Albert Schirding + 

Jonas Keene thought his lot a hard one + 

Because his children were all failures. + 

But I know of a fate more trying than that: + 

It is to be a failure while your children are successes. + 

For I raised a brood of eagles + 

Who flew away at last, leaving me + 

A crow on the abandoned bough. + 

Then, with the ambition to prefix Honorable to my name, + 

And thus to win my children’s admiration, + 

I ran for County Superintendent of Schools, + 

Spending my accumulations to win⁠—and lost. + 

That fall my daughter received first prize in Paris + 

For her picture, entitled, The Old Mill⁠— + 

(It was of the water mill before Henry Wilkin put in steam.) + 

The feeling that I was not worthy of her finished me. + 