From The Wit and Humor of America, edited by Marshall P. Wilder, Volume IV, New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls and Company, 1911; p. 642.
A MODERN ADVANTAGE
BY CHARLOTTE BECKER
One morning, when the sun shone bright
And all the earth was fair,
I met a little city child,
Whose ravings rent the air.
“I lucidly can penetrate
“The Which,” I heard him say, —
“The How is, wonderfully, come
To clear the limpid way.
“The sentence, rarely, rose and fell
From ceiling to the floor;
Her words were spotlessly arranged,
She gave me, strangely, more.”
“What troubles you, my little man?”
I dared to ask him then, —
He fixed me with a subtle stare,
And said, “Most clearly, when
“You see I’m occupied, it’s rude
To question of my aims —
I’m going to the adverb school
Of Mr. Henry James!”