brought about by the influence of Sir Oliver Lodge and his spiritistic ilk!
Could anything be finer? What imagery for a last line! What a break-off,
leaving the gasping reader in a state of choking suspense, of avid,
ungratified curiosity! A great poem indeed, and influenced by a noble army
of writers.

"Nor is the manner of the thing all that matters. The theme--the great idea
of the whole affair--is a marvelous example of influence. The New York
State Legislature recently passed a bill making attempted suicide no longer
a punishable offense. If successful, it is, like virtue, its own reward.
Indeed, it has to be, for as the Penal Code distinctly states, owing to
the impossibility of reaching the successful perpetrator no forfeiture is
imposed. But the new law lifts the ban from futile efforts in the matter
of self-destruction, and one need not pay the hitherto exacted fine of a
thousand dollars by way of a luxury tax on such diversion.

"Can it be doubted, then, that our Poet read of this new law, and--it may
be unconsciously--was so influenced by it that he devoted sixteen lines of
his precious verse to the expression of his willingness to let death come
to him?"

"I don't blame him for being willing, and I wouldn't put a straw in Death's
way," said Warble, earnestly. "I'm glad you read me that, Bill, for that is
just the sort of thing I mean to eradicate from your system. It's like a
disease, this aestheticism of yours--it's the Culture Ptomaine."

"Now, hold on, Dumpling Dear, do you know a culture from a ptomaine?"

"Oh, I don't mean the cultures you take, I mean Culture with a big C. It's
a poison, and as you cure ptomaine poisoning, I'm going to cure this town