The Old Story.

He was one of the fellows
That could drink or leave it alone,
With a fine high scorn for common men
Who were born with no backbone.
"And why," said he, "should a man of strength
Deny to himself the use
Of the pleasant gift of the warm red wine
Because of its weak abuse ?"

He could quote at a banquet,
With a manner half divine,
Full fifty things the poets say
About the rosy wine;
And he could sing a spirited song
About the lips of a lass.
And drink a toast to her lair worth
In a sparkling,.generous glass.

And since this lordly fellow
Could drink or leave it alone,
He chose to drink at his own wild will
Till his will was overthrown.
And the lips of the lass are cold with grief,
And her children shiver and shrink,
For the man who once could leave it alone
Is a pitiful slave to drink.

—British Temperance Advocate

"We have been selling our boys to pay the revenue"