The meal was soon over, and then Brightly sat up and began to whistle,
while Ju squatted upon the heather, her tongue lolling out, and her poor
little mongrel head following every motion of her master's body.
Brightly's only recreation was whistling, and he took the pastime
seriously. With his pinched face and big round glasses set towards
Brentor he piped away as hard as he could; first a ballad which he had
heard in an ale-house, then a hymn, and another ballad, and then the
favourite of all, Jerusalem the Golden. He whistled them all wrong, but
he didn't know it. For the time being he was happy enough, as he was a
contented soul, and his chief happiness was to be alone on the moor,
which then seemed to be his own property, with the scented garden of
heather and gorse about him, and the sweet wind blowing upon his face;
and they all seemed to be his own while he was alone. It was only when
he saw a cottage, or a farm, or a man approaching him, that he
understood they were not his own, but the property of the cottage, or
the farm, or the man approaching him, and that he lived only upon
sufferance, and might get into trouble for lying on the heather, and
smelling the gorse, or for permitting the pleasant wind to blow upon his
face.
After whistling he began to sing, making, it must be owned, a shocking
noise. He did not know the words of the ballads, nor more than a single
line of the Wesleyan hymn which children sing in procession upon chapel
anniversary day. Brightly had often listened as he tramped by, with his
full basket and his empty stomach, but he had never caught the Words
because the children gabbled them so in their hurry to get the religious
exercises over and attack the cakes and splits. "Jesu, Master, us
belongs to yew," he howled discordantly, while Ju howled in dismal
agreement, and began to whimper when her master went on to scream about
Jerusalem and dairy produce.
"I reckon that be the beautifullest tune as ever was sung," commented
Brightly, "I'll sing 'en again, Ju, and I'll get 'en right this time. I
mun sing him a bit stronger. I reckon the end o' the world can't be over
far off, wi' volks got so cruel wicked, and us mun get ready vor't."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account