Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Narcotics, Gender

    Draws a comparison between a 'Painted Indian' pursuing an enemy in a forest and a 'Sparkling Flirt' pursuing a lover at a 'mazy dance'. They differ in their aims but have similar means: the Indian uses 'an arrow tipped with bane' but the flirt uses a wreath clad in 'arsenious verdure'—a reference to the recent discovery that artificial flowers worn by women contain potentially fatal amounts of arsenic. Draws parallels between knightly chivalry and the fate of women wearing poisonous wreaths.