Yorksher Puddin': A Collection of the Most Popular Dialect Stories from the Pen of John HartleyHartley, John
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Yorksher Puddin': A Collection of the Most Popular Dialect Stories from the Pen of John Hartley
Hartley, John
English language -- Dialects -- England -- Yorkshire; Yorkshire (England) -- Fiction
Joa pottered it aght, an' as shoo took' it shoo sed, "Nah, tha sees what
it is to be sharp.--Tha's done rarely this' mornin."
"Eea, aw see what it is to be sharp, an' if ivver yo catch me sharp
agean yo may call me sharp, for if aw had'nt run hooam 'fit to braik me
neck aw should ha had that shillin.--But it sarves me reight to loise it
for bein i' sich a hurry."
He wor as gooid as his word, an' he's nivver been known to hurry sin.
When he gate to be a man he fancied he wor i' love wi' a young woman 'at
lived claise to his mother's,--one at wor just as queer a karacter as
hissen, wi this difference, shoo could haddle her own livin wi weshin.
He tell'd his mother 'at he meant to ax her to have him somday, an' shoo
sed shoo wor feeared he'd think abaat it wol they'd be booath too old;
but he did'nt, for he met her one day an' he ax'd her if shoo'd nivver
thowt o' sich a thing?
"Nay," shoo sed, "sich a thowt's nivver entered mi heead, an' if it had
aw should nivver ha' thawt o' thee,--but awm i' noa hurry to get wed."
"Noa moor am aw," he sed, "but aw thawt awd mention it, an' tha can tak
thi own time,--all aw want to know is, if tha'll have me when tha's made
up thi mind?"
"Tha'd suit me weel enuff Joa, if tha'd owt to do, but aw can't wesh to
keep misen an' have thee sittin o' th' harstun for a ornament, thar't
hardly gooid lukkin enuff for that;--if tha'll stir thisen an' get some
wark awl tawk to thi."
Soa Joa left her to consider on it, an' he determined to try if he
could'nt find summat to do. As he wor creepin on a chap ovvertuk him an
says, "What are ta up to nah, Joa?"
"Awm seekin wark!"
"Why, if tha keeps on at that speed awm feeard tha'll nivver find ony,
for if it wur anent thi tha could'nt ovvertak it.
"Awm nooan tryin to ovvertak it,--but tha sees if ther's ony comin
behund it'll have a chonce o' overtakkin me, an' if aw wor go in faster
it might think aw wor tryin to get aght o'th' way on it: an' whativer
fowk may say, awm net one o' them 'ats feeard o' wark, for aw nivver put
misen aght oth' way to shirk owt yet."
"Noa, nor to seek owt nawther; but aw heeard ov a job this mornin at'll
just suit thi."
"What wor it?"
"Old Rodger wants a chap to drive his heears, an' its just the job for
thee, for th' horse knows th' way to th' Cemetary, an' tha'll have nowt
to do but sit o'th box. Tha'd better see after it."
"Aw think aw will sometime this afternooin," he sed, "aw could just
manage that sooart o' wark."
"Tha'd better goa nah if tha meeans to luk after it, or tha may be too
lat,--but gooid mornin, aw hav'nt time to stand here ony longer."
"Aw doant know whether to believe him or net," he sed, "for aw think
he's nooan reight in his heead, or he'd nivver ha' spokken abaat
standin' here when we've been walkin' all th' time. But ther can be noa
harm i' gooin to see after it, an' if aw get it, Abergil can have noa
excuse for refusin' me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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