The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley in ten volumes |
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UNCLE SIDNEY'S VIEWS |
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 | The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley |  |
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UNCLE SIDNEY'S VIEWS
I hold that the true age of wisdom is when
We are boys and girls, and not women and men,—
When as credulous children we know things because
We believe them—however averse to the laws.
It is faith, then, not science and reason, I say,
That is genuine wisdom.—And would that to-day
We, as then, were as wise and ineffably blest
As to live, love and die, and trust God for the rest!
We are boys and girls, and not women and men,—
When as credulous children we know things because
We believe them—however averse to the laws.
It is faith, then, not science and reason, I say,
That is genuine wisdom.—And would that to-day
We, as then, were as wise and ineffably blest
As to live, love and die, and trust God for the rest!
So I simply deny the old notion, you know,
That the wiser we get as the older we grow!—
For in youth all we know we are certain of.—Now
The greater our knowledge, the more we allow
For skeptical margin.—And hence I regret
That the world isn't flat, and the sun doesn't set,
And we may not go creeping up home, when we die,
Through the moon, like a round yellow hole in the sky.
That the wiser we get as the older we grow!—
For in youth all we know we are certain of.—Now
The greater our knowledge, the more we allow
For skeptical margin.—And hence I regret
That the world isn't flat, and the sun doesn't set,
And we may not go creeping up home, when we die,
Through the moon, like a round yellow hole in the sky.
| The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley | |