Project Gutenberg 2015-01-10 Public domain in the USA. 121 Baker, George M. (George Melville) 1832 1890 Baker, George Melville Baker, G. M. (George Melville) Billings, Hammatt 1818 1874 Billings, Charles Howland Hammatt Billings, Hammett Billings An Old Man's Prayer Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) "An Old Man's Prayer" by George M. Baker is a moralistic poem written in the late 19th century. This work takes the form of a narrative that conveys a cautionary tale about the dangers of alcohol, exploring themes of loss, regret, and redemption. The likely topic centers on the old man's heartfelt plea to a group of young men to avoid the pitfalls of drinking, drawing from his own painful experiences. In the story, an elderly man intrudes on a festive gathering of young men celebrating one of their own who is about to leave for war. He shares his tragic tale of wealth turned to loss due to the curse of alcoholism, which claimed the lives of his three sons—one who succumbed to drinking, another who died at sea after excess, and a third who became a soldier. As he tells his story, he implores the young men to shun the temptations of alcohol, culminating in a powerful moment when one brave soldier takes a stand to reject wine in favor of pure water. The poem poignantly closes with the hopeful imagery of young men marching off to battle, armed not just with weapons, but with the protective shield of temperance instilled by the old man's prayer. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 74.6 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Poetry American poetry -- 19th century Temperance -- Poetry PS Text Category: Poetry Category: Drugs/Alcohol/Pharmacology 47088 2025-07-19T09:20:11.050506 text/html 22862 2024-10-24T13:50:53 text/html 921961 2025-07-19T09:20:13.228444 application/epub+zip 920723 2025-07-19T09:20:11.529521 application/epub+zip 80919 2025-07-19T09:20:11.248457 application/epub+zip 951264 2025-07-19T09:20:14.546448 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 943906 2025-07-19T09:20:12.943445 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 105664 2022-09-21T18:08:20.623858 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 32874 2025-07-19T09:20:10.541449 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 13014 2024-10-24T13:50:53 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 18433 2025-07-19T09:20:14.674422 application/rdf+xml 15238 2025-07-19T09:20:11.315453 image/jpeg 1943 2025-07-19T09:20:11.282435 image/jpeg 846669 2025-07-19T09:20:11.085508 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia en.wikipedia