Sly Boy.

I was the slyest boy at home,          The slyest boy at school,         I wanted all the world to know          That I was no one's fool.         I kept my childish hopes and schemes          Locked closely in my breast,         No single secret shared with Bob,          The chum I liked the best.         I never showed my squirrel's nest,          Nor beaver dam, nor cave,         Nor fortress where I used to go          To be a soldier brave.         Oh, I was sly, just awful sly,          In winter, summer, spring,         While Bob would tell me all he knew,          I never told a thing.         And yet Bob always got ahead;          I'd find the careless knave         Asleep within my fortress walls,          And fishing in my cave.         "What, yours!" he said, in great surprise,          "You should have told me so.         You never said a word, old chum,          And how was I to know?"         My slyness hurt more than it helped;          If Bob had known, you see,         He was too kind to do his best          To get ahead of me.         I still was sly when I grew up.          I fell in love with Nan,         But scorned to own it to myself          Or any other man.         So sly was I, Nan never guessed -          No more did handsome Bob -         That every time she looked my way          My heart, it stirred and throbbed.         The same old story! Ere I knew,          My chum had loved and won.         When I explained I'd picked her out          To be my very own,         "What, yours!" he said in great surprise,          "You should have told me so.         You never said a word, old chum,          And how was I to know?"         I've learned my lesson, lost my girl;          You'll own 'tis rather rough.         Henceforward I'll not be too sly -          I'll be just sly enough.