The Wit and Humor of America, Volume IV. (of X.)

  VICTORY[5]

  BY TOM MASSON

  I turned to the dictionary For a word I couldn't spell, And closed the book when I found it And dipped my pen in the well.

  Then I thought to myself, "How was it?" With a sense of inward pain, And still 'twas a little doubtful, So I turned to the book again.

  This time I remarked, "How easy!" As I muttered each letter o'er, But when I got to the inkwell 'Twas gone, as it went before.

  Then I grabbed that dictionary And I sped its pages through, And under my nose I put it With that doubtful word in view.

  I held it down with my body While I gripped that pen quite fast, And I howled, as I traced each letter: "I've got you now, _at last_!"

  [Footnote 5: Lippincott's Magazine.]