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Edgar Guest - The Need
Work rating: Medium

We were sittin` there,
     and smokin` of our pipes, discussin` things
Like taxes, votes for wimmin,
     an` the totterin` thrones of kings,
When he ups an` strokes his whiskers
     with his hand an` says to me:
"Changin` laws an` legislatures ain`t
     as fur as I can see,
Goin` to make this world much better,
     unless somehow we can
Find a way to make a better an` a finer sort o` man.

"The trouble ain`t with statutes or with systems—
     not at all;
It`s with humans jus` like we air
     an` their petty ways an` small.
We could stop our writin` law-books
     an` our regulatin` rules
If a better sort of manhood
     was the product of our schools.
For the things that we air needin`
     isn`t writing` from a pen
Or bigger guns to shoot with,
     but a bigger type of men.

"I reckon all these problems
     air jest ornery like the weeds,
They grow in soil that oughta nourish
     only decent deeds,
An` they waste our time an` fret us when,
     if we were thinkin` straight
An` livin` right,
     they wouldn`t be so terrible and great.
A good horse needs no snaffle
     and a good man, I opine,
Doesn`t need a law to check him
     or to force him into line.

"If we ever start in teachin` to our children,
     year by year,
How to live with one another,
     there`ll be less o` trouble here.
If we`d teach `em how to neighbor
     an` to walk in honor`s ways,
We could settle every problem
     which the mind o` man can raise.
What we`re needin` isn`t systems
     or some regulatin` plan
But a bigger an` a finer an` a truer type o` man."
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