And many a volume, sweet and good and true,

Fails in the work that it was made to do.

Why, e’en the dust they’ve caught since he began

Would quite suffice to make a decent man!

THE “COLLECTOR”

I got a tome to-day, and I was glad to strike it,

I got

Because no other man can ever get one like it.

’Tis poor, and badly print; its meaning’s Greek;

But what of that? ’Tis mine, and it’s unique.

So Bah! to others,

Men and brothers—

Bah! and likewise Pooh!

I’ve got the best of you.

Go sicken, die, and eke repine.

That book you wanted—Gad! that’s mine!

A READER

Daudet to him is e’er Dodett;

Daudet

Dumas he calls Dumass;

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