How neo-Greek noodles, in poem and fiction,
Draped dirtiest thoughts in the daintiest diction;
How Art uninspired sought some stimulant fresh
In charnel conceits, and the lusts of the flesh.
Cried he, “This is culture! The gauntest vulture
On garbage will fatten, allowed to batten
On the fruit of this tree of knowledge.”
He saw huge Stores that small shopkeepers smashed,
To whose portals cash-paying patricians up dashed;
Big Companies, that piled lucre—and crashed;