HUMPTY DUMPTY.
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall:
Not all the king's horses nor all the king's men
Could set Humpty Dumpty up again."
Full many a project that never was hatched
Falls down, and gets shattered beyond be-
ing patched;
And luckily, too! for if all came to chick-
ens,
Then things without feathers might go to
the dickens.
If each restless unit that moves among men
Might climb to a place with the privileged
"ten,"
Pray tell us where all the commotion would
stop!
Must the whole pan of milk, forsooth, rise
to the top?
If always the statesman attained to his hopes,
And grasped the great helm, who would
stand by the ropes?
Or if all dainty fingers their duties might
choose,
Who would wash up the dishes, and polish
the shoes?
Suppose every aspirant writing a book
Contrived to get published, by hook or by
crook;
Geologists then of a later creation
Would be startled, I fancy, to find a forma-
tion
Proving how the poor world did most wo-
fully sink
Beneath mountains of paper, and oceans of
ink!
Or even suppose all the women were mar-
ried;
By whom would superfluous babies be car-
ried?
Where would be the good aunts that should
knit all the stockings?
Or nurses, to do up the singings and rock-
ings?
Wise spinsters, to lay down their wonderful
rules,
And with theories rare to enlighten the
fools,—
Or to look after orphans, and primary
schools?
No! Failure's a part of the infinite plan;
Who finds that he can't, must give way to
who can;
And as one and another drops out of the
race,
Each stumbles at last to his suitable place.
So the great scheme works on,—though,
like eggs from the wall,
Little single designs to such ruin may fall,
That not all the world's might, of its horses
or men,
Could set their crushed hopes at the sum-
mit again.