Her handmaids they are not a few: 
  Sincerity that’s ever true,
  And Prompt Obedience always new,

  Urbanity that ever smiles,
  And Frankness that ne’er useth wiles,
  And Friendliness that ne’er beguiles,

  And Firmness that is always ready
  To make young good-resolves more steady,
  The only safeguard of the giddy;

  And blushing Modesty, and sweet
  Humility in fashion neat;
  Yet still her train is incomplete,

  Unless meek Piety attend
  Good Temper as her surest friend,
  Abiding with her to the end.

MODERATION IN DIET

  The drunkard’s sin, excess in wine,
    Which reason drowns, and health destroys,
  As yet no failing is of thine,
    Dear Jim; strong drink’s not given to boys.

  You from the cool fresh steam allay
    Those thirsts which sultry suns excite;
  When choak’d with dust, or hot with play,
    A cup of water yields delight.

  And reverence still that temperate cup,
    And cherish long the blameless taste;
  To learn the faults of men grown up,
    Dear Jim, be wise and do not haste.

  They’ll come too soon.—­But there’s a vice,
    That shares the world’s contempt no less;
  To be in eating over-nice,
    Or to court surfeits by excess.

  The first, as finical, avoid;
    The last is proper to a swine: 
  By temperance meat is best enjoy’d;
    Think of this maxim when you dine.

  Prefer with plain food to be fed,
    Rather than what are dainties styl’d;
  A sweet tooth in an infant’s head
    Is pardon’d, not in a grown child.

  If parent, aunt, or liberal friend,
    With splendid shilling line your purse,
  Do not the same on sweetmeats spend,
    Nor appetite with pampering nurse.

  Go buy a book; a dainty eaten
    Is vanish’d, and no sweets remain;
  They who their minds with knowledge sweeten,
    The savour long as life retain.

  Purchase some toy, a horse of wood,
    A pasteboard ship; their structure scan;
  Their mimic uses understood,
    The school-boy make a kind of man.

  Go see some show; pictures or prints;
    Or beasts far brought from Indian land;
  Those foreign sights oft furnish hints,
    That may the youthful mind expand.

  And something of your store impart,
    To feed the poor and hungry soul;
  What buys for you the needless tart,
    May purchase him a needful roll.

INCORRECT SPEAKING

  Incorrectness in your speech
    Carefully avoid, my Anna;
  Study well the sense of each
    Sentence, lest in any manner
  It misrepresent the truth;
  Veracity’s the charm of youth.

  You will not, I know, tell lies,
    If you know what you are speaking.—­
  Truth is shy, and from us flies;
    Unless diligently seeking
  Into every word we pry,
  Falsehood will her place supply.