Poetry.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 214, 8 November 1859, Page 4

Poetry.

"BETTER FED THAN TAUGHT." Let him look about who wanders, And he'll surely find, , When he notes where Fortune squanders, That she must be blind.' Gilded ignorance will joatle Poor Wit from the wall; While brute Wealth pursues #s wassail, Worth waits in the hall; And when such strange things confound us, Well may come the thought, Oh! how many are there round us. "Bettor fed than taught!" When wo see a stately madam, In some lofty .-place,- ' . Proud as any child of Adam, Of I\lt.worldly grace — When we hear her lips inveighing, Bitterly and long, Against some lowly sister straying In the path of wrong,— When she breathes the loud decrying, As no Christian ought,— Charity keeps gently sighing, " Better fed than taught." "When we find a Priest, who groweth Greater every year, Taking com that Labor soweth, When 'tis in the ear, — When we see his heart get thinner As his tithes increase, ' Snatching from the helpless sinner, All he can of fleece,— "When we find such saints defaming Creeds with mercy fraught,— Tell me who can help exclaiming, " Better fed than taught!" When we see a young man leaning Idly on his gold, Large in speech, but small in meaning-; Out of danger, bold, — When we see him rude to Weakness, Insolent to Age, Trampling on the words of Meekness, With a braggart's rage,-— When we note the revel vision Of his brain distraught,— Wisdom sneers, in cool derision, i; Better fed than taught." When some little miss or master, Fresh from desk and form, Manages to spread disaster In a household storm ,— When they cry for " moons" above them, And for " chimney bricks," — When they cling to those who love them, With most filial kicks, — Let vts brand such olive blossoms As wise people ought, And hang this label on their bosoms, " Better fed than taught." Good sooth !we must mind our manners, . One and all and each, Or Shame will leap and plant her bannera In some moral breach. : When Prosperity's broad table Yields us all we ask, 'Tis to make us strong and able For some Duty-task; Let us feast, but let us render Goodly deed and thought, Lest our lives bear this addenda, " Better fed than taught." ' Eliza Cook.