The Pullet and the Pearl

A FOWL, while scratching in the straw,
Finding a pearl without a flaw,
Gave it a lapidary of the day.
" It's very fine, I must repeat ;
And yet a single grain of wheat
Is very much more in my way. "
A poor uneducated lad
A manuscript as heirloom had.
He took it to a bookseller one day :
" I know, " said he, " it's very rare ;
But still, a guinea as my share
Is very much more in my way. "