' church. First cooms t' choir lads i' their supplices,
an' happen a peppermint ball i' their mouths; then t' choir men, tenors
and basses; then t' curate, keekin' alang t' pews to see if squire's
lasses are lookin' at him, an' at lang length cooms t' vicar hissen.
Well, it's just t' same wi' t' birds. Skylarks wakkens up first, then
curlews, then blackbirds, robins, throstles. You'll niver hear a
throstle i' front o' a robin, nor a robin i' front o' a blackbird. They
mind what's menseful same as fowks do. At efter, mebbe cuckoo will begin
to shout, an' close behind him will coom t' spinks an' pipits an' lile
tits. Eh, deary me! but I've clean forgotten most pairt o' what I've
larnt misel about t' birds. They do iverything as reg'lar as if 'twere
clockwork.

"I wonder if you childer can tell me what is t' bird that ligs abed
langest?"

There was silence for a moment or two, and then Kester Laycock suggested
rooks.

"Nay," answered Grannie, "rooks are not what I sud call early risers,
but they're not t' last birds up, not by a lang way. T' last bird to
wakken up an' t' first bird to gan to bed is t' house-sparrow. An idle
taistrill is t' sparrow, wi' nowther sense nor mense in his head. But
theer, barns, I'm gettin' off t' track o' my story o' Janet an' t' way
shoo wakkened up t' birds wi' her wand.

"You see shoo allus knew whose turn sud coom next, an' wheer ivery sort
o' bird was roostin'. One minute shoo pointed t' stick to t' top o' t'
trees, an' then I heerd 'Caw! Caw!' Then shoo'd bring t' jackdaws out o'
their holes i' t' rocks, an' next minute shoo were pointin' to t' mossy
roots o' t' trees hingin' ower t' beck, while a Jenny wren would hop out
an' sing as though he were fit to brust hissen. An' all t' time it were
gettin' leeter an' leeter, an' I could see that t' sun were shinin' on'
t' cliffs aboon Malham, though Janet's Cove were still i' t' shade. I
knew my mother would sooin be seekin' me i' my cham'er, an' I started
wonderin' what shoo'd say when shoo fan' t' bed empty. I gat a bit flaid
when I thowt o' that, but I couldn't tak my een off t' lass wi' t' wand.
I were fair bewitched wi' her, an' I doubt that if shoo'd pointed at me
I sud hae started singin' 'Here coom three dukes a-rid in'.'

"Howiver, shoo niver clapped een on me wheer I was sittin' behind t'
stone. Shoo were thrang wi' t' birds were Janet, an' gettin' more
excited ivery minute. By now t' din were fair deafenin'; I'd niver heerd
aug