'Indeed,' the poor starved Mary said,
'Till Henry eats, I'll eat no more;
‘For yesterday I had some bread ;
'He's had none since the day before.'

My heart with pity swell'd so high
I could not speak a single word :
Yet the boy straightway made reply,
As if my inward wish he heard.

'Before our father went away,

6

6

By bad men tempted o'er the sea, Sister and I did nought but play ;— 'We lived beşide yon great ash-tree.

But then poor mother did so cry,

'And look'd so changed, I cannot tell! 'She told us that she soon should die, 'And bade us love each other well.

'She said that when the war was o'er, Perhaps our father we might see :

'But if we never saw him more,

'That God would then our father be.

'She kiss'd us both, and then she died,

And then they put her in the grave : 6 There many a day we've sat and cried 'That we no more a mother have.

'But when our father came not here,
'I thought if we could find the sea
'We should be sure to meet him there,
And once again might happy be.

6

'So hand-in-hand for many a mile,

• And many a long, long day we went : 'Some sigh'd to see, some turn'd to smile,

( And fed us when our stock was spent.

'But when we reach'd the sea, and found
''Twas one great flood before us spread,
"We thought that father must be drown'd,
And cried, and wish'd we too were dead.
'So we came back to mother's grave,
'And only long with her to be:
'For Goody, when this bread she gave,
'Said father died beyond the sea.

6 So, since no parent we have here,
'We'll go and search for God around :-
'Pray, Lady, can you tell us where

‹ That God, our Father, may be found?

'He lives in heaven, mother said:

'And Goody says that mother 's there : 'But though we've walk'd, and search'd, and pray'd, 'We cannot find them anywhere!'

<

I clasp'd the prattlers in my arms,

I cried,' Come, both, and live with me!

I'll clothe and feed you, safe from harms
'Your second mother I will be.

'Till you to your own mother's side
'He in his own good time may call,

'With Him for ever to abide

'Who is the Father of us all!'

*

60*

Unknown

THE CHILD AND THE MOWERS

Dorset Dialect

O, AYE! they had woone chile bezide,
An' a finer your eyes never met ;
'Twer a dear little fellow that died
In the zummer that come wi' such het;

I woone, one

3 'Twer, it was

4 het, heat

By the mowers, too thoughtless in fun,
He wer then a-zent off vrom our eyes,
Vrom the light ov the dew-dryèn zun,—
Aye! vrom days under blue-hollow'd skies.

He went out to the mowers in meäd,

When the zun wer a-rose to his height, An' the men wer a-swingèn the sneäd,

Wi' their eärms in white sleeves, left an' right :An' out there, as they rested at noon,

O they drench'd en wi' eäle-horns too deep,
Till his thoughts wer a-drown'd in a swoon;
Aye! his life wer a-smother'd in sleep.

Then they laid en there-right on the ground,
On a grass-heap, a-zweltrèn wi' het,

Wi' his heäir all a-wetted around

His

young feäce, wi' the big drops o' zweat; In his little left palm he'd a-zet

Wi' his right hand, his vore-vinger's tip, As for zome❜hat he woulden forget,

Aye zome thought that he woulden let slip.

Then they took en in hwome to his bed,
An' he rose vrom his pillow noo mwore,
Vor the curls on his sleek little head

To be blown by the wind out o' door.
Vor he died while the häy russled gray
On the staddle so leätely begun,
Lik' the mown-grass a-dried by the day,---
Aye! the zwath-flow'r's a-kill'd by the zun.
W. Barnes

6 a-zent, sent 7 drven, drying 11 snead, handle of scythe

18 a-zweltren, sweltering

9 in mead, in the meadow
14 en, him: eale-horns, full of ale
21 a-zet, put

23 zome hat, something: woulden, would not
26 100 more, no more

30 staddle, platform on which the rick stands
32 2wath-flower, cut down with the swath

* 61

*

ELLEN BRINE OF ALLENBURN

Dorset dialect

Noo soul did hear her lips complain,
An' she's a-gone vrom all her païn,
An' others' loss to her is gain
For she do live in heaven's love;
Vull many a longsome day an' week
She bore her aïlèn, still, an' meek;
A-workèn while her strangth held on,
An' guidèn housework, when 'twer gone.
Vor Ellen Brine of Allenburn
Oh there be souls to murn.

The last time I'd a-cast my zight
Upon her feäce, a-feäded white,
Wer in a zummer's mornèn light
In hall avore the smwold'rèn vire,
The while the childern beät the vloor
In play, wi' tiny shoes they wore,
An' call'd their mother's eyes to view
The feats their little limbs could do.
Oh! Ellen Brine of Allenburn,
They childern now mus' murn.

Then woone, a-stoppèn vrom his reäce,
Went up, an' on her knee did pleäce
His hand, a-lookèn in her feäce,
An' wi' a smilèn mouth so small,

He zaid, 'You promised us to goo
'To Shroton feäir, an' teäke us two!'

2 an', and: vrom, from: v used for in Dorset

6 ailen, illness 12 feaded, faded

7 a-worken, working 10 ur, mourn 14 avore, before: smwold'ren, smouldering 21 woone, one: reace, running

(3,118)

She heard it wi' her two white ears,

An' in her eyes there sprung two tears :-
Vor Ellen Brine of Allenburn

Did veel that they mus' murn.

September come, wi' Shroton feäir,
But Ellen Brine wer never there!
A heavy heart wer on the meäre
Their father rod his hwomeward road.
'Tis true he brought some feärèns back,
Vor them two childern all in black;
But they had now, wi' playthings new,
Noo mother vor to show em to:---
Vor Ellen Brine of Allenburn
Would never mwore return.

* 62 *

HELVELLYN

W. Barnes th's I work worth's Michlity.

I CLIMB'D the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn,
Lakes and mountains beneath me gleam'd misty

and wide;

All was still, save by fits, when the eagle was yelling,
And starting around me the echoes replied.

On the right, Striden-edge round the Red-tarn was
bending,

And Catchedicam its left verge was defending,
★ One huge nameless rock in the front was ascending,
When I mark'd the sad spot where the wanderer
had died.

Dark green was that spot 'mid the brown mountain
heather,

Where the Pilgrim of Nature lay stretch'd in

decay,

33 meare, mare

1 brow, mountain-side

35 feärèns, fairings

3 by fits, now and then

6 verge, edge: defending, sheltering

10 Pilgrip, wanderer, who admired the natural landscape

precipice in front

* A lofty precipic

Graviter