WATT

When Watt was but a little boy —

His papa's pride, his mama's joy —

He sat beside the kitchen fire

The bubbling teapot to admire;

And as he watched the hissing steam

He straightway then began to dream

Of what the vapor hot could do

If how to use it he but knew.

Eventually he devised

A neat invention which surprised

The people of that early day —

He made an engine, anyway.

This poor contrivance he improved

Until by it great loads were moved

And horses were displaced by rails,

While sidewheels took the place of sails.

Observe, my child, how one small thing

A wondrous lot of change will bring:

Because wise little Jimmy Watt

Could turn to some account his thought,

Today the trains go whizzing through

The land, and o'er the ocean blue

The mighty ships scoot night and day

From here to countries far away.

Great thanks are due to this James Watt,

Also to his mama's teapot,

By porters who on every trip

Hold up the tourist for a tip,

And also by that mighty mass

Of folks who travel on a pass,

And by the ones who rake in rocks

Through squeezes that they work in stocks.

But that it would like punning seem

We'd say Watt has the world's esteem

( But since we've said it that way now

We'll let the pun go, anyhow ).

But, somehow, when we chanced to stop

Beside some busy boiler shop,

We cannot say that peace was brought

To all of us by Jimmy Watt.