Page:A Selection of Original Songs, Scraps, Etc., by Ned Farmer (3rd ed.).djvu/35

 

One genius hath writ a hook, on
The proper way to tie a hook on!
Another gives a huge discourse
On hair, as had from cow or horse,
And points the difference; then he Bays,
Worms may be scoured in various ways,
And maggots bred (now this is clever)
From putrid meat—"well, did you ever!"
As if the butchers did not know,
Who daily see the blue-fly blow.
A learned Theban, writes a volume,
In which he doth devote a column
To telling how (good worthy soul)
A man "had ought" to bait a hole;
And to elucidate takes pains,
The mystery of grubs and grains;
And then with "master-mind" doth treat
The abstruse subject of stewed wheat
As an appliance. After which
He mentions, and I hold it rich,
"That grubs of wasps are easiest found
When wasps are making nests around."
It ain't just arrant botheration,
But smacks of super-arrogation!
Poor P, whose style is somewhat odd,
Writes a huge work upon the "Rod."
Sure one who knows so much about one,
Had never ought to be without one.
I've learned to manufacture flies
Of every mortal form and size.