Analysis of Those Two Boys

WHEN Bill was a lad he was terribly bad.
    He worried his parents a lot;
He'd lie and he'd swear and pull little girls' hair;
    His boyhood was naught but a blot.

At play and in school he would fracture each rule—         5
    In mischief from autumn to spring;
And the villagers knew when to manhood he grew
    He would never amount to a thing.

When Jim was a child he was not very wild;
    He was known as a good little boy;  
He was honest and bright and the teacher's delight—
    To his mother and father a joy.

All the neighbors were sure that his virtue'd endure,
    That his life would be free of a spot;
They were certain that Jim had a great head on him  15
    And that Jim would amount to a lot.

And Jim grew to manhood and honor and fame
    And bears a good name;
While Bill is shut up in a dark prison cell—
    You never can tell.