a little gal, but I
nivver h'ard her sing so sweetsome as she did then. Arter she'd
finished, she knockt sharp, and we went di-reckly. There she laa--I can
see her now--as white as the sheets she laa in. 'Father,' sez she, 'am I
dyin'?' I coon't spake, but my wife sed, 'Yeou're a-dyin', dear.' 'Well,
then,' sez she, ''tis bewtiful.' And she lookt hard at me, hard at both
of us; and then lookt up smilin', as if she see Some One.

"She was the only darter I ivver had."

JOHN DUTFEN.

Is it extravagant to believe that this simple story, told by a country
parson, is worth whole pages of learned arguments against
Disestablishment? {57} Anyhow, to support such arguments, I will here
cite an ancient ditty of my father's. He had got it from "a true East
Anglian, of Norfolk lineage and breeding," but the exegesis is wholly my
father's own.

VII.

Robin Cook's wife {58a} she had an old mare, {58b}
Humpf, humpf, hididdle, humpf!
And if you'd but seen her, Lord! how you'd have stared, {58c}
Singing, "Folderol diddledol, hidum humpf."

This old mare she had a sore back, {58d}
Humpf, &c.
And on her sore back there was _hullt_ an old sack, {58e}
Singing, &c.

Give the old mare some corn in the sieve, {59a}
Humpf, &c.
And 'tis hoping God's husband (_sic_) the old mare may live,
Singing, &c.

This old mare she chanced for to die, {59b}
Humpf, &c.
And dead as a nit in the roadway she lie, {59c}
Singing, &c.

All the dogs in the town _spook_ for a bone, {59d}
Humpf, &c.
All but the Parson's dog, {59e} he went wi' none,
Singing, "Folderol diddledol, hidum humpf."

VIII.
"MASTER CHARLEY."

A SUFFOLK LABOURER'S STORY.

The Owd Master at the Hall had two children--Mr James and Miss Mary. Mr
James was ivver so much owder than Miss Mary. She come kind o'
unexpected like, and she warn't but a little thing when she lost her
mother. When she got owd enough Owd Master sent her to a young ladies'
skule. She was there a soot o' years, and when she come to staa at home,
she _was_ such a pretty young lady, _that_ she was. She was werry fond
of cumpany, but there warn't the lissest bit wrong about her. There was
a young gentleman, from the sheres, who lived at a farm in the next
parish, where he was come to larn farmin'. He was werry fond of her, and
though his own folks din't like it, it was all sattled that he was soon
to marry her. Then he hear'd suffen about her, whic