Reminiscence of My Railroad Days

 Dedicated to Engineer John Hoolihan, Pittsburg and Lake Erie Railroad, Pittsburg, Pa.

 

      WALL, John, I read your poetry,

          And laughed till I nearly cried,

      Seein' how you became an engineer,

          And got on the right hand side.

      It made me think of the days gone by,

          When I wuz one of you fellers, too,

      What used to run an old machine,

          And go tootin' the country through.

      But the engine that I had then, John,

          Wuz far from a "Nancy Hanks;"

      She wuz old and worn and loggy,

          And jist chuck full of pranks¹;

      And she wuz wonderfully got up, John,

          Full of bolts and valves and knobs,

      And the boiler² wouldn't hold water;

          Gosh, it wouldn't hold cobs.

 

      But I wuz younger then, John,

          And I didn't care a cuss;

      So I'd pull the throttle³ open

          And jist let her wheeze⁴ and fuss.

      The road that I wuz a-runnin' on

          Wuz out in the woolly west;

      Two streaks⁵ of rust⁶ and the right of way

          Wuz puttin' it at its best.

      So we sort of plugged along, John.

          And didn't put on any frills,

      Never thought of doin' anything

          But doublin' all the hills.

      I tell you those were rocky times,

          And we hadn't no air brake;

      And fifteen miles an hour, John,

          Wuz durn good time to make.

 

      And thar wuz as good a lot of boys

          As you could meet with anywhere;

      Rough and ready open up,

          And always on the square.

      And I'd like to see them all again,

          And grasp each honest hand;

      But some of them, like me, have quit,

          Some have gone to another land.

      I have changed somewhat since then, John,

          Jist a little more steady grown;

      But I often think of my railroad days

          As the happiest ones I've known.

      And, John, I often watch the train.

          As they go whizzing by;

      As I think of Bill, or Jim, or Jack⁷,

          Thar's a tear comes in my eye.

 

      Perhaps you'd like to know, John,

          Just why I quit the rail,

      And as some feller one time sed,

          "Thereby⁸ hangs a tale."

      I wuz goin' along one night, John,

          At a purty lively rate,

      The old machine a-doin' her best,

          And me forty minutes late,

      When all at once there came a crash,

          I felt the old track yield,

      And fireman, machine and I

          Went into a farmer's field.

      There's little more to say, John,

          They laid me up for repairs,

      But my fireman, poor fellow,

          Hadn't time to say his prayers.

 

      So now you have my story, John;

          Still, you don't know how it feels

      To know you've got to plug around

          On a couple of flat wheels.

      But it doesn't bother me, John,

          Gosh, not fer a minnit;

      I'm as happy as the day is long,

          And feel jist strictly⁹ in it.

      But sometimes I like to meet the boys,

          And talk them days all over,

      And I feel as gay and chipper

          As a calf¹⁰ in a field of clover

      But the happiest days I've known, John,

          The ones that to me see best,

      Wuz when I run an old machine

          Way out in the woolly west.

     Glory—Gittin' killed and not gittin' paid fer it.

     —Punkin Centre Philosophy.

 

1 pranks   

n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Frank's errancy consisted mostly of pranks. 法兰克错在老喜欢恶作剧。 来自辞典例句
• He always leads in pranks and capers. 他老是带头胡闹和开玩笑。 来自辞典例句

2 boiler   

n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等)

参考例句：

• That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
• This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。

3 throttle   

n.节流阀，节气阀，喉咙；v.扼喉咙，使窒息，压

参考例句：

• These government restrictions are going to throttle our trade.这些政府的限制将要扼杀我们的贸易。
• High tariffs throttle trade between countries.高的关税抑制了国与国之间的贸易。

4 wheeze   

n.喘息声，气喘声；v.喘息着说

参考例句：

• The old man managed to wheeze out a few words.老人勉强地喘息着说出了几句话。
• He has a slight wheeze in his chest.他呼吸时胸部发出轻微的响声。

5 streaks   

n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹

参考例句：

• streaks of grey in her hair 她头上的绺绺白发
• Bacon has streaks of fat and streaks of lean. 咸肉中有几层肥的和几层瘦的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

7 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

8 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

9 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

10 calf   

n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮

参考例句：

• The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
• The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。