A Texas cowboy lay down on a barroom floor, having
drunk so much he could drink no more
So he fell asleep with a troubled brain, to dream that he rode on a hell-bound
train.
The engine with murderous blood was damp, and was brilliantly lit with a
brimstone lamp;
An imp, for fuel, was shoveling bones, while the furnace rang with a thousand
groans.
The boiler was filled with lager beer, and the devil himself was the
engineer;
The passengers were a most motley crew -- Church member, atheist, Gentile
and Jew,
Rich men in broadcloth, beggars in rags, handsome young ladies, and withered
old bags,
Yellow and black men, red, brown and white, all chained together -- Oh God,
what a sight!
While the train rushed on at an awful pace -- the sulfurous fumes scorched
their hands and face;
Wider and wider the country grew, as faster and faster the engine flew.
Louder and louder the thunder crashed and brighter and brighter the lightning
flashed;
Hotter and hotter the air became, till the clothes were burned from each
quivering frame.
And out of the distance there arose a yell, "Ha, ha," said the devil, "we're
nearing hell!"
Then oh, how the passengers all shrieked with pain, and begged the devil
to stop the train.
But he capered about and danced for glee, and laughed and joked at their
misery.
"My faithful friends, you have done the work, and the devil never can a payday
shirk.
"You've bullied the weak, you've robbed the poor, the starving brother you've
turned from the
door; You've laid up gold where canker rust, and have given free vent to
your beastly lust.
"You've justice scorned, and corruption sown, and trampled the laws of nature
down.
You have drunk, rioted, cheated, plundered, and lied, and mocked at God in
your hell-born pride.
"You've paid full fare, so I'll carry you through, for it's only right you
should have your due.
Why, the laborer always expects his hire, so I'll land you save in the lake
of fire,
"Where your flesh will waste in the flames that roar, and my imps torment
you forevermore."
Then the cowboy awoke with an anguished cry, his clothes wet with sweat and
his hair standing high.
Then he prayed as he never had prayed till hour to be saved from his sin
and the demon's
power; and his prayers and his vows were not in vain, for he never rode the
hell-bound train.
Navigation Entertainment
The Horse's Prayer
Rock Me to Sleep
Lasca The
Man in The Glass
Just Call Him a Cowboy
Hell in Texas Hell
Bound Train Quotes
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