[BACK]     [Blueprint]     [NEXT]



From The Wit and Humor of America, edited by Marshall P. Wilder, Volume III, New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls and Company, 1911; p. 584.


584

THE RETORT

BY GEORGE P. MORRIS

Old Nick, who taught the village school,

Wedded a maid of homespun habit;

He was stubborn as a mule,

She was playful as a rabbit.

Poor Jane has scarce become a wife,

Before her husband sought to make her

The pink of country polished life,

And prim and formal as a Quaker.

One day the tutor went abroad,

And simple Jenny sadly missed him;

When he returned, behind her lord

She slyly stole, and fondly kissed him.

The husband’s anger arose — and red

And white his face alternate grew.

“Less freedom, ma’am!” — Jane sighed and said,

“Oh dear! I didn’t know ’twas you!”







[book-ads]





The End of The Wit and Humor of America, Volume III.











[BACK]     [Blueprint]     [NEXT]