Norwich bulletin., 1912-07-30
THE BULLETINS SHORT STORY.
WAYS OF MRS. MERRIWID

Would steel my soul and nerve my
 deadly arm.
 Decked with thy purple scarf.
 Would that l mightl' And I came right home at him with this little acid test proof ger1 of real poetry:
 :" With thee to guard. no harm could
 e'er befall.
 And at the thought my heart with
 rapture thrills.
 But let me ask, hast thou the
 wherewithal
 To promptly settle up the weekly
 bills?'
 "AlI that I can say is that you are very ridiculous" declared Aunt Jane, indignantly. T think those pieces of MT Rondo's are real sweet and he seems to me to be a very nice young man. If you don't like him and don like his poetry why do you encourage him to come here?'
 I'm a good deal like you with the verses. dearie" replied Mrs MerriWid. I've got to have a man call before know whether l want him around, and
 
 Poor Henry Merriwid even was inter- esting at times and he was no poet, goodness knows! As far as MT. Ron do is concerned, I'd encourage him ln- definitely if he needed encouragement, but the trouble with him is that ne doesn't Most men wouldn't take tumble if you dropped them out of an aeroplane, where their personal vanity is concerned, and poets srent any ex- ception, only they're more so. They start in with kissing your hand and calling you dear lady and the next thing you know you've got to DoX their ears as if you meant it.
 Tn some respects" Mrs. Merriwid went on, poets fill a long felt want. All women have a soul hunger for poetry, and they're tickled to death when they get verses written about the amber glories of their hair or the moving melody of their voices or the mysterious depths of their lustrous eyes or the undulating grace of their movements, to say nothing of the yer nal bloom of their eompleXions and the size of their feet. They all have longing at times to be the bright, particular star of some low colared songster's kindred solar system-to @ certain extent-and they have the love
  knowledge of the wherefores of exist ence. I know that poor Henrys deaf ness to the subtler harmenies and want of sympathy with intangible yearnings often made me want to slap him, but, after all, Henry was always willing to have the washing sent out and he never gave me occasion for one pang of jealousy.
 "The difficulty with us is that we also want fllet mignonne and mush- rooms and grape fruit salad and cleo | trio broughams, cut flowers and manl- cures and silk hosiery and 1913 model hats and gowns" Mrs. Merriwid went on "A man can't do everything, and if he puts in his time listening to sky larks and murmuring brooks and seek ing out his inmost self in sylvan sol i itude he can't bring in the loot to the loved ones at home. That is why I'm writing poetry back at MT. Rond). His care of cark complicated with dola won't be improved when he reads it D You are going to hurt his feelings, I'm afraid" predicted Aunt Jane.
 T can break it gently to him with this" said Mrs. Merriwid, picking up another sheet of paper:
 "' Plump Plutus evermore will gain
 the goal,
 For all the arts Apollo can con-
 triVe.
 The low brow who can peel a good
 ly roll
 Has got the gentle bardlet skin-
 ned alive"
 l KENNETH HARRIS.