ERNST H AECKEL 



HERE was a man, once upon a day, who 

 lived in East Aurora and kept a store. 

 He sold everything from cough syrup to 

 blue ribbon; and some of the things he 

 sold on time to philosophers who sat on 

 nail kegs every evening, and settled the 

 coal strike. 



And in due course of time the store- 

 keeper compromised with his creditors, 

 at twenty-nine cents on the dollar. 

 Some say the man went busted a-pur- 

 pose to quit business and get out of 

 East Aurora. And he himself generally 

 allowed the opinion to gain ground in 

 later years that he had planned his life, 

 from start to finish, thus proving the 

 supremacy of the will. 

 Yet others there be, and men of worth 

 and social standing in the village known 

 for miles up the creek as persons of pro- 

 bity who claim that it was too much 

 confidence in the Genus Smart-Setter, 

 and trotting horses at the County Fairs, 

 that made it possible for our friend to 

 avail himself of the Bankruptcy Act. 

 Q Still others, too inert to follow the 

 winding ways of a strange career and 

 give reasons, dispose of the matter by 



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