Well, now, it seems to me that my lost foot is really where it used to be; and the worst of it is this, that, when it itches, I can’t scratch it! It does no good to apply my fingers to the wooden stick, you know; this only reminds me of my misfortune, and brings on a fit of the blues. But there is one thing to be considered—there is medicine, if a person will seek it, for almost all diseases, whether real or fanciful; and, thanks to my young friends who write me letters, I find these very letters a pretty certain cure for the fidgets which I spoke of. When I sit down to read them, and find them full of kind and pleasant feelings, I readily forget the cares, the vexations—the dark weather of life, that beset even such a humble career as mine.
So much for the introduction—and now to business.
The following letter is very welcome. Can Harriet venture to tell us who the author of this capital riddle really is?
Newport, March 28, 1842.
Friend Merry:
In looking over, a few days since, some old papers belonging to my father, I found the following riddle. My father informs me that it was written many years ago, by a school-boy of his, then about fifteen years old, and who now occupies a prominent place in the literary and scientific world. If you think it will serve to amuse your many black-eyed and blue-eyed readers, you will, by giving it a place in the Museum, much oblige a blue-eyed subscriber to, and a constant reader of, your valuable and interesting Magazine.
Harriet.
RIDDLE.
- Take a word that’s much used,—’tis a masculine name,
- That backward or forward doth spell just the same;
- Then a verb used for dodging—a right it will claim
- That backward or forward it spells just the same;
- The form of an adjective, none can exclaim
- That backward or forward it spells not the same;
- Then a chief Turkish officer’s title or name,
- That backward or forward doth spell just the same;
- The name of a liquor, its friends all will claim
- That backward or forward is still just the same;
- Then a word used for jest, or doth triumph proclaim,
- That backward or forward still spells just the same;
- Then a verb in the imperfect, which also doth claim
- That backward or forward it spells just the same;
- The name of a place which geographers fame,
- That backward or forward doth still spell the same;
- Then a very queer word, ’t is a Spanish ship’s name,
- That backward or forward doth spell just the same;
- Then a verb that’s well known, I refer to the same,
- That, backward or forward spelt, makes but one name;
- Then a name that is given to many a dame
- That backward or forward still spells just the same.
- A Set of initials the above will afford—
- R-Ove through them in order, they form a droll word.
- I L-eave you to solve it—’t will cure a disease;
- De-Velop the riddle—’t will set you at ease.
- D-Espair not, but hope; ’t is easily guessed:
- L-Ike etching on copper in gay colors dressed,
- E-Tch it down on your hearts, and there let it rest.
Elizabeth Town, N. J., April 9, 1842.