RYMBELS are not all of them necessarily humorous. Jocoseria is, of course, frequently met with in them, but in the following tragical and noteworthy rymbel Theodosia Garrison proves that drama, in its most lean, Greek, intense, and pulsing form, may well find a place in them. The tragedy, terrible as it is, is one that might befall any woman of means.

TRAGEDY

OR, THE MISSES AND THE MASSEUSE

BY THEODOSIA GARRISON

THE dame unto her masseuse spake,
With sad and downcast mien,
“Woe’s me that I have grown so stout,
Both up and down and all about:
I would be long and lean.”
“Dear Madam, on my guidance lean,
’T were mean to do you wrong;
Rely upon my means and taste,
And some day you shall have the waist,
The waist for which you long.”
She murmured “But it takes so long,
To get results—I mean.”
Oh, what a cruel waste is that
That makes a person short and fat
Who would be long and lean.