THE JUG OF RUM.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 467, 30 April 1890, Page 8

THE JUG OF RUM.

Within those earthen walla opnflned ■The ruin lurks of humankind ; Jrfore mi*chief here united dwell. And more diseases haunt this rod, • .Than ever planned the Egytian flocks,/'■•Or ever cursed Pandora's box. ■Within these prison walls repose The seeds of many a bloody noso, . The chattering tongue, the.horrid"oath, The.,jist for fighting nothing loth, The nose with diamonds glow in* red, The bloated eye, the broken head J For ever fastened he this door ! Confined within a thousand more Destructive fiends of hateful shape, Even now ore planning an escape. Here, only bv a eork controlled, And slender .walls of earthern mould, In all their pomp of death reside [Revenge, that near was satisfied, - The tree that hears the deadly fruit Of maiming, murder, and dispute, Assault that innocence assails, The images of gloomy gaols, The giddy thought, on mischief bent/ The evening hour in folly spent — All these within this jug appear, And—Jack the hangman in the rear. Thrice happy he who, early taught Bv nature, ne'er this poison sought; He, with the purling stream content, The beverage .quaffs that nature meant. In reason's scale his actions weighed, llis spirits want no foreign aid ; Long life is hi**, in vigar passed, Existence welcome to the last— • ’ A spring that never yet grew stale ; Such virtues lie in Arlam’3 Ale.