The Way of the World. (A ballad of the tilings that never came.)

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 157, 4 July 1903, Page 6

The Way of the World. (A ballad of the tilings that never came.)

'Mid the smoke of London city, I had friends who swore to stand By their comrade, who- was seeking fortune in a Southern land. Frail a thing is human nature, and I say it, hot with shame, O ! the sympathy I needed in my exile never came. Had they cast me off for ever — Those who said no seas could sever ? What's the use of idle fretting for the thing that never came ? In the scented lanes of Surrey, when the poppies fired the wheat, I went courting: with a lassie, who was passing fair and sweet. And she promised, at our parting, she would love me just the same. O ! I wrote and offered marriage , but her answer never came. Had she found a nearer lover Than a poor yet honest rover ? What's> the use of idle fretting for the girl who never came ? I remember how my father, in his kind instructive way, Told me my determination would sometime lead me astray. I was hot, Ambition's fever burned the marrow in m^ frame. 0 ! the dreams and aspirations whose fulfilment never came. Were these happenings the token Of his words so kindly spoken ? What's the use of idle fretting for the fame that never came ? Life from cot. to grave is< full of what the world calls ups and downs : It is felt by those in fustian, and by those in silken gowns. If a brainless fellow rises to the favoured seat of Fame, Then we ponder o'er the problems of the things that never came.

Were it best to leave off striving When w e seem so long arriving ? What's the use of idle fretting for the things that never oame?

— W. Francis Chambers.