"ONLY A DANCING GIRL!!!"

Auckland Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2333, 7 September 1877, Page 3

"ONLY A DANCING GIRL!!!"

During the last few days—too few alas !-our eyes have been gladdened with a display ot dancing—graceful and fascinating—beyond the appreciation of individuals whose minds are confined to the narrow limits of a colonial town. As I sat one ni^ht and saw the effects of youth, beauty, and eleg-a.nce depicted on the scornful faces of so many spectators, these1 few lines came to my mind, composed, as they shew, for a case wh«re the finger ef virtuous scorn was perhaps raised with some show of reason, widelr different indeed from the present one, where talent, and that talent of the highest order, alone claims its meed of admiration : "And stately dames that brirg Their daughters there to se^, Pronounced the ' dancing thing" I No better than she should he, ■ With her skirt at her shameful knee, I And her painted, tainted phiz: ! Ah, Matron, which of us is ? :. (And, in sooth, it often occurs That while these matrons sigh. Their dresses arc lower than bers. And sometimes half as high ; And their hair is hair they buy, And they use their glasses, too. In a w:-y she'd blush to ao.)" I am,

A Gautbr Knight