Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Songs of Scotland prior to Burns

TULLOCHGORUM. 221
In the days they ca' yore, gin auld fouks [could but get]
To a surcoat, hough-syde, 1 for the winnin' o't,
Of coat-raips weel cut by the cast o' their [shape],
They never socht mair o' the spinnin' o't.
A pair o' gray hoggers weil cluikit benew,
Of nae other lit but the hue of the ewe,
With a pair o' rough mullions to scuff through the dew,
Was the fee they socht at the beginnin' o't.
But we maun hae linen, and that maun hae we,
And how get we that but by spinnin' o't ?
How can we hae face for to seek a great fee,
Except we can help at the winnin' o't ?
And we maun hae pearlins, and mabbies, and cocks, 2
And som# other things that the ladies ca' smocks ;
And how get we that, gin we tak na our rocks,
And pu' what we can at the spinnin' o't ?
'Tis needless for us to mak our remarks,
Frae our mither's miscookin' the spinnin' o't.
She never kenn'd ocht o' the gueed o' the sarks,
Frae this aback to the beginnin' o't.
Twa-three ell o' plaiden was a' that was socht
By our auld-warld bodies, and that bude be bought ;
For in ilka town siccan things wasna wrocht —
Sae little they kenn'd o' the spinnin' o't !
TULLOCHGORUM.
The author of the following clever song was the Rev. John
Skinner, Episcopal minister at Longmay, Aberdeenshire. He
was a man passing rich with forty pounds a year, who never
1 Hough-syde ; that is, as long in the skirts as to reach the hams.
2 Varieties of female head-gear.