For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.’”
“Say that again, will you?”
Clarence obligingly and with some attention to elocution repeated the famous stanza.
“Who said that?” asked Abe.
“Tennyson.”
“What was he chattering for?”
“He wasn’t chattering; it was the brook that chattered.”
“Well, why didn’t he say so, then? He said, ‘I chatter.’”
“Oh, hang it! He put those words into the mouth of the brook.”