THE BOYS
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
Has there any old fellow got mixed with the boys?
If there has, take him out, without making a noise.
Hang the Almanac"s cheat and the Catalogue"s spite!
Old Time is a liar! We"re twenty tonight!
We"re twenty! We"re twenty! Who says we are more?
He"s tipsy,--young jackanapes!--show him the door!
"Gray temples at twenty?"--Yes! _white_ if we please; Where the snow-flakes fall thickest there"s nothing can freeze!
Was it snowing I spoke of? Excuse the mistake!
Look close,--you will see not a sign of a flake!
We want some new garlands for those we have shed,-- And these are white roses in place of the red.
We"ve a trick, we young fellows, you may have been told, Of talking (in public) as if we were old:-- That boy we call "Doctor," and this we call "Judge"; It"s a neat little fiction,--of course it"s all fudge.
That fellow"s the "Speaker,"--the one on the right; "Mr. Mayor," my young one, how are you tonight?
That"s our "Member of Congress," we say when we chaff; There"s the "Reverend" What"s his name?--don"t make me laugh.
That boy with the grave mathematical look Made believe he had written a wonderful book, And the ROYAL SOCIETY thought it was _true!_ So they chose him right in; a good joke it was, too!
There"s a boy, we pretend, with a three-decker brain, That could harness a team with a logical chain; When he spoke for our manhood in syllabled fire, We called him "The Justice," but now he"s "The Squire."
And there"s a nice youngster of excellent pith,-- Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith; But he shouted a song for the brave and the free,-- Just read on his medal, "My country, ... of thee!"
You hear that boy laughing?--You think he"s all fun; But the angels laugh, too, at the good he has done; The children laugh loud as they troop to his call, And the poor man that knows him laughs loudest of all!
Yes, we"re boys,--always playing with tongue or with pen,-- And I sometimes have asked,--Shall we ever be men?
Shall we always be youthful, and laughing, and gay, Till the last dear companion drops smiling away?
Then here"s to our boyhood, its gold and its gray!
The stars of its winter, the dews of its May!
And when we have done with our life-lasting toys, Dear Father, take care of thy children, THE BOYS.
HELPS TO STUDY.
Historical: This poem was read by Oliver Wendell Holmes at a reunion of his college cla.s.s thirty years after their graduation.
Notes and Questions.
Who were "the boys"?
What was the "Almanac"s cheat"?
What catalogue do you think Holmes meant?
How could it be interpreted as showing spite against "the boys"?
How did the poet defend "gray temples at twenty"?
What was the significance in early times of the garland or wreath upon the head?
What do you think the garlands which the poet imagines his cla.s.smates "have shed" represent?
Of what does Holmes say their new garlands were made?
What might the "new garlands" represent?
What fancy does the poet carry out in the next stanza?
What song did the "nice youngster" write?
What is his full name?
What word is omitted from the line of the song quoted by Holmes?
How do you think Holmes felt toward the laughing "boy"? Why do you think so?
Can you name anything besides, "tongue and pen" with which men may be said to play?
What time of life is meant by the "gold"? By the "gray"?
How much of this poem is fun?
Which stanza do you like best? Why?
What do you know about Oliver Wendell Holmes from this poem?
Words and Phrases for Discussion.
"Royal Society"
"three-decker brain"
"excellent pith"
"life-lasting toys"
THE LAST LEAF
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES