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Show Ilfteen Years Ago. I wandered to the grog shop, Tomt I steed beside the bar And drank a bowl ot lemonade and smoked a bid clear The same old kegs and Jugs were there. the ones wa used to know. When we were on Ihe roundup, Tom, some fifteen years azo The barkeep Is a new one, Tom, the one who used to sell Corrosive tnnglefoot to us Is roasting now la-well i The other has a plateglass front, his hilr Is combed quite low, And looks Just like the one we knew some Ilfteen soars ago. Old Soak came up and called for booze, he had the same old grin. While others burned the lining from their throats with Holland gin: And women stood besld the door, their faces seamed with woe. And wept J ist as they used to weep somo fifteen sears ago I asked about our old-time friends, those cherished sporty men, And somo were In the poorhouse, Tom, and some were In the pen. And one. the one we liked the best, the hancman laid him low The world Is much the same, dear Tom, as Ilfteen )ears ago I asked about that stately chap, that pride had marked for Its own, He used to sa thnt ho coull drink or let the stuff alone He perished of the James H James, out In the cold nnd snow Ah. few survive who used to booze eome fifteen sears ago. New crowds lino up against the bar nnd call for crimson Ink, New hinds nre trembling ns they pour the stuff Ihey shouldn't drink: Hut still the same old watchword rings, This round s on me, )ou know ' The same old cry of doom we heard eome fifteen sears ago. I wandered tn the church) ard. Tom, and there 1 saw the craves Of those who used to drown themselves In red fermented waves And there wero women sleeping there where grass nnd daisies grow Who went nnd died of broken hearts some fifteen sears ago. And there were graves where children slept, have slept for many a sear Forgetful of the woes that marked their fitful sojourn here And 'nath a tall white monument, In death there lleth low The man who used to sell the bonze some fifteen jenrs ago J 8 Hotdin In St. Louis Globe. Democrat |