When I think of a merry, happy, free young girl -- and look at the ailing, aching state a young read more

When I think of a merry, happy, free young girl -- and look at the ailing, aching state a young wife generally is doomed to -- which you can't deny is the penalty of marriage.

My fond affection thou hast seen,
Then judge of my regret
To think more happy thou hadst read more

My fond affection thou hast seen,
Then judge of my regret
To think more happy thou hadst been
If we had never met!
And has that thought been shared by thee?
Ah, no! that smiling cheek
Proves more unchanging love for me
Than labor'd words could speak.

In every mess I find a friend,
In every port a wife.

In every mess I find a friend,
In every port a wife.

You know I met you,
Kist you, and prest you close within my arms,
With all the read more

You know I met you,
Kist you, and prest you close within my arms,
With all the tenderness of wifely love.

A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions
of a wife are a continual dropping.

A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions
of a wife are a continual dropping.

A man's best fortune, or his worst, is his wife

A man's best fortune, or his worst, is his wife

Wives are people who feel they don't dance enough

Wives are people who feel they don't dance enough

It was a wife's duty to be interested in whatever interested her husband, whether it was politics, books, or a read more

It was a wife's duty to be interested in whatever interested her husband, whether it was politics, books, or a particular dish for dinner.

Oh! 'tis a precious thing, when wives are dead,
To find such numbers who will serve instead:
read more

Oh! 'tis a precious thing, when wives are dead,
To find such numbers who will serve instead:
And in whatever state a man be thrown,
'Tis that precisely they would wish their own.