" IS life worth th' livin'? " says I unto him,
" I'm durned if I know, " says he,
" Fer th' trials of life air as wide as th' worl',
An' double as deep as th' sea.
An' whether th' joys that we gits tops 'em off
Is doubtful, dum doubtful, t' me! "

" An' yet there is times, you'll grant it, " says I,
" When life ain't a dull dreary plain.
In th' spring of th' year — and when you're in love —
There's moments you long fer again. "
" I grant it, " says he, " but spring never lasts,
An' half of your lovin' is pain! "

" From debts and distractions, and trials and bills;
From wimmin an' wine, " says he,
" From troubles that's past an' sorrows to come
Deliver us! 'Specially me!
Now that's what we pray for every night,
Do we git what we ask for? Not we! "

" I fear, " he concludes, and his smile, it was sad,
" That Ishocks you, my friend, fer you sigh.
But alas! I hev lived — I hev loved — I hev drempt —
(An' there's nothin' much wrong with me eye).
So I answers you now — an' I'd welcome th' end —
Life is worth th' livin' — to die! "

" I knows how you feel, " says I, " fer th' same
Emotions hev stirred in my breast;
We've seen all of life and we now long t' find
How it feels to be dead — an' at rest. "

*****

An' then, him an' I, we jumps off th' track
As th' Special wizzed by fer th' West!