What Father Knows

My father knows the proper way

The nation should be run;

He tells us children every day

Just what should now be done.

He knows the way to fix the trusts,

He has a simple plan;

But if the furnace needs repairs

We have to hire a man.

My father, in a day or two,

Could land big thieves in jail;

There's nothing that he cannot do,

He knows no word like “fail.”

“Our confidence” he would restore,

Of that there is no doubt;

But if there is a chair to mend

We have to send it out.

All public questions that arise

He settles on the spot;

He waits not till the tumult dies,

But grabs it while it's hot.

In matters of finance he can

Tell Congress what to do;

But, O, he finds it hard to meet

His bills as they fall due.

It almost makes him sick to read

The things law-makers say;

Why, father's just the man they need;

He never goes astray.

All wars he'd very quickly end,

As fast as I can write it;

But when a neighbor starts a fuss

‘ Tis mother has to fight it.

In conversation father can

Do many wondrous things;

He's built upon a wiser plan

Than presidents or kings.

He knows the ins and outs of each

And every deep transaction;

We look to him for theories,

But look to ma for action.