How She Felt in Her First Corset, and Other Poems

HOW SHE FELT IN HER FIRST CORSET

 
It occurred at Belgrade, where the genial Tom Quaw,
Gave a party, the first that the town ever saw;
The youth and the beauty, the tillers of soil,
Attended that night, seeking surcease from toil.
 
 
There were farmers whose hair had a tinge of the gray;
There were maidens than whom none were ever more gay;
There were youths who could ride anything that wears hair,
And matrons whose faces showed lines of dull care.
 
 
Of the ladies who on this occasion took part,
Some were dressed in the nobbiest style of the art;
And the others, unmindful of fashion's decrees,
Were attired to have much more comfort and ease.
 
 
There was one blushing damsel, just budding sixteen,
Whose waist by a corset ne'er encircled had been,
But whose mother insisted that on such a night
One should find a place there, and the lacing be tight.
 
 
So the girl was rigged out as the mother desired,
But of dancing 'twas noticed the damsel soon tired.
"What's the matter?" was asked by some one at her side.
"I feel just like bucking," the maiden replied.
 

A LOVER'S VALENTINE

 
Sweetheart of mine,
A valentine,
In duty bound, I send thee,
And wish that joy,
Free from alloy,
May evermore attend thee.
 
 
Near, or apart,
Still may thy heart
To mine in friendship nestle;
For strong and free,
In love for thee,
'Gainst countless foes I'd wrestle.
 
 
Since I am thine,
Pray do be mine,
My heart prompts me to ask thee;
Thy charming face,
And matchless grace,
I own have quite possessed me.
 

TO THOSE WHO HOLD THE GUIDING REINS

 
I have observed a steed, proud-spirited,
Lashed by a cruel driver till the sweat
Stood out in beaded drops upon his side;
And, oftimes, tears have welled up in my eyes
As in my mind I've pictured human hearts
Lashed thus by cruel words and goaded on.
Then when, at other times, the same proud steed
Has passed along the street with arched neck,
With every motion breathing force and vim,
I've noticed kindness held the guiding reins
And kept in check the zealous prancer's power.
My mind has pictured then, with kindlier glow,
A heart ambitious, far too keen to go,
Kept by sweet loving words in proper bounds;
And deepest gratitude, at such a time,
Wells up for those who hold the guiding reins.