<h2>LATTER-DAY WARNINGS</h2>
<h3>BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES</h3>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">When legislators keep the law,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">When banks dispense with bolts and locks,—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When berries—whortle, rasp, and straw—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Grow bigger <i>downwards</i> through the box,—<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">When he that selleth house or land<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Shows leak in roof or flaw in right,—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When haberdashers choose the stand<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Whose window hath the broadest light,—<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">When preachers tell us all they think,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And party leaders all they mean,—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When what we pay for, that we drink,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">From real grape and coffee-bean,—<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">When lawyers take what they would give,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And doctors give what they would take,—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When city fathers eat to live,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Save when they fast for conscience' sake,—<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">When one that hath a horse on sale<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Shall bring his merit to the proof,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Without a lie for every nail<br/></span>
<span class="i2">That holds the iron on the hoof,—</span><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_1169" id="Page_1169"></SPAN></span><br/></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">When in the usual place for rips<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Our gloves are stitched with special care,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And guarded well the whalebone tips<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Where first umbrellas need repair,—<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">When Cuba's weeds have quite forgot<br/></span>
<span class="i2">The power of suction to resist,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And claret-bottles harbor not<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Such dimples as would hold your fist,—<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">When publishers no longer steal,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And pay for what they stole before,—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When the first locomotive's wheel<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Rolls through the Hoosac tunnel's bore;—<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0"><i>Till</i> then let Cumming blaze away,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And Miller's saints blow up the globe;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">But when you see that blessed day,<br/></span>
<span class="i2"><i>Then</i> order your ascension robe!<br/></span>
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_1170" id="Page_1170"></SPAN></span></div>
</div>
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