proud erect for the have given me wondrous great and success both fair and fine comes to him who holds his line can stick and so can � too but there s nothing holds so fast as the clothes pin to the last and you gave up the egg altogether asked the poet a natural inclination to find in the construction of the clothes pin poem oh no said the idiot i knocked off a little on that i called it the speedy egg and it goes like this by l should hesitate to try to drive a can al boat by by the idiot at home great s can beat all however speedy be their legs but i distance her with ease when it comes t beating eggs i really think that you would have done better to give up the egg said the poet grown critical i ve no patience with one now if you had written great s can beat all however speedy be their legs but despite her deeds i can beat her beating eggs i should not have objected i accept the replied the idiot meekly i realized the weakness of the thing myself and thought of changing it into a where you only need one rhyme how s this on a carpet tack however dull the day however dull the skies however dark the night may be my spirits ever rise for though i m but a carpet tack afar from and strife no one can ever truly say that mine s a life that is very good said the poet by the idiot at home i think almost any editor of any comic paper would be willing to pay you three dollars for that � it is as good as your poem on a ton of coal � simple in its expression and sweet in sentiment i thought think so said the idiot it struck me so i ve got one on a screw driver too that is very much of the same order and a moral lesson to the reader who is always reaching out after the it reads as follows i cannot tool a ho i cannot drive a i dare not hold the ribbons on a hack or drag i could not guide the reins upon a simple goat and i should hesitate to try to drive a can al boat but i don t mind these things at all for can drive a screw and i am happy for that s just what i was meant to do the fourth line of the second verse is weak but otherwise it s good commented the poet it s not a can al boat it s a can boat and all the poetic li by i haven t ever had a home i ve always by by the idiot at home in the world wouldn t excuse your taking such a liberty with language i appreciate that said the idiot but i don t see how i could get around it there s only one way said the poet i think if you omitted that verse altogether you d improve the poem then i should have to the goat said the idiot that takes a great deal of humor out of it i always laugh when i encounter a beast like that in poetry he seems so helpless when in a poem that may be observed the poet but it is my belief that the goat of all animals in the kingdom was the last one designed to be used in poetry anyhow he is bad enough in prose and in this case will butt your poem to oblivion if you insist on keeping him in it any more no said the idiot that s the last well you ve got a good start said the poet rising to light his pipe which had gone out and if i were you i d go on and finish the book the idiot s book of household poetry would have by the idiot at home a great sale it has but one that i can see you harp on one string too much every one of your poems contentment satisfaction � nothing else that said the idiot is not an objection but a virtue for what other lesson he added with a glance of pride at his surroundings what other lesson my dear poet should a home try to teach and what other sentiment can mean so much to mankind i don t know said the poet with a little sigh i haven t ever had a home i ve always whereupon the idiot rose up from his chair and putting his arm about his friend s shoulder said how you do talk never had a home my dear fellow what s this it s yours as long as it s mine i by viii some consideration of the hired man who is that sitting down on your court mr idiot asked mr brief the lawyer or is it anybody i ve been trying for the last half hour to make out whether it s a man or one of those iron figures with which some people their that replied the idiot calmly is my hired man i pay him forty dollars a month to sit down there and let the grass grow under his feet i heard you and mr discussing the wonderful of my lawn after dinner last night and i meant to have told you then that the credit thereof belongs entirely to the nature of that man s soul he will stand for hours rooted to one spot and looking with apparent out over the river to most people this would seem k by the idiot at home to be prompted by a sheer to work but this would do him a rank injustice for his is due entirely to his system he is letting the grass grow beneath 