THE FARMER AND HIS QUARRELSOME SONS.
Reading edition
THE FARMER AND HIS QUARRELSOME SONS.
Three sons an honest farmer had;
And it so happen'd, ne'er a lad
Could with the other two agree;
All quarrelling perpetually.
Their time in idle contest spent,
Garden and farm to ruin went;
And the good farmer and his wife
Led but a miserable life.
One day as this unhappy sire
Sat musing by his evening fire,
He saw some twigs in bundles stand,
Tied for the basket-maker's hand.
Taking up one: "My boys," says he,
"Which is the strongest, let me see;
He who this bundle breaks in twain,
The preference, and this prize shall gain,"
(Showing a pair of Sunday shoes.)
The rivals every effort use
In vain. Their utmost force when tried,
The father took the twigs untied,
And giving to them one by one,
The work immediately was done.
"Yon twigs," he says, "that broken lie,
This useful lesson may supply:
That those in amity who live,
And succor to each other give,
Double their forces to resist
Oppression, and their work assist."
