Metrical tales, and other poems; - Electric Scotland

UNCLE DAN, AND THE PENTLAND FIETH PILOT. 83
Nor ever again was my Uncle Dan
The pilot he'd wont to be
He would never climb to a stranger's deck,
Nor hear of a double fee.
He pulled an oar with a feebler stroke.
And steered with unsteady hand ;
He was ever the last to put to sea.
And the first to spring to land.
- He never went west of the " Men of Mey,
Nor into the open seas.
But he shivered and shook in a nervous fit.
Like a saU in a ruffling breeze.
Some twenty years have passed away
Since my uncle stowed the oar.
And hoisted sail, to stand, as we trust,
For a fairer, happier shore.
And this was the last advice he gave
To myself and my cousins three
To "Eoh o' the Eock," and "Tom o' the Hole,"
And "Peerie Will," and me:
" Let Conscience stand at the wheel," he said,
"And Honesty heave the log;
Keep a sharp look-out on a Yankee ship,
And be sparing of Jonathan's grog;
" Beware of the wicked one whose nets
Are spread for the soul of man.
And whenever you think of a double fee,
Eemember your Uncle Dan."
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