Garthowen | Page 6

soft
and low was the girl's singing, but clear and sweet as that of the thrush
on the thorn bush behind her.
"Give me my little milking pail, For under the hawthorn in the vale The
cows are gathering one by one, They know the time by the westering
sun. Troodi, Troodi! come down from the mountain, Troodi, Troodi!
come up from the dale; Moelen, and Corwen, and Blodwen, and
Trodwen! I'll meet you all with my milking pail."
So sang the girl, and the lilting tune caught the ears of a youth who was
just entering the farmyard. He knew it at once. It was a snatch of
Morva's simple milking song. He stopped to pat Daisy's broad forehead,
and Morva looked up with a smile.
"Make haste," she said, "or tea will be finished. Where have you been
so late?"
"Thou'll be surprised when I tell thee," said the young man; but before
he had time for further conversation, Ann's voice called him from the
kitchen window, and he hurried away unceremoniously.

Morva continued her song, for Daisy wanted nothing new, but was
contented with the old stave which she had known from calfhood.
Will Owens, arriving in the farm kitchen, had evidently been eagerly
awaited. Both Ann and Gwilym Morris came forward to meet him, and
Ebben Owens rubbed his hands nervously over his corduroy knees.
"Well?" said all three together.
"Well!" echoed Will, flinging his hat across to the window-sill. "It's all
right. I met Price the vicar coming down the street, so I touched my hat
to him, and he saw at once that I wanted to speak to him, and there's
kind he was. 'How's your father?' he said, 'and Miss Ann, is she well? I
must come up and see them soon.'"
"Look you there now," said his father.
"'They will be very glad to see you sir,' I said, but I didn't know how to
tell him what I wanted.
"'I am very glad to hear how well you get on with your books,' he said;
'but 'tisn't every young man has Gwilym Morris to help him and to
teach him.' And then, you see, when he made a beginning, 'twas easier
for me to explain."
The preacher's pale face lighted up with a smile of pleasure, and Ann
flushed with gratified pride as Will continued.
"'He is a man in a hundred,' said Mr. Price, 'and 'tis a pity that his
talents are wasted on a Methodist Chapel. I wish I could persuade him
to enter the Church.'
"'Well, you'll never do that,' I said. 'You might as well try to turn the
course of the On. He won't come himself, but he is sending a very poor
substitute to you, sir.'
"'And who is that? You?' said Mr. Price.
"'Well, sir, that is what I wanted to see you about. You know that

although we are Methodists bred and born, both my grandfather and my
great-grandfather had a son in the Church,' and with that he took hold
of my two hands.
"'And your father is going to follow their good example? I am glad!'
and he shook my hands so warmly."
"There for you now!" said Ebben Owens.
"'I will do all I can for you,' Mr. Price said, 'and I'm sure your uncle
will help you.'
"'Oh!' said I, 'if my father will send me to the Church, sir, it will be
without pressing upon anyone else for money,' for I wasn't going to let
him think we couldn't afford it."
"Right, my boy," said Ebben Owens, standing up in his excitement;
"and what then?"
"Oh! then he asked me when did I think of entering college; and I said,
'Next term, sir, if I can pass.'
"'No fear of that,' he said again, 'with Gwilym Morris at your elbow.'
But I'm choking, Ann; give me a cup of tea, da chi.[2] I'll finish
afterwards."
"That's all, I should think," said the preacher; "you've got on pretty far
for a first interview."
"I got a little further, though," said Will. "What do you think, father, he
has asked me to do?"
"What?" said the old man breathlessly.
"He asked would I read the lessons in church next Sunday week.
''Twould be a good beginning,' he said; 'and tell your father and Miss
Ann they must come and hear you.'
"'Well,' I said, 'my father hasn't been inside a church for years, and I

don't know whether he will come.'"
"Well, of course," said the old man eagerly, "I will come to hear you,
my boy, and Ann--"
"Not I, indeed," said Ann, with a toss of her head, "there will be a
sermon in my own chapel."
"But it will be over before eleven, Ann, and I don't see why you