[1] Advice Gratis to Certain Women – By a Woman
O, my strong-minded sisters, aspiring to vote,
And to row with your brothers, all in the same boat,
When you come out to speak to the public your mind,
[5] Leave your tricks, and your airs, and your graces behind!
For instance, when you by the world would be seen
As reporter, or editor (first-class, I mean),
I think – just to come to the point in one line –
What you write will be finer, if 'tis not too fine.
[10] Pray, don't let the thread of your subject be strung
With "golden," and "shimmer," "sweet," "filter," and "flung;"
Nor compel, by your style, all your readers to guess
You've ........ looking up words Webster marks obs.
And another thing: whatever else you may say,
[15] Do keep personalities out of the way;
Don't try every sentence to make people see
What a dear, charming creature the writer must be!
Don't mistake me; I mean that the public's not home,
You must do as the Romans do, when you're in Rome;
[20] I would have you be womanly, while you are wise;
'Tis the weak and the womanish tricks I despise.
'Tis a good thing to write, and to rule in the state,
But to be a true, womanly woman is great:
And if ever you come to be that, 'twill be when
[25] You can cease to be babies, nor try to be men!
Adaptado de: CAREY, Phoebe. Advice Gratis to Certain Women. In: RATTINER, Susan (ed.). Great Poems by American Women: An Anthology. Mineola: Dover Thrift, 1998. p. 72.
Assinale a frase em que ‘s está empregado com o mesmo sentido e com a mesma função sintática que em I mean that the public\'s not home (l. 18).
