Does a maiden, fair and free,
Get prudent just at twenty-three?
Whatever can the reason be
That they want a girl just twenty-three?
Dignified matron, whoever you be,
Would not twenty-two do for thee?
Would twenty-one be shown to the door,
And twenty told to come no more?
Nineteen, perhaps, would hardly be fit,
Eighteen strikes one as rather a chit.