When Adam delved and Eve span,
Who was then the gentleman?
The vilest deeds, like poison weeds,
Bloom well in prison-air;
It is only what is good in man
That wastes and withers there:
Pale Anguish keeps the heavy gate,
And the Warder is Despair.
ABBREVIATIONS AND CONTRACTIONS
485. There are a number of words which we abbreviate or contract, in our every-day use. A contraction is a shortened form of the word used to save time or space and is made by omitting a letter or letters. The apostrophe is used to indicate the omission in a contracted word. As, for example: