Ruined, this is a term we are very familiar with nowadays. It means something that cannot be repaired. When we say a shirt is `ruined' it means that it is spoiled, we cannot do anything to restore it to its original state. But in the context of `Poor but Honest' and `The Ruined Maid' it means `to deprive of chastity.' Nowadays it is not unheard of that a girl would lose her maidenhood before she wed. However, if a girl lost her innocence without receiving a ring would immediately establish her as a whore, a woman who had no place in society. It mattered not if she was fooled into the act, or whether she was forced unwillingly. All that mattered was that she lost her virginity without being wed. "Poor but Honest" and "The Ruined Maid" are two poems with the same topic. Both are about...