142 
THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
Nor trusting all to cotton fields, 
The tropic fruit its portion yields. 
The cocoa-nut they break or boil, 
And from it draw the richest oil. 
And thus peculiar, as you see, 
In all its parts and purity, 
No rotting ‘ free,’ or ‘ uncombined,’ 
Injurious alkali you find. 
Now independent let us play 
A friendly part, as best we may ; 
Our mystic power at once apply, 
And not on other hands rely. 
While some make cotton-seed their care. 
Let some to tropic groves repair. 
The cocoa-nuts and kegs of oil 
We’ll bring, however hard the toil, 
And where the men in forest shade 
Prepare the potash for the trade 
A caldron rests in arch of stone, 
And there we’ll meet ere night hath flown, 
And making Ivory Soap pursue, 
In every way, the method true.” 
Well pleased with this, away they fly 
To find at once a large supply. 
While some to cotton fields depart, 
To distant forests others start, 
A FRIENDLY TURN. 
One evening while the Brownies played 
In merry troops through forest shade, 
The more sedate or sober kind 
To graver matters turned their mind. 
Said one : “ The people who reside 
Around us in the country wide, 
Both old and young, are in distress, 
As one may see by face and dress ; 
Their skin defaced by chaps and cracks, 
Their garments eaten from their backs, 
Besmeared with scurf, bereft of hair, 
While yet the bloom of youth is there, 
They mope along their joyless way 
With heavy hearts, from day to day. 
You ask the cause ? I tell you plain : 
The sort of water they obtain 
Is like the granite whence it springs, 
And they must use those noxious things 
Of which they chance to hear or read, 
To soften water to their need. 
The sad effects of such a mean, 
Destructive compound soon are seen : 
The home, where peace and joy should 
reign, 
Becomes a lazar-house of pain. 
The baby creeps about the floor 
With scabby head and body sore. 
Through slavish toil the parent goes 
With chappy hands and pimpled nose, 
While garments of the richest style 
Are eaten through with acids vile, 
As if the rats ran short of bread, 
And turned to gnaw the cloth instead.” 
Another spoke : “ Our course is clear, 
No other kind of soap is here, 
And while these notions people try 
They’ll suffer from the alkali. 
Their sole relief and only hope 
Is found in using Ivory Soap ; 
That millions through nation claim— 
In water soft and hard the same— 
From deepest well or shallow rill, 
Performs its cleansing wonders still; 
This famous kind we should convey 
To every home without delay.” 
“ I know a place,” a listener cried, 
“Where all may soon be well supplied. 
Then round the country, high and low, 
Distribute cakes where’er we go.” 
Another promptly made reply : 
“We’ll neither borrow, steal, nor buy ; 
I have the secret of the trade, 
And know how Ivory Soap is made. 
From cotton-seed of Southern lands 
They take the oil with skilful hands. 
And care must guide the action, too, 
For only purest kind will do. 
