Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
On the Trapping of a Mouse that Lived in a Ladys Escritoire
By Clarence Clough Buel (18501933)P
This lady’s scorn of mice—and men,
Who envy yet thy better fate,—
To hear the music of her pen;
To gambol round her dainty slippers,
And wonder if, in Beauty’s list,
The foot of Venus could outstrip hers;
That flash as they discover you,
And picture in their swift surprise
Your fleeting bliss, and sentence, too;
And bait with crumbs have touched her lip,
Inviting to ambrosial fare
And sudden death’s endearing grip:
And suffer torturing Love’s demur,
Without a smile to ease their pain
Or even leave to die for her.