How Fair Cinderella Disposed Of Her Shoe

The vainest girls in forty states     Were Gwendolyn and Gladys Gates;     They warbled, slightly off the air,     Romantic German songs,     And each of them upon her hair     Employed the curling tongs,     And each with ardor most intense     Her buxom figure laced,     Until her wilful want of sense     Procured a woeful waist:     For bound to marry titled mates     Were Gwendolyn and Gladys Gates.     Yet, truth to tell, the swains were few     Of Gwendolyn (and Gladys, too).     So morning, afternoon, and night     Upon their sister they     Were wont to vent their selfish spite,     And in the rudest way:     For though her name was Leonore,     That's neither there nor here,     They called her Cinderella, for     The kitchen was her sphere,     Save when the hair she had to do     Of Gwendolyn (and Gladys, too).     Each night to dances and to ftes     Went Gwendolyn and Gladys Gates,     And Cinderella watched them go     In silks and satins clad:     A prince invited them, and so     They put on all they had!     But one fine night, as all alone     She watched the flames leap higher,     A small and stooping fairy crone     Stept nimbly from the fire.     Said she: "The pride upon me grates     Of Gwendolyn and Gladys Gates."     "I'll now," she added, with a frown,     "Call Gwendolyn and Gladys down!"     And, ere your fingers you could snap,     There stood before the door     No paltry hired horse and trap,     Oh, no!--a coach and four!     And Cinderella, fitted out     Regardless of expense,     Made both her sisters look about     Like thirty-seven cents!     The prince, with one look at her gown,     Turned Gwendolyn and Gladys down!     Wall-flowers, when thus compared with her,     Both Gwendolyn and Gladys were.     The prince but gave them glances hard,     No gracious word he said;     He scratched their names from off his card,     And wrote hers down instead:     And where he would bestow his hand     He showed them in a trice     By handing her the kisses, and     To each of them an ice!     In sudden need of fire and fur     Both Gwendolyn and Gladys were.     At ten o'clock, in discontent,     Both Gwendolyn and Gladys went.     Their sister stayed till after two,     And, with a joy sincere,     The prince obtained her crystal shoe     By way of souvenir.     "Upon the bridal path," he cried,     "We'll reign together! Since     I love you, you must be my bride!"     (He was no slouch, that prince!)     And into sudden languishment     Both Gwendolyn and Gladys went.     The Moral: All the girls on earth     Exaggerate their proper worth.     They think the very shoes they wear     Are worth the average millionaire;     Whereas few pairs in any town     Can be half-sold for half a crown!