THE  DOCTOR  41?

That  there  wasn'  no  trouble  at  her  whatever
But  Tom  must  know.     "  Aw,  Tom  is  clever,"
She'd  say.     And  'deed  I  was,  surprisin' —
I  was  though  :  and  mortal  ^  for  advisin'.
And  now  I'll  tell  you  the  way  it  was,
And  what  them  divils  came  to  at  last.
You  see,  this  Willy  Bell  was  bad
To  the  very  backbone  ;  and  the  schoolin'  he  had
Done  him  no  good,  nor  like  to  do —
Just  a  quarter,  or  maybe  two,
At  the  CuUige  ^  there  ;  and  sthrouUin'  about
All  hours,  and  goin'  a  tumin'  out
At  *  the  masther,  that  wouldn'  have  the  lek ;
And  no  raison  he  would,  for  you  couldn'  expec'.
That  was  the  schoolin' ;  but  nathral  sharp
And  clever.     And  only  for  the  warp
Of  the  divil  that  was  in  the  very  stuff  of  him,
They'd  have  made  a  handy  man  enough  of  him.
But  the  dirty  turn-out ;  *  and  must  try  and  look  big.
And  up  and  got  the  Bigode's  ould  gig.
And  a  coult  that  had  hardly  a  shoe  to  his  foot.
And  the  Docthor's  mare,  and  to  they  were  put
The  way  two  bosses  ^  'd  be  goin'  a  yockin'
To  a  cart,  and  smackin'  the  whip,  and  cockin'
The  hat  o'  one  side ;  and  her  with  a  thing
Like  a  bugle,  and  blowin'  astonishin' !
And  the  pair  like  brass  ;  and  the  fuss-rate  it  'd  be
To  go  down  to  the  CuUige,  and  let  them  see  !
And  started,  I  tell  ye,  from  the  Lhen,
And  into  the  hedge  and  out  again.
And  scorin'  all  the  road  like  a  herrin'.
Till  they  come  to  the  Ballabeg ;  and  gerrin'  ^
Locked  with  the  Port-le-Moirey  car.
