Page 330 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

In those days Gertrude was a queen,
A social queen, and winsome, too.
Her hair was brown, with just a sheen
Of gold and amber shining through,
And how we flirted! We had met
At Newport in the busy whirl
Which July brings, I liked her se t;
’ Twas ultra— and I liked the girl.

I more than liked her. Now it seems
'Twas love’s first dawning; I was youngj
And there was time for golden dreams.
Wc drove, we chatted, danced and sung
Together, for the season's close
Was weH upon us, Butterflies
And moths alike, the whole world knows,
Will seek the blight and fairest skies

Society had turned its back
On rare Tuxedo; but we stayed,
And certainly there seemed no lack
Of pleasure, for she had delayed
Her trip to London, wherewith rage
Her father waited. Then, one day—
To nil life's darkest, saddest page—
She sobbed, and sobbing went away.

We corresponded every week,
Such letters that I wonder now
The steamer did not spring a leak,
Scorched and consumed from stern to prow.
They burned with passion and with love;
They vowed that while our lives should last
We'd be as true .as stars above,
And all such nonsense. Now ’tis past.