nd I in the jewels I wore of old.

"Diamonds covered my head in pounds,
Seventy large ones lit my neck,--
Over my skirts they burned in quarts,
Counting in all a goodly peck.

"Hopped the canary 'neath the wires,--
Spoke the canary not a word;
When to my heart the chill has struck,
How can I sing?--can ary bird?

"We were together, Claude and I,
Bonded together as man and wife;
Little I thought, as I uttered my vows,
What was the real Ideal of life.

"He is my Husband to love and obey,--
Those were the words of the priest, I think,--
He is to purchase the clothes I wear,
Order my victuals and order my drink!

"Well, it is well if it must be so:
Woman the slave and man the lord;
She the scissors to cut the threads
After the darning, and he the sword.

"Was it for this I played my cards,
Tuned the piano's tender din,
Cherished a delicate health, and ate
Pickles and pencils to make me thin?

"Better it were to be born a serf,
Holding a soul by a master's lease;
Better than learning Society's law,
Gaining a Husband and forfeiting peace.

"Mortimer sighs as he sees me dance,
Percy is sad as he passes by,
Herbert turns pallid beneath my glance;
All of them married--and so am I.

"Well, if the world must have it so,
Woman can only stand and endure;
Ever the grossness of all that is gross
Rises the tyrant of all that is pure.

"Marriage, they say, is a sacred thing;
So is the fetter that yields a smart.
Give _one_ crumb to the starving wretch,
And give _one_ Object to Woman's Heart.

"Claude, they tell me, should own my love;
Well, I have loved him nearly a week;
Looking at one man longer than that
Grows to be tiresome--so to speak.

"What if he calls me Angel wife;
Angels are not for the One to win;
Yet is my passionate love like theirs,--
Theirs is a love taking all men in.

"Hops the canary 'neath the wires,
Speaks the canary not a word;
When to my heart the chill has struck,
How can I sing?--can ary bird?"

[5] The measure of this striking poem is Owenmeredithyrambic.

Let us mingle our tears, my boy, in a gruel of compassion, as we
conjointly reflect upon this affecting revelation of Woman's Heart.

On Thursday last, my archite