"'FOR THOUGH I'M BUT A CARPET-TACK
AFAR FROM MOIL AND STRIFE,
NO ONE CAN EVER TRULY SAY
THAT MINE'S A POINTLESS LIFE'"
"However dull the day,
However dull the skies,
However dark the night may be,
My spirits ever rise.
"For though I'm but a carpet-tack,
Afar from moil and strife,
No one can ever truly say
That mine's a pointless life."
"That is very good," said the Poet. "I think almost any editor of any comic paper would be willing to pay you three dollars for that. It is as good as your poem on a ton of coal—simple in its expression and sweet in sentiment."
"I thought you'd think so," said the Idiot. "It struck me so. I've got one on a screw-driver, too, that is very much of the same order, and conveys a moral lesson to the reader who is always reaching out after the unattainable. It reads as follows:
"I cannot tool a tally-ho,
I cannot drive a nag;
I dare not hold the ribbons
On a hack or rumbling drag.
"I could not guide the reins upon
A simple billy-goat,
And I should hesitate to try
To drive a can-al boat.
"But I don't mind these things at all,
For I can drive a screw,
And I am happy, for that's just
What I was meant to do."
"'I SHOULD HESITATE TO TRY TO WRITE A CAN-AL BOAT'"