Those Two Boys

WHEN Bill was a lad he was terribly bad.

He worried his parents a lot;

He’d lie and he’d swear and pull little girls’ hair;

His boyhood was naught but a blot.

At play and in school he would fracture each rule—

In mischief from autumn to spring;

And the villagers knew when to manhood he grew

He would never amount to a thing.

When Jim was a child he was not very wild;

He was known as a good little boy;

He was honest and bright and the teacher’s delight—

To his mother and father a joy.

All the neighbors were sure that his virtue’d endure,

That his life would be free of a spot;

They were certain that Jim had a great head on him

And that Jim would amount to a lot.

And Jim grew to manhood and honor and fame

And bears a good name;

While Bill is shut up in a dark prison cell—

You never can tell.