Monday 21 June 2010

Monday 7 June 2010

'What to do with our Girls' - 1903.

                                                                           
There are no cooks in England, none.
A sad and weary sameness
Pervades our dining rooms with un-
Imaginative tameness.
The Jones's dinner which I eat
Tonight with pain and sorrow
I shall inevitably meet
At Robinson's tomorrow.

The skill which made the steak a dream
The bold imagination
Which made the common cutlet seem
A poet's inspiration.
The hand of cunning which could call
From simple fowl and bacon
Ambrosial savours - have they all
These rosy shores forsaken?

Up Woman, Up!  Behold thy sphere
The saucepan and the kettle
Provide a glorious career
For any girl of mettle.
Then wherefore ape the poet's part
By scribbling songs and ballads
More deep and subtle is the art
Of mayonnaising salads.

Ah do not seek to wring from men
The suffrage, I implore you
Nor aim at County Councils when
You've nobler aims before you.
Why study Conic Sections? Stop
For ever stewing Plato,
And learn instead to grill a chop,
And boil the new potato.