THE CONSERVATIVE.

At twenty, as you proudly stood

And read your thesis, “Brotherhood,”

If I remember right, you saw

The fatuous faults of social law.

At twenty-five you braved the storm

And dug the trenches of Reform,

Stung by some gadfly in your breast

Which would not let your spirit rest.

At thirty-five you made a pause

To sum the columns of The Cause;

You noted, with unwilling eye,

The heedless world had passed you by.

At forty you had always known

Man owes a duty to His Own.

Man's life is as man's life is made;

The game is fair, if fairly played.

At fifty, after years of stress

You bore the banner of Success.

All men have virtues, all have sins,

And God is with the man who wins.

At sixty, from your captured heights

You fly the flag of Vested Rights,

Bounded by bonds collectable,

And hopelessly respectable!