And a wretched hole he found it!... A man was up the stairs, Trying to cook his dinner, And give five children theirs. Just home from his work--poor devil He looked up with a frown When he saw what they were bringing-- 'Ah!' he says, 'Chuck 'er down. If you'd brought 'er in 'er coffing I'd 'ave tipped yer 'arf-a-crown.' 'Your wife is hurt and bleeding,' John Sidney Donaldson said. 'My wife,' groans the husband bitter, 'I wish she was yourn instead!' And he picks up his yelling baby, And crams its mouth with bread. 'Tain't the fust time she's a-bleedin'. 'Ere's a 'appy 'ome,' says he. 'That's the mother of my childring! an' she don't get drunk on tea! Bright and 'appy, ain't we, guv'nor? I dunno who you are, But "The Running Grouse" 'ave done it-- With its dirty Private Bar!' He shook his fist out of the window--'We don't want it 'ere. My wife was a sober woman, and it's ruined her in a year! A curse on the 'ouse, an' the landlord! An' I'll say it till I'm dead....' . . . . . . . . . . John Donaldson gave him a sovereign, And went out with a hanging head. . . . . . . . . . . He haunted that part of London For three whole months and more; And he saw what Brewers seldom see, What he'd never faced before. He saw the truth stark naked--not glossed or veiled or hid, He saw with his own eye open that harm that his own beer did. He saw for himself--John Sidney, Wherever his Houses stood, A Force that worked for evil, That did not work for good. He saw--he was bound to see it--in the slums the drink-shops made, Christ's flag torn down and trampled by the brute heel of the Trade. He saw, laid bare as murder Done in the broad daylight, The base and ceaseless tempting That goes on day and night. The tempting of men and women already weak in will, And poor enough in pocket, to be poorer and weaker still. 'We didn't want it 'ere!'... No! And they didn't want it there! Yet here it was, and there it was, For ever! Everywhere! The Tied House in the open, The Hidden Drinking lair, The Spirit Vault, the Cellars, the Private Bar and seat, Calling from every corner and tempting from every street!