Let it be known we have for sale some land
Increase your borders for a modest price
Cheap at two cents an acre, high demand
Keep mind of what might be below the ice
Perhaps there could be precious gold or oil
Enough to make you rich beyond compare
No knowing what reward could come from toil
Now is the time, so just sign there, and, there
You are the owners now, I do declare
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Author Notes
Today's word: lickpenny (n.) a costly enterprise; something demanding great expenditure.
On this day (March 30) 1867, American Secretary of State William H Seward and Russian diplomat Edouard de Stoeckl reached an agreement that the United States would purchase Alaska from Russia, at a cost of two cents an acre. The deal mostly met with approval, but some were not happy, believing the price was too high.
My much-treasured Christmas present for 2017 is a book by Paul Anthony Jones: "The cabinet of linguistic curiosities". Each page contains a descriptive story about some obscure or archaic word. It occurred to me it would be a fun exercise to try and write, each day, a poem featuring the "word of the day" from the book.
Thanks for reading.
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