| Fuess and Stearns, comps. The Little Book of Society Verse. 1922. | | | | Please to Ring the Belle | | By Thomas Hood |
| | | I’LL tell you a story that’s not in Tom Moore:— | |
| Young Love likes to knock at a pretty girl’s door: | |
| So he called upon Lucy—’t was just ten o’clock— | |
| Like a spruce single man, with a smart double knock. | |
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| Now, a handmaid, whatever her fingers be at, | 5 |
| Will run like a puss when she hears a rat-tat. | |
| So Lucy ran up—and in two seconds more | |
| Had questioned the stranger and answered the door. | |
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| The meeting was bliss; but the parting was woe; | |
| For the moment will come when such comers must go: | 10 |
| So she kissed him, and whispered—poor innocent thing— | |
| “The next time you come, love, pray come with a ring.” | | | | |
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