A MOMENTOUS QUESTION.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1053, 23 June 1882, Page 3

A MOMENTOUS QUESTION.

To wed, or not to wed, that is the question, Whether ’tis safer in a man to take The awful risk of being done for ever, Or staying single to seek the best of life, And thus, by prudence, get it. To wed—to marry ; No more—and so to get a loving wife, A true and faithful spouse, one of the best That fortune gives—’tis a consummation Devoutly to be hoped—to wed—to marry— To marry petchance a shrew—aye there's the rub ! For in this matrimonial draw whate’er may

come When we have once secured the uncertain

prize, We must abide by. That’s the very deuce Which makes of marriage such a doubtful

• joy. For, who would bear the never-ceasing

tongue, The wretched argument, the false deduction. The insolence of contradiction, and the rest The patient husband of the shrew endures. When he himself might be much better off By being single. Or married to the flirt, Who after marriage is uncertain, Seeming too sweet to every man except her husband. Or to the thriftless, undomestic, dressy

woman. Or other quite as useless. ’Tis this that puzzles And rather makes us keep the peace we have Than be curious about the lot we know not of. Thus marriage doth make cowards of us all, And thus the pretty scene of wedded bliss Is clouded with some dark and selfish doubt, And speculation is the mart of Cupid. With this regard their interests, turn away, And choose the bachelor’s life.