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PEER
- And in consequence, friend, I can go as I came?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
- No, in consequence, friend, I must melt you up.
PEER
- What tricks are these that you've hit upon
- at home here, while I've been in foreign parts?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
- The custom's as old as the Snake's creation;
- it's designed to prevent loss of good material.
- You've worked at the craft-you must know that often
- a casting turns out, to speak plainly, mere dross;
- the buttons, for instance, have sometimes no loop to them.
- What did you do, then?
PEER
- Flung the rubbish away.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
- Ah, yes; Jon Gynt was well known for a waster,
- so long as he'd aught left in wallet or purse.
- But Master, you see, he is thrifty, he is;
- and that is why he's so well-to-do.
- He flings nothing away as entirely worthless
- that can be made use of as raw material.
- Now, you were designed for a shining button
- on the vest of the world; but your loop gave way;
- so into the waste-box you needs must go,
- and then, as they phrase it, be merged in the mass.
