The Whistling Boy by Nixon Waterman

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 9, 1901

The Whistling Boy

By Nixon Waterman

WHEN the curtains of night, ’tween the dark and the light, Drop down at the set of the sun, And the toilers who roam to the loved ones come home, As they pass by my window is one Whose coming I mark; for the song of the lark As it joyously soars in the sky Is no dearer to me than the notes, glad and free, Of the boy who goes whistling by.

If a sense of unrest settles over my breast, And my spirit is clouded with care, It all flies away if he happens to stray Past my window a-whistling an air. And I never shall know how much gladness I owe To this joy of the ear and the eye, But I'm sure I'm in debt for much pleasure I get To the boy who goes whistling by.

And this music of his, how much better it is Than to burden his life with a frown; For the toiler who sings to his purposes brings A hope his endeavor to crown. And whenever I hear his glad notes, full and clear, I say to myself, I will try To make all of life with a joy to be rife, Like the boy who goes whistling by.

—Nixon Waterman.