A prince can make a belted
knight,
A marquis, duke,
and a’ that;
But an honest man’s
aboon his might.
Guid faith he
maunna fa’ that!
For a’ that, and a’
that,
Their dignities,
and a’ that,
The pith o’ sense, and
pride o’ worth,
Are higher rank
than a’ that.
Then let us pray that come
it may—
As come it will
for a’ that—
That sense and worth, o’er
a’ the earth,
May bear the gree,
and a’ that;
For a’ that, and a’
that,
It’s coming
yet for a’ that,
That man to man, the warld
o’er,
Shall brothers
be for a’ that!
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Coarse woolen clothes.
[2] Impudent fellow.
[3] Fool: blockhead.
ROBERT BURNS.
A NEW ARRIVAL.
“The New Arrival” is a valuable poem because it expresses the joy of a young father over his new baby. If girls should be educated to be good mothers, so should boys be taught that fatherhood is the highest and holiest joy and right of man. The child is educator to the man. He teaches him how to take responsibility, how to give unbiased judgments, and how to be fatherly like “Our Father who is in Heaven.” (1844-.)
There came to port last Sunday
night
The queerest little
craft,
Without an inch of rigging
on;
I looked and looked
and laughed.
It seemed so curious that
she
Should cross the
Unknown water,
And moor herself right in
my room,
My daughter, O
my daughter!
Yet by these presents witness
all
She’s welcome
fifty times,
And comes consigned to Hope
and Love
And common-meter
rhymes.
She has no manifest but this,
No flag floats
o’er the water,
She’s too new for the
British Lloyds—
My daughter, O
my daughter!
Ring out, wild bells, and
tame ones too!
Ring out the lover’s
moon!
Ring in the little worsted
socks!
Ring in the bib
and spoon!
Ring out the muse! ring in
the nurse!
Ring in the milk
and water!
Away with paper, pen, and
ink—
My daughter, O
my daughter!
GEORGE W. CABLE.
THE BROOK.
Tennyson’s “The Brook” is included out of love to a dear old schoolmate in Colorado. The real brook, near Cambridge, England, is tame compared to your Colorado streams, O beloved comrade. This poem is well liked by the majority of pupils. (1809-92.)
I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming
river;
For men may come and men may
go,
But I go on forever.
I wind about, and in and out,
With here a blossom
sailing,
And here and there a lusty
trout,
And here and there
a grayling.