May prove a blunder, rather than a hit.

Still, I must wish the venerable soul

Had been explicit as regards the bowl

Was it, perhaps, a railroad speculation?

Or a big ship to carry all creation,

That, by some kink of its machinery,

Failed, in the end, to carry even three?

Or other fond, erroneous calculation

Of splendid schemes that died disastrously?

It must have been of Gotham manufacture;