Nature, in all thy works
Something poetic lurks,
Even in colocynth and calomel
POETRY
How true that is! Even in the prosaic person of a Poor Law Guardian, the fount of true poesy may be bubbling, all unknown; as in that of a member of the Board of Guardians at Northampton, who, in January 1907, challenged the workhouse master’s expenditure of £6 10s. on marking-ink. Said he (he bore the great name of Dickens), lisping in numbers:
I want to speak to you and the Board very plain;
I trust my appeal will not be in vain;
I hope you will pause and seriously think
Before ordering any more marking-ink.