Gypsy Carol.
The following carol was sung by Esther Smith, Gypsy, at Weobly in 1912:
1. On Christmas Day it happened so
Down in the meadows for to plough.
As he was a-ploughing on so fast.
Up came sweet Jesus hisself at last.
2. “O man, O man, what makes thee plough
So hard upon the Lord’s birthday?”
The farmer answered him with speed,
“For the plough this day I have great need.”
3. His arms did quaver to and fro,
His arms did quaver, he could not plough.
For the ground did open and let him in
Before he could repent of sin.
4. His wife and children are out of place,
His beasts and cattle were almost lost:
His beasts and cattle they died away
For the breaking of the Lord’s birthday.
The carol is sung to an old folk-tune, which has been noted from the singer by Dr. R. Vaughan-Williams.
OBITUARY.
In Memoriam—Lucy Catherine Lloyd.
1834-1914.
Miss L. C. Lloyd was born at Norbury, Staffordshire, of which parish her father, the Rev. W. H. Cymric Lloyd, was rector. She was barely fifteen when the family removed to the then infant colony of Natal, where Mr. Lloyd was appointed Archdeacon. When afterwards her younger sister married Dr. W. H. I. Bleek, the noted South African philologist, Miss Lloyd became a member of their household at Mowbray, Cape Colony, and assisted her
