To the Boys

Don’t you be afraid, boys, To whistle loud and long, Although your quiet sisters Should call it rude or wrong.

Keep yourselves good-natured, And if smiling fails, Ask them if they ever saw Muzzles on the quails!

Or the lovely red-rose Try to hide her flag, Or the June to smother all Her robins in a bag!

If they say the teaching Of nature isn’t true, Get astride the fence, boys, And answer with a Whew!

I’ll tell you what it is, boys, No water-wheel will spin, Unless you set a whistle At the head of every pin.

And never kite flew skyward In triumph like a wing Without the glad vibration Of a whistle in the string.

And when the days are vanished For idleness and play, ’Twill make your labors lighter To whistle care away.

So don’t you be afraid, boys, In spite of bar and ban, To whistle,—it will help you each To make an honest man.