Page:The venture; an annual of art and literature.djvu/22

 THE MARKET GIRL.

(Country Song.)

Nobody took any notice of her as she stood on the causey-kerb, A-trying to sell her honey and apples, and bunches of garden herb; And if she had offered to give her wares, and herself with them too, that day, I doubt if a soul would have cared to take a bargain so choice away.

But chancing to trace her sunburnt grace that morning as I passed nigh, I went and I said, "Poor maidy, dear! And will none o' the people buy?" And so it began; and soon we knew what the end of it all must be, And I found that though no others had bid, a prize had been won by me. THOMAS HARDY.