Nor could they bear to wait from meal to meal,
Did they not slily to the chamber steal,
And there the produce of the basket seize,
The mother’s gift! still studious of their ease.
Poor Alma, thus oppress’d forbears to rise,
But rests or revels in the arms and thighs.
“But is it sure that study will repay
The more attentive and forbearing?” - Nay!
The farm, the ship, the humble shop, have each
Gains which severest studies seldom reach.