SLY BOY.

I was the slyest boy at home,

The slyest boy at school,

I wanted all the world to know

That I was no one's fool.

I kept my childish hopes and schemes

Locked closely in my breast,

No single secret shared with Bob,

The chum I liked the best.

I never showed my squirrel's nest,

Nor beaver dam, nor cave,

Nor fortress where I used to go

To be a soldier brave.

Oh, I was sly, just awful sly,

In winter, summer, spring,

While Bob would tell me all he knew,

I never told a thing.

And yet Bob always got ahead;

I'd find the careless knave

Asleep within my fortress walls,

And fishing in my cave.

“What, yours!” he said, in great surprise,

“You should have told me so.

You never said a word, old chum,

And how was I to know?”

My slyness hurt more than it helped;

If Bob had known, you see,

He was too kind to do his best

To get ahead of me.

I still was sly when I grew up.

I fell in love with Nan,

But scorned to own it to myself

Or any other man.

So sly was I, Nan never guessed —

No more did handsome Bob —

That every time she looked my way

My heart, it stirred and throbbed.

The same old story! Ere I knew,

My chum had loved and won.

When I explained I'd picked her out

To be my very own,

“What, yours!” he said in great surprise,

“You should have told me so.

You never said a word, old chum,

And how was I to know?”

I've learned my lesson, lost my girl;

You'll own‘ tis rather rough.

Henceforward I'll not be too sly —

I'll be just sly enough.