TEMPERANCE
A WELCOME TO A TEMPERANCE PICNIC.
Old and young are welcome here
To the banquet we have spread:
It will cause no bitter tear
When the festal hour is fled;
It will break no mother's heart,
For the deadly bowl we shun!
Welcome then—and when we part
Blessings go with every one.
[The following lines were also written by Miss JOHNSON for a temperance picnic, held in a grove near her father's house. They were read by her brother Edwin, now a lawyer in Stanstead, P. Q.]
From north and south, from east and west
They come with banners gay;
Hope lights each eye and fills each breast,
And all are friends to-day.
The fairest of the sister band—
With greeting most sincere,—
Magog extends an eager hand,
And bids you welcome here!
Hail, brothers in a noble cause,
'Tis well we thus should meet:
For every meeting closer draws
The bonds of union sweet.
And we who battle for the right,
And breathe the solemn vow
To win or perish in the fight,
Should be united now.
Up, brothers, up! to arms! to arms!
The sword must needs be drawn:
These are indeed no vain alarms,
The foe is marching on!
And shall he blight our happy land
With his polluting breath?
And scatter woe on every hand,
And infamy and death?
By yonder mountain and by lake
Which their approval show,—
For each beloved Township's sake,
We boldly answer—No!
Then let our banners be unfurled,
'Mid scorn or 'mid applause;
We dare proclaim to all the world
We love the temperance cause!