Midsummer eve

James J. Guthrie (1874-1952), a Scotsman who moved to London as a child, founded Pear Tree Press in 1899. His press took its name from Pear Tree Cottage in Ingrave, Essex, England, where Guthrie was living. From there Guthrie moved the press several times, finally settling in Harting in Sussex in 1907. Guthrie thought of himself primarily as an artist and simply added printing as another medium of his art. Midsummer Eve was one of the first three books James Guthrie produced after having received a commission for a privately printed book. This private printing helped Guthrie hone his printing skills and gave him the confidence and experience to begin printing books in earnest. Guthrie described Midsummer as "an attempt to do a ‘pictorial' work in typography, keeping with the theme of the poem." Drawings by James Guthrie. Printed in grey, old gold, and Venetian red.Edition of 120 copies by Pear Tree Press.

= Sena — = Se i } eee eS Zoe rr Pspeer cs —. Si ; ees Sr = oF “<SS SS ee onsie Lee = ne en =~ er IS Sead aRy site, RS Saeed ee 3 Set =< < a4 | C 1ing out of doors Of sod Jening water oozing down the soil: And there is comfort too at Candlemas From looking through the casement in the dark, The last thing ere you chafe your toes in bed, On the o quiet of the woods and fields, Wondering if tis snow or all the oe Peering sO al xiously along the wall That shades still ewes and Sikes first-dropped lambs...... Ay, but ay m tired, lasses, tired NOW Becat the haysel’s over and ’twas fair An land’s savour wears me with delight. I’m for indoors and resting—and, beside, ie I’m fainest of my supper o a days. cers a MARES ‘ ce ° 7 from some whete.... Thoughts shaping for Maudlin at Gr: assgarth, Yeir own For then to haste the barley our nearest dancing-time But I’m. for To pick much he slip eeoeee geo ) get me doffed and stripped grass seed from my smock and coats. n, Bet; no cool sheets are yours to-night. mulk-eyed goodies with grey loose-skinned throats, apie Who maunder of rarer girlhoods none can prove, Tell that at midnight on Midsummer -Eves They waked in some lone shade far from sleepers ! all | To feel which should be wedded within the For the year’s unknown husbands’ images Come then like swoons from some where....ay, 6 Lib at Appl etoft drowsed leering5 loutish prophecies. old I must or wistful to be ri nged feien to be content “with one?...... W here 1s this moon-swayed peeeping, then, to be, wee ck, willr ripe heedless TATA ‘hat all times women’s Under our breath. and hi es ney steal this eve. 7e knew we must not tell you ere the hour, ..too many hinds te ieee to be qj Let their souls, And if a maid will watch she sees her own And knows her own, seeing her own alone, Peering unseen as breath is in June nights. Surely such dainties filled no cow- slow ee But Nan and I mean w atching and have bid This blest eavesdroppin gona mood of fate? Here in the barn where we may crouch unthought-of By moon-estranged eyes in § rradual darkness And lest we starete at o’er nena fonts: Or with night-carried voices rouse the farm, Maudlin and Lib will warn us by dove cooings— Some times I hear a cooing up warm nights From dove pairs far too wise to be asleep, But mistress bides awake for no such music. Dove-c« o0Ing 7 Lib will be a tl hing to brood Pa eR on— Pil a TR fa Mi ee Tk ig A ae cere — y ill all | le basket od yefol a the YW ana 1 } i >}iowe 1 : ir timc, -"yY once i . } i A er We bp 5 ; Livy 10Te rim our moutl K De Why will she care To learn which to Mease You nore will he'd more now than wecod with us one it is, Nanikin Had it been isees.. ci. You know watch not yc than sly. J have chaftfered vi] all -night, we see to-1 night— 5 Under a thick dew-breath we seemed to steal As ’tween chill bed-clothes in December nights; Into the load it soaked two fingers’ length, So now we needs must throw it off and spread it To wait to-morrow’s sun out in the yard Ere it is ripe to top the sweating stack. Moreover, we are wetter than the crop; Wherefore russet-apple- faces, be homing, To take our smocks and dry y them off while we Drink the mulled Come, maids, cider you are Seoing© to make. here come is Beside, the r get in ere mistress seeks we'd best longer q loiter do we here The longer shall we hold the house from sleep; What, rit Wh LT O Co Ve b ring f feel»] In , you »¢ Ex an lee a oh ] trailed As we W tralled lO ee each nny L, NRO T, , Ene - ? limDs - -. - cart 3 ebb and } hay Roger, top Mease. the 9 : harvest’s aivvus 4 +Dale past : mow spent! y cs. o - oheep- mires There’s ‘bowl and bucket rinsing to a to set out if we wou ld And Be neither meek nor eager in your Or Mother Dish-Clout in our et Some coed natal we'll wrang ves us off to bed Ndi: h we hear the lock shoot a own the oht long out-stair pocket but cast as she of her dj Ips be done eat it. to i] wil : 88 and her steps the petticoat, your shoes—there’s - chamber and the granary key but one Lue a nD 3 she mbs by our | 10rn-fo WI hile I doh indle tl I= $01 cep. takes the ~ la Oo oe o a ° X d lights ¢ € hough Oo ’twas smoothly ws xeless flank ey A ' surely r © the > {* i Cc j Was J } arvest. i nour niu Iness , al, PFetLUS , 1 Oj]RES OW AJ » } ot Ver) LILOcc) wcccce > : Ch ML ine IN) ITYIC. .00e sineCEE RRCRT, WG SN aN fe to G; wr re: iW C if 1 ii 1 the n y “OuUg -ame.... Lik rnh tl at little 4 Peavi¥ I i¢ i \ } tou ch ed milk f a f— vcr. , 10T. Onc QQ A ] q ai irk. of trees in »who was dew-drenc f nr 42 A eo ~— ~A mnt . a Kc r 1] Alia Lit her, Nan, dear Nann 1 Le sees scene; is j YT] 2 olc In darkne a]ht 1 M }10¢ Sxom © T 4 INKIN SS > na Ber... TP oe Lo fine . ‘omes | a to-morrow , and nought woul q bt j it that we a nn ee | 41 p ee the s} ° © @ ° cha Ss om seem Sih Cr eed A One ]} ec LC 1y KNOW D« » | not AM 3 | g< c that.....al a My oly @ Churnin 4 eee cnr co tener ee eer a << As 8} OT cy ni ight... my And 2} ea ‘een es soft against trees through oats yr 6 é OC (".. S el . ste Sar © 7 a indefined, Mergingly stirless, gradually s TEASPOON ee Co! nforting But in the warm night it was evasive, : To feel myself as doubefally: \ kept mme lonely...... ss kept thinness pallid thinne duskkk pallid i] would wear her wedding gown all night, In sie orchard we could hear her sing gather a Posy—Lasses turn G rey— oO , Wonder—and, er tcaps; Peeg was heavily | ue her fourth dawn s her body, little door: throuoSgh that moaning C over us up”. Much fever. ; are we thankful r sister a was for a © eal a OC. trouble os b cy f ‘thou ol hts pl ae obedie jue 1 y+ a es that Shee Let your ’ : Te: aty, warm es oO 4 = } eailk into i aown ; if the mother said une; I know, and 97 you shall juite calmly: ere he would take cover his eyes with a warm cloth lights to wear 2S +r mother’s clothes. you ‘7 a. SUCKIC@ y wry you, tO MC... ar in it: gather PP you, try Ill not i go comes to Oo the cy le not nigh mye me see must alter draw nilleit MAKIN in an leak such whiteness, ge, and how in it at never were nm us that. is Why stranngeness oe the ce across 1€ ee Drood re a at: like that ming. ...... 39 Cannot TALON Hy, Cannot we find our lives except that way? I told him I would lieter have her — That frig] itened him so well |he stammered off. But Sib had heard; she drew him wit } ee evcs And said she’d go for three pounds anc dt 1e shawls If he would let her use a gown sometimes. Then at cach hiring she stayed on for less, Till in the third year’s end he wedded her; And So snes gotten shawls and shoes as well. I missed a savoury chance, for he is old And childless: both stock and land are his: asone sone Ay; if | had quietly to him 1. A. + x ie oe _ 7 b i qc & * A That « 98 sounds from some low-set roadside f.: What does it : what < , aa does ee tata h They say dogs howl when some one’s fetch Mayhap shapes a-comi1 eav ee 2 } « by. Ere hear? Women, "T’herw it is the husband ane , 1 cate) it see: ONORS ae, | now I might o oirered 3 ie, make } he , ; if dae ac darned + give , up, me a es cd across ecun. ail 5 th ones. Truly she has a gown sometimes, - she goes ever in an old woman’s wear— ad says the other’s gear will last her days. Nan must surely see more than that to-night. me hed had him for myself. should not 1 three years for any man...... When Sib would hire a lass Gib said his other d done without for seven and thirty years, 1er but to save her wage: rind to milk for her, soon, saying that men’s hands ry; then at Whitsun hiring tching it was waste dly woman in the yard; >to herd and fork and winnow, i cart cand take a side of thatch....... x1b says young wives are better worth their fodder Th an worn ying have te Ct oie EWoO ] ] necK-place, one 1 |o0om -new 5 na re Ah. : but Sib CV *7 ; knows him: ° he es so fondle C 1 her: = lle hung i a Ee BD a AP par haat TO nec eee Dees YT Ah we |! Ma XT y WN NY ( cat 9 ed = Cc ere through the neat-house Come ours— Ursel, come....come.... too we see If all your days are used pO did you tch can meet mill? Nay, ’tis some Why are She’s their from vou at the neat-house door— iy, for Nan w ill need us when....that goes... t coats the alike? farm—our searched: For see, she we Ursel, Urse |, wTTALYT granary 3 creeping on my h IPS... .l have watched my feet h sideways So....H er shadow is long pike mine ee goes q to the farm? ‘ i out to I know eeeee the boson Viv so well Is this a fetch? Fetches and wraiths...f and wraiths.... Is there no way Saw 20 her own the . WL sh ] ingle ie | could and | io touch re smell de of h a myo L.A hair.... ‘7 sy at mheac 1 “QAi1it- ho +" Ems thle Ot LCS from here? fetch My a week mother’s grandmam before she died. eee O, Ursly, where have I go iy i Dear soul, what WwW as it my jT ( I 10 did yo fetch ? I think it was a fetch. I must be goin lere’s nous 72) nt T! O, O yIrsel, J al to dié..... I want to « 10 wner 1 J + U rsel, I cannot let me Folk s ay a fetc ch is seen at Fr om a cold house whence But this comes | i ke And so perchance Ihe co! } > sci0ousn sia s depar it it s Ccss (Observing TI 1e im] eaver] ITeSSive V its 1 stran: : Tine 7eness die..... > of W 7 YVeeees Sut protony u thi 7 NK not to connect it w per 11) in d al no ortenee . our soul iswer comes, QC Deeoonve ildren who can render ~=h m iternity TY pig At 1e ite! MN oh the body— nN ity must follow, enlar: v eS & ; LE t1i01 » ) he ; a i Lu: a inn reas \j a | > % e tis |2 ) > crs VOIce...,, seen When I returnec I missed the boust a And did not ate. un Up a flat eee With ong at Br oke Nannie, Nani eae the cow poor is dead. past I milked her last of all, and now my fetch T a8 4 ; } Has milked her too; will....it....take all2 i Ree from I own through love? g thought cy Of Sore me did you shrink >— ‘. ee ae aa) shr INK * Irom 3you; , whoat win you a hours; few Nannie...O, poor Nannie... neec A for misery till insight rings us the proportion TETUIN Petr. bide here till dawn BO OUL....00ti.e ane 1,1D ; Gd iViaUudilll Ing SsSome- Sd »@ Mw y they home by now? poe ee Se TOU Cre : not us, Ne. 11.i...4 2 did of : SCC a Why I one Let us turn home to bed: we shall not sleep; But once we're stripped we can relax our bodies, Returns again and a not 1 dead? 7 are ens are of the dead, and call folk to them ympathy of the senses’ understanding... I could one: ee it if But she was nearly cold, so th: A thread-thin warmth I could not stay nor make... es and to ers oth lite S from. AWS J Is the cow fetch ilf conditions... t has life ete it your ice can take it too— er.....Or maybe ’tis your touch that or your Nannie, Pe i ty ee nere not 1)< 4 32 o I ca a TOre help than ie acid in you, Y an 1d 1] | ee KNOW ie elie ane cine wet veiis orn ill. ’ I Mion qo to me past VOUT OWN) WI: ] anda ld (ret ft dew-wet to our e heart nearts We ] (Y I fmm ‘ mson-Close Y Veeeens i t A w¥ GL nt. ) all > alone: X ~ e C « * e * * 20 eeeese0e8 ne gon tera n= ae oe he prong = a $e Mb, HX 3WerteSeager ein sur nky sca Spree p = OS a KE ORE in el esha ‘ BI - ST Fe . - APO SEB DM . EOS a erat ce - ag ipsa: aap | COE Ng Dine See . Se en a * ~~ Dri 3 —_ anne ee aE al - - ; “ : sunita ila TROT io aaiamaimniat eligi = ; { , f ' i ‘ t Pee pre Se <aeee er SP