Poems (Schiller)/Ball room gossip

by Rebecca Jane Schiller

BALL ROOM GOSSIP

In the corner of a ball-room,
 Sat a lady young and fair;
Beside her lolled a gentleman,
 In a large and easy chair,

"Oh! dear me, Mr. Ashton,
 I want you just to look
Right straight across from us,
 And see that Sarah Cook.

"She is all the time a-flirting
 With young Mr. Hugay,
Though I know he really hates her
 By what all people say.

"And look at rude Belle Adams,
 She is really kissing her hand
To that gentleman over yonder
 Who looks so very bland.

"And look at that young sprite,
 So frisky and so antic;
And see that queer old maid
 Who wants to be romantic;

"And see that tall young man
 Who is so very lank;
And his face, it is so red
 He looks as if he drank.

"And see that pretty mamma
 She is trying to make a match
For her last unmarried daughter,
 I know she'll get some rich old bach.

"Oh, dear! just hear that blonde—
 I mean the tall brunette—
She says she doesn't know a soul
 With whom to coquet.

"But oh! I know her well,
 She likes to be fashionably dressed,
And cannot go down to the store,
 Without she has on her best.

"Oh just behold that widow
 With her powder, curls and paint.
I see she is at her old trick again,
 Making an effort to faint.

"I know that she thinks that by fainting
 To awake some gentleman's compassion,
And catch a third rich husband,
 In that ridiculous fainting fashion."

But, gentle reader you and I
 Will leave the lady fair
Still talking to the gentleman
 Who lolls in the easy chair.
[Written at 13 years.]