Marriage is not necessarily a blessing. It may be the most bitter curse. It may sting like an adder and bite like a serpent. Its bower is as often made of thorns as of roses. It blasts as many sunny expectations as it realizes.
Every improper marriage is a living misery, an undying death.
Its bonds are grated bars of frozen iron. It is a spirit prison cold as the dungeon of ruin. An ill-mated human pair is the most woeful picture of human wretchedness that is presented in the book of life. Yet, such pictures are plentiful. Every page we turn gives us a view of some such living bondage.