Against Idleness And Mischief

"Against Idleness and Mischief" is a poem in Divine Songs for Children, by Isaac Watts, and is one of his best known poems. As the title suggests, it is an exhortation to work hard.

Text

How doth the little busy bee

Improve each shining hour

And gather honey all the day

From every opening flower!

How skillfully she builds her cell!

How neat she spreads the wax!

And labours hard to store it well

With the sweet food she makes.

In works of labour or of skill,

I would be busy too;

For Satan finds some mischief still

For idle hands to do.

In books, or work, or healthful play,

Let my first years be passed,

That I may give for every day

Some good account at last.

"How Doth the Little Crocodile"

Watts' poem was famously parodied by Lewis Carroll in his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in the poem "How Doth the Little Crocodile,"^[1] which is now better known than the original^{[citation needed]}.

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