PART TWO.

    “Molly Meade, well, I declare! 
      Who’d have thought of seeing you,
    After what occurred last night,
      Out here on the Avenue! 
    Oh, you awful! awful girl! 
      There, don’t blush, I saw it all.” 
    “Saw all what?” “Ahem! last night—­
      At the Mather’s—­in the hall.” 
    “Oh, you horrid—­where were you? 
      Wasn’t he the biggest goose! 
    Most men must be caught, but he
      Ran his own neck in the noose. 
    I was almost dead to dance,
      I’d have done it if I could,
    But old Grey said I must stop,
      And I promised Ma I would. 
    So I looked up sweet, and said
      That I’d rather talk to him;
    Hope he didn’t see me laugh,
      Luckily the lights were dim. 
    My, how he did squeeze my hand! 
      And he looked up in my face
    With his lovely big brown eyes—­
      Really it’s a dreadful case. 
    ’Earnest!’—­I should think he was! 
      Why, I thought I’d have to laugh
    When he kissed a flower he took,
      Looking, oh! like such a calf. 
    I suppose he’s got it now,
      In a wine-glass on his shelves;
    It’s a mystery to me
      Why men will deceive themselves. 
    ’Saw him kiss me!’—­Oh, you wretch;
      Well, he begged so hard for one—­
    And I thought there’d no one know—­
      So I—­let him, just for fun. 
    I know it really wasn’t right
      To trifle with his feelings, dear,
    But men are such stuck-up things;
      He’ll recover—­never fear.”

    CHIVALRIE.

    Under the maple boughs we sat,
      Annie Leslie and I together;
    She was trimming her sea-side hat
      With leaves—­we talked about the weather.

    The sun-beams lit her gleaming hair
      With rippling waves of golden glory,
    And eyes of blue, and ringlets fair,
      Suggested many an ancient story

    Of fair-haired, blue-eyed maids of old,
      In durance held by grim magicians,
    Of knights in armor rough with gold,
      Who rescued them from such positions.

    Above, the heavens aglow with light,
      Beneath our feet the sleeping ocean,
    E’en as the sky my hope was bright,
      Deep as the sea was my devotion.

    Her father’s voice came through the wood,
      He’d made a fortune tanning leather;
    I was his clerk; I thought it good
      To keep on talking about the weather.

    A PIECE OF ADVICE.

    So you’re going to give up flirtation, my dear,
      And lead a life sober and quiet? 
    There, there, I don’t doubt the intention’s sincere. 
      But wait till occasion shall try it.—­
          Is Ramsay engaged? 
          Now, don’t look enraged! 
      You like him, I know—­don’t deny it!