Theatrical speaker/The Father Reformed

THE FATHER REFORMED.

Father. Come, darling, take a little toddy,
It is a cold and rainy day;
A little's good for any body;
Come, take a little, child, I pray.

Child. O father, do not tempt me so,
I fear I'll love it by and by,
And then my love will grow and grow,
Till I shall drink your bottle dry.

Father. Fie, fie, that uncle Charles, I think,
Has turned you silly quit, and wild:
Would your dear father tell you drink
If this would hurt his darling child?

Child. Father, I love you from my heart,
But O, I fear to taste your brandy;
The sugared dram shall be your part
And I will have my sugar candy.
O, father! tell me what's the matter
At Mr. Toper's house, just by;
O see the little children scatter,
And hear their mother shriek and cry!

Father. Why, child, that lazy drunken hog
Has just come home to beat his wife;
The brute is now so full of grog,
That all must run to save their life.

Child. And yet when he was young, they say,
He was as good as any body;
But every cold or rainy day,
His father gave the darling toddy.
Father, if he had never tasted,
Would he have been a drunkard now?
His credit gone, his money wasted,
His wife and children sunk in woe?

Father. But ah, my ehild, he drank too deep,
He should have stopped at moderation:
If we in proper limits keep,
There is no danger in ereation.

Child. And, father, I may drink too deep,
If I should drink your sweetened grog,
And, oh! how would my father weep
To hear them call me "drunken hog!"
And father, don't the Bible say,
No drunkards shall with Jesus dewll?
That God will send them far away,
To sigh and weep in deepest hell?
I love you, father, that you know—
O do not spoil your darling son;—-
But should I drink and sink to woe,
I'll say my father urged me on.

Father. Enough, my son, I've no desire
To urge you on to woe and pain;
Ill throw my toddy in the fire,
And never taste myself again.
My child has rescued me from shame,
And filled his father's heart with joy;
Sure I had gained a drunkard's grave
But for this precious darling boy.
Another drop I will not covet;
(James, break that filthy demi-john;
For when a man begins to love it,
He is already half undone.