# Coalman's courtship to a creelwife's daughter (1)

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THE
Coalman’s
COURTSHIP
TO A
Creel-wife’s Daughter.
IN THREE PARTS.
THE
COALMAN's
Courtship, &c.
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(illegible text)LL you that's curious of Courtship, attention to this History of Mary and (illegible text)n Sawny, a young Coalman, who lived (illegible text) country a few miles from Edinburgh.
(illegible text)ry, his mither, was a gay hearty wife, (illegible text)air wantonness nor wealth; she was (illegible text) years a married wife, nine years (illegible text)w, and was very chaste in her be-(illegible text), wi' her ain tale (for want of charg-(illegible text) for a' this time of her widowhood, (illegible text) as never a man got a kiss o' her lips, (illegible text) a foul hand on her hind quarters.
(illegible text)y, her son, was a stout young raw (illegible text)ull faced, wi' flabby cheeks, duddy ​breeks, and a ragged doublet, gade always wi’ his bosom bare, sometimes had but (illegible text) gartan, a lingle, or rash-rape, was go(illegible text) enough for Sawny; his very belly was sun-burnt, and brown like a piper’s bag, the head of an auld drush; and yet he (illegible text) a ruddy lown in the face, and his be(illegible text) began to sprout out like herrin banes: took thick brose to his breakfast, and b(illegible text) and ale through the day, and when the c(illegible text) fell’d dear, when the wind was cauld, (illegible text) bought an oven farl, and twa Dumbar v(illegible text)ders, or a Glasgow Magistrate, which (illegible text) fish-wives ca’s a waslen herrin'.
His mither, auld Mary, plagued him in the morning, got up when the keckled, ranged the ribs, blew her snuff box, primed her nose, kindled her tob(illegible text) pipe, and at every puff breathed out fre(illegible text) against her hard fortune, and a lanely life; an' wad aften cry out, O but a W(illegible text) be a poor name! I live but in a wilder(illegible text) in this lang lonen; mony a man gaes b(illegible text) door, but few looks in to poor auld M(illegible text) Hooh hey! will I never win out o(illegible text) weary'd life? —— Wa', Sawny man Sawny man; wilt thou na rife the (illegible text) The sun's up, an' a' the neighbours about: Willie and Charlie is to th(illegible text) an hour syne, an'ha'f-gate hame ag(illegible text) ​Wilt though rife an' gi' the beasts a bit; you minds na' them, I wat man.
Grump, grump, quo' Sawny, they got their supper an hour after I got mine, shot (illegible text) dead come on them, an' they get a bit (illegible text)e me till they work for't.
Sawny. But O mither, I been dreaming that I was married, an' i' the bed wi' the (illegible text)de; I wonder gin it be true: Od! I (illegible text)ver got sic fun! What wilt be, think ye? How auld am I, mither? Do ye think I'm for marrying yet? Fegs am a mind to (illegible text)'t, but the four saucy hissies 'ill no hae me, then well enough.
Mither. Hae you lad, mony a hungry heart (illegible text)d be blyth o' you; but there was never ca'd Jacky but there was a sea(illegible text)bbit Jenny him yet: dinna be fear'd lad.
Sawny. A hech, mither, He no be lordly, I sud tak a beggar wife aff the hi'gate. I'll tell you something it'm ay thinking bat ye manna tell the nibours, for the (illegible text)elds wad ay jam(illegible text) me wi't.
Mither. Wad I tell o' thee! I wad tell mysel' as soon.
Sawny. Do ye mind, mither, that day I (illegible text)d to the Pans, I came in by Auld Mattie's (illegible text)r countryman's, the l(illegible text)ife wife, it came o' the town ye came frae, the wife it (illegible text), Be-go-laddie, I gade there, and she (illegible text)na in, an' her daughter kend me; she ​was unco kind, an' made me sat, sat br(illegible text) out o' the lee side o' her kail pat; there was baith beef and paunchet in't; od they smell'd like ony haggies; an' (illegible text) a (illegible text)'d lac'd waist-coat; figs I suppit (illegible text) I was like to rive o' them, an' had a ri(illegible text) o' them the morn a'day: When I came out I had a kite like a cow wi' ca'f. (illegible text) spier' for you. mither, an' I said ye was gaily (illegible text) and she took it to me, an' leugh ay, an' grippe my shakle bane, an' said I wad be a sturdy fallow yet. I looked ay to her, an' thought I liked her, an' thinks on't ay sin-syne She leugh, an' bad me seek out a coal driver for her, for she did na' like to carry a fish-creel.
Mither. Forsooth, Sawny, I'll gi'e m(illegible text) twa lugs for a (illegible text)ck's egg, if she binna love wi'thee, an' that will be a bargain.
Sawny. Think ye fae, mither? Hec(illegible text) an' up' my word. mither, she's a stur(illegible text) gimmer, well worth the snoaking after. She has a dimple in every cheek, an' a (illegible text) on her chin: two legs like twa posts, (illegible text) haunches like a (illegible text)odger's lady's hoop, th(illegible text) hobble when she shakes, an' her paps pla(illegible text) (illegible text)mdity nod when she gangs, I ken by (illegible text) keeking she has a conceit o' me.
Mither. But Sawny man, antou see mither Mary in the town, auld Be-go-lad as ye ca' her, gi' her a dram, she lik'st w(illegible text) ​put ye a mutchin o’ molash in her cheek, (illegible text)’ than ye’ll get her mind, an’ speed the (illegible text)tter.
Sauny. But, mither, how sud I do when gang to court her? Will I kiss her, an' (illegible text)n kittle her, an' fling her o’er, as the (illegible text)iels does the hissies amang the hay?—— (illegible text)een them gang o'er ither, an o’er ither, (illegible text) when they’d grip them by the wame, (illegible text)y'd cry like a maukin when the dogs (illegible text) worrying them.
Mither. Hut awa’, daft dog it thou is, (illegible text)t's the gate; thou maun gang in wi’ (illegible text)' good manners, an' something manfu'; on a Sunday's face, and sigh as ye were faint; sit down beside her as ye were Mess John; keek ay till her now and then a stolen look, an' haud your mouth as (illegible text)m and grave as a May puddock, or a (illegible text)d maiden singing bangor; crack well o' wealth, an' hide our poverty.
Sauny. Ay, but mither, there's some ither (illegible text)v in courting (illegible text) that. or the lasses would (illegible text)er couple so close to them.
Mither. Ay, but Sawny man, there's (illegible text)me for every thing, and that too; when sit where nae body sees you, ye may (illegible text) her head, in your (illegible text) like a creeth (illegible text) dab nibs wi' her now an' than; but (illegible text)ure ye keep a closs mouth when ye kiss (illegible text) clap her cheeks, and straik her breasts. ​but for your drowning gang nae farther down but fouk that's marry'd can put their h(illegible text) to ony part they like.
Sawny. Aha, but mither, I dinna ken first word o'courting, the lassie 'ill no l(illegible text) what am com'd about.
Mith. Ay will she lad, wink and k(illegible text) well to her, she'll hae a guess; seek a qu(illegible text) word o'her at the door; an' gin it be da(illegible text) gi'e her a wee bit kiss when ye've tell'd (illegible text) your errand; an' gin they gi'e you che(illegible text) and bread, or ony meat, ca't good, whet(illegible text) it be sae or no; and for my blessing be me fu' wi' your mouth, an' dinna eat o'er muck for I seen you sip as mony milk brose as w(illegible text) r sar't twa men to carry on a barrow.
Sawny. A but mither, ye're liein' no(illegible text) or it was na' a' at ance than: but an' th(illegible text) set meat before me, an' I be hungry, a sha(illegible text) claw the clungest an' I be nae upsides w(illegible text) for that same. A faith, mither, fouks m(illegible text) hae meat an' they sud ne'er get wives, the(illegible text) sume o' them no worth the cursing, an(illegible text)body were na letting an oath whether or (illegible text) hoar ye that now, when ye pit me till an' gar me speak; ay, by my sooth, I w(illegible text) rather hae a bit good powny an' a punch cheese, or I were bun to bab after ony hiss(illegible text) buttocks I see yet.
​Mither. Wa, Sawny, man, thou's a fool, an' that's a fau't: an' every ane were as (illegible text)asy about women as thou is, the warld wad be a wilderness in a wee time; there wad be nae body to inhabit the earth but brute beasts, cats and dogs wad be worrying ither, and every thing gae to confusion: Gae to the courting ye dog it ye are, and either do something or naething at a'.
END OF THE FIRST PART.
The other two Parts give an account of his behaviour in Courtship with the Bride, the Wedding, Spening of the Blankets, &c.
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PART II.
Up got Sawny in the morning, and swallowed o'er his sodden meat, flag by flag; and all he goes to the coals and the courting (illegible text)ing and singing like a lav'rock in a May mornin', "O to be marry'd if this be the day” The Colliers wonder'd a' to see him (illegible text)e well bulket, wi' a pair o' wally-side auld fashioned breeks o' his father's, and a lang cravate, like a minister, or Baillie Duff at ​a burial, a clean face and hands, and (illegible text) less than a gun-sleev’d linen sark on him which made his cheeks to shine like sherney weight, and the Colliers a' swon(illegible text) he was a bra' as a horse gawn to a cow dredgy.
But Sawny came aff wi' his coals whistling, and whipping up the poor beast e'e(illegible text) as outrageous as ony ram at riding time. Well might ony body seen there was a ston(illegible text) in Sawny's nose, light were it like; fo(illegible text) no sooner had he sell'd his coals, than he left his horse to come hame wi' a nibou(illegible text) callan, and gade keeking up the Cowgate and thro' the cl ses, seeking auld Bego, b(illegible text) good-mither to be; then in thro' the fish market, where he bought a lang herring an' twa baps, a pair of suters auld shoon greesed black and made new, to make h(illegible text) feet feasible-like, as he kend the lass was (illegible text) look at them. For his mither tell'd him the women look'd ay to the men's legs (illegible text) they marry'd them, and the well legged louns gade best aff.
So Sawny came swaggering through the shell-wives, but she was nae there; but coming down the town, beneath the guard meets auld. Be-go in(illegible text) in the (illegible text), w(illegible text) cried out, Hey laddie, my d(illegible text)v, how's you mither honest Mary? I thank you c(illegible text) Sawny she's meat-heal, an ay working ​some: How is a' at hame? Is Kate and the laddie well?
Mat. Fu' well, my dow, you're a bra' foncy dog grown, a wally fa' me gin I kend ye.
Come, come, co' Sawny, an' I'll gi'e ye a nossock to heat your wame, it's a cauld day, an' ye're my mither's countryman.
Na, fair fa' you, Sawny, I'll no refus't; a dram's better the day nor a clap on the arse wi' a cauld (illegible text); sae fallow me my dow.
So away she took me, co' Sawny, down a dark stair, to ane o' the now houses, beneath the yird, where it was as mirk as in a coal heugh, an' they had a great fire. Sweet be wi' me, co' Sawny, for it minds me o' the ill part! There was a muckle pot on the fire, like a little caldron, seething kail and flesh: The goodwife forket them out in cogs and caps; for there came in a whin sutor-like fallows, wi' black thumbs and creashy aprons, that cuttied them a up in a wie time; but they ne'er fa(illegible text)'d wi' us, nor we wi' them: We got first a (illegible text) an' than a het pint.
A vow, said I, Mary is na Kate gawn to get a man yet? A man, laddie, a wha wad ha'e her? a muckle lazy-useless jade, (illegible text) can do naething but work at husband wark, card and spin, wash ladies rooms, and scour gentry's bonny-things; she canna take a creel ​on her back, and apply to merchandizing as I do, to win a man's bread.
Sawny. I think some o' the fishers and her may make it up.
Mat. A fisher, laddie hech the fishers ha(illegible text) a better look-out wi' them; the fisheres wa rather hae a pickle good baits to their lines than put up wi' the like o'er her, a stinkin pridfu' jade, altho' I bare her, ay scrapin and washing at hersel', pricking and prining keeps her face ay like a Flanders baby and no less than ribbons and rings, and he shoon made o' red clouts; an', shame stick(illegible text) pride, when our auld goodum ran barefoot an' our gutchers gaed wi' bare hips.
Gi'e her a man! ill thief stap a gouk in her(illegible text) back-side first, that it may ay cry, Cuckow when she speaks o't; she can do naething but scour ladies piss-pots, and keep clear the tirlie-whirlies that hangs about the fire; heth she's o'er gently brought up to be a poor man's pennyworth.
Hech how! co' Sawny, an' it's e'en a great pity, for she's a well-far'd lusty hissy, I had a great kindness for her.
Mat. A-weel-awat she's no lingle tail'd, she may be a cass-bed to a good fallow; but an' though had seen me at her age, I was a sturdy gimmer; there was na one about a' the Hyne or Dubbyside cou'd lay a curpen to a creel wi'me; the fient a fallow in a' ​Fife but I wad a laid him on the braid o' his baack, an' a' his gear upmost; I was a chicken to chatter wi' indeed laddie, I had a pair o' cheeks like a chapman's backside, and a flank like an ox, fae had I e'en.
Sawny. Nae doubt, co' Sawny, but ye had a pair o'beefy buttocks, for your very cheeks hing like leather bags to this very day.———But I'll tell you what am now agaun to tell you: Do you think that your Kate wad tak me, an' I wad come to court her?
Mat. Tak you, laddie, tak you! A faith she'll tak you; for she would a tane a poor button thing o' a ha'f blind taylor warna me; a poor bleird scabbit-like creature it was; I seen the day I wou'd a carried it in my pouch:——wode Ise warrant her jump at you like a fish at a flie:——wode I say, Tak you! an' she winna tak you, Ise tak you mysel'—— But she and I cust out the day about her cockups and black caps, gard me say sae meikle o' her; but she's my sonsy dawty for a' that: Well a wat she's a well-natur'd lassie, an' she'll turn an ill-natur'd wife, I canna tell.
Sawny. A-well then, I'll venture on her (illegible text)s she is, for my mither's pleas'd and we're pleas'd, an' am pleas'd, an' in she be pleas'd, wode am sure to get her an' the ​taylor has na bridled her, or tane a trying trotty o' her.
Mat. But Sawny man, I'll tell you wha we’ll do; I'll hame an' broach her the night ou't, an’ come ye the morn, we’ll mak in fude-fast in a wie time; an' thou's get main tocher than a (illegible text)ramon, gamon to gamon, she has baith blankets and sheet, a covering an' twa cods, a caff bed an' a bowster an' hear'st thou, my laddie, I hae a bit auld hogger an' something in't; thou's get i(illegible text) when I die: But, be me suth, it will be the last thing I'll part wi', I kenna what I may need yet, it's an auld wife it kens her wier(illegible text) tho' her winnin' sheet were at her head.
On this they paid their spout, and parted but when Sawny came out, he storted and stagger'd like a sturdy stot, (illegible text) was the chief commander, for he thought every body had two heads, and four een, and mair noses than they needed; and having been so lang in the dark house wi' fire-light he thought it was the morning of a new day A hech, said he, when was I a night, fram my mither before? She'll think I'm put in the guard, tane wi' the doctors, or else am married, an' wirking at the wanton war o' weans makin'.
Mat. Hate, daft laddie, the soup drink in your head, this day and yesterday's a a(illegible text) day, ye'll be hame in bra-time yet.
​Sawny. A well, a well, then, good day to you good mither, ye maun gar Kate tak me, or thief tak you a' the gither; I'll hame and tell the length it's come; an' it come nae farther, it maun e'en stick there.
Off he goes, tacking about like a ship against the wind, as if he would knock holes in the wa's and windows wi' his elbows: he looked as fierce as liou, wi' (illegible text) red face like a trumpeter, and his nose was like a bublie-cocks nib, as blue as a blawirt; but, or he wan half-way hame, his he'd turned heavier nur his heels, and many a filthy fa' he got; through thick and thin he plash'd, till hame he gets, at last, grunting and graping by the wa's, that auld Mary his mither thought it was their neighbour's sow, he was so bedaubed wi' dirt. She gets him to bed at last, but he was in a boiling barrel fever, and poor Mary grat wi' grief.
Sawny. Hech hey! co' Sawny, but courting be a curst wark, an' costly; an' marriage be as mortifying and murdering, a' body may be married for me.
Mith. Wa Sawny man, what's come o'er thee now? Thou's gotten skaith, some auld wife has witcht thee, or the very deel has dung thee o'er in some dirty midden! My bairn's elf-shot!——Whar has thou been, or what has thou seen? Thy een reels like a ​wild cat and the sweat is hailing o'er th(illegible text) nose; thou's witcht, thou's witcht! O ma(illegible text) what will I do?
Sawny. Bock, bock co'Sawny; but i(illegible text) cou'dna win up wi' bubbles and herrin' banes. O, co'Sawny, put me in my bed, for m(illegible text) days will soon be done; a curse on your courting wark for its kill'd me an' wive is but wicked things, I ken by the same.
Mither. O dole! dole! my bairn has gotten pison, for the smell o't is like to b(illegible text) my dead!
Sawny. Gin herrin' an' het ale be poison there'll no be mony left alive: Book, co' Sawny, the bed's fil'd!
Mither. My bairn though was ay a cleanly bairn till now; thou's surely lost thy senses when thou files where thou lies, as the brute beasts does; thou never did the like o' this before, since thou left aff cakying o' the cradle.
N B. The Third Part gives a further account of the Courtship and Marriage.
THE
THIRD PART.
POOR Sawny had a terrible night o't, wi a fair head, and a sick heart; his (illegible text)een stood in his head, his wame caddled like ony mill-trows, and a' his puddings crocket like a wheen paddocks in a pool: his mither rocket and wrang her hands, crying, A wae bo to the wife that brew'd it! for I hae lost a well-foster'd bairn wi' their stinking stuff; a mischief ding the doup but o' their Whisky pots, its surely burnt him within, its burnt him alive! Ay, ay, my bairn he's gone!
But about the break of day, his wind brake like the bursting of a bladder: O happy deliverance! cried Mary his mither, tho' dirt bodes luck, and foul farts files the blankets I wish ne'er war be amang us. The next thing that did Sawny good, was three mutckins o' milk made in thin brose, and a fine pickle peper in them; yet he had a foughing in his lugs like a {{illegible}aw-mill, and every thing ran round about wi' him a' that day. Yet his mother got him out o' the bed, on o' the meikle chair, ​a pair o' blankets about his shoulder, a cod at his back, and a het brick to his soles, to gar him true he was nae well; and there he sat like a lying-in wife, cracking like a Hollander, and ate twa dead herrin' and a cufe, telling a' the outs and ins about his bridal, and whan it was to be; for he had gotten every body's consent but the bride's about it.
Mith. But, Sawny man, that's the main thing, ye maun ha'e that too.
Sawny. Na, na, mither, am the only thing mysel', she's but a member, th man maun ay be foremost; gang what way it will, Ise av be the upperm st.
Mith. But, Sawny man, what way is thou gaun to do? Will ye mak a pay penny Wedding, or twa three gude neighbours, a peck o' meal baken, wi' a cheese, and a barrel o'ale, will that do?
Sawny. Na, na, mither, I'll tak a cheaper gate nor ony o'them; I'll gar ha'f-a-crown an' ha'f-a-mutchkin, or a rake o' coals do it a'(illegible text) then a body has uae mair do but piss an' then go to bed syne.
Mith. Na, na, my man Sawny. I ha'e mony, mony a time heard thy honest father say that never a ane wad do well that capstrided the kirk, or cuckol'd the minister.
Sawny. A tell na me, mither, o' the ministers; they're ay for their ain hands, ​well as other fouks, an' if a poor beggar (illegible text)y had a bit wean to chrisen, a deil a doit (illegible text)y'll serke him o't.
Mith. Hute awa', man, there's nae body (illegible text) weans but what has filler to pay the (illegible text)isening o' them; or if they be that poor, (illegible text)y sude na get nae weans, and they wad (illegible text)be faith'd syne.
Sawny. Ha, ha, mither, the poor foukes, (illegible text)e the lice, ay when they meet they marry (illegible text) makes mae o' them: An' I think the (illegible text)nisters might chrisen their bits a weans (illegible text) naething, the water is no sae scant; (illegible text)ey're we(illegible text) paid for preaching, they (illegible text)ay very well both marry and chrisen a' (illegible text) poor foukes to the bargain, by the way (illegible text) a maggs,
Mith. Ay, ay, my Sawny, marriage a sweet thing for young souk, an' the bed undefil'd.
Sawny. What the vengeance, mither, ye think that a body is to file the bed every night, an they do't ance?
Mith. Na, na, tha's no what I mean; (illegible text)s happiness that fouk has that's married, sides the wearied lones me life it I hae'e, (illegible text)ing tumbling an' gaunting in a bed my (illegible text)ne. O sirs! but a man in a bed be an (illegible text)efu' body, an' it were but to claw ane's (illegible text)ack; as for a body's for side, they ean saw it themsel'.
​Sawny.A' mither, mither, ye ha'e f(illegible text) a string again; I think ye might a want a' your days when ye fasted sae lang; (illegible text) ha'e plenty o' baith milk and meal, sn(illegible text) an' tobacco, but ye smell at the crack (illegible text) the whip. I kend my mither wad ride y(illegible text) for I seen her sit wagging this lang time.
Mither. A dear, Sawny man, au' th(illegible text) were ance fairly aff the fodder, I'll (illegible text) casten into a hole of a house by myse(illegible text) where I'll just ly and break my heart, an weary mysel' to dead: but an' I cou'd g(illegible text) a bit honest weaver, a cobler, or so(illegible text) auld taylor by the tail, I wad tickle to hi(illegible text) vet, let the country clash as they plea(illegible text) about it.
Sawny. A-well, a-well then, mither, to your ain flight; there's nae fool to an auld fool, for the morn Ise be either aff or (illegible text) wi' the hissy I ha'e on hand.
So in the morning Sawny got a' his clai(illegible text) clean, his hair cam'd and greas'd wi' butter and his face as clean as the cat had licket it and away he goes singing.
I will buy a pound o' wool, I will wash'd, an' mok a plaidy: I'm gaun o'er the moor i' woo', Carline is your daughter ready?
​Now poor Sawny, altho' he sang, was as pale as a ghost from the grave, his face was whitely white; like a well bleach'd (illegible text)ishclout, he looked just as he had been eaten and spued again: But at length he came to the bride's door, and in he goes wi' brattle, crying, how is a' here the day? An' what's com'd o' thy mither lassie? O Saunders, said the bride, she's awa' to the town: What came o' you yesterday? She waited on you the whole day: ye gart her lose a day's trade, lad; an' she's awa' this morning cursing like a heathen, an' swearing. Be-go that ye ha'e geen her a begunk.
Sawny. A dole, woman, I took a sudden blast i' the hame-gawn, an' was never so near dead in my life.
An' wha think ye was in company wi' Kate the bride, but the wee button o' a taylor, who sat and sewed on a table, cocking like a t———d on a trencher, but when he kend wha was com'd he leaped down on the floor, custe a dash o' pride, like a little bit prince; he bobet about, and so out he goes with the tear in his eye, and his tail between his feet like a haff-worried colly dog.
Sawny. Now, Katty, do ye ken what I'm com'd about?
​Kate. O yes, my mither tell'd me; but I'm no ready yet: I ha'e twa gowns to spin, and things to mak.
Sawny. Hute, things to mak, ye ha'e as mony things as ye'll need woman; canna ye spin gowns in your ain house wi' me, as right as here wi' an auld girning mither?
Kate. But dear, Saunders, ye maun gi'e a body some time to think on't, 'twad be ill-far'd to rush thegither just at the first.
Sawny. An' do you think I ha'e naething ado but come here every ither day hoiting after you? It'll no do, I maun be either aff wi' you, or on wi' you; either tell me, or tak me, for I ken of other twa, an' some o' you I will ha'e; for as I'm a sinner, my mither is gawn to be married too, an' she can get a bit man o' ony shape or trade.
Kate. Indeed then, Saunders, since you're in such a haste, ye maun e'en tak them that's readiest, for am no ready yet.
Sawny. Dear, woman, whan your mither an' my mituer's pleas'd am willing to venture on ye, what a sorrow ails you?
Kate. Na, na, I'll think on't twa or three days; it's o'er lang a term to see without a thought.
Sawny. Wode I think ye're a cumstrarie piece o'stuff, it's true enough your mither said o'ye, that ye're no for a poor man.
Kate. An' what mair said she o' me?
​Sawny. Wode she said you cou'd do nae-but scure wash mugs an' gentlemen's (illegible text)y things; but hissies it's bred amang (illegible text)e houses, minds me o' my mither's cat, ye're far costlier to keep, for the cat (illegible text)s neither saep nor water, but spits in (illegible text)lufe an' washes ay at her face; an' (illegible text)s o' you can do nae ither thing. And (illegible text)e gets.
Kate. O Saunders but ye be shor, will (illegible text) stay till my mither c me hame?
Sawny. I stay'd lang enough for ony thing (illegible text)be the better; an' am no sae short as (illegible text) totum of a taylor it I cou'd stap in my (illegible text) sae cou'd I e'en.
Hame he goes in a great passion, and to bed he ran, crying, O death, death! (illegible text)ought the jade wad a jumpet at me? (illegible text) comfort nor happiness mair for poor Sawny. O mither, gar my kist be made, (illegible text)gae bake my burial bread, for I'll die (illegible text) night, or soon the morn.
But early next morning, in comes auld (illegible text)go, his good-mither, who had left her (illegible text)ghter in tears for the flighting o' poor (illegible text)ny, and hauses him and his mither away (illegible text)et a dinner of dead fish, where a' was (illegible text)ed upon, and the Wedding to be upon Wednesday. No bridal fouks to be, but twa mithers, and themselves twa.
​So, according to appointment, they (illegible text) at Edinburgh, where Sawny got the ch(illegible text) priest, who gave them twa-three wor(illegible text) and twa-three lines, took their penny a(illegible text) a good drink; wish'd them joy, and ga(illegible text) his wa's.
Now, said auld Be go, an' that be yo(illegible text) minister, he's but a drunken b———h; m(illegible text) a' ane drinks up a', but he leaves naethi he's got that penny for de'l hae't, ye mig(illegible text) cracket luses on't, and been as well, if (illegible text) better; I ha'e seen some honest men f(illegible text) mair o'er their brose nor what he said the gither; but an' ye be pleas'd am pleas'd a bout in the bed ends a', an' makes fi(illegible text) wark; so here's to you, an' joy to t(illegible text) bargain, it's ended now well I wat.
FINIS.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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