A Choice
Sure, they get stubborn at times; they worry and fret us a lot,
But I'd rather be crossed by a glad little boy and frequently worried than not.
There are hours when they get on my nerves and set my poor brain all awhirl,
But I'd rather be troubled that way than to be the man who has no little girl.
There are times they're a nuisance, that's true, with all of their racket and noise,
But I'd rather my personal pleasures be lost than to give up my girls and my boys.
Not always they're perfectly good; there are times when they're wilfully bad,
But I'd rather be worried by youngsters of mine than lonely and childless and sad.
So I try to be patient and calm whenever they're having their fling;
For the sum of their laughter and love is more than the worry they bring.
And each night when sweet peace settles down and I see them asleep in their cot,
I chuckle and say: "They upset me to-day, but I'd rather be that way than not."
What Father Knows
My father knows the proper way
The nation should be run;
He tells us children every day
Just what should now be done.
He knows the way to fix the trusts,
He has a simple plan;
But if the furnace needs repairs
We have to hire a man.
My father, in a day or two,
Could land big thieves in jail;
There's nothing that he cannot do,
He knows no word like "fail."
"Our confidence" he would restore,
Of that there is no doubt;
But if there is a chair to mend
We have to send it out.
All public questions that arise
He settles on the spot;
He waits not till the tumult dies,
But grabs it while it's hot.
In matters of finance he can
Tell Congress what to do;
But, O, he finds it hard to meet
His bills as they fall due.