An Old Beau

Southland Times, Issue 11899, 21 November 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

An Old Beau

What if I choose to sit alone And scan these printed pages, Or gossip with your chaperone, Who nearer to my age is Than yon. whose laughter fills the car And reaches me as from afar, By Blow and easy stages ? The belles and beaux of '62; Though doubtless wise and witty, Of theatre parties never kniw Bound for tha Quaker City. And I, a relic of the past For deeming them a trifle fast, Ho doubt have earned your pity. Although quite ont of place I eeem, Don't think that I regret it ; Jnet let me sit in peace and dream — Somehow we grate ; and yet it Is net because yon seem too gay, But that I'm growing old and gray And cannot quite forget it Fond girl, that flitting by my seat, Some joke no doabt intending, Gives me a smile as bright as sweet, Her way then onward wending ; I see within her pretty eyes The image of her mother rise, And just above me bending. It brings me back the long ago; i And when and where I met her In all her girlish blush and glow ; ! Ab.how I still regret her 1 ! But she waß rich and I was poor, , While time and absence bring a care, I never Bhall forget her' The youth who in yon cushioned chair A yawn attempts to emother, Ho doubt considers yon as fair As I once thought your mother. But you are rich and bo is he, Between you need no parting b«, And you may love each other.