She came among the gathering crowd, <br />A maiden fair, without pretence, <br />And when they asked her humble name, <br />She whispered mildly, “Common Sense.” <br /> <br />Her modest garb drew every eye, <br />Her ample cloak, her shoes of leather; <br />And, when they sneered, she simply said, <br />“I dress according to the weather.” <br /> <br />They argued long, and reasoned loud, <br />In dubious Hindoo phrase mysterious, <br />While she, poor child, could not divine <br />Why girls so young should be so serious. <br /> <br />They knew the length of Plato’s beard, <br />And how the scholars wrote in Saturn; <br />She studied authors not so deep, <br />And took the Bible for her pattern. <br /> <br />And so she said, “Excuse me, friends, <br />I find all have their proper places, <br />And Common Sense should stay at home <br />With cheerful hearts and smiling faces.”<br /><br />James Thomas Fields<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/common-sense-17/
