John Hartley's Yorkshire Ditties, Second Series opens with a poem titled "Th' Better Part," in which an old man tells a younger speaker that "little cattle little care" is the better part, and that he strives "to keep mi conscience clear." The poem sets a tone of plain-spoken contentment that runs through the collection. Hartley writes in a thick Yorkshire dialect, rendering speech phonetically—"aw" for I, "nooan" for not, "hooam" for home—and his verse often adopts a ballad-like meter. The prose pieces, such as "Fault Finders," use a conversational, anecdotal style to deliver moral lessons, here about overlooking minor flaws in others.

Dialect as a Vehicle for Character

The excerpts show Hartley using dialect not merely as local color but as a means of establishing character and point of view. In "Th' Better Part," the old man's speech—"Aw envy nooan; / But ther are times aw pity some"—conveys a resigned wisdom that would be less vivid in standard English. The phonetic spelling forces the reader to hear the voice: "aw" for I, "nooan" for not, "hooam" for home. In "Fault Finders," the narrator's dialect is more colloquial and humorous: "if ther's ony sooart o' fowk aw hate, it's them at's allus lukkin' aght for faults." The dialect is consistent across poems and prose, suggesting Hartley treats it as a literary language in its own right, capable of both moral seriousness and comic effect.

Moral Lessons Woven into Everyday Scenes

Several pieces in the excerpts embed explicit moral advice within domestic or village anecdotes. "Th' Better Part" concludes with the speaker resolving to follow the old man's plan, hoping to be "as weel assured ov Heaven as he." "Fault Finders" tells a story of a husband who fixates on his wife's facial wart until it nearly breaks their marriage; the narrator's lesson is to "be charitable, an' if yo find ony faults, think—yo happen may have one or two yorsen." The poem "Disapointment" begins with the proverb "Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed" and then tells of old Sammy, who never married but saved money. The moral is delivered in a closing verse: "This world wad be a better spot, / Wi' joys moor thickly strown, / If fowk cared less for others' faults / An tried to mend ther own."

Recurring Themes of Contentment and Self-Reliance

Across the excerpts, a consistent set of values emerges: contentment with one's lot, hard work, honesty, and self-reliance. In "Th' Better Part," the old man says, "Gold is a burden hard to carry" and that he strives "to feel content." The poem "Done Agean" lists domestic plenty—beef, bacon, home-brewed drink—as signs of a good life. The prose piece "Fault Finders" advises against envy and fault-finding, urging readers to "mend ther own" faults instead. Even the comic story of old Sammy in "Disapointment" ends with a note on the wisdom of expecting little. These repeated motifs suggest that Hartley's collection, while varied in form, is unified by a practical, stoic philosophy rooted in Yorkshire working-class life.

Readers approaching Yorkshire Ditties, Second Series should be prepared for the phonetic dialect, which may require reading aloud to grasp the rhythm and humor. The poems and prose pieces are short, often ending with a pointed moral, and can be sampled individually. The catalog subjects list "Dialect poetry, English — England — Yorkshire" and "Poetry of places," but the excerpts show that Hartley's work is as much about character and ethics as about regional speech or landscape. The collection rewards attention to the interplay between dialect form and moral content.