"Syne" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... Friday (I write, observe, on Thursday night), I shall be much helped in the arrangements if you will send me your answer by a messenger (addressed here) on the receipt of this. Which would you prefer—that "Auld Lang Syne" should be sung after your health is given and before you return thanks, ...
— The Letters of Charles Dickens - Vol. 1 (of 3), 1833-1856 • Charles Dickens
... Albany, I'll hae a talk wi' him, and I'll get the captain sent there. In Albany there are bonnie lasses and rich lasses in plenty for him to try his enchantments on. There was talk o' sending him there months syne; it will be done ere long, or my name isna ...
— The Bow of Orange Ribbon - A Romance of New York • Amelia E. Barr
... gentleman was Colonel By! And did I write of lines three score About him, I could say no more. Howard and Thompson then kept store Down by "the Creek," almost next door, George Patterson must claim a line Among the men of auld lang syne; A man of very ancient fame, Who in old '27 came. One of the first firm doth remain, He is our worthy Chamberlain, Who ne'er in life's farce cut a dash On other people's errant cash; Who guards, as it is right well known, Better than e'er he did his own, ...
— Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants • William Pittman Lett
... a stranger was to marry the king's dochter, and showed her the man: and it was Nicht Nought Nothing asleep in a chair. And she saw him, and cried to him, 'Waken, waken, and speak to me!' But he would not waken, and syne she cried, ...
— Custom and Myth • Andrew Lang
... been thus sporting, it occurs to some bright young devil that it would be a graceful thing to sing "Home, sweet Home" to them, as they finish their meal. And "Home, sweet Home" leads naturally to "Auld Lang Syne," sung with ...
— Tell England - A Study in a Generation • Ernest Raymond
... that hand again Clasped lovingly in mine, I'd little care what others sought— That hand I held, lang syne! ...
— The New Pun Book • Thomas A. Brown and Thomas Joseph Carey
... "Auld Lang Syne," she retorted. "I want to forget the past. The old memories are distasteful. My only object in coming here to-night was to make the situation plain to you and to ask you to promise me not to—carry out your threat to kill yourself. Why should ...
— The Third Degree - A Narrative of Metropolitan Life • Charles Klein and Arthur Hornblow
... he, solemnly, "a guid man an' haly' was auld Paul. Unco puir, by reason o' seven bairns. I kennt the daddie weel. I mak sma' doubt the captain'll tak ye hame wi' him, syne the mither an' sisters still be i' the cot i' ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill
... first twa years I spent out here Werena sae ill ava'; But hoo I've lived syne; my freend, There's little need to blaw. Like fitba' knockit back and fore, That's lang in reachin' goal, Or feather blown by ilka wind That whistles 'tween each pole— E'en sae my mining life has been For ...
— The Cariboo Trail - A Chronicle of the Gold-fields of British Columbia • Agnes C. Laut
... here's a hand, my trusty fier, An gie's a hand o' thine; An' we'll tak' a right guid willie-waught, For auld lang syne.'" ...
— Bob, Son of Battle • Alfred Ollivant
... refrains of camp-meeting music, which have cheapened it, neither John Cole's "Annapolis" nor Arne's "Arlington" nor a dozen others that have borrowed these speaking lines, can wear out their association with "Auld lang Syne." The hymn has permeated the tune, and, without forgetting its own words, the Scotch melody preforms both a social and religious mission. Some arrangements of it make it needlessly repetitious, but its pathos ...
— The Story of the Hymns and Tunes • Theron Brown and Hezekiah Butterworth
... me, too," said Mrs. Arnot with a laugh. "Come, Laura, give us something simple. I have heard severely classical and intricate music so long that I am ready to welcome even 'Auld lang syne.'" ...
— A Knight Of The Nineteenth Century • E. P. Roe
... knick-knacks are so become a part and parcel of the house, so grown with it and into it, that you do not know they are chiefly rubbish till you begin to move them and they fall to pieces, and don't know it then, but persist in packing them up and carrying them away for the sake of auld lang syne, till, set up again in your new abode, you suddenly find that their sacredness is gone, their dignity has degraded into dinginess, and the faded, patched chintz sofa, that was not only comfortable, but respectable, in the old wainscoted sitting-room, has suddenly turned into "an object," when ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 57, July, 1862 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various
... of you will no doubt mind o' Dave Broonlee him that stoppit at Millend. Dave served his time as a draper, and syne he got a good job in a Lunnon shop. Weel, me and Will Tamson was walkin' along the Strand when Will he says to me, says he: 'Cud we no pay a veesit to Dave Broonlee?' Then I minded that Dave's father had said something ...
— A Dominie in Doubt • A. S. Neill
... In Auld Lang Syne I've heard 'em say My granny then she wore A bonnie Scottish Tartan Plaid In them good days o' yore; An' weel I ken when I was young Some happy days we had, When ladies they were dress'd so gay In ...
— Revised Edition of Poems • William Wright
... with ribbon of the same color, and fastened in front with a small amethyst set with pearls. For fanciful Flora had said: "Dear Mamita Lila, don't have everything about your dress cold white or gray. Do let something violet or lilac peep out from the snow, for the sake of 'auld lang syne.'" ...
— A Romance of the Republic • Lydia Maria Francis Child
... a dog o' me!' he said. 'He's hard-like, and hauds me oot, and gars me hing my heid, and feel as gien I wur a kin' o' ashamed, though I ken o' naething. But the bonny nicht comes straucht up to me, and into me, and gangs a' throuw me, and bides i' me; and syne I luik for the ...
— Heather and Snow • George MacDonald
... world'[2] (your parent taking the first), than from anything previously known of me on these shores.... We also sang (with a Chicago lady, and a strong-minded woman from I don't know where) 'Auld Lang Syne,' with a tender melancholy expressive of having all four been united from our cradles. The more dismal we were, the more delighted the company were. Once (when we paddled i' the burn) the captain took a little cruise round the compass on his own account, touching at the Canadian ...
— Charles Dickens and Music • James T. Lightwood
... therefore do no other than inquire for her husband. "Weel, Margaret, how is Tammas?" "None the better o'you," was the curt reply. "How, how, Margaret," inquired the minister. "Oh, ye promised twa years syne tae ca' and pray once a fortnight wi' him, and hae ne'er darkened the door sin' syne." "Weel, weel, Margaret, don't be so short! I thought it was not so very necessary to call and pray with Tammas, for he ...
— Anecdotes & Incidents of the Deaf and Dumb • W. R. Roe
... excelled in singing the sweet songs and ballads of old Scotland. Often amidst the hush of a still, quiet night, or even in the lulls between the roar of the blizzard or tempest, might have been heard the sweet notes of "Auld Lang Syne," "Annie Laurie," "Comin' Through the Rye," "John Anderson, My Jo," and many others that brought up happy memories of home, and touched for good all listening hearts. Another source of interest to the boys was for Mr Ross to invite in some ...
— Winter Adventures of Three Boys • Egerton R. Young
... things, I explored further. Strange to say, old acquaintance were all about me, and "auld lang syne" smiled out of every nook. There were two oval miniatures over the mantel-piece, of which I knew by heart the pearls about the high and powdered "heads;" the velvets circling the white throats; the swell of the full muslin kerchiefs: the pattern ...
— Villette • Charlotte Bronte
... in Malcolm, Verity needed no explanation. She had seen how things were from the first. She had once caught sight of Malcolm's face when Elizabeth Templeton had passed him so closely that her dress brushed against him. She had seen that look in Amias's eyes in the dear auld lang syne. ...
— Herb of Grace • Rosa Nouchette Carey
... will their tenants pyke and squeize, And purse up all their rent; Syne wallop it to far courts, and bleize Till riggs ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 17 • Alexander Leighton
... mony a day has since rollit ower me, and I am now but a dour carle, whose auld pow the roll o' time hath blanched; my bonnie Janet is gone to her last hame, lang syne, my bairns hae a' fa'en kemping for their king and country, and I ainly am left like a withered auld trunk, waiting heaven's gude time when I sall be laid i' the mouls wi' ...
— The Mirror Of Literature, Amusement, And Instruction - Vol. X, No. 289., Saturday, December 22, 1827 • Various
... waly, up the bank, O waly, waly, doun the brae, And waly, waly, yon burn-side, Where I and my love were wont to gae! I leaned my back unto an aik, I thocht it was a trustie tree, But first it bowed and syne it brak',— Sae my true love did ...
— The World's Best Poetry, Volume 3 - Sorrow and Consolation • Various
... my little son Jack, And bid the stranger stay; And we'll hae a crack for Auld Lang Syne, For the ...
— Saltbush Bill, J.P., and Other Verses • A. B. Paterson
... proved absolutely correct. The police were as good as their word. In due season they rounded up the impulsive Mr. Repetto, and he was haled before a magistrate. And then, what a beautiful exhibition of brotherly love and auld-lang-syne camaraderie was witnessed! One by one, smirking sheepishly, but giving out their evidence with unshaken earnestness, eleven greasy, wandering-eyed youths mounted the witness-stand and affirmed on oath that at the time mentioned dear ...
— Psmith, Journalist • Pelham Grenville Wodehouse
... was formerly much more in vogue than at present; for in days of "auld lang syne," the still was in constant requisition for the supply of sweet-flavoured waters for the purposes of cookery, scents and aromatic substances used in the preparation of the toilet, and cordials in cases of accidents and illness. There are some establishments, however, in ...
— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton
... a memoir prepared by Dr. Charles Rogers, published in Edinburgh in 1844 and reprinted privately in 1871. Dean Stanley, in his 'Memorials of Westminster Abbey,' accords to him the original of 'Auld Lang Syne,' which Rogers includes in his edition. Burns's song follows the ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 3 • Various
... laughed, an' syne he sang, An' syne we thocht him fou, An' syne he trumped his partner's trick, An' garred ...
— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling
... In hairt tane ony heviness, Or fro my plesans bene opprest; I had bene deid lang syne dowtless: For to be blyth me think ...
— Playful Poems • Henry Morley
... his violin again, and played "Home, Sweet Home," and "Auld Lang Syne"; and Phil fancied the violin was a bird, and sang of its own free-will, and thinking this reminded him how soon he would hear the dear wild birds in the woods, and he wondered if the fairies would ...
— Prince Lazybones and Other Stories • Mrs. W. J. Hays
... Browning Threescore and Ten Richard Henry Stoddard Rain on the Roof Coates Kinney Alone by the Hearth George Arnold The Old Man Dreams Oliver Wendell Holmes The Garret William Makepeace Thackeray Auld Lang Syne Robert Burns Rock Me to Sleep Elizabeth Akers The Bucket Samuel Woodworth The Grape-Vine Swing William Gilmore Simms The Old Swimmin'-Hole James Whitcomb Riley Forty Years Ago Unknown Ben Bolt Thomas Dunn English "Break, Break, Break" ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 3 (of 4) • Various
... recollections, and with a softened sense of remembrance of those failures and sadnesses and bitternesses that are linked with them. Now our cry must be "Forward!" for a page in the book of our lives is completely turned down, and we may imagine there is endorsed upon it, "Sacred to the memory of auld lang syne!" ...
— Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2) - or Settler and Maori in Northern New Zealand • William Delisle Hay
... syne." How touching it was! It brought tears to Jessie's eyes. She had learned it, when a child, far, far away; and it recalled her tribe, her childhood, her country, and her mother. I could see these thoughts throw their shadows ...
— Nature and Human Nature • Thomas Chandler Haliburton
... fashionable steps. The Seniors again form, and make the circuit of the yard, cheering the buildings, great and small. They then assemble under the Liberty Tree, around which with hands joined they run and dance, after singing the student's adopted song, "Auld Lang Syne." At parting, each member takes a sprig or a flower from the beautiful "Wreath" which surrounds the "farewell tree," which is sacredly treasured as a last memento of college scenes and enjoyments. Thus close the exercises of the day, after which ...
— A Collection of College Words and Customs • Benjamin Homer Hall
... composed another song, entitled "Dear old Bursley," which, however, they made the fatal error of setting to the music of "Auld Lang Syne." The effect was that of a dirge, and it perhaps influenced many voters in favour of the more cheerful party. The Anti-Federationists, indeed, never regained the mean advantage filched by unscrupulous Federationists with the help of the Silver Prize Band and a few hundred infants. The odds were ...
— The Old Wives' Tale • Arnold Bennett
... until I hit on the plan of reading it aloud to two or three other convalescents; just to see how they would like it. And as I read aloud, this book,—which on account of its apparent difficulty, and by reason of my education having been neglected, "lang syne," in respect to the Scotch language, an intimate knowledge of which I have not yet acquired "the noo,"—it gained my affection gradually, steadily, and increasingly. Though I could not have translated individual words and phrases, yet I instinctively understood them, and was delighted with ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98 February 15, 1890 • Various
... old friends, named Scobie and Martin, after many years separation, happened to meet each other in Ballaarat. Joy at the meeting, led them to indulge in a wee drop for 'Auld lang Syne.' In this state of happy feeling, they call at the Eureka Hotel, on their way home, intending to have a finishing glass. They knock at the door, and are refused admittance, very properly, on account of their drunkenness. They leave, and proceed on their way, not, perhaps without ...
— The Eureka Stockade • Carboni Raffaello
... few songs had been sung, several of the girls laid down their banjos, and after obeisance prepared to dance. Instead of being a sprightly performance to, lively music, "first ae caper syne anither," Japanese dancing is a very stately and measured performance, the body instead of the feet being most brought into requisition. With the aid of the indispensable fan the girls succeed in depicting many different emotions, and all with exquisite grace. ...
— Round the World • Andrew Carnegie
... the serious were o' opinion there was little service for sae mony, when the hail o' God's Word would gang in the neuk of a plaid. Then he wad sit half the day and half the nicht forbye, which was scant decent—writin' nae less; and first, they were feared he wad read his sermons; and syne it proved he was writin' a book himsel', which was surely no fittin' for ane of his ...
— Masterpieces of Mystery, Vol. 1 (of 4) - Ghost Stories • Various
... on the ocean, And our little sons and heirs From a natural emotion Wish the luminary theirs; Then a feeling hard to stifle, Even harder to define, Makes me feel I 'd give a trifle For the days of Auld Lang Syne. ...
— Green Bays. Verses and Parodies • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... of Lucknow, Moslem mosque and Pagan shrine, Breathed the air to Britons dearest, The air of Auld Lang Syne. O'er the cruel roll of war-drums Rose that sweet and homelike strain; And the tartan clove the turban, As the Goomtee ...
— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier
... on the 1st of November, 1838, the ceremony of his departure being hardly less imposing than that marking his arrival five months before. Troops lined the streets from the Governor's residence to the Queen's wharf, the bands playing "Auld Lang Syne" to express the regret felt at parting from a sincere and strong administrator, thus sacrificed to his enemies by a vacillating Ministry. At this last evidence of sympathy and appreciation the hauteur of the Viceroy relaxed, and, as he passed on board the frigate Inconstant ...
— Old Quebec - The Fortress of New France • Sir Gilbert Parker and Claude Glennon Bryan
... the world—my mother. Sometimes in my dreams of the 'auld lang syne' I almost see that dear little lady; she had a window just like that, with the foliage rustling over it just as this does. Never, mademoiselle, does that little morning-wrapper come up before my eyes without making me a better and ...
— Trifles for the Christmas Holidays • H. S. Armstrong
... courageous knichtis Agains the day dichtis The breest-plate that bricht is, To feght with their foue. The stoned steed stampis Throw curage and crampis, Syne on the land lampis; ...
— A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers • Henry David Thoreau
... on to the apples. And when I faced the barn I determined I'd whistle if I died in the attempt; but, boys, I don't believe anybody could have told that 'Yankee Doodle' from 'Auld Lang Syne.' I tell you my heart jumped when I passed the tumble-down old place; but it stood still when, as I marched up the plank-road, I heard a step behind me. I wheeled around in an instant, but there was ...
— Harper's Young People, January 13, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various
... of Synay is clept the Desert of Syne, that is for to seyne the bussche brennynge: because there Moyses sawghe oure Lord God many tymes, in forme of fuyr brennynge upon that hille; and also in a bussche brennynge; and spak to him. And that was at the foot of the hille. There is an abbeye of monks, wel bylded and wel closed ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries - of the English Nation. v. 8 - Asia, Part I. • Richard Hakluyt
... was 'Auld Lang Syne,'" said Gregg, "he has no ear whatever. But Moriarty would know it the ...
— General John Regan - 1913 • George A. Birmingham
... youngest, old or young," she cried, "nor they don't either. We're goin' to have some country dancin' an' then serve the coffee an' sing 'Auld Lang Syne,' an' it's my opinion we sha'n't be home 'fore two o'clock. Ain't it ...
— Country Neighbors • Alice Brown
... of wine! It was but twa days syne—wae's me for the cause—there was as much wine drunk in this house as would have floated a pinnace. There never was lack ...
— Bride of Lammermoor • Sir Walter Scott
... she mourns me dead!" thought he; but it was only the far-off village-bell, which sounded like the echo of music he had heard lang syne, ...
— Boys and Girls Bookshelf (Vol 2 of 17) - Folk-Lore, Fables, And Fairy Tales • Various
... being an idle boy lang syne; Who read Anacreon and drank wine, I early found Anacreon rhymes Were almost passionate sometimes— And by strange alchemy of brain His pleasures always turned to pain— His naivete to wild desire— His wit to love-his wine to ...
— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 5 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe
... bonny, bonny dell, whaur aft I wud lie, Wi' Jeanie aside me sae sweet and sae shy; Whaur the starry gowans wi' rose-dippit tips War as white as her cheek and as reid as her lips; Whaur she spread her gowd hert till she saw that I saw, Syne fauldit it up and gied me it a'; Whaur o' sunlicht and munelicht she was the queen, For baith war but middlin withoot my Jean! Oh, the bonny, bonny dell, whaur aft I wud lie, Wi' Jeanie aside me sae sweet and ...
— Poetical Works of George MacDonald, Vol. 2 • George MacDonald
... their hotel, and sat in the twilight with the windows open, and we made Anne and Clarence sing, as both could do without notes, but he would not undertake to remember anything with an atom of sentiment in it, and when Anne did sing, 'Auld lang syne,' with all her heart, he went and got into a dark corner, and barely ...
— Chantry House • Charlotte M. Yonge
... well soon as syne, you waste your breath, Sholto," said Earl Douglas, "and it ill becomes a young knight, let me tell you, to be so chicken-hearted. The next time I will leave you at home to hem linen for the bed-sheets. Malise is a licensed croaker, but ...
— The Black Douglas • S. R. Crockett
... load and unload cargo. Our friend the Scot had to leave us here, but we could not allow him to depart without some kind of ceremony or other, and as the small boat came in sight that was to carry him ashore, we decided to sing a verse or two of "Auld Lang Syne" from his favourite poet Burns; but my brother could not understand some of the words in one of the verses, so he altered and anglicised ...
— From John O'Groats to Land's End • Robert Naylor and John Naylor
... any news from home?" yelled a whiskered sergeant, jumping from a log where he was mending a rent in his pants, and giving me a hand the color of his favorite tan gloves in days lang syne—"Pretty tight work up here, you see, but we manage to keep comfortable!"—God ...
— Four Years in Rebel Capitals - An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death • T. C. DeLeon
... a verse of "Auld Lang Syne," with execrable attempts at part-singing, little Dan Lefferts, a dissolute house-painter, contributing a tenor that was ...
— The Boss of Little Arcady • Harry Leon Wilson
... luck! I was for usin' it long syne, but the old man wouldn't leave me do it. 'No, Cleena, thee's not so young as thee was, an' thee might be wantin' it for doctor's stuff,' says he. Twenty-five dollars! That'd pay the rent an' buy flour an' tea, an' what not;" and with cheerful visions ...
— Reels and Spindles - A Story of Mill Life • Evelyn Raymond
... twa hae wandered o'er the braes, And pu'ed the gowans fine; I've wandered many a weary foot Sin auld lang syne. ...
— The Trial - or, More Links of the Daisy Chain • Charlotte M. Yonge
... men joined the party again there were many inquiries and many hints as to the nature of the conference with their hostess, but the secret was only divulged to the two who were directly interested, and then the jovial gathering formed themselves into a ring, sang "Auld lang syne," and added "Will they no come back again?" which was specially intended to apply to the sailors. These formalities having been completed, the young mariners proceeded to say their farewells, and kissed and cuddled with astonishing rapidity ...
— The Shellback's Progress - In the Nineteenth Century • Walter Runciman
... great men to show their holdings, wherethrough he found many of the said lands in non-entry; the which he confiscate and brought home to his own use, and afterwards annexed them to the crown, as ye shall hear. Syne brought many of the great men of the isles captive with him, such as Mudyart, M'Connel, M'Loyd of the Lewes, M'Neil, M'Lane, M'Intosh, John Mudyart, M'Kay, M'Kenzie, with many other that I cannot ...
— The Lady of the Lake • Sir Walter Scott
... article will not permit even an enumeration of his wonderful poems; the world may almost be said to know them by heart. His "Cotter's Saturday Night," "Tam O'Shanter," "Bonnie Doon," "Auld Lang Syne," "Bruce's Address," "A Man's a Man for a' That," and many others that might be named, are likely to live for generation after generation; and his character as a man, although subject in many respects ...
— Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 7 of 8 • Charles F. (Charles Francis) Horne
... keep it up: Your song recalls my Villiam's "Auld Lang Syne," What time he came and (like an amorous bird That struts before the female of its kind, Warbling to cave her down the bank) piped high His cracked falsetto out of reach. Enough— Now let's to business. Nellibrac, sweet ...
— Black Beetles in Amber • Ambrose Bierce
... also probably picked up at Westminster much of the little knowledge of the world which he ever possessed. Among his schoolfellows was Warren Hastings, in whose guilt as proconsul he afterwards, for the sake of Auld Lang Syne, refused to believe, and Impey, whose character has had the ill-fortune to be required as the shade in Macaulay's ...
— Cowper • Goldwin Smith
... by any means, though every one in the school knew that Eric was not afraid. So sure was he of this, that, for the sake of "auld lang syne," he would probably have declined to fight with Montagu had he been left to his ...
— Eric • Frederic William Farrar
... sake, and my little Viola, and Auld Lang Syne besides, I was much hurt, and defended myself in a tone of pique which made Miss Woolmer smile and say she was far from blaming me, but that she thought I ought to count the cost of my remaining at Arghouse. And then she told me that the whole county ...
— My Young Alcides - A Faded Photograph • Charlotte M. Yonge
... the usual dance on New Year's Eve, the usual singing of "Auld Lang Syne" in two huge circles; and Jan would have enjoyed it all but for the heavy foreboding in her heart; for she was a simple person who responded easily to the emotions of others. Before she could slip away to bed Sir Langham cornered her again, conjuring her to "will" ...
— Jan and Her Job • L. Allen Harker
... Affable? I'll bet any man sixpence he was affable. Mind you, I don't speak from 'xperience," went on Mr. Wapshott, more in sorrow than in anger. "I don't dine out with Admirals of the Fleet. The Blood Royal don't invite James Wapshott to take a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne, for auld lang syne, my dear, for auld. . . . You'll excuse me, sir, some little emotion; Robert Burns—Robbie—affecting beggar, mor' specially in his homelier passages. A ploughman, sir; ...
— The Mayor of Troy • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... dumfoundered, was aye keeping his eye on them. So away they chewed, and better chewed, and whammelled them round in their mouths, first in one cheek, and then in the other, taking now and then a mouthful of drink to wash the trash down, then chewing away again, and syne another whammel from one cheek to the other, and syne another mouthful, while the whole time their eyes were staring in their heads like mad, and the faces they made may be imagined, but cannot be described. ...
— The Life of Mansie Wauch - Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself • David Macbeth Moir
... inspired thereby to exalted deeds in the present. We of America, eagerly busy jostling the elbows of To-Day, have not even a turn of the head for the haunts of dead men whom we honor. No tablets mark their homes; and indeed they would be of little profit to a country where mementos of "lang syne" are never spared, when the requirements of commerce or of real estate issue their universal mandate, "Destroy and build anew!" America shakes all dust from off her feet, even that of great men's bones; though indeed Boston, which is not wanting in esteem for its respectable antecedents, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 86, December, 1864 • Various
... throughout North Queensland a synonym for business ability, integrity of character, and kindness of heart. This reputation has not been dimmed by the passing of years. It is something of a pleasure to know Sir Robt. Philp, but it is a matter of pride to have known Mr. Philp "Lang Syne," when men of ability, character, and generosity were not rare or difficult ...
— Reminiscences of Queensland - 1862-1869 • William Henry Corfield
... inscription in contemporary MS. occurs on the reverse of the Old Testament title to a Cranmer's Bible of 1540: "Thys byble ys John Crogdens, Cytyzen and merchant taylor of London, dwellynge in Wattlynge Street at y^e syne of ...
— The Book-Collector • William Carew Hazlitt
... acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to min'? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And days o' lang syne? ...
— Familiar Quotations • Various
... Let's have a lively song now for variety," and the musician struck up a coon song, which they sang lustily. Then followed "America," "Auld Lang Syne," and "'Mid Pleasures and Palaces," the dear old "Home, Sweet Home" coming with intense sweetness and pathos to my listening ear. No sound disturbed the singers, and others filed quietly out when they had gone away. "God bless them, and give them a safe voyage home to their ...
— A Woman who went to Alaska • May Kellogg Sullivan
... wheat(1092) to be stored at the Bridgehouse, where ovens were fitted up.(1093) Mills for grinding corn already existed in the Thames hard by.(1094) The following year the plague raged to such an extent that every house attacked was ordered to be marked with St. Antony's cross, "otherwise called the syne of Tav,"(1095) and citizens were forbidden to attend the fair at Windsor for fear of carrying ...
— London and the Kingdom - Volume I • Reginald R. Sharpe
... soft silvery voice fell like a soothing melody upon the air, "My poor sister hath a sorrow that riches cannot heal, Give her time, Ghysbrecht; 'tis not in nature she should forgive thee all. Her boy is fatherless; and she is neither maid, wife, nor widow; and the blow fell but two days syne, that laid her heart ...
— The Cloister and the Hearth • Charles Reade
... preparing after-dinner speeches about Burns. The great globe swings round out of the sun into the dark; there is always midnight somewhere; and always in this shifting region the eye of imagination sees orators gesticulating over Burns; companies of heated exiles with crossed arms shouting "Auld Lang Syne"; lesser groups—if haply they be lesser—reposing under tables, still in honor of Burns. And as the vast continents sweep "eastering out of the high shadow which reaches beyond the moon," and as new nations, with their cities and villages, their mountains ...
— Adventures in Criticism • Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
... Winter, bidding me know that his master would speak to me: and that not coram populo, as I doubt not your lordship said at St. Leonard's College in St. Andrews, but privily. Thereon I rise and wait on him; to be brief- -brevis esse laboro, as we said lang syne—his lordship would have me to be of his backers in private rencontre with four gentlemen of ...
— Old Friends - Essays in Epistolary Parody • Andrew Lang
... of Scotland," "Life let us cherish," the "Easter Hymn," and two other hymns. Twenty years after (in 1878) after a very long period (nine years) of inaction, the charming apparatus was again put in order, the chimes being the same as before, with the exception of "Auld lang syne," which is substituted for "God save the Queen," in consequence of the latter not giving satisfaction since the bells have been repaired [vide "Mail"]. The clock dial is 9ft. 6in. in diameter. The original bells in the steeple were doubtless melted in the troublesome days of the Commonwealth, ...
— Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham - A History And Guide Arranged Alphabetically • Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
... that the blue sky," said the storekeeper whimsically; "there is yet the sunshine to be accounted for. This room did not look so bright half an hour syne." ...
— Audrey • Mary Johnston
... him again. And then he told him he was a fellow of the quest of the Sangreal, and how he had charge of the holy man to eat bread and water. Then said the Abbot: Our Lord Jesu Christ showed him unto you in the likeness of a soul that suffered great anguish for us, syne He was put upon the cross, and bled His heart blood for mankind: there was the token and the likeness of the Sangreal that appeared afore you, for the blood that the great fowl bled revived the chickens from death to life. ...
— Chronicle and Romance (The Harvard Classics Series) • Jean Froissart, Thomas Malory, Raphael Holinshed
... fellow-countryman Statius'. So Arch. 22 Ennius noster. Caecilius Statius, born among the Insubres, wrote Latin comedies which were largely borrowed from the Greek of Menander. The original of the Synephebi was Menander's [Greek: Syne pheboi] 'young comrades'. See Sellar, Rom. Poets of the ...
— Cato Maior de Senectute • Marcus Tullius Cicero
... gluttony and indigestion and expensiveness and quarter-day, and Christmas cards are a tax and a nuisance, and present-giving is a heavier tax and a nuisance. And we feel self-conscious and foolish as we sing "Auld Lang Syne." And what a blessing it will be when the "festivities" (as they are misleadingly called) are over, and we can settle ...
— The Feast of St. Friend • Arnold Bennett
... whose memory has had the felicity to merit the notice of Mr. Warton, in his History of English Poetry, from his having published his poem of "A Hundreth good Pointes of Husbandrie, imprinted at London, in Flete strete, within Temple barre, at the syne of the Hand and Starre, by Richard Totell, An. 1577." A copy of this first edition (probably unique) is preserved in the British Museum. A re-print of this singular literary rarity is given in Mr. Hazlewood's British Bibliographer. The subsequent editions of this curious book are ...
— On the Portraits of English Authors on Gardening, • Samuel Felton
... down amid demonstrations of approval. Then the first notes of "Auld Lang Syne" sounded on the piano, and the entire audience, led by the senior glee club, rose to their feet to join in that sweetest of old songs whose plaintive melody causes heart strings to tighten and eyes ...
— Grace Harlowe's Sophomore Year at High School • Jessie Graham Flower
... for body and mind, 'Tis sure to be some drowsy-looking house Whose easy landlord has a bustling spouse: He, if he like you, will not long forego Some bottle deep in cobwebbed dust laid low, That, since the War we used to call the "Last," Has dozed and held its lang-syne memories fast: 170 From him exhales that Indian-summer air Of hazy, lazy welcome everywhere, While with her toil the napery is white, The china dustless, the keen knife-blades bright, Salt dry as ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell • James Lowell
... started for the United States at four o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday, May 20. The departure proved a gala time, the harbor and shipping being decorated, and the other warships firing a salute. The bands played "Auld Lang Syne," "Home, Sweet Home," and "America," and the jackies crowded the tops to get a last look at the noble flagship as she slipped down the bay toward the China Sea, with the admiral standing on the bridge, hat in hand, ...
— The Campaign of the Jungle - or, Under Lawton through Luzon • Edward Stratemeyer
... six weeks syne. He stalked in about ten o' the night, and lifted half my plenishing. When I got up in my bed to face him he felled me. See, there's the mark of it," and he showed a long scar on his forehead. "He went off with my best axe, a gill of brandy, and a good coat. He was looking ...
— Salute to Adventurers • John Buchan
... that up long syne," said he, and the tear was at his cheek. "Let me go into it cannily at night-fall from the Cromalt end, when the boys and girls were dancing on the green to the pipes at the end of a harvest-day. Them in a reel, with none of the abulziements of war about me, but a plain civil lad like the rest, ...
— John Splendid - The Tale of a Poor Gentleman, and the Little Wars of Lorn • Neil Munro
... interest in its welfare, and his counsel was sought by its active members. On October 13, 1849, Mr. Charles C. Ingham sent him a long letter detailing the trials and triumphs of the institution, from which I shall quote a few sentences: "'Lang syne,' when you fought the good fight for the cause of Art, your prospects in life were not brighter than they are now, and in bodily and mental vigor you are just the same, therefore do not, at this most critical moment, desert the cause. It is the same and our enemies ...
— Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals - In Two Volumes, Volume II • Samuel F. B. Morse
... was passing by the farmhouse that very evening, and called there, as is often his custom. He found the two schoolmates still gossiping in the porch, and according to the good old Scottish song, "taking a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne." The Squire was struck by the contrast in appearance and fortunes of these early playmates. Ready-Money Jack, seated in lordly state, surrounded by the good things of this life, with golden guineas hanging to ...
— Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists • Washington Irving
... far-distant climes, when the tear gushes o'er For home, love, and friendship, that charm us no more, Oh! what on the exiles' dark sorrows can shine Like the rapture that flows at the songs of Lang-syne! ...
— Sketch of Handel and Beethoven • Thomas Hanly Ball
... canna be aught else!" decisively returned Peter. "How can they be? I ken for mysel'," he went on, "that if it was me, I wad hae been in starvation lang syne." ...
— The Underworld - The Story of Robert Sinclair, Miner • James C. Welsh
... aged couple are looking from "life's west windows" at a fast declining sun. A few short years and it must set for them. The festivities are usually planned and carried out by their descendants, who so far as possible summon to the celebration the friends of "Auld lang syne," the clergyman who performed the ceremony and any of the bridal party yet alive, and the dearest friends of the present. Invitations in the conventional form are printed in gold letters; often a monogram formed of intertwined initials ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter
... formed an enormous circle round the room and each clasping her neighbor's hand, all joined in the singing of "Auld Lang Syne": cowboy and Indian princess, Redskin and Scotch lassie, Canadian and Jap roared the familiar chorus, and having thus worked off steam retired to their dormitories and went to bed without breaking their pledge of good behavior. Rachel, returning from her round ...
— The Jolliest School of All • Angela Brazil
... it's my soul, minister, it's my soul, an' I'm a new creature. I'm new in the sicht o' God an' He's new in mine—an' I prayed this mornin', a thing I haena dune for mair than twenty years—an' the auld burn was sweet an' clear, like when my laddie's lips sippit there lang syne—I daurna speak His name ower often, but God is gey guid to ...
— St. Cuthbert's • Robert E. Knowles
... punch disappeared, Mr. Micawber became still more friendly and convivial. Mrs. Micawber's spirits becoming elevated, too, we sang 'Auld Lang Syne'. When we came to 'Here's a hand, my trusty frere', we all joined hands round the table; and when we declared we would 'take a right gude Willie Waught', and hadn't the least idea what it meant, ...
— David Copperfield • Charles Dickens
... arose to make a speech, that, the bonfire (which of course he called the 'bonner') being due at nine-thirty o'clock, there was little more than bare time left for 'langers and godders.' It cost me, who think slowly, some seconds to interpret that by 'langers' he meant 'Auld Lang Syne' and by 'godders' 'God Save the King.' I thought at the time, and still think, and will maintain against any schoolmaster, that the neologisms of my young neighbour, though not to be recommended for essays or sermons, did admirably suit ...
— On the Art of Writing - Lectures delivered in the University of Cambridge 1913-1914 • Arthur Quiller-Couch
... with "Pussy" in a lather, having been hunting for me all round Pretoria. We ate bully-beef and biscuit together in the old style. I took my pair down to water for the last time, "for auld lang syne," and noticed that the mare's spine was not the comfortable seat it ...
— In the Ranks of the C.I.V. • Erskine Childers
... domes of Lucknow, Moslem mosque and pagan shrine, Breathed the air to Britons dearest, The air of Auld Lang Syne; O'er the cruel roll of war-drums Rose that sweet and homelike strain; And the tartan clove the turban, As the Goomtee cleaves ...
— Successful Recitations • Various
... added young Harmar, "that I've a song here, which I wrote for one of the papers, in relation to Lafayette. It is arranged in the measure of the feeling melody of 'Auld Lang Syne.'" ...
— The Old Bell Of Independence; Or, Philadelphia In 1776 • Henry C. Watson
... parish minister in one of the wildest parts of Argyllshire. I refer to the Rev. Mr. M'Michael, who was chairman at the lecture. The old gentleman, who is remarkably hale in body and never melancholy at meal-time (as he slyly puts it), is prone to speak by preference of the events of "auld lang syne." He gave me a most vivid account of Professor John Wilson (whom, as I do not now live in Paisley, I may safely venture to call Paisley's greatest son), who was one of his teachers, and who, as "Christopher ...
— Literary Tours in The Highlands and Islands of Scotland • Daniel Turner Holmes
... ill to forgi'e, daddy. But it's a pity ye didna lat me lie, for maybe syne Mistress Catanach wad hae broucht me up hersel', an' I micht hae ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Vol. XV., No. 85. January, 1875. • Various
... bore you about the Scotch novels (as they call them, tho two of them are wholly English, and the rest half so), but nothing can or could ever persuade me, since I was the first ten minutes in your company, that you are not the man. To me those novels have so much of "Auld lang syne" (I was bred a canny Scot till ten years old), that I never move without them; and when I removed from Ravenna to Pisa the other day, and sent on my library before, they were the only books that I kept by me, altho I already have ...
— The Best of the World's Classics, Vol. V (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland III • Various
... him to measure the tree at the level of the ground, and entered the figures in a large and filthy pocket-book, all with the gravity of Solomon. He then thanked me profusely, remarking that such little services were due between countrymen; shook hands with me, "for add lang syne," as he said; and took himself solemnly away, radiating dirt ...
— The Silverado Squatters • Robert Louis Stevenson
... William, this man Mackellar; he buried him with his own hands—he and my father—by the light of two siller candlesticks. The other man is a familiar spirit; he brought him from Coromandel. I would have told ye this long syne, Sir William, only it was in the family." These last remarks he made with a kind of melancholy composure, and his time of aberration seemed to pass away. "You can ask yourself what it all means," he proceeded. "My brother falls sick, and dies, and ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. XII (of 25) - The Master of Ballantrae • Robert Louis Stevenson
... should mind on "auld lang syne," How Paradise our friends did tyne, Because something ran in their mind— Forbid—like Highland whisky, O! Whilst I can get good wine and ale, And find my heart, and fingers hale, I 'll be content, though legs should fail, And ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume II. - The Songs of Scotland of the past half century • Various
... is spilled from his trembling hand.) Hoot toot, woman! ye're, ye're—(Angrily) Ye auld beldame, to say such things to me! I'll have ye first whippet and syne droont for a witch. Damn thae stubborn and supersteetious cattle! (To SANDEMAN) We should have come in here before him and listened in ...
— The Atlantic Book of Modern Plays • Various
... studied in Edinburgh; was minister of the Free Church in Logiealmond and in Glasgow, and translated to Sefton Park Presbyterian Church, Liverpool, In 1880; wrote a series of idylls entitled "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush," and a second series entitled "The Days of Auld Lang Syne"; both had a large circulation, and a number of other works, religious as well as ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood
... of its old people, in the courage and industry of its young men, in the piety and purity of this group of innocent girls——" He flapped a white wing in their direction, and at the same moment Lambert Sollas, with his fierce nod, struck the opening bars of "Auld Lang Syne." ...Charity stared straight ahead of her and then, dropping her flowers, fell face ...
— Summer • Edith Wharton
... repeated by a score of other sharp voices running down the line, and then the two bands, and the men, and all the people in the windows, on the balconies and on the roofs (except such of us as had choking throats) played and sang "For Auld Lang Syne." Was the spirit of our mighty old Drake in his ...
— The Drama Of Three Hundred & Sixty-Five Days - Scenes In The Great War - 1915 • Hall Caine
... hae run about the braes, And pu'd the gowans fine; But we've wander'd mony a weary foot, Sin auld lang syne. ...
— English Literature For Boys And Girls • H.E. Marshall
... vexed? have we done aught amiss? Oh, relent! But—parent, thy hands grow colder! Say, with ours wilt thou let us rekindle in thine The glow that has departed? Wilt thou sing us some song of the days of lang syne? Wilt thou tell us some tale, from those volumes divine, ...
— Poems • Victor Hugo
... time in dancing and singing until St. Paul's clock struck midnight. Then 'Auld Lang Syne' was sung with enthusiasm and, after ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. CLVIII, January 7, 1920 • Various
... the rear of the Casino, is a fine group of figures in sandstone, called "Auld Lang Syne," the work of Robert Thomson, the self-taught sculptor, and a little to the southeast of this is a bronze statue of Professor Morse, erected by the Telegraph Operators' Association, and executed ...
— Lights and Shadows of New York Life - or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City • James D. McCabe
... table; at the other some Roman bust blackened and reddened to represent Guy Fawkes, whose night it was. The diners were linked together by lengths of paper roses, so that when it came to singing "Auld Lang Syne" with their hands crossed a pink and yellow line rose and fell the entire length of the table. There was an enormous tapping of green wine-glasses. A young man stood up, and Florinda, taking one of the purplish globes that ...
— Jacob's Room • Virginia Woolf
... and maybe no," said the old nurse. "The Gold o' Fairnilee may no be fairy gold, but just wealth o' this world that folk buried here lang syne. But noo, Randal, ma bairn, I maun gang out and see ma sister's son's dochter, that's lying sair sick o' the kincough* at Rink, and take her some of the physic that I gae you and ...
— The Gold Of Fairnilee • Andrew Lang
... your brother Davie cam' here, mair than a year syne, he just bid her pack her kist, and he and Troll Winans took her at daylight next morn to whar' she cam' frae. Elder Mackelvine made a grand exhort in the next meeting anent slandering folks; for Janet Caird was a gude text ...
— A Daughter of Fife • Amelia Edith Barr
... we had on our old blue checks; and Mary never minds anything when Armyn is there to take care of us. When they heard in the drawing-room what we had been doing, they made Mary sing 'Auld Lang Syne,' because of 'We twa hae paidlit in the burn frae morning sun till dine;' and whenever in future times I meet Armyn, I ...
— Countess Kate • Charlotte M. Yonge
... we skirt the edge of the basin again, until a stately dome rises up before us on the road, which, as we approach, we see is supported by columns, and based upon a gentle promontory overhanging the water. This is the "Music House," where the Prince's band were wont to play in days "lang syne." Here we stop, and leaving our jumper in charge of a farmer, stroll ...
— Acadia - or, A Month with the Blue Noses • Frederic S. Cozzens
... all been witnesses; and I attribute it all to our foray to Simprin. But" (the old man would add in conclusion), "would that the good old times were come back again, when I could meet Cunningham in the field; and he should find the hand that unhorsed him five and twenty years syne has lost but ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume III • Various
... the skilful khansamah makes up a punch with toddy spirit, hot water, sugar and limes, and they are "well content." After many years I see the few of them who still survive foregathered again in the old country, and one proposes to have a good brew of toddy for auld lang syne. If real toddy spirit cannot be had, what of that? Whisky is found to take very kindly to hot water and sugar and limes, and the old folks at home and the neighbours and the minister himself pronounce a most favourable verdict ...
— Concerning Animals and Other Matters • E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton)
... 3ong tamlene and of the bald braband, the ryng of the roy Robert, syr egeir and syr gryme, beuis of southamtoun, the goldin targe, the paleis of honour, the tayl quhou acteon vas transformit in ane hart and syne slane be his auen doggis, the tayl of Pirramus and tesbe, the tail of the amours of leander and hero, the tail how Iupiter transformit his deir love yo in ane cou, the tail quhou that iason van the goldin fleice, Opheus kyng of portingal, the tail of the goldin appil, the tail of ...
— Epic and Romance - Essays on Medieval Literature • W. P. Ker
... badly, and if Merton has any good in him he ought to show it now, when he has such a woman as your friend for a wife and companion. At all events, I have made up my mind—and this is another secret, Miss Affleck—to forget all about the past and do what I can to assist him. Not only for auld lang syne, for we were great friends at school, but also for his wife's sake. My only fear is that he will keep out of my sight, but perhaps I am doing him an injustice in thinking so. But as you will continue to see your friend, may I ask you to let me know should they at any time be in very straitened circumstances, ...
— Fan • Henry Harford
... nothing to do, Let me sit in the gloaming, dear granny, with you; The clock will soon ring us the hour of nine, Please talk to me, Grandma, of dear auld lang syne." ...
— Grandma's Memories • Mary D. Brine
... though! He must have been a real fine man," responded Geordie, warmly. "There's Gowrie's shepherd lost a wee lambie among the hills not lang syne, and when Gowrie asked him, when he came home, why he didna look about among the heather for it, he said he couldn't leave the rest, and that it was a puir sick beastie no' worth much trouble. But it was a nice wee thing for a' that, ...
— Geordie's Tryst - A Tale of Scottish Life • Mrs. Milne Rae
... the English Dancing-Master (1651), is generally ascribed to Robert Burns, but all that the Scotch poet did was slightly to alter parts of it. The same may be said of "Auld lang Syne," "Ca' the Yowes," "My Heart is Sair for Somebody," "Green grow the Rashes, O!" and several other songs, set down ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1 - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook • The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.
... holiday, when we are accustomed to gather our families together, old times have come back again, and our thoughts have been set to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne." The old folks were so busy at such times in making us happy, and perhaps on less resource made their sons and daughters happier than you on larger resource are able to make your sons and daughters happy. The snow lay two feet above their graves, but they shook off the white blankets ...
— The Wedding Ring - A Series of Discourses for Husbands and Wives and Those - Contemplating Matrimony • T. De Witt Talmage
... tell ye wha it'll be. I wonder I didna think o' 'im sooner. It'll be the lad Wilkie; him 'at's mither mairit on Sam'l Duthie's wife's brither. They bide in Cupar, an' I mind 'at when the son was here twa or three year syne he was juist gaen to begin the diveenity ...
— A Window in Thrums • J. M. Barrie
... was, I sigh, Desunt nonnulla! Years are creditors Sheridan's self could not bilk; But then, as my boy says, "What right has a fullah To ask for the cream, when himself spilled the milk?" Perhaps when you're older, my lad, you'll discover The secret with which Auld Lang Syne there is gilt,— Superstition of old man, maid, poet, and lover,— That cream rises thickest ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 11, No. 63, January, 1863 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various
... appear. In 'bridal scenes,' in 'banquets and in bowers!' 'Mid revelry and variegated flowers, Is where your mother Eve first felt their powers. The 'bridal scenes,' you say, 'we'd grace right well!' 'Lang syne' there our first parents blindly fell!— The bridal scene! Is this your end and aim? And can you this pursue, 'nor own your shame?' If so—weak, pithy, superficial thing— Drink, silent drink the sick ...
— The Communistic Societies of the United States • Charles Nordhoff
... foot a minuet or jig, And snoov't like ony whirly-gig; Which gars my jo aft grip my hand, Till his heart pitty-pattys, and— But laigh my qualities I bring, To stand up clashing wi' a thing, A creeping thing the like o' thee, Not worthy o' a farewell to' ye!' The airy Ant syne turned awa, And left him ...
— An Elementary Study of Insects • Leonard Haseman
... note to my edition of Mr. F. Smith's translation of the Baghobahar, 1851, I inserted the following "petition." "May I request some friend in India, for auld lang syne, to ask any intelligent munshi the exact meaning of panchon hathiyar bandhna, showing him at the same time the original where the expression occurs." To this request I received, a few months ago, a very kind and satisfactory reply from ...
— Bagh O Bahar, Or Tales of the Four Darweshes • Mir Amman of Dihli
... of my view, Her home or name I ne'er could gather, But aye sin' syne I sigh and pine For that sweet lass amang the heather. O'er the muir amang the heather, O'er the muir amang the heather, While vital heat glows in my heart, I 'll love the lass amang ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume III - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various
... up the bank, And waly waly down the brae, And waly waly yon burn-side Where I and my Love wont to gae! I leant my back unto an aik, I thought it was a trusty tree; But first it bow'd, and syne it brak, Sae my ...
— The Golden Treasury - Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language • Various
... she stepped to the head of the bed and drew apart the curtains, which opened in the middle—'I saw the curtain was open, and naething but blackness ahint it. Ye see, my Lord, ahint the bed-heid is the entrance o' the auld secret passage. The stanes hae lang syne fallen in, and closed it, but my Lord never would have the hole wa'ed up. "There's nae draught, Jean, or nane to mention, and I never was wastefu' in needless repairs," he aye said. Weel, when I looked that way, his face, down ...
— The Disentanglers • Andrew Lang
... might bring to you two. Would you stand here like this, friends good and true, with hearts tuned to the same feeling, a twelvemonth from to-night? There was felt a quick, childlike impulse for hands all round and such a singing of "Auld Lang Syne" as would have brought ...
— V. V.'s Eyes • Henry Sydnor Harrison
... insolence of a spoilt and favourite domestic;—"a braw time o' night and a bonny, to disturb a peaceful house in, and to keep quiet folk out o' their beds waiting for you. Your uncle's been in his maist three hours syne, and Robin's ill o' the rheumatize, and he's to his bed too, and sae I had to sit up for ye mysell, for as sair a hoast ...
— Old Mortality, Complete, Illustrated • Sir Walter Scott
... allude to the gathering of London Scots around St. Paul's to hear the midnight chime and welcome the New Year with the strains of "Auld Lang Syne," except to say that times have changed and Scotsmen are now lost in the swelling multitude ...
— Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan • Clement A. Miles
... we hope, how very jolly it has been to have them, and how sorry we are to see them go. We shall probably sing those typical English ballads 'Auld Lang Syne' and 'Will ye ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Dec. 26, 1917 • Various
... ken? The poor Hieland body, Dugald Mahony, cam here a while syne, wi' ane o' his arms cuttit off, and a sair clour in the head—ye'll mind Dugald, he carried aye an axe on his shouther—and he cam here just begging, as I may say, for something to eat. Aweel, he tauld us the Chief, as ...
— Waverley, Or 'Tis Sixty Years Hence, Complete • Sir Walter Scott
... mile as we will travel, twenty at the least by the path Haggis'll follow. Oh, ay, Haggis'll be all right. There's no fear o' him not turning up aboot midnight. He's no' quite ceevilised yet, for he canna mind a' the words o' 'Auld Lang Syne' and 'Rule Britannia.' But he's ceevilised enough to be dependable. You wait at the Old Crossing till we ...
— The Fiery Totem - A Tale of Adventure in the Canadian North-West • Argyll Saxby
... like Mary Lyon, Maria Mitchell, Emma Willard, and many others who have passed away. Upon the shadows and the silence broke Mme. Sterling's voice in Tennyson's 'Crossing the Bar.' And when this was over, as with one voice, the whole audience sang softly 'Auld Lang Syne.' ...
— Eighty Years And More; Reminiscences 1815-1897 • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
... the hurry and turmoil:—where North, half-booted and rough, Launch'd on the struggle, and Sidney struck onward, his cuisses thrown off, Rash over-courage of poet and youth!—while the memories, how At the joust long syne She look'd on, as he triumph'd, were hot on his brow, 'Stella! mine own, my own star!'—and he sigh'd:—and towards him a flame Shot its red signal; a shriek!—and the viewless messenger came; Found the unguarded gap, the approach left bare to the prey, Where through the limb to the ...
— The Visions of England - Lyrics on leading men and events in English History • Francis T. Palgrave
... Self-glorious she was, I fear, Coquetting rarely comes amiss, Though she might never love, with many lovers near! Grandmother often said to her, "Child, child!" with gentle frown, "A meadow's not a parlour, and the country's not a town, And thou knowest well that we have promised thee lang syne To the soldier-lad, Marcel, who is lover true of thine. So curb thy flights, thou giddy one, The maid who covets all, in the end mayhap hath none." "Nay, nay," replied the tricksy fay, With swift ...
— Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthropist • Samuel Smiles
... chimes at midnight, and partook of that "richt gude willie waucht" which tipsy Scotchmen, when they have formed in a ring, standing upon chairs, each with one foot on the table, hiccoughingly declare that we are bound to take for the sake of "auld lang syne." But George Cruikshank has done with willie wauchts as with bird's-eye and Killikinick. For many years he has neither drunk nor smoked. He is more than a confessor, he is an apostle of temperance. His strange, wild, grand performances, "The Bottle" ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 87, January, 1865 • Various
... me for its own one day. I sat alone in my rude little office, conning over again for the hundredth time strange chapters of a waif's experience,—reproducing auld-lang-syne, with all its thronged streets and lonely forest-paths, its old familiar faces, talks, and songs,—ingathering there, in the name of Love or Friendship, forms that were dim and voices that were echoes; and many an "alas," and "too late," ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Issue 11, September, 1858 • Various
... a party of young folks seized hold of the missionary, with the request, "Oh, teach us the A B C with music." Dragged and pushed, he entered one of the largest native houses, which was instantly crowded. The tune of "Auld Lang Syne" was pitched to A B C, and soon the strains were echoed to the farthest corner of the village. Between two and three o'clock on the following morning, Moffat got permission to retire to rest; his slumbers were, however, disturbed by the assiduity of the sable ...
— Robert Moffat - The Missionary Hero of Kuruman • David J. Deane
... the Bolan Pass I overtook most of the regiments of the Kabul-Kandahar Field Force marching towards Sibi, thence to disperse to their respective destinations. As I parted with each corps in turn its band played 'Auld Lang Syne,' and I have never since heard that memory-stirring air without its bringing before my mind's eye the last view I had of the Kabul-Kandahar Field Force. I fancy myself crossing and re-crossing the river which winds through the pass; I hear the martial ...
— Forty-one years in India - From Subaltern To Commander-In-Chief • Frederick Sleigh Roberts |
