THE GROAN OF THE GUSHLESS.

(_A SONG À LA SHENSTONE._)

["What is described as an Anti-Gush Society has, according
to a Pittsburg paper, been formed in New York, its object
being to check the growing tendency, especially noticeable
among young people of the period, to express themselves in
exaggerated language."]

_Girl Member of the A.G.S. loq._:--

Ye maidens, so cheerful and gay,
Whose words ever fulsomely fall,
Oh, pity your friend, who to-day
Has become a Society's thrall.
Allow me to muse and to sigh,
Nor talk of the change that ye find;
None once was more happy than I;
But, alas! I've left Gushing behind!

[Illustration]

Now I know what it is to have strove[1]
With the tortures of verbal desire.
I must use measured terms, where I love,
And be moderate, when I admire.
No slang must my diction adorn,
I must never say "awfully swell."