The Tramp's Tale

We wnrkd thrnugh spring and winter, through Slimmer :mil thrnugh fa II , But the morttfage worked the hardffst and the steadiIt worked "n nighta and Sundays; it worked each lmliday; It Réttled doVn ninonc OS, fttld t ncvrr went nwiv, Whatever wc kent from it leemed ftlmost u bad u tlieft; ItwaKlird us every minute, and it ruled us rieht and left. - The fust and bllffht wre w'ith os soWfctimes, nnd snim-tirnes nof; dark-bnnrad KOwUttg mortgage was forever on the spot. Tlic weevil and the cut-worm, they went as well as came ; The morigág staid on forever, enting hearty all the same. It nailed up evcry window, stood guard at every door, 1 And happiness and sunshinc niade their home with is no more, TUI wJth üiUIpff crops and sickness wc ot stalled upon the gnd i, And there carne a dark day on us when the interest wasn't paicl ; And there carne a sharp foreclosurc, and I kind o' lost iny hold, And gw weary and discouraged, and the iarm w-.is cheaply sold. TJje childrcn left and scattcred, when they liardly yet wcre groivn ; My wjie síie pincd aml perislicd, an' I found myself alone. Tiat she died of wai l'a mystory," an' the doctors nevor knew ; But I knew she died of mortgage- just as well as I wanted to. If to trace a hidden sorrow were within the doctors' art, TheyM ha' found a mortgagc lying on ffr'at womnn's broken heart. ? + ?? ] .mi ïuipiess and forsaken, I m chüdlcss an' alone. I hvan'i - iuKlc dalhrr that U's fair to CJUI m v own j My oíd age knows no comfort, my heart is scant o' cheer ; The children they run from me as soon as I come ne;iri +& m The wouien shrink and tremble- their alras are fenrbestowed ; The dogs howl curses at me, and hunt me down the road ; My home is where night finds me, my friends are few and cold ; Oh, little s there in this world for one who's poor and old I Hut I'm wcalthy in experience, all put up in good ndvice, To take or not to take it, wlth no diíTerence in the price; You may have it, an' thrivc on it, or run round it as you please, But I generally g"ive it wrapped up in some such words as these: Worm or beetle, drouth or tempest, on a farmer's land may (all, But for fïrst-cfass ruinatíon, trust a mortgage 'gainst them all.