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Home  »  A Library of American Literature  »  The Way of the World

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

The Way of the World

By John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887)

[Born in Highgate, Vt., 1816. Died in Albany, N. Y., 1887. From Poems. Highgate Edition. 1868.]

A YOUTH would marry a maiden,

For fair and fond was she;

But she was rich, and he was poor,

And so it might not be.

A lady never could wear

Her mother held it firm

A gown that came of an India plant,

Instead of an India worm!

And so the cruel word was spoken;

And so it was two hearts were broken.

A youth would marry a maiden,

For fair and fond was she;

But he was high and she was low,

And so it might not be.

A man who had worn a spur,

In ancient battle won,

Had sent it down with great renown,

To goad his future son!

And so the cruel word was spoken;

And so it was two hearts were broken.

A youth would marry a maiden,

For fair and fond was she;

But their sires disputed about the Mass,

And so it might not be.

A couple of wicked kings,

Three hundred years agone,

Had played at a royal game of chess,

And the Church had been a pawn.

And so the cruel word was spoken;

And so it was two hearts were broken.