Temptation

I WOULD like to wed your daughter,' said the multi-millionaire, 'I will try to make her happy; if I don't you needn't care; She shall have five million dollars just the minute we are married; Say the word and I will take her'—but the maiden's father tarried. 'Every luxury I'll give her, she shall dress in finest raiment And the moment we are married I shall make the wedding payment; She'll be worth five million dollars when the wedding vows are said, Will you say that it's a bargain?'—but the father hung his head. 'It is true I'm almost fifty and your daughter's scarce eighteen. But she'll live a life of splendor, she shall be a social queen; She shall dine with kings and princes and by royalty be favored, And she'll have five million dollars'—here the tempted father wavered. Oh! I would that I could write it, that before the father's eyes Came the picture of the baby that he'd learned to idolize; Came his little girl at evening for a romp upon his knee, Came the little roguish lassie of the days that used to be. Had there come that very moment when he saw the rich man's check Just a vision of his baby with her arms about his neck; Had his eyes turned back one minute to the days of long ago, Then he never would have wavered—he'd have fairly shouted: 'No.'