As Old George Said

Said old George Jones: 'All in a hundred years. 'Tis little time enough, and well may make This youthful country proud among its peers Of progress wooed and won for progress sake. A splendid city shining by the sea And all that count of wealth and worth she owns Speaks well enough for our first century,' Said old George Jones. ''Tis with a country much as 'tis with men: The fevered morn o' life goes all for gain - For all the things gain signifies; an' then, We pause to con life's lesson o'er again And find, if be that wisdom comes with years, That gettin', gainin', holdin', scarce atones Nor pays for all man's toil an' sweat and tears,' Said old George Jones. 'Not with the golden profit won thro' trade, Not with the tawdry treasure that we wrest From this scarred earth, nor things men's hands have made Comes any answer to man's age-long quest. Not at the gates of such material goals Nor pedigreed cities builded high with stones Lies ought to serve or satisfy men's souls,' Said old George Jones. Said old George Jones, 'This is an old man's pray'r: That gainin' shall not ever wholly serve This land o' mine when I drift otherwhere To seek what share o' peace I may deserve; But that the treasure of the one true worth Shall gleam at last above my whitening bones For wiser mortals of a wiser earth,' Said old George Jones.