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From that time the huſband and wife went church once every Sunday if they poſſibly could, and the man managed to look after the little ones while his wife was at church in the afternoon, and in the ſummer time they uſed to take a walk in the fields together, and after the elder children were in bed it was his cuſtom to fit and read to his wife, while she nurſed the little one to ſleep. In the courſe of a few years they had ſeveral children, but they brought them up to do something or other, as soon as ever they were able, and in consequence of their hoeſty, induſtry and cleanliness, the family was greatly noticed by the gentry in the neighbourhood, who frequently aſſifted them with their bounty in one way or other, so that they never after were in very great diſtress, but lived on the whole cheerful & happy.
IT happen'd on a ſummer's day,
A country laſs, as freſh as May,
Clad in a wholeſome ruffet gown,
Was going to the market town;
So blythe her looks, ſo ſimply clean,
You'd take her for a May-day queen;
Save ſtead of garland, ſays the tale,
Her head bore Brindy's loaded pail.
As on her way ſhe paſs'd along,
She humm'd the fragments of a ſong;