A Modern Phaethon.
One could not expect that the moral inculcated here would find favor with our Americans. How could the Mighty Republic ever have been brought to its present height and embraced the majority of all English-speaking people in the world, if her sons had not been ambitious and changed from one occupation to another? "Stick to your last" is only fit for monarchical countries, where people believe in classes. This young man was of the right sort and should have a verse of praise on his tombstone instead of this one which reflects upon him. One of the party declared that the man must have been the best workman on the place, and that in America he would soon have owned the acres he ploughed instead of ploughing here for some landlord who spent the resources of the land in London or on the continent. The poetess of the party was commissioned to provide a substitute for the obnoxious verse which should applaud the act of this modern Phaethon who would try to drive the wagon, after he had learned all he could about ploughing. We were driving homeward, and as the discussion ended in the manner aforesaid, a sweet voice broke forth:
"I winna hae the laddie that drives the cart and ploo,
Although he may be tender, although he may be true;
But I'll hae the laddie that has my heart betrayed,
The bonnie shepherd laddie that wears the crook and plaid."
The Charioteers gave it the swelling chorus:
"For he's aye true to his lassie,
Aye true to his lassie.
Aye true to me."