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mine again; if they had but tellʻd me tutus, or prute no, I laid them oʻer my knee, and I comʻd crack for crack oʻer their burdies, like a knock-beetle on a harn web, till the red wats stood on their hips; this brought obedience into my house, and banished dods and ill-nature out of the door; I dang the deil out oʻ them, and dadded them like a wet dish-clout, till they did my bidding; but now the bairns are brought up to spit fire in their mitherʻs face, and cast dirt at their auld daddies: how can they be good, who never saw a sample of it; or reverence old age, who practised no precepts in their youth? How can they love their parents who gave them black poison instead of good principles; who shewed them no good example!
Now, after all, when a poor man wants a good wife, let him wale ane that has been lang servant in ae house, well liked by the bairns, and the bairnsʻ mither; thatʻs the lass that will make a good wife: for them that dauts the young bairns, will ay be kind to auld fouk an they had them.
