When a lady you happen to meet on a Monday

With hair that is grey, and with cheeks that are old,

Appears shortly after, the following Sunday,

With rosy complexion, and tresses of gold;

When a nursemaid has one of the worst scarlet-fevers,

Or merely, it may be, a fit of the blues;

When you're offered "Old Masters" as black as coal-heavers,

Or shirts of quite "fast" unwashoutable hues;

When a blue ribbon's equally known as denoting

Teetotal fanatics, a Rad, or a Tory—