Classic Poem

How is it I have prospered so? How is it I have struck
Throughout the hull of my ka-reer jest one long streak of luck?
Intellijunce, young man; that's all. I reason an' reflec' —
'Tis jest intellijunce an' brains an' straightout intellec'.

W'en I git up I'm allus sure to dress me right foot first,
Or put my drawers on wrong side out, or hev my vest reversed,
For them are signs you'll hev good luck; an eddicated man
Knows all them signs, an' shapes his life on a consistent plan.

I've strewed ol' hoss-shoes down the road for somethin' like a mile,
An' I go out an' hunt 'em up a-every little while;

For if you fin' a hoss-shoe, w'y, you're sure to prosper then;
A fac' that is familyer to all eddicated men.

A cat's tail p'intin' to'rds the fire, it is an awful sign;
But I hev counteracted it with every cat of mine;
If my cat's tail should p'int that way it wouldn' give me scares;
I'd go in my back entry then an' simply fall up-stairs.

It's a good sign to fall up-stairs an' counteracts the cat;
An' that's the way I shape my life, I balance this with that.
I see four crows — bad sign I know — might scare a man that's bolder;
But I jest wait an' see the moon rise over my right shoulder.

The moon it counteracts the crows; one balances the other,
For one is jest wiped out, you see, an' cancelled off by t'other.
I hear a dog howl in the night; it don't give me no dread.
I balance it by gittin' out the right han' side the bed.
An' so I've prospered all my life by jest a little pains.
Intellijunce, young man, that's all, an' intellec' an' brains.
'Tis ignorunce that makes men fail. An' wisdom — nothin' less —
Inlightenmunt an' knowledge, sir, can bring a man success.