On Reading [poem by William Blocksidge (William Baylebridge)]

[Editor: This poem by William Blocksidge (also known as William Baylebridge) was published in Songs o’ the South (1908).]

On Reading

To read for profit must employ some pains —
Who skims a book perchance the scum but gains,
The while the gist ’neath cover still remains.

Source:
William Blocksidge, Songs o’ the South, London: Watts, 1908, p. 80

Editor’s notes:
’neath = (vernacular) beneath