Poems (Howard)/An Episode of the Rink

by Hattie Howard

An Episode of the Rink.

A lovely minister was he,
 Endorsed by young and old,
The doctor's pretty daughter she,
 And worth her weight in gold.

A happy, handsome pair were they,
 Of wide and good renown,
In popular diversions gay,
 Who fairly led the town.

"Ma belle" said he, "maybe you'll think
 It highly hazardous,
But seems to me the skating rink
 Is just the thing for us!"

No need of further argument;
 That very self-same day
Unto the roller-place they went,
 To whirl their lives away!

"Oh, what enchanting exercise!
 It seems as though my soul
Would float away to yonder skies,
 Defying all control."

So spake the rapturous maiden, when,
 Like something out of gear,
Two soles began to float just then
 In upper atmosphere.

Did stumbling mortal ever yet
 Collapse, and crack his crown,
Who did not drag as in a net
 Some fellow-creature down?

And so the novice who would cut
 A figure, when she can't,
Not only "brings the house down," but
 Her own adored gallant.

Of course, without a thought of harm,
 And quite in modern taste,
His all-protecting dexter arm
 Was coiled around her waist.

So with a change of base, his toes
 Obliged to follow suit,
Somehow brought round a broken nose,
 And a twisted leg—to boot.

About that time the world was made
 Of crooked lightning-bars,
And in the intervals displayed
 Were twenty million stars.

A hapless, helpless pile they lay,
 Two hearts that beat as one
In vowing ne'er again to pay
 So dearly, just for fun.