_ "NOW, MY MAN, THE BUTTER YOU BROUGHT US LAST
WEEK--EVERY PACKET OF IT WEIGHED ONLY FIFTEEN OUNCES."
_Farmer's Man._ "WELL, TO BE SURE, SIR, WE'D LOST OUR ONE-POUND WEIGHT; BUT
WE TOOK ONE OF YOUR POUND PACKETS OF TEA TO WEIGH IT WITH."]
* * * * *
THE PECULIAR CASE OF TOLLER.
Toller first floated into public notice on the fame of Rodman, who by an
irony of fate is now all but forgotten. Rodman, it may be remembered, was a
promising young poet during the first decade of this century. Out of a
scandalous youth whose verses made their appearance in slim periodicals
that expired before their periodicity could be computed, he was evolving
into a reputable poet who was given a prominent position facing advertising
matter in the heavy magazines when he met with his regrettably early end.
Apart from his poems he left no literary remains, except a few letters too
hideously ungrammatical for publication. The sole materials for a biography
lay in the memory of Toller, who by a stroke of luck happened to have known
him intimately.
By an equal piece of good fortune Toller had taken a course of mind
training and his memory was exceptionally retentive.
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