'Indeed,' the poor starved Mary said, My heart with pity swell'd so high '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, 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 6 So, since no parent we have here, ‹ 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 'Till you to your own mother's side '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, I woone, one 3 'Twer, it was 4 het, heat By the mowers, too thoughtless in fun, 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, Then they laid en there-right on the ground, 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, To be blown by the wind out o' door. 6 a-zent, sent 7 drven, drying 11 snead, handle of scythe 18 a-zweltren, sweltering 9 in mead, in the meadow 23 zome hat, something: woulden, would not 30 staddle, platform on which the rick stands * 61 * ELLEN BRINE OF ALLENBURN Dorset dialect Noo soul did hear her lips complain, The last time I'd a-cast my zight Then woone, a-stoppèn vrom his reäce, He zaid, 'You promised us to goo 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 :- Did veel that they mus' murn. September come, wi' Shroton feäir, * 62 * HELVELLYN W. Barnes th's I work worth's Michlity. I CLIMB'D the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn, and wide; All was still, save by fits, when the eagle was yelling, On the right, Striden-edge round the Red-tarn was And Catchedicam its left verge was defending, Dark green was that spot 'mid the brown mountain 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 |