were extremely wise; they had a great mind to some water, but they would
not leap into the well, because they could not get out again." Why were
they wise? They were not wise at all. I have seen frogs in wells who are
more contented than they would be outside. "Men are April when they woo,
December when they wed," says Shakspeare; but he also says that "maids
are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives,"
so it is an even tilt between two forms of human nature. "If idleness be
the root of all evil," says Vanbruch, "then matrimony is good for
something, for it sets many a poor woman to work." "In the opinion of
the world," says Madame Swetchine, "marriage ends all; as it does in a
comedy;