Page 43 - Poetry-Romance

To a slight explanation she once condescended:
Her life was a burden, she hated work so;
And she thought, when she married, her troubles were ended,
And vowed never more to lay finger to dough.
With satins and laces I’m forced to adorn her;
She yawns over Ruskin, says Irving is “slow”;

We deal with the baker who lives round the corner,
Although he puts alum, I’m sure, in his dough!
I offer, in meekness, a single suggestion.
A marriage may last fifty years, as we know;
Things beside heavy bread sometimes cause indigestion:
Don’t marry a girl just because she kneads dough.

— Margaret Vandegrift (Century Magazine, 1884)

A Fair Attorney

Alas! the world has gone awry
Since Cousin Lillian entered college,
For she has grown so learned I
Oft tremble at her wondrous knowledge.
Whene’er I dare to woo her now
She frowns that I should so annoy her,
And then proclaims, with lofty brow,
Her mission is to be a lawyer.

Life glides no more on golden wings,
A sunny waif from Eldorado;
I’ve learned how true the poet sings,
That coming sorrow casts its shadow.

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