Page 24 - Poetry-Romance

So, readers, take warning, especially girls;
Work thoroughly well, but don’t labour and cram,
And if you do fail, then don’t fret yourselves ill,
For life is worth more than a Cambridge exam.

— C.M. Gent - age 19 (Girl’s Own Paper, 1881)

The Hat
Recited by M. Coquelin, of the Comédie Française
“In Paris, monologues are the fashion. Some are in verse; some
are in prose. At every matinée, dinner party, or soirée, the
mistress of the entertainment makes it her duty to provide some
little scene recitation, to be gone through by Saint-Germain or
Coquelin. The one which enjoyed the greatest success last winter
was The Hat, which we here offer in an English version.”

Mise on Scène: A gentleman holding his hat.
Well, yes! On Tuesday last the knot was tied—
Tied hard and fast; that can not be denied.
I’m caught, I’m caged, from the law’s point of view,
Before two witnesses, good men and true.
I’m licensed, stamped; undo the deed who can;
Three hundred francs make me a married man.
Who would have thought it! Married! How? What for?
I was ranked a strict old bachelor;
I who through halls with married people crammed
Infused a kind of odor of the damned;
I who declined—and gave lame reasons why—
Five, six, good comfortable matches; I

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