• Leslie's Monthly (July, 1902)   "A Question"   A poem. With an illustration by B. Cory Kilvert. p 306. Reprinted: Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern; July 5, 1902; p 6.  [HARPER]

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from Leslie's Monthly
A Question
by Ellis Parker Butler

Whene'er I feed the barnyard folk
    My gentle soul is vexed;
My sensibilities are torn
    And I am sore perplexed.

The rooster so politely stands
    While waiting for his food,
But when I feed him, what a change!
    He then is rough and rude.

He crowds his gentle wives aside
    Or pecks them on the head;
Sometimes I think it would be best
    If he were never fed.

And so I often stand for hours
    Deciding which is right --
To impolitely have enough,
    Or starve and be polite.

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