schoolmaster) abroad; and by recent advices, it would seem he has not yet entirely disappeared.

p. 97

p. 98VI—THE SPAEWIFE

p. 98

O, I wad like to ken—to the beggar-wife says I— Why chops are guid to brander and nane sae guid to fry. An’ siller, that’s sae braw to keep, is brawer still to gi’e. —It’s gey an’ easy spierin’, says the beggar-wife to me.

O, I wad like to ken—to the beggar-wife says I— Hoo a’ things come to be whaur we find them when we try, The lasses in their claes an’ the fishes in the sea. —It’s gey an’ easy spierin’, says the beggar-wife to me.

O, I wad like to ken—to the beggar-wife says I— Why lads are a’ to sell an’ lasses a’ to buy; An’ naebody for dacency but barely twa or three —It’s gey an’ easy spierin’, says the beggar-wife to me.

p. 99O, I wad like to ken—to the beggar-wife says I— Gin death’s as shüre to men as killin’ is to kye, Why God has filled the yearth sae fu’ o’ tasty things to pree. —It’s gey an’ easy spierin’, says the beggar-wife to me.

p. 99

O, I wad like to ken—to the beggar wife says I— The reason o’ the cause an’ the wherefore o’ the why, Wi’ mony anither riddle brings the tear into my e’e. —It’s gey an’ easy spierin’, says the beggar-wife to me.

p. 100VII—THE BLAST—1875

p. 100

It’s rainin’. Weet’s the gairden sod, Weet the lang roads whaur gangrels plod— A maist unceevil thing o’ God In mid July— If ye’ll just curse the sneckdraw, dod! An’ sae wull I!

It’s

He’s a braw place in Heev’n, ye ken, An’ lea’s us puir, forjaskit men Clamjamfried in the but and ben He ca’s the earth— A wee bit inconvenient den No muckle worth;

p. 101An’ whiles, at orra times, keeks out, Sees what puir mankind are about; An’ if He can, I’ve little doubt, Upsets their plans; He hates a’ mankind, brainch and root, An’ a’ that’s man’s.

 Prev. P 45/55 next