[Illustration: (MY WIFE IS STANDING THERE)]




A' OLD PLAYED-OUT SONG


It's the curiousest thing in creation,
Whenever I hear that old song
"Do They Miss Me at Home," I'm so bothered,
My life seems as short as it's long!--
Fer ev'rything 'pears like adzackly
It 'peared in the years past and gone,--
When I started out sparkin', at twenty,
And had my first neckercher on!

Though I'm wrinkelder, older and grayer
Right now than my parents was then,
You strike up that song "Do They Miss Me,"
And I'm jest a youngster again!--
I'm a-standin' back thare in the furries
A-wishin' fer evening to come,
And a-whisperin' over and over
Them words "Do They Miss Me at Home?"

You see, _Marthy Ellen she_ sung it
The first time I heerd it; and so,
As she was my very first sweetheart,