THE GRUMBLING MAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2455, 3 April 1901, Page 57

THE GRUMBLING MAN.

When you are left by yourself all alone, Holding communion with your soul, And you are thinking of the days that are gone, When your heart .was feeling light, And the world was looking bright, And the years of your life were rolling on. It is not a pleasant task, Bringing back the hidden past, Thinking of the thoughts of long ago, When you see how you have fallen From the ideal you had chosen, And you wonder how you came to fall so low. There are fellows with their pace, Who have beat you in the race, — Fellowi who were at the school with youj But you are far from feeling humble — Yoii have good cause to grumble At the work that is given you to do. In every walk in life And place of manly strife, They are doing for the world what they can ; They have made themselves a name, They have earned their meed of fame, While you remain a simple grumbling man. And you murmur at your lot, For things you have not got, At the hardness of the ground you have to till; But turn your eyes around, Where poverty is found, There is not a lowly creature but can find a lower still. There is a task that you shirked} well you know The place in the wheel where your shoulder ought to go ; New, my friend, my old friend, the grumbling man, Look upon the wife you have got, Your children lying in their cot, Then go and do the best that you can. — Abcii. If. H'Nicol. Merkm, March, 1301,