Oh, say not adieu, love.’”
To this the women answered from within in falsetto, with mournful voices:
“‘My father is sorry, my mother is sad,
And I am a maiden too kind by far
At such an hour my gate to unbar.’”
The men took up the first verse as far as the fourth line and modified it thus:
“‘And a handkerchief new, love.’”
But, on behalf of the bride, the women answered in the same way as at first.
For twenty couplets, at least, the men enumerated all the wedding-presents, always mentioning something new in the last line: a handsome apron, pretty ribbons, a cloth dress, laces, a golden cross, and even a hundred pins to complete the modest list of wedding-presents. The refusal of the women could not be shaken, but at length the men decided to speak of
“A good husband, too, love.”