The Wiles of the Girls

From The Tacoma Times, June 21, 1913.
 

 I know just the way that the game should be played;
 I’d studied the manner of wooing a maid,
 I knew all the tricks of the love-making trade
     And the wiles of the girls—I could spot ‘em;
 I’d be wise as a serpent—though soft as a dove,
 And each turn of the game I was cognizant of.
 Yes, I knew just the ways to behave in love,
     But when I met Her—I forgot ‘em.
 
 Forgot every rule and forgot every wile,
 Forgot every stunt I had learned to beguile,
 And fell at her feet in the untutored style
     Of a boy who was eighteen or twenty.
 So don’t be too sure of your skill when you woo,
 For when you’re in love you don’t know what you’ll do,
 And you’ll certainly get what is coming to you,
     And, take it from me, that is plenty!