Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1916 — Drought in the South. [ARTICLE]

Drought in the South.

Lay the jest about the julep in the camphor balls at last, For the miracle has happened and the olden days are past. That which makes Milwaukee famous doesn’t go in Tennessee, And the lid in old Missouri is as tight-locked as can be. O, the comic paper colonel and his cronies well might sigh, For the mint is waving gayly and the south is going dry. By the stillside on the hillside in Kentucky all is still, For the only damp refreshment must be dipped up from the rill. No’th Gallina’s .stately ruler gives his soda glass a shove And discusses local option with the •South Gallina gov.; It is useless at the fountain to be winkful of the eye For the cocktail glass is dusty and the south is going dry. It’s water —water everywhere and not a drop to drink; We no longer hear the music of the mellow crystal clink When the colonel ana the major and the gen’l and the jedge Meet to have a little nip to give their appetite an edge; For the eggnog now is and the rye has gone awry And the punch bowl holds carnations and the south is going dry. All the nightcaps now have tassels and are worn upon the head; Not the nightcaps that were taken when nobody went to bed. And the breeze above the bluegrass is as solemn as is death. For it bears no pungent clove-tang on its odorific breath; And each man cam walk a chalkline when stars are in the sky. For the fizz glass now is fizzless and the south is going dry. Lay the jest about the julep ’neath the chestnut tree at last For there’s but one kind of moonshine and the olden days are past. Now the Water Wagon rumbles through the southland on its trip And it helps no one to drop off to pick up the driver’s whip, For the mintbeds make a pasture and the corkscrew hangeth high— All is still along the stillside and the south is going dry. —Wilbur D. Nesbit. Ideal Account Files, $1.50 each.— The Democrat’s fancy stationery department.