Yours, very faithfully,
(_Signed_) A. BRIEFLESS, JUNIOR. _Pump-handle Court, Oct. 4th, 1890._
* * * * *
THE GROAN OF THE GUSHLESS.
(_A SONG A LA SHENSTONE._)
["What is described as an Anti-Gush Society has, according
to a Pittsburg paper, been formed in New York, its object
being to check the growing tendency, especially noticeable
among young people of the period, to express themselves in
exaggerated language."]
_Girl Member of the A.G.S. loq._:--
Ye maidens, so cheerful and gay,
Whose words ever fulsomely fall,
Oh, pity your friend, who to-day
Has become a Society's thrall.
Allow me to muse and to sigh,
Nor talk of the change that ye find;
None once was more happy than I;
But, alas! I've left Gushing behind!
[Illustration]
Now I know what it is to have strove[1]
With the tortures of verbal desire.
I must use measured terms, where I love,
And be moderate, when I admire.
No slang must my diction adorn,
I must never say "awfully swell."
Alas! I feel flat and forlorn,
I have bidden Girl-Gushing farewell!
Since I put down my name in that book
I have never called bonnets "divine,"
For our Sec. with a soul-shaking look,
Would be down on your friend with a fine.
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