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Edgar Guest - What We Need
Work rating: Medium

We were settin` there an` smokin` of our pipes, discussin` things,
Like licker, votes for wimmin, an` the totterin`thrones o` kings,
When he ups an` strokes his whiskers with his hand an` says t`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 jest 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` ain`t no writin` 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 an` great.
A good horse needs no snaffle, an` 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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