Mrs. Merdle Discourseth Of Things Earthly.

No matter how costly or flimsy her dresses,     The angel you honor with your kind attentions;     No matter how foolish her wardrobe inventions,     You love her, or say so, from slipper to tresses;     But, presto! you call her the greatest of sinners,     Though smiling, she treats you to badly cooked dinners;     Which proves where the seat is of men's best affections,     With which 'pon their honor they extol us as wives,     And treat us at dinner with sagest reflections,     Of beauty, and duty we owe all our lives     To you, noble lords, of this mundane creation;     Which, judging from some things they tell us,     Was made for the creatures of this trading nation,     Who make it a business to buy us and sell us,     Like 'Erie,' or 'Central,' or other such stocks;     With care, when they bid for a very 'Miss Nancy,'     That she's of a stock that the brokers call 'fancy,'     Or else has a pocket 'chuck full of the rocks'--     The rocks that are wrecking each day of their sailing,     More fortunes than ever in ocean were swallowed;     Where 'ventures' of marriage their victims impaling     With mammon and mis'ry together have wallowed.