rebus

[Mark A Mandel]

On Mon, 25 Mar 2002, Laurence Horn wrote:

#Hey, Mark, are you going to solve it for the rest of us?  (Yes, I can
#figure out the last line; it's just the first three that are stumping
#me.)
#larry
#

Here it is. I'm copy&pasting from A(ndrea??) Murie's solution, 'cause
I'm too lazy to type it in myself. Spoiler space before, and after in
case you get the list as a digest.

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   If the BMT put more :
   If the B . putting :
   Never put more : over a - der
   You'd be an * it
~~~~~~~~
If the grate be empty, put more coal on
If the grate be full, stop putting coal on
Never put more coal on over a high fender
You'd be an ass to risk it.

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-- Mark A. Mandel
   Linguist at Large