Punch/Volume 147/Issue 3809/Woman at the Fight
In ancient unsophisticated days
Women were valued for their cloistered ways,
And won at Rome encouragement from man
Only because they stayed at home and span;
While Pericles in Attic Greek expressed
The view that those least talked about were best.
There were exceptions, but the normal Greek
Regarded Sappho as a dangerous freak,
And Clytemnestra for three thousand years
Was pelted with unmitigated sneers,
Till Richard Strauss and Hofmannsthal combined
To prove that she was very much maligned.
But now at last these cloistered days are o'er
And woman, breaking down her prison door,
Is free to take the middle of the floor.
No more for her indomitable soul
The meekly ministering angel rôle;
No more the darner of her husband’s socks,
She takes delight in watching champions box,
Finds respite from the carking cares that vex us
In cheering blows that reach the solar plexus,
Joins in the loud and patriotic shout
While beaten Bell is being counted out,
And—joy that makes all other joys seem nil—
Writes her impressions for The Daily Thrill.