Life Is a Toil

As I was a-walking
I passed by a window
And I saw an old woman, the picture of gloom
And this is the song the old lady was hummin'
As backwards and forward she wielded her broom

Oh, life is a toil and love is a trouble
Beauty will fade and riches will flee
Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double
And nothing is what we could wish it to be

There's too much of sewing goes into a bonnet
There's too much of ironing goes into a shirt
There's nothing that's worth all the time you waste on it
And nothin' that'll last us but trouble and dirt

[Chorus]

Pull weeds all the summer
Rake leaves in September
The midsummer breezes are loaded with dust
It's snow all the winter, and then raining November
The wallpaper rots and the candlesticks rust

[Chorus]

The old woman grew tired
Of sweepin' and scrubbin'
She laid down and died and I thought, was it just?
That she who so long had wielded the duster
Should herself in the end be turned into dust

[Chorus]