Seems ever to learn more than “Passamaquoddy,”

Or “Mooselucmaguntic,” “Welokennebacook,”

“Oquossuc,” “Musketequid,” and “Quantibacook.”

To compose in that language you will not deny

Is difficult. If you don’t think so—just try.


’Tis nonsense, dear friend, but I feel sure that you

Good-naturedly smile, and yet see ’tis true.

Unconscious as Lady Macbeth in her walking,

We give in our letters more self than in talking.