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Till floating o'er the grassy sea
Came down that kindly message free,
The "Brides of Mavis Enderby."

Then some looked up into the sky,
And all along where Lindis flows
To where the goodly vessels lie,

And where the lordly steeple shows. They said, "And why should this thing be? What danger lowers by land or sea?

They ring the tune of Enderby!

"For evil news from Mablethorpe,

Of pirate galleys warping down;

For ships ashore beyond the scorpe,

They have not spared to wake the town:

But while the west bin red to see,
And storms be none, and pirates flee,
Why ring 'The Brides of Enderby'?"

I looked without, and lo! my son

Came riding down with might and main:

He raised a shout as he drew on,
Till all the welkin rang again,

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth!"

(A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath my son's wife, Elizabeth.)

Than

"The old sea wall (he cried) is down,

The rising tide comes on apace, And boats adrift in yonder town

Go sailing up the market-place."

He shook as one that looks on death:

"God save you, mother!" straight he saith; "Where is my wife, Elizabeth?"

"Good son, where Lindis winds away,

With her two bairns I marked her long;

And ere yon bells began to play
Afar I heard her milking song."
He looked across the grassy lea,
To right, to left, "Ho Enderby!”
They rang "The Brides of Enderby!"

With that he cried and beat his breast;
For, lo! along the river's bed,
A mighty current reared his crest,

And up the Lindis raging sped,
It swept with thunderous noises loud;
Shaped like a curling snow-white cloud,
Or like a demon in a shroud.

So far, so fast the current drave,

The heart had hardly time to beat,

Before a shallow seething wave

Sobbed in the grasses at our feet:

The feet had hardly time to flee
Before it brake against the knee,
And all the world was in the sea.

Upon the roof we sat that night,

The noise of bells went sweeping by;

I marked the lofty beacon light

Stream from the church tower, red and high

A lurid mark and dread to see;

And awesome bells they were to me,

That in the dark rang "Enderby."

They rang the sailor lads to guide
From roof to roof who fearless rowed;

And I

my son was at my side,

And yet the ruddy beacon glowed;

And yet he moaned beneath his breath, "O come in life, or come in death!

O lost! my love, Elizabeth."

And didst thou visit him no more?

Thou didst, thou didst, my daughter dear;

The waters laid thee at his door,

Ere yet the early dawn was clear.

Thy pretty bairns in fast embrace,
The lifted sun shone on thy face,
Down drifted to thy dwelling-place.

That flow strewed wrecks about the grass,

That ebb swept out the flocks to sea; A fatal ebb and flow, alas!

To many more than mine and me: But each will mourn his own (she saith). And sweeter woman ne'er drew breath Than my son's wife, Elizabeth.

I shall never hear her more

By the reedy Lindis shore,

"Cusha! Cusha! Cusha!" calling, Ere the early dews be falling;

I shall never hear her song, "Cusha! Cusha!" all along,

Where the sunny Lindis floweth,

Goeth, floweth;

From the meads where melic groweth, When the water winding down,

Onward floweth to the town.

I shall never see her more

Where the reeds and rushes quiver,
Shiver, quiver;

Stand beside the sobbing river,
Sobbing, throbbing, in its falling
To the sandy lonesome shore;
I shall never hear her calling,

“Leave your meadow grasses mellow,

Mellow; mellow;

Quit your cowslips, cowslips yellow;
Come up, Whitefoot, come up, Lightfoot;
Quit your pipes of parsley hollow,
Hollow, hollow;

Come up, Lightfoot, rise and follow;
Lightfoot, Whitefoot,

From the clovers lift your head;

Come up, Jetty, follow, follow,

Jetty, to the milking shed."

Jean Ingelow

And shortly after Uncle Jack had finished, the train drew into Halifax station.

TO THE PUPIL:

1. Melic (měl ik) means moor grass.

2. "The Brides of Enderby" is an old English song.

3. Write five words having the suffix ous. Place after each its meaning.

TO THE TEACHER:

This work should be examined by you as you walk about the room, while individual pupils recite as you call upon them.

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