Stray leaves from the portfolios of Alisander the seer, Andrew Whaup, and Humphrey Henkeckle

STRAY LEAVES.
109
SONG.
THE SPINNING O’t.
Air—* The Rock and the wee pickle Tow.9
When Adam first delved in his bonnie kail yaird.
And Eve tried her hand at the spinning o%
They never were troubled by factor nor laird
Their gear was their ain for the winning o’t;
Nae tax-grabber cross’d their bein hallan ava.
Their goods were na poinded by limbs o’ the law.
And though their hushing was scrimpitly braw.
They had a bit cozie beginning o’t.
They pu’d their ain fruit, and they stoo’d their ain kail.
The grund was a’ their’s to the gleaning o’t;
They made their ain maut, and they brewed their ain ale,
For gauger, they kent na the meaning o’t •
The beasts o’ the field were a’ at their command:
The hawk and the eagle wad pick frae their hand ;
The wild ass’s colt at their bidding wad stand:
Creation confessed their dominion o’t.
But times took a turn, and the pair gat a fa’,
Foul fa the Auld Thiee for that sinning o’t!
His fause loopy tongue maistly ruined us a’,
O had it been scaum’d to the skinning o’t;
For man, ever since, has been doomed by hard toil,
To scrape a scant meal frae a niggardly soil,
’Mid sweat and anxiety, grief and turmoil.
Through life, frae his very beginning o’t,
K