I cannot love the Brothers Wright,

Marconi wins my mixed devotion.

Had no one yet discovered flight

Or set the air waves in commotion,

Life would, I think, have been as well.

That also goes for A. G. Bell.

What I'm really thankful for, when I'm cleaning up

after lunch,

Is the invention of waxed paper.

That Edison improved my lot,

I sometimes doubt; nor care a jitney

Whether the kettle steamed, or Watt,

Or if the gin invented Whitney.

Butter the world, I often feel,

Had nobody contrived the wheel.

On the other hand, I'm awfully indebted

To whoever it was dreamed up the elastic band.

Yes, Pausing grateful, now and then,

upon my prim, domestic courses,

I offer praise to lesser men—

Fultons unsung, anonymous Morses—

Whose deft and innocent devices

Pleasure my house with sweets and spices.

I give you, for instance, the...