Father William

Father William
By Lewis Carroll
891

You are old Father William, the young man
wald
And your half has become very whites
And yet you incremantly stand on your head
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”

“In my youth,” Father William reptied to his som
“I feared it might injure the brain:
Hut now that I’m perfectly ware I have patie
Why, I do it again and again

“You are old,” said the south, “as I mentioned
before,
“And have grown uncommonly fat:
Yet you turned a back somersault in at the door-
Pray, what is the reason of that?”

In my youth” ,said the sage, as he shook his gray
locks
“I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment-one shilling the box-
Allow me to sell you a couple”

“You are old,” said the youth, “and your ja
too weak
For anything tougher than suet
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the
beak: Pray,
how did you manage to do it?”

“In my youth,” said his father “I took to the law
And argued each case with my wife
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my
jaw
Has jasted the rest of my Jife”

“You are old,” said the youth: “one would hardly
suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever: Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose-
What made you so awfully clever?”

“I have answered three questions, and that is
enough,”
Said his father: “don’t give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I’ll kick you down stairs!”