The Tramp

We worked through spring and winter through Biiinnier and throagh fall, But t'mt mortgage worked the hardest and tb steadieBt of us all ; It worked on nights and Sundays; it worked each boliday; It settled down among us, and it never wen away. Whatever we kept from it seemed a'moet as bad as theft; It watched us every minute, and it ruled us right and lef t. The rust and blight were wlth us sometlmee and sometimes not; The daik-browed, scowMng mortgage wasforever oq the Bpot. The weevil and the cat-worm, they went as wellascame; The mortgage staid forever, eating bearty all the same. It nailed up every wlmlow, stood gnard at every door, And happiness and sunshine made tlieir home witb usno more: Till with failing cropB and sickness we got stelled upon the grade. And there carne a dark day on us when the intereBt wasn't pald; And then carne a sharp fornclosure, aou l Kind o' lost my hold And grew weary and diacooi-aged, and the farm was cheaply Bold. The children left and scattered, wliea they hardly y et were gro wn ; And my wiie she pined and perisked, an' I found inyself alone, hat Bhe died of was "a mystery," and Ihe doctors never knew; Bat I knew sho dled ol mortgage - just as well as I wantod to. It to trace a hidden sorrow were withln the doctors' art, They'd 'a' found a mortgage lying ou that woman's broken heart. A" # I'm helpless an' forsaken, I am childless and alone; I haven't a single dollar that it's fair to cali my own; My oíd age knows no comfort, my heart ís scant o' chear; The children they run frem me as soon as I come near: The women shriak and treinble, their alma are fear-bestowed; The dogs hurí curses at me,and hunt me down theroad; My home is where night finds me; my Xriends are few and cold; Ob, üttle is there in this world for on who's ?oorandold! 'in wealthy in expenence, all put up m good advlce, To take or not to take it, with no ditference in the prije; You may have it,an' thrive on it or run around it, as you please; Bat I geiierally give it wrapped up m some sach words as ihese; Worm or beetle, drougth or tempest, on a farmert land may f all, But for firBt-class ruination trnat a mortgage 'gainst them all.