'THE WOMAN WITH A PAST.’

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIV, Issue VIII, 23 February 1895, Page 192

'THE WOMAN WITH A PAST.’

Not a ‘ par ' appeared, not a single note. To reveal where the lady was banished, Not a Prude has gloated a single gloat To confirm that she really has vanished. We look for her vainly, ’tis true, by night, Our opera glasses turning. As we scan the puppets from left to right And the footlights dimly burning. Long, so long, were the parts she would spout, And she harrowed our souls with sorrow. But the playwright will mourn her if really played out. And he’ll bitterly think of the morrow. He’ll think as he lies in his wakeful bed. And worries his bump of invention, That a different type must be boomed in her stead To capture the public attention. Scarcely they’ll think of the lady that’s gone— The changeable slaves to sensation— But little she’ll reck, if they let her go on In the way she has done since Creation. Slowly and sadly the ‘ Fourth Estate,’ W T hen their intimate discourse is ‘ shoppy,’ Will come to admit that she’s quite out of date, And they’ll leave her alone in their * copy.’ D.M.