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THE OPEN SWITCH
[People’s Press October 23. 1900]
All the summer, early and late,
And in the autumn drear,
A maiden stood at the orchard gate
And waved at the engineer.
He liked to look at her face so dear,
And her homely country dress;
She liked to look at the man up there
At the front of the fast express.
There’s only a flash of the maiden’s eye,
As the engine rocks and reels,
And then she hears in the distance die
The clinkety, clink of wheels,
Clinkety, clink; so far apart
That nothing she can hear
Save the clink of her happy heart
To the heart of the engineer
Over the river and down the dell,
Beside the running stream,
She hears the sound of the engine bell
And the whistle’s mad’ning scream,
Clinkety clink; there’s an open switch,
Kind angels, hide her eyes!
Clinkety, clink; they’re in the ditch,
Oh, hear the moans and cries!
Clinkety, clink and down the track
The train will dash today,
But what are the ribbons of white and black,
The engine wears away?
Clinkety, clink, Oh, worlds apart,
The fireman hangs his head;
There is no clink in the maiden’s heart–
The engineer is dead.
Cy Warman in New York Sun.
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