Belyve, the elder bairns come drapping in,
At service out, amang the farmers roun’,
Some ca’ the pleugh, some herd, some tentie rin
A cannie errand to a neebor town;
Their eldest hope, their Jenny, woman-grown,
In youthfu’ bloom, love sparkling in her e’e,
Comes hame, perhaps, to shew a braw new gown,
Or deposit her sair-won penny-fee,
To help her parents dear, if they in hardship be.
Wi’ joy unfeign’d, brothers and sisters meet,