answered the hair-brush ; ` I 'm engaged to the boot-jack ! ' ` Engaged ! ' exclaimed the shirt-collar . And now there was no one he could marry , so he took to despising matrimony . Time passed , and the shirt-collar came in a rag-bag to the paper-mill . There was a large assortment of rags , the fine ones in one heap , and the coarse ones in another , as they should be . They had all much to tell , but no one more than the shirt-collar , for he was a hopeless braggart . ' I have had a terrible number of love affairs ! ' he said . ` They give me no peace . I was such a fine gentleman , so stiff with starch ! I had a boot-jack and a hair-brush , which I never used ! You should just have seen me then ! Never shall I forget my first love ! She was a girdle , so delicate and soft and pretty ! She threw herself into a wash-tub for my sake ! Then there was a widow , who glowed with love for me . But I left her alone , till she became black . Then there was the dancer , who inflicted the wound which has caused me to be here now ; she was very violent ! My own hair-brush was in love with me , and lost all her hair in consequence .
Yes , I have experienced much in that line ; but I grieve most of all for the garter,-I mean , the girdle , who XXXXX herself into a wash-tub .
became came caused exclaimed forget glowed inflicted passed tell threw