Virtue and Vice

She was so good, and he was so bad :
A very pretty time they had !
A pretty time, and it lasted long :
Which of the two was more in the wrong ?
He befouled in the slough of sin ;
Or she whose piety pushed him in ?
He found her yet more cold and staid
As wedded wife than courted maid :
She filled their home with freezing gloom ;
He felt it dismal as a tomb :
Her steadfast mind disdained his toys
Of worldly pleasures, carnal joys ;
Her heart firm-set on things above
Was frigid to his earthly love.

So he came staggering home at night ;
Where she sat chilling, chaste, and white :
She smiled a scornful virtuous smile,
He flung good books with curses vile.
Fresh with the early morn she rose,
While he yet lay in a feverish doze :
She prayed for blessings from the Throne,
He called for " a hair of the dog " with a groan :
She blessed God for her strength to bear
The heavy load, — he 'gan to swear :
She sighed, Would Heaven, ere yet too late,
Bring him to see his awful state !
The charity thus sweetly pressed
Made him rage like one possessed.

So she grew holier day by day.
While he grew all the other way.
She left him : she had done her part
To wean from sin his sinful heart.
But all in vain ; her presence might
Make him a murderer some mad night.
Her family took her back, pure saint,
Serene in soul, above complaint :
The narrow path she strictly trod,
And went in triumph home to God :
While he into the Union fell.
Our halfway house on the road to Hell.
With which would you rather pass your life
I'he wicked husband or saintly wife ?