DER COPHETUALISCHEHOCHZEITVEREIN.
["In Vienna a Club has been formed among young men of fashion for the encouragement of marriage with poor girls."—James Payn, in "Illustrated News."]
O youth of Wien, what does this mean?
Can you forget you are
All hochgeboren as of yore
Was King Cophetua?
To wed a lot of girls sans dot
Is strange, and yet you are
No more afraid of beggar maid
Than King Cophetua.
But if you break the vow you take,
And dowries get, you are
A thousand pound to forfeit bound,
Which beats Cophetua.
So you by stealth can't marry wealth,
Not if in debt you are;
But, as we see, resemble the
Late King Cophetua.
O men elsewhere, Mammas declare
How hard to net you are!
You can't be led poor girls to wed
Like King Cophetua.
Consider, then, these noble men,
And you'll regret you are
Unmarried still, and quickly will
Do like Cophetua!
Put a Stop to It!—A Correspondent, signing himself "O'Noodle," asks, "What does this mean? See Cook's Guide-Book to Paris, page 23:—'Visitors should take the precautions against pickpockets recommended by the Administration.'" A comma or a dash after "precautions," and another after "pickpockets," or put pickpockets into brackets—handcuff 'em, in fact—and then O'Noodle will get at the sense of the paragraph.