TO THE BOYS.


 


 


DON'T you be afraid, boys,


To whistle loud and long,


Although your quiet sisters


Should call it rude or wrong.



Keep yourselves good-natured,


And if smiling fails,


Ask them if they ever saw


Muzzles on the quails!




Or the lovely red rose


Try to hide her flag,


Or the June to smother all


Her robins in a bag!



If they say the teaching


Of nature isn't true,


Get astride the fence, boys,


And answer with a Whew!


 


I'll tell you what it is, boys,


No water-wheel will spin,


Unless you set a whistle


At the head of every pin.


 


And never a kite flew skyward


In triumph like a wing


Without the glad vibration


Of a whistle in the string.


 


And when the days are vanished


For idleness and play,


'T will make your labors lighter


To whistle care away.


 


So don't you be afraid, boys,


In spite of bar and ban,


To whistle,—it will help you each


To make an honest man.


 


 


Alice Cary.