The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-03-19
The - Uses d Posirz.

Z =
low IS compelled 10 work. It gives sn-
PFeme satisfaction TO see an habitual
| shIrk ffsctually clEnered. The nnosl
economical and conscientious Will nov
and then rejoice at the destruction OF
/ injurY of the most beautiful fabrics, 4
they have seemed TO give any factitiOus
importance TO the body they covered.
The neat kids. the shiny boots, The fine
/ broadclOth, never give their wearey 50
keen a pleasure as they afford 70 his
homespun and hard-worked nsiahboT
] when any contingency Compelling bin
/ to put forth his strength in some .meni-
al occupation, splits the kids, muddies
/ the boot, and rumples the broadclofh.
j I suppose it is On this principle that
/ all those good, sensible, practical
people who consider poetry the natural
loafer of literature, seize every oppOr.
tuDity 10 put It to some homely use,
and seem to delight in seeing Il har-
messed down to plain. healthy moral,
or made TO express geographical OF
meteorological fact. The despissr OF
Tennyson, and ignorer Of Whittier, in
variably resorts to eI
~ 'sThirty DAYS bath September.
April, June ana Novemc er,
when he wishes to verify his dates. He
/ looks forth from his windeW, and dis
Germs the signs Of the sky with NUT
tered ....4
" Evening red and morning gray
Takes the traveller on his way"
He even regulates his household econ.
omy with such questionable synopsis as
"a stitch in time s..
Saves niae.r
His children are taught their first les
sons of thrift in the couplets-
-ya &. ''See a in and let it lay,
i And you'll have bad luck all day;
400 See pin and pick it up.
And al the day you'll have good lack.
As often as there is a fgneralin his fam
ily, he searches the hymn-book for q
rhyme to be placed on the tombstone /;
and, II the event calls out few origi-
nal stanzas from some local muse, the
copy is preserved forever in the family
scrap book.
Tits but a few years since one OF these
geDiuses, who periodically burst upon
Ehe public schools with scheme of
learning, so sugared aud honeyed that
the children cry for it, turned '' Peter
Parley's geography p into verse, and set
thousands of classes to singing, in con-
cert, complete list of bays, rivers, ,capes
and capitals. He was followed by one
who developed the same idea in the
realm of philosophy, and whose esown-
ing triumph was the couplet by which
he Taught the order of the colors of the
rainbow
- On memory's tablet these shall live,
While we can spell the word R-o-Y-G-B-I-v.'
But more troublesome to remember
than dates, facts, ard geographical sta
tistics, yet more TaoFtifyiDg to forget,
are the requirements of etiquette. The
completest victory of those who lash
solid facts to buOyant poetry, that the
whole may float gracefully in the mem
ory, has been achieved by genius who
reduces the whole science to plain rules
and puts every rule in rhyme. Landor's
couplet- ~.
nFhat is foolish who supposes
Those dogs are Ill that have hot noses" -
was one of the accidental touches which
so often precede a great discovery. The
ripper genius grasps the principle, and
gives It a complete application. Thus
we read
4" rFis pity If vcu have cold,
But worse il the saI fact be told
BY every kind OF uncouth sound,
Annoying every one around
Solet tine secret be confined
To your own handkerchief and mind
Here is an essential principle of po-
hteness so welded to sweet verse that
even q child cannot misunderstood or
forget it: uHI
@In company your teeth to pick,
Would make refined behOlderE sick.
The worldwide discussion on the
proper use of the knife and fork is all
summed up and settled by this sugges-
tive passage
81 If you should, in a moment rssh,
Reverse their use, perhaps you'd cash
mouth already far too wide,
And shock all who might see beside.
Bread, nuts, and fruit dear sir, or madam,
Eat in the mode Of Eve and AdSua."
Verify, poetry is good for something,
after all but, like a willfnl child, one
must know now to manage it.