Mrs. Enoch Taylor

“ For youth to be bold;
So the brave and the fair
May venture to dare,
Like the birds of the air,
Their feelings unfold.
This day of the year,
To the young very dear,
Suggests to the heart
A sweet happiness near;
And a hope bright and gay,
May tempt them to say,
On St. Valentine’s Day,
Words tender and queer.
Shy lovers, begin,
Faint hearts never win,
Nor is it a sin
[66] To love wisely and well;
And the coy and the fair
May be yearning to hear,
At least once a year,
What a lover might tell.
So, gents, your attention ”

“ And the season of shadows, beclouds the bright skies,
The heart becomes tinged with pensive emotions
As Nature, in mourning, thus withers and dies.
We recall the sweet hours of retrospect pleasure,
Of green haunts of happiness—lately our own—
Of gay, joyous scenes, and sweet summer fancies,
Engendered by beauty and brightness alone.
Adieu to the charms of summer and autumn,
That each, in their turn, fill life with delight;
[88] We love Nature, budding or blooming or ripened,
We cherish its beauties—regretting their flight. ”

“ Together we seek in the dimness of dawn,
’Mid grass and dead leaves becovered with dew,
To unravel the mystery heard on the lawn;
And the darkness dispelling, we find it too true,
[118] That a babe, sweet and chubby, but a week or two old,
Is lying neglected alone in the cold.
In a coarse blanket-shawl, soiled, ragged, and old,
Lay the poor little sleeper, the picture of grief,
Aweary with weeping and hunger and cold,
Kind nature had brought it this happy relief,
Its downy cheeks wet with the cold evening dew,
Its chubby fists doubled and dimpled and blue. ”

“ Welcome Miss Fish and Miss Boyd, in their turn,
Who know so much now they have little to learn;
They give us at times an essay or two,
Well written and read, and then they are through.
Now pretty dame Stone is a hard name to puff,
And to stick to the truth would be very rough;
[110] For the gents, as she reads, the author defies,
And lose their ideas in the light of her eyes.
Col. Taylor, the “chronic debater,” appears,
Who argues regardless of scruples or fear;
Our “smiling attorney” don’t fret about sin,
But espouses the cause that’s surest to win. ”

“ Obeys grim Winter’s calling;
[74] The fields bereft of grass and grain,
The waving woods deserted,
The fountains gush, the songsters strain,
To wailing winds converted.
All nature frowns in drear dismay,
As Autumn beauties pass away. ”

“ Which, fortunately, aunty knew.
So, on a balmy, summer day,
We all prepared to start away
To leave our home and mother, kind,
And in the world our lot to find;
When will life ever seem as bright
As that receding from our sight? ”

“ I lifted the babe from the damp, chilly ground,
Which awakened the sleeper from its sobbing repose,
And casting a startled and wild look around,
It nestled again in an infantile doze,
While I carried it home to fire and food,
Dressed it more cleanly, less common and rude.
A sweet little girl, fat, rosy, and fair,
By Nature’s endowments all any could crave,
With gentle blue eyes and light downy hair
(On a snowy broad brow) , inclining to wave;
[120] In form sweetly perfect, in face near divine;
For such do our wealthy ones daily repine. ”

“ Control the year from June to May;
I’d have its glories ne’er decay,
Nor winter snows to strew them.
OCTOBER.
This golden month, with varied leaves,
So full of waning glories,
Adorns the groves that it bereaves,
And fills the woods with stories
[70] Of fleeting verdure, fading flowers—
Dying Nature’s empty bowers. ”

“ They love and languish
In blissful anguish,
Till all around swims with delight;
Their vows and pledges
Set your teeth on edges,
And they “bill and coo” till it dims your sight.
[131]
They seem so spooney
They’re almost luny,
This pair so lately joined in one.
They loll and linger,
Toy with hand and finger,
And think life’s pleasures just begun.
Mistaken mortals!
Life’s opening portals
Admit a glare too bright too last;
And “loves young dream,”
Which now may seem
Elysian joy, will soon be past.
THE MODEL MAN.
I have an ambition to try to portray
In rhythm a masculine model ”

“ He seldom or never goes out after night,
As other men do, less devoted.
To lodges and clubs, and to see every sight,
Whether it be wrong or whether it be right;
He never comes home either cranky or tight—
A fact which should be duly noted.
[133]
He never comes in from the office and cowls
If dinner is late or not ready,
Nor frowns nor feazes, nor fusses nor howls,
Nor goes round the house and grumbles and growls,
Nor blesses the knife as he cuts up the fowls,
But always seems happy and steady.
He’s a model, indeed—content on a crust. ”

“ What would the Lyceum do without thee?
[107] With her silverest tones and dreamiest look,
To recite the sad “Bells” and sing the sweet “Brook.”
In trips Enoch Taylor with humor and fun,
As “Dundreary,” or “Paddy,” or “George Washington;”
He has a strong weakness for “Widow Bedotte,”
Indeed, for all widows a weakness he’s got. ”

“ Of fair ones of forty, I think I’ve seen frailer!
But she’s blest with one beauty, she never gets blue—
Not even in bidding the Lyceum adieu.
[114]
NIGHT’S PHASES.
In sable mantle wrapt at rest,
Behold the glorious, gorgeous night,
Its firmament in splendor dressed
Its canopy the starry height,
Whose sparks illume and light the land,
And make e’en darkness bright and grand. ”

“ Of brightness and sunshine, ’mid thunder and rain,
Peculiar alone to Geo. Francis Train.
Ambitious of honors, position and fame,
Determined to win a notorious name,
His wish, you will see, in every oration,
Is deathless desire to govern the nation!
To help on his cause, he solicits the aid
Of all colors and sexes and sorts ever made;
Generous indeed—he’s the workingman’s friend! ”

“ And seems to enjoy each extravagant freak
That the mystery of toilet unravels.
Some men will forget in their every-day lives
The courtesies due to their spouses;
They get kind of used to their homes and their wives,
Neglecting the walks, the chats, and the drives,
Upon which connubial happiness thrives;
But devotion in mine never drowses.
[137]
Now, gents, stop your blushing; I did not intend
To step on the toes of a single male friend.
Your modesty might personalities dread,
So I will say that this model depicted—is dead. ”

“ Had traitors love, with gilded mien,
Not charmed with subtle power.
Then came the flood of bitter tears,
Heart-chiding and misgiving,
When stilling all her future fears,
As she a fancied footstep hears,
She takes a leap and disappears,
And ends the pain of living. ”

“ My model is free from resentment.
He never keeps letters for days in his hat
That I give him to mail in the morning,
But mails them at once, so punctual and pat.
Whether it’s from duty or fear of a spat,
I’m prepared not to say; I only know that
He mails them without further warning.
He never complains of long dry goods bills,
Nor squirms when the shoe bill ’s presented;
Nor scolds nor scowls when the milliner fills
[135] A long sheet of foolscap with bonnets and frills,
But pays like a man, if it breaks him or kills,
With an air that’s resigned and contented. ”

“ Well, this model of mine is married, of course,
For how could a bachelor be one?
So I gauge him by marital morals and force;
As a husband, he merits a crown for a cross,
For he acts as a beau instead of a boss—
I’d go to the moon to see one. ”

“ Our precious babe, our household pet,
“The well spring of our pleasure,”
Each hour welcomes some new art
Endearing this our treasure;
Its many little winning ways,
Its cunning tricks and baby plays
Bewitches beyond measure.
We watch it bud from day to day,
Developing new beauties ”

“ That change, in their rounds, from the bright to the drear;
And, though we deplore their cold dullness and darkness,
We can’t hope for springtime all thro’ the year.
These dull, dreary days, these clouds, gray and heavy,
That hang, like a pall, over Nature’s fair face,
But serve to enhance each gleam of gold sunshine,
When new-waking Nature its beauties retrace.
[89]
THE SONG OF THE SLUSH.
The slush, the slush, the terrible slush,
That streams from each pore of the earth with a gush;
Impeding the travel, making walking a woe ”

“ I’d had three lovers all the year,
But now I stuck to number one,
And left the other two undone.
And neither of them seemed to die,
I can not tell the reason why;
They nearly always do in books,
Or turn out bad, which I think looks
More in keeping with their grief. ”

“ The babe is adrift again—O whither and where?
Will it find security from life’s alarms?
[121] It may never know father nor mother nor home,
Kind heaven protect it from evils to come.
THE NEW YEAR.
The year is an infant, new-born and pure-hearted,
No blur on its beauty, no tear on its cheek ”

“ Especially when you didn’t know
Which was destined for your beau.
To wait and wait, and then to find
The wrong one is the one inclined
To breathe his hopes into your ears,
A nuisance is that seldom cheers. ”

“ All on account of the “Beautiful Snow.”
From each roof and tree, great drippings we see,
Making gutters and crossings quite up to the knee;
The sidewalks so icy, the pavements a show;
All on account of the “Beautiful Snow.” ”

“ Did life in its springtime to her seem so sad,
That living was sorrow? Ah, mayhap she had
Crushed hopes and affections too heavy to bear,
So she seeks dissolution in crazy despair.
[86] To live would need courage, to die would end all,
So she leaps in the dark, e’er her Maker doth call. ”

“ Her name and her nature so closely allied;
Her gay, happy face and her laughing, bright eyes,
Are a light in the Lyceum the male members prize.
Mr. Goodrich writes quaintly, a style of his own,
But favors us seldom, if we let him alone ”

“ Poetic contractions have been treated consistently. Common contractions with is or has [such as she’s, there’s, that’s] have no space, but less common ones have retained the space usually but not always found in the original book [such as night ’s, turn ’s, mine ’s] .
The space has been removed from other common phrases with contractions, for example ’T was has been changed to ’Twas, can ’t has been changed to can’t.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. ”

“ See the bright star, May Donally, rise,
Whose musical voice and luminous eyes
Make her so brilliant in reading and song,
We wish we could teach her refusing was wrong.
Boyd, the “tall barrister,” drawls out his say
In his sensible, lazy, lack-a-daisical way;
[108] He declaims or debates, according to choice;
He’s a bachelor, having no partner but Boyce.
Then Mrs. Thorne, whose husband is Joe,
Smilingly reads, in tones soft and low,
Good articles, essays, poems or prose—
She’s happy at any you choose to propose. ”

“ I locate these honeyed words in the rear as a reward of merit to any one that is martyr enough to reach them by the regular route, and those that have not energy and endurance enough to do so deserve to lose these chunks of wisdom and words of cheer. In the preceding poems are depicted sentiments to suit my changing moods; streaks of mirth and wails of misery; childhood’s mischief and woman’s woe ”

“ Were our pledges and vows kept all through the year.
[123]
SPRING SPECIALTIES.
Spring smacks of lamb and peas and eggs,
Of rural trips and pleasure,
New jaunty hats, and pants with legs
A yard around would measure;
Of light cloth suits for gents to wear,
And kilted skirts for ladies,
Who sally out to get the air
When the house is hot as Hades ”

“ Pg 10: ‘Another seige was’ replaced by ‘Another siege was’.
Pg 13: ‘towsled hair’ replaced by ‘tousled hair’.
Pg 53: ‘My trosseau’ replaced by ‘My trousseau’.
Pg 55: ‘A could not see’ replaced by ‘I could not see’.
Pg 56: ‘It made be overrate’ replaced by ‘It made me overrate’.
Pg 92: ‘He wooes this’ replaced by ‘He woos this’.
Pg 94: ‘with gilded mein’ replaced by ‘with gilded mien’.
Pg 109: ‘pretty dame Stone’s is’ replaced by ‘pretty dame Stone is’.
Pg 128: ‘sober sedatenees’ replaced by ‘sober sedateness’.
Pg 140: ‘In absense of that’ replaced by ‘In absence of that’. ”