The Magnet and the Churn
A MAGNET hung in a hardware shop,And all around was a loving cropOf scissors and needles, nails and knives,Offering love for all their lives;But for iron the Magnet felt no whim,Though he charmed iron, it charmed not him,From needles and nails and knives he’d turn,For he’d set his love on a Silver Churn!His most æsthetic,Very magneticFancy took this turn—“If I can wheedleA knife or needle,Why not a Silver Churn?”
And Iron and Steel expressed surprise,The needles opened their well-drilled eyes,The pen-knives felt “shut up,” no doubt,The scissors declared themselves “cut out,”The kettles they boiled with rage, ’tis said,While every nail went off its head,And hither and thither began to roam,Till a hammer came up—and drove it home,While this magneticPeripateticLover he lived to learn,By no endeavour,Can Magnet everAttract a Silver Churn!