Now hovel, vilest structure in Rome the ruinous:
And, as his tact impelled him, Sixtus adventured bold,
To learn how lowliest subjects bore hunger, toil, and cold.
There sat they at high-supper—man and wife, lad and lass,
Poor as you please, but cleanly all and carefree: pain that was
—Forgotten, pain as sure to be let bide aloof its time,—
Mightily munched the brave ones—what mattered gloom or grime?
Said Sixtus, "Feast, my children! who works hard needs eat well.
I 'm just a supervisor, would hear what you can tell.
Do any wrongs want righting? The Father tries his best,