PRETTY OR PLAIN?

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13299, 7 February 1914, Page 9

PRETTY OR PLAIN?

A STORY WITHOUT A MORAL. (It is claimed by some business' mer that, a pretty typist distracts an office, while tho plain girl is usually more intent upon being a success at her work.] Maud Avas^a typist most fair to behold, And Mary, her colleague, was plain; But Mary was very much gooder than gola (We shan't see her equal again), While Maud had the gladdest description of eye, Which she frequently winked at young clerks on the sly ! Now Mary not only performed on the keys ; She mastered tbe business as Avell; She was always obliging and anxious to please, / And her health Avas as sound as a bell, And the grim senior partner Avas heard to declare She had made herself quite indispensable there. But Maud had a terribly frivolous mind, And her laugh was too frequently heard (A rapturous gurgle Avhich brought tc the mind The note of a carolling bird). She was openly scornful of shares and of stocks, And squandered tho Avhole of her income on frocks. Our Mary progressed m a Avay to delight The heart of the late Dr. Smiles,. But Maudie (confound her) was doing all right, - For tho men Avere a prey to her wiles, And the grim senior partner avus rather less grim • . Whenever that damsel was talking to him. There isn't a moral, alas! to this tale, A thing which I grieve to confess, Sheer goodness and industry ought to prevail. But though Mary Avas quite, a success, And for lucrative labor is ne'er at a loss, . It is Maudie, the minx, who has married the boss !