Pen, Ink, and Paper discussed which was the more important to being able to communicate. Turns out they all are equally important and they finally go it.
Don’t try to put down those who are equally important.
Northcote
Paper yclad in white,
And Pen with hat and feather,
With Ink well-bottled tight,
Once took a walk together.
The moon conspicuous shew’d
The coat which Paper wore,
And so he led the road,
And always kept before.
Said Pen to Paper, ‘Why
‘Dost thou precedence take?
‘To trace thy progeny,
‘Thou’rt but a dunghill-rake.’
‘Let me be what I will,
‘Or whence you will descended;
‘What were thy goose-cap quill,
‘Unless by me befriended?
‘A wild-goose chase you run,
‘Upon my milky way;
‘And when all’s said and done,
”Tis odds you nothing say.
‘How oft have I been torn,
‘Or put to vilest use?
‘The meanest critic’s scorn,
‘Thy errors my abuse.
‘Talk’st thou to me of birth?
‘Look back upon thy own:
‘The silliest thing on earth
‘Boasts thee to be her son.’
‘From me,’ says Pen, ‘you draw
‘The worth which you inherit;
‘In poetry or law,
”Tis I that stamp your merit.’
Here interrupted Ink,
‘Why, how now, whence this quarrel?
‘Could either of you think,
‘Did I not fill the barrel?
‘Do you not wet your lip,
‘Sir Pen, within my fountain;
‘Both Helicon and Hip-
‘Pocrene in use surmounting.
‘Then let us all unite,
‘Useless without each other;
‘One were not worth a mite,
‘Without his friend and brother.’
