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Show 1 Fifteen Years Ago. 1 1 I wandered to the grogshop, Tom: I jf stood beside the bar, H And drank a bowl of lemonade and 1 smoked a bad cigar; ill The same old kegs and jugs were In there, the ones we used to know S When we were on tho round up, Tom m some fifteen years ago. Mm Thebarkeep isa new one Tom. The V W one who used to sell ' I J' Corrosive tanglefoot to us is roasting 'M now in well, m The other bus a pluteglass front; his M hair is combed quite low, X And looks just like the one wo knew S some fifteen years ago. H Old Soak came up and called for booze S he had the same old grin B While others burned the lining from their throats with Holland gin. And women stood beside the door, M their faces seamed with woe, ' And wept just ns they used to weep some fifteen years ago. I asked about our oW-tlme friends, those chirlshcd sporty men; 1 And some were in the poorhouse, Tom i and somo were In the pen: And one, the one wo liked the best, the hangman laid hlin low. The world is very much the same, dear Tom, as fifteen years ago. 1 asked about that stately chap, that J pride matked as Its own. He used to say that he could drlnlc or let the stuff alone. He perished of tho James II. Jams, out in tho cold and snow Ah, few survlvo who used to booze ' some fifteen years ago. New crowds lino up agaltibt tho bar and call for crimson ink; New hands aro trembling as they pour tho stuff thoy shouldn't drink; But still the same old watchword rings "This round to mo you know!" , ' . Tho same old cry of doom was heard some fifteen years ago. I wandered to tho churchyard, Tom, and there I 6aw the graves Of tboso who used to drown themselves In red fermented waves; And there were women sleeping there wbcro grass and dalbcs grow, Who wept and died of broken hearts some fifteen years ago. And there were graves where children slept, have slopt for many u year, ii i" Forgetful of tho woes that marked ' M their fitful sojourn here, M1 And 'neath a tall white monument, In - ' death their licth low The man who used to soil the booze some Uftceu years ago. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. |