A canny lock o’ years gone by,
    Theer cummed a man to Kessick Vale,
Whoa hed a heart for jollity
    And Kursmas joy that cannot fail.

Sed he, “We’re growin’ auld, me friends;
    Whoa knaws we’ll leeve anudder year?
For all oor care we’ll mak amends
    By meetin’ for oor Kursmas cheer.”

Sea what! he caw’d them aw togidder
    Of sixty summers and aboon,
Single and weddit, wife and widder,
    Fra Crosthet parish, Kessick toon.

Simple and gentle of aw classes,
    They aw were axed and nin sed “naay,”
For sixty years hed gien em passes
    And welcome on the Auld Fwoks’ Daay.

Ah! menny years have slippt since then
    And still we meet for Kursmas glee,
Oor Kessick lads are sarvin’ men,
    Brave Kessick lasses poor oot tea.

Elecahin’s cumm’d, elecahin’s past,
    Wi’ voates for yaller and for blue,
Bit aw voates i’ Keswick cast
    War voates for Kessick’s Auld Fwoks’ Do.

(Cumberland and Westmorland Herald, 31 December 1910, p. 1)