"'Tis plain enough to see," said a farmer's wife,
"These boys will make their marks in life;
They never were made to handle a hoe,
And at once to college ought to go.
There's Fred, he's little better than a fool,
But John and Henry must go to school."
"Well, really, wife," quoth farmer Brown,
As he set his mug of cider down,
"Fred does more work in a day for me
Than both his brothers do in three.
Book larnin' will never plant one's corn,
Nor hoe potatoes, sure's you're born,
Nor mend a rod of broken fence:
For my part, give me common sense."
But his wife was bound the roost to rule,
And John and Henry were sent to school,
While Fred, of course, was left behind,
Because his mother said he had no mind.
Five years at school the students spent,
Then into business each one went.
John learned to play the flute and fiddle,
And parted his hair, of course, in the middle,
While his brother looked rather higher than he,
And hung out a sign, "H. Brown, M. D."
Meanwhile, at home, their brother Fred
Had taken a notion into his head;
But he quietly trimmed his apple trees,
Milked the cows and hived the bees;
While somehow, either by hook or crook,
He managed to read full many a book,
Until at last his father said
He was getting "book larnin'" into his head;
"But for all that," added farmer Brown,
"He's the smartest boy there is in town."
The war broke out, and Captain Fred
A hundred men to battle led,
And, when the rebel flag came down,
Went marching home as General Brown.
But he went to work on the farm again,
And planted corn and sowed his grain;
He shingled the barn and mended the fence,
Till people declared he had common sense.
Now common sense was very rare,
And the State House needed a portion there;
So the "family dunce" moved into town,
The people called him Governor Brown;
And his brothers, who went to the city school,
Came home to live with "mother's fool."