Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 2.djvu/94

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

82

'Twas bitter keen indeed, he said, But at home no fire had he, And therefore he had come abroad To ask for charity.
We met a young bare-footed child, And she begg'd loud and bold, I ask'd her what she did abroad When the wind it blew so cold;
She said her father was at home And he lay sick a-bed, And therefore was it she was sent Abroad to beg for bread.
We saw a woman sitting down Upon a stone to rest, She had a baby at her back And another at her breast;