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Graves: Philatelist Royal
PHILATELIST ROYAL
The Philatelist Royal
Was always too loyal
To say what he honestly
Thought of Philately.
Must it rank as a Science?
Then he had more reliance
(As he told the press wittily),
On Royal Philately
Than on all your geologies
All your psychologies,
Bacteriologies,
Physics and such.
It was honester, much,
Free of mere speculations
And doubtful equations
So therefore more true
From a pure science view
Than other school courses;
For Nature's blind forces
Here alone, they must own,
Played no meddlesome part.
It was better than Art:
It enforced education,
It strengthened the nation
In the arts of mensuration
And colour-discrimination,
In cleanliness, in hope,
In use of the microscope,
In mercantile transactions,
In a love of abstractions,
In geography and history.
It was a noble mystery.
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