Behave yoursel' before folk, Ye tell me that my face is fair; Behave yoursel' before folk; Nor heat my cheeks wi' your mad freaks, Ye tell me that my lips are sweet; At ony rate, it's hardly meet To pree their sweets before folk. Gin that's the case there's time and place, But gin you really do insist That I should suffer to be kiss'd, And when we're ane baith flesh and bane, Ye may tak' ten before folk. From "Whistle Binkie, or the Piper of the Party; a Collection of Songs for the Social Circle"-a very interesting series of modern songs, edited by Alexander Rodger, and published by David Robertson of Glasgow, between the years 1832 and 1846. This work, from which we have copied, with the kind permission of the late Mr. Robertson, the admirable songs of Rodger and others, contains some hundreds of songs, mostly original, which present, in the words of the preface to the collected edition published in 1846, "a remarkable instance of the universality of that peculiar talent for song-writing for which the natives of Scotland have always been distinguished. THE ANSWER TO "BEHAVE YOURSEL' BEFORE FOLK." ALEXANDER RODGER. From "Whistle Binkie." CAN I behave, can I behave, Can I behave before folk, When wily elf, your sleeky self, In a' ye do, in a' ye say, Ye've sic a pawkie coaxing way, That my poor Can I behold that dimpling cheek, Whar love 'mang sunny smiles might beek, Yet howlet-like my eelids steek, And shun sic light before folk? Can I behave, can I behave, Can I behave before folk, That lip, like Eve's forbidden fruit, Sweet, plump, an' ripe, sae tempts me t'ot, Ay twenty times before folk! Can I behave, can I behave, That gowden hair sae sunny bright, Can I behave, can I behave, When ilka charm, young, fresh, and warm, An', oh, that pawkie, rowin ee, Ye own that were we baith our lane, Can I behave before folk? Could scarce desist before folk! But after a' that has been said, We'll hae a "blythesome bridal" made, For whereas then ye'll aft get ten, JEANIE MORRISON. WILLIAM MOTHERWELL, horn 1797, died 1835. I'VE wander'd east, I've wander'd west, But never, never can forget The luve o' life's young day. The fire that's blawn on Beltane e'en O dear, dear Jeanie Morrison, Still fling their shadows ower my path, As memory idly summons up The blythe blinks o' langsyne. "Twas then we luvit ilk ither weel, 'Twas then we twa did part; Sweet time-sad time! twa bairns at schule, Twa bairns, and but ae heart! "Twas then we sat on ae laigh bink, To leir ilk ither lear; And tones, and looks, and smiles were shed, Remember'd evermair. I wonder, Jeanie, aften yet, When sitting on that bink, Cheek touchin' cheek, loof lock'd in loof, What our wee heads could think! When baith bent doun ower ae braid page, Wi' ae buik on our knee, Thy lips were on thy lesson, but My lesson was in thee. Oh, mind ye how we hung our heads, We cleek'd thegither hame? And mind ye o' the Saturdays (The schule then skail't at noon), When we ran aff to speel the braes— My head rins round and round about, As ane by ane the thochts rush back Oh, mind ye, luve, how aft we left The simmer leaves hung ower our heads, The throssil whusslit in the wud, And on the knowe abune the burn For hours thegither sat Aye, aye, dear Jeanie Morrison, When hearts were fresh and young, I marvel, Jeanie Morrison, Gin I hae been to thee As closely twined wi' earliest thochts |