And a lovely sense of autumn seemed to warble in the air; Boys with baskets selling peaches were vibratin’ everywhere, While in the mellow distance folks were gettin’ in their corn, And the biggest yellow punkins ever seen since you were born. Now a gradual sensation emotioned this our Gale, That he’d seldom seen so fine a man for cheek as Mr. Dale; Yet simultaneous he felt that he was all the while The biggest dude and cock-a-hoop within a hundred mile. For the usual expression of his quite enormous eyes Was that of two ripe gooseberries who’ve been decreed a prize; Like a goose apart from berries, too—though not removed from sauce— He conversed on lovely Woman as if he were all her boss. Till, in fact, he stated plainly that, between his face and cash, There was not a lady living whom he was not sure to mash; The wealthiest, the loveliest, of families sublime, At just a single look from him must all give in in time. Now when our Dale had got along so far upon the strain, They saw a Dream of Loveliness descending from the train, A proud and queenly beauty of a transcendental face, With gloves unto her shoulders, and the most expensive lace. All Baltimore and New Orleans seemed centered into one, As if their stars of beauty had been fused into a sun; But, oh! her frosty dignity expressed a kind of glow Like sunshine when thermometers show thirty grades below. But it flashed a gleam of shrewdness into the head of Gale, And with aggravatin’ humour he exclaimed to Mr. Dale, “Since every girl’s a cricket-ball and you’re the only bat, If you want to show you’re champion, go in and mash on that. “I will bet a thousand dollars, and plank them on the rub, That if you try it thither, you will catch a lofty snub. I don’t mean but what a lady may reply to what you say, But I bet you cannot win her into wedding in a day.” A singular emotion enveloped Mr. Dale; One would say he seemed confuseled, for his countenance was pale: At first there came an angry look, and when that look did get, He larft a wild and hollow larf, and said, “I take the debt. “The brave deserve the lovely—every woman may be won; What men have fixed before us may by other men be done. You will lose your thousand dollars. For the first time in my life I have gazed upon a woman whom I wish to make my wife.” Like a terrier at a rabbit, with his hat upon his eyes Mr. Dale, the awful masher, went head-longing at the prize, Looking rather like a party simply bent to break the peace, Mr. Gale, with smiles, expected just a yell for the police. Oh! what are women made of? Oh! what can women be? From Eves to Jersey Lilies what bewildering sights we see! One listened on the instant to all the Serpent said; The other paid attention right away to Floral Ned.