When silver snow decks Susan's clothes
And j**el hangs at the shepherd's nose
The blushing bank is all my care
With hearth so red, and walls so fair
'Heap the sea-coal, come, heap it higher
The oaken log lay on the fire'
The well-wash'd stools, a circling row
With lad and la**, how fair the show
The merry can of nut-brown ale
The laughing jest, the love-sick tale
Till, tired of chat, the game begins
The la**es prick the lads with pins
Roger from Dolly twitched the stool
She, falling, kissed the ground, poor fool
She blushed so red, with sidelong glance
At hob-nail Dick, who grieved the chance
But now for Blind man's Buff they call
Of each encumbrance clear the hall
Jenny her silken 'kerchief folds
And blear-eyed Will the black lot holds
Now laughing stops, with
'Silence! hush!'
'Now, Kitty, now! what chance hast thou
Roger so near thee!' - 'Trips, I vow!'
She catches him - then Roger ties
His own head up - but not his eyes
For through the slender cloth he sees
And runs at Sam, who slips with ease
Such are the fortunes of the game
And those who play should stop the same
By wholesome laws; such as all those
Who on the blinded man impose
Stand in his stead; as, long a-gone
When men were first a nation grown
Lawless they liv'd..
And one man lay in another's way
Then laws were made to keep fair play