MULTUM IN PARVO
“Great thoughts are oft expressed in fewest words,”
And I remember how long years ago,
When a great lady in her diary
Of a short visit to the Scottish land,
Recorded of a sorrowful event,
“To-day poor little Vicky, by mischance,
Sat on a wasps’ nest.” All the newspapers
Declared it was a perfect masterpiece
Of excellent conciseness. Yet I think
It was outdone by a Red Indian—
One of the Quoddy tribe—who did the same;
Since he, like “little Vicky,” also sat
Upon a seat as hot; and when he rose,
Briefly exclaimed in his vernacular:—
“H’lam-kikqu’!” and being asked what this
Might mean, responded in the English tongue:
“Heap hell!” O reader! if the soul of wit
Be brevity, this Indian was there.