Page:Comical transactions of Lothian Tom (5).pdf/23

 ( 21 ) an angel in mine eyes; but I am sorry, very sorry to acquaint you that I am not a fit match for her;' ' What, child, says the old woman, ‘ there’s not a fitter match in the world for my Polly: I did not think your country could afford such a clever youth as what I hear of you to be; you shall neither want gold nor silver, nor yet a good horse to ride upon, and when I die you shall have my all.' 'O but,’ says Tom, ‘ mother, that’s not the matter at all, the stop is this, when I was at home in Scotland, I got a stroke with a horse’s foot on the bottom of my belly, which has so quite disabled me below, that I cannot perform a husband’s duty in bed.' The old woman hearing this clapt her hands, and fell a-crying, ‘ O! if it had been any limpediment but that, but that, but that, wofu' that! which gold nor silver cannot purchase, and yet the poorest people, even common beggars, have plenty of it.’— The old woman and her daughter sat trying and wringing their hands, and Tom stood and wept, lest he should get no more money. 'O mother,' says Polly, ‘I’ll wed with him nevertheless, love him so dearly!’ 'No, no, you foolish girl, would you throw yourself way, to marry a man and die a maid! you don’t know the end of your creation.