THE SPECTER.
Among the demon forms that wander o'erOur world, those shapes of sin, first causes greatOf ev'ry earthly ill and ev'ry woe,A specter walks, the victims of whose wiles,Lured down to death, in numbers far exceedThose slain upon the battle-fields of earth.Through hours of night, at midday, at all times,Dauntless and unabashed he stalks abroad.And many are the gifted and the proudWho fall into his snares and lose their all;The consciousness within of hearts uprightAnd pure; all hope of happiness and peaceIn this the present life or that beyond;While this destroyer writes upon each one,In characters that may be read by all,His name—Intemperance. Where'er doth comeThis soul-polluting presence, shadows fallMore dark than those which hang around the tomb.For as his footsteps o'er the threshold passOf homes where joy abode, how soon
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