Trouble

Trouble Brings Friends

by Edgar A. Guest

It’s seldom trouble comes alone. I’ve noticed this: When things go wrong
An’ trouble comes a-visitin’, it always brings a friend along;
Sometimes it’s one you’ve known before, and then perhaps it’s someone new
Who stretches out a helping hand an’ stops to see what he can do.

If never trials came to us, if grief an’ sorrow passed us by,
If every day the sun came out an’ clouds were never in the sky,
We’d still have neighbors, I suppose, each one pursuin’ selfish ends,
But only neighbors they would be–we’d never know them as our friends.

Out of the troubles I have had have come my richest friendships here,
Kind hands have helped to bear my care, kind words have fallen on my ear;
An’ so I say when trouble comes I know before the storm shall end
That I shall find my bit of care has also brought to me a friend.

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Hard Luck

by Edgar A. Guest

Ain’t no use as I can see
In sittin’ underneath a tree
An’ growlin’ that your luck is bad,
An’ that your life is extry sad;
Your life ain’t sadder than your neighbor’s
Nor any harder are your labors;
It rains on him the same as you,
An’ he has work he hates to do;
An’ he gits tired an’ he gits cross,
An’ he has trouble with the boss;
You take his whole life, through an’ through,
Why, he’s no better off than you.

If whinin’ brushed the clouds away
I wouldn’t have a word to say;
If it made good friends out o’ foes
I’d whine a bit, too, I suppose;
But when I look around an’ see
A lot o’ men resemblin’ me,
An’ see ‘em sad, an’ see ‘em gay
With work t’ do most every day,
Some full o’ fun, some bent with care,
Some havin’ troubles hard to bear,
I reckon, as I count my woes,
They’re ’bout what everybody knows.

The day I find a man who’ll say
He’s never known a rainy day,
Who’ll raise his right hand up an’ swear
In forty years he’s had no care,
Has never had a single blow,
An’ never known one touch o’ woe,
Has never seen a loved one die,
Has never wept or heaved a sigh,
Has never had a plan go wrong,
But allus laughed his way along;
Then I’ll sit down an’ start to whine
That all the hard luck here is mine.