[Illustration: _Ella Wheeler Wilcox._] HOW SALVATOR WON AND OTHER RECITATIONS BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX AUTHOR OF “MAURINE,” “POEMS OF PASSION,” “POEMS OF PLEASURE,” “MAL MOULÉE,” “ADVENTURES OF MISS VOLNEY,” “A DOUBLE LIFE,” ETC. NEW YORK EDGAR S. WERNER 1891 COPYRIGHT, 1891, BY EDGAR S. WERNER. PREFACE. I am constantly urged by readers and impersonators to furnish them with verses for recitation. In response to this ever-increasing demand I have selected, for this volume, the poems which seem suitable for such a purpose. In making my collection I have been obliged to use, not those which are among my best efforts in a literary or artistic sense, but those which contain the best dramatic possibilities for professionals. Several of the poems are among my earliest efforts, others were written expressly for this book. In “Meg’s Curse,” which has never before been in print, and in several others, I ignored all rules of art for the purpose of giving the public reader a better chance to exercise his elocutionary powers. E. W. W. CONTENTS. PAGE ABOUT MAY, 132 AFTER THE ENGAGEMENT, 24 ANSWERED, 128 AS YOU GO THROUGH LIFE, 105 BABY IN THE HOUSE, A, 80 BABYLAND, 71 BEAUTIFUL BLUE DANUBE, THE, 120 BIRTH OF THE OPAL, THE, 122 BREAKING THE DAY IN TWO, 95 COMING MAN, THE, 143 DELL AND I, 135 DICK’S FAMILY, 147 FABLE, A, 48 FALLING OF THRONES, THE, 65 FALSE, 29 FISHING, 73 FOOLISH ELM, THE, 82 GETHSEMANE, 141 GIDDY GIRL, THE, 133 GIRL’S AUTUMN REVERIE, A, 139 GOSSIPS, THE, 13