The Hard-Work Plan

The Hard-Work Plan
 
From the lowest depths of poverty
     To the highest heights of fame,
From obscureness of position
     To a bright and shining name,
From the mass of human beings
     Who compose the common clan,
You can earn your way to greatness
     By the Hard-Work Plan.
 
’Twas the key to Lincoln’s progress,
     ’Twas the route to Webster’s fame;
And Garfield by this method
     To distinction laid his claim;
And all earth’s noblest heroes,
     Since this old world first began,
Have earned their way to honor
     By the Hard-Work Plan.
 
I knew a rich old banker’s son
     Who had no aim in view
But just to sit around and loaf;
     ’Twas all he had to do.
“The old man,” he said, “will keep me,”
     And “I don’t have to pay.”
He earns his bread and butter now
     At fifty cents a day.
 
And then I knew another lad;
     His folks had money, too;
He didn’t sit around and “loaf,”
     But found some work to do.
The neighbors all were proud of him;
     Said they: “He’ll make a man.”
He earned his way to greatness
     By the Hard-Work Plan.
 
Go read the lives of men of note,
     Consider their success;
What gave them wealth and eminence?
     Did luck or genius bless?
Biography will tell us that
     The race through which they ran
Was the contest known to history
     As the Hard-Work Plan.
 
Don’t worry over genius;
     Don’t say you have no brain;
Don’t sit and watch the stars of hope
     Till the clouds bring up a rain;
But up and toil along the road,
     And travel with the van,
And earn your way to greatness
     By the Hard-Work Plan.
 
by Jonathan Jones