Courtship

“What, you here again,” said a Milk-maid to her Lover, “I told you last Spring I’d have None of you.”

“Since then my Uncle is Dead. Now I am Wealthy. I can offer you Riches such as you never Saw or even Dreamt of. I’m the most Flourishing Shepherd in the Kingdom. Your last year’s Excuse doesn’t hold Good now. If you Refused me because I was Poor, I come back to you Rich.”

“What did I give you last Spring?” she asked.

“The Mitten,” he answered.

“Then be Off with you, and if Ever you come Bothering me again like This, I’ll meet you with the Gloves.”

The Shepherd went Home and took Lessons in Boxing. A year later he Called on his Old Love.

“Well,” he said, “here I am. Shall we Have it Out now or a little Later On ?”

“No time like the Present,” said the Maiden, coyly, and after a Tough Scuffle they Closed.

“Quarter!” said the Maiden, after a while.

“Not a Bit of it,” said the Shepherd.

“Hold!” cried the Girl in Despair.

“Do you Give In?”

“Yes.”

“And will you Marry me?”

“Yes, if you will but Desist.”

“There’s nothing like Humouring a Woman,” said the Philosophic Shepherd, as he gave his Love a Parting Salute.

Moral.

Should a lassy say you nay,
Do not be absurd and fret,
Take my advice, if you be gay,
There’ll spring up in her heart—regret.