Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-06-15
aAgvapAr zaonN1ua, 5gus ms, 1885,
ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE.
TAM OsHANTER;
A TALE, ny BoBERr Burns.

When chapmeu billies leave the street,
And drouthv neebors, neehors meet,
Az market days are wearin late,
And fouk begin to tax the gate;
While we sit bousin at the happy,
And getting fou and unce happy
We think nae on the lang Scots miles,
The MOSES, waters. slaps. and styles,
That lie between as and our bame,
WHARF sits our sulkey sullen dame,
Gatheriu her brows like gathsrin storm, :.
Nursin her wrath to keep it warm.
This truth fand honest TAN 0'sHAsrER,
As he from Ayr ae night did canter
fAuld Ayr, wham e'esa town surpasses
For honest men and bonny iasses.
O TAM! hadst thou but been sac wise,
Az ta'en thy ain wife KATE's advice!
She tauld thee weel thou was skellum,
A biethering, clustering. drunken blellum;
That, frae November till October,
Ae market day thou was IA sober,
That ilka melder wi the miller,
Thou sat as lang as thou had si'ler;
That every naig was cad shoe on,
The smith and thee gat roarin fou on;
That at the LES house, even on Sunday,
Thou drank VII Kirton Jean till Monday.
She prophesied that, late or soon,
Thou wad be found deep drownd in Doom;
Or catch'd wi warocks in the mirk,
Bv ALLowAy's auid haunted kirk.
All, gentle danes! it CARS me greet,
To think how mony councils sweet,
How mony heightened sage adsices,
The husband frae the wife desplses!
But to our tale: Ae market night.
TAM had got planted unco right;
Fast BY an ingle, bleezlng finely,
WI roaming swats that drank divlneiy;
find a. his elbow SouTER* JOHNNY.
His ancient, .rusty, drouthy crOny;
Tam loed him like very brither;
They had been foul for weeks theglther
The night drove on wi sanss and CATER,
And ave the ale was CROWN better:
The Landlady and TAM grew gracious,
Wi favors secret. sweet and precious;
The SouTxa tauld his queerest stories;
The Landlords laugh was ready chorus;
The storm without might rare and rustic,
TAM didna mind the storm WHISTLE
Care, mad to see man sac happy,
Fen dro~ nd himself amang the happy,
AS bees flee hame wi ladies' o. treasure,
The mipures wing'd their way with pleasure.
Kings MAY be blsst, but TAM ,cas glorious,
Ger a. the ills o. life victorious!
But pleasures are like peoples spread,
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
moment whte-then melts for ever;
Or like the borealis race,
That Hit ere you can point their place;
Or like the rainhow's lovely form
Evanishing amid the Storm
Nae man can tether time or tide;
: The hour approaches TAM maun ride;
That hour, o. nights black arch the key -stane,
That dreary hour he mounts his beast in;
And sic night he takes the road in
As ne'er puir sinner was abroad IN.
The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last;
The rattling showers rose on the blast;
The speedy CLEANS the darkness swallow'd;
Land. deep, aud lang the thunder bellow'd;
That night child might understand
.rhe dell had business on his hand.
Weel mounted on his gray mare MEG,
better never lifted leg,
T.M skelpit on through dub and mire,
Dssni,inr wind, and rain, and fire;
Whites hauding last his guide blue bonnet;
Wbiles Grooming DER some auld Scots sonnet;
Whites gtOw'rinS rouhu v" Puuout CdIeSs
I.sst bosies catch him unawares;
K1RK ALlowAY was drawing nigh.
Where gha,sts and houlets nightly cry.
By this time he was cross the ford,
WHARF in the shaw the chapman smoor'd;
And pas, the birks and meikle stane.
WHARF drunken CHARLIE brak's neck bane;
And through the whins. and ov the calrn,
WHARF hunters fand the MURDERED BARN;
And near the thorn. aboon the well.
WHARF Museo's m,ther hang'd herself
Before him Doom pours a. his Hoods;
The doubling storm roars through the woods;
The lishtnings fash from poe,to pole;
Near and more near toe thunders roll:
When, glimmering through the groanlng trees,
KIRK ALLowAy seem'd in ableeze;
Through ilka bore the beams were glancing;
And lond resounded mirth and dancing.
Inspiring bold JOHN BARLEYooRN!
What dangers thou canst make Us scorn!
WI tippenny we fear nae evil.
Wi. usquabae we'll face the DEVIL
The swats sac ream'd in TAMMIE's noddle,
Fair play, he card ma deils bodle.
But MAoeIE stood right sair astonish'd,