Lyr Add: Sallie and I (Annie M. Duganne, 1861)

Subject: Lyr Add: SALLIE AND I (Annie M. Duganne, 1861)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Oct 06 - 08:15 PM

This charming poem was published in The Natchez Daily Courier, March 23, 1861. I ran across it while looking for something else. It cries out for a tune—and for the 2 missing lines to be supplied. Enjoy.

Copied from http://www.uttyler.edu/vbetts/natchez_courier.htm

SALLIE AND I.
by Annie M. Duganne.

We're in the market—Sallie and I—
Are there no bachelors wanting to buy?
None who have courage enough to propose;
None who have wisdom enough to disclose
That they've shirts without buttons, and pants without straps.
They have vests with fringed edges, and coats with torn flaps,
And their last winter's hose are minus of toes,
And their uncovered heels are like to get froze,
For lack of such bodies as Sallie and I
To attend to the wants and the woes we espy?

We are no coquettes—Sallie and I—
So free-loving dandies need not apply—
Beauty's admirers or Wit's devotees
Need not approach for we never shall please;
But we know of a circle whose names are untold
In Fame's shining temples or mansions of gold,
Whose lives without spot, or blemish, or blot,
Have won them the honor the world giveth not—
For such, worthy bachelors, Sallie and I
Still wait in the market—will ye not buy?

Unsullied Virtue, Sallie and I,
Only can offer to those who apply—
Hearts warm and loving we've striven to blend
With hand ever ready in need to befriend;
And our lips seldom gossip, our feet rarely roam
Beyond the charmed precinct of childhood's sweet home—
And to wash, brew or bake, small splutter we make,
For "Quiet and Thrift" is the motto we take—
Oh! rare are such housewives as Sallie and I;
Lonely old bachelors, will ye not buy?

We're in the market—Sallie and I—
Shall we be left in the market to die?
Swiftly youth's fleeting years over us go.
[2 lines lost in crease]
Too long left unkissed, will be wrinkles instead—
And our hearts, like the May, will forget to be gay
If love's fragrant blossoms ne'er dawn on our way;
Such is the petition, Sallie and I
Offer to bachelors—pray, will ye buy?