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Charles Lamb - Moderation In Diet
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The drunkard`s sin, excess in wine,
  Which reason drowns, and health destroys,
As yet no failing is of thine,
  Dear Jim; strong drink`s not given to boys.


You from the cool fresh stream allay
  Those thirsts which sultry suns excite;
When choked with dust, or hot with play,
  A cup of water yields delight.


And reverence still that temperate cup,
  And cherish long the blameless taste;
To learn the faults of men grown up,
  Dear Jim, be wise and do not haste.


They`ll come too soon.—But there`s a vice,
  That shares the world`s contempt no less;
To be in eating over-nice,
  Or to court surfeits by excess.


The first, as finical, avoid;
  The last is proper to a swine:
By temperance meat is best enjoyed;
  Think of this maxim when you dine.


Prefer with plain food to be fed,
  Rather than what are dainties styled;
A sweet tooth in an infant`s head
  Is pardoned, not in a grown child.


If parent, aunt, or liberal friend,
  With splendid shilling line your purse,
Do not the same on sweetmeats spend,
  Nor appetite with pampering nurse.


Go buy a book; a dainty eaten
  Is vanished, and no sweets remain;
They who their minds with knowledge sweeten,
  The savour long as life retain.


Purchase some toy; a horse of wood,
  A pasteboard ship; their structure scan;
Their mimic uses understood
  The school-boy make a kind of man.


Go see some show; pictures or prints;
  Or beasts far brought from Indian land;
Those foreign sights oft furnish hints,
  That may the youthful mind expand.


And something of your store impart,
  To feed the poor and hungry soul;
What buys for you the needless tart,
  May purchase him a needful roll.
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