Her Answer

On my right at a dinner sat Mollie, On my left there was little May Belle Who is always so sparkling and jolly, And who likes me, I fancy quite well.

The former somehow spoke of ages; "Now, what would you take me to be?" I asked, She replied, "Of life's pages I suppose you have turned twenty-three".

Miss Belle, on my left, was abstracted, And did not our words overhear, Nor knew she the answer expected As I whispered quite low in her ear,

"And what would you take me for, Mary?" And then this small maiden perverse, From out of abstraction, quite wary, Responded - "For better or worse". Samuel Williams Cooper