The easy dupes I'll wheedle still, With looks of brass and words of honey; And having scored a decent bill, Pay off my impudence for money. Domestic Happiness. BY FITZ-GREENE HALLECK. "BESIDE the nuptial curtain bright," The bard of Eden sings; "Young Love his constant lamp will light, And wave his purple wings." But rain-drops from the clouds of care May bid that lamp be dim, And the boy Love will pout and swear, 'Tis then no place for him. So mused the lovely Mrs. Dash; 'Tis wrong to mention names; When for her surly husband's cash She urged in vain her claims. "I want a little money, dear, For Vandervoort and Flandin, Their bill, which now has run a year, To-morrow mean to hand in." "More?" cried the husband, half asleep, "You'll drive me to despair;" The lady was too proud to weep, And too polite to swear. She bit her lip for very spite, He felt a storm was brewing, He thought her pretty once, but dreams For to his eye the lady seems Quite alter'd since that hour; And Love, who on their bridal eve, Our word for it, Paulding has never written a tale or invented a fable, whose wit has so much disturbed the reader, as the truthful reply of his clerk. A long letter might have so mystified the Tombigbee, that, like the Niger, no traces of its source could ever be developed. Indeed, it is said, a "soft answer turneth away wrath; " but an answer can be Dear Sir: In reply to your letter, just at hand, I soft and short too. |