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

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’,