Can you solve this ancient mystery? #16

In 1927, American author (and former dean of Harvard University) LeBaron Russell Briggs published a collection entitled Riddles in rhyme: Old and new charades. The book contained over 120 puzzles in the form of verses, each of which provided clues to a specific word syllable by syllable.

Many of Briggs’ poems are too long and complex to reproduce here, but one of the shortest in his collection (and certainly one of the cleverest) can be found below. To solve it, you should know that the “first” in the first line refers to the first syllable of the answer, while “second” and “third” are the second and third syllables taken together and the “whole” is the meaning of the entire word, with the individual syllables being put back together. What six-letter word is the answer?

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