Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Legends -- England -- Yorkshire; Yorkshire (England) -- Miscellanea
"I went t' other day," said he, "to a gre-at meusic do at ou'd Mr.
Maude's at 'Atfield 'All. Nah! when I gat theare, a smart looking chap
o' a waiter telled me I was to goa into t' parlour; soa I follows efter
him doun a long passage till we commed to a big oppen place like, and
then he oppens a doo-ar, and says to me, 'Cum in!' soa I walks in, and
theare I seed t' place were right full o' quality (gentlefolks), and Mr.
Maude comes to me and says, 'Now, David, haw are ye?' 'Middlin',' says
I, 'thenk ye!' Soa then there comes a smart chap wi' a tray full of cups
o' tea, and he says to me, 'Will ye hev sum?' 'Thenk ye,' says I, 'I'm
none particular.' 'Why, then, help yer sen,' says he. Soa I taks a cup
i' my hand; and then says he, 'Weant ye hev sum sugar and cre-am?' 'Aye,
for sure,' says I; soa I sugars and creams it, and then there comes
another chap wi' a tray full of bre-ad and butter, and cakes like, and
says he, 'Will ye hev sum?' 'I don't mind if I do,' says I. 'Well,
then,' says he, 'tak sum wi' thy fingers.' Soa I holds t' cup and t'
sawcer i' one hand, and taks a piece of spice cake i' t' other. 'Now,
then,' thinks I, 'how am I ever to sup my te-a? I can't team (pour) it
out into t' sawcer, for boath my hands is fast.' But all at once I sees
a plan o' doin' it. I thowt I could hold t' cake i' my mouth while I
teamed (poured) t' te-a into t' sawcer, and then claps th' cup on a
chair while I supped my tea. But, bless ye, t' cake war so varry short
(crumbling) that it brake off i' my mouth, and tum'led onto t' floor,
and I were in a bonny tak-ing. Howsomever, I clapt t' cup and t' sawcer
onto t' chair, and kneeled me down on t' floor, and sammed (picked) it
all up as weel as I could; and then I sups up my tea as sharp as I
could, and gave t' cup and t' sawcer to t' chap who cumed round again
wi' his tray. 'Will ye hev some more?' says he. 'Noa,' says I, 'noa
more, thenk ye.' For I thowt to mysen I had made maugrums (antics)
enough, and all t' quality 'at war theare mun ha' thowt me a hawkard owd
chap. Weel! when tea were finish'd we gat to th' music, and then, I
promise ye, I war all reet, an' a rare do we had on it."
David was returning through a pasture one day in which was a furious
bull, who seeing old David with his red bag, made at him. The musician
did not fly; that would not comport with his dignity, and his bass viol
that he carried in the bag might be injured by a precipitate retreat
over the hedge. The bull bellowed, and came on with lowered horns.
"Steady!" soliloquised the musician; "I reckon that was double B
nat'ral."
Again the bull bellowed.
"I am pretty sure it were B," said David again, "but I'll mak' sure;"
and opening his bag, he extracted the bass viol, set it down, and
drawing his bow across the vibrating string, produced a sound as full
of volume and of the same pitch as the tone of the infuriated beast.
"I thowt I were reet," said David, with a grim smile.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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