These verses should be read in a firm, half-indignant, yet imploring tone of voice,—except the last verse, which should be expressed in a very decided and impassioned manner.
THE DRUNKARD'S DAUGHTER.
[Footnote: These beautiful and touching verses were written by a young lady, in reply to a friend who had called her a monomaniac on the subject of temperance.]
1. Go, feel what I have felt,
Go, bear what I have borne;
Sink 'neath a blow a father dealt,
And the cold, proud world's scorn;
Thus struggle on from year to year,
Thy sole relief,—the scalding tear.
2. Go, weep as I have wept,
O'er a loved father's fall,
See every cherished promise swept,—
Youth's sweetness turned to gall;
Hope's faded flowers strewed all the way
That led me up to woman's day.
3. Go, kneel as I have knelt;
Implore, beseech, and pray,
Strive the besotted heart to melt,
The downward course to stay;
Be cast with bitter curse aside,—
Thy prayers burlesqued, thy tears defied.
4. Go, stand where I have stood,
And see the strong man bow;
With gnashing teeth, lips bathed in blood,
And cold and livid brow;
Go, catch his wandering glance, and see
There mirrored, his soul's misery.
5. Go, hear what I have heard,—
The sobs of sad despair,
As memory's feeling fount hath stirred,
And its revealings there
Have told him what he might have been,
Had he the drunkard's fate foreseen.
6. Go to my mother's side,
And her crushed spirit cheer;
Thine own deep anguish hide,
Wipe from her cheek the tear;
Mark her dimmed eye,—her furrowed brow,
The gray that streaks her dark hair now;
Her toil-worn frame, her trembling limb,
And trace the ruin back to him
Whose plighted faith, in early youth,
Promised eternal love and truth;
But who, forsworn, hath yielded up
That promise to the deadly cup,
And led her down from love and light,
From all that made her pathway bright,
And chained her there 'mid want and strife,
That lowly thing,—a drunkard's wife! And stamped on childhood's brow so mild,
That withering blight, a drunkard's child!7. Go, hear, and see, and feel, and know,
All that my soul hath felt and known,
Then look upon the wine-cup's glow;
See if its brightness can atone;
Think if its flavor you will try,
If all proclaimed, "'Tis drink and die!"
8. Tell me I hate the bowl;
Hate is a feeble word:
(f.) I loathe, ABHOR,—my very soulWith strong disgust is stirred,
Whene'er I see, or hear, or tell,
Of the DARK BEVERAGE OF HELL!!
QUESTIONS.—1. By whom was this poetry written? 2. What circumstance induced her to write it? 3. What is the meaning of monomaniac? Ans. One who is deranged in a single faculty of the mind, or with regard to a particular subject, the other faculties being in regular exercise. 4. What reasons does she assign for her hatred of alcoholic drink? 5. What does she say of her mother? 6. With what tone of voice should the last verse be read? See page 40, Rule 4. 7. Why are some words and sentences printed in Italics and Capitals? See page 22, Note III.
[!-- Marker --] LESSON XLII.
REC' ORDS, accounts; minutes.
AD VENT' URES, doings; strange occurences.
EN CUM' BER, load; clog.
GRAT I FI CA' TION, indulgence.
SCHEME, plan; progress.
DE LIB ER A' TION, thought; consideration.
LUX U RI OUS, pleasure-loving.
EX PE DI' TION, tour; enterprise.
MO ROSE', sour; ill-humored.
RE VOLT' ING, disgusting; abhorrent.
CON TEM' PLATE, consider; think upon.
REL' IC, remains.
IN VES' TI GATE, examine; look into.
AC COM' PLISH ED, effected.
PIC TUR ESQUE', (pikt yur esk')grand; beautiful; picture-like.
THE TWO YOUNG TRAVELERS.
MERRY'S MUSEUM.