A gentle, kindly man is he,
The soul of generosity;
Our little ones he gladly gives
The right to split infinitives.
The boys and girls who go to school
Approve of Mister Tobin's rule.
They find no cause to make complaint
At learning words like das't and ain't.
Two negatives has every boy,
And uses them with pride and joy
And every girl has utmost skill
In interchanging shall and will.
Those noble boys and girls decry
The priggish use of "It is I."
If you should ask, "Who was with he?"
They'd answer simply, "It was me."
Pantaletta.
* * *
It is not nice of readers to try to take advantage of our innocence.
M. L. J., for example, writes out the valve-handle wheeze in longhand
and assures us that "it is an exact copy of a letter received by a stove
manufacturing company in St. Louis, from a customer in Arkansas."
* * *