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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=576058" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Drunken Father</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Poor Ellen married Andrew Hall,<br>Who dwells beside the moor,<br>Where yonder rose-tree shades the wall,<br>And woodbines grace the door.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Who does not know how blest, how loved<br>Were her mild laughing eyes<br>By every youth!--but Andrew proved<br>Unworthy of his prize.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In tippling was his whole delight,<br>Each sign-post barr'd his way;<br>He spent in muddy ale at night<br>The wages of the day.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Though Ellen still had charms, was young,<br>And he in manhood's prime,<br>She sad beside her cradle sung,<br>And sigh'd away her time.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">One cold bleak night, the stars were hid,<br>In vain she wish'd him home;<br>Her children cried, half cheer'd, half chid,<br>'O when will father come!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Till Caleb, nine years old, upsprung,<br>And kick'd his stool aside,<br>And younger Mary round him clung,<br>'I'll go, and you shall guide.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The children knew each inch of ground,<br>Yet Ellen had her fears;<br>Light from the lantern glimmer'd round,<br>And show'd her falling tears.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Go by the mill and down the lane;<br>'Return the same way home:<br>'Perhaps you'll meet him, give him light;<br>'O how I _wish_ he'd come.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Away they went, as close and true<br>As lovers in the shade,<br>And Caleb swung his father's staff<br>At every step he made.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The noisy mill-clack rattled on,<br>They saw the water flow,<br>And leap in silvery foam along,<br>Deep murmuring below.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'We'll soon be there,' the hero said,<br>'Come on, 'tis but a mile,--<br>'Here's where the cricket-match was play'd,<br>'And here's the shady stile.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'How the light shines up every bough!<br>'How strange the leaves appear!<br>'Hark!--What was that?--'tis silent now,<br>'Come, Mary, never fear.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The staring oxen breathed aloud,<br>But never dream'd of harm;<br>A meteor glanced along the cloud<br>That hung o'er Wood-Hill Farm.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Old Caesar bark'd and howl'd hard by,<br>All else was still as death,<br>But Caleb was ashamed to cry,<br>And Mary held her breath.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">At length they spied a distant light,<br>And heard a chorus brawl;<br>Wherever drunkards stopp'd at night,<br>Why there was Andrew Hall.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The house was full, the landlord gay,<br>The bar-maid shook her head,<br>And wish'd the boobies far away<br>That kept her out of bed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">There Caleb enter'd, firm, but mild,<br>And spoke in plaintive tone:--<br>'My mother could not leave the child,<br>'So we are come alone.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">E'en drunken Andrew felt the blow<br>That innocence can give,<br>When its resistless accents flow<br>To bid affection live.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'I'm coming, loves, I'm coming now,'--<br>Then, shuffling o'er the floor,<br>Contrived to make his balance true,<br>And led them from the door.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The plain broad path that brought him there<br>By day, though faultless then,<br>Was up and down and narrow grown,<br>Though wide enough for ten.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The stiles were wretchedly contrived,<br>The stars were all at play,<br>And many a ditch had moved itself<br>Exactly in his way.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But still conceit was uppermost,<br>That stupid kind of pride:--<br>'Dost think I cannot see a post?<br>'Dost think I want a guide?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Why, Mary, how you twist and twirl!<br>'Why dost not keep the track?<br>'I'll carry thee home safe, my girl,'--<br>Then swung her on his back.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Poor Caleb muster'd all his wits<br>To bear the light ahead,<br>As Andrew reel'd and stopp'd by fits,<br>Or ran with thund'ring tread.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Exult, ye brutes, traduced and scorn'd,<br>Though true to nature's plan;<br>Exult, ye bristled, and ye horn'd,<br>When infants govern man.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Down to the mill-pool's dangerous brink<br>The headlong party drove;<br>The boy alone had power to think,<br>While Mary scream'd above.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Stop!' Caleb cried, 'you've lost the path;<br>'The water's close before;<br>'I see it shine, 'tis very deep,--<br>'Why, don't you hear it roar?'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And then in agony exclaim'd,<br>'O where's my mother _now_?'<br>The Solomon of hops and malt<br>Stopp'd short and made a bow:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">His head was loose, his neck disjointed,<br>It cost him little trouble;<br>But, to be stopp'd and disappointed,<br>Poh! danger was a bubble.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Onward be stepp'd, the boy alert,<br>Calling his courage forth,<br>Hung like a log on Andrew's skirt,<br>And down he brought them both.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The tumbling lantern reach'd the stream,<br>Its hissing light soon gone;<br>'Twas night, without a single gleam,<br>And terror reign'd alone.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">A general scream the miller heard,<br>Then rubb'd his eyes and ran,<br>And soon his welcome light appear'd,<br>As grumbling he began:--</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'What have we here, and whereabouts?<br>'Why what a hideous squall!<br>'Some drunken fool! I thought as much--<br>''Tis only Andrew Hall!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Poor children!' tenderly he said,<br>'But now the danger's past.'<br>They thank'd him for his light and aid,<br>And drew near home at last.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But who upon the misty path<br>To meet them forward press'd?<br>'Twas Ellen, shivering, with a babe<br>Close folded to her breast.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Said Andrew, 'Now you're glad, I know,<br>'To se-se-see us come;--<br>'But I have taken care of both,<br>'And brought them bo-bo-both safe home.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">With Andrew vex'd, of Mary proud,<br>But prouder of her boy,<br>She kiss'd them both, and sobb'd aloud,--<br>The children cried for joy.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But what a home at last they found!<br>Of comforts all bereft;<br>The fire out, the last candle gone,<br>And not one penny left!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But Caleb quick as light'ning flew,<br>And raised a light instead;<br>And as the kindling brands he blew,<br>His father snored in bed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">No brawling, boxing termagant<br>Was Ellen, though offended;<br>Who ever knew a fault like this<br>By violence amended?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">No:--she was mild as April morn,<br>And Andrew loved her too;<br>She rose at daybreak, though forlorn,<br>To try what love could do.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And as her waking husband groan'd,<br>And roll'd his burning head,<br>She spoke with all the power of truth,<br>Down kneeling by his bed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Dear Andrew, hear me,--though distress'd<br>'Almost too much to speak,--<br>'This infant starves upon my breast--<br>'To scold I am too weak.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'I work, I spin, I toil all day,<br>'Then leave my work to cry,<br>'And start with horror when I think<br>'You wish to see me die.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'But _do_ you wish it? can that bring<br>'More comfort, or more joy?<br>'Look round the house, how destitute!<br>'Look at your ragged boy!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'That boy should make a father proud,<br>'If any feeling can;<br>'Then save your children, save your wife,<br>'Your honour as a man.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Hear me, for God's sake hear me now,<br>'And act a father's part!'<br>The culprit bless'd her angel tongue,<br>And clasp'd her to his heart;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And would have vow'd, and would have sworn,<br>But Ellen kiss'd him dumb,--<br>'Exert your mind, vow to _yourself_,<br>'And better days will come.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'I shall be well when you are kind,<br>'And you'll be better too.'--<br>'I'll drink no more,'--he quick rejoin'd,--<br>'Be't poison if I do.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">From that bright day his plants, his flowers,<br>His crops began to thrive,<br>And for three years has Andrew been<br>The soberest man alive.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Soon as he ended, acclamations 'rose,<br>Endang'ring modesty and self-repose,<br>Till the good host his prudent counsel gave,<br>Then listen'd all, the flippant and the grave.<br>'Let not applauses vanity inspire,<br>'Deter humility, or damp desire;<br>'Neighbours we are, then let the stream run fair,<br>'And every couplet be as free as air;<br>'Be silent when each speaker claims his right,<br>'Enjoy the day as I enjoy the sight:<br>'They shall not class us with the knavish elves,<br>'Who banish shame, and criticise themselves.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thenceforward converse flow'd with perfect ease,<br>Midst country wit, and rustic repartees.<br>One drank to Ellen, if such might be found,<br>And archly glanced at female faces round.<br>If one with tilted can began to bawl,<br>Another cried, 'Remember Andrew Hall.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then, multifarious topics, corn and hay,<br>Vestry intrigues, the rates they had to pay,<br>The thriving stock, the lands too wet, too dry,<br>And all that bears on fruitful husbandry,<br>Ran mingling through the crowd--a crowd that might,<br>Transferr'd to canvas, give the world delight;<br>A scene that WILKIE might have touch'd with pride--<br>The May-day banquet then had never died.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But who is he, uprisen, with eye so keen,<br>In garb of shining plush of grassy green--<br>Dogs climbing round him, eager for the start,<br>With ceaseless tail, and doubly beating heart?<br>A stranger, who from distant forests came,<br>The sturdy keeper of the Oakly game.<br>Short prelude made, he pointed o'er the hill,<br>And raised a voice that every ear might fill;<br>His heart was in his theme, and in the forest still.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Robert+Bloomfield">Robert Bloomfield</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=576058" data-title="The Drunken Father de Robert Bloomfield" data-description="Poor Ellen married Andrew Hall,
Who dwells beside the moor,
Where yonder rose-tree shades the wall,
And woodbines grace the door.

Who does not know how blest, how loved
Were her mild laughing eyes
By every youth!--but Andrew proved
Unworthy of hi..."></div>
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