The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1892-09-03
TO WE'D OR NOT TO WE'D.

70 wed OF not to wed' That is the question.
Whether to live a life Of single blessedness with
all fits woes
Or take nv chances In the matrimonial lottery
Wherein one prize falls to a thousand blanks
Nv brain Is tired thinking OF the problem
And not a married friend will tip me straight;
NV present lot know; sewing on buttons
And keeping tally with my washerwoman
Lest she forgets my undarned things to bring;
Living in 6x9 boarding house bedroom where
one chair,
One bureau bed and washstand crowd me out;
And from the mirror, cracked upon the wall,
A sour, uncanny, love-lorn visage staros
And haunts me in that solitude OF gloom;
Sharing with disliked strangers at the table
small supply Of food Of not the best.
And hearing stale and stupid jokes and so
forth.
Compelled to face my stern landlady's glances
When am broke and sadly in her debt;
Forced to endure her second edition daughter
Who seeks to catch me with her love-sick arts
And last, when old, bad, cranky, sick and friend
less,
Die dog death with none to mourn my fate.
But on the other hand, II try marriage
And find IL not what it's cracked up to be
CAS- most of times IL isn't to my seefng)
I'd be worse on-a million times worse on
Zen at its best 1t is no bed Of roses
But toll, responsibilities and care
w 1tu anXlOub tnOuSutS anu AAohiAoiN N~p NhSNS
For doctors, nurses, servants, mother-in-law,
wifes sisters,
Crying babies coal bills, grocery bills, rent, new
bonnets,
And goodness only knows what else, but some
thing all the time.
Held at the grindstone ever would my nose be
In order TO provide the endless wants
And raise the wind 70 keep the ship a-sailing
Upon the matrimonial sea OF love and strife
Yet mixed in right proportions with these
troubles
Are Joys and blessings. First there is the home
Which loving hearts and hands make bright and
happy,
And where alone is comfort, peace and rest.
Methinks sec II now. Sweet voices greet me.
And swceter arms enfold around my neck,
And sweetest kisses thrill me while enter
Al close Of day, worn out with business cares.
A glittering table loaded with wife's cooking,
And with its high chair wherein sits 'our
king"
Ii waiting for me. When the feast Is ended
And mother puts the little ones to bed
All, then in easy chair and Christmas slippers
Before o CHEEKY CRATE 1 take my ease
And hold sweet converse with my own, my
dearest,
And her hear soulful voice sing tender airs
While, from our grand piano, music rarest
Comes sparkling from her finger tips TO me.
This is the picture that my fancy painteth;
This is the longing swelling in the breast
Of one forlorn, old bachelor Now tell me
Shall or shall not the slim chance take
OF winning in that lottery OF marriage
Where fools rush in and angels fear to tread?
To wed or not to wed' That is the puzzle.
To e'er endure the miseries know
Or, tempting fate, plunge hcadlong in the tor
rent
Which wiser men than have found N. G..
The die is cast The cent is tossed Heads
marry
Tails, don't It head-and better or for worse
I'll take incorporating can find one
Who, unlike me, is perfect every way.
H c. Dodge, In Goodalls Sun.