matrimonial bonds. And this is naturally suggested by the facility with which divorces are granted; true, he cannot legally repudiate his wife while she remains faithful, but he _can_ oblige _her_ to release him, or break her neck, or her heart, or desert and starve her into compliance with his measures; or he can wrest her children from her, and make their restoration to her bosom the price of his release. I am not exaggerating, reader; if you live in a city, and will look about you, you will find that I speak truly. But to conclude, I reiterate, and insist upon this point, that the fundamental causes of unhappiness in married life, are a defective moral and _physical_ education—and a premature contraction of the matrimonial engagement. THE DESERTED WIFE. CHAPTER I. THE OLD MANSION HOUSE. All day within the dreary house, The doors upon their hinges creak; The blue fly sings in the pane—the mouse Behind the mouldering wainscot creeps, Or from the crevice peers about. TENNYSON. The wild wind sweeps across the old damp floors, And makes a weary and a wailing moan, All night you hear the clap of broken doors, That on their rusty hinges grate and groan; And then old voices calling from behind The worn and wormy wainscot flapping in the wind. MILLER.