Franklin Hyde, Who caroused in the Dirt and was corrected by His Uncle.
By Hilaire Belloc

His Uncle came on Franklin Hyde
Carousing in the Dirt.
He Shook him hard from Side to Side



And Hit him till it Hurt,
Exclaiming, with a Final Thud,
“Take that! Abandoned Boy!



For Playing with Disgusting Mud
As though it were a Toy!”

MORAL

From Franklin Hyde’s adventure, learn
To pass your Leisure Time
In Cleanly Merriment, and turn
From Mud and Ooze and Slime
And every form of Nastiness—
But, on the other Hand,
Children in ordinary Dress
May always play with Sand.