192 FIELD AND HEDGEROW, 
COTTAGE IDEAS. 
PASSING by the kitchen door, I heard Louisa, the maid, 
chanting to a child on her knee: 
Feyther stole th’ Paason’s sheep ; 
A merry Christmas we shall keep ; 
We shall have both mutton and beef— 
But we won't say nothing about tt. 
To rightly understand this rhyme you must sing it with 
long-drawn emphasis on each word, lengthening it into at 
least two syllables; the first a sort of hexameter, the 
second a pentameter of sound : 
Fey-ther sto-ole th’ Paa-son’s sheep. 
The last line is to come off more trippingly, like an 
‘aside.’ This old sing-song had doubtless been handed 
down from the times when the labourers really did steal 
sheep, a crime happily extinct with cheap bread. Louisa 
was one of the rare old sort—hard-working, and always 
ready ; never complaining, but satisfied with any food 
there chanced to be; sensible and sturdy ; a woman 
who could be thoroughly depended on. Her boxes were 
full of good dresses, of a solid, unassuming kind, such as 
would wear well—a perfect wardrobe. Iler purse was 
always well supplied with money ; she had money saved 
up, and she’ sent money to her parents: yet her wages, 
until late years, had been small. In doing her duty to 
others she did good to herself. A duchess would have 
