The Muff, The Fan, And The Umbrella

If some absurd presumption show--
In seeking everything to know,
To serve but for a single use
May also be without excuse.

Upon a table, once, together lay
A Muff, Umbrella, and a Fan.
In dialect such as, in a former day,
The Pot unto the Kettle spoke.
The Umbrella silence broke,
And to his two companions thus began:

"Now pretty articles are not ye both!
You, Muff, in winter serve your purpose well;
But, when spring comes about, in idle sloth
In a dark corner must forgotten dwell.
You, Fan, an useless thing become, in turn,
When heat declines in summer's glowing urn,

And cold winds take your office quite away.
Learn now, from me, a broader part to play.
To shield the head from rains of wintry skies,
I, as Umbrella, serve the turn;
Again, like praise I earn
When summer's ardent rays the Parasol defies."