AIR--"_I once had a sweet little Doll, dears._" (_Kingsley's words, set
by A. Cecil._)
I once saw a sweet pretty face, boys:
Its beauty and grace were divine.
And I felt what a swell I should be, boys,
Could I boast that such charms were all mine!
I wooed. Every man I cut out, boys,
At my head deep anathemas hurled:--
But I said as I walked back from church, boys,
"I'm the luckiest dog in the world!"
As doves in a cot we began, boys,
A cosy and orthodox pair:
Till I found at my notable wife, boys,
The world was beginning to stare.
She liked it. At first, so did I, boys,
But, at length, when all over the place
She was sketched, hunted, photo'd and mobbed, boys,
I cried, "Hang her sweet pretty face!"
Still, we went here and there,--right and left, boys;--
We were asked dozens deep,--I say "we,"
Though wherever I went not a soul, boys,
Could have pointed out Adam from me.
But we had a rare social success, boys,
Got mixed with the noble and great,
Till one's friends, who say kind and nice things, boys,
Talked of me as "the man come to wait!"
So, I've no more a sweet pretty wife, boys;--
For the one that I once hoped to own,
Belongs, as I've found to my cost, boys,
To the great British public alone.
So until they've got tired of her face, boys,
And a rival, more touzled or curled,
Drives her home to her own proper place, boys--
I'm the dullest dull dog in the world!
* * * * *
A SURE AID TO MATRIMONY.--Propingpongquity.
* * * * *
FROM "PUNCH'S SYNONYMS."--The Limited Male: a husband.
* * * * *
A VERY-MUCH MARRIED MAN.--The "hub" of the universe.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Miss Giddie._ "It's awfully sweet of you, Mr.
Cunius--(_coquettish pause_)--_Impey_, to ask me to marry you. Of
course, I know you love me; but I hope that people won't say that you
married me for my money!"
_Mr. Impey Cunius (in a state of utter collapse after an elaborately
forced proposal)._ "My dear, Miss Giddie--er--_Flossie_, I assure you
that _I_ shall never mention it!"]
* * * * *
[Illustration: "FOR THE THIRD TIME OF ASKING"
_Aunt Mary._ "You heard the vicar publish the banns between Uncle George
and Ellen Thompson?"
_Ethel (who has never been present at this ceremony before)._ "Yes--it
seems rather a shame to tell everybody how often he'd been refused,
though!"]
* * * * *