"Why, don't you know?" said Jimmy. "A hook that's made like a little file on the end where you tie the line, instead of a flat knob."
"A real Limerick hook is one that's made in Limerick," said Ned. "Those you get in this town are made in Connecticut, and are only imitations."
I began to suspect that Ned had been nettled at the failure of his lightning-rod invention, and was venting his spite on poor Jimmy's literary invention.
"I can't see," said I, "that it makes any difference with the poem, whether they were real Limerick hooks, or only imitation. The poetry is just as good."
"Oh, no, it isn't," said Jimmy; "and I'm glad to have my attention called to it. I'll inquire about that, and if I find they were not true Limericks, I'll change that line." Then the reading proceeded.
| "'Now let us make it doubly sure That nothing's left,' said Joe. And 'Totus dexter!' Ike replied— Which means 'All right!' you know. "These jolly boys set off at once When everything was found; Their fathers said, 'We wish good luck!' Their mothers, 'Don't get drowned!'" |
"Holman's father hasn't been at home for four months," said Ned. "He's gone to Missouri to see about an iron mine."
"I admit," said Jimmy, "that there I drew a little on my imagination. I didn't know what they said, and so I put in what I thought they would be likely to say. But if Holman's father wasn't at home, of course he couldn't have said anything at all. However, I think you'll find that the rest of the poem is entirely true to nature.
| "When they unto the river came, Where they should cast the lead, The dew still glistened under foot, The robin sang o'erhead." |
"I doubt if any robin sings so late in the season as this," said Ned.