But, ah! his hellish form with care
He hides 'neath outward seeming fair;
Sometimes in friendship's lovely guise
His varied, luring arts he tries,
And oft his victim falls a prey,
Before he knows is led astray,
And finds his would-be friend a foe
Who'd fill his life with bitterest woe.
The young he woos in pleasure's dress,
And boasts of health and happiness;
Pretends he'll give them lasting joys,
Deceives them with a thousand lies;
Then drags them down to dark despair,
And laughs and bids them perish there.
Alas! that he succeeds so well;
His cunning wiles have peopled hell
With untold millions of our race
Who else had never known that place.
When will mankind be wise and learn
'Twixt good and evil to discern,

And choose the best and safest course-
Seek wisdom true from wisdom's source;
Combine with head and heart and hand
To drive this demon from our land,
And know no rest for arm or brain
Until Intemperance vile is slain ?

WHEN WILL YOU COME HOME AGAIN ?

IN

AN EPISODE OF THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR.

N his wind-shaken tent the soldier sits,
Beside him flares an oil-lamp smokily,
Whose dim light glooms and flickers on the sheet
Of rustling paper that, with eager eyes

And heart intent, he reads. Now with a smile
The flaxen-bearded, sunburnt face lights up.

A smile that in the smiling breeds a pain

Within his yearning heart; the gentle hand

That those sweet loving words hath traced, will he
Ever again in his protecting clasp

Enfold it? Who can tell! He can but kiss,

With wild intensity, the page that hand

Hath touched. Each line, each word read and re-read,

At last there is no more. With swimming eyes

He looks, and drinks her name into his soul.

When will you come home again?

Yet see those lines with pencil widely ruled,
Where largely sprawl big letters helplessly;
What do they say, those baby characters,
So feebly huge :

"Loved Papa,

When will you come home again?
My own dear Papa!"

As he reads this the tent to him grows darker,
His strong hand trembles, and the hot tears burn
In his blue eyes, and blur the straggling words.
What need to see? The words are stamped upon
His heart, and his whole soul doth feel them there.
The wind on gusty wings speeds by, and lo!
With its wild voice, his child's sweet treble mingles
In accents faintly clear:

167

"Loved Papa, when will you come home again?
My own dear Papa!

And now his head is bowed into his hands,
His brave heart for a moment seems to climb
Into his throat and choke him. Hark! what sound
Thus sharply leaps among, and slays the sad
Wind-voices of the autumn night, with shrill
And sudden blast? The bugle-call "To arms!"
And startled sleepers, at its fierce appeal,

Half-dreaming, clutch their swords, and gasping wake;-
How many soon to sleep again-in death!

And on that father's heart the pealing cry

Strikes cold as ice, though soldier there's none braver, For still above the bugle's thrilling breath

That pleading child-voice sweetly calls:

66

Loved Papa, when will you come home again?
My own dear Papa!"

Across a rough hillside the light of dawn

Doth coldly creep, with ruthless touch revealing
All that by darkness had been hid, and there,
Among the stalwart forms that stiffening lie
Upon the blood-soaked ground, where they lie thickest,
There is one found, with flaxen hair and beard
Dark dyed with gore, a bullet in his heart!
A crumpled paper in his hand was clutched,
'Gainst the cold lips, the rigid hand did press
Some childish writing by his life-blood stained.

What are the words One scarce can read them now: "Loved Papa, when will you come home again? My own dear Papa!"

IS THE BIBLE ON OUR SIDE?

A DIALOGUE, BY ALFRED J. GLASSPOOL.

CHARACTERS.

MR. FRANK WHISTLER

MR. JAMES THOMPSON..

}

A Sunday School Teacher. A dealer in unfermented wines.

WILLIAM MOWBRAY Brothers, Scholars in Mr. Whistler's Sunday School Class, and Members of the Blue Ribbon Army. Servant to Mr. Whistler.

THOMAS MOWBRAY

MARY HOWARD...

PART I.

[MR. WHISTLER seated at a table writing; a knock, enter MARY HOWARD, bringing a small hamper which she places on the table.]

MARY

ARY HOWARD. The carrier has brought this hamper, sir, from Mr. Thompson.

MR. FRANK WHISTLER. Thank you, Mary, I must have a look at its contents. (Exit MARY. MR. WHISTLER proceeds to open the hamper and finds four bottles labelled " Unfermented Wine" which he looks at carefully and then places upon the table; he then proceeds to read the following letter which accompanies the hamper):

"Dear sir,—I take the liberty herewith to forward you a few sample bottles of unfermented wine: they contain the pure juice of the grape without a drop of Alcohol; I trust you will find it as agreeable to your taste as I know you will find it beneficial to health, and quite unable to injure the mind and body like ordinary wine. I shall do myself the honour of calling upon you in a few days when I trust you will favour me with an order.

"I am, Sir,

"Your obedient servant,

"JAMES THOMPSON."

Ah, ah! Mr. Thompson, a nice little trick. You will have to call upon me a good many times before you persuade me to buy any of your rubbish. Unfermented wine indeed! such a thing in my opinion has never existed and never can exist. Wine without alcohol is like the world without the sun; let us rather have coffee without sugar, bread without salt, pork without apple sauce, but wine without alcohol, never-it is impossible! impossible!-it is a mistake, a delusion, into which the bigoted and the ignorant alone fall. (Knock). Come in. (En'er servant.)

Is the Bible on our side?

169

M. H. Two of your Sunday School lads are waiting in the hall to see you,

sir.

MR. F. W. Ask them to come up, Mary. (Exit MARY. Enter WILLIAM MOWBRAY and THOMAS MOWBRAY, wearing the blue ribbon. F. W. shakes hands with them.) Good evening, my dear boys, I am glad to see you; sit down and let me know the object of your visit. (They sit down).

WILLIAM MOWBRAY. Thank you, sir, we have taken the liberty to call upon you to enlist your sympathy and help in the Blue Ribbon Mission to be held in our town: we felt quite certain that you would be willing to assist in such a good work.

MR. F. W. Now, my dear lads, you have heard me more than once express my opinion on this matter, and you know it is very different from your own. I think that the Bible and common sense teach us that moderation is wiser than total abstinence. I don't mean to say that I am not interested in any movement that seeks to make people happy and sober, but I cannot conscientiously give you any practical help. I believe the Bible does not command total abstinence, but in many places encourages moderate drinking.

THOMAS MOWBRAY. Pardon me, sir, for saying that a large number of Christian men are now of opinion that the Bible supports total abstinence. It may be true there is no direct command to abstain, neither is there any direct command to erect Sunday Schools or to distribute tracts, yet we willingly do these good works, because we believe the spirit of the Bible is in their favour.

W. M. I must beg, sir, that you will excuse me for taking a liberty, but seeing on the table some bottles of unfermented wine reminds me that many persons make a mistake in supposing that the word "wine" as used in the Bible has reference to the same kind of wines as used in the present day. Now I have read that in the Bible the word wine has several meanings. Sometimes it refers to a liquor made of simple sugar and water, sometimes to wine unfermented and without alcohol; it may refer to wine containing a small quantity of alcohol, but never to strong brandied wines as used in the present day.

MR. F. W. Why, I declare, you are quite eloquent, but do not make rash assertions. You teetotalers are so intemperate

in your language.

T. M. Allow me, sir, to remark that my brother has forgotten to mention that in the Bible the word wine often refers to the grape, the solid fruit of the vine as it hangs in the

cluster. I think I can show you a text or two which will prove this (takes Bible from pocket and reads from Deut. xi. 14): "Thou mayest gather in thy corn, thy wine and thy oil,' and again (reading from Isaiah lxv. 8): "As the new wine is found in the cluster." Here, sir, I think you will agree that the word wine refers to the grape, and so it is in many instances. MR. F. W. Of course I must admit that in the passages you have read the word wine refers to the grape.

W. M. (taking Bible from pocket). Will you, sir, allow me to read a quotation from a very old book, which I think will prove that unfermented wine was very common in ancient times (reads Genesis xl. 11): "I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup." Does not this substantiate our claim that much of the wine referred to in the Bible may have reference to an unintoxicating liquor?

MR. F. W. You have been to a good school and learned your lesson well, but come now, lend me your Bible, William. (WILLIAM hands bible to MR. F. W.) What do you say to this? (Reads Proverbs xxxi. 6). "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts."

T. M. A very simple explanation of that text, sir, is that in olden times it was a beneficent custom to give criminals strong liquor to deaden their nerves before undergoing torture or execution those that were ready to perish and sad at heart took the drink to kill their feelings; but surely that custom cannot allow the constant drinking of modern days.

MR. F. W. That may be so, but now how do you explain this (reads Psalm civ. 15), "Wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine."

W. M. I think, sir, if you quote this text it proves too much. If it is right to quote it to support the drinking of wine, then we ought in all fairness to carry out the other part of the text and pour oil upon our faces to make them shine. How do you know, sir, that the wine was intoxicating? I don't believe that alcohol will ever make glad the heart of man.

MR. F. W. (looking disappointed and taking out his purse). I think I need hardly say any more on this matter. There is no convincing you teetotalers-you are the most obstinate people in the world. Here, put my name down for a sovereign. (Hands money to W. M.) Go and make as many drunkards as you can into abstainers, but do not interfere with the moderate drinkers, they can take care of themselves.