d "Oh's!"

INTO a new Flirtation, why not knowing,
Nor whence, his heart with madness overflowing;
Then out of it--and thence, without a pause,
Into _another_, willy-nilly blowing.

WHAT if the conscience feel, perchance, a sting?
No danger waits him--save the _Wedding Ring_.
A Kiss is not the sin that yesterday
It was--for that was _Lent_, and this is _Spring_!

SOME simple ones may sigh for wealth or fame,
And some, for the sweet Domestic Life, and tame;
But ah! give me a supper, a cigar,
A charming Woman--and the old Love-Game!

SOME blue points on the half-shell, in a row,
Some iced champagne, a melting bird--and Thou
Beside me flirting, 'neath a picture hat--
Oh, single life were Paradise enow!

A COZY-CORNER tete-a-tete--what bliss!
A murmured word, a sigh, a stolen kiss--
Ah, tell me, does the Promised Paradise
Hold anything one-half so sweet as this?

AND yet, since I am made of common clay,
One charm I'd add to this divine array;
Lord make me _careful_, and whate'er betide,
Without proposing, let me slip away!

FOR, some I've known, the bravest and the best,
Who laughed at Love, as but an idle jest,
Have, one by one, walked straight into the Net,
Helpless, before the _Cozy Corner_ test!

THUS, oft, beside some damsel fond and fair,
I've sat, thrilled by the perfume of her hair,
And madly longed to murmur, lip-to-lip,
"Beloved, marry me!"--but did not dare!

FOR some I've wooed, when I felt blithe and gay,
Have looked _so different_, when we met next day,
That I have simply stopped to say, "So charmed!"
And shuddering, sped hurriedly away!

LOOK to the Married Men! Alas, their gains
Are neither here nor there, for all their pains.
For wedding bells are rung--and loudly rung
To drown the clanking of the _Marriage Chains_!

A MOMENT'S halt--a little word or two--
And you have done what you can ne'er undo;
Promised to pay a Woman's bills for life--
_Anchored_ yourself--and there's an end of you!

AND we, who now make merry at the gl