His Answer

                                                (A Near Sonnet by the Janitor)

Quoth the raven at his door,

“Have you read fair Elinor?

     Have you read her spicy books

     Sought by furnace men and cooks

     Recommended by the rooks?”

And he answered: “Once before,”

To the raven at his door,

“Once before, but nevermore.

     If my library is chill

     I will run the furnace till

     It is hot enough to kill;

But to read fair Elinor,

As I did in days of yore,

Nay, nay raven, nevermore.”

May 24, ‘09

   Elinor Macartney Lane (1864 - March 15, 1909) was an American novelist who was popular in the first decade of the 1900s. After publishing a number of short stories, she wrote three novels: Mills of God (1901), Nancy Stair (1904), and Katrine (1909).

   Lane's last novel, Katrine, was released almost coincident with her death in March 1909. It was the second-best selling novel in the United States for 1909.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Macartney_Lane