University of Virginia Library

But more than swore, more than swore—
Ten thousand times more! ten thousand times more!
Here was a man that was goin' to ruin
Most terrible—and whose doin'?
Whose? Aw, don't be hard! aw, don't!
Yes—she thought so, but me! I won't!
She thought so—yes, just what you'd expeck—
But, oh! be pitiful to the leck!
That's the thought that done the jeel,
Goin' like a threddle to a wheel,
Thrib-throbbin' night and day,
The wheel that spun her life away.
She hadn' loved him! and who could tell
What might have been? aw well, well, well!
I know, I know—if she could have done it,
If she could, if she could? but who begun it?
Who made it unpozzible from the fuss?
No, no, my lads! I'll not cuss—
But this if—if—if! what's the gud of if?
What'll it carry? what'll it lift?
If she cud—just the smallest taste—
Just so—if, if! in case, in case!
And all the rest of it, I suppose he'd ha' got
To be a reg'lar angel—what?
This Cain—an angel, cocked in a bush
Like at Moses theer—ah, I only wush
These if's were not so sharp and crook'd,
And catchin', and houldin', and gettin' hook'd
In the very flesh, and no aisin' to 't
Till Death'll haul you into his boat,
And wrench the hooks, and set you free
From all the throuble and misery.