Litchfield enquirer., 1835-01-22
A MARRIEp MlAN's REvERIE.

 what blockhead he sRas not t0 marry some twenty five yearsae0, for suppose he'd hard Iy 9wt any decent sort of body. Co take him, @ old as he b now. Poor fellow ! what (oFl0rn des0late kind of life he leads; no wife to take care of him-no children to love him mo domestic enjoyment-nOthing snug and comfortable in his arrangements at home ! nice sOciabIe dinners-pleasant faces at break fast. By the way. what the deuce is the rea- 1 sos Msv break fast does not come up I've been f waiting for itgihis half hour. Oh, forgot my wife sent the cook to market to get some { trash or other for Dicks cold. She cOddlss that hoy tO death. But, after all, ought not to ind fault with Tom for not getting wife, for be has lent me good deal .of money that came quite convenient. and | suppose my yoOng ones will have all he's worth when he dies, poor fellow! They'll want it. I'm a. fraid for although my business does very well, this housekeeping eats up lhe profits, with such large family as mine. Let me see; how many mouths have to feed every dayl There's my wife and her two sisters that's three; and the four boys-sevet, and Lucy and Sarah and Jane, and Louisa. four
 pnore-eleven; then there's the cook, and the
 house maid. and the hOy-fOurteen ;4asd the
 woman that comes every day to wash and Go
 odd jobs about the hONse--fifteen :then there's the nursery ery-maid-sixteen; surely there must be anOther--I'in sure made it nut seventeen
 when was reckoning it up last Sunday morn ing at church; there must be another some.
 where; let me see again; wife, wife's sisters,
 boys, girls-oh it's myself! Faith, have 30 many io think of and provide for, that for. get myself half the time. Yes, that maks it- seventeen. Seventeen people to feed every davis no joke! and somehow or other they all have most furious capacities; bat, then, bless their hearts. it's pleasant to see them
 eat. What a havoc they do make with the
 buckwheat cakes uf morning, to be sure !-
 Now poor Tom knows nothing of all this.- There he lives all alone by himself in board ing house. with nobody near him that cares a
 brass farthing whether he lives or dies. No aHectonate wife to purse him and coddle him up when he's sick; no little praItIers about him to keep him in good bumor--no dawn ing intellects. whose developement he can a.
 muse himselfby watching day after day-no-
 body tO study his wishes. and keep all his comfoTtsready. Conf0uud 1t. hasn'l that wo-
 man got back from the market yet? feel remarkably huDgry. don't mind the boys being cuddled and messed # my wife likes it,
 but lhere's no joke in having the breakfast kept back for an hour. Oh, by the way, ]
 must remember to buy alI those things for the children to-day; Christmas is close at hand, and my wife has made out list of the pre- seDts she means to put in their siOckings.- More expense-and their. school-bills coming in too i; Lremember before was married ! used to think what delight it would be to educate the young rogues myself; but man
 with large family has no time for that sort of Amusement. wonder how old my young Tom is let me see, when does his birthday
 come :? next month. as I'm Christian, and
 then he will be fourteen. Boys of fourteen
 consider themselyes all but men, nowadays,
 and Tom is quite of that mind. l sec. Noth-
 ing will suit his exquisite feet but Wellington
 boots, at seven dollars pair; and his moth-
 CT has been throwing out hints for some time,
 as 10 the propriety of getting watch for him
 ----gold, of course. Silver was quite good en-
 Ough for me when was half score years
 older than he is. but times are aw fully chang
 cd since my younger days. Then, believe
 in my soul, the young villain has learned to
 play billiards; and three or four times lately
 when he has come in. late at night, his clothes seemed to he strongly perfImed with cigar smoke. Heighho! Fathers have many troub- les, and can't help thinking sometimes that old bachelors are not such wonderful fools af- ter all. They go to their pillows at night with no cares on their minds to keep them a. W"we uuue Wueu tuCy u0sC UHCS 6Os ootccps ! nothing comes to disturb their repose--nofh. Ing short of the house being on fire. can reach their peaceful condition. No getting mp in the cold, to walk up and down the room for an hour Ortwo, with squalIing young varlef, as my luck has been for the last Eve or six weeks. 1 It's an astonishing thing to perceive what passion our little Louisa exhibits for crying l 90 sure as the clock strikes three she begins, ! and there's nO getting her quiet again until she has fairly exhausted the strength of her lungs | with good, straight. forward screaming. I l can't for the life of me understand wi.y the young villains don't get through with all their sqpaling in the day time, when am out of the way. Then again what delightful pleas ure 1t is to bc routed out of ones first nap. ] aud sent off post-haste for the doctor, as was on Monday night, when my wife thought Sa- 1 yah had got the croup, and frightened me half out ofmy wits with her lamentations and fid- gets. By the way. there's the doctors bill to l be paid soon; his collector always pays me a visit just before Christmas. Brother Tom has | no doctors to fee, and that certainly is great l comfort. Bless my soni. how the time slips away! Past nine o'clock and no -breakfast ! yet-wife messing with Dick, and getting the three girls and their two brothers ready for school. Nobody thinks of me, starving here at this time. What the plague has become of my newspaper. wonder that young rascal Tom has carried it off. dare say. % read in the school, when he ought to be boring over hls books. He'sa great torment that boy But no matter; there's great deal of pleas use in married life and if some yexatiOns and