"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall:

Not all the king's horses nor all the king's men

Could set Humpty Dumpty up again."

Full many a project that never was hatched

Falls down, and gets shattered beyond be-

ing patched;

And luckily, too! for if all came to chick-

ens,

Then things without feathers might go to

the dickens.

If each restless unit that moves among men

Might climb to a place with the privileged

"ten,"

Pray tell us where all the commotion would

stop!

Must the whole pan of milk, forsooth, rise

to the top?

If always the statesman attained to his hopes,

And grasped the great helm, who would

stand by the ropes?

Or if all dainty fingers their duties might

choose,

Who would wash up the dishes, and polish

the shoes?

Suppose every aspirant writing a book

Contrived to get published, by hook or by

crook;

Geologists then of a later creation

Would be startled, I fancy, to find a forma-

tion

Proving how the poor world did most wo-

fully sink

Beneath mountains of paper, and oceans of

ink!

Or even suppose all the women were mar-

ried;

By whom would superfluous babies be car-

ried?

Where would be the good aunts that should

knit all the stockings?

Or nurses, to do up the singings and rock-

ings?

Wise spinsters, to lay down their wonderful

rules,

And with theories rare to enlighten the

fools,—

Or to look after orphans, and primary

schools?

No! Failure's a part of the infinite plan;

Who finds that he can't, must give way to

who can;

And as one and another drops out of the

race,

Each stumbles at last to his suitable place.

So the great scheme works on,—though,

like eggs from the wall,

Little single designs to such ruin may fall,

That not all the world's might, of its horses

or men,

Could set their crushed hopes at the sum-

mit again.