PARODIES

Tom, Tom the Piper's son,

Stole a pig and away did run;

The pig was eat, Tom was beat,

And Tom went crying down the street.

Tom, Tom the Piper's son,

Purloined a porker and away did run;

"Impossible, impossible," everyone said,

Due to the yarmulka worn on his head.

Against Idleness and Mischief

by Dr. Isaac Watts

How doth the little busy bee

Improve each shining hour,

And gather honey all the day

From every opening flower.

In works of labor or of skill,

I would be busy too;

For Satan finds some mischief still

For idle hands to do.

Lewis Carroll

How doth the little crocodile

Improve his shining tail,

And pour the waters of the Nile

On every golden scale.

How cheerfully he seems to grin,

How neatly spreads his claws,

And welcomes little fishes in

With gently smiling jaws

The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them

by Robert Southey

"You are old, Father William," the young man cried,

"The few locks which are left you are grey;

You are hale, Father William---a hearty old man,

Now tell me the reason, I pray."

"In the days of my youth," Father William replied,

"I remembered that youth would fly fast;

And abused not my health nor my vigor at first,

That I never might rue them at last."

Lewis Carroll

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,

"And your hair has become very white;

And yet you incessantly stand on your head---

Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,

"I feared it might injure the brain;

But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,

Why I do it again and again."