QUEEN—O you shameful flirts, always running after those railway men. Don't you know it 's death to marry a mortal?
CEILA—If it were, you 'd have to execute all of us; but who would n't fall in love with a railroad man?
LEILA—Especially a Chicago & Alton man, and we are not all as tough as you are.
QUEEN—Am I tough? Look at that daisy! (Pointing to Willis.) Who are you, sir?
WILLIS—Ticket-taker Willis of the Chicago & Alton Railroad.
QUEEN—You 're a fine fellow, sir.
WILLIS—Yes, mum, I belong to the Alton.
QUEEN—(Starts)—The Alton! Ah! I, too, am not insensible to the charms of manly beauty. Look at that man! He is a fair specimen of the Alton employés—a perfect picture.
WILLIS—Yes, mum, I am generally admired, although I do not compare favorably with my fellow-employés. The standard of beauty is very high on this road. (Modestly retires.)
QUEEN—The road has taste—(To the Fairies.) Now here is a man belonging to the first road in the Union, whose physical beauty eclipses Apollo's. If I yielded to a natural impulse, I should at once be mashed by that man. But I mortify this inclination; I wrestle with it,—I subdue it, ha! ha! This is how I suppress my inclinations.
SONG.
O foolish fay,
Think you, because his jacket gay
My bosom thaws, I 'd disobey
Our fairy laws? Because I fly
The road above, you think that I
This man could love.
(Aside.)
Type of Chicago & Alton,
