Poem by Eugene Field

Lyman, Frederick, and Jim

 (FOR THE FELLOWSHIP CLUB)

Lyman and Frederick and Jim, one day,
  Set out in a great big ship—
Steamed to the ocean adown the bay
  Out of a New York slip.
"Where are you going and what is your game?"
  The people asked those three.
"Darned if we know; but all the same
  Happy as larks are we;
  And happier still we're going to be!"
    Said Lyman
    And Frederick
    And Jim.

The people laughed "Aha, oho!
  Oho, aha!" laughed they;
And while those three went sailing so
  Some pirates steered that way.
The pirates they were laughing, too—
  The prospect made them glad;
But by the time the job was through
  Each of them pirates, bold and bad,
Had been done out of all he had
    By Lyman
    And Frederick
    And Jim.

Days and weeks and months they sped,
  Painting that foreign clime
A beautiful, bright vermilion red—
  And having a —— of a time!
'T was all so gaudy a lark, it seemed
  As if it could not be,
And some folks thought it a dream they dreamed
  Of sailing that foreign sea,
  But I'll identify you these three—
    Lyman
    And Frederick
    And Jim.

Lyman and Frederick are bankers and sich
  And Jim is an editor kind;
The first two named are awfully rich
  And Jim ain't far behind!
So keep your eyes open and mind your tricks,
  Or you are like to be
In quite as much of a Tartar fix
  As the pirates that sailed the sea
  And monkeyed with the pardners three,
    Lyman
    And Frederick
    And Jim!

1. Mary Smith
2. A Paraphrase
3. Two Valentines
4. Mother and Sphinx
5. My Playmates

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