Farm Festivals.

Otago Witness, Issue 1588, 29 April 1882, Page 26

Farm Festivals.

THE FESTIVAL OP REUlir^N ; • - j 08, • J THE GOLI>EN WEDDING. . Wake up, wife !— the black cloud of Night begins to fade, And far in the eaaj; The Morning his kitchen fire has made ; , ' ' ' And he is heating: red-hot his stove of iron-gray, ] And (-tars are winking and blinking before the light p'day,, „t , . , 1,. Mind you what I was-doin'. just fifty years ajjone ?— \ Brushing my Sunday raiment an"puttin' my b.eßt^plp ! on ; ' , 1 •• ' Clothin* myself in courage, so none my frightwpuld see ; , " ' . ' ,' I An' my qoward heart within, the while, was pounding '' to get-free! • • , ; : Ten'ini^e^ood an' bramble, and three-mile ,fieJd an He>v, ', ' j 'In the cold smile of morning, 111 1 walk, to marry you ;j ■• No horse had I but mv wishes—no pilot but a star ; ', •But my .boyish heart it fancied it hoaidt you from f afar I , <i , i So through the woods I hutried, an 1 through the' grass and dew,' An' Ut.tlo I thought 0' tiring, the whol«,of my journey , through; , ; \ , Things ne'er before nor after 4o so a man rejoice, i As on t}jo dny he marries the woman of his choice ! 1 And then our country wedding— brimful 0' grief an' jjlee, ■ , , ■ ' W'th every one a-pottin' an' jokin' you an' me ; Tho'trnod cheer wenti and came, wife, aa it eometimeß has done When clouds have chased each other across the Sum- , mer sun. ' There was your good old father, dressed up in weddin', shape, With all the homespun finery that he could rake an f crape ; And your, dear-hearted mother, the sunlight of whope smile ■ ' ; Shone through the showers oi tear-drops that stormed' her face the while; ,' , Also your sisters an' bro'hers, who hardly seemed to know , _ i How they could scare up courage to let their sistpr j;o ; 1 An' cousins an' ( Bchoolhouse comrades, dresaed^p in^ moe'in' (rim, ' • ! , With one of them a sulkiir* because it wasn't him ; 1 An' there was the good old parsoij, his neck all dpesssd jn white, • ' ' A bunch o' tejfts in h?3 left eye, a hymn-book, in his ■riirhfc ; ' ' . , I And the paeon's virgin daughter, plain an' seyerely pore, Wh'fl hoped we. should bo happy but wasn't exactly 1 • sure ; ' J ' f And' there was the victuals, seasoned with kind r]Bga> ds an' bye, ! And holly-wreaths with' breastpins of rubles up above ; Ad* there was* my lieart a-wondorin' as how such things could bo, '■ ' 1 And there was the world before us, and there was you .and me. 1 p Wake up, wife ! that gold bird, the Sun, has come io sight, And on a tree-top perches to take his daily flight I '< He is not old and feeble ; an' he will sail away, As hehas done so often sinco fifty years to-day. You know there's company coming— our daughters an' our sons ; There's John, and, James, and i/ucy, an' all their little ones ;' " „. And Jennie, Bho wjll be here, whq in her grave doth lie ' „ > (Provided company ever can cqine frora out tho 'sk<) And Sam— l am not cortain as he,will qoine, or not ; They say he is a black sheep— the wildo^t of thq lot Before a son's dishonour, it father's lovo stands dumb; But still somehow or other, I hope tlut Sam will come ! / ■ The tree bends down its branches to its children from above — 1 ' The S3 > is lord of the father, and rules him with his love ; And be will e'er bo longed for, though far they be apart. For the drop of blood be carries, that came from the fathei'a heai ' r • ' Wat" you, wife ! the, loud sun ha? raised the sweet Daylight, • ■, < A id B'i'c has dressed herself up in red and yollow and whit.l,; , She has dressed hejncff Jor us, wife- Jor our weddin'- , day once more— \ > ; And my soul to-day is younger than it ever was falore I < ''•<' ■• '__ ,» 'Farm, Festivals,' by Will Carleton, author of 'iFarm Ballads,' 'Farm LctrendH,' &c, ; DalUutyne, U»neOQ, <^nd 00,, Eillabljrgh and London, '