I WILL PAINT YOU A SIGN.

White Ribbon, Volume 32, Issue 370, 18 April 1926, Page 4

I WILL PAINT YOU A SIGN.

I will paint you a sign, drink seller, and hang it over your door; ever you had before. 1 will paint with the skill of a master, and many shall pause to see This wonderful piece of painting, so like the reality.

1 will paint you a sign, drink seller, as you wait for the stalwart boy, Who is just in the morn of manhood his mother s hope and joy, He has no thought of drinking till you greet him with a smile, And you seem so blithe and friendly that he stops to think awhile.

And I will next paint him a drunkard, that only a year has flown, But into his loathsome creature that fair young boy had grown. The work was sure and rapid,—l will paint him as he lies In a torpid drunken slumber, under the wintry skies.

I will paint you a form of the mother, as she kneels at her darling’s side, — Her beautiful boy that was dearer than aJI the world beside. I will paint you the shape of a coffin labelled with one word—“ Lost! ” I will paint all this, drink-seller, and I will paint it free of cost.

The sin, and the shame, and sorrow, the crime and want and woe, That are born there —in your drink shop—no hand can paint you know; But I’ll paint you a sign, drink-seller, and many shall pause to view This wonderful, swinging sign-board, —so terribly fearfully true!