Out of temper at last with the insolent dame,

And feeling the woman was greatly to blame,

To scold me instead of caressing,

I mimicked her speech, like a churl as I am,

And angrily said, “You’re a dam—dam—dam—

A dam-age instead of a blessing.”

A SONG WITH VARIATIONS.

[Scene.—Wife at the piano; brute of a husband, who has no more soul for music than his boot, in an adjoining apartment, making his toilet.]

Oh! do not chide me if I weep!—

Come, wife, and sew this button on.