EVERYONE laughed at Col. PrichardFor buying an engine so powerfulThat it wrecked itself, and wrecked the grinderHe ran it with.But here is a joke of cosmic size:The urge of nature that made a manEvolve from his brain a spiritual life—Oh miracle of the world!—The very same brain with which the ape and wolfGet food and shelter and procreate themselves.Nature has made man do this,In a world where she gives him nothing to doAfter all— (though the strength of his soul goes roundIn a futile waste of power.To gear itself to the mills of the gods)—But get food and shelter and procreate himself!
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Chicago: Edgar Lee Masters, "Professor Newcomer," Spoon River Anthology in Spoon River Anthology Original Sources, accessed July 12, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=DBZ6AS4ZCGQKPWY.
MLA: Masters, Edgar Lee. "Professor Newcomer." Spoon River Anthology, in Spoon River Anthology, Original Sources. 12 Jul. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=DBZ6AS4ZCGQKPWY.
Harvard: Masters, EL, 'Professor Newcomer' in Spoon River Anthology. cited in , Spoon River Anthology. Original Sources, retrieved 12 July 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=DBZ6AS4ZCGQKPWY.