Ay,  ay  ;  you'll  do  well  for  yourself  in

the  end.
Ne'er  to  sign  a  blank  cheque  for  lover

or  friend.
Treat  the  dearest  on  earth  as  a  possible

rogue.
Trust    none    but     yourself — it's     the

wisdom  in  vogue.
The    counting-house   wisdom,  proper

for  those
Of  the  clerk  and  the  shopkeeper  kind,

I  suppose.
And  yet  I've  heard  say,  by  wise  men

in  my  day,
That  none   are   outwitted  so  easy  as

they
Who  reckon  with  all  men  as  if  they

suspect  them,
And  traffic  in  caution,  and  watch  to

detect  them.
But  no  doubt,  you're  wise ;  far  wiser

than  I  ;
Go   your  way,  then,  and  leave   your

old  mother  to  lie
In    the    death-grips    of    nature,    and

wrestle  it  out,
With  a  weight  on  her  heart  and  a  fire

in  her  brain,


102


Borland  Hall


In  death  as  in  life,  alone  with  her  pain,
Alone   with    the    devils    within   and
without.
A  minister !   Tush,  they  are  feckless

gear-
All  of  the  kind  now  I  see  or  hear.
I  have  been  kirk-going  all  my  life,
As  maiden  and  mother,  as  widow  and

wife :
It  was  the  thing  that  we  had  to  do.
Ever  as  Sabbath  or  Fast  came  due,
Girl  and  boy,  young  man  and  maiden,
Burning  with  passion,  or  sorrow-laden  ;
Though  why  we  did  it  I  never  knew.
Only  that  others  did  it  too.
For  the  Parsons  are  dumb  dogs,  turn-
ing round.
And    scratching    their    hole    in    the

warmest  ground.
And  laying  them  down  in  the  sun  to

wink.
Drowsing,  and  dreaming,  and  thinking

they  think.
As  they  mumble  the  marrowless  bones

of  morals,
Like  toothless  children  gnawing  their

corals.
