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ALLOW FOR THE CRAWL!

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 27, 1878

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 52, No. 1.

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“ALLOW FOR THE CRAWL!”

By John G. Saxe

You have often, no doubt, had occasion to note, Though the garment at first seemed certain to please, That, after some wearing, the sleeve of your coat, Tow’rd the shoulder was crawling by easy degrees; And that’s what the clothier, of course, had in mind, When he said to the customer, “Long? Not at all! The sleeve is just right—as you’ll presently find— In cutting a coat we allow for the crawl!”
The expression was one wholly new to me then; But it set me to thinking how well it applies, Not merely to coats, but to women and men, In matters of life as they daily arise: Consider the shrinkage in human affairs— The promise how great, the performance how small, And, lest disappointment should come unawares, Remember the sleeve, and “allow for the crawl!”
The statesman who asks for your ballot to save Your country, so rashly imperilled to-day, May covet an office and not be a knave, Whatever the fierce Opposition may say; But the “platform” to which he so valiantly clings, By which he proposes to stand or to fall— “Resolutions,” remember, are slippery things, And in politics always “allow for the crawl!”
You are deeply in love with the sweetest of girls, Whose presence the height of your happiness brings She looks like a queen in her beautiful curls! Like a seraph she smiles; like a siren she sings! Ah! splendid and vast are the fancies of youth, But down to plain facts they must finally fall; And happy the couple who, finding the truth, In conjugal kindness “allow for the crawl!”
In brief, recollect that in human affairs, In social connections, in travel and trade, In courtship and marriage, in sermons and prayers, Some grains of concession must always be made; In fine, be a prudent though generous man, Unfriendly to none, and veracious with all; Believe in your neighbor as much as you can, But always be sure to “allow for the crawl!”
—John G. Saxe.