Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Common Sense
By James Thomas Fields (18171881)S
A maiden fair, without pretence,
And when they asked her humble name,
She whispered mildly, “Common Sense.”
Her ample cloak, her shoes of leather;
And, when they sneered, she simply said,
“I dress according to the weather.”
In dubious Hindoo phrase mysterious,
While she, poor child, could not divine
Why girls so young should be so serious.
And how the scholars wrote in Saturn;
She studied authors not so deep,
And took the Bible for her pattern.
I find all have their proper places,
And Common Sense should stay at home
With cheerful hearts and smiling faces.”