| «Jim Blake, your wife is dying»
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| Went over the wires tonight
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| The message was brought to the depot
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| By a lad all trembling with fright
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| He entered the office crying
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| His face was terribly white
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| And this message to dad and his engine
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| «Mother is dying tonight»
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| In something less than an hour
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| Jim’s answer back to me flew
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| «Tell wife I’ll be there at midnight
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| I’m praying for her, too»
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| «I left my son in the office»
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| Said the message to Jim’s wife
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| I found the dying woman
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| Was scarce of breath and life
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| For hill and dale and valley
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| Thunders a heavy train
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| Its engine is sobbing and throbbing
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| And under a terrible strain
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| But Jim hangs on to his throttle
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| Guiding her crazy flight
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| And his voice cries out in the darkness
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| «Godspeed the express tonight»
|
| I telephoned the doctor
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| «How is Jim’s wife?"I asked
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| «About the hour of midnight
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| Is long as she can last»
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| In something less than an hour
|
| The train will be along
|
| But here, I have a message
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| Oh God, there is something wrong
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| The message reads «Disaster»
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| The train is in the ditch
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| The engineer is dying
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| Derailed by an open switch
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| And there’s another message
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| To Jim’s wife it is addressed
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| «I'll meet her at midnight in heaven
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| Don’t wait for the fast express» |