life's reverses.
31
Yet their favours they did not confine to that class
O' stout, sturdy beggars whose visage is brass;
Nor yet on ilk list wi' a flourish put down
The guid they dispensed till the press it went roun';
But they took aye the kindly an' delicate way
Ilka gift, no' 'neath charity's name, to convey;
Their bounty fell plenteous, as dews o' the e'en',
Refreshin' a' round, yet descendin' no seen.
Philanthropists truly in heart an' in fame,
Frae the mither to Maggie, were a' in that hame.
Unco bonnie an' braw this bricht morn lookit Jess,
Sae neatly busked up in a licht snawy dress,
An' mid the dark hair saftly shadin' her broo',
Glowed a moss rose still glittrin' wi' morn's pearly dew;
Some pleasant excitement mak's brichter her een,
Whilst the blush on her cheek is aye varyin' seen.
At length comes the sound that her flushin' explains,
A carriage rows swift ower the wee pebble stanes,
An' presently steppet familiarly ben
The squire, wha aye gies them a day noo an' then;
O' a son an' a brither he acts aye the part,
But a feelin' mair deep has ta'en captive his heart.
In Jessie he sees a' that beauty o' mind—
Chaste, womanly, tender—a' graces combined:
That their hearts had companionship each only knew,
For virtue to virtue instinctively drew,
Till love, honest, ardent as e'er was confessed,
Based on highest esteem, rose brimfu' in ilk breast.
Sae the eve 0' the mornin' on which they noo meet
Saw the squire tell his love-tale, tho' no at her feet,
O' stout, sturdy beggars whose visage is brass;
Nor yet on ilk list wi' a flourish put down
The guid they dispensed till the press it went roun';
But they took aye the kindly an' delicate way
Ilka gift, no' 'neath charity's name, to convey;
Their bounty fell plenteous, as dews o' the e'en',
Refreshin' a' round, yet descendin' no seen.
Philanthropists truly in heart an' in fame,
Frae the mither to Maggie, were a' in that hame.
Unco bonnie an' braw this bricht morn lookit Jess,
Sae neatly busked up in a licht snawy dress,
An' mid the dark hair saftly shadin' her broo',
Glowed a moss rose still glittrin' wi' morn's pearly dew;
Some pleasant excitement mak's brichter her een,
Whilst the blush on her cheek is aye varyin' seen.
At length comes the sound that her flushin' explains,
A carriage rows swift ower the wee pebble stanes,
An' presently steppet familiarly ben
The squire, wha aye gies them a day noo an' then;
O' a son an' a brither he acts aye the part,
But a feelin' mair deep has ta'en captive his heart.
In Jessie he sees a' that beauty o' mind—
Chaste, womanly, tender—a' graces combined:
That their hearts had companionship each only knew,
For virtue to virtue instinctively drew,
Till love, honest, ardent as e'er was confessed,
Based on highest esteem, rose brimfu' in ilk breast.
Sae the eve 0' the mornin' on which they noo meet
Saw the squire tell his love-tale, tho' no at her feet,
