To mind a slender man like me,

    He of the mighty limb!

    "These to the printer," I exclaimed,

    And, in my humorous way,

    I added, (as a trifling jest,)

    "There'll be the devil to pay."

    He took the paper, and I watched,

    And saw him peep within;

    At the first line he read, his face

    Was all upon the grin.

    He read the next; the grin grew broad,

    And shot from ear to ear;

    He read the third; a chuckling noise

    I now began to hear.

    The fourth; he broke into a roar;

    The fifth; his waistband split;

    The sixth; he burst five buttons off,

    And tumbled in a fit.

    Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye,

    I watched that wretched man,

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