Choice Specimens of American Literature, and Literary Reader · Chapter 253=326.= a Temperance Song
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In Eden's green retreats, A water-brook—that played Between soft, mossy seats, Beneath a plane tree's shade, Whose rustling leaves Danced o'er its brink— Was Adam's drink, And also Eve's.
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And, when the man of God From Egypt led his flock, They thirsted, and his rod Smote the Arabian rock, And forth a rill Of water gushed, And on they rushed, And drank their fill.
Had Moses built a still, And dealt out to that host To every man his gill, And pledged him in a toast, Would cooler brains, Or stronger hands, Have braved the sands Of those hot plains?
If Eden's strength and bloom, Gold water thus hath given, If e'en beyond the tomb, It is the drink of heaven, Are not good wells And crystal springs The very things for our Hotels?
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