Said the manicure scissors one day,
"The shears always have their own way,

And I think it absurd

That I am deterred
From entering into life's fray.

My task might be jolly for snails,
But I must confess that it fails

To give pleasure to me;

I am sick as can be
Of snipping the ends of pink nails.

I want to do work like the shears!"
So the scissors set out it appears,

And very much wroth

They tried to cut cloth,
And so split themselves open, my dears.

And the cloth, well you should have seen that;
It looked as if gnawed by a rat.

Now little folks, you

Must not think you can do
Whatever your elders are at.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, The Beautiful Land of Nod, 1892