[From Manx Quarterly, #14 Sep 1914]

On Reading the " Ramsey Courier."

Aw, bless me sowl, how good it is once more
To stand on Shallag brews and smell that shore !
Wis snuffs of wrack an' dullish from the Cress,
'Is good to br'athe, man, and it fills the breas'
Wis gennal thoughts and manny hearty thanks
For such-and for the feerin on the Fanks.
Aw man alive! 'is hard for me to think
That cughthie stuff they're callin' prenter's ink,
That up in han'fuls is so of'en tuck
And flung by f'las about them jus' like muck,
(Like Crinnel peltin' Curlad in the eye,
As gettin' back as good-aw, full and' bye!);
That such stuff brings me far from home the news,
An even gives a s'wint of Skallag brews,
Is wondtherful and r'aly hard to bate,
An' makes the "Courier" jus' a charmin' trrate.
Tha's sad tho'h 'bout the hunter an' his ferret;
A man that doesn't know them brews 'il gerret,
If he'll go cuttin' cappers wis the spade;
That sand is threatch'rous; he mus' know his thrade!
Ay, ay, boy; tho' there navar was such fun,
As jumpin' forty feet down on the run,
An' landin' in the sand theer to the wais',
Still, man, them brews `s a solemn kin' of place.
I've seen Niagara Falls, and, deed they're gran'.
An' yit, I b'lieve I'd r'aly rather stan',
On top of Shallag, wis an inshore win,-
A gale, that makes ye grip yer hat an' grin,
To near the ho'se Vundther an' mighty roar
Of waves that break like mountains on that shore!
Taukin' of views, I'd sit on owld Claugh Vedd'n,
Take in the flat Balcherrims, to the Lhedd'n,
The Curraghs, to Gob-e-vothy an' Ballaugh,
Along Lezayre to Ramsey, sooner by half,
Than eye the biggest shows I've ever seen-
No other country has the lek, man, veen!
They talk of "Plains of Heav'n," as seen somewheer ;
Sit down, boy, on Claugh Vedd'n; ye've got them theer !

GEORGE QUARRIE,
230 W., 116 Street,New York, U.S.A.