But the clothes were not broadcloth, nor the boots patent leather.”
Then he talks of this and that wonderful feat,
With little to wear and little to eat;
How he never went either to church or to school,
Just picked up his learning without guide or rule.
And says: “John, to be sure, is easy to learn,
And always stands first at the close of the term.
But if I’d his chance at books in my day,
I don’t think you’d have found me always at play.”
Now I am just as willing as can be to work,