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Edgar Guest - The Neighborly ManEdgar Guest - The Neighborly Man
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Some are eager to be famous, some are striving     to be great,   Some are toiling to be leaders of their nation     or their state,   And in every man`s ambition, if we only understood,   There is much that`s fine and splendid; every     hope is mostly good.   So I cling unto the notion that contented I     will be   If the men upon life`s pathway find a needed     friend in me.   I rather like to putter `round the walks and     yards of life,   To spray at night the roses that are burned and     browned with strife;   To eat a frugal dinner, but always to have a     chair   For the unexpected stranger that my simple     meal would share.   I don`t care to be a traveler, I would rather be     the one   Sitting calmly by the roadside helping weary     travelers on.   I`d like to be a neighbor in the good old-fashioned way,   Finding much to do for others, but not over     much to say.   I like to read the papers, but I do not yearn     to see   What the journal of the morning has been     moved to say of me;   In the silences and shadows I would live my     life and die   And depend for fond remembrance on some     grateful passers-by.   I guess I wasn`t fashioned for the brilliant     things of earth,   Wasn`t gifted much with talent or designed for     special worth,   But was just sent here to putter with life`s little     odds and ends   And keep a simple corner where the stirring     highway bends,   And if folks should chance to linger, worn and     weary through the day,   To do some needed service and to cheer them     on their way.
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