“Friends, I feel our power is waning,—

Man, our ward, is now proclaiming

Among others, a most curious thing,

That in a chair he likes to swing

Because his ancestor, an ape,

Was very apt to use his tape

To swing himself from limb to limb

Of trees and vines which on them cling.

[Pg 31]

Moreover, he is now so learnéd

That to a fossil he is turnèd,

Instead of joining our free band

Of spirits, in the fairy land.”

Silence reigned supreme a moment;

Then an old dwarf, ripe with age,

Arose, and all those elves and fairies

Bowed their heads a little space

For that “grand old man,” whose wisdom

In that hall rang loud and clear:

“Time has come when man no longer

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