A newly wedded couple passed that way,

In the sweet zenith of their honeymoon,

But little dreaming what the future held.

The light and trivial fool, the brainless fop;

The staid and sober priest and minister;

And she who worshiped at proud fashion's shrine;

The mental giant, serious and sad;

The thoughtful student and philosopher;

And some of intellect diminutive;

The man of letters, with abstracted mien,

And he whose every thought was on the toil

Which made his bare existence possible;

The blushing maiden, pure and innocent;

The stately grandam, dignified and gray;

The matron, with the babe upon her breast;

The silly superannuated flirt,

Who nursed her waning beauty day by day,

And still essayed to act the role of youth;

The gay coquette and belle of other days,

Who in life's morning, with disdainful laugh,

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