WHEN Bill was a lad he was terribly bad.
He worried his parents a lot;
He'd lie and he'd swear and pull little girls' hair;
His boyhood was naught but a blot.
At play and in school he would fracture each rule— 5
In mischief from autumn to spring;
And the villagers knew when to manhood he grew
He would never amount to a thing.
When Jim was a child he was not very wild;
He was known as a good little boy;
He was honest and bright and the teacher's delight—
To his mother and father a joy.
All the neighbors were sure that his virtue'd endure,
That his life would be free of a spot;
They were certain that Jim had a great head on him 15
And that Jim would amount to a lot.
And Jim grew to manhood and honor and fame
And bears a good name;
While Bill is shut up in a dark prison cell—
You never can tell.
This poem has been misquoted. It was Jim not Bill that wound up in a prison cell. The last line then makes sense. I can only suppose the change was made to turn the poem into a saccharine moral lesson. I prefer the original where the spirited child who does not hide his nature has a chance in life while the apparently compliant one has a dark side.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Context