"The Bloomin' Flower of Rorty Gulch" was published in the last-named book, and shows Ross's power as a sarcastic verse writer. As a recitation, the poem is very popular, and in the hands of that clever and esteemed actor, E. J. Odell, who has made a feature of it for many years, it is highly appreciated in Bohemian and other circles.
In his "Book of Beauty" Ross says "On Love":
"Ladies and gentlemen! there is no such thing as love.
"This fact is thrown in by A. Sloper without any extra charge.
"Some people take a long while to find this out, and some never do quite find it out: those are the lucky ones.
"During A. Sloper's infancy, when A. Sloper was a mere boy, he was under the impression that he was in love, and couldn't eat over two eggs and a couple of rashers for breakfast; but it turned out he was wrong, and only wanted medicine.
"Later on he had another attack, and made poetry. He made a line that ended with love, and stuck grove on to the end of another, and move on to the end of a third, and hove and stove on to the end of the fourth and fifth, and still he was not happy, nor was any one else to whom he read the poem.
"Love has been the stock-in-trade of all poets ever since the first poet started in business, and they have generally treated the subject from a thoroughly business-like point of view.
"A young man once late at night told A. Sloper that some people never tell their love, but feed on their damask—and he fell down immediately after making the observation.
"A. Sloper has known men who could not make love, but have made boots, Geneva watches, and other things, very well indeed. He has also known men who could make love, but could never propose. You might have brought actions against them, and still they couldn't."