Rum and Tobacco by S. S. C.

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 16, 1878

Rum and Tobacco.

By S. S. C.

"And there shall in no wise enter therein anything that defileth."

The joy and the hope of a soul In this and the world to come Are drowned by th' intoxicant bowl— Are lost to the drinkers of rum.

If we ask at the home of the poor Whence the ranks of the paupers do come, They will tell us they beggars become When they knelt at the altar of rum.

Then look through the prison-cell bars At the wretch by transgression undone; And, despairing, he now will confess He is lost through the drinking of rum.

Ask the once happy, beautiful bride Who is wasted and wretched become, How a husband was changed to a fiend; She will say 'twas by turning to rum.

For the tendrils of love that were hers Were withered, his heartstrings were numb, From the day he was false to his vow And began to find pleasure in rum.

Vile poison for body and soul Is the breath and the bread of the slum; Evil thoughts coming out of the mouth— Going in are tobacco and rum.

The caverns of deepest despair Will along bring conviction to some That these are but steps down to hell: Sipping beer, wine, gin, brandy, and rum.

In the "Gardens of God"—blest abode! Where nothing unclean can come— There will mingle with breath of the flowers No fumes of tobacco or rum. —S. S. C.