stock.)_ "O DEAR, DEAR! HOW CAN I ATTEND TO BUSINESS WHEN I'VE THE BABY
TO MIND?"]

* * * * *

CHAT ABOUT RAILROADS.

PARTIES: _A Simpleton from the Wilderness, and a Misanthropic Traveller.

[The Simpleton asks for information.]_

"They say that railroads now an't safe.
Say, mister, how is that?"
It comes of "accidents," my friend--
Where cheap rails spread out flat,
Cheap axles break, cheap boilers burst,
Cheap trestle-work gives way:
No wonder, when you think of that,
They kill a man a day!

Well, folks must travel; must go fast;
Must take the cars--and risk;
They can't afford a Special Train,
Like VANDERBILT or FISK;
They know a curve that's pretty sharp,
A bank that's pretty steep,
Rocks that may roll upon the track,
"Sleepers" that never sleep;

Here was a "smash-up" not long since,