Cum Grano, Verses and Epigrams

Henry S. Salt

Publisher: Oriole Press, Berkeley Heights, New Jersey
Published: 1932
Length: 146
Format: Hardback

Summary

In Cum Grano, Verses and Epigrams—Latin for “a pinch of salt” or “a grain of salt”—Henry S. Salt presents a curated selection of his poetry, reflecting on diverse themes from the past twenty to thirty years. This collection features a blend of topical, personal, and propagandist verses, all crafted with a keen eye for both wit and social commentary.

Salt’s work is marked by his sharp critique of human folly, particularly embodied in his concept of “Homo Rapiens,” a figure he satirizes for its pretensions of kindness. His epigrams cleverly expose the contradictions of human nature, such as in “A Lover of Animals,” where he humorously highlights the superficiality of animal affection. Beyond mere satire, Salt’s verses also engage with the absurdities of daily life, capturing moments of sanity amidst eccentricity, as seen in his playful observation of seasonal complaints in “The Seasonable.”

This collection not only entertains but also serves as a testament to Salt’s enduring commitment to challenging unreason and inhumanity through the art of verse.

Notes

The printed title is written CVM GRANO. The Classical Latin alphabet had only 23 letters and there was no letter U in the alphabet.

Edition limited to 470 copies, of which 350 were printed on Canterbury laid, and 120 on Strathmore Wayside-text laid; only 420 copies for sale.

Content

I. Foreward
II. Introductory

III. Part One – Old Saws Re-Sharpened

The Saw-Monger — New Maxims For Old — Take Things As You Find Them — A Bird In Hand — Love Me, Love My Dog — A Ready Writer — Ad Dead As Mutton — Sore Let And Hindered — A Revised Version — No Thought For The Morrow — The Sin He Avoided — Taking To Drink — In Stirring Times — Dramatic — Medio Tutissimus — Extremists — Taking It Lying Down — He Lied In His Throat — Look Before You Leap — While You Wait — The Babe Unborn — A Best Seller — The Courage Of His Convictions — Running Away To Sea — Power Of Attorney — Charging A Jury — The Plain Man — Jumping To Conclusions — In Abraham’s Bosom — Christianos ad Leones — Calf-Love — Casting Pearls Before Swine — The Wings of a Dove — Nicknaming The Months — April Foolishness — Welcome, Wild North-Easter — The Seasonable — The Short and the Long of it — But Once A Year — And a Happy New Year

IV. Part Two – The Sophist Sent to School

Coursing the Fool — Heart and Head — Homo Sapiens — A Correction — What’s in a Name —Tomorrow — An Independence — Those Idle Poor — On The Dole — Mr. Facing-Both-Ways — A Question of “Stopping” — Accounted For — Best Heads — The Elephant-Hunter — The Appeal to “Nature” — A Loss That is Gain — Death “After” Vaccination — Patient to Practitioner — A Lover of Animals — “He” and “It” — A Text to Let Alone — A Caveat — The Modern Xerxes — The Circus — Set Up — The Sending of the Animals — Dumb Animals — A Sympathetic Lady — The Open Mouth — Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted — The Right to Use The Road — A Saving Phrase — The Missing Word — Die-Hards — Piety and Pity — Epitaph on Laissez Faire

V. Part Three – Personalities

The Personal — To Edward Carpenter in Ceylon (1891.) — On Bernard Shaw’s Seventieth Birthday — To Sydney Olivier — One Who Stared Skyward — Selections from the Poets — Darrow and the Sinner — E. V. L. — Shelley and the Superior Person — On Peck’s “Life of Shelley” — Wordsworth’s Early Excursion — A Cottage at Grasmere — The Opium-Eater — One World at a Time — Ballard of “B. L.” (Bertram Lloyd) — A Mountain-Walker’s Thanksgiving — Ode on O. Henry — I Sometimes Think — Like Book, Like Bookman — Sonnet to an Insatiable Sonneteer — But Do We Know It? — The Sweetness of the Unheard — If Shakspere Came to London — Former and Latter — Lying in State — The Pure of Heart — Two Better Than One — Ornithological Error — The Lecture on “Lycidas” — The “Changing of the Guard” — At The Grave Of The Unknown Warrior — Taking the Salute — India in 1930 — Epitaph on a Pious Cobbler — The Botanist — The True Museum — Childhood at the Hunt — To Metchnikoff, The Civilizer — The Duckling’s Destination — The Pious Angler — A Busy-Body — The Suicide — The Buttonless — Search the Scriptures — The Sufficient Reason — Two Noodles — When All Goes Right — Self-Help — Washing Up — The Single Plater — Listening In — The Visitor — Showing Him Round — Our “Week-Enders” — Air-Flights — The Modern Ethelred — Over-Catted — My Dark-Robed Choir — No Love Lost — Epitaph on a Humanitarian

VI. Index