Page:Selection of songs, &c..pdf/3



There’s music in woods, an’ there’s music in waters,

An' its heard in the breeze, o’er the hill an’ the cairn :

But wad ye hear nature an’ art's sweetest concord—

Attend to the strains play d by Josie Strathern.

He can play a’ the tunes, new or auld, in this Empire—

In Paris, Vienna, Rome, Frankfort, or Berne;

Reels, jigs, strathspeys, waltzes, quicksteps, an’ slow marches;

Are a' alike easy to Josie Strathern.

When he tunes up his fiddle, the youths flock aroun’ him.

An’ the wives canna’ sit their auld stockings to darn;

But young an’ auld foot it, as lang as they’re able,

To the mirth-makin’ music o’ Josie Strathern.

The ploughman comes hame, wi’ his team, frae the furrow,

The maid frae the byre, ’mang the boyns an’ the sharn—

An’ the widow flings bye a’ her sables an’ sorrow.

To rejoice for a season wi’ Josie Strathern.

At balls, kintra’ rockings, an’ washings o' aprons,

Or hairst, when the shearers hae coupit the kirn—

House-heatings, tea-parties, match-ploughings, or weddings,

The life o’ sic parties is Josie Strathern.