Page:Old maid and widow, or, The widow the best wife.pdf/9

Rh The ben-house, anes sae trig an’ clean,

Was now enough to ugg your een;

The winnocks dim wi’ barkened dust,

The chimley ribs red o’er wi’ rust,

An’ there, as fittest place for rest;

The hens sat clockin’ in their nest,

Meal-tubs, milk-cogs, an’ kirns, were there;

Wi’ claes an’ clouts on ilka chair:

The kitchen crammed wi’ spinnin’ wheels,

Stools, water-tubs, an’ washin’ skeels,

A’ got a dreel, in Katharine’s fizzes,

The lasses banned for lazy hizzies;

She cursed the kye, for want o’ ream,

An’ hens, because they laid frae hame:

Poor Colley, wha to mony a fair.

Wi’ Watty troddled late an’ ear’,

She bann’d him for a useless tyke,

An’ daddet him against the dyke.

When Watty had come frae the pleugh,

Sair tainghled, wi’ the furs sae teugh,

An’ sought a drink, his drouth to slockin,

She cou’d na lat her milk be broken;

But there was whey, was meikle better,

Or if he chused, good caller water:

Tho’ her milk cogs stood lappered fu’,

She never wat a nibour’s mou’,