Baptized January ad, 1898.
YE hardy folk who boldly stand
Between this boy and sin,
I trust you quite appreciate
The fix that you are in;
For when the threshold of the church
Was crossed, he raised a roar;
Hereditary cussedness
Just oozed from every pore.
He kicked at all the promises,
He howled at every prayer,
And when the water touched him
He raised the roof for fair;
But when the Mayor and the Priest,
Your proxies, by the way,
Renounced the devil and his works
He stopped and smiled, they say.
Now tell us, pray, for that's your task,
Just when we should begin
To pound his father's failings out,
His mother's virtues in:
Yet in a work so good and great
Perhaps I might suggest
That to divide the labor
In this way would be best:
Let Carman teach the Gospels,
And Smith expound the Law,
Let Clara to the Catechism
His soul devoutly draw;
And I doubt not that he'll yet grow up
To be a worthy man,
A credit to his country
And an honor to his clan.
