The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-02-26

Comet sadly; couldn't afford It. l
aid ali / could for him In writing the
poem. Seems to me that was enough. IL
brought him glory, and glory Is harder
10 get than cakes and peach jam ever
thought OF being. Perhaps you'll like this
better:
"Absadee sollaker hollaker moo.
Carraway sarraway mollaker doc
Hobbledy gobbledy sasslfrass SAM
Taramy ~faramy aramy jam
az don't understand it at ALL What.
language is IL in?" asked Jimmieboy.
zone l made up myself" said the
Comet gieefuily "And it's simply fine.
I call Il the Cometoo language. Nobsdy
knows anything about IL except myself,
and / haven't mastered II yet-but my!
It's the easiest language In the world TO
write poetry in. All you have to do is
80 go right ahead and make UP words to
suit yourself. and finding rhyme Is no
trouble at all when you do that.
But what's the good Of ~? asked
Jimmieboy.
"Oh. it has plenty OF advantages,
said the Comet, shaking his head wisely.
"In the first place II you have language
All vour own that nobody else knows,
nobody else can write d poem In IL You
have the whole field 10 yourself. Just
think how great man would be II he
was the only one to understand English
and write poetry In 1t. He'd get all the
money that ever was paid for English
poetry, which would be fortune. Il
would come 10 at least $500. which Is a
good deal Of money. considering
CONSIDERING wnat?' asked Jimmieboy.
considering what It would bring II
wisely invested said the Comet. "Iii
you ever think of what $500 was worth in
peanuts, for instanceT
Jimmieboy laughed al the idea OF spend
ing $500 in pearuts, and then he said: NO,
| never thought anything about 1t. What
is it worth in peanutsY'
We'll" said the Genet. scratching his
head with his tail. tits very hard bit OF
arithmetic. but I'll try to write it out for
you Peanuts, you know, cost ten cents
quart"
do they?" said Jimmieboy. 81 never
bought a quart at once. I've only paid
five cents a pint"
Well five cents n pint Is English for
ten cents a quart" said the Comet. "and
in $500 there are eight thousand ten
ceutses, so that you could get eight thou
sand quarts of peanuts for $500. Now
every quart of peanuts holds about nifty
pcanut sheIlfus, so that eight THOUSAND
quarts of peanuts equal four hundred
thousand peanut shellfuls. Each peanut
shell holds two small nuts. so that IN
four hundred thousand of them there are
eight hundred thousand nuts"
"Phe-e-ewr whisted Jimmicboy. What
a feast"
yes" said the Comet. but Just you
wait. Suppose You ate one of these nuts
a minute, do you know how long It would
take you. eating eight hours a day, 20
eat up the whole iot?''
mo" said Jmmieboy beginning % feel
little awed at the wondrous possi5ili-
ties of $500 in peanuts.
-Four years, six months, three weeks
and six days. and you'd have to eat Sun
days 10 get through it in that time" said
the Comet "In soda water It would be
quite as awful and In peppermint sticks
al two cents a foot 1t would bring you
stick forty thousand feet, or more than
seven miles long"
isn't $500 wonderful" said Jimmieboy.
overcome by the mere thought Of so much
peppermint candy
"Yes-but really am much more won
derful when you think OF me. You haven't
been on my back more than ten minutes
and yet In that time have taken you all
around the world" said the Comet.
"Al the way?" said Jimmieboy.
Yes" said the Comet, stopping sud
denly. Here we are back at your win
dow again"
But | didn't see China, and I wanted
to- said Jimmieboy.
Cant help it." said the Comet. "You
had the chance. but your preferred to talk
about poetry and PEANUTS. II isn't my
fault. of with you, now"
And then the Comet bucked like a West
ern hroncho. and as Jimmieboy went over
his head through the window and lauded
plump into his papa's lap, the queer
creature with the fiery tail flew off into
space.