Jerome Klapka Jerome. Three men in a boat, not counting the dog (№ 292708)

Apparently this is the law of life: each person has what he needs. Married men have wives, and apparently did not value them; and the young bachelors are bitter about not being able to acquire them. The poor, barely able to feed themselves, sometimes up to eight children. The rich elderly who had no one to leave their money to, die childless.