We clamb the hill thegither,

And mony a canty day, John,

We’ve had wi’ ane anither:

Now we maun totter down, John,

But hand in hand we’ll go;

And sleep thegither at the foot,

John Anderson, my Jo.”

There wuzn’t hardly a dry eye in my head as I heard it, and I looked round to see how my Josiah wuz a-takin’ it.

But right behind that sweet singer wuz a man with a bagpipe, and after the melodious warbler had moved away he piped up, right under our winder, that screechin’, awful sound; and Josiah’s attention wuz all took up with him.

And there wuz a distant, dreamy look to my pardner’s eyes as he gazed onto him, of which I did not git the full meanin’ till bime-by—of which more anon.