But workers who labour for "bread and cheese,"

And not as a change from mere lady-like ease,

Regard all such amateur, sham, busy-bees

As needing, not praise, but forgiving.

What if your work-dabbling, now quite the rage,

Cut down the genuine workwoman's wage,

Or pinch the poor ill-paid school teacher?

"Every woman should work all she's able"?

Maybe you need a new species of fable,

A sager than copy-book preacher.