The following verses were sent to a graduate of Wheaton Seminary of the
class of 1866 by John G. Whittier, on the receipt of two pairs of long
stockings, which the young woman had knit. She was a frequent visitor in
the Whittier home, and often assisted in the entertainment of guests of
honor. Mr. Whittier regarded the verses as doggerel, and expressed his
intention of writing something worth while for his youthful admirer. But
the poem reveals a humorous side of his character, differing from what
one finds in his published poetry, and it is probable that neither Mr.
Whittier nor his young friend, who died in her early womanhood, would
have objected to the publication of the verses.
--_Editors of Youth's Companion._
My neighbor Acres said to me,
"I lead a lonesome life.
There's something lacking all the time,
I think I need a wife.
"I'm weary of my empty rooms
And stockings never mended.
If you could think of some nice girl
I'd feel myself befriended."
I sat and pondered for a space,
And then I spake up gaily:
"You just go down the Ferry road
And ask for Mary Bailey.
"She's bright as is a new-made cent
And smart as any steel trap;
I tell you grass will never grow
Beneath her restless heel-tap.
"A wiser little head than hers
Was never found a hat in;
She reads a thousand books a year,
And talks in Dutch and Latin.
"She always has a stylish dress,
And dainty slippered feet,
She's money in the savings-bank
Her every want to meet."
He sadly mused, "That sort of thing
Will never do, you see.
A wife that's all accomplishments
Is not the wife for me."
A lucky thought was mine. I kicked
Right off my old brogan,
And pulled my trousers to the knee.
"Look here, you foolish man!
"These stockings by her hands were knit."
"Why, sakes alive," cried he.
"The modern girl who knits like that
Is just the girl for me."
--_By John Greenleaf Whittier._
2015
Who sows thorns should not go barefoot.
--_French._
2016
_Advice to a Wife._--O woman! thou knowest the hour when the goodman of
the house will return, when the heat and burden of the day are past; do
not let him at such time, find upon his coming to his habitation, that
the foot which should hasten to meet him is wandering at a distance,
that when he is weary with toil and jaded with discouragement, the soft
hand which should wipe the sweat from his brow, is knocking at the door
of other houses.
--_W. Irving._
2017
A stubborn wife is a mat rolled up--i. e., useless.
--_Chinese._
2018