Awd Isaac, The Steeple Chase, and other Poems.
by John Castillo.
PREFACE.
The Author of the following Poems prefixes a "Preface" to them, lest he should seem to be wanting in respect to his readers, did he not comply with a custom which is universal. In doing so, however, he would eschew two kinds of Preface, viz: that in which the author arrogates to himself the merit of having produced a work entirely _new_, both in subject, and in manner of expression, and on that score claims the plaudits of his friends and the public;-and that in which the author professes to feel himself inadequate to the task of composing a book, but at the pressing solicitation of his friends, with great distrust of his abilities for such a work, he yields to their entreaties, and pleads his inability in mitigation of the critic's wrath. With respect to the former, the writer of the present volume professes not to offer to his readers any thing _new_, either as to matter, or to language; and as to the latter, the following pieces were most of them composed several years ago, at distant intervals of time, and were frequently perused by his friends long before he had thoughts of publishing them:-the character of his poetry is therefore pretty well known to those who are likely to become purchasers of his book; and it would be but a bungling apology did he attempt to shelter its defects under the plea of inability for his task.
It will be unnecessary to say much of the subjects sung of in the following poems. Though they are various, the author hopes they will all be found to contain a moral, which, if acted upon in common life, would direct the conduct to a beneficial end. Many of them are founded on facts which occurred in the writer's neighbourhood, and which he has endeavoured to turn to a useful purpose. Others are of an experimental cast, and are the breathings of the poet's heart when inflamed by Love Divine! It has been his constant aim to exhibit the workings of grace in the heart, its effects on the life, and the glorious futurity to which it conducts its possessor. For this purpose, he has seized on a variety of incidents known to many of his friends, which have furnished him with matter on which to graft a spiritual thought. Life in its spring tide, or when ebbing in death, home with its simple yet hallowed joys, a religious assembly rapt in devotion and love, a landscape endeared by the associations of youth or of kindred, a dilapidated church, a withering flower, a text of scripture-have supplied him with topics;-and he trusts that the doctrines which he has inculcated in connection with them will always be found to agree with the Word of God.
Of the "Dialect" in which some of the pieces are composed, the author deems it necessary to say a few words. It is well known that every county in England has its peculiarities of expression and pronunciation.
These peculiarities, though often unintelligible to persons brought up at a distance, are yet the native language of the common inhabitants; and there is, in their estimation, a point and power in them, which are not to be found in more polished periods. The author has availed himself of the dialect of his native county to convey to a particular class of persons some important truths, which may, perhaps, be more welcomely received because clad in that garb. There may, indeed, appear to delicate ears, a rudeness approaching to barbarism, in the dialect which he has employed; but what is wanting in polish, will, in the estimation of those for whom he writes, be more than compensated by force and vigour. Truth is truth-however humble the habiliments in which it is dressed: nor does it come with less power to the heart because conveyed in language with which those for whom it was intended are familiar.
Indeed, there is in that very _familiarity_ something which arrests the attention and affects the heart. Of the correctness of this view, the author has many times seen proof, in the interest with which some of the pieces in the dialect have been listened to, by persons whose education being limited they could not perhaps have appreciated the beauties of polished verse, but were at once arrested and delighted when the artless tale was narrated in their mother tongue. To make this part of the work as complete as possible, great care has been used to render the orthography correct: published specimens of the Dialect have been consulted, as well as living authorities, and no pains have been spared that could contribute to make it complete both to the eye and to the ear. A difference of orthography may occasionally appear, caused by the necessity of making a rhyme;-excepting a few rare instances of this kind, a standard has been adopted which has not been departed from. For the assistance of those who are unacquainted with the dialect of the North Riding of Yorkshire, a copious glossary is appended to the work, by reference to which the meaning of any unknown term or phrase will at once be seen.
The author prays that the blessing of God may accompany his work!
AWD ISAAC.
(PART FIRST.)
Yah neeght as Ah went heeame fra' wark, A lahtle bit afoore 'twur dark, Quite blithe an' cheerful as a lark, Ah thowght me-sel; Ah sat me doon, te rist a bit, At top o't' hill.
Fooaks just wur turnin oot ther ky;- A lahtle plain awd man com by;- "Cum set ye doon, gud frind," sez I, "An' rist yer legs;"
He'd beean a bit o' floor te buy, An' twea'r three eggs.
Ah fand him varry fain te stop;- His staff he set up as a prop;- His hooary heead he lifted up, An' thus compleean'd:- (Sum fragments ov a gud like feeace, Ther still remeean'd.)
"Yoo see," sez he, "mah deear young frind, Mah travel's ommost at an end; Wi' age mah back begins te bend, An' white's mah hair; Ov this warld's griefs, yoo may depend, Ah'v hed mah share."
His teeal tho' simple, it wur grand, An' varry gud te understand,- His stick steead up aboon his hand, T'awd fashion'd way; His cooat an' hat wur wether tann'd, A duffil gray.
"Ah think," sez Ah, "'at Scriptur sez, Gray hairs is honorable dress, If they be fund i'reeghteousness, By faith obtain'd; An' think, by what yer leeaks express, That praaze yoo've gain'd.
Wi' age it izzen't gud te jooak, An'ts ommost ower warm te woak, Sit doon, an' hev a bit o' tawk, O' things 'at's past; Awd men like yoo, hez seeaf beeath heeard An' seen a vast."
"A vast Ah hev beeath heeard an' seen, An' felt misfotten's arrows keen, As yoo remark, whahl Ah hev beean On this life's stage; It's sike a varry changin scene, Fra' yooth te age.
Hoo great, an' yet hoo feeble's man, His life at langest's bud a span;"
His history be thus began, Wi' teears te tell; An' if yer ears be owght like maane, 'Twill pleease ye weel.
"Lang sin' Ah lost mah wife," sez he, "Which wur a heavy cross te me; An' then mah sun teeak off tot' sea, A fine young man, An' Ah neea mare his feeace mun see, It's ten te yan.
Ah happen'd te be off yah day, A kind ov sweetheart, as they say, Com in an' teeak mah lass away, Wi' hoosin stuff; An' noo, poor thing, she's deead, they say, A lang way off.
It's noo neen yeear, an' gaain i'ten, Sin' Ah at t'bark wood joined sum men, 'Twur theer Ah fell an' leeam'd me-sen, I' spite o' care; Ah wur foorc'd te gie up theer an' then, An' woark ne mare.
Bud t'neeaburs hez beean varry gud, Or else lang sin' Ah'd stuck i't' mud, An' seea throo them an' t'help o' God, Ah gits mah breead; An' whooap they'll be rewarded for't, When Ah's law leead.
Bud seein all mah cumforts gooan, Ah didden't knaw what way te ton, Then Ah began te sigh an' mooan, Beeath neeght an' day; Ah bowght a Baable, an' began Te reead an' pray.
An' as Ah reead, an' as Ah preea'd, Ah thowght it thunner'd ower mah heead, An' offens Ah' wur sadly flay'd Wi' dismal noises, Sumtaames i' bed Ah thowght Ah heeard Some ungkerd voices.
A preeacher chanc'd te cum this way, Ah'v cause te ivver bless the day, Kind Providence leead me that way This man te heear; Ah, like a sheep, had geean astray For monny a yeear.
He sed 'twur t'luv o' Christ cumpell'd him, Bud seean as ivver Ah beeheld him, Ah thowght 'at sum kind frind hed tell'd him All mah heart; For ivv'ry word, like arrows pointed, Meead it smart.
Ah thowght, till then, 'at Ah wur reeght, Bud he set mah sins all i'mah seeght, At last Ah fell doon at his feet Wi' solid grief; Ah thowght Ah sud ha' deead afoore Ah fund relief.
Ah reeally thowght, if yoo'll beleeave me, 'At hell wur oppen te receeave me, Sum sed the Lord wad seean releeave me, He wur mah keeper; Bud all they sed did nowght but greeave me, An' cut me deeper.
Ah dreeaded th' Almighty's froon, An' wander'd greeatin up an' doon, Nowther i't' coontry nor i't' toon Neea rist Ah fand; Mah sins, like stars, did me surroon', Or heeaps o' sand.
Then varry seean t'repoort wur rais'd, An' all roond t'village it wur blaz'd, Awd Isaac, he wur gangin craz'd An' nowght seea seer; Mah cottage then for days an' days Neea sowl com near.
At thowghts ov ivverlastin pains, An' bein bund iv endless chains, Mah bleead, like ice, ran thruff mah veins Wi' shivrin dreead; Ah cudden't sleep, an' Ah forgat Te eat mah breead.
At last this gud man com ageean, For which mah heart wur glad an' fain, Just like a thorsty land for rain, Ah sat quite neear him; Whahl ivv'ry organ ov mah sowl, Wur bent te heear him.
Bud seean as Ah his sarmon heeard, A still small voice mah sperits cheear'd, An' Ah, that varry neeght wur meeade, A happy man; Te praaze the Lord wi' all mah heart, Ah then began.
Ah knew He hed mah sins forgeean, Whahl Ah hed in His prisance beean, An' that His bleead cud wesh me cleean, An' white as snaw, An' mack me fit wi' Him te reen Whahl heer belaw.
Sin' then, i' all mah conflicts heer, Ah flees te Him wi' faith an' preear, An' He, in marsey, lends an eear.
Thruff his deear Son; An' this is t'way, wi' whooap an' feear, Ah travels on.
Oft, when Ah thus draws neear te Him, He macks mah een wi' teears te swim, Then fills mah heart quite up te t' brim Wi' t'luv o' God; An' when Ah gets mare faith i' Him, Ah hods mah hod.
Sumtaames Ah'v hed yon beck te swim, An' monny a time this hill te clim, Wi' heavy heart an' weeary lim'
An' sweeaty broo; Bud all 'at ah can trist Him in, He helps me throo.
In all the straits ov life, sez he, Hooivver bare mah cubburt be, Wi' broon breead crust, an' woormwood tea, Or even gall, Whereivver Ah finnds Christ te be, He sweet'ns all.
Mah neeaburs all, Ah deearly luv 'em, An' oft Ah's foorc'd for t'repruv 'em Te seek the Lord Ah tries te muv 'em, Wi' heart sincere, Bud t'answers oft 'at Ah gets frev em, 'S quite severe.
Ah'v oft felt sorry te me-sel, Beeath greeav'd an' sham'd the truth te tell, When Ah hev heeard oor awd kirk bell Ring in te preear; Ah's flay'd 'at sum 'll hear't i' hell Upbreead 'em theer.
They'll sit or lig upon ther deead, An' tawk aboot all kinds o' treead, An' laff, an' lee, quite undismay'd, Till they've rung in; Sike fooaks te t' warld thay're owther wed, Or neear akin.
Sum sez ther priest's a stumlin block, He nivver leeads 'em on te t' rock, Like thooase 'at mends a threead-bare frock Wi' a new piece, He cares bud lahtle for his flock, If he gets t'fleece.
Bud oors, he is a Christian breeght, He preeaches Christ wiv all his meeght, Fills each beleeaver wiv deleeght, 'At gangs te heear him; An' therefoore ov his people's bleead The truth 'll clear him.
Ah'v heeard him tell 'em pat an' plain, 'At they mun all be boorn again, Or suffer ivverlastin pain, I' t'warld te cum; Bud if they'll flee te Christ i' time, For all ther's rum.