BONNETS.
In 1817, when straw bonnets first came into general use, it was common to trim them with artificial wheat or barley, in ears; whence the following:—
Who now of threatening famine dare complain,
When every female forehead teems with grain?
See how the wheat-sheaves nod amid the plumes:
Our barns are now transferred to drawing-rooms,
And husbands who indulge in active lives,
To fill their granaries, may thresh their wives!
Campbell, the poet, was asked by a lady to write something original in her album. He wrote,—
An original something, dear maid, you would win me
To write; but how shall I begin?
For I’m sure I have nothing original in me,
Excepting original sin.
“How very easy ’tis,” cries Tom, “to write!
I find ’t no hardship verses to indite.”
“To credit that,” quoth Dick, “no oaths we need:
The hardship is for those who have to read.”
Thy verses are eternal, O my friend!
For he who reads them, reads them to no end.
Unfortunate lady, how sad is your lot!
Your ringlets are red, and your poems are not.