{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/a-naval-method",
 "title": "A Naval Method",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume IV",
 "book_slug": "collected-works-iv",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 17,
 "container": "Shapes of Clay",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1910,
  "venue": "The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume IV (1910)",
  "note": "Taken from Volume IV of the Neale collected edition (copyright 1910). That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume's own preface speaks of the verses republished in this volume and the next, and which newspaper or earlier book printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "shapes-of-clay.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 59,
  "n_stanzas": 4,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 39,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Captain Purvis, for aught we know,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Never slew a Filipino;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Played exceeding well at polo,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But invited not the bolo.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though his form was big and burly,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And his fist was hard and knurly,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And his cocktail hour came early,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet he was devoid of thirst",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the blood of the accurst.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Inconsiderate Tagallo",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Seas of gore, however shallow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He regarded very lightly,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As inutile and unsightly);",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So he did not much frequent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That insurrectionary gent.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Captain Purvis went a-scouting",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(Truth to tell, he took an outing)⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Found a Filipino sleeping,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bound and took him into keeping.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Calling Sergeant-Major Gump,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They conveyed him to a pump,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Laid him on his back beneath,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With his tongue between his teeth.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Said the captain: “We’ll not thump him,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But he is a spy⁠—we’ll pump him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That’s our duty; information,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Secrets useful to the nation,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’ll wring from him. Tell me, sir,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tell me truly, why a cur",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wags its tail⁠—and, furthermore.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When a door Is not a door.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But that person obstinacious",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Answered, with a look ungracious,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That he’d see them (he was witty)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Both in Helfurst⁠—that’s a city",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In Silesia, I suppose,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where no proper person goes.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So they pumped him full of water⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Son of Temperance, or Daughter,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ne’er was half so full as that,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor any poison-fevered rat",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Trying with a fervor frantic",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To abolish the Atlantic.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yes, that Filipino bloated",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till his snowry liver floated",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like a lily on a pond.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And his soul to the Beyond",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Drifted on the strong, full tide,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“By word of mouth,” from his inside.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Captain Purvis being duly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tried, the President said: “Truly,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He’s a water-warrior; he",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Would more fitly serve at sea.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So the Navy broke his fall⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rearest-Admiral of all!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By his ironclad desk he’s sitting,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sometimes writing, sometimes knitting,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For he’s Chief (and that’s enough)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the Bureau of Plum Duff.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}