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
"Well aw dooant know hah it is, what tha says saands reight enuff; but
what aw do know is, at tha's getten a rockstick, an' aw havn't getten a
penny."
"You see what it is to be a scholar," sed his mother; "but yo'st loise
nowt bi a child o' mine," soa shoo gave her t'penny an' coom away.
As they wor walkin on, Sammy put t'last bit into his maath an' sed,
"mother, can yo tell me why is old Sally like that rockstick?"
"Nay lad, awm sewer aw cannot."
"Becoss they've booath getten suckt."
"A'a, lad, dooant study soa mich, awm feeard strainin thi brain, but can
ta spell brain?"
"Brane."
"Nay, lad, ther's a I in it."
"Then aw must have three, if aw've two i' mi heead an' one i' mi brain."
"Aw niver thowt o' that, but tha'rt far too clivver for me, an' awst
nivver rest until aw get thi into a bank."
Now it soa happened 'at ther wor a man 'at had done business wi' Sammy's
fayther i' former days, an' after a bit o' persuadin he consented to
tak' him into his office, an' t'lad wor soa praad ov his place, 'at,
strange as it seems, he did begin to leearn a bit o' summate T'chap tuk
a deeal o' pains wi him, an' his mother's heart wor oft made glad wi'
hearin a gooid accaant of his gooins on. When he used to goa to his
dinner wi' a pen stuck behind his ear, an' his finger daubed wi' ink, as
if he'd been cleeanin' aght t'ink bottles, shoo could hardly keep her
arms off his neck, an' monny a time shoo'd sit watchin him as he put
t'puddin aght o' t'seet, wi' tears in her een, an' wish his farther wor
thear to see him. But his face grew whiter an' he didn't seem to have as
mich life in him as he used to have, an' this caused her a deeal ov
uneasiness, an' at last shoo decided to goa an' have a word wi' his
maister. Shoo went to t'office, an' they made a gurt fuss o' t'old woman
an' ax'd her into a private raam to sit daan.
"Aw've come," shoo sed, "to have a word or two abaat ahr Sammy; aw
should like to know hah yo think he gets on?"
"Better than we expected," he said; "he runs errands very well and his
writing is better than it was, but his spelling wants improving, yet we
think we shall be able to make a man of him."
"Well, if that's all aw think he'll get better on it, an' as for spellin
a word wrang nah an' then aw dooant see 'at that maks mich difference
soa long as yo know what it meeans. But what do yo think troubles him
t'mooast?"
"Well at the present time it's with the which's, but you must excuse me
just now for a very important customer has called and I must see him."
Soa he jumpt up an' left her. It didn't tak her long to get hooam, an'
as shoo'd allus been ov a superstitious way o' thinkin, her mind wor
filled wi' anxiety abaat her lad.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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