“What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dog tails,
That’s what little boys are made of.”
This stanza from a longer poem attributed to Robert Southey is stuck in my memory.
I thought of it 10 days ago when the grim news broke of 6-year-old Jacob Hall’s death from a gunshot wound sustained on his school playground in Townville, S.C. A 14-year old boy is accused killing his father before driving to Jacob’s school. Once there, he opened fire on a class heading for recess. A teacher and another student sustained injuries from which will recover. Critically wounded, Jacob succumbed in the hospital.