
He grappled with the debauchee's doomed

soul
To win it for the crown the Christos wears.

By dreams in earth's bright childhood He
unveiled

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 55

To Egypt's king the famine dread, and saved
From Hunger's reign the teeming multitudes,
And the poor captive-boy of Israel
The nation's saviour made. In dreams He

spake
Alarms to Babylon's proud monarch in
The hour of banquet revelry, and showed
His overthrow. Through dreams the infant

Christ,
Asleep upon the Virgin's loving breast,
In flight was borne from the fierce slaughter

of
Judea's babes. By dreams full many a star
Of spirit form, with native light on wane,
Has, won for the Immanuel's bright crown,
Blazed forth with holy fire again. When

sleep
The body binds — the mind unslumb'ring

soars
When Reason dies, and dull Reality
No pole-star finds. She hears unearthly

tones:
Unclouded views of brighter worlds enjoys.
Who knows that dreams are not God's

torches given
To light the wanderer to hills of bliss.
Each eye the old man held enchained as he,
The dream significant and big with truth

56 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Discoursed. Each face was bent to com-
prehend
The vision strange : each mind its comments

made,
And Conscience plied her stings on every

soul.
And one, like breeze-tossed aspen, shook

with fear.
A beardless youth, but yesterday he chose
The path the dreamer ran ; but yesterday
He stood where vice and virtue part, and

with
The power of choice endowed, he, uncon-

strain'd,
Passed with the throng, who shunned the

narrow way
To life's fair crown. His was a gifted mind.
Debauchery had wrecked his father's fame,
And on this brilliant son, her only child,
A mother doted in her widowhood.
His father's place he filled where jurists

meet,
And crime is analyzed and law enforced ;
Where social order is established 'firm,
And Justice meets the reckless criminal.
Him we shall follow now, and pause the grief
To share, a mourning mother cast upon
The tomb his vices prematurely built.

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 57

Canto VII.

The bell-tongue's heavy stroke
Athwart the tower falls on the ear, and tells
The hour of night. Along an avenue
Far-famed for architecture grand, and

wealth,
And marble palaces, the happy throng
Pours on, a living tide. The bright-eyed

belle,
Whose inward life is spent in love's fair

sphere,
Leans on the arm of him whose image gives
Her dreams their bliss. Soft music floats

upon
The air, from homes where jeweled fingers

strike
The tuneful harp. The weary merchant

smiles
Unloosed of care, and locked in Friendship's

arm
Forgets his ledger and the marts of trade.
'Tis Recreation's carnival — the hour
Of mirth and song. The coach, superbly

rich,
Glides softly with enchanting freight to

scenes
Of splendor gay. The blazing windows flame

58 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

With lights afar, while dazzling gas-jets
blend

In starry lines until their sep'rate forms

Are lost in paling fire.

Within a " Restaurant "

That towers 'mid structures crowned with
art's best skill,

Whose crowded bar yields gain bought with
the blood

Of innocence, two sotted forms recline,

Debauched to that excess that blinds the
mind

And lays the funeral pall on consciousness.

The bloated features of the elder one

Familiar are; the younger we have seen

But once before; since which the drunkard's
dream

Impressive has from memory's tablet gone.

Companions boon the aqua mortis thus

They long have quaffed, 'till round th' im-
mortal soul

Its heaving billows rise to undermine

The house of clay, and quench the vital spark.

The younger seems a youth, though bloated

sad.
Possessed of genius rare, he might have

paved

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 59

His path with Fortune's smiles. His cultured

mind
Could solve enigmas dark, while his rich

tones,
Freighted with burning words that came

uncalled,
Could sway the multitudes that thronged to

hear
His pleas of eloquence ; but bound to Fate
By Habit's threefold cord, Mazeppa-like
On Ruin's steed he flies, though every pore
With soul-blood streams. The stamp im-
perial
Of manhood yesterday was sealed upon
His massive brow. The retribution which
In mystery is oft by Heaven delayed,
Shall swiftly come to him. The bolt shall

strike
His spirit as a clap from cloudless skies.
The purposes divine are veiled, but time
Unfolds them all, and wisdom shines through

clouds.
In drunken sleep he sees not that the hand
Of life's draped dial nears the fatal hour.
As the pale murderer his heavy chain
Ere clanks, nor knows the morrow's hidden

doom,
So dreams he not in deep debauch that at

60 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Life's door the herald stands to summon

him
Before his Judge. But ere the son shall fall
The senator shall cross Death's turbid

stream.

The months glide on
And Ralph, the pain-tossed penitent, per-
ceives
No strength restored. But, see ! Behold

he prays ;
But not for life prolonged. He pleads with

Him
For pardon's smile, who for the vilest bled
When the sun veiled his face o'er Calvary's

hill.
Disease besieges the frail temple 'till
It falls in dust ; but ere its pillars reel
Th' atoning blood his gulity spirit bathes,
And as the structure crumbles, angels waft
His sprinkled soul from scenes bestained

with crime
To climes unknown by sin. And ere the

green
Spring leaves bedecked his grave, the hand

he clasped
In wedlock, years gone by, his history traced
In these sad words :

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 61

" My thoughts go back to a bright summer

eve.
The burnished moon climbed slowly up the

sky
And threw her radiant glance upon the lake
Whose sleeping waters mirrored her fair

disk.
The landscape clothed in gorgeous velvet

smiled
Beneath her brilliant beams, and the lone

crag
As sentinel stood forth in grandeur wild.
The slumbering world dreamed on, while

lone and sad
I gazed upon the starry skies hung o'er
With burning worlds, whose happy legions

ne'er
Have fall'n by sin. Alone I pondered on
The past, which o'er the canvas of the mind
Careered in panoramic vividness.
In Memory's halls my girlhood days arose
Pregnant with gilded dreams of coming bliss.
I sat with radiant forms in halls of lore,
And at the font of Learning slaked my thirst.
My teacher where ? More sad than Winter's

wail
The past's faint spirit-tones responded

c Gone ;

62 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Gone where the silent dead in sleep pro-
found
Forget life's cares.' Around me clustered

those
Whose golden curls were tossed by sum

mer's breeze,
And whose fair cheeks the zephyrs loved to

kiss;
But they whose words like gentle music

fell;
Who wild-flowers culled along the mossy

brook,
Have withered as the buds they bounding

plucked,
And sleep beneath the dells they gayly

roamed.
I saw a youth, with flashing eye and brow
Of mental strength come proudly on. His

step
Was light ; his heart was generous, and kind
His words. The tide of health careered

along
His veins, while in colossal majesty
His mind arose. Learned and eloquent
He swayed assemblies large, and jurors

moved
By his persuasive power. I gave my heart
A priceless treasure to his cov'nant trust,

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 63

And heard my untried guardian record
His pledge to cherish his young bride — to

watch
When fever scorched her cheek, and wipe

with hand
Of tenderness the gath'ring death-sweat

from
Her brow, should she first pass from earth

away.
A year sped sweetly on ; no sorrow cast
Its heavy shadow on my blissful heart ;
But fringed with promise slept the future

years.
My child I hushed in sleep with happy songs
And joy of heart to mothers only known.

'Twas evening's hour of high festivity.

In mansion grand I moved a guest amid

A brilliant throng. Wealth, beauty, intel-
lect,

Had gathered now to wreathe with laurels
bright

A beauteous bride, and bind love's garlands
on

Her waxen brow. My husband stood be-
neath

The flashing lamps, in converse with the
fair

64 THE THBEE INEBRIATES.

And beautiful. " Come, Ralph, come drink

to-night
To her whose presence gives my life its

bliss,"
Spake he upon whose manly arm reclined
The lovely one. I saw the pallid hue,
The fair cheek blanch of him my love

enshrined,
For he had sworn to handle not the glass
Which drives the noble mind to madness

strange ;
But, bound by Fashion's chain, oft thrown

around
The soul to drag it down to its dread doom,
He yielded, and I saw him raise the wine
And drain the glass. The fatal appetite
Which, tiger-like, inflamed, consumes its

prey,
Was kindled then. Months passed with

mournful tread.
He came with staggering step and cursed

the wife
Whose love shone erst the queen-star on

Life's sky.
No more he kissed his boy, nor cheered my

heart
With tender tones — a heart in whose dark

halls

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 65

His image stood on Love's bright pedestal.
An angry frown eclipsed his whilom smile,
And oaths became the dialect of life.
Rum dragged him on till, with delirium wild,
He drove me, in an hour of passion's reign,
From home's bright hearth in want and

loneliness.
The wintry winds my tresses backward toss'd
On temples pale. The drifting snow fell fast,
And bleakness held enchained the storm's

dark reins.
I knelt upon the virgin earth, while thick
The freezing tear-drops fell, and raised in

prayer
My heart to Him whose promise gems His

word,
' As is thy day, so shall thy strength be

found.'

" Father ! amid the wintry tempest wild,

In pity look upon my cherished child.

When o'er my form these drifting snows
are spread,

And she who pleads has joined the dream-
less dead —

Defend my child.

" A wanderer amidst a ray less gloom,
My broken heart pines for its brighter home.
5

66 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

My Father, all is lost ; earth's hopes are

dead; —
And peace is gone ; — life's happiness has fled,
I would come home.

" O, Thou whose power and love no limits

know,
Who pitieth fallen man, Thy mercy show ;
My husband save — lift up his fallen form,
And though I perish 'mid the furious storm,
Raise him from woe.

" I hastened to my cheerless home again,
Where on his couch he lay in slumber deep.
A moan of pain fell from his lips, when to
His side I sprang. He woke and wildly gazed
About the room, and on the drunkard's wife
His eye he fixed. I smoothed his burning

brow,
Brushed back his uncombed locks of raven

hue,
And kissed his bloated cheek. He madly

gnashed
His teeth, and launched foul curses at the

Christ
Whose mercy long had stayed his vengeful

ire.
His lips were white with foam; he raved,

and talked

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 67

Of serpents, and would, screaming, fling

them off
Because his reason was a wreck. He breathed
With effort great; and palsied, his clenched

hand
Fell on his heaving breast. The shadows of
Death's vale were closing fast around his

soul;
And, with affrighted dread, his spirit moved
To the lone land of starless, moonless night.
The paling splendor of his dying eye
He threw upon the partner of the past's
Bright joys. The death film now came

thickly on :
The pulse responded not to Love's kind

touch,
And, heaving a faint sigh, my Ralph was

gone.

" The dark years slowly moved o'er Time's

great stage.
My idol grew, till on his brow the mark
Of manhood sat. His father's noble mien
He proudly bore, while in his eye the same
Dark splendor shone. Accomplished,

learned, and true,
He peerless stood, the prisoner's faithful

friend.

68 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

His father's post he filled with honor high,
And spoke with eloquence, while multitudes
In tears gave ear. The orphan's cause he

plead
With moving words in crowded courts, and

scathed
The wrongs that wrung the widow's heart;

and on
His banner triumph perched. His name

was loved,
And blessed his efforts were to stricken ones.
In conscious purity he guileless stood,
A polished shaft of moral excellence.
But genius crumbles 'neath the power of

Rum,
And intellect is palsied by its touch.
My idol fell. A man of polished mind,
Who thrilled the people's hearts with pa-
triot tones,
As from their stately capitol he spoke,
Led him with syren words to that mad course
Himself had chose. I urged him long in tears,
With words maternal, not to break a heart
Too often bruis'd. Iwarn'd himb'ythepast; —
His father's worth and course, and fatal end.
He gave no heed, but trusted his self -pride, —
His firmness in established principle, —
His moral strength, his mastery of will, —

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 69

His post of honor, and his envious fame.
Like sandy pillars pressed too heavily
These, tottering, fell. His mental brilliance

waned :
His fame departed and his honor died.
He reeled oft-times a madman to his home,
Till on Life's silver cord consumption preyed
And broke the threads. Disease, the citadel
Of life long stormed, until Death's banner

waved
Above the ruined pile. Repentant tears
Streamed from his eyes. Faith broke the

chain of doubt
And bathed her wings in the atoning blood,
And in her beak, as deluge dove, bore back
God's olive-branch to man. An arm divine
The soul's dark fetters burst, and freedom

gave:
Life's lamp burned low, and in the socket

died.
The spirit winged its flight to higher spheres,
And Nature's fabric fell in deep disgrace.

" Such memories awoke as night's great orb
Pursued her silent march 'mid pillared fire.
Unblessed with sweet repose, this mournful

ode
I, trembling, penned:

70 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

" O, Rum ! thou dark monster, how gioomy
thy reign!

What tears have been wept o'er thy hec-
atombs slain!

What hopes thou hast wrecked — what sad
trophies Avon !

In slaying the father and smiting the son.

" Thou hast entered the mansion and hung

it with gloom,
And dug for bright genius a premature

tomb ;
The learned thou hast conquered, the gifted

o'erthrown,
The eloquent stricken, claimed all as thine

own.

"Homes bright thou hast darkened, and

'neath thy sad tread
Our loved ones have fallen, and sleep with

the dead.
The husband, the father, the brother, the son,
Thy cup has destroyed, they have gone

one by one.

" The victim of sorrow I wander and weep,
O'er the graves of my idols, who silently

sleep
By the Hudson's fair stream, whose billows

are tossed
In the dirge-moan it makes o'er the loved

and the lost.

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 71

" O, God of the widow, the orphan's last

friend,
Whose conquering kingdom shall never

know end !
Swift speed the glad morn when Rum's

reign shall be o'er,
And the bright bow of virtue shall bind

shore to shore.

" When the last tear shall fall o'er the spoils
it has won, [son,

When the last 'sotted father, the last reeling

Shall stand 'neath the banner of Temp'rance
unfurled,

And the song of the victor shall swTell
through the world.

" When the dark steed of Ruin now tram-
pling the slain,

Shall be thrown on his haunches, to hurt
not again,

And the bright, crystal waters our Father
has given,

Shall have banished strong drink as men
pass on to heaven.

" Then the cup shall be broken, the dragon

be chained,
The bowl be abandoned — the heart no more

pained;
And man in his pristine nobility stand,
With foot on the tempter : on life's crown

his hand."

72 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

Canto VIII.

The Muse now sings of night and a death
scene.

The years have fled along Time's trackless
path,

With course as swift as the bright planets
move

On the bespangled arch. With rapid step

They ran their race, nor stopped to parley
with

The crowd that hugged the world's false
joys, while 'neath

Their wayward feet Time's quicksands dis-
appeared.

In a bleak chamber of a lowly hut,

Where Poverty unmasks its visage stern,

Is stretched a man who treads the vale of

death.
On the black hearth the dying embers gasp
For life and warmth. The waning lamp emits
Sepulchral light, while through the broken

panes
The cold winds wildly toss the covering

spare,
Drawn round the dying form. The friends

of vears

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 73

Long fled have left the drunkard to his fate,
Forgetful of his lavished wealth and love.
iSTow on a beggar's couch, in penury,
Unmourned, he dies. Despair flames from

his eyes
Sunken and dull. His garments soiled and

torn
Bespeak by texture soft the mournful tale
Of brighter days. His well-remembered face
Is sadly changed by time and deep debauch.
The heir of fortune great, he bartered all
For wretchedness. He madly left the path
Of purity, and, ravished by the cup
Whose blasting touch destroys, he parted

with
His early innocence. He who once trod
Jn halls of stately splendor, walks, accursed
Of God,by man disowned, to suffering dread.
His garnished mind, once the bright cyno-
sure
Of many hearts, has been besieged and

stormed
By slow disease, till ruin on it rests.
For deep disgrace and Want's foul fellowship
His social worth was early sold. His pride
And dignity of mien fell heavily,
And bore in their sad crash the foliage fair
Of generous acts and fragrant memories.

74 TEE THREE INEBRIATES.

The iron hand of Death is on him now
With fatal grasp. In vain he strives to bribe
The monarch-king with promises of pure
Reform. Death offers now no compromise.
The bow of mercy on life's sky has died,
Its colors quenched by man's mad treachery.
The treasury of pain retributive,
In nature hid, now throws its fiery stings
With fury on the hope-forsaken soul.
Remorse around the brow binds piercing

thorns,
And taunts with demon laugh its agony.
The stern command, "Thine house in order

set,"
Despised when fortune's sun careered on

high,
Falls on the heart confirmed in disregard
Of proffered bliss.

Stern, goading Memory !
Thou fount of purest joy and deepest pain,
How strong art thou as life's last sands are

spent!
HowT dost thou, with thy pinions black,

thick set
With recollections of remorseful deeds,
The past enshade as the affrighted soul
Seeks to disguise itself in Virtue's robes,

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 75

Its Judge to meet ! How dost thou rise in

power,
When to the changeless world the spirit

flies!
Vile acts long since forgot are now recalled
In bitterness, e'en to the earliest blot
On life's dark sky. Her telescope of lens
All-powerful, stern Memory lifts unto
The eye unsealed, and the great map of life
Is filled with stains. In review pass life's

scenes
From the fair star of childhood innocence
To life's last crime. Remorse her scorpion

lash
To the departing soul applies, till in
Its culminating woe it throws its gaze
On the sad tragedy of closing life.

But list ! He speaks :

" In this dark hut I die in beggary
Of foul disease. Would I could once again
Become a child ; then would I shun the path
My feet have pressed — the path whose

ghastly end
With deep remorse of mind I now descry.
Would that I had her counsels wise obeyed
On whose fair breast my head was pillowed

once;
Whose life of love, perfumed with holy deeds
And pious prayers, was spent to win her child

76 THE THREE INEBRIATES.

To that fair clime of fadeless happiness,

Where her pure spirit dwells in deathless joy.

Her calm, meek face in Memory's mirror
shines,

And on my ear I hear the tender tones

That tell of God's unbounded love, and
Christ's

Great sacrifice for man, and Heaven's
bright stream.

Would that the days of youth were mine
again,

Then would I upward mount on strong Re-
solve,

And nestle where the star of Virtue shines.

The glass, whose bitter dregs of shame and
want,

Of penury and pain, I drink in death,

Then would I scorn to touch — master of will.

Too late ! Hope's peaceful form is coffined
now.

The rapids have me, and with gathering
speed

The billows glide to the dread cataract.

The shining shores of Privilege recede

And mists rise dense upon my dying sight.

I leave you, ye who drained my soul of love,

And planted round my bleeding brow these
thorns

For gold ; who for base lucre crucified

My hopes ; who robbed me of mine inno-
cence

And health, with fortune fair and truest
friends,

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 77

When I from guile afree had wronged you

not.
I leave you now : Dread thunder-bolts of

flame
Shall scorch your souls, and burn your an-
guished gaze,
When ye shall follow me through Death's

dread vale.
The pangs and tears and blasted hopes ye

caused
In time, shall in stern retribution come
On your despairing souls when time is o'er.
At God's dread bar, before the frowning

Judge
We all shall meet, and ruined men shall stand
And jeer your pain. Your hopeless victims

shall
For evermore torment your souls, and plunge
The dagger keen of fell Remorse into
Your vitals, torn by the avenging blade.
Familiar tones shall haunt your frenzied

mind?,
And while ye cry, c How long?' Despair

shall scream,
'Forever,' as successive bolts are hurled.
Th' ascending wail of spirits slain by your
Foul cup shall, loud as Hell's tumultuous roar,
Forever, unappeased, fall on your ear.

" Farewell, pure hopes and prospects ever

fair !
Which from your beauteous spheres me

beckoned on

78 THE THBEE WEBBIATES.

To fadeless bliss. This arm with fatal stroke
Your bright fires quenched. Adieu, bright

world !
Whose walks to me a paradise had been,
If true to Him who penciled thy fair scenes.
I long have stained thy sacred soil by crime.
I leave thee now. Inebriate, I fall
By the terrific shaft I forged and hurled."

The night-shades wear away ;
Yet as the weary hours have hurried him
From earth, no prayer has he addressed to

Him
Whose bending ear Faith's softest whisper

hears.
He, stoic like, abandoned now of hope,
Goes to his fate with iron nerve and soul
Emotionless. He sinks in Death's cold arms.
The frigid flood is parting at his feet :
The shattered hull of Life's immortal bark
Drinks in the rising waves that press it

down.
Death tenants now the fallen house of clay.
The tyrant prince his bankrupt debtor drags
To dungeons dark, wherein Corruption

spreads
Its banquet foul. The eye is glazed, the heart,
Like the spent pendulum, has ceased its

throbs.

THE THREE INEBRIATES. 79

Death stands by the pale form — leans o'er

the brow,
A spirit-watcher by the marble clay.

Without a ray of hope to cheer the gloom
The cherished son of Ralph passed o'er the

stream.
Death, nurse of dreamless slumbers, laid

his brow
In his cold lap to sleep through Time's

dark night.
When for the final strife the elements
Their giant powers shall blend, Death too

shall sleep,
While he, his dull ear pierced by the dread

trump
That peals along earth's scattered vaults

and graves,
Shall wake again. He shall come forth to

meet
The drunkard's doom, the drunkard's

changeless fate,
When rising high o'er Nature's dying dirge
The white-robed choirs shall swell their

triumph song.

So perished by the cup these princely ones,
The grandsire, father, son — all gifted men.

80 THE THREE INEBRIATES,

And ever, by the glass, the wise and good
And great, like Summer leaves, untimely fall.
And woman, pure with culture, beauty,

wealth
Endowed, puts hand upon the crimsoned

wine
And lifts, like Socrates, a poisoned brim
And drinks and falls. For gain what mul-
titudes
The chalice fill with death, and happy homes
Transform into the awful vestibules
Of hell ! They beggar fathers, and their sons
They strip of hope and happiness and heaven.
They crowd the marts with poverty and

crime ;
With tears and want, with orphans multi-
plied ;
And troubled ones, in number like the stars
That glitter on the ebon robe of Night.
Then let us pray and speak and give and

write
And work and vote until, from sea to sea,
The white flag waves, and Prohibition reigns
Law-girt throughout the sisterhood of
States. \

The End.

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