66
A NEIGHBOURHOOD INCIDENT.
"Do you know when his father wanted some bread,
One time, by the well there? Wasn't he old!
I mean that day when the blossoms were red
On the cliffs, and it wasn't so very cold"—
"And I gave him the little I well could spare
When I looked at his face and hair.
One time, by the well there? Wasn't he old!
I mean that day when the blossoms were red
On the cliffs, and it wasn't so very cold"—
"And I gave him the little I well could spare
When I looked at his face and hair.
"Then we met him once—it was almost night—
Out looking for berries among the briers,
(So withered and weird, such a piteous sight!)
And gathering wood for their gypsy fires.
'No, the young man is no better. No, no,'
He would keep on saying, so low."
Out looking for berries among the briers,
(So withered and weird, such a piteous sight!)
And gathering wood for their gypsy fires.
'No, the young man is no better. No, no,'
He would keep on saying, so low."
"But the women there would not work, they say."
"Why, that is the story; but, if it be true,
There are other women, I think, to-day
Who will not work, yet, their whole lives through,
All lovely things from the seas and lands
Drop into their idle hands.
"Why, that is the story; but, if it be true,
There are other women, I think, to-day
Who will not work, yet, their whole lives through,
All lovely things from the seas and lands
Drop into their idle hands.
"But these would not work, so their brother—and ours—
Deserved to die in that desolate place?
Shall we send regrets and the usual flowers?
Shall we stop and see the upbraiding face,
Deserved to die in that desolate place?
Shall we send regrets and the usual flowers?
Shall we stop and see the upbraiding face,
