A SMILE and a tear were disputing one day
On their different merits and skill;
It grieves me to state that in furious debate
These friends should behave themselves ill.

But Reason stepped in with her magical wand,
And bade both the disputants cease,
Severely did chide for their folly and pride,
And sternly insisted on peace.

'Ye are equal,' she said, 'then why wrangle so loud?
Ye are equal in charms and in powers;
For the sun might decline on the rosebeds to shine,
If the rain did not water the flowers.

'And, if one seems to triumph, the other may rest
Undisturbed by the ghost of a fear;
For the heart which a smile can most surely beguile,
Is ever most touched by a tear.'