Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CONFIDENCE, by WALT MASON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CONFIDENCE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I know a man who hunts for snakes, and
Last Line: Around; that sort of salesman's wearing bells, wherever he is found.
Subject(s): Trust


I KNOW a man who hunts for snakes, and kills them for their grease. He says
'twill cure rheumatic aches, and make your anguish cease. The doctors say that
serpent oil no sort of virtue owns; it will not cure the pains that coil around

your joints and bones. But this old gun who kills the snakes has never had a
doubt; he says all other cures are fakes, when reptile oil's about. He is so
everlasting sure that what he says is true, that even skeptics buy his "cure,"
to see what it will do. And so it keeps him toiling hard, the keen demand to
meet, and he has bought with bullsnake lard a home in Easy street. If you
believe in what you sell, have faith in what you say, in that same avenue you'll

dwell, upon a future day. If one is not supremely sure that what he has for sale

makes all competitors look poor, his eloquence will fail. A man can sell me
setting hens, or swarms of bumblebees, or double action fountain pens, or cures

for housemaids' knees, if he's convinced that what he sells beats everything
around; that sort of salesman's wearing bells, wherever he is found.





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