 | The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe |  |
THE FORCE OF EXAMPLE.
A FABLE.
A mother lobster, with her daughter
Conversing near their native water,
And closely watching, as she talked,
The style in which the latter walked,
Rebuked her for her awkward way
Of locomotion: “Tell me, pray,”
The matron scolded, “why instead
Of backward, you don't go ahead?
Such awkwardness! Of course you know
'T is not the proper way to go;
Sure, folks of sense you thus will shock,
And make yourself a laughing-stock!”
“What!” said the child, “do you suppose
I don't know how my mother goes?
Shall I adopt the plan you say,
While all the rest go t' other way?
I really have n't got the face
To change the custom of my race;
It need not put you in a passion,
I merely mean to be in fashion;
And, having learned the way from you,
I'll walk—as other lobsters do.”
Conversing near their native water,
And closely watching, as she talked,
The style in which the latter walked,
Rebuked her for her awkward way
Of locomotion: “Tell me, pray,”
The matron scolded, “why instead
Of backward, you don't go ahead?
Such awkwardness! Of course you know
'T is not the proper way to go;
Sure, folks of sense you thus will shock,
And make yourself a laughing-stock!”
“What!” said the child, “do you suppose
I don't know how my mother goes?
Shall I adopt the plan you say,
While all the rest go t' other way?
I really have n't got the face
To change the custom of my race;
It need not put you in a passion,
I merely mean to be in fashion;
And, having learned the way from you,
I'll walk—as other lobsters do.”
MORAL.
To fix a good or evil course,Example is of potent force;
And they who wish the young to teach
Must even practice what they preach.
| The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe | |