Page:Carroll - Rhyme and Reason.djvu/181

Rh "You boil it in sawdust: you salt it in glue:
 * You condense it with locusts and tape:

Still keeping one principal object in view—
 * To preserve its symmetrical shape."

The Butcher would gladly have talked till next day,
 * But he felt that the Lesson must end,

And he wept with delight in attempting to say
 * He considered the Beaver his friend:

While the Beaver confessed, with affectionate looks
 * More eloquent even than tears,

It had learned in ten minutes far more than all books
 * Would have taught it in seventy years.

They returned hand-in-hand, and the Bellman, unmanned
 * (For a moment) with noble emotion,

Said "This amply repays all the wearisome days
 * We have spent on the billowy ocean!"

Such friends, as the Beaver and Butcher became,
 * Have seldom if ever been known:

In winter or summer, 'twas always the same—
 * You could never meet either alone.