I CAN AND I CAN'T.

Otago Witness, Issue 953, 25 April 1889, Page 35

I CAN AND I CAN'T.

A TALE OF TWO BROTHERS.

By Mbs J. T. Greenish 1 . Away far off in Slowtown, many, many, years

ago i -, • {Tvras the place just out of Notown, as geographers may know), , * there lited a plain old farmer, and a most eccentric

man, Who called hiß sons these curious names, I Cannot;, and I Can. Twin brothers they, ai like as peas, through child-, hood's tears and joys, , They daily grew, till one bright morn were great big grown-up boys ; la face and form, tho' much alike, alike they life

began, •' >' I Oannot was in many ways far different from I

Oan. 1 Cannot, when a baby, always wore a scowling

. face, At bis nurse he e'er 'was blinking, or else making sly grimace, And all he seemed to live for was to wriggle and to

twist, Or to ■ scream, and choke, and strangle, while he ehook his little fist. And when to boyhood he was grown, his only thought was play; From school he ran a truant oft, and idled time

away, And if to work he e'er was ashed, he'd always rave and rant, ' Or else he'd whine and cry aloud, " I cannot O, I can't!" I Oan, the blessed baby, always wore a smiling face, And he'd "patty cake the baker's man" with dainty childish grace i ' And if a stranger took him, he would neither squirm nor twist, But would only fery to swallow hard his chubby little'

fist. And when £o boyhqqd he was grown, th/ough brimming o'er with fun, , ' He wenc to school, and: college; too, 'and laurels

there he won ; His teachers called' him oft and,offca;manly little man •--•'<■• He never whined, but always Bald, " I'll try, I think loan." . . A young 'man grown, I Cannot was a sorry sight to 868, For he scarcely, knew his fetters, only A and B and 0. , , , , v- r , Of courio his Head was empty, as an old tomato can, • ' s ' ' ' For shaking it, he laughed at work, and e'er from duty ran, \ But what be sowed, that mußt^he reap, it was the

same in kind ; I Oanaot would not. take the pains to store up well

his mind, • • > And so for bread he went to .beg ; bis time for work was past, ' , And in ahovel ended life^in drear Notown at last. I Oan, Unlike. his brother, was both ' handsome,

■traight, and tall, •■■ And he spoke-each foreign language, Portuguese and French and all ;••• His head was- full of learning as a nut is full of meat, ' ■•• And he filled- most every office at the Slowtown

county aeat. His fame went forth' to -Notown, as a moßt distinguished 1 man, And the reason was moat surely that he always

said, •• I can." And had he lived in modern times he'd been a

candidate' For President^ or constable, or Governor of the v State. ■ • ••• ,