Thursday, April 14, 2016

They taught me all I knew

I loved reading this to the kids when they were young. Our public discourse would be so enriched if we all deployed our six serving men.
"I Keep Six Honest Serving Men ..."
by Rudyard Kipling in The Elephant Child

I KEEP six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small—
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!

She sends'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes—
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!

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