PARODIES--REVIEWS--CHILDREN'S POEMS--COMEDIES BY WOMEN--A DRAMATIC
TRIFLE--A STRING OF FIRECRACKERS.
It is surprising that we have so few comedies from women. Dr. Doran
mentions five Englishwomen who wrote successful comedies. Of these,
three are now forgotten; one, Aphra Behn, is remembered only to be
despised for her vulgarity. She was an undoubted wit, and was never
dull, but so wicked and coarse that she forfeited all right to fame.
Susanna Centlivre left nineteen plays full of vivacity and fun and
lively incident. The _Bold Stroke for a Wife_ is now considered her
best. The _Basset Table_ is also a superior comedy, especially
interesting because it anticipates the modern blue-stocking in Valeria,
a philosophical girl who supports vivisection, and has also a prophecy
of exclusive colleges for women.
There is nothing worthy of quotation in any of these comedies. Some
sentences from Mrs. Centlivre's plays are given in magazine articles to
prove her wit, but we say so much brighter things in these days that
they must be considered stale platitudes, as:
"You may cheat widows, orphans, and tradesmen without a blush, but a
debt of honor, sir, must be paid."
"Quarrels, like mushrooms, spring up in a moment."
"Woman is the greatest sovereign power in the world."
Hans Andersen in his Autobiography mentions a Madame von Weissenthurn,
who was a successful actress and dramatist. Her comedies are published
in fourteen volumes. In our country several comedies written by women,
but published anonymously, have been decided hits. Mrs. Verplanck's
_Sealed Instructions_ was a marked success, and years ago _Fashion_, by
Anna Cora Mowatt, had a remarkable run. By the way, those roaring
farces, _Belles of the Kitchen_ and _Fun in a Fog_, were written for the
Vokes family by an aunt of theirs. And I must not forget to state that
Gilbert's _Palace of Truth_ was cribbed almost bodily from Madame de
Genlis's "Tales of an Old Castle." Mrs. Julia Schayer, of Washington,
has given us a domestic drama in one act, entitled _Struggling Genius_.
STRUGGLING GENIUS.
_Dramatis Personae._
MRS. ANASTASIUS.
GIRL OF TEN YEARS.
GIRL OF TWO YEARS.
MR. ANASTASIUS.
GIRL OF EIGHT YEARS.
INFANT OF THREE MONTHS.
ACT I.
SCENE I. NURSERY.
[_Time, eight o'clock A.M. In the background nurse making bed, etc.;
Girl of Two amusing herself surreptitiously with pins, buttons,
scissors, etc.; Girl of Eight practising piano in adjoining room; Mrs.
A. in foreground performing toilet of infant. Having lain awake half the
preceding night wrestling with the plot of a new novel for which rival
publishers are waiting with outstretched hands (full of checks), Mrs. A.
believes she has hit upon an effective scene, and burns to commit it to
paper. Washes infant with feverish haste._]
_Mrs. A._ (_soliloquizing_). Let me see! How was it? Oh! "Olga raised
her eyes with a sweetly serious expression. Harold gazed moodily at her
calm face. It was not the expression that he longed to see there. He
would have preferred to see--" Good gracious, Maria! That child's mouth
is full of buttons! "He would have preferred--preferred--" (_Loudly._)
Leonora! That F's to be sharped! There, there, mother's sonny boy! Did
mamma drop the soap into his mouth instead of the wash-bowl? There,
there! (_Sings._) "There's a land that is fairer than this," etc.
[_Infant quiet._
_Mrs. A._ (_resuming_). "He would have preferred--preferred--" Maria,
don't you see that child has got the scissors? "He would have--" There
now, let mamma put on its little socks. Now it's all dressed so nice and
clean. Don'ty ky! No, don'ty! Leonora! Put more accent on the first
beat. "Harold gazed moodily into--" His bottle, Maria! Quick! He'll
scream himself into fits!
[_Exit nurse. Baby having got both fists into his mouth beguiles
himself into quiet._
_Mrs. A._ Let me see! How was it? Oh! "Harold gazed moodily into her
calm, sweet face. It was not the expression he would have liked to find
there. He would have preferred--" (_Shriek from girl of two._) Oh, dear
me! She has shut her darling fingers in the drawer! Come to mamma,
precious love, and sit on mamma's lap, and we'll sing about little
pussy.
_Enter nurse with bottle. Curtain falls._
SCENE II. STUDY.
[_Three hours later; infant and Girl of Two asleep; house in order;
lunch and dinner arranged; buttons sewed on Girl of Eight's boots,
string on Girl of Ten's hood, and both dispatched to school, etc. Enter
Mrs. A. Draws a long sigh of relief and seats herself at desk. Reads a
page of Dickens and a poem or two to attune herself for work. Seizes
pen, scribbles erratically a few seconds and begins to write._]
_Mrs. A._ (_after some moments_). I think that is good. Let us hear how
it reads. (_Reads aloud._) "He would have preferred to find more passion
in those deep, dark eyes. Had he then no part in the maiden meditations
of this fair, innocent girl--he whom proud beauties of society vied with
each other to win? He could not guess. A stray breeze laden with violet
and hyacinth perfume stole in at the open window, ruffling the soft
waves of auburn hair which shaded her alabaster forehead." It seems to
me I have read something similar before, but it is good, anyhow. "Harold
could not endure this placid, unruffled calm. His own veins were full of
molten lava. With a wild and passionate cry he--"
_Enter cook bearing a large, dripping piece of corned beef._
_Cook._ Please, Miss Anastasy, is dis de kin' of a piece ye done
wanted? I thought I'd save ye de trouble o' comin' down.
_Mrs. A._ (_desperately_). It is!
[_Exit cook, staring wildly._
_Mrs. A._ (_resuming_). "With a wild, passionate cry, he--"
_Re-enter cook._
_Cook._ Ten cents for de boy what put in de wood, please, ma'am!
[_Mrs. A. gives money; exit cook. Mrs. A., sighing, takes up MS. Clock
strikes twelve; soon after the lunch-bell rings._]
Voice of Girl of Ten, calling: Mamma, why _don't_ you come to lunch?
SCENE III. DINING-ROOM.
_Enter Mrs. A._
_Girl of Ten._ Oh, what a mean lunch! Nothing but bread and ham. I hate
bread and ham! All the girls have jelly-cake. Why don't _we_ have
jelly-cake? We _used_ to have jelly-cake.
_Mrs. A._ You can have some pennies to buy ginger-snaps.
_Girl of Ten._ I hate ginger-snaps! When are you going to make
jelly-cake?
_Mrs. A._ (_sternly_). When my book is done.
_Girl of Ten_ (_with inexpressible meaning_): Hm!
_Curtain falls._
SCENE IV. STUDY.
_Enter Mrs. A. Children, still asleep; girls at school; deck again
cleared for action._
_Mrs. A._ It is one o'clock. If I can be let alone until three I can
finish that last chapter.
[_Takes up pen; lays it down; reads a poem of Mrs. Browning to take the
taste of ham-sandwiches out of her mouth, then resumes pen, and writes
with increasing interest for fifteen minutes. Everything is steeped in
quiet. Suddenly a faint murmur of voices is heard; it increases, it
approaches, mingled with the tread of many feet, and a rumbling as of
mighty chariot-wheels. It is only Barnum's steam orchestrion, Barnum's
steam chimes, and Barnum's steam calliope, followed by an array of
ruff-scruff. They stop exactly opposite the house. The orchestrion
blares, the chimes ring a knell to peace and harmony, the calliope
shrieks to heaven. The infants wake and shriek likewise. Exit Mrs. A.
Curtain falls._]
SCENE V. STUDY.
_Enter Mrs. A. Peace restored; children happy with nurse. Seizes
pen and writes rapidly. Doorbell rings, cook announces caller;
nobody Mrs. A. wants to see, but somebody she MUST see. Exit
Mrs. A. in a state of rigid despair._
SCENE VI. HALL.
[_Visitor gone; Mrs. A. starts for study. Enter Girl of Eight followed
by Girl of Ten._]
_Duettino._
_Girl of Ten._ Mamma, _please_ give me my music lesson now, so I can go
and skate; and then won't you _please_ make some jelly-cake? And see, my
dress is torn, and my slate-frame needs covering.
_Girl of Eight._ Where are my roller-skates? Where is the strap? Can I
have a pickle? Please give me a cent. A girl said _her_ mother wouldn't
let her wear darned stockings to school. I'm _ashamed_ of my stockings.
You might let me wear my new ones.
[_Mrs. A. gives music lesson; mends dress; covers slate-frame; makes
jelly-cake and a pudding; goes to nursery and sends nurse down to finish
ironing._]
SCENE VII. NURSERY.
[_Mrs. A. with babies on her lap. Enter husband and father with hands
full of papers and general air of having finished his day's work._]
_Mr. A._ Well, how is everything? Children all right, I see. You must
have had a nice, quiet day. Written much?
_Mrs. A._ (_faintly_). Not very much.
_Mr. A._ (_complacently_). Oh, well, you can't force these things. It
will be all right in time.
_Mrs. A._ (_in a burst of repressed feeling_). We need the money so
much, Charles!
_Mr. A._ (_with an air of offended dignity_). Oh, bother! You are not
expected to support the family.
[_Mrs. A., thinking of that dentist's bill, that shoe bill, and the
summer outfit for a family of six, says nothing. Exit Mr. A., who
re-enters a moment later._]
_Mr. A._ You--a--haven't fixed my coat, I see.
_Mrs. A._ (_with a guilty start_). I--I forgot it!
_Gibbering Fiend Conscience._ Ha, ha! Ho, ho!
_Curtain falls amid chorus of exulting demons._
* * * * *
I have reserved for the close numerous instances of woman's facility at
badinage and repartee. It is there, after all, that she shines perennial
and pre-eminent. You will excuse me if I give them to you one after
another without comment, like a closing display of fireworks.
And first let me quote from Mrs. Rollins, as an instance of the way in
which women often react upon each other in repartee, a little
conversation which it was once her privilege to overhear:
"_Margaret._ I wonder you never have been married, Kate. Of course
you've had lots of chances. Won't you tell us how many?
"_Kate._ No, indeed! I could not so cruelly betray my rejected lovers.
"_Helen._ Of course you wouldn't tell us _exactly_; but would you mind
giving it to us in round numbers?
"_Kate._ Certainly not; the roundest number of all exactly expresses the
chances I have had.
"_Charlotte_ (_with a sigh_). Now I know what people mean by Kate's
_circle of admirers_!"
* * * * *
A lady was discussing the relative merits and demerits of the two sexes
with a gentleman of her acquaintance. After much badinage on one side
and the other, he said: "Well, you never yet heard of casting seven
devils out of a man." "No," was the quick retort, "_they've got 'em
yet_!"
* * * * *
"What would you do in time of war if you had the suffrage?" said Horace
Greeley to Mrs. Stanton.
"Just what you have done, Mr. Greeley," replied the ready lady; "stay at
home and urge others to go and fight!"
* * * * *
It was Margaret Fuller who worsted Mrs. Greeley in a verbal encounter.
The latter had a decided aversion to kid gloves, and on meeting Margaret
shrank from her extended hand with a shudder, saying: "Ugh! Skin of a
beast! skin of a beast!"
"Why," said Miss Fuller, in surprise, "what do you wear?"
"_Silk_," said Mrs. Greeley, stretching out her palm with satisfaction.
Miss Fuller just touched it, saying, with a disgusted expression, "Ugh!
entrails of a worm! entrails of a worm!"
* * * * *
Mademoiselle de Mars, the former favorite of the Theatre de Francais,
had in some way offended the Gardes du Corps. So one night they came in
full force to the theatre and tried to hiss her down.
The actress, unabashed, came to the front of the stage, and alluding to
the fact that the Gardes du Corps never went to war, said: "What has
Mars to do with the Gardes du Corps?"
* * * * *
Madame Louis de Segur is daughter of the late Casimir Perier, who was
Minister of the Interior during Thiers's administration. When once out
of office, but still an influential member of the House, he once tried
to form a new Moderate Republican party, meeting with but little
success.
Once his daughter, who was sitting in the gallery, saw him entering the
House _all alone_.
"Here comes my father with his party," she said.
* * * * *
I was greatly amused at the quiet reprimand given by a literary lady of
New York to a stranger at her receptions, who, with hands crossed
complacently under his coat-tails, was critically examining the various
treasures in her room, humming obtrusively as he passed along.
The hostess paused near him, surveyed him critically, and then inquired,
in a gentle tone: "Do you play also?"
* * * * *
A young girl being asked why she had not been more frequently to Lenten
services, excused herself in this fashion, severe, but truthful: "Oh,
Dr. ---- is on such intimate terms with the Almighty that I felt _de
trop_."
* * * * *
At a reception in Washington this spring an admirable answer was given
by a level-headed woman--we are all proud of Miss Cleveland--to a
fine-looking army officer, who has been doing guard duty in that
magnificent city for the past seventeen years. "Pray," said he, "what do
ladies find to think about besides dress and parties?"
"They can think of the heroic deeds of our modern army officers," was
her smiling reply.
* * * * *
Do you remember Lydia Maria Child's reply to her husband when he wished
he was as rich as Croesus: "At any rate, you are King of Lydia;" and
Lucretia Mott's humorous comment when she entered a room where her
husband and his brother Richard were sitting, both of them remarkable
for their taciturnity and reticence: "I thought you must both be
here--it was so still!"
* * * * *
In my own home I recall a sensible old maid of Scotch descent with her
cosey cottage and the dear old-fashioned garden where she loved to work.
Our physician, a man of infinite humor, who honestly admired her
sterling worth, and was attracted by her individuality, leaned over her
fence one bright spring morning, with the direct question: "Miss Sharp,
why did you never get married?"
She looked up from her weeding, rested on her hoe-handle, and looking
steadily at his hair, which was of a sandy hue, answered: "I'll tell you
all about it, Doctor. I made up my mind, when I was a girl, that, come
what would, I would never marry a red-headed man, and none but men with
red hair have ever offered themselves."
* * * * *
We all know women whose capacity for monologue exhausts all around them.
So that the remark will be appreciated of a lady to whom I said,
alluding to such a talker: "Have you seen Mrs. ---- lately?"
"No, I really had to give up her acquaintance in despair, for I had been
trying two years to tell her something in particular."
A lady once told me she could always know when she had taken too much
wine at dinner--her husband's jokes began to seem funny!
* * * * *
Lastly and--_finally_, there is a reason for our apparent lack of humor,
which it may seem ungracious to mention. Women do not find it politic to
cultivate or express their wit. No man likes to have his story capped
by a better and fresher from a lady's lips. What woman does not risk
being called sarcastic and hateful if she throws back the merry dart, or
indulges in a little sharp-shooting? No, no, it's dangerous--if not
fatal.
"Though you're bright, and though you're pretty,
They'll not love you if you're witty."
Madame de Stael and Madame Recamier are good illustrations of this
point. The former, by her fearless expressions of wit, exposed herself
to the detestation of the majority of mankind. "She has shafts," said
Napoleon, "which would hit a man if he were seated on a rainbow."
But the sweetly fawning, almost servile adulation of the _listening_
beauty brought her a corresponding throng of admirers. It sometimes
seems that what is pronounced wit, if uttered by a distinguished man,
would be considered commonplace if expressed by a woman.
Parker's illustration of Choate's _rare humor_ never struck me as
felicitous. "Thus, a friend meeting him one ten-degrees-below-zero
morning in the winter, said: 'How cold it is, Mr. Choate.' 'Well, it is
not absolutely tropical,' he replied, with a most mirthful emphasis."
And do you recollect the only time that Wordsworth was _really_ witty?
He told the story himself at a dinner. "Gentlemen, I never was really
witty but once in my life." Of course there was a general call for the
bright but solitary instance. And the contemplative bard continued:
"Well, gentlemen, I was standing at the door of my cottage on Rydal
Mount, one fine summer morning, and a laborer said to me: 'Sir, have you
seen my wife go by this way?' And I replied: 'My good man, I did not
know until this moment that you _had_ a wife!'"
He paused; the company waited for the promised witticism, but
discovering that he had finished, burst into a long and hearty roar,
which the old gentleman accepted complacently as a tribute to his
brilliancy.
The wit of women is like the airy froth of champagne, or the witching
iridescence of the soap-bubble, blown for a moment's sport. The sparkle,
the life, the fascinating foam, the gay tints vanish with the occasion,
because there is no listening Boswell with unfailing memory and
capacious note-book to preserve them.
Then, unlike men, women do not write out their impromptus beforehand and
carefully hoard them for the publisher--and posterity!
* * * * *
And now, dear friends, a cordial _au revoir_.
My heartiest thanks to the women who have so generously allowed me to
ransack their treasuries, filching here and there as I chose, always
modestly declaiming against the existence of wit in what they had
written.
To various publishers in New York and Boston, who have been most
courteous and liberal, credit is given elsewhere.
Touched by the occasion, I "drop into" doggerel:
If you pronounce this book not funny,
And wish you hadn't spent your money,
There soon will be a general rumor
That you're no judge of Wit or Humor.
INDEX.
PAGE.
INTRODUCTION iii.
CONTENTS v.
DEDICATION vii.
ARGUMENT ix.
PROEM xi.
CHAP. PAGE.
Alcott, Louisa: "Transcendental Wild Oats" IV. 68
American Early Writers: Some of them who were thought
Witty--Anne Bradstreet; Mercy Warren; Tabitha Tenney III. 47
Satirical Poem, by Mercy Warren III. 47
Mrs. Sigourney's Johnsonese Humor; Extracts from her
Note-Book III. 48
Miss Sedgwick's Witty Imagination, III. 49
Mrs. Caroline Gilman's humorous Poem, "Joshua's
Courtship" III. 49
Andersen, Hans, Reference to Woman Dramatist in his
Autobiography X. 196
Aphorisms by the Queen of Roumania (Carmen Sylva) I. 24
"Auction Extraordinary" VIII. 176
"Aunty Doleful's Visit," by M.K.D.--"If I can't do
anything else, I can cheer you up a little" VI. 118
Barnum and Phoebe Cary V. 102
Bates, Charlotte Fiske: "Hat, Ulster and All," Satirical
Poem, Quatrain and Epigram VIII. 175
"Beechers," Old Family Epigram applied to the I. 22
Behn, Aphra: Wrote Comedies; her unsavory Wit X. 195
Bellows, Isabel Frances: "A Fatal Reputation" (for
wit)--"A picnic, that most ghastly device of the human
mind" VII. 129
Bremer, Frederika, her genuine Humor; First Quarrel with
her "Bear" II. 41
Brine, Mary D.: Poems, "Kiss Pretty Poll" VIII. 158
" " "Thanksgiving Day--Then and Now" VIII. 159
Burleigh, Pun on, by Queen Elizabeth I. 16
Butter, Punning Poem on, by Caroline B. Le Row I. 18
Cary, Phoebe, "The wittiest woman in America": Her
quick retorts and merry repartees; her parodies and
humorous poems V. 101
Champney, Lizzie W.: "An Unruffled Bosom"--a Tragical
Tale of a Negress who "knew Washington" VIII. 171
Clarke, Lady, and her Irish Songs II. 44
Cleveland's, Elizabeth Rose, Pun I. 21
Cleaveland's, Mrs., "No Sects in Heaven" IV. 69
Clemmer, Mary: Her Life of Phoebe Cary V. 102
Comedies--Few written by Women; Five Englishwomen
produced successful; Susanna Centlivre wrote nearly
a score--contain some wit, but old-fashioned; Aphra
Behn wrote several comedies, witty but coarse X. 195
Cooke's, Rose Terry, "Knoware" IV. 68
" " " "Miss Lucinda's Pig" IV. 69
" " " Story of "A Gift Horse" IV. 71
Coolidge, Grace F.: "The Robin and Chicken" IX. 188
Conclusion. _See_ "Fireworks."
Cone, Helen Gray: Satirical Poems--"Cassandra Brown" IX. 180
" " " "The Tender Heart" IX. 182
Corbett, E.T.: "The Inventor's Wife," a Poetical Lament VIII. 170
_Critic_, article in, on "Woman's Sense of Humor" I. 13
Cynicism of Frenchwomen I. 23
Davidson, Lucretia: "Auction Extraordinary" (Sale of
Old Bachelors) VIII. 176
Deffand, Madame du I. 23
Diaz, Mrs. Abby M., writer of the famous "William
Henry Letters" IV. 69
Dodge, Mary Mapes--"inimitable satirist": "The Insanity
of Cain" IV. 68
" " " "Miss Molony on the Chinese Question"
(read before the Prince of Wales) IV. 69
"Dromy," Satirical Notes on Derivation of II. 35
"Eliot's, George," Humor; Examples from "Adam Bede"
and "Silas Marner" II. 45
Epigrams, Makers of I. 21
" by Jane Austen: on the Name of "Wake" I. 21
" " Lady Townsend: on the Herveys--applied to
the Beechers; on Walpole I. 22
" " Miss Evans: on a Musical Woman I. 22
" " Hannah More I. 22
" " "Ouida" I. 22
" " Miss Phelps I. 29
" " Mrs. Rose Terry Cooke I. 30
" " Mrs. A.D.T. Whitney I. 31
" " Marguerite de Valois; by Madame de Lambert;
by Sophie Arnould; by Madame de Sevigne I. 24
" " Lady Harriet Ashburton I. 25
" " Mrs. Carlyle, "herself an epigram;" by Hannah
F. Gould, on Caleb Cushing I. 26
" " "Gail Hamilton" I. 27
" " Kate Field I. 27
" Mrs. Whicher's "Widow Bedott" I. 31
" Marietta Holley's "Josiah Allen's Wife" I. 31
Eytinge, Margaret: "Indignant Polly Wog" VIII. 157
"Fanny, Aunt": _Jeu d'esprit_ on Minerva I. 29
"Fanny Fern's" Arithmetical Mania III. 54
"Fanny Forrester's" Letter to N.P. Willis III. 52
Ferrier's, Mary, Genial Wit; Scott's Description of her;
her "Sensible Woman," Satirical II. 39
"Fireworks": Miscellaneous Closing Display of Wit:
Mrs. Rollins' illustration of woman's quickness
at repartee X. 202
Mrs. Stanton's Reply to Horace Greeley; Miss Margaret
Fuller; Mademoiselle Mars X. 203
Madame Louisa Segur; Miss Cleveland; Lydia Maria Child X. 204
Madame de Stael; Madame Recamier X. 206
French Women's Cynicism I. 23
"Gail Hamilton" IV. 68
Gaskell's, Mrs., Humor II. 36
"Gell and Gill" I. 21
Genlis, Madame de X. 196
Genuine Fun--Sketches from C.M. Kirkland IV. 67
Gilman, Mrs. Caroline: A New England Ballad, "Joshua's
Courtship" III. 49
Gordon, Anna A.: "'Skeeters have the Reputation" VIII. 160
"Grace Greenwood's" many Puns I. 17
" " "Mistress O'Rafferty on the Woman
Question" VI. 108
Greek Lady's Wit I. 15
Hale, Lucretia P.: "Peterkin Letters" IV. 69
" " " "The First Needle," a poetical Bit
of History VIII. 150
Hall, Louisa: "The Indian Agent"--"With affectionate
interest he looked into the very depths of their
pockets" VI. 103
"Hamilton, Gail": "Both Sides," an amusing poetical
Satire IX. 191
Holley's, Miss, "Samantha" IV. 69
Hudson's, Mary Clemmer, Opinions on Wit; her Anecdotes
of Phoebe Cary V. 100
Humor, Miss Jewett's I. 27
Irish Fun VI. 107
Jewett, Sarah Orne: "The Circus at Denby" VII. 141
Jones', Amanda T., Poem, "Dochther O'Flannigan and his
Wondherful Cures" VI. 109
Kirkland, Caroline M.: "Borrowing Out West" IV. 67
Le Row, Caroline B.: Poetic Pun on the "Butter Woman" I. 18
Lothrop, Harriette W. (_nom de plume_ "Margaret Sidney"):
"Why Polly Doesn't Love Cake" IX. 189
"Lover and Lever," Epigram on, by C.F. Bates I. 28
McDowell, Mrs., "Sherwood Bonner:" "Aunt Anniky's Teeth" V. 85
"My soul and body is a-yearnin' fur a han'sum chaney set
o' teef" V. 86
Pen-Portrait of Dr. Alonzo Babb V. 87
His first Tooth V. 89
How Anniky Lost her "Teef" V. 91
Ned Cuddy's Letter V. 94
Specimens of her Wit: The Radical Club--a Satirical Poem V. 97
McLean, Miss Sallie: "Cape Cod Folks" IV. 69
Mitford's, Mary Russell, "Talking Lady" II. 36
Mohl, Madame I. 25
Montagu's, Lady, Famous Speech I. 14
More's, Hannah, Contest of Wit with Johnson II. 34
Morgan's, Lady, A "Fast Horse" I. 16
" " Receptions II. 44
Mott, Lucretia X. 204
Moulton, Louisa Chandler: "The Jane Moseley was a
Disappointment" VII. 144
Mowatt, Anna Cora: Her Popular Play of "Fashion" X. 196
Murfree, Miss (_nom de plume_ "Charles Egbert Craddock"):
"A Blacksmith in Love" VII. 135
"New York to Newport"--a Trip of Trials VII. 144
Old-fashioned Wit--Examples: Bon-mots of "Stella"; Jane
Taylor; Miss Burney; Mrs. Barbauld II. 32
Hannah More II. 33
"Ouida's" Epigrams I. 22
Parodies: Phoebe Cary's on "Maud Muller" not justifiable;
Grace Greenwood on Mrs. Sigourney IX. 186
Lilian Whiting's on Kingsley's "Three Fishers" IX. 187
Perry, Carlotta: "A Modern Minerva" IX. 179
Pickering, Julia: "The Old-Time Religion"--"I allus did
dispise dem stuck-up 'Piscopalians" VI. 114
Poems, Laughable and Satirical:
"The First Needle," L.P. Hale VIII. 150
"The Funny Story," J. Pollard VIII. 152
"Wanted, a Minister," M.E.W. Skeels VIII. 153
"The Middy of 1881," May Croly Roper VIII. 156
"Indignant Polly Wog," M. Eytinge VIII. 157
"Kiss Pretty Poll," M.D. Brine VIII. 158
"Thanksgiving Day--Then and Now," M.D. Brine VIII. 159
"Concerning Mosquitoes," A.A. Gordon VIII. 160
"The Stilts of Gold;" "Just So," M.V. Victor VIII. 161
"The Inventor's Wife," E.T. Corbett VIII. 170
"An Unruffled Bosom," L.W. Champney VIII. 171
"Hat, Ulster and All," C.F. Bates VIII. 175
"Auction Extraordinary," L. Davidson VIII. 176
"A Sonnet," J. Pollard VIII. 152
Puns:
Miss Mary Wadsworth's; Louisa Alcott's; Grace
Greenwood prolific in; a Mushroom Pun;
a Pillar-sham Pun I. 17
Horseshoe Pun I. 18
Miss Cleveland's I. 21
Queen Elizabeth's I. 16
"Radical Club," Satirical Poem V. 97
Rollins, Mrs. Alice Wellington, article in _Critic_ I. 13
" " " " VII. 122
Rollins, Mrs. Ellen H. (_nom de plume_ "E.H. Arr"),
pre-eminently gifted as a humorist--Extracts from her
"Old-Time Child Life" VII. 124
"Effect of the Comet" VII. 126
"Doctrines are pizen things" VII. 128
Roper, May Croly: Poem VIII. 156
Schayer, Mrs. Julia, Author of "Struggling Genius," an
amusing Domestic Drama; Extracts from the Play,
"Nursery," "Study," and "Dining-Room" Scenes X. 196
"Sherwood Bonner." _See_ McDowell, Mrs.
Sigourney, Mrs., her melancholy Style IX. 186
Skeels, Mrs. M.E.W.: Satirical Poem VIII. 153
Thanksgiving Growl, A (poetical) VI. 120
Verplanck's, Mrs., Comedy, "Sealed Instructions" X. 196
Victor, Metta Victoria: "Miss Slimmins Surprised" IV. 81
" " " "The Stilts of Gold" (a
reminiscence of Hood's "Miss
Kilmansegg and her Precious
Leg") VIII. 161
"Vokes Family" Farces (written by an aunt of the
performers), "Belles of the Kitchen" and "Fun in a Fog" X. 196
Waldron, Adelaide Cilley, "Kitten Tactics" IX. 190
Walker's, Mrs., famous Epigram I. 28
Weissenthurn, Madame von: her Comedies fill fourteen
volumes X. 196
Whicher, Mrs., "Widow Bedott" IV. 68
White's, Richard Grant. Opinion of Woman's Wit I. 13
Whiting, Miss Lilian: "The Three Poets" IX. 187
Williams, Alice: "Plighted," IX. 183
Wilson, Arabella: "O Sextant of the Meetinouse" VIII. 177
Woman's Wit, Search for, Neglected by Men I. 13
Women Poets generally Despondent I. 14
" Humorous Newspaper Correspondents: Mrs. Runkle;
Mrs. Rollins; Gail Hamilton IX. 185
Women Inclined to Ridicule Foibles of their Sex IX. 186
Woolson, Constance Fenimore: Her "Miss Lois"
(housekeeping, with Chippewa squaws for servants) VII. 139