IX

But work was scant in the Isle, tho' he tried the villages round,

So Harry went over the Solent to see if work could be found;

An' he wrote: I ha' six weeks' work, little

wife, so far as I know;

When I was a-loving you all along an' the same as before.'

An' he did n't speak for a while, an' he anger'd me more and more.

Then he patted my hand in his gentle way, 'Let bygones be!'

Bygones! you kept yours hush'd,' I said, 'when you married me!

her shame an' her sin

You'll have her to nurse my child, if I die

o' my lying in !

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You'll make her its second mother! I hate her-an' I hate you!'

Ah, Harry, my man, you had better ha' beaten me black an' blue

Than ha' spoken as kind as you did, when I were so crazy wi' spite, 'Wait a little, my lass, I am sure it 'ill all come right.'

XIV

An' he took three turns in the rain, an' I watch'd him, an' when he came in

I felt that my heart was hard; he was all wet thro' to the skin,

An' I never said, 'off wi' the wet,' I never said, 'on wi' the dry,'

So I knew my heart was hard, when he came to bid me good-bye.

'You said that you hated me, Ellen, but that is n't true, you know;

I am going to leave you a bit - you'll kiss me before I go?'

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I was near my time wi' the boy, I must ha' been light i' my head

'I had sooner be cursed than kiss'd !'-I did n't know well what I meant,

But I turn'd my face from him, an' he turn'd his face an' he went.

'Full of compassion and mercy, the Lord' - let me hear it again;

Full of compassion and mercy-long-suffering.' Yes, O, yes!

For the lawyer is born but to murder the Saviour lives but to bless. He'll never put on the black cap except for the worst of the worst,

And the first may be last-I have heard it in church—and the last may be

first. Suffering-O, long-suffering - yes, as the Lord must know,

Year after year in the mist and the wind and the shower and the snow.

Meä an' thy sister was married, when wur it? back-end o' June,

Ten year sin', and wa 'greed as well as a fiddle i' tune.

I could fettle and clump owd booöts and shoes wi' the best on 'em all,

1 The vowels aï, pronounced separately though in the closest conjunction, best render the sound of the long i and y in this dialect. But since such words as craïin', daïin', whaï, aï (I), etc., look awkward except in a page of express phonetics, I have thought it better to leave the simple i and y, and to trust that my readers will give them the broader pronunciation.

2 The oo short, as in 'wood.'

As fer as fro' Thursby thurn hup to Harmsby and Hutterby Hall.

We was busy as beeäs i' the bloom an' as 'appy as 'art could think,

An' then the babby wur burn, and then I taäkes to the drink.

IV

An' I weänt gaäinsaäy it, my lad, thaw I be hafe shaämed on it now,

We could sing a good song at the Plow, we could sing a good song at the Plow; Thaw once of a frosty night I slither'd an' hurted my huck,1

20

An' I coom'd neck-an-crop soomtimes slaäpe down i' the squad an' the muck: An' once I fowt wi' the taäilor - not hafe ov a man, my lad

Fur he scrawm'd an' scratted my faäce like a cat, an' it maäde 'er sa mad That Sally she turn'd a tongue-banger,2 an' raäted ma, 'Sottin' thy braäins Guzzlin' an' soäkin' an' smoäkin' an' hawmin' about i' the laänes,

Soä sow-droonk that tha doesn not touch thy 'at to the Squire;'

An' I loook'd cock-eyed at my noäse an' I seead 'im a-gittin' o' fire;

But sin' I wur hallus i' liquor an' hallus as droonk as a king,

Foälks' coostom fitted awaäy like a kite wi' a brokken string.

Theer wur a lark a-singin' 'is best of a Sunday at murn,

Could n't see 'im, wc 'eärd 'im a-mountin' oop 'igher an' 'igher,

An' the.. 'e turn'd to the sun, an' 'e shined like a sparkle o' fire.

'Does n't tha see 'im?' she axes, 'fur I can see 'im;' an' I

Seeäd nobbut the smile o' the sun as danced in 'er pratty blue eye;

50

An' I says, I mun gie tha a kiss,' an'
Sally says, 'No, thou moänt,'
But I gied 'er a kiss, an' then anoother, an'
Sally says,
'doänt!'

puts it inter 'er 'ands an' I says to "er, Sally,' says I,

'Stan' 'im theer i' the naäme o' the Lord an' the power ov 'is graäce,

Stan' 'im theer, fur I'll looök my hennemy

straäit i' the faäce,

Stan' 'im theer i' the winder, an' let ma looök at 'im then,

'E seeäms naw moor nor watter, an' 'e 's the divil's oän sen.'

XIV

An' I wur down i' tha mouth, could n't do naw work an' all,

Nasty an' snaggy an' shaäky, an' poonch'd my 'and wi' the hawl,

But she wur a power o' coomfut, an' sattled 'ersen o' my knee,

An' coäxd an' coodled me oop till ageän I feel'd mysen free.

1 I'll uphold it.

2 That's beyond everything.

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