Folk-Speech of Cumberland and Some Districts Adjacent: Being Short Stories and Rhymes in the Dialects of the West Border CountiesGibson, Alexander Craig
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Folk-Speech of Cumberland and Some Districts Adjacent: Being Short Stories and Rhymes in the Dialects of the West Border Counties
Gibson, Alexander Craig
English language -- Dialects -- England -- Cumberland -- Texts
T’ way he gat his fadder’ advice was this. When t’ oald man fund ’at
he was gà’n whoar he cūdn’t carry his land an’ his morgidges, an’ his
mūnney, an’ his moiderment alang wid him—whoar they wadn’t dee him
mickle gūd if he cūd—he sent for Jobby Jinkison, o’ Jūrtinsyke, a smo’
farmer of his ’at hed deùn a gūd deal o’ bisness for him at fairs,
an’ markets, an’ seàles, an’ sec like, efter he’d growne ower frail
to git fray heàm his-sel; an’, says he, “Jobby, I’s leavin’t o’,” he
says, “I’ve meàd a fair scraffle, Jobby,” says he, “an’ I’ve gedder’t
a gay bit togidder, but I can’t tack it wid me, Jobby, an’ I’s wantin
to speak till thé’ aboot that pooar lad o’ mine, ’at it o’ hes to cūm
till. Nèabody kens better nor thee what he’s shwort on—nèabody kens
so weel hoo I’ve triet to git a bit o’ edication drūven intūl him,
an’ hoo lāl we’ve meàd on’t. Ya scheùlmaister said he was shwort o’
apprehension; anūdder, ’at he wantit ability; an’ a thūrd, ’at he hed
nèa capacity. If thúr hed been things ’at mūnny wad ha’ bowte, he sūd
hed them o’, but they warn’t. What God’s left oot we cannot o’ put
in, thoo knows, an’ we mūn sūbmit—we mūn sūbmit, Jobby,” says he,
“an’ mack t’ best o’ things as they ūrr. But I cūd súbmit better—I cūd
dee easier if thoo wad promish to leùk efter things for him when I’s
geàn. I divn’t want him to be idle o’ togidder, an’ sooa I wad wish
him to keep t’ Booin-leys iv his oan hand—it’ll give him sūm’at to
think aboot, an’ mack fwoke leùk up till him mair nor if he was deùin
nowte at o’; an’ I fancy ’at if thoo wad agree to deù o’ his buyin an’
sellin for him, an’ seàv him fray bein teán in an’ laugh’t at, I cūd
be happier noo. _Wil_’tè?” Jobby wasn’t a man o’ many wūrds, but he
said “I will, maister! I’ll dee o’ for him t’ seám as if ye wer heear
to worder it yersel’ an’ see it deùn. Wid t’ farms o’ weel set—wid t’
Booin-leys liggin i’ girse, an’ wid me to leùk efter his barg’ins,
I wad like to see t’ fellow ’at wad laugh at ooar Wiff.” “I believe
the’, Jobby—I believe the’, my lad,” says t’ deein man, “I leùk’t for
nēa less at thy hand. Fetch him in here, an’ I’ll tell him afooar the’
what I wis him to deù when I’s geàn. Wiffy, my lad,” says he, as his
son com in, leùken, as he thowte, mair sackless nor iver. “Wiffy, my
pooar lad, thy oald fadder’s gā’n to leave thee. Whey, whey, gūd lad!
it’s reet aneùf thoo sūd be sworry to lwoase sec a fadder, but divn’t
gowl i’ that way,” for Wiff hed brassen oot wid a meàst terrable rooar.
“I say I hev to leave thee, an’ that afooar lang. Hod thy noise, thoo
bellerin coaf, an’ hear what I’ve to say,” says t’ fadder, as he got
oot o’ patience at Wiff’s gowlin, an’ went back tūll his oald hard way
o’ speakin til him. “Stop thy beelin, I say, an’ lissen to me. I’ve hed
Jobby here browte ower, ebben o’ pûrpose, to mack him promish ’at he’ll
leùk efter thee when I’s away. Hod t’ noise on the’, wil’té! I’s leavin
the’ weel providit for, an’ o’ t’ land mūn be let but t’ Booin-leys;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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