TEMPERANCE DEPARTMENT

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Feb 12, 1880

TEMPERANCE DEPARTMENT.

COLD WATER SONG.

Let others sing the ruby bright In the red wine's sparkling glow; Dearer to me is the diamond light In the fountain's purer flow. The feet of earthly men have trod The juice from the bleeding vine, But the stream comes pure from the hand of God, To fill this cup of mine. Then give me the cup of cold water, The pure, sweet cup of cold water; His arm is strong, though his toil be long, Who drinks but the clear cold water.

The dewdrop lies in the floweret's cup, How rich is its perfume now! And the thirsty earth with joy looks up, When Heaven sheds rain on her brow. The brook goes forth with a cheerful voice, To gladden the vale along; And the bending trees on her banks rejoice To listen her quiet song. Then give me the cup of cold water, The pure, sweet cup of cold water, For bright is his eye, and his spirit high, Who drinks but the clear cold water,

The lark springs up with a lighter strain, When the wave has washed her wing; And the steed flings back his thundering mane In the might of the crystal spring. This was the drink of Paradise, Ere blight on its beauty fell; And the buried streams of its gladness rise In every moss-grown well. And here's for the cup of cold water, The pure sweet cup of cold water; Unto all that live will Nature give, But a drink of clear cold water.

-Geo. W. Bethune.

No wonder that the tender feelings of a mother are turned into a curse. A young lad, who had once been the pride of her heart in the innocence of his childhood, and the humble object of her prayers, whom she had so dearly loved and cherished, had, in his passage to manhood, in an evil hour, been led astray.

Than this, nothing more painful could occur, as the poor mother would now see the companion of her life, which I have known him to be, for him alone she had toiled, now blindly gliding into the very vortex of ruin—a slight, yet a sure path to misery.

Very often has she sat and covered her face with her hands to drink. The young man has been rebuked by her, and her heart has gained—though he has not returned to their home. Sometimes he has found time for a visit, but that has been the only time he has passed in that way along with his mother, and her store was always for his comfort.

Often have I seen him in company with the late lamented Mr. Killigrew, who was once an honorable landed gentleman of our vicinity. It was told by the venerable Mr. Pratt to me.

Soon after this, I was told that was the last day he was going to touch anything that was not soberly good. He spoke these words as if he were to be reborn—ness of spirit was the only pain he could not shake off.

"I'll promise," said he, "to let it trouble my heart no more than liquor."

"I sh"