Lines suggested by the death of John Mann, who was recently killed near Pleasingtonº by a passing train:- [Note 565.1]

As I read my morning paper [Note 565.2]
Noting what its columns said,
One brief item caught my notice,
And its thrilling words I read.
There an accident was mentioned
Caused by a passing train
And thus the paper told us
Of a poor pointsman¹ slain [Note 565.3]

Then my thoughts in sadness wandered
To that pointsman's humble home,
Where a wife and three young children
Awaited him to come.
God have pity on the children
Heaven help the desolate wife!
Four poor hearts are wrung with anguish
By the loss of that dear life!

Only a pointsman! 'Tis soon forgotten
Scarce remembered for a day;
Other themes our thoughts engaging,
Dispel it from our minds away;
But our hearts would break with anguish
We would weep and fret and moan
We would feel the bitterest anguish
If that pointsman were our own.