"The Price of a Drink" (1887)
A Descriptive Song with Quartett or Chorus Interludes
Words arranged from a poem by Miss Josephine Polland
Music by George Frederick Root

1.
"Five cents a glass!"
Does anyone think
That that is really the price of a drink?
The price of a drink!
Let him decide who has lost his courage and lost his pride,
His honor and virtue, the wreath of fame --
All high endeavor and noble name --
For these are the treasures thrown away
As the price of a drink from day to day.

CHORUS
"Five cents a glass!"
Does anyone think
That that is really the price of a drink?

2.
"Five cents a glass!"
How Satan laughed, as over the bar the young man guaffed
The fiery liquor, for the demon knew
The terrible work that drink would do,
And ere the morning the victim lay
With his life blood ebbing swiftly away
And that was the price he paid for alas!
For the pleasure of taking a social glass.

CHORUS
"Five cents a glass!"
Does anyone think
That that is really the price of a drink?
The price, the price of a drink?

3.
The price of a drink! if you want to know
What some are willing to pay for it, go
To that wretched tenement overthere
With dingy windows and broken stair,
Where foul disease like a vampire crawls
With outstreched wings on the mouldy walls,
Where poverty dwells with her hungry brood,
All wild-eyed as demons for lack of food;
Where shame in a corner crouches low
Where violence deals its cruel blow
And innocent ones are kicked and cursed
To pay the price of this dreadful thirst.

CHORUS
"Five cents a glass!" "Five cents a glass!"
Does anyone think
That that is really the price of a drink?
That that is really the price of a drink?