f bread
To the breaking a head,
From rhyming a ballad
To sliming a salad,
From mending of ditches
To spending of riches,
Follow the rule to the uttermost letter:
"Better!"

Of course you may say but a few
Can do
Better;
And you're going to strive
So that all may thrive
Better.
And it's right you are
To follow the star,
Set in the heavens, afar, afar;
But still with your eyes
On the skies
It is wise
To be riding a mule,
Or guiding a school,
Thatching a hovel
Or hatching a novel,
Foretelling weather,
Or selling shoe-leather;
And remember you must
Be doing it just
A wee dust
Better.

And 'tis quite
As right
For you to cite
That the author might,
Or ought, to write
A heavenly sight
Better!
For which sharp word I am much your debtor,
Knowing none other could file my fetter
Better.

[Illustration: "Saving repairs and wrath"

_Page 85._]

FORGET WHAT THE OTHER MAN HATH.

What do I care for your four-track line?
I have a country path;
And this is the message I've taken for mine:--
"Forget what the other man hath."

What do I care for your giant trees?
I'd rather whittle a lath,
And my motto helps me to take my ease;--
"Forget what the other man hath."

What do I care for your Newport beach?
A tub's as good for a bath.
And I keep my solace in constant reach:--
"Forget what the other man hath."

What do I care for your automobile?
I'm saving repairs and wrath,
My proverb goes well with an old style wheel;--
"Forget what the other man hath."

What do I care if you scorn my rime?
For this is its aftermath;--
It sounds so well I shall try, (sometime,)
To "forget what the other man hath!"

THE WHET.

The day that I loaf when I ought to employ it
Has, somehow, the flavor which makes me enjoy it.
So the man with no work
He may joyously shirk
I envy no more than I do the Grand Turk.
He most is in need of a holiday, who,
In this workaday world, has no duty to do.

The d