Lady who art strangely versed in
Wit and knowledge,
You, whose rank was ever first in
School and college,
Tell me, where can all your saner
Thoughts be leading?
What — to put it even plainer —
Are you reading?

" Dickens, pah, he's almost drivel, "
Says this censor;
" Shaw, he's really too uncivil;
As for Spencer,
Not a passing thrill of pleasure
He'll afford me;
Even in an hour of leisure
Pater bored me. "

Yet that one book o'er which for a
Week you're frowning;
Is it Whitman, Heine, or a
" Guide to Browning"?
" If you must know " (then she walks by,
Book before her;)
" It is " Cosy Kitchen Talks by
Mrs. Rorer." "