# Trying to find a poem, said to have been in a Canadian grade school reader **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-a-poem-said-to-have-been-in-a-canadian-grade-school-reader/434511 "2008-01-22T16:22:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-a-poem-said-to-have-been-in-a-canadian-grade-school-reader/434511/1 "2008-01-22T16:22:21Z")
A buddy of mine has asked if I can identify a poem that he remembers from grade school. It sort of rings a bell with me, but I can’t pin it down. Here’s the description he gave me: > [@](#): > > Back in Grade School I remember a poem in my Reader that aptly described the human condition. I think it was entitled “The Average” or something to that effect. (Okay, okay, so the poem describes my condition and not that of all humanity.) The gist of the poem was the attempt by a small town boy to work for a bank. The boy gets befuddled by the complexity of his new position, then realizes that he is an average person attempting to do the extraordinary. I think the final line of the poem was simply “And he ran”. And so I turn to the Teeming Millions for your collective wisdom. Can anyone identify the poem? ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-a-poem-said-to-have-been-in-a-canadian-grade-school-reader/434511/2 "2008-01-22T16:51:03Z")
It kind of sounds like Stephen Leacock’s short story “My Financial Career” [http://students.iiit.ac.in/~nirnimesh/Literature/MyFinancialCareer.htm](http://students.iiit.ac.in/~nirnimesh/Literature/MyFinancialCareer.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-a-poem-said-to-have-been-in-a-canadian-grade-school-reader/434511/3 "2008-01-22T17:46:37Z")
If I had to guess, I’d say odds are decent it’s a poem by Robert Service, who was a) Canadian, b) one of the most widely read poets of his day, and c) a bank clerk in a small town. Anyway, that’s as far as I got. It’s hard to find the actual poem, because he wrote so many. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-a-poem-said-to-have-been-in-a-canadian-grade-school-reader/434511/4 "2008-01-22T17:58:14Z")
Sounds like a conflation of two poems: [The Average](http://theupwardcall.blogspot.com/2006/09/average-joe.html) by W.H. Auden, and [Warren Pryor](http://starshyneproductions.blogspot.com/2006/04/poetry-thursday-warren-pryor.html) by Alden Nowlan. IIRC, they were on the same page or back to back in that old reader. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-find-a-poem-said-to-have-been-in-a-canadian-grade-school-reader/434511/5 "2008-01-22T18:54:54Z")
**Rube** , I think you’ve got it. I’ll forward your links and see. (Apparently there’s a tenner riding on whether I could identify it. Ray E. may have bet against me, the dog! I will of course disclose that I sought help, but as with all legal matters, it’s not always having the answer, but knowing how to get the answer that counts. 😛 ) **LionelHutz405** , I wondered about that, but my buddy said it’s definitely a poem.)