Two friends build a house of rushes on the hillside, but the rhyme quietly notes that Bessy waits at the gate while Mary lives in plenty from the pantry. A small, wistful glimpse of old country life dressed up as a nursery song.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Bessy Bell and Mary Gray,
They were two bonny lasses;
They built their house upon the lea,
And covered it with rushes.
Bessy kept the garden gate,
And Mary kept the pantry;
Bessy always had to wait,
While Mary lived in plenty.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition