The Haunted Hour | Page 8

lyin' by.

When midnight came the mither rase--
She wad gae see an' hear.

Back she cam' wi' a glowrin' face,
An' sloomin' wi' verra fear.
"There's ane o' them sittin' afore the fire!
Janet, gae na to see;
Ye
left a chair afore the fire,
Whaur I tauld ye nae chair sud be."
Janet she smiled in her mither's face:
She had brunt the roddin reid:

And she left aneath the birken chair
The spale frae a coffin lid.
She rase and she gaed but the hoose,
Aye steekin' door and door,

Three hours gaed by ere her mother heard
Her fit upo' the flure.
But whan the grey cock crew she heard
The soun' o' shoeless feet,

Whan the red cock crew she heard the door
An' a sough o' wind an'
weet.
An' Janet cam' back wi' a wan face,
But never a word said she;
No
man ever heard her voice lood oot--
It cam' like frae ower the sea.
And no man ever heard her lauch,
Nor yet say alas nor wae;
But a
smile aye glimmert on her wan face
Like the moonlicht on the sea.
And ilka nicht 'twixt the Sancts an' Souls
Wide open she set the door;

And she mendit the fire, and she left ae chair
And that spale upo'
the flure.
And at midnicht she gaed but the hoose,
Aye steekin' door and door.

Whan the red cock crew she cam' ben the hoose,
Aye wanner than
before.
Wanner her face and sweeter her smile,
Till the seventh All-Souls
Eve
Her mither she heard the shoeless feet,
Says "She's comin', I
believe."
But she camna ben, an' her mither lay;
For fear she cudna stan',
But
up she rase an' ben she gaed
Whan the gowden cock hed crawn.

And Janet sat upo' the chair,
White as the day did daw,
Her smile
was as sunlight left on the sea
Whan the sun has gane awa.
HALLOWS' E'EN: WINIFRED M. LETTS
The girls are laughing with the boys, and gaming by the fire, They're
wishful, every one of them, to see her heart's desire, Twas Thesie cut
the barnbrack and found the ring inside,
Before next Hallows' E'en
has dawned herself will be a bride. But little Mollie stands alone
outside the cabin door,
And breaks her heart for one the waves threw
dead upon the shore.
Twas Katie's nut lepped from the hearth, and left poor Pat's alone But
Ellen's stayed by Christy Byrne's upon the wide hearthstone. An' all the
while the childher bobbed for apples set afloat, The old men smoked
their pipes and talked about the foundered boat, But Mollie walked
upon the cliff, and never feared the rain; She called the name of one she
loved and bid him come again.
Young Peter pulled the cabbage-stump to win a wealthy wife, Rosanna
threw the apple-peel to know who'd share her life;
And Lizzie had a
looking-glass she'd hid in some dark place To try if there, foreninst her
own, she'd see her comrade's face. But Mollie walked along the quay
where Terry's feet had trod, And sobbed her grief out in the night, with
no one near but God.
She heard the laughter from the house, she heard the fiddle played; She
called her dead love to her side--why should she be afraid? She took his
cold hands in her own, she had no thought of dread, And not a star
looked out to watch the living kiss the dead.
The lads are gaming with the girls, and laughing by the fire. But Mollie
in the cold, dark night, has found her heart's desire.
ON KINGSTON BRIDGE: ELLEN M.H. CORTISSOZ
(On All Souls' Night the dead walk on Kingston
Bridge.--Old

Legend.)
On Kingston Bridge the starlight shone
Through hurrying mists in
shrouded glow;
The boding night-wind made its moan,
The mighty
river crept below.
'Twas All Souls' Night, and to and fro
The quick
and dead together walked,
The quick and dead together talked,
On Kingston Bridge.
Two met who had not met for years;
Once was their hate too deep for
fears:
One drew his rapier as he came,
Upleapt his anger like a
flame.
With clash of mail he faced his foe,
And bade him stand and
meet him so.
He felt a graveyard wind go by
Cold, cold as was his
enemy.
A stony horror held him fast.
The Dead looked with a
ghastly stare,
And sighed "I know thee not," and passed
Like to the
mist, and left him there
On Kingston Bridge.
'Twas All Souls' Night, and to and fro
The quick and dead together
walked,
The quick and dead together talked,
On Kingston Bridge.
Two met who had not met for years:
With grief that was too deep for
tears
They parted last.
He clasped her hand, and in her eyes
He sought
Love's rapturous surprise.
"Oh, Sweet!" he cried, "hast thou come
back
To say thou lov'st thy lover still?"
--Into the starlight, pale and
cold,
She gazed afar--her hand was chill:
"Dost thou remember how
we kept
Our ardent vigils?--how we kissed?--
Take thou these
kisses as of old!"
An icy wind about him swept;
"I know thee not,"
she