The young and the lusty loll in bed

And the bent and the aged lay the fire

And sweep the floor and cook the food.

“No reason or rule is in this house,”

Sighed the little old woman, shaking her head,

“Where the young and the rich have their desire,

And all the reward of the poor and the good

Is to prop the walls of this thankless house.”

“Yes,” she muttered “they’ve all they want,

But we have nothing but knowledge to chew,

Only that, and necessity.

These two maintain this niggardly house.

For the young and the rich are ignorant

And never guess what they’ve yet to rue—

The lenten days when they will be

Servants like us of this tyrannous house.”