The Faithful Shepherdess The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (Volume 2 of 10).
THE FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (Vol. 2 of 10) _Actus Primus. Scena Prima._ _Enter_ Clorin _a shepherdess, having buried her Love in an Arbour._ Hail, holy Earth, whose cold Arms do imbrace The truest man that ever fed his flocks By the fat plains of fruitful _Thessaly_, Thus I salute thy Grave, thus do I pay My early vows, and tribute of mine eyes To thy still loved ashes; thus I free My self from all insuing heats and fires Of love: all sports, delights and jolly games That Shepherds hold full dear, thus put I off.
And Jo shook the blue army sock till the needles rattled
like castanets, and her ball bounded across the room.
"Poor Jo! It's too bad, but it can't be helped. So you
must try to be contented with making your name boyish, and
playing brother to us girls," said Beth, stroking the rough
head with a hand that all the dish washing and dusting in the
world could not make ungentle in its touch.
"As for you, Amy," continued Meg, "you are altogether
too particular and prim. Your airs are funny now, but you'll
grow up an affected little goose, if you don't take care.
I like your nice manners and refined ways of speaking, when
you don't try to be elegant. But your absurd words are as bad
as Jo's slang."
"If Jo is a tomboy and Amy a goose, what am I, please?"
asked Beth, ready to share the lecture.
"You're a dear, and nothing else," answered Meg warmly,
and no one contradicted her, for the 'Mouse' was the pet of the
family.
As young readers like to know 'how people look', we will
take this moment to give them a little sketch of the four
sisters, who sat knitting away in the twilight, while the
THE FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (Vol. 2 of 10) _Actus Primus. Scena Prima._ _Enter_ Clorin _a shepherdess, having buried her Love in an Arbour._ Hail, holy Earth, whose cold Arms do imbrace The truest man that ever fed his flocks By the fat plains of fruitful _Thessaly_, Thus I salute thy Grave, thus do I pay My early vows, and tribute of mine eyes To thy still loved ashes; thus I free My self from all insuing heats and fires Of love: all sports, delights and jolly games That Shepherds hold full dear, thus put I off.