Point Lace and Diamonds   By: George Augustus Baker (1849-1906)

POINT LACE AND DIAMONDS

BY GEORGE A. BAKER, JR. AUTHOR OF "The Bad Habits of Good Society," "West Point," etc.

NEW AND REVISED EDITION WITH NUMEROUS NEW POEMS

[Illustration]

NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY MDCCCXCIII

Copyrighted in 1875, by F.B. Patterson.

Copyright, 1886, By White, Stokes, & Allen.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Retrospection 1 A Rosebud in Lent 4 A Reformer 5 In the Record Room, Surrogate's Office 6 De Lunatico 8 Pro Patria et Gloria 11 After the German 15 An Idyl of the Period 17 Chivalrie 22 A Piece of Advice 24 Zwei Könige auf Orkadal 27 A Song 28 Making New Year's Calls 30 Jack and Me 34 Les Enfants Perdus 37 Chinese Lanterns 40 Thoughts on the Commandments 43 Marriage à la Mode . A Trilogy 45 The "Stay at Home's" Plaint 58 The "Stay at Home's" Pæan 62 Eight Hours 65 Sleeping Beauty 68 Easter Morning 71 A Legend of St. Valentine 75 Frost Bitten 79 A Song 81 Old Photographs 83 " Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné " 85 Christmas Greens 88 Lake Mahopac Saturday Night 91 Matinal Musings 95 A Romance of the Sawdust 99 Pyrotechnic Polyglot 105 Fishing 108 Nocturne 111 Auto da Fé 113 An Afterthought 117 Reductio ad Absurdum 120 The Mothers of the Sirens 122 Per Aspera ad Astra 124 The Language of Love 126

Transcriber's Note: Possible typos and irregularities in indentation and word usage have been left as found in the original. There are places where punctuation may not have been correctly picked up by the scanning software; please consult another source if you require complete accuracy.

RETROSPECTION.

I'd wandered, for a week or more, Through hills, and dells, and doleful green'ry, Lodging at any carnal door, Sustaining life on pork, and scenery. A weary scribe, I'd just let slip My collar, for a short vacation, And started on a walking trip, That cheapest form of dissipation

And vilest, Oh! confess my pen, That I, prosaic, rather hate your "Ode to a Sky lark" sort of men; I really am not fond of Nature. Mad longing for a decent meal And decent clothing overcame me; There came a blister on my heel I gave it up; and who can blame me?

Then wrote my "Pulse of Nature's Heart," Which I procured some little cash on, And quickly packed me to depart In search of "gilded haunts" of fashion, Which I might puff at column rates, To please my host and meet my reckoning; "Base is the slave who" hesitates When wealth, and pleasure both are beckoning.