THE GAY TOM-TIT.
"A tom-tit lived in a tip-top tree,
And a mad little, bad little bird was he.
He'd bachelor tastes, but then—oh dear!
He'd a gay little way with the girls, I fear!
"Now, a Jenny wren lived on a branch below,
And it's plain she was vain as ladies go,
For she pinched her waist and she rouged a bit.
With a sigh for the eye of that gay tom-tit.
She sighed, 'Oh my!'
She sighed, 'Ah me!'
While the tom-tit sat on his tip-top tree-tree-tree.
And she piped her eye
A bit-bit-bit
For the love of that gay tom-tit-tit-tit.
"She saw that her rouge did not attract,
So she tried to decide how next to act:
She donned a stiff collar and fancy shirt,
And she wore, what is more, a divided skirt.
Then she bought cigarettes and a big latch-key,
And she said, 'He'll be bound to notice me!'
But she found her plan did not work one bit,
For he sneered, as I feared, did that gay tom-tit.
He sneered, 'Oh my!'
He sneered, 'Oh lor!
What on earth has she done that for-for-for?'
And he winked his eye
A bit-bit-bit,
That giddy and gay tom-tit-tit-tit.
"'Alas! no more,' said the poor young wren,
'Will I ape the shape of heartless men!'
So she flung cigarettes and big latch-key
With a flop from the top of the great green tree.
And she wouldn't use rouge or pinch her waist,
But she dressed to the best of a simple taste;
Then she learned to cook and sew and knit—
'What a pearl of a girl!' said the gay tom-tit.
Said he, 'Good day!'
Said she, 'How do?'
They were very soon friends, these two-two-two.
And I'm bound to say
In a bit-bit-bit
She married that gay tom-tit-tit-tit."
Thus sang Palestrina.
"Ethically considered, my dear Palestrina," said Eliza, "that song is distinctly unmoral."
"Don't let us consider it ethically," said Palestrina tranquilly; and she went over and sat in the corner of the sofa with several pillows at her back.
"Ethically considered," repeated Eliza, "that song, if one pursues its teaching to a logical conclusion, can only mean that all female social development is impossible, and that the whole reason for a woman's existence is that she may gratify man."
"They are really not worth it," murmured Mrs. Fielden, who was in a frivolous mood.