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The Old Bellringer


"Don't sound," old Job, the ringer, said,
    "No muffled peal for I,
But pull your lustiest, lads, instead,
    When I do come to die,"

'Till chaps at plough ten mile away,
    So loud the music swells,
Do hear and stop their teams and say,
    "There goes Long Barton bells."

For look, when they do show their powers
    And swing and shake the spire,
There hain't a peal can match wi' ours,
    "No, not in all the shire."

"I've rung they bells year in, year out,
    Since I was but a boy,
And loved 'em best when they did shout
    Like marning stars for joy."

"So toll, when I to churchyard go,
    No knell wi' mournful sound,
But ring 'em high an' ring 'em low
    An' ring 'em round an' round."

"An' send out all your j'yfullest notes
    When I do come to die;
But never let they tuneful throats
    Be sad along of I!"

Notes

From COUNTRY DAYS AND COUNTRY WAYS: Trudging Afoot in England, by Cicely Fox Smith, published by F. Lewis, Leigh-on-Sea, UK, © 1947, p. 45; first published by PUNCH magazine, Volume 182, April 27, 1932, p. 469.

The header graphic is the one that accompanies the poem in the book and is by E. A. COX, R.B.A.

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