The Social Cup by Lephia Bryant Larson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jun 23, 1904

The Social Cup

By Lephia Bryant Larson

LEPHIA BRYANT LARSON

WHENE’ER I see a drunken man, I think On what he was before the cursed drink Wrought such a change, When he, his mother’s baby boy, Filled her heart and home with joy, When his brow, as white as snow, was pressed In infant helplessness against her breast. O little, little, did we think He’d fall a victim unto drink; But look! there he goes, Reeling this way and that. See his shabby clothes! Look! he has dropped his hat. Will some one kindly pick it up For the poor soul drowned in the social cup?

WHENE’ER I see a drunken man, I think What it must be to stand upon the brink And gaze across the dark, bubbling abyss That dooms his soul to nothingness; For in the book of life ’tis given, No drunkard shall inherit heaven. But “God, have mercy on them” is the prayer Of mothers, wives, and sisters everywhere. O! stoop, ye strong, and help them up, Souls drowning in the social cup!