Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Alexander Hay Japp b. 1840

A Music Lesson

FINGERS on the holes, Johnny,

Fairly in a raw:

Lift this and then that,

And blaw, blaw, blaw!

That ’s hoo to play, Johnny,

On the pipes sae shrill:

Never was the piper yet

But needit a’ his skill.

And lang and sair he tried it, tae,

Afore he wan the knack

O’ making bag and pipe gie

His verra yearnin’s back.

The echo tae his heart-strings

Frae sic a thing to come;

Oh, is it no a wonder—

Like a voice frae out the dumb?

Tak’ tentie, noo, my Johnny lad,

Ye mauna hurry thro’,

Tak’ time and try it ower again—

Sic a blast ye blew!

It ’s no alane by blawing strang,

But eke by blawing true,

That ye can mak’ the music

To thrill folk thro’ and thro’.

The waik folk and the learnin’,

’T is them that mak’s the din;

But for the finish’d pipers

They count it as a sin:

And maybe it ’s the verra same

A’ the warld thro’,

The learners are the verra ones

That mak’ the most ado!

Ye ken the Southrons taunt us—

I sayna they ’re unfair—

Aboot oor squallin’ music,

And their taunts hae hurt me sair;

But if they’d heard a piper true

At nicht come ower the hill,

Playin’ up a pibroch

Upon the wind sae still:

Risin’ noo, and fallin’ noo,

And floatin’ on the air,

The sounds come saftly on ye

Amaist ere ye ’re aware,

And wind themsels aboot the heart,

That hasna yet forgot

The witchery o’ love and joy

Within some lanely spot:

I ’m sure they wadna taunt us sae,

Nor say the bagpipe’s wild,

Nor speak o’ screachin’ noises

Enuch to deave a child:

They would say the bagpipe only

Is the voice of hill and glen;

And would listen to it sorrowing,

Within the haunts of men.

Fingers on the holes, Johnny,

Fairly in a raw:

Lift this and then that,

And blaw, blaw, blaw!

That ’s hoo to play, Johnny,

On the pipes sae shrill:

Never was the piper yet

But needit a’ his skill.