Lines Addressed to an Old Bachelor

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h2>LINES ADDRESSED TO AN OLD BACHELOR.</h2> <div class="poem" style="width:21em;"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">In summer time we roam o'er dingle,<br/></span> <span class="i0">But winter draws us round the ingle,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Why do you remain thus single,<br/></span> <span class="i0">When love would make two hearts tingle,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Pray, tell me why my dearest wingle,<br/></span> <span class="i0">With the fair you do not mingle,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Better with love 'neath cot of shingle,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Than all your yellow gold to jingle.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">For married life you would enjoy,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And soon a little girl and boy,<br/></span> <span class="i0">They would your leisure hours employ,<br/></span> <span class="i0">At Christmas you could buy each toy,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And fill their little hearts with joy,<br/></span> <span class="i0">For their amusements never cloy,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Business cares do men annoy,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Child's happiness knows no alloy.<br/></span></div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />