n',
Till they write your epitaph,
And don't let fame or fortune
Ever steal away your laugh."

A Family Row

I freely confess there are good friends of mine,
With whom we are often invited to dine,
Who get on my nerves so that I cannot eat
Or stay with my usual ease in my seat;
For I know that if something should chance to occur
Which he may not like or which doesn't please her,
That we'll have to try to be pleasant somehow
While they stage a fine little family row.

Now a family row is a private affair,
And guests, I am certain, should never be there;
I have freely maintained that a man and his wife
Cannot always agree on their journey through life,
But they ought not to bicker and wrangle and shout
And show off their rage when their friends are about;
It takes all the joy from a party, I vow,
When some couple starts up a family row.

It's a difficult job to stay cool and polite
When your host and your hostess are staging a fight:
It's hard to talk sweet to a dame with a frown
Or smile at a man that you want to knock down.
You sit like a dummy and look far away,
But you just can't help hearing the harsh things they say.
It ruins the dinner, I'm telling you now,
When your host and your hostess get mixed in a row.

The Lucky Man

Luck had a favor to bestow
And wondered where to let it go.

"No lazy man on earth," said she,
"Shall get this happy gift from me.

"I will not pass it to the man
Who will not do the best he can.

"I will not make this splendid gift
To one who has not practiced thrift.

"It shall not benefit deceit,
Nor help the man who's played the cheat.

"He that has failed to fight with pluck
Shall never know the Goddess Luck.

"I'll look around a bit to see
What man has earned some help from me."

She found a man whose hands were soiled
Because from day to day he'd toiled.

He'd dreamed by night and worked by day
To make life's contest go his way.

He'd kept his post and daily slaved,
And something of his wage he'd saved.

He'd clutched at every circumstance
Which might have been his golden chance.

The goddess smiled and then, kerslap!
She dropped her favor in his lap.

Lonely

They're all away
And the house is still,
And the dust lies thick
On the window sill,
And the stairway creaks
In a solemn tone
This taunting phrase:
"You are all alone."

They've gone away
And the rooms are bare;
I miss his cap
From a parlor chair