'I canna do better,' was aye my reply.
'Deed Rab,' quo my mither, 'for daffn' and playin'
There 's nocht ye can manage by nicht or by day;
But this let me tell ye, and mind what I'm sayin'—
Whare'er there's a will there is always a way.
'Just look at our preacher, when but a bit callan,
The ills o' cauld poortith he aft had to dree,
But to better his lot the poor chiel aye was willin'—
At schule and at wark ever eident was he:
Sage books he wad read, and their truths he wad cherish,