SELECT POETRY.

Southland Times, Issue 732, 4 October 1867, Page 3

SELECT POETRY.

A WIFE EOS. A WORKING- MAN. I want a wife for a working man ; She must be bonny and clean, Modest and fair, and as rich as she cany .' Never ashamed to be seen. If she is to share my board and bed I'll haye 110 slur on her name ;; My heart 'neath her feet I give to tread, If but she be pure from blame. Q-ive me no tawdry gossipping lass, Aping a fine lady's airs. And making faces in every glass, A ragged bundle of cares. I want a woman who fears the LordBut oh, not a sour-faced saint-^-One meek and quiet in thought and word, A beauty who needs no paint, I want a housewife, but not a fool ; .1. ■" No scolding gossiping quean : . One who obeys love's delicate rule ; A light in earth's darkest scene. No electro-plate lady for me, Poisoned with scent and "gay" dresses 3 " I like a bright hearth and a cosy tea, * But not a poor slattern's messes. Ho, English maidens! my words are plain, -. I want but a wife like this ; I've sought her again and again — in rainTo give her a true man's kiss;