Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/337

Rh hawiver, fur long toime tha kep' still, an' niver showed 's tha wor fratched wi' th' fo'aks onfriendly wa'ays. Happen to fust tha cudn't b'leeve as th' people 'd to'n careless on th' yarthkin' as 'd bin good neebors to 'm sence longer 'n a can tell 'ee; but 's toime want on tha cudn't he'p ta'akin' it fur treue, fur th' fo'ak got wuss 'n wusser ivery da'ay. Ay, an' tha tuk tha very sto'ans o' th' Stra'angers fro' th' fields an' th' la'ane sides, an' thrung 'em awa'ay.

So 't want on, an' th' yoongsters growed oop to men 'n wimmen, an' sca'arce heerd tell on th' tiddy people as 'd bin so friendly-loike wi' ther forbears. An' th' au'd fo'ak 'd nigh furgot ahl aboot 'em. But th' Stra'angers had'nt furgot—noa! tha minded wa'al, tha did, an' tha wor nobbut w'aitin' fur a good cha'ance to pay ba'ack the fo'ak fur ther mismanners. An' to last 't coom. 'Twor slow—jist as th' fo'ak 'd bin slow i' furgettin' ther wa'ays wi' th' tiddy people; but 'twor sure—'twor sure 's hell-fire. Soomer arter Soomer th' har'st fa'ailed, an' th' green things dwined, an' th' beasts took sick; Soomer arter Soomer the crops coom to nowt, an' th' faver growed wuss, 'n th' childer peaked 'n died, 'n iverythin' tha put ther ban's to want wrong n' arsy-varsy. Soomer arter Soomer 'twor, till th' fo'ak lost heart, 'n stead o' wo'kin i' th' fields a sat o' th' doorsil', or by th' foire, 'n waited fur th' coomin' o' better loock. But niver a soight o' better loock coom by; an' tha vittles got sca'arce, an' th' childer grat wi' hunger, an' th' babbies pined awa'ay. An' whan th' fa'athers looked to th' wimmin fo'ak, wi' ther dead babbies at ther breasts, 'n ther hungered eyne to'ned fro' th' sickly brats as grat fur bread, what cud tha do but drink till tha wor jolly 'n ther troobles furgot till nex' da'ay? An' by 'n by some o' th' wimmen took to th' sa'ame so't o' comfort, an' th' others took to eatin' thersel's stoopid wi' op'um, 's oft 's tha cud get it, an' tha childer died th' fa'aster, an' ahl wor so ter'blc 'at th' fo'ak thout as 'twor tha joodge- ment an' th' beginnin' o' hell 'tse'f

But wan da'ay th' wise women met together an' tha did th' drefful things 's tha niver spe'ak on, an' wi' th' foire 'n