The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-06-23

| UNI VI 9
The Devil In Search Of . Wife.
His Majesty Satan one morning awoke.
And was told that his wife was deadi
And he pensively said: This Is really nc
joke,
For ny household requires q head.
But where shall I And on this limited earth
A creature to hll such . dinicult berth?
For she must b learned and fluent Of
tongue,
And shrewd a. the shrewdest Of men:
U~ndeniabiy handsome. deliciously young,
Indifferent also to gain
For I would be loved for myself alone.
And not for my dark. Plutonian throne.
But far more important than beauty or
Although I must have them as we'll
Are the virtues Of innocence, candor ana
truth.
For. although I may reign in hell.
The woman who holds my wife's position
Must be. like Caesars. above suspicion"
So the devil set out on his dinicult quest
For a lady to go below;
Blu he found he was losing his natural
rest.
For the person he sought was not easy to
And political cares were perplexing his
min
The maidens Of England were lovely. he
saw
A nation Of fair-haired queens;
But those rosy lips could lay down the law.
And they lived beyond his means.
So he quietly took his departure for France.
And there the Parisians led him q dancel
He certainly thought. for awhile. he had
found
The actual thing he wanted:
But before the last day Of the month came
Tn devil was somewhat daunted.
these ladies are quite beyond ma It's
plain"
Hs remarked. with . blush. - he quilted
for Spain
But there. though the women were pretty
and kind.
He was very much disappointed;
They had lips. to b sure. but he wanted
And the hair was too much anointsA
90 again his Majesty sailed forth.
And this time directed his steps to the
North.
But why should I ten Of his i~snsthenins
And the various countries he tried.
tn Q friend. who had been there. suggested
New York.
And he instantly h%itherward hied.
But prompt a. he was, the women were
ready:
were steady.
fhey gavs him one look. and they looked
him through.
And they knew what hs came for At
once:
And innocencs beamed from their erbs Of
blue:
And candor was queen for the noncs.
o you should have seem how their eyelids
A. they t,m,d,y ....a for tn. new. from
helli
The e was nurrisd and BATTERED and
pleased.
Such perfect good breedins-such sense!
His h~eart-sxpressed thoughts were % read
fly seixed!
And nothing he said ave onenseI
He had never felt such . homo feeling
And he nked and admired them more and
more.
But time was too pressing for him to wait
A longer acquaintance to choose.
So he offered his throne and his royal
cStdte,
Himself and his dead wife's shoes,
a damsel whose candor and virtue Intact
Seemed all that the devil himself could
exact
accepted his OFFER, and aid not repent
When the day for the nuptials drew nigh:
the road into hell has an easy descent,
And her friends would drop In BY and by:
And the devil declared himself perfectly
blessed |
A. this exquisite eEsatur he tsnderiy
pressed. |
when she va marr5e1 ano safely in-
stalled |
~ queen IN the regions ef shade.
Il - said that the devil VA somewhat ap- |
Dy the bargain b found he had made:
thought. on the whole, he'd have don't |
quite a. well |
Had he stayed In his Kingdom and married |
IN hell.