There was a man in our town
Who was so wondrous wise
That nobody dared speak to him;
And so he winked his eyes,
And said, "I don't know anything,
But all these people here
Are so afraid, they dare not speak,
And call me sage and seer;
"But, oh, if some one should forget,
And speak to me some day,
I really haven't an idea
Of what I then should say!"
And so this sage pretended that
His temper was most vile,
And people, when they met him,
Turned and ran away a mile.
And so it is unto this day—
He's magnified in size,
So that though he knows nothing,
All the town folks think him wise.
J. K. B.
THE BEST OF ALL.
"What are you going to be when you are a man, Jack?" asked Uncle George.
"A man," said Jack.