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oar morsel if it ud be homely would he sweet for it would be the fruits of our own labor d by or now do you you could manage to get that wait till we get the settled then i ll the other plan for it s good to that could take us out of this disgraceful life this humble speculation was a source of great comfort to them many a time have they forgotten their sorrows in the simple picture of their happy little cottage in particular drew with all the vivid of a tender mother and an affectionate wife the various sources of comfort and contentment to be found even in a cabin whose inmates are blessed with a love of independence industry and mutual affection in of his intention did not neglect when tlie proper f arrived to place out his eldest children among the farmers the reader need not be told that there was that about him which gained respect he had therefore little trouble in obtaining his wishes on this point and to his great satisfaction he saw three of them hired out to earn their own support d by the red well it was now a matter of for him to take a cabin ami get employment they not a single article of furniture and neither bed nor with the exception of blankets almost worn past he was however to give up at all risks the life of a for this he and the wife agreed to adopt a plan quite in ireland different from his was that should continue to beg for their support the first half year of their children s service and in the meantime that he if possible should secure employment for himself by this means his and that of his children might remain untouched ho that in half a year he calculated upon being able to furnish a cabin and proceed os a to work for and support his young and his wife who determined on her part not to be idle any more than her husband as the plan was a likely one and as was bent on earning bread rather than be a burden to others it is y to say that it succeeded in less than a year he found himself once more in a and the force of what he felt d by ob on sitting for the first time since his at his hearth may easily be by tiie reader for some years after this got on slowly enough his wages as a daily being so miserable that it required him to exert every nerve to keep the over their head what however will not and a determination joined to industry do after some time backed as he was by his wife and even by his youngest children he found himself beginning to improve in the mornings and the evenings he cultivated his garden and his of ground he also collected with a which he borrowed from an acquaintance from the neighboring road an old drain before his door dug rich earth and tossed it into the pool of rotten water beside the house and in fact adopted several other modes of collecting by this means he had each spring a large portion of rich stuff on which to plant his potatoes his landlord permitted him to spread this for planting upon his land and ere long instead of a was able to plant half an acre d by the bed well and ultimately an acre ol potatoes the produce of this being more than for the consumption of his family he sold the and with the money gained by the sale was enabled to sow half an acre of of which when made into meal he disposed of the greater share industry for even when by capital it it whereas idleness with capital produces only poverty and ruin after selling his meal and as much potatoes as he could spare found himself able to purchase a cow here was the means of making more he had his cow and he had also straw enough for her during the winter the cow by affording to his family enabled them to live more her they sold and this in addition to his meal and potatoes every year soon made him feel that he had a few guineas to spare he now of another mode of helping himself forward in the world after buying the best slip of a pig he could find a was built for her and ere long he saw a fine litter of young pigs within a snug shed these he reared until they were d by or about two old when he sold them and found that he had considerably by the transaction this department however was under the management of whose life was one of incessant activity and employment s children during the period of his and improvements were by his advice little capital as fast as himself the two boys who had now shot up into the stature of young men were at work as laboring servants in the neighborhood the daughters were also engaged as servants with the adjoining the boys bought each a pair of two year old and the one these they sent to up in the mountains at a trifling charge for the first year or two when they became they put them to rich grass for a few months until they got a appearance after which their father brought them to the neighboring where they sold to great advantage in consequence of the small required in them in fact the principle of industry ran h the family there was none of them idle none d by bed well of a burden or a upon the profits made by the ia oi er oa the contrary they laid together as the phrase is and proved to the that when the proper disposition is followed by

49William Black

suitable energy and perseverance it must generally reward him who it is certainly true that s situation in life was essentially different from that which it had been during the latter years of his struggles as a farmer it was much more favorable and far better to develop successful exertion if there be a class of men deserving public sympathy it is that of the small farmers of ireland their circumstances are with all that is calculated to and rum rents far above their ability and bad the land which the last war might have enabled the to pay three pounds per acre and yet still maintain himself with tolerable comfort could not now pay more than one pound or at the most one pound ten and yet such is the of that in most instances the terms of taken out then are d by loi or neither can the of be said to strike at the root of the evils which they suffer tiie fact of the rent hanging over them is a circumstance that their exertion and their spirits if a landlord the rent for one he more harshly with the tenant at the next whatever if any his former indulgence leaves in the tenant s hands instead of being expended upon his property as capital and being permitted to lay the foundation of hope and prosperity is drawn from him at next and the poor struggling tenant is thrown back into as much distress and despondency as ever there are i believe few tenants in ireland of the class i allude to who are not from one gale to three in now can it be expected that such men will labor with spirit and earnestness to raise crops which they may never reap crops which the may seize upon to secure as much of his rent as he can i have known a case in which the e not only but the rent lowered to a reasonable standard such as considering the d by the red well be paid and what was the consequence the tenant who was looked upon as a man from scarcely any rent could be got took courage worked his farm with a spirit and success which he had not evinced before and ere long was in a capacity to pay his to the very day so that the judicious and humane landlord was finally a by his own excellent economy this was an experiment and it succeeded beyond i m did not work with more zeal and ability as an humble than he did when a farmer but the tide was against him as a and instead of having advanced he actually lost ground until he became a no doubt the peculiarly run of two hard seasons darkened by sickness and famine were formidable obstacles to him but he must eventually have failed even had they not occurred they his but did not cause it the irish people though poor are exceedingly to be independent their highest ambition is to hold a farm so strong is this d by in them that they will a single penny of or any to on without consideration or come forward and offer a rent which if they reflected only for a moment they must feel to be high this indeed is a great evil in ireland bat what in the mean must wo of those and their more agents who let land to such persons without proper into their means knowledge of and general as moral and industrious men a farm of land is to be let it is advertised through the parish application is to be made before such a day to so and so the day arrives the agent or the land steward looks over the proposals and after out the highest declares him tenant as a matter of course perhaps this said tenant does not possess a shilling in the world nor a shilling s worth most likely he is a new married man with nothing but his wife s bed and his wedding suit and his which we may suppose him to keep in reserve for the however he c d by the well his farm and then the shifting the b b and the to succeed where success is impossible his farm is not half his crops are miserable the has already passed yet he can pay nothing until he it oat of the land he runs away â makes a moonlight flitting â and bj the aid of his friends in bringing the crop with him the landlord or agent declares he is a forgetting that the man had no other alternative and that they were the greater and fools too for encouraging him to undertake a task that was beyond his strength in calamity we are anxious to derive support from the sympathy of our friends in our success we are eager to communicate to them the power of in our happiness when once more found himself independent and safe he longed to two plans on which ho had for some time been seriously thinking the first was to visit his former neighbors that they might at length know that m s station in the world was such as became his character the second was if to take a farm in his native parish that d by he might close his days among the companions ef his youth and the friends of his er years he had also another motive there lay the place of the m in which slept the dust of his golden haired alley with them â in his daughter s grave â he intended to sleep his long sleep affection for the dead is the memory of the heart in no other grave yard could he reconcile it to himself to be buried to it had all his forefathers been gathered and though calamity had separated him from the scenes where they had passed

49William Black

through exists ence yet he was resolved that death should not deprive him of its last melancholy consolation â that of all that remained of the departed who had loved him and whom he had loved he believed that to neglect this would be to abandon a duty and felt sorrow at the thought of being an ah sent t from the of his dead for there is a principle of hope in the heart that carries with bold and beautiful the realities of life into the silent recesses of death itself d by the red well having formed the of visiting liis friends at he it to and his wife ihe intelligence with delight she replied indeed i m glad u it many a time the thoughts of our place an the people about it comes over me i know it ll go to heart to see it but still you d like too to see the faces on the warm hearts of them that pitied ns an helped us as well as they could we war broken down i would but i m not goin merely to see an the place i if i can to take a bit of land somewhere near i m in my mind for i d not sleep in the grave yard where all to me lie a of the mother s heart was touched and in a moment the memory of their beloved child brought the tears to her eyes i have one to ax of you an i m sure you won t refuse it to me if i die afore you let me be buried alley who has a right to sleep so near her as her mother d by or the child s in my heart still said his emotion of the unfortunate i to brings her back to me i see her her fair pale face â pale â oh mj god â hunger au sickness â her little thin es an her tossed about by the dark the tears in her eyes an the smile that she once had on her face â up her mouth an kiss tne father as if she knew somehow that i d never see her nor her me any more an i looked back as i was the corner there she stood her eyes after her father that she was then the last of until the judgment day his voice here became broken and he sat in silence for a few minutes it s he added with more firmness how she s so often in my mind but dear replied sure t was the will of god that she should lave na she s now a bright angel in heaven an i if it s right â indeed i doubt it s sinful for us to think much about her who knows but her innocent spirit is for us all d by the red ill the blessed mother o god who knows but it was her that got us the good fortune that flowed iu upon u an that made our au oar turn out io lucky the idea of being y or unlucky is in ireland an enemy to industry it is certainly better that the people should believe in life to be as it is the re of virtuous exertion than of circumstances ov r they themselves have no control was something beautiful m the of s affections something that touched the heart and its dearest associations it s very true replied her hu band but god is ever ready to help them that keeps an honest an do every thing in their power to live they may fail for a time may them for awhile but or later good and honest labor be rewarded look at â be hia bat do you to go to in the of the next week an if you the d by or we came upon the but we ll cot be of now i don t like to of it some other time we re settled among ould friends i ll it well the lord ble ss how do an get us a snug farm somewhere near them but yoa didn t answer me about alley why must have your wish although intended to keep that place for myself still we can sleep one on each side of her an that may be done for our ground is large so set your mind at rest on that head i hope god won t call us till we see oar settled in the world but sure at all let hia blessed will be it s not right of any one to keep their hearts fixed too much upon the world nor even they say upon one s own people may love their as much as they if they don t let their for them spoil the by them their own will till they become an let my linen be as white as a bone d by the bed before monday goodness i hope by that time jack will have ray new es made for i to go as as ever they seen me in my best days an so you will too it s you that ll be the proud man in to them in all your ha ha the spirit o the m is in you still ha ha ha it is it is indeed au i d be it wasn t i long to see poor widow i is her son married who knows all we suffered but i might be able to help her yet â that is if she stands in need of it but i suppose her a grown up now an able to assist her now mind monday next an have everything ready i ll stay away a week or so at the most an that i ll have news for you about all o them monday

49William Black

morning arrived found himself ready to set out for the tailor had not disappointed him and to do her justice took care that the proofs of her good should be apparent in the whiteness of his linen after breakfast he d by dressed himself ia all his finery and it would be difficult to say whether the harmless vanity that peeped out occasionally from his of character or the open and triumph of his faithful wife whose rested on him with pride and affection was most calculated to produce a smile now said he when preparing for his immediate departure i m of what they ll say when tliey see me so an warm i ll engage they ll be one another how did m get an at all to be so well to do in the world as he appears to be on his ould farm well but you now how to manage them i do that but there is om thing they ll never get out o me any way you won t tell that to any o them if i thought they only suspected it i d never show my face in i i could bear to be â an yet it ud be a hard me hut i i could d by tub bed well bear to be buried among black strangers rather than it should be said over my grave among my own there s where m lies â who was the only man of his name that ever begged his on tlie king s highway there he lies the of the great m an yet he was a beggar i know it s neither a sin nor a shame to as one s hit from our fellow fairly brought to it any fault of our own but something can t bear to think of it shame an of heart well it s one comfort tliat nobody knows it but ourselves the poor for their own won t ever breathe it so that it s likely the i u be us i hope so does this coat sit the i feel it catch me a little the there it was only your waistcoat that was turned down in the collar here â here your arm there now â it wanted to be pulled down a little at the it s a beauty an i think i have good d by g or right to be proud of it for it s every thread my own how do i bolt in it tell me tlie now you re twenty years younger the never a day less i think i needn t be ashamed to afore my old friends in it any way now bring me my staff from the an in the name o god i ll set out which o them is it the oak oi the the oak oh no not the it s it that i brought to me the thief an that i had while we a a one o me but ud blush in the face if i brought it even in my hand afore them the oak the oak you ll get it the foot o the bed an the wall when placed the staff in his hand he took off his hat and blessed himself then put it on looked at his wife and said â now in the name o god i ll go don t be sure iii be back to you in a week d by the bed well i i can t help it sure this is tlie time you war e er away from me more nor a day an i m of what happened both to you an me the first time yon feel that if anything you i d break ray heart what ud happen me god to protect me now god be you till i come back to good news i hope i m not in ail misery as i afore to see a man that wouldn t hear my to him an i m you comfortable an for sure it s only about aa twenty miles from this a mere step the good god bless an take care of you my wife till i come home to you i he kissed the tears that streamed from her eyes and several times pressed her hand his face rather averted then grasped his staff and commenced his journey scenes like this were events to our humble couple life when by the crimes and artificial manners which destroy its purity is a beautiful thing to contemplate d by or among the virtuous poor and the current of affection runs deep and smooth the slightest incident will it so was it with m and his wife simplicity truth and affection constituted character in them there was no of elements the order of their virtues was not broken nor the purity of their affections by the together of opposing principles as are to be found in those who are involuntarily by the of human society had not gone far when called to him â stand but t come hack a step for o bad luck did i forget anything lie inquired let me see no sure i have my beads an my bo t an my two shirts an in the bundle what is it hill not if tl d by the red well i needn t be you for i know you wouldn t forget it but for you might â you re at go to little alley s grave an look at it an bring me back word how it appears you might get it cleaned up if s weeds or anything upon it an would yon bring me a bit o the clay tied up in your pocket you re there to her tell her it was the mother that bid you an say anything that you d think might keep her

49William Black

an give her pleasure tell her we re not now as we she was us that we don t feel hunger nor nor want an tbat is a to us that we miss â ay even yet â a she was â that we s her fair face an ha r from among ui tell her this an tell her it was the that said it an that the to i ll do it all i ll do it all an now go in an don t be maybe we ll soon be near her god where we can see the place she sleeps in often they then separated again and con light of heart d by lai ob affected hj the maternal of wife proceeded oa his journey he had not actually even at the period of his leaving home been to determine on what particular friend he should first call that his welcome would be hospitable nay so was certain in the lie pursued his journey and partook neither of nor rest until he arrived a little after dusk at a of the well known road which had it been day light would have opened to him a view of he looked towards the however under which it stood but to gain a sight of it was impossible his road now lying a little to the right he turned to the of his sterling friend who had given him and his family r and support when he was driven without remorse from his own holding in a short time he reached frank s residence and felt a glow of sincere satisfaction at finding the same air of and warmth about it as formerly through the kitchen window he saw the strong light of the blazing fire and heard ere he presented himself the load hearty of his friend s wife pre d by the well as light and animated as it had been fifteen years before lifted the latch and entered with that fluttering of the pulse which every man feels on meeting with a friend after an interval of many years good people can ye tell me is frank at home thin he s not now but he ll be in time entirely replied one of his won t yon sit down honest man an ive il for i m to yon said i ll sit till he comes in thin â it â it can be no exclaimed s wife bringing over a and looking earnestly in tlie face i d know hat voice all the world over why father â m â m is it your four that s an well queen o heaven m you re welcome the word was interrupted by a hearty kiss from kind â welcome a thousand an a thousand times na d by os dear an are you at all an an the an all of an how are they we re an we ll never wag thanks be to an yon in our was now surrounded by such of s children as were old enough to every one of he shook hands with and kissed why thin the lord save my soul said he are these the little an that were about my feet i was here afore well to be sure how they do shoot up an is this no but t ds is him an here s an this is well â well but where did these two young shoots come from this boy an the here they worn t to the fore in my time this is called â an this is i needn t tell you who she was called d by tub red well i here child and kiss me said to his little an sure i can t forget the little woman here a and kiss me too took her on his knee and kissed her twice but poor said he will be the proud woman of this she hears it in she will be that what s over said mrs fan ell run np to s for your father an set don t say who s him till we give him a start mary come here she added to her eldest daughter in a whisper â take these two bottles an fly up to s for the full o them o now be back before you re there or if you don t that i t but you ll see what you ll get fly an don t let the grass grow your feet an â but first sit over to the fire â here get over to this side it s the â an sure i what to ax you first you n well f all to the fore f all well an thanks be to all to the fore d by or glory l e to god it my heart to it an the s all np finely an girls they are as good a family o os you d wish to see an what is they re as good as they re in they couldn t but be that if they tack at all their father an mother rub the pan â n n lay the knife down i ll cut the bacon myself but go an get a dozen o the eggs â an how does poor look does she stand it as well as yourself as young as you seen her god help her â a thousand degrees nor yon seen her last an well to do â now tell the i forget who i m to or i wouldn t the ould that s abroad this many a year â who ever knew a m of to tell a lie break his word or refuse to help a friend in distress but you re well to do in the world we re as well or may be d by the red well you ever us

49William Black

except indeed afore the ould was out us god be praised round a for frank ad got too clear a of your face at first do jou he ll know you to be sure he will i needn t ax your would tell upon you any day know met indeed frank ud know my shadow he ll know me half a look and was right for quickly did the eye of his old friend recognise him despite of the little plot that was laid to try his penetration to describe their interview would be to repeat the scene we have already attempted to between and mrs ko sooner were the rites of hospitality performed than the tide of conversation began to flow with greater freedom ascertained one important fact which wo will here mention because it produces in a great degree the want of anything like aa independent class of in the country on inquiring after his old acquaintances he dis that a great many of them owing to nigh rents had to america they d by belonged to that of farmers who after the of their old the httle capital they had saved beginning to in consequence of rents which they could not pay deemed it more prudent while anything remained in their hands to seek a country capital and industry might he made thus did the by their and neglect absolutely drive off their estates the only men who if properly encouraged were capable of becoming the strength and pride of the country it is this system joined to the ear e of and sub letting which has left the country without any third grade of decent substantial who might stand as a bond of peace between the highest and the lowest classes it is this which has split the kingdom into two divisions the extreme ends of society â the wealthy and the wretched if this third class existed ireland would neither be so political nor discontented as she is but on the contrary more for peace and industry at present the lower classes being too poor are easily excited by those who promise them d by the d well a better order of things than that which exists these step into the exercise of that legitimate influence which the landed have lost hy their neglect there is no middle classes in the country who can turn round to them and say our circumstances are easy we want nothing carry your promises to the poor for that which you hold forth to their hopes we enjoy in reality the poor soldier who because he was wretched volunteered to go on the forlorn hope made a fortune but when asked if he would on a second enterprise of a similar kind replied general i am an independent man send some poor devil on your forlorn hope who wants to make a fortune now heard anecdotes and of ail whether interesting or strange that had taken place during his absence among others was the death of his former landlord and the removal of the agent who had driven him to he found was then the property of a humane and considerate man who employed a judicious and benevolent n to manage it d by or one thing i can tell you said it was bnt a short time in the new agent s hands when the farmers stopped goin to america but frank said and he sighed on ting the question is iu now why a son of ould s of â young con or the ace o hearts for he was called both by the if you him his head s a red an double as big even as his father s k w ih t hat would fit old c h t h to lamb th tt d k t p t it out on him t i t j d red head s it t p th h ii pot or a k f wh k y t of the y d k f til m til o that says he tl ht for tl â m lie head who was a h d k â tl con is as much a k th th â i ha dick met r d th d y con hats made upon p f n b tl t s the that d by the red well ou re so fond o a mad dick an would go forty miles for a fight poor fellow be got his broke in a the and the o liis last words were bad luck to â o i thought above all dead an gone would be â he death o me poor he for them for a bat instead o hat he got himself an how is young con frank hut a much time be has to do well or ill there was four tenants on since you left it an he s the fifth it s hard to say how he ll do but i believe he s the best o for so far that may be to the landlord the rent s let down to him an i think he ll be able to take bread an good bread too out of it god send poor would you like to go back to it i can t say that i love the place but ton in it no bnt i ll tell you if there was e er a snug farm near it that i l ould get i d take it d by ob frank his knee ma â do you so indeed i do thin upon my song that s the thing i knew there s this blessed minute a farm o sixteen acres that the is â to america â an it s to be set they ll go the week next an the house needn t be for you can come to it the very day thej

49William Black

lave it well said i m glad of that will you come me to morrow an we ll see about it to be sure i will an what s too the is a son of s a man that knows you an the history o them you came from well an another thing i you it s abroad that you want to take the farm there s not a man in the parish would bid you you may know that yourself i think indeed they would rather me than otherwise replied j an in the name o god we ll see what can be done himself ud to his sen for d by the bed weu me that i ll be sure of his how is an friend o mine that i liave a great regard for â poor widow widow poor woman the s you don t mane she s dead she s dead and happy i trust in the she died last spring was a two god be good to her an are the in her place still it s she that was the woman they are an sorrow a family in the parish than they are it s they that ll be glad to see you many a time i seen their poor mother be her bed down the tears she used to be of you or how often you her some day or other that you her cows from bein for the she s dead now an god he knows an honest hard woman she ever was dear me frank isn t it a to think how the people off there s widow one o ray an m an not to forget d by or pleasant red â all taken away well â well i sure il s the will o god we can t be here always after much conversation by the bottle though but on the part of the of rest arrived when the family separated for the night the grey dawn of a calm beautiful summer s morning found up and abroad long before the family of honest frank had risen when dressing himself with an intention of taking an early walk he was asked by his friend why he so soon or if he â host â should accompany him no replied lie still let me look over the while it s asleep i m this â way i don t like any body to be along me i have a place to go an see too â an a message â a message from poor to deliver that i wouldn t wish a second person to hear sleep frank i ll crush the head o my pipe one o the half b turf that the fire was an walk out for an or two our breakfast we ll go an look about this new farm d by the bed well he oat as he spoke and closed the door after him in that quiet thoughtful way for which he was e er remarkable the season was and tlie wanted at least an of sunrise â en a ab e house on which he stood and the surrounding with a pleasing interest as his on he felt the difference een the glories of nature s and those by man his house he would not have known except by site it was not m fact the same house but another i h h d been built in its stead this disappointed and vexed him object on which his affect hid been placed was a rude stone house stood before him and against each end of which was a stable and cow e down from the to low at both these rose two of enough to bt distinguished from the on which he he as he con it with the neat and beautiful house which shone there in his hap d by i ob white ae lily the covering of the there was no air of comfort neatness or it on the contrary everything the evidence of and difficulty joined probably to want both of and of capital he was disappointed and turned his gaze upon the general aspect of the country and the in which either his old or their children lived the features of the landscape were certainly the same but even here was a change for the worse the warmth of which wealth and independence give to the appearance of a cultivated country was gone decay and coldness seemed to brood upon everything he saw the houses the farm yards the and were all marked by the proofs of national decline some exceptions there were to this prospect but they were only sufficient to render the torn and ra ed evidences of poverty and its attendant â more conspicuous he left the knocked the ashes out of his pipe and putting it into his waistcoat pocket ascended a larger hit d by the red j which led to the grave yard where hia child lay buried ou his way to this hill which stood about half a mile distant he passed a few houses of an description with whose he had well acquainted some of these stood nearly as he remembered them hat others were with their dark mud either fallen in or partially broken down he surveyed their smoke colored walls with sorrow and looked with a sense of the transient character of all man s works upon the and which had shot up so on the spot where many a scene of joy and sorrow had flitted over the circle of humble life ere the wing of ruin swept away them and their when he had ascended the hill his eye took a wider range the more distant and picturesque part of the country lay before him ay said he in a lord bless us how is this world i â an what poor are men i there s

49William Black

the dark mountains the hills the rivers an the green all the same an else but s changed i the very d by song of that in thorn ac below me is like the of an ou d friend to my ears indeed hardly that for even the voice of man changes bat that is the same as i heard it for the best part o my life that star too is the same bright up there that it ever was god help us hardly any thing changes but man an he seems to think that he can never change if one is to by his folly an wickedness a smaller hill around the base of which went the same imperfect road that crossed the of prevented him from seeing the grave yard to which he was about to extend hia wa k to this road he directed his steps on reaching it he looked still with a strong memory of former times to the in which his children himself and his ancestors had all during their day played in the happy of childhood and youth but the dark and ragged npon his feelings he tamed from it with pain and his eyes rested upon the still green with evident relief he of his buried flower â his d by the bed well haired aa he used to t ill her â i d that he saw her o ce more wandering way li its gathering or n g the n with a of go about her net k i nation indeed hei the image of the dead â we lo ve but even il it could w a no standard of ideal beauty in her father s mind beyond that of her own she had been beautiful but her beauty was pensive a fair yet melancholy child for the charm that ever her was one of sorrow and had she been and as children usually are he would not have carried so far into his future life the love of her which he cherished another reason why he still loved her strongly was a consciousness that her death had been occasioned by distress and misery for as he said when looking upon the scenes of her brief but melancholy existence â i to see you the but ore â bore â it wasn t for play you did it it was to keep away the of hunger from your heart of all our every one said that you the d by ob m â never much but the heart in ever full of an affection help me i m an now that i m near it â loth to see her grave he had now reached the verge of the its fine old rain stood as usual but not altogether without the symptoms of change some had for the purposes of building thrown down one of its most picturesque walls still its ruins clothed with ivy its its arches and grey with age were the same iu appearance as he had ever seen them on entering this silent palace of death he reverently his head blessed himself and with feelings deeply agitated sought the grave of his beloved child he it bat a sudden transition from sorrow to tion took place in his mind even before he reached the spot on which she lay sacred mother he exclaimed who has dared to in our ground who has â what villain has to come in upon the m â upon the m of i who could â had i do friend to eh sacred d by the red well mother what s this father of heaven foi ive forgive me sweet for this bad i got into who â who â could raise a head stone over the o my heart one of as iti who could do it but let me see if i can make it out oh who do this blessed thing for tlie poor an the he and with read aa follows â m t fit m the daughter of and m aged nine years waa descended from the m this bead stone was raised over her by widow and ber son james out of grateful respect for and m who never the widow and orphan or a neighbor to assistance from until it pleased god to visit them with thanks to you my said dropping on liis knees over the grave thanks an praise be to your holy name that in the middle of all my poverty â i was not forgotten d by or nor my child let to lie in the grave of her make me worthy blessed heaven of what is written down upon me here an if the departed spirit of her that honored the dust of my buried daughter is unhappy oh let her be relieved an let this act be to her bless her son too gracious father all to her on this earth an if it he your holy will let them never know distress or poverty or wickedness he then offered up a for the repose of liis child s soul and another for the kind hearted and grateful widow after which he stood to examine the grave with greater accuracy there was in fact no grave visible the little mound under which lay what was once a touching image of innocence beauty and feeling had sunk down to the level of the earth it he regretted this inasmuch as it took away he thought part of her individuality still he knew it was the spot wherein she had been buried and with much of that vivid feeling and strong language inseparable from the habits of thought and d by the red well language of the old irish families he delivered the mother s message to the dust of lier once beautiful and heart loved child he in a broken voice for even the mention of her

49William Black

name aloud over the clay that contained her struck with a fresh burst of sorrow npon bis heart alley be exclaimed in irish alley your father that loved more nor he loved any other human brings a message to from the mother of your heart i she bid me call to see the spot where yoa re my buried flower an to tell you that we re not now thanks be to god as we you lived us we are well to do now age an not in hunger an sickness an misery as we you suffered them all ton will love to hear this pulse of our hearts an to know that through all we an we did suffer since you departed â we never let you out of our memory no we thought of you an cried our poor dead flower many an many e the time an she bid me tell you of my heart that we feel now so d by or much as that you are not us to share our comfort an our happiness oh what wouldn t the mother give to have you back her but it can t be an what wouldn t i to have you before my eyes in health au in life â but it can t be the mother sent this message to you alley take it from her she bid me tell you that we are well an happy our name is pure and like yourself spot or stain won t you pray for us before god an get him an his mother to look on us favor an compassion farewell alley may you sleep in peace an rest on the breast of your great father in heaven until we ail meet in together it s your father that s to you our lost flower an the hand that often smoothed your head is now upon your grave he wiped his eyes as he concluded and after lifting a of the clay from her grave he tied it carefully up and put it into his pocket having left the grave yard he his steps towards frank s house the had now risen and as ascended the larger of the two hills which we have mentioned he d by the red well stood again to the scene that beneath about an hour before all was still the whole lay s as if the land had been the land of the dead the in the distance were with the thin mist s of morning the and richer parts of the had appealed in that d m grey which to distant such a clear outline with the except on of the s song everything seemed as if there not a breeze both and nature as if in a trance the very trees asleep and their leaves motion less as if had been of marble but now the scene i is changed the son had its upon the mountain tops which the mists were tumbling in broken fragments to the between them a thousand bit da poured their songs upon the ear the breeze was up and the of smoke from t ie farm houses and played as if in in the air white haze was beginning to from the meadows early were and going abroad to their employment d by hi or the lakes in the distance shone like and the clear springs on the mountain sides glittered in the son like gems on which the eye could scarcely rest life and light and motion appear to be inseparable the dew of morning lay upon nature like a brilliant veil the image of as applied to woman tu by and by the songs of the early workmen were heard nature had awoke and whose heart was strongly though unconsciously to the influence of natural religion in the elevation of the hour and with spirits the house of his as he entered this hospitable roof the early industry of his friend s wife presented with a well swept hearth and a pleasant fire before which had been placed the identical chair tliat they had appropriated to his own use frank was enjoying a blast o the pipe after having risen to which luxury the return of gave additional zest and in fact s d by the l presence communicated a holiday spirit to the family a spirit too which declined not for a moment during the of his visit frank said to tell tlie i m not half you this i think you didn t me as i ought to expect to be th m how is that why yon said about widow a head stone over our child you me in the dark there frank an a start never got as i did this in the upon my it wasn t my fan t nm of our t i for to tell you the we had so much fo and di of last n ht it ne er good or it was that it first in mv head you out an thin it too late at poor woman the n was ever m her the heavens be her k it any one of her family v as to me till the dogs wouldn t my blood i d only give them back good for evil that oh frank that goes to my heart to put a head d by u os stone over my h for the sake of the i well â may none belonging to her ever know poverty or but if they do an that i have it how an no god bless wait till hears iti an the beat of it was that never expected to see one of your faces but yoa think too about that child let us talk of something else you ve seen more i did an i love it still in spite of tlie state ah its different from what it

49William Black

was in happy days i was to about the arm an she us to go a minute an take it if we can it s near tliis place i ll die frank td not rest in my grave if i wasn t among my own so we ll take tlie farm if possible well then harry the an in the name o goodness we ll set out an the business this very day as we said was prompt in following up his after breakfast they saw d by the bed the agent and his father for both lived together old had been intimately with the m s and as frank had anticipated used his influence with the agent in for the son of his old friend and acquaintance the farm which he sought jack said the old gentleman you don t probably know the history and character of the m so well as i do ko man ever required the written bond of a m and it was said of them and is said still that the widow and orphan the poor or the stranger never their assistance in vain i myself will go security if necessary for m sir i m thankful to i m grateful to you but i wouldn t take the farm or bid for it at all unless i could bring enough to stock it as i wish an to lay in all that s to work it well it ud be useless for me to take it â to struggle a year or two â the an thin run away out of it no no i have what ll put me upon it an comfort then since my father has taken such an d by or interest in you m you must liave the farm we shall get prepared and tlie business completed in a few for i go to on this day week father i now remember the character of this family and i remember too the sympathy which was felt for one of them who was harshly about seventeen or eighteen years ago out of the lands on which his forefathers had lived i understand for centuries i am that man sir returned it s too long a story to tell now but it was only out o part of the lands sir that i was put what i held was but a poor patch compared to what the family held in my grandfather s time a great part of it went out of our hands at his death it was very kind of you e to offer to go security for him said frank but if security was sir i d not be to let anybody but myself back him i d go all i m worth in the world â an by my double as much â for the same man i know that frank an i thank you bat i could put security in mr s hands here d by the red l if it was wanted good an thank jou both to tell the he added with a smile i long to be among my ould friends â the people an the hills an the green fields of â an bo to goodness sure i will soon in fact wherever went within the bounds of his native parish his to use a significant phrase of the people was before him his arrival at frank s was now generally known by all his acquaintances and the numbers who came to see him were almost beyond belief during the two or three successive days he went amongst his old and no sooner was his arrival at any particular house intimated than the neighbors all to him was left idle were stuck in the earth and work neglected for the time being all crowded him with a and friendly interest not proceeding from idle but from affection and respect for the man the interview between him and widow s children was affecting felt deeply the delicate and touching manner in which they had evinced their gratitude for the services he had d by loo or rendered them and remembered with a strong of feeling the under which they aj when had assisted th m tl um ta w g t tl t u t f t w i id t f d p d a d th tm t f h t t t fl tl y d t k t t m tl d f t th j f it i d d w lad ow i ff n f h f t id b w th t t a th p h tt d th t h d tl d b k i t p ow d th y d t j the death of his one while he was away iu gave him the blow it broke his heart before the week was expired bad the satisfaction of the lease of his new farm held at a moderate rent in the hands of frank who tying it up along with his own secured it in the black chest remained now bnt to return home forthwith and communicate the intelligence to frank bad promised as soon as the should d by the red well the house to come with a long train of cars and a of his neighbors in order to transfer s family and i tore to his new dwelling everything therefore had been arranged and had nothing to do bnt to hold himself in readiness for the welcome arrival of frank and his friends however had no sense of when not in by his beloved if he felt sorrow it was less as a personal feeling than as a calamity to her if he experienced happiness it was doubly sweet to him as reflected from his all this was mutual between them loved precisely as he loved n or let our readers suppose that such characters

49William Black

are not in humble life it is in humble life where the springs of are not by and evil knowledge â that the purest and tenderest and strongest virtues are to be found as approached his home he not avoid the of ins return with those under which almost broken hearted after his journey to he presented himself to his and d by ob wife years before he raised hia hat and thanked god for the success which liad that period attended him and immediately after his silent entered the house his welcome our readers may be was tender and affectionate the whole family gathered and on ills informing them that they were once more about to reside on a farm adjoining to their beloved s countenance brightened and the tear of delight to her eyes god be praised she exclaimed we will have the place afore our eyes an what is we will be near where alley is that s true she added did you the light of our hearts the mother s paused and his features were slightly but only by the solemnity of the feeling said he i gave her your message but i have news for you about alley what what is it te me quick d by the red well the blessed child was d no but she was honored in oar absence a was put o er her an stands ther this minute mother of glory it s widow an her son put it np words npon it that brought the tears to my eyes widow is dead but her s well may god bless and prosper them an make her happy the delighted mother s heart was not proof against the widow s gratitude expressed as it had been in a manner so affecting she rocked herself to and fro in silence whilst the tears fell in showers down her cheeks tho grief which this affectionate couple felt for their child was not always such as tha reader has perceived it to be it was rather a revival of emotions that had long but never died and the associations arising from the journey to had thrown them back by the force of memory almost to the period of her death at times indeed their imagination bad her up strongly but the d by present was an in the hit of their there is little more to be said sorrow was soon by and the glow of expected which is ever the more delightful as the pleasure is pure in a week their neighbors with their carts and cars arrived before the day was closed on which removed to his new residence he found himself once more sitting at own hearth among the of hia youth and tlie companions of his years ere the elapsed he had his house perfectly white and as nearly resembling that of in its better days as possible about two years ago we saw him one evening in the month of as he sat on a h beside the door singing with a happy heart his favorite song of na mo it was about an hour before sunset the house stood on a gentle eminence beneath a sweep of green meadow stretched away to the skirts of around him was a d by the bed well country naturally fertile and ia spite of the national depression still to contemplate and two servant maids were and the whole family were assembled about the door well said the father didn t i tell yea the we left not to cry or be â that there was a good god above who might do for us yet never did give up my trust in him au iii ei you see all our little tt he more brought us an made praise an glory to his name i looked at him as he spoke he had raised bis eyes to heaven and a gleam of elevated devotion perhaps worthy of being called sublime his features the sun too in setting upon his broad temples and locks with a light solemn and religious the effect to me who knew his noble character and ail that he had suffered was as if the eye of god then rested upon the decline of a virtuous man s life with approbation â as if he had d by b ob the well lifted up the glory of his upon him that many of his had been present they might have shed for their crimes and been content to sit and learn wisdom at the feet of m car thy d by s goose dark doings at was a good natured placid man and er his temper unless as he said himself he got he was also ct m attending his a fact which mrs or rather as she was called alley candidly and justly admitted and to which the priest himself bore ample testimony had the misfortune to be married t a time when a mystery was abroad among women re the in nothing but the of men were then among the in all parts of the country of the of these secret it would be d by premature now to speak t th t w be revealed suffice it t y tl t tl y t were fall of alarm to t i d d b id y to be a ff t tl fare th d m t m f mj beloved t ly state of awful and t t t tl time and many a y d d at a state of things wh n h part could alter or my t n was am tl d m f th respective villages th h t tl t y t large as to the best f h k th d which m h t tl y beds and and many a groan was vainly uttered from hearts that grew heavy in proportion aa the evil

49William Black

which they felt but could not see spread through ail directions of the kingdom to such a height did this terrible business rise that tlie parties had notions of the king to keep wives y but this npon second consideration was given up inasmuch as the king himself with reverence be il spoken was at the bottom of d by tlie evil and what was st se even the not ashamed to their wives by her e ample how then could things be in he â when tlie of ch the good men complained t om the to the a warning this to all so n t out good and much con t to set a bad precedent to tl e r subjects what then could the y do unless to tl to tl ind bear their lu silence which ever tie reader they did not after but with great caution di their injuries they certainly w th each they means of sou ht the lest modes of detection and entered into a general t their respective wives ea h m n to e a aid m his own to come to tb ton has as much a tl could do under circumstances and of e they did it then wives on the other hand were d by s goose or bnt idle they also sat in secret i upon their own affairs and discussed their condition with an and set the of their â it du and it may be observed here it to show the obstinacy of when bent on their own wills that ot one of them returned home to her from these meetings without hav ing committed the very act of which she was suspected not that these cautious good women were after all so successful in every instance os to detection some occasional discoveries were actually made in consequence of the of their bands and one or two of them were actually caught as the law term has it the that is in the very of offence con is ever impudent and to carry everything with i h hand or at all events with a loud ue the of those who had been detected soon felt fir no sooner had they proclaimed their wrongs to their fellow than they were by their wives with the vile and trying d by dark doings at epithet of and charged home with letting themselves to the office of against tlie wives of their ms some of the good men now took fire ind demanded an others looked at their wives with and stopped short os if hon to act and er some shrugged their shoulders took a i lent and to of the pipe upon the and said do more it o far then ther h is no great either on the one side or the other now the state of human society la so bad m the mo t but t there are to be found in it man persons j the mt on it was d to be so as et hoped in the of le ti and a husband ar w liquor mould be termed a by hi u d by s goose ob that alley had escaped the upon her sex bo secretly yet so sorely for some time past he had held her under strict but with such judgment that she did not even dream of being suspected id this did matters proceed them â on the alert and alley on a d look out for means and opportunity when friday he proposed to his aunt up in on the next saturday and accordingly informed alley that he would not return until the monday following to this alley could offer no possible objection but on the contrary highly applauded him for showing such a mark of respect and affection for his aunt who by the way had very kind to them both since their marriage it s only right said she and besides to go an see her for yon an me she has been the best feather in our wing there s the dirty low pack indeed they re the same relations to lier that we are they d kiss the of her feet if they thought they bone a penny by it an they re no stone d by doings at to get the soft side of her th e dirty o to com in for what she has an to cut us out her so go to her an if you don t her the one o j s worth a pound o wool having then got on a clean shirt and his lay coat his ih in hand and set out to vii t his aunt up among the of as a most attached and nephew who is the loved her for her alone he had not gone the how ever when ho said he i m j t goin io ti you afore i set out that id as soon keep from the i the women if them both their husbands me not a month o sundays that they suspect them ts be not safe you see you can learn nothing that s good from them god s is i m that they re the same stick that has marked the women o the whole neighborhood so now that you know this i hope you ll keep your distance from them d by s goose or what business could i have will them the eye i on one o them this fortnight back i have my own business on two the to take care of that s a give us a an now till monday please goodness hadn t you tie a bit of about poor s neck till that cough him don t sec it there on the stool before the fire that s right now yoa ll mind my words alley had be from me but

49William Black

you d â so yon would she spoke this with an indignant bnt the reader will please to observe that she made no promise whatsoever i m off i m off i know yon won t god bless all and so to see his aunt in it is a thing to be a mere of truth which indeed every man who d by dark doings at human nature must be because unhappily for liim who in the world of human nature there is no fiction at hand it is only who live out of it that can make fiction available to their purposes this has been forced from as not by however but by his wife he had scarcely been half an hour gone when threw a bonnet on her head a blue cloak about her shoulders and after having made a play for tlie children to keep them quiet and given them a of bread each she locked the door rolled the big stone upon the tiiat was under it which the pig had away in order to work himself a passage into the house and immediately proceeded to visit the two wives of the the act was â but it is not for us to it the consequences of it will speak for themselves the two brothers to whom they were united in lived next door to ear h other or what is called under the same roof and she found both their good women at home two or three slips of both sexes bad been amusing themselves in the elder s house the conference d by a or from her visit was about to be were immediately desired to play abroad an not be an through the house that way a that people can t hear their own ears go along an take the on your head and stretch your limbs ye pack o young thieves the moment they bounded away alley s face assumed au air of considerable importance â a circumstance which the others noticed for nothing is so observant of symptoms that indicate its own discovery as a consciousness of error alley said one of them alarmed you ve heard something what is it are we found out v if you re not found out replied alley in the same low guarded tone you re strongly suspected but the devil may care for that is away up to his ould aunt s at above an t be back till monday so that the coast s clear till then any way all you have to do is to slip up about dusk for there ll be nobody but ourselves an i ll put the to bed not that they dare tell him any thing they d see d by doings at so thin we are said tlie other with much it s truth dick an harry confessed it to an he me an we ll them if ten times as sharp replied mrs dick or aa she was called indeed i knew myself that he was for a good while past and about as if he expected to find a or a mare si ne t an faith sure enough he was an ace of us but as would have it he didn t search the bed and i suppose that s them in all this observed mrs harry or as we shall call her bid you may swear that replied his faithful wife an warned me strongly afore he went to the aunt s to away from both for he said ye with the same stick that has marked ail the rotten sheep in the country tiie three audacious instead of expressing either regret or repentance at the which had justified the well founded d by a oe suspicions of their husbands burst out on the contrary into one united and harmonious chorus of laughter which lasted at least live minutes well said hastily getting up and throwing the cloak about her i can t stop it for there s no one at home but the that i locked in and i m always when i lave the that way for they might go too near the fire or that that of a pig ud work the stone from the door an get in so as the coast s clear you ll both slip up about dusk this they promised and accordingly darkness had completely set in the door of s house was closed and bolted inside with all possible and this was necessary for truly a surprise would have been an awful but a just winding up of their what peculiar mysteries or rites took place there on that night it is not onr province good reader to disclose but of this you may rest assured that each fulfilled the old and excellent that stolen are the sweetest with what feelings and bid faced their husbands they themselves best know â d by dark doings at but that each was received with suspicion and severely cross examined upon the cause of their absence we can inform the reader but what did that avail the on their way home had a story â and they are never good that possess a faculty at stories â to which both were determined to with they had ran op to see little for had been down to tell them that she was it was the but it was but a small rash that came out upon its breast the though bid her sister thought it was the an indeed after all she didn t know herself but it was but god send it safe over it was poor thing this now who would think â but no matter there is still worse to come the reader will not believe our word when we assure him that these two women e and bid an did not scruple though loaded with the of their is to kneel down and

49William Black

say their prayers on that very night before they went to bed d by no s goose oh the nest day being sunday and their husbands having more leisure it is scarcely necessary to say that the two good men a sharp eye upon their who themselves in every motion several they attempted a stolen visit to s but were detected just in the act of putting on and in fact they were so completely that they resolved at length to brazen it out having lost temper considerably by seeing tliat all their designs were and that whatever must be done as to reaching the scene of their must be done with open defiance tliey once more recourse to the and and were in the very act of setting out when their husbands who sat smoking each a pipe after having coolly eyed them for some time calmly inquired where are bound for good women up to alley s to see the child poor deed it s a shame that we didn t call sooner as s not at home her she may want something an has no one to send out for it d by hark d at ill well said dick his wife au tliat isn t one o you enough to go v plenty replied sister in law bid bat ive some notion of np as far as my mother s while s alley by the sweep exclaimed harry taking the pipe hastily ont of his mouth and casting a keen indignant glance at the last speaker â are enough to down the patience of a saint how can you look us iu the face ye o the devil to see alley s child why i was up alley this very an there s not a blast o wind wrong either of her not as much as a hair turned on them i what have to say now f ad ye came both home last night a lie in your mouths that â alley s child was the one it has a rash the other but god send it safe over it has be the man i won t bear i his there now to show i won t as ho spoke the last word he took the pipe d by s goose ob out of his mouth and it to against the opposite wall his brother seeing his energetic display resolved not to be in the vigor of his indignation yes be nor i he exclaimed his in an opposite and immediately kicking the stool on which he sat to the lower end of the kitchen that s to show that ye won t have your tongues in your cheeks at he added an be this an be that for three i d not lave a s worth on the but i d to an i ll tell what it is he proceeded rising his voice to its highest pitch and stamping furiously on the hearth i tell yea what it is put an end to this work for all our substance isn t to go this way we il have no among no between you an tlie other black sheep o the don t think but we know what s on an what brought you both up to alley s last night too well we know it an now i te l again that must avoid that woman she s not a safe neighbor an her own husband her to d by dark doings at be as bad as the worst among them ay le u catch her yet as she her be the book i ll turn another pin in â lose my lady said harry addressing bid â never fear hut i will i ll make yon that you t have yourself the talk o the iii me too that doesn t it the curse ij on me if i don t why thin now said bid calmly tut to in the name of all that s beautiful what these two at are they mad or is it only they are no replied but goin to us i ay very likely returned the any how they may be proud o to two women as if we fit to fight them i m glad their own a not to the fore to see their fine manly behavior come are you goin up to alley s whether the child s sick or not the a lonely as s from home an it s a charity to sit awhile her are you â to full upon to d by s or nor you the a one toe her the take them that says to the y come ay if i like said he ay whether you like or not dear the wan o me ill be stopped by yon this day you won t i won t now never heed her harry dick let her go to ould nick her own way ay both tf off you now but you ll see what il come of it at the long run where s the said harry i ll take my book oath this minute that for a month to come i ll not let you on the one side of the house me any will no one tell me where the is an is that to vex me harry why don t you make it twelve months while yer hand s in i wouldn t be worth your while to the for a bare four weeks man alive be me it s you ought to be instead o the d by dark doings at very well replied his and i suppose the next thing you ll do will be to ns sure enough â but sure we can t help it only it will be a fine story to have to tell the neighbors you ll look well it you may then up your head like

49William Black

a man oh ye but i won t let myself down to ye no said i wouldn t be them about goin it s to n one wi or the other so we ll sit here oh god he knows but we re the well matched women at all sure if we were the worst that ever this day â ay if we so bad that the very dogs wouldn t lap our blood we couldn t be worse than we are by two i say again observed harry seeing his wife somewhat that if yon go your breath won t come near me in haste oh your tongue man replied bid i seen the day you thought enough about my breath faith an that was i didn t know you then as well as i do now d by s goose oe that s not what thought or what said when i was ill last harvest and goin to die sure yon about the house like a calf that has lost its mother two eyes as red as a pair of never heed her said his brother yon know she d both of ns at the she a now in her glory said bid addressing her sister in a voice calm and quiet that is to say in the voice of a woman whose alone prevented her from continuing the go out an cut me a bit o to pat down that bacon for the dinner after tliat we ll up an be in time for the twelve o clock mass but what if somebody would run away ns said laughing oh sure said the other that s all they d want they d thin get shut of the two as we are go and never mind them â they re not worth our little as they think about it a sunday s they ve made ns d by dark doings at ni â but no â god forgive them for us as they re their two did not go to mass that day having in fact devoted it to the purpose of out evidence against their wives their exertions however were fruitless although we are bound honestly to state that they left no stone to procure it the were taken to task and severely but they prove nothing except that their mothers were out for a considerable time and that they themselves were often sent to play and that on returning of an odd time sooner than was expected they found the doors d and heard strange voices within of these facts however the good man had been before so that the sum of all they obtained was nothing more than an accession to their uneasiness without any addition to their knowledge both men indeed were the whole day especially after the hour of dinner for each of their wives could observe that her husband often put his hand quietly over to the of the and finding that the pipe was not there his npon the cat or d by ns s goose or dog if either came in his way and not even upon bis own children at length dick got np and was to go when asked in her where he was not far he replied ill be back in a of an hour â too soon for you to have an of bein at ould work if yon re o that she replied hadn t yon not go at al to this he made no reply but putting his hands his brows he stalked gloomily ont of tiie house almost precisely similar was the of his brother who after exchanging a random shot or two with bid out soon after dick but each evidently attempted to conceal from the wife of the other that he had gone out â a that was clearly proved by dick declining to pass harry s door and harry dick s alas and must i say it â i must â i unhappily the interests of truth compel me to make the disclosure the two men were no sooner gone than their wives had an immediate consultation d by dark doings at where s dick v asked bid why sure i thought i d split replied to see him the heart out of himself after his pipe tlie be in me but it was a most too much for me to at him the every five minutes for the he broke upon the wall in his this i know he s away over to s to buy one twas the same harry said bid he didn t know which end of him he was on he s off too to the same place for i watched him through the windy an now that the coast s clear let s be off to an have ail over afore our two comes back or in they ll us the never a lie in that the house wouldn t them if they us out bat wasn t it lucky that they lost their temper and broke their pipes if they had kept cool we would have now no and so they proceeded once more to s and again the door was locked and bolted and as before the mysteries whatever they may have been were re and the d by s goose or vigilance and terrors of their husbands became the subject of open and much mirth went forward as might easily be from the hearty bnt somewhat suppressed laughter which an experienced ear might have heard through the door â we say suppressed for their mirth was the high spirit of enjoyment which ran through it in that timid and that discovery aa their object was now to reach home before the return of their husbands so was the period of their on tliis evening more than on the preceding tliey had very little time to spare however for scarcely were the

49William Black

and thrown aside and an air of most and composure assumed when the good men entered bnt that s a long of an yon stayed said where on you all time v i was tip n business returned dick to keep me cool against your hand me a double out of the bed there till i light my pipe you out since f d by dark doings at was i out since returned bis wife witli tlie look of a deeply offended woman hut ay to be bid an myself up at s you saw such a piece o fun as we liad sure we re come in this why npon my dick you d an angel from heaven was i don t i look very like a woman that was out well well rejoined her husband away rather placidly from his new pipe don t be out at us like bid i m not you out this so your about it no but to think â the â very well â that s he done and so the wife grumbled gradually into silence the between harry and bid was of a and more animated description but we need not say on which side the victory settled the pipe however soon produced something like and after a hard bout at a united prayer in the shape of a the and the deceived both went to d by s goose oe oa very good with each other as after all did dick and not any more the others forgetting their the next morning was that on which our friend was expected home and about ten or eleven o clock alley was in conversation with a neighbor upon the kindness and generosity of aunt and the greater warmth of which on all occasions she had manifested towards her and than ever she had shown to that pack of the when who should appear but the able himself bearing under his right a fat grey goose alive and kicking what is this exclaimed as her husband laid the goose down on the floor why he replied good don t you see it s a leg o mutton that aunt sent for our dinner on sunday next â what e that indeed the goose was immediately taken up â handled like a wonder â balanced that they might guess its weight â felt that they know d by dark doings at si how fat it was and examined from to with the mo it minute tie approached it with that bat curiosity for which childhood js they it retreated with took fresh courage patted it timidly on the back and mai y on rf terror and the eldest at length to take it up in lis arms this was a disastrous attempt for the ic unable to hold it fluttered its pin on and the hero threw it hastily down and ran n behind his where his little e joined the chorus and his wife entertained the neighbor we of with a history of aunt wealth assuring him that they themselves were down for every penny and penny s belonging to her pointing to the goose at the same time as a triumphant illustration of their expectations no sooner had their friend left than having given alley a faithful account of every thing respecting aunt said ho hoped she had not forgotten his parting advice d by s goose or on saturday that she liad kept aloof from ihe ta wives of the and or with them in his absence afore i d lead this life an be at every hand s turn i d rather go out upon the world and my bread honestly my own two hands as i did afore i met you the wives o the i why what ud i be the wives o the or what ud the wives o the be it s little or their me â i have my house an to look an that s enough for any one woman i m well but sure needn t be angry me you on your guard it s not to say that i m angry you â but sure to say a thing ought to be enough â but here you keep an at me about the wives o the i wish to the same wives o the far enough out o the for they re the to me anyhow well well alley to the them d by doings at but about another thing wliat ll we do this goose is it to roast it or boil it what if we d not kill it at all but keep it an rear a flock ourselves there of an for them about the you re right come or go what will we had not kill it the we won t i don t stand blood well myself an i d as soon to tell yon the yon d mt ax me to kill this one now i don t think it ud me very well said her husband yielding to her suggestion with singular good humor as it is your wish the the drop will lave this bout â so let it be settled that well rear a flock ourselves an as you say alley who knows but the same goose may be sent to us for good luck it was so arranged but as a fowl of that species is rather an unusual sight about a s house they soon procured it a companion as they had said after which they want to bed every night anxious to dream that d by all its eggs might turn ont golden ones to them and their children now the reader may have already guessed that tlie arrival of the goose whatever it might have been to t was an excellent apology for a capital piece of by play to his wife the worthy fowl had not in fact

49William Black

been twenty four hours at their place when in came the two wives of the this visit was an open one and paid iu tho a little before the men returned from their daily labor great was s astonishment then when on reaching home he found bid and iu conference with alley and what appeared to him remarkably strange if not rather hardy on their part was tho fact that they carried on the conversation without tlie slightest consciousness of it is true this had not hitherto been actually proved but it is needless to say that the suspicion entertained against was nearly to proof were so to be accounted for and the situations in which they were found so critical that it was impossible even for the warmest d by dark at t friends to assert that they were as entered tlie house they addressed him with singular good humor and kindness bat it was easy to infer from his short and replies that they had in his case a strong prejudice to overcome how are you at tlie present time not comfortable this was accompanied by a quick suspicious glance from them to his wife why there s wrong you we hope maybe that s more than i can say you re not sure no said the wife bid an came up to look at the goose an the one o them but says it s the greatest they seen this many a day this was meant as a â for himself to use the words of alley was as proud as e er a one o the out of the same goose his brow cleared a little at this appeal to his vanity and be sat down with a look of more d by s goose or thin it s a nice present all it s more than the would get from aunt any way said for s her favorite is that by way of news asked whose vanity was highly notwithstanding his assumed indifference every fool knows always that it s no secret observed who as well as bid knew his weakness here an its only a proof of her own into the bargain they re a mane pack i the of the exclaimed bid why would yon an a man in the one day said the other my goodness wc haven t a minute now the good men ill swear we re no good if they find us out when they come home hut said sit a while can t you can do no harm here any how nor anywhere else i hope said bid but indeed yon don t know the men they are or you d hunt us home like bag d by doings at s don t be them to stay said alley what tliey say i believe is enough an for my own part i wouldn t wish to liave our little place one way or other in any dispute that may have said bid i don t b they d think us safe in a chapel an god forgive for it come if we wish to avoid a battle we have not a minute to spare oh thin alley it s you that has the d and that doesn t keep you night and day in a state of heart you re a happy woman may god re him not that he s to the fore himself rejoined his wife i ll say this that a husband never drew breath this day a word he turns on me in the twelve months we it they replied the man s above it he wouldn t himself by about an and his nose into every hole an comer the way our mane fellows does be till we can t bless ourselves for them d by s goose or no tlie o the kind he sure i must the truth any way well god be we be off good bye sure yoa can bear for us this bout tliat i can bid an will too god bless as they apprehended their on returning from their work were once more in a on finding the good women absent said dick is it a fair question to ax where war fair enough said bid you at the ould work observed harry but i tell yon by the holy st i we won t suffer this much longer â that s one piece o for where war i say asked his brother sternly no now ta plump an at where war why then if you want to know replied we up s goose s exclaimed harry with a look as puzzled as ever was visible on a human face d by s goose repeated dick with a face quite as the two brothers looked at each other for nearly a minute bnt neither could read in the other s countenance any thing like intelligence what are they at asked dick why that they have their in their cheeks at us to be sure replied the other why where else would we have them said bid it isn t in our pockets you d have us to carry them i wish to they any where but where they are returned her husband what do you mane what we say that we np a at s goose why the curse o the upon you don t you know that never a goose in his life he has one now replied bid ay added her sister an as fine a bully of a goose as ever i seen my two eyes sure said bid if you won t believe us can t go up an see d by s goose ob this after all was putting the matter to a very fair issue and tlie two men resolved to take her at her word each feeling quite satisfied of the falsehood their wives had attempted to make them swallow

49William Black

come dick said harry put on hat the step further we li let go till we see it out an all i say is he added addressing the women that you had not be here before us when we come back if we find you oat in a they had not gone fifty yards from the door when the laughter of the two women was loud and vehement at the scene which had just occurred especially at the ingenuity with which bid had sent t abroad and thus got the coast clear for their purposes oat and play awhile â is it ever an always over the fire are away out o this an don t come back till we call when the children were gone they brought in two neighbor s wives who lived immediately beside them shut and bolted the door and again did the mysterious rites of which we have d by d ing at so oft a v r as b for on tl s n cr as n u c used now a d then tie d or was steal e d and a face m een pe p g out to j t a su tie tc s to as ed on n a tone low nd tl e vas ent a d pr at the c ot tl e r co e ard â e door in t ne bo ever the part j er ed and d k and harry ed tl y d t e r each ou ly n tl e rs of tl e old wh eh tl ey tl rough tl an a r of off ij ty and a ss of temper that st d th the si a d it r t fallen of the r id luck to you for a o an ve ty crooked c e bid to the dog that innocently crossed her path it s lives we lead one way or other we enough dear knows to our you as â you s limb out j out well she added after a short you see we re here you for d by a goose or ill big threats but tell you b int it is upon my soul jou must turn a or lose ft fall if on or dick have urn against ns why t you ii fully at ind be the the way do the of us mil he low mane thought any louder i hope seen s goose on your upon ye ought to be ashamed to rise your head this month to ay now you re at it exclaimed harry rising and putting on his hat bnt for my part i ll you to fight the walls till your tongue ail yon want is some one to jaw back to yon to keep the ball goin for a outside the door he met his brother i was goin to sit awhile you said dick i can t stand that woman s good or bad faith an i was goin in to you replied the other bid s in her there s no let us go an awhile mar d by dark d at luck to s goose any how it ll be a long day till we hear the end of it the curse o od it but it s the unlucky bird to ua this night sure enough re echoed his brother come an let us have a while s til these women they accordingly went and ere a lapse of many minutes their wives were together again for the purpose of comparing notes and of indulging in another hearty laugh at their s goose now began to be n goose of some eminence in short it was much talked of and had its character and qualities j ro and con one thing however was very remarkable in this business and that thing was that the male portion of the neighbors hated it with a cordiality which they could not disguise whilst their wives on the other hand defended it most again t all the attacks of its enemies the dreaded change to which we have before alluded was now going on rapidly and d by s goose or it somehow happened that a family connected with it took took place within a certain circle of s house in which his goose was not either directly or indirectly concerned himself whose had been for a long time by the interest he took in a bird of lis own at length began to look queer at certain glimpses which he caught of what was going forward alley said le with a good deal of uneasiness what brings np wives o the here that i spoke so much about v why i thought there wag something wrong the poor goose an i sent down for them by t ie man i wish replied that i had never brought the dirty of a about the place why if all you gay about it is true it never had a day s health it came to us an yet i ll take my oath it s as fat a goose this minute as ever an right well you know it got delicate it came to us an it stands to d by doings at â the fretted it left it no to tlie fret it bad no in life when it got a comrade to keep it company be me it s i that fretted an i but i m the test goose o tlie two for not it s head off an a stop to a crew o women to the place on the head of it what s wrong it now why i didn t know myself till bid me i thought it was sick but it s not sure the poor thing s goin to clock an i must set the eggs for it to morrow i

49William Black

hope you ll keep your word then said for although it would go against me to harm the still i tell you that if the crew i m of does be about the place pretence of it be the i ll be apt to give it a dog s knock sometime an take care alley that more than one won t come in for a knock in this instance however it so happened that alley had truth on her side the fact indeed was and enabled the good women of the to keep their angry d by s goose ob bands quiet for a considerable time afterwards with some of the latter report gained ground very but on that it was a fact of felt considerably relieved the reader already sees that s goose was really a goose of importance whose and in whose health or or woe the ease and comfort or the doubt and anxiety of a considerable number of persons in the surrounding district himself however felt that her was rather a matter of discomfort to him than otherwise for had she been np and ho knew that she might be liable to all the that are to now however had no apology arising from her to receive from the black sheep of the neighborhood and yet he often detected them either in his house or leaving it this troubled him very much but still alley failed not in her and as he knew she seldom went out he did not suspect much less that his own would or could be made the scene of those private meetings held by such women as the d by or others still farther sunk in tbe were abroad things however were for whilst gravely upon the moral prospect that presented itself in the country the task of was crowned by the birth of a fine brood of to eleven of the twelve every one of which appeared to be healthy and to give promise in due time of arriving at the full proportion of a goodly goose allowance being made as for fate and onr readers are now to suppose two things first that the goodly brood is reared and that the mysterious but vice of the neighborhood is fast increasing had promised himself a handsome return from tbe sale of the and hoped in a year or two to be able from the proceeds to buy a cow or a and never besides to be without a good fat dinner at all this was and becoming an industrious man in the meantime he thought that somehow the k appeared in his eye that is to bay tiiat tliey looked as a whole to be d by s goose or diminished in number tho thing had struck him before bat in that feeble and indistinct manner in which in easy minds not aa behind it which ever leads to the following up of the but on occasion great was his dismay and when on reckoning them he found that three were most missing here was more mystery and unfortunately this discovery was made at a time when ho had every reason to suspect that had at length been drawn into the the fact was that many secret and guarded movements had been of late noticed by him of wliich from motives of deep and sagacious policy he had determined to no open being resolved to allow to hill herself into that of false security which is usually produced by indifference or stupidity on the part of the husband here a matter however that could not be overlooked and accordingly he demanded an explanation but this in a manner so exceedingly sage and cunning that we are sure our readers cannot from him the mark of their approbation d by dark doings at said lie without appearing to labor any suspicion whatsoever you had bet ther look them o tliis there s three o them i can only eight not the bad to your you re as bad as a woman so you are the go to no a foot said her husband up in a passion an be the holy if you don t tell me on the nail what of them i won t lave a goose o them alive in twenty an more than that take cars an don t take care i say â don t ine i tell you well this is good i afore your own too all now if you want to know i did wrong in regard that i know well enough you d bring me over the coals about it ay did i you gave me two aa six pence to pay my due an i met ray aunt an my an her bachelor an i th m in au them your money an of i had to one o the to make it up d by s goose or of too you does send jou news did or not i ll tell you what sooner than i d lead such a life i d you d what you d what bat i ll myself to morrow s market day now i tell you out you ll step for step along myself an be the man two o tlie same must go afore you lave the town at your elbow i ll stay till their an market day till they re gone a pair o them must go why you mane spirited is it to sell â what ll you come to at last you blanket you sure if i did wrong can t yon beat me so you ll stand at my elbow till i sell my i be me if you do i ll bring a blush in your face if there s such a thing in it which there s not or yon wouldn t make an ould woman â a â of yourself as you re upon my

49William Black

i you didn t sit on the eggs yourself but sure i ll say you did to morrow an then they ll bring three above but i m a happy life you an your bad luck be d by dark doings at rise but a tu the be sure your df an s a common can either of us go to oi market the neighbors doesn t be ax n mi a grin how is s goose it would be acting rather the of a historian were we to dwell too on the bitter which followed the of every goose until the of the clutch was of the truth is that in spite of all ills and and conscious wisdom to was able to lay a finger upon a single penny of the proceed nor he with all his of scent â smell out the purpose to which applied it no we are wrong in this he did find it out and as we have said strongly suspect it too but he was hitherto able in no instance to detect bo as perfectly to satisfy himself and bring the proof home against her a circumstance however now occurred which brought the whole dark of this proceeding to light one day searching ill some corner for a which lie wanted d by a goose ob npon a round vessel with a handle on one a pipe on the other and a dose fitting lid on the top ov would have enjoyed ihe grin of malignant which played upon his features as with one hand stretched under the bed he lay curiously feeling and examining the vessel in question very fortunately for him was cutting some in the garden for their dinner and consequently totally ignorant of the the opportunity was too good to be lost and who although he knew not the use to which the vessel was applied having never seen one before yet suspecting that it was part and parcel of the wicked system which prevailed resolved now that the coast was clear to carry it to those who could determine its use and application he immediately it out took a glance and hiding it under big coat stole off by to consult the two here however was no chance of the mystery the never having any more than himself seen to their knowledge any vessel of the kind before long and serious their d by dark doings at the steps necessary to be upon this important occasion one one thing another at length it occurred to them that their best plan would be to consult an old woman who was considered an authority accordingly once more putting this under his coat set off to s house with something like a prophetic assurance of success in this again he was doomed to be disappointed in truth was the very last person from whom had lie known as much as his wife he would or ought to hare expected information she it was her who had chiefly the good wives of the village both by and example and on her head of did the original sin of the whole neighborhood lie found her at home and took it for granted that the difficulty must now be solved further trouble god save you god save you kindly how is and the all as tight as what s the news any or marriages abroad v d by s goose or ay is there as many as ever an will be god to the end o the man why i believe you re right the sun shines an the wind blows the world will still be but jou an me is it that there s a o bad work goin on among ourselves you men never good don t lift me i fall i mane among the women i m there s hardly one of them what she ought to be why the grace o god that s for where s the man or woman that is as they ought to be glory bo to to tell the i m my own wife s not than the rest faith if she s as good man you have no right to complain isn t she good for anyhow is it a lady yon want cock yon up indeed there s eleven they re gone now and not a ever i touched of the price of any one o them only two i got to help to buy leather for a pair of well d by dark doings at but i bay it s not well now where did it go to â answer me that i tell you she s as bad as the an of the three worse i can t keep them and the lies they tell as is belief an not only that but when tliey get together we re their sport and an you know that very well no nor you don t don t i i you i them at what eh anyway i as good as them an here s a piece o their he added producing the mystery from under his coat now i ll give you share of half a pint if yoa tell me the right name of this why replied did jou never see one o these before an is it possible you don t know the name of it no but i suspect an so you came here to know the name of it an what it s for a thing else brought me an you e me to turn against d by s goose or the woman to satisfy your get oat you mane spirited how dare you come to me on a it s a salt jou to have tied to your tail an be out before a drag hunt you out o this and grieved he returned home almost despairing of ever the purpose for the mysterious and vessel was

49William Black

employed now it so happened that the priest of the parish father o held a station that day in the next and thither did honest repair that he might have his eve s opinion upon the vessel which he carried under his coat he accordingly bent his steps in that direction and arrived just as the priest had concluded the business of the day well said the priest i hope there s nothing wrong his head a good deal of solemnity and replied â it s hard to say your reverence but i d be glad to have a word or two in private jou if it s agreeable d by doings at the priest liim into the room where he had and what was the matter but first sit down said he and how is the wife and i m much obliged to yon sir replied but it s not convenient to me to sit in regard of what i m â tl e s all well sir thank god and your reverence an too sir as far as health is but why don t you sit down man the a one of me can sir as i said i e a thing here that i want to ax reverence s opinion on for to tell yon the sir i suspect it to be more or less than a piece of the s where did yon get it why sir i was to day looking for a an i stumbled on it by accident as he spoke he slowly unfolded the skirts of his and produced the mystery of to the st the priest who was a bit of a in his way on seeing what carried with such secrecy laughed and commenced d by s goose or a or two of the old song familiar by the name of â â oh tea pot are jou there ob for the muse of old or that tenth lady from who the poetic elbow of oar own mark oh for â but this is â one line of will paint honest on from priest tliat the he bore about with all tlie apparent importance and caution of an was after all the of his worst terrors and the confirmation of his wife s guilt an accursed tea pot â et truly his dismay and horror scarcely be painted he started as if he had seen a spirit his fingers spread his eyebrows were uplifted and his eyes almost out of their his very hair as the poet says stood upright and speech for nearly a minute was denied him but this of s on discovering what the mystic actually was demands a few words of explanation we believe it is d by dark doings at pretty well know ii u most of our aged readers if it ho that any old lady or gentleman will condescend to us that about half a century ago or latter ere civilization had carried many of its questionable advantages so far into the remote recesses of humble life as it does the present day there existed among the lower a prejudice against tea drinking that w js absolutely it is to be sure properly to account for this but the render may rest assured that so it was in the time of which we speak any woman especially a married one suspected of was looked upon as a marked sheep and if detected in he act she was considered a disgrace to her sex and her name a reproach to her many circumstances went to create this not prejudice and we shall mention a few of them in the first place tea at that time was by no means so cheap a luxury as it is now and besides it brought still more luxuries in its train they could not use tea without sugar and it was found that a loaf of white bread and butter were a decided improvement this costly d by d i n t ly a d tl i d up an a t f d m t p y t n j trail tl p t f tl a d t n i i mn t it d th u a d a t d tl m t to p cure it nor was tliis all it was too frequently found that wires and daughters did not scruple to steal or otherwise make away with the property of husbands and fathers rather than live without this fascinating which had then the zest of novelty u recommend it neither did its injurious consequences in a moral point of view end here wives and daughters have been known to still deeper disgrace upon their families in order t obtain it the sons of half and of independent farmers might have been less successful in their among the females of their father s were it not for the silly weakness which often yielded to temptation iti this shape these facts of themselves were sufficient ta create an against tea among the male portion of the lower classes and to render it almost for any woman to be known to drink it our catalogue of prejudices however d by dark at sl does not end even i it a â by the husbands we p am â t t was every way unlucky about a and tl at no poor in which it was d v r known to rice â and for this t at the devil was in the country from whence it came and it w as consequently the s plant but of this did not they all know the wickedness that took place ia the high families when men and women married and single from the lord lieutenant to the squire met in the middle of the night and in the pitch dark to drink e ery of that is man and woman â their ra put of tea

49William Black

sure it was well known that the devil was always present and made the himself and as most of the lords and gentlemen were members of the club it stood to reason that the devil and they were all in their glory now oil this came of and how then could it happen but that the old boy must have had a hard grip of any woman that took it our readers we trust can now understand not our friend s horror on discovering that the he carried about with d by h s him was nothing more or ic s aa pot but also the distress and indignation and jealous with which he and the watch upon the motions of their wives indeed much of the city of character which then existed is now gone and we have every reason to regret it although dot more than the people themselves it was truly to witness the harmless but covert warfare h went on between the husbands and wives of a who assailed as if from whilst a firm and corps knit the on side together â thus joining themselves into b most league for the pose of um veil ting the opposite party and in later times tea was at least once a week â to wit on sunday morning â it was highly to witness the resorted to by the good wife or daughters in order to have a cup of it more se sometimes they the made for breakfast so that there was nothing for it but the cup of sometimes the was to d by bark doings at with them and when the strongest and most was ready drawn and awaiting him it was discovered that the whole matter was a got up by the females of the family that they might secure it to themselves but alas those good innocent days are gone and we fear for ever â but to heaven and earth your reverence exclaimed when he had recovered what s to be done i m a ruined an my now nobody living understood the nature of s grievance better than the t to whom upon the subject of tea drinking many a sore complaint heaven knows had been carried why said he pretending ignorance what is wrong wrong by the man your reverence â pardon mo for in your ie at it hard and fast for the last nine months nine months how is that what do you mean the devil s plant the sir my wife s to the back bone into it she an them d by lo s goose or two rotten sheep the ay are they an the the naked truth is sir that they re all the same stick â a thing but truth i m you tut you re dreaming how could your afford to drink tea where could she get tl e money for it you have none to spare i and if you had i don t think you d it to her for such a purpose it art all along out of a â heaven forgive me again its name afore sir â out of a d goose i got from an aunt o mine and may ail the of light upon her an on the ould goose of s along her i why that has the goose to do with your wife s tea d every thing and be cursed to her â the dirty fowl made me a laugh in stock to the neighbors in the and now wife has made me worse god only knows what she has made me a your reverence knows will do any thing but the goose i can t connect the goose with your wife s tea drinking d by doings at si t an â the same goose brought lis a of eleven as fine fat birds as over jou tasted in an co to the one of them but she m tea two she gave me to buy leather for a pair o my heels were on the stones is it the goose or j speak ing of my wife the thief you don t mean that it was she brought you the of no sir replied with a grin which he could not suppress nor be me it wasn t the goose drank the bnt what s to be done your reverence is the goose fat now faith sir squire s a to her she d want an arm chair to be rolled about in well to get out of send me the goose and and make your mind easy i ll cure the tea drinking or at a events i ll that your wife won t a single cup with oat your knowing it d by s goose or you shall have them sir but i say it s a god yoa may succeed ia it â always tbat it t be too late far as i m for they say that a has no scruples good or bad oh god pity the that has a wife an to rear vm but a to them i ll tell you what you ll do says the priest take this same tea pot back to your own house and leave it unknown to wife in the spot where you got it after this keep tea pot are you there during the remainder of the day and yon may throw out a hint to her that you have lately seen such a thing then watch her well and in a day or two let me know how she ll act come now put it under your tail and be off i have given you proper instructions thanked the priest rolled it up in the all of his great coat as before and made towards home but not without a to sec and consult with the this indeed was a bitter meeting no sooner had

49William Black

his two neighbors satisfied that d by it was a bow pot than tliey themselves heart and hand to support in any plan that might enable to put an end to tea drinking for ever they then separated having as good as sworn an that they would sustain back one another in this severe and trial it was very fortunate for that had gone to bring in a of water for the supper when he reached as by that means he had an opportunity of the without the of her seeing great however was her astonishment or rather consternation when on entering the house she singing tea pot are you v in a tone so and full of spirits that she knew not in what light to consider this unusual inclination to melody â whether as the result of accident or design dear said she with more affection usual where you in several places my honey i seen many strange sights to day what they darling tell ua one o them d by s goose or why i was about to day for an article i wanted â a it was to mend a and upon my i found a tea pot in anything but company are you there etc etc and he gave her very a second of the same melody this melodious system of bitter he continued like a man on the rack for two or three days during which period he observed that several secret took place between and the wives of her neighbors as was evident from her occasional absence and the rapid expresses that passed from time to time between them the fact was that the finding of the tea pot proved a very fortunate discovery and was attended by a no less important result than the breaking up of the tea that existed in the village we have now solved and this great mystery â and like all other mysteries discovery put an end to it made humble and sufficient apologies for having been drawn into the grievous of tea drinking as a token that the wickedness was for ever d by dark doings at tho tear pot was out and smashed with all father o too was induced to issue from the altar so severe an against the forbidden as altogether suppressed the practice the d by tom the t i t t i h ty h h g d tl t tl ty f y i tp â t th tt t t b p mi y g tl d d t f tl t h h mm d t ly g b f t th id mo b f ty wh h m d p th t it f ty h k t tt d t h th t f i d k h p b tl tl m d d f m th t t id ly f th m b ft t n ir th t m y b p n d d by oc m d d f i l which roast gratify every one who wishes to see the masses by those principles follow in the train of knowledge and civilization but at the same time it is that the simplicity which accompanied those old of harmless ignorance has departed along with them and in spite of education and science we miss the old familiar individuals who stood forth as the representatives oe manners whose very memory touches the heart and affections more strongly than the hard of but more truths for our own part we have always loved the rich and ruddy twilight of the rustic hearth where the capricious tongues of blazing light shoot out from between the turf and dance in vivid reflection in the well and as they stand neatly arranged on tlie kitchen â loved did we say ay and ever preferred it to philosophy with all her light and fashion with all her and for this reason it is that whilst as it were the steps of our early life and bringing back to our memory the acquaintances of our youthful days we feel our heart touched d by with melancholy and sorrow because nt i now that it like our last farewell of old friends whom we shall never see from whom we never any but and whose time touched never turned upon us but with ind and affection in this paper it is not with the whose nd are associated with high and historical that we have any thin j to do our sketches do not go far beyond the manners of our own times by which we mean that we paint or record that is not remembered and known by those who arc now living the wc speak of is the dim and diminished of him who filled a distinct calling in a period that has long gone by the regular â the herald and historian of individual families the faithful of his long descended pat has not been in existence for at least a century and a half perhaps two he with whom we have to do is the humble old man who feeling himself gifted with a strong memory fur history old family d by the irish add lore in general passes a life in going from family to family comfortably dressed and much dropping in of a saturday night without any previous notice bringing eager curiosity and delight to the of the house he visits and filling the ears of the old with and legends in which perhaps individuals of their own name and blood have in former ages been known to take a remarkable and part indeed there is no country in the world from the peculiar features of its social and political changes the of the would be more likely to produce a effect as in ireland when we consider that it was once a country of princes and chiefs each of whom

49William Black

was followed and looked up to with such a spirit of enthusiasm and devoted attachment as might be naturally expected from a people remarkable for the force of their affection and their power of imagination it is not surprising that the man who in a of society which presented to the minds of so many nothing but the records of fallen greatness or the decay of powerful names and tiie of d by tom rude grandeur together with tlie ruin of and the of each with some local or national interest â it is not we say that such a man should be welcomed and listened to and honored with a feeling far surpassing that which was awakened by he idle of a or the dreams by fiction neither the transition of society however nor the scanty of knowledge among the irish allowed the to produce any permanent upon the people and the consequence was that as the changes of society hurried on he and his audience were carried along with them his lore was lost in the ignorance which ever arises when a ban has been placed upon education and from the recital of the high deeds and heroic of by gone he sank down into the humble of legends and dim traditions for such only has he been within the memory of the oldest man living and as such only do we intend to present him to our readers the most accomplished of this kind d by the irish that tier came our observation waa a c tom or tom tlie he a very stout mad about fifty years of age with i round head hat bald and an that argued a considerable reach of natural intellect his ft ere large and projected over a of deep set lively that with strong of humor his vo ce was loud his rapid but dis and such was the force and of his spirits added to the vehemence of his man that altogether it was impossible to resist him his laughter was and k loud it mi ht be heard of a calm summer even at an incredible distance indeed possessed qualities that rendered him a most agreeable companion he could sing a good song for dance a as well as any dancing master and iâ e need not say that he could tell a good he could also imitate a jew s harp or upon hia lips his mere fingers m such a manner that the deception complete it was known that flocks of the je used to d about d by tom him for the purpose of hearing his o upon the ivy leaf which he played upon by putting it in his mouth and uttering a most whistle he was a man of great natural power i and such a memory aa the writer of thi never knew any other human to be gifted with he not only thing he saw or was concerned in but every thing he heard also his language when he spoke irish was clear and eloquent but when he had to the english his remained yet it was the of a man who made an rain ate of a which he did not understand his on this account was highly ludicrous and amusing am his wit and humor original and pointed he had never received any education and was consequently completely yet he could repeat every word of s irish s think well on t the seven of and the substance of a and kill s all by heart many a time have we seen him r as he used to call it one of dr d by a sermons out of tlie skirt of his a feat wliich was looked npon with twice the wonder it would have produced had he merely said that he repeated it bat to read it out of the skirt of his coat heavens how we used to look on with awe and veneration as tom in a rapid voice it oat of liim for such was the term we gave to his recital of it i his however was not confined to mere english and irish for tom was also classical in his way and for want of a bet ter substitute it was said could serve mass which must always be done in latin certain it was that he could repeat the be p and the dies in that language we need scarcely add that in these learned lie dealt largely in false quantities and took a course for himself altogether independent of and this however was no argument against his natural talents or the surprising force of his memory tom was also an easy and happy both in prose and poetry his invention was indeed remarkably fertile but his genius knew no medium between and satire ho d by tom y either lashed his for the an enemy he had with rude and fearful attacks of the latter or gave them as pope did to every under and indeed a good many more than were heard of beyond his own system of philosophy and morals tom was a great person for attending wakes and where he was always a busy man comforting the afflicted relatives with many learned quotation repeating or spiritual songs together with the de or over the corpse directing even the domestic concerns paying attention to s looking after the pipes and tobacco and in fact making himself not only generally useful but essentially necessary to them by his happiness of manner the cordiality of his and his humor at one time you see him engaged in leading a for the repose of the soul of the departed or singing the of a religious song to the company and this duty being over lie would commence a series of comic tales and humorous anecdotes which he with an ease and spirit that the best d by the e h of

49William Black

ns all might envy the heart passes from the depths of pathos to the extremes of and as a proof of this we assure our readers that we have seen the nearest and most afflicted relatives of ttie carried away by e laughter at the broad grotesque and ludicrous farce of his it was here also that he f in a character of which he was proud and for the possession of which he was looked up to with great respect by the people we mean that of a or as it is termed of scripture for when a man in the country parts of ireland wins local fame as a he is seldom mentioned in any other way than as a great of scripture to argue scripture well therefore means the power of one s in a religious contest many of this kind passed between tom and his in most of all of which he was successful his memory was his wit and and his humor broad or sarcastic as he found it convenient to apply it in these he spared neither logic nor learning where an d by english quotation failed be threw in of irish and where that was understood he posed them with a latin one closing the quotation by desiring them to give a translation of it if this too were accomplished he rattled out the five or six first verses of john in greek which some one lad taught him and as this was generally beyond their reading it usually closed the discussion in his favor without doubt he possessed a mind of great natural and power and as these were principally conducted in wake it is almost needless to say that the wake at which they expected him was uniformly a crowded one tom had a good voice and used to sing the old irish songs of our country with pathos and effect he sang the red haired man s wife and na with a feeling that early impressed itself upon our heart indeed we think that his sweet but voice still rings in oar ears and whilst we remember the tears which the enthusiasm of sorrow brought down his and the quivering pause in the fine old melody d by the irish h marked what he felt we cannot help ac know that the memory of these things is and that the hearts of many in spite of new systems of education and poor will after the homely hut touching traits which marked the harmless and the times in which he lived but now all these innocent fireside t h it m d b th i m th i i d h m f th s h p y tl tl t t f t t h p th t f f w f i t ft t th dim i d f f t tl f t m f it f d t w tl t care to disturb him or a passion that was not by the simple but integrity of his heart his wishes were few and innocently and easily gratified the great delight of his soul was not that he should experience kindness at the hands of s but that he should tou to them the simple of his heart that degree of amusement and instruction and knowledge which made them look up n him la a wonderful man gifted with for in what light was not that man to be upon who could trace the old names np to times when they were great who could climb a tree to the top branch who could tell a the old irish tales and legends of the country and beat the horse who had the whole bible by heart at arguing scripture harmless humble as it was and limited lu compass to thee it was all in and yet thou happy in feeling that it was this little boon was all thou ask of life and it was kindly granted thee the last night we ever had tlie pleasure of amused by tom was at a wake in the neighborhood for it somehow happened that there was seldom a wake or a dance within two or three miles of us that we did not attend and god forgive us i when old was on her death bed the only care that troubled us was an apprehension that she might recover and thus us of a right merry d by the wake upon the occasion we allude to it being known that tom would be present of course the house was crowded and when he did come and his loud good voice was heard at the door heavens how every young heart bounded with glee and delight i the first thing he did on entering was to go where the corpse was laid oat and in a loud rapid voice repeat the be for the repose of her soul after which ho sat down and a pipe oh well do we remember how the whole was hushed for all was expectation and interest as to what he would do or say at length he spoke â is frank there all that s left o me s here tom an if the general had his due frank that wouldn t be much and so tho longer you can keep him out of that same the for yourself folly on tom i you know there s none of us all to up to say what you will it s not so when you re beside a girl frank cut sure that s not you were born in your mouth an that s what d by makes to the fair be bo soft and ha ha never mind s worse where you ll go to keep own counsel fast let s salt your an you ll do yet boys i m goin to sing a an that frank an i will pick a

49William Black

couple o dozen out o yea to the the a play or diversion peculiar to wakes it is in its character but full besides of comic sentiment and humor ee then commenced an irish or song the substance of which was as follows according to his own translation st it seems was one sunday morning crossing a mountain on his way to chapel to say mass and as he was an humble man weren t then invented at any rate an a great he took the across the mountains in one of the lonely lie met a herd who spent his time in bis s cattle to the of them times which was not by any means bo an us now the countenance of the day was clear an ex d by the irish every was at rest the little river before an indeed one would think it flowed on more decency an behavior than upon other occasions the birds to be sure were but it was to see that tliey out their best notes in honor of the day good morrow on you said st what s the you re not goin to prayers my fine little fellow v what s prayers the boy st looked at him with a very pitiful and expression in his face can you bless yourself said he no said the boy i don t know what it means worse and worse thought st poor it isn t your fault an how do you pass your time here v why my mate food s brought to me ail i do be kings crowns out of my rushes i m not watching the cows and st down hia head great an said well you do be kings crowns but i tell you you re d by ti u born to wear a greater one nor a king s an that is a crown of glory come along me i can t lave my said the other for they might go astray eight enough said st bnt let you see that they won t now any how st cattle irresistibly himself been a herd in his youth so he clapped his thumb to his an the a to the sheep an you they came about him great an respect keep yourselves sober and says he them till thi boy comes back an don t go your owner s property or if you do it ll be worse for if you regard your health the season mind an attend to my the rot this year s likely to be i can tell now yon see every sheep while he was lifted the right fore leg an raised the head a little an when he finished they kissed their foot an made him a low bow as a mark of their estimation an he thin clapped his finger an thumb in his mouth d by a whistle an in a time he had all the other cattle on the hill about him to which he addressed the same an they bowed to him the same polite he brought the lad along him an as they made progress in the the little fellow says you seem by the walk an if you let me carry your bundle i ll feel obliged do so said the saint an as it s rather long throw the bag that the things are in over your shoulder you ll find it the way to carry it well the boy adopted this an they went along til they reached the chapel do you see that house said st i do said the other it has no chimney on it no said the it has not but in that house christ he that saved you will be present to day an the boy thin shed tears he thought of the goodness of christ in one that was a stranger to him so they entered â tom the chapel an the first thing the lad was struck with the beams of the son that came in through the windy beside tlie altar now he had never seen the like of it in a house before an it was put there for some or other in the he threw the which was a saddle bag across the an lo au you the supported it an at the same time a loud sweet voice was heard this is my servant st an he s welcome to the house of god st him an instructed him in the various of the languages until he became one of the greatest saints that ever ireland saw with the exception and of st himself such is a faint outline of the tone and manner peculiar to the of tom indeed it has frequently surprised not only us but all who knew him to think how and where and he got together such an incredible number of hard and difficult words be this as it may one was perfectly clear that they cost him little trouble and no study in their application his pride was to as as possible d by the ib h and of course he imagined tliat the most successful method of doing this was to use aa many expressions as he could crowd into ills without any regard whatsoever aa to propriety immediately after the relation of this legend he passed at once into a spirit he and their forces and in a few minutes two or three dozen young fellows wore hotly engaged in the game of the the was followed hj the standing and the sitting two other sports practised only at wakes and here we remark that the amusements resorted to on such occasions are never to be found elsewhere but are exclusively peculiar to the of mourning where they are introduced for the se of sorrow having gone through a few more such sports tom took a seat and addressed a neighboring farmer named as

49William Black

follows â jack do you know the history of your own name aud its original d by tom etc indeed no tom i l do well boys if your noise a little i ll tlie origin of the name of it s only about ould whose tongue is on the look out for a drop of ever since he went to the lower story â see the the castle of nm the hum of general conversation now gradually subsided into silence and every face assumed an expression of curiosity and interest with the exception of who was rather deaf and blind george m so called because he wanted an eye both of whom in high and piercing tones carried on an angry discussion touching a small that had gone in the court of which ft as a kind of rustic attorney an outburst of im patient rebuke was immediately upon them from fifty voices yea ye p ir of s limbs an tom goin to tell ui a story d by the castle of ok bowl s as crooked as your lame leg yon an as for george if ad save a man he ll escape the devil yet to an be quiet till we hear the story ay said tom says that when the leads the blind both fall into the ditch but god help the that have blind george to lead them we guess where he d guide them to especially a poor innocent as there this as it was not intended to give offence so was it received by the parties to whom it was addressed with laughter and good humor silence boys said tom i ll take a of the pipe till i put my mind in a state of for what i was goin to he then smoked on for a few minutes his eyes complacently but closed and his whole face composed into the philosophic spirit of a man who knew and felt his own superiority as well as what was expected from him when he had arranged the materials in his mind he took tlie pipe ont of his mouth rubbed the end of it against the d by k legend of the brown goat of liis coat then handed it to his next neighbor and having given a short preparatory commenced his legend â yon must know that charles the first happened to miss his head one day lost it while a game of heads an points with the scotch that a man called or was sent over to ireland with a parcel of an english to the irish an as many of the as bad been friends to the late king who were called now it appears by many learned that had in his army a man named or the of a fellow who was as as as as a fox an as gross as the swine he was named there is no of it was a hand at a town or castle as went about it but then any town that didn t at discretion was sure to experience little at his hands an whenever he was bent on wickedness he was sure to say his prayers at the commencement of every siege or battle â that is that he intended to show no d by the castle of or in â an it head of his army he d cry my brethren let as praise god by till sing or a an god help the man woman or child that came before him that well an good it so happened that a of his singers were by him from where he stopped to assistance to a party of liis array that o was down near an on their way they happened to take up their rs for the night at the mill of now above all the men in the creation who should be appointed to lead this same but the of go off yo i said when his instructions to him but be that whenever you meet a fat on the way to pay your respects to him as a christian ought says he an above ai things my dear brother dim t your otherwise our arms can t prosper and be sure says he with a smile that if they opposition yon will make them any either in purse or person or if they provoke the grace of god d by a op the brown take a little from them in both an so the lord s name be praised t a of for elected by his commander to a holy office bet out on his march an the night he an his choir slept in the mill of i said now had in this same of his a long legged named sandy which name he got by way of for his charity for it appears by the historical that sandy was perpetually about affection an jove an what showed more than anything else was that while this same sandy had the persuasion to make every one believe that he thought of nothing else he shot more people than any ten men in the he was indeed what they called a dead shot for no one ever knew him to miss anything he fired at he had a that would throw point blank an english mile an if he only saw a man s nose at that distance he to say that with aid from above lie could blow it for him with a leaden that he could blow it off his face a bullet d by the castle of or and so by all he could for the he performed were very an now it bo h that at this period there lived in the castle a fine wealthy ould named or as they are often who had but one child a daughter whose beauty an far an near over the country an who had her

49William Black

health drunk as the toast of ireland by the lord lieutenant in the of the sympathetic of the rose of it was her son that afterwards ran through the estate and was forced to part the castle an it s to him the proverb which ould john that the castle of that bears no to tlie story i m so what could you have of it but who had heard of the father s wealth and the daughter s beauty tj o a holy both an as usual said his prayers and sung a he determined for to clap his thumb upon the father s money the daughter would be the more d by a legend of the brown goat to folly it id other he made up his mind to sack the castle carry oâ f the daughter an marry her he said a sincere wish to bring into a state of grace by a with a man he trusted was than from any cardinal for lier wealth or he accordingly sent np a file of the most pious men he had picked with good si voices aud strong noses to request that john would give them possession of the castle for a time an join them at prayers as a proof that lie was no but a friend to and the now you see the best of it was that the very man they demanded this from was commonly by the people as jack in consequence of the great of his courage an besides he was known as a member of the hell fire club that no person could join that hadn t fought three and killed at least one man and in to show that they regarded neither god nor hell they were to dip one hand in blood an the other in fire before d by the ca of ob they could be made members of the club it s to see then that was not likely to before a of the very men he hated all the in his power an he put his head oat of the windy an their for being there about your business he said i owe you no regard what brings you before the castle of a man who you don t think to me you for can t my castle s well provided men an an food an if you don t be off i ll make you sing a different tune from a one he did plump to them ont of the windy when a men returned to in tlie mill they related what had place and he said that prayers he d a second message in an if it wasn t attended to they d their trust in god an storm the castle the lie commanded was not a numerous one an as they had no an were surrounded by enemies the of the castle which was a strong one might cost them some at all d by a i of the brown goat events was bent on the attempt especially he heard that the castle waa well an indeed he was joined by his men who licked their lips on of glad s was a hot headed man without dexterity or deliberation otherwise he might have known that the bare of the beef and in his castle was only fit to make a hungry pack desperate but be that as it may in a short tune wrote him a letter of him in the name an the common wealth to the castle or if not that w he he would make him as as a after it threw tiie letter back to the messengers a recommendation to regarding it ba whether the same recommendation was followed and aâ tâ d on so soon as he wished historical do not inform on their return the military to their commander the reception they a second time from an he then resolved to lay regular siege to the but as he d by the castle of ob knew lie could not take it by he determined as they say to starve the garrison and by degrees but first an a thought struck him au he called sandy behind the mill which he had now turned into a pulpit for the of the word an to hia men sandy he are jou in a state of justification to day towards noon replied i had some strong with tie i am able under praise to s y th t d fat d him in three attacks and i co feel my much i ad some wholesome with the m r s â a comely who may yet be recovered from the world and led out of the darkness of by a word in well sandy replied the other i her to your own instructions there is another poor maiden who is also comely up in the castle of that sinner who to the club an indeed sandy until he is somehow removed i think there ia d by a legend op the brown goat little hope of her a br d from the burning he sandy in the face as he an thin cast an glance at the that was as much as to say can you late an v sandy a reply an up the gun rubbed the barrel an patted it as a ud pat the neck of his horse or dog reverence for the villain to either one or the other if it was known sandy said it her heart against me an as he is hopeless at all events bein a member of that club true said sandy but yoa lave the miller s daughter to me v â i said so well if his removal will give you any in the you may say no more i could not sandy justify it to myself to take away by open violence for yoa know that i bear

49William Black

a conscience if any thing too an also i wish sandy to an reputation for humanity an be sides the daughter might become as d by the castle of ok as the father if she me to be ally m it i ha e heard â v good deal about him an am that he has been shot at before the sons it is thought of an enemy that he himself killed rather significantly in a veiy well sandy ould feel but as both oar i i touched the bu i think i am justified indeed it is very likely all that â e are but mere lu it an that it is throne us that this sinner to be by a more neighbors a bent on it le al y to find enough to back him m an bo was it sandy and that ould was shot through the head in the windy of his own an to the suspicion of such an act from s men himself â ent op the next day to a friendly explanation â id that he had liar orders but that if the d by was delivered to he for the sake of the lady see tliat no injury should be to her or ber father the lady however had the high drop m her and the only answer he f ot was a of this the villain an he there was else for it but to a strong about the castle to keep all that was in an all that was out la the meantime the very appearance of the in the neighborhood struck error into the people that the country which then only very inhabited became an for miles about the face of a human bein couldn t be seen their own as tliey were s was always a bloody one an the people knew that they were wise in patting the and mountain passes between him and them the miller and his daughter bein encouraged by sandy staid for the sake of but except them there was not a man or woman in the to bid good morrow to or say on the of the d by the castle day who knew his extremely well had sent down a messenger to to see whether matters were so bad as they had been reported was delighted to hear tliat o had disappeared from the neighborhood he immediately informed of this an him that he had laid siege to one of the passes of the north an that by possession of the two castles of and he could keep o in cheek an command that part of the approved of this an him to proceed but waa sorry that he could send him no assistance at present said he a good sharp swords an aid from above there is no fear of us they now set themselves to take the castle in an sandy one another an not a day passed that some one wasn t dropped in it as soon as ever a face appeared pop went the deadly an down fell tbe corpse of whoever it was aimed at miss herself was spared for good reasons bnt in the of ten or twelve days she was nearly alone though a d by a legend of the goat only of i profound i lie reported the of t ie and the state of the to an his crew b it above all things th it w i t the r wai the wai t of there was i one in the castle an although there wa a ful well beside it air it of small to here thin was the poor young lady at the of i er for she n j t hive doubted in tie he by the ai jet the death of all the ts of tie house m the same was a i roof tl it it like ke m this case however was to be the whole of iti a fat man cook m years who i in b s s ir that he m t his own ind a little boy that she hei it was a hard case a yet bless her he hell out like a man its an ould that s no up tl e tongue of in it s il o a true one d by the castle of a or tlie account of had gone far an near ill tlie au none of the irish no matter they were who ever heard it but y s ij s i th a tl tl tl t h t id fi d m th t t t h f t h j t d tl f f or h m f d t w k ik i t th tl f tl it m t t i y th b d t b y tl at th b m t tl t p tl t p m u t tl t g p i tl g t d k h h d f td t as h d p f m t d th tl d m f th tl b t th t fe th f t kid k h m li t d th th pi d b j d d y f h m tl li sa ly tl t d df m tl id b if t f d k st th d f th g ra was in her and yield she would to the villain that left her as she wa then was the of her situation l a of the brown goat to on the to catch if possible a little of the dew of heaven she was to see flung up that rolled down towards her feet she lifted it an on the contents found it to be a stone covered a piece of brown paper inside of which was a slip of white

49William Black

the words â relief is near j ou but poor young of what could be to one in her situation â she could see to read them her brain was dizzy her mouth like a her tongue swelled an black an her breath felt as hot as a furnace she could barely was in the very act of down the triumphant air of heaven to die when she heard the shrill voice of a kid in the castle yard and immediately remembered that a brown goat which her lover a gentleman named had when it was a kid made her a present of remained in the castle about the stable the whole siege she instantly made her way slowly down stairs got a bowl and the goat she a little of the milk which i need not at relieved by this means she re d by the castle of or covered an no anticipation she like a to the out au to wait till either or might lend her a hand now mast know that the s had also a sweetheart called or sharp eyed an humble branch of the great of au this same sail was servant an foster brother to the intended husband of miss who lived some miles off on the condition of the castle gathered together all the far an near and as was honestly hated by both an faith you see himself promised to send a few of his followers to the rescue in the meantime dressed himself up like a fool or idiot an the of the miller s daughter who in great style was allowed to and joke the bat especially he took a fancy to sandy and him to put one stone out of five in one of the port holes of the castle at a match of finger sandy who was nearly as famous a d by a legend op the brown coat that as the was rather relaxed when he saw that could at least put in every fifth and that he himself could hardly put one iu out of twenty well at all events it was their sport that fool as they called him contrived to fling the scrap of i spoke of across the at all chances for he to go to the castle he up his life as lost but he didn t care for that in case he was able to save either his foster brother or miss but this is not at all for it is well known that many a foster brother his life the same way and in cases of great danger when the real brother would beg to decline the compliment things were now in a very state entirely heard that relief was to the castle an what to do he did not know there was little time to be lost however an something must be done he twice a day from the an sang for grace to be directed in his righteous intentions but as yet he derived no from either sandy d by the of or appeared to have got a more of grace his captain for he succeeded at last m the miller s to the word at her father ti fool ly as they called bad now become a great favorite the an as ho proved to be quite harmless and they let him run the place tlie castle to be sure was still guarded but miss kept her heart np in of the note for she hoped every day to get relief from her friends now that the miller s daughter was the of formed a plan that he thought might enable him to the castle an bear off the lady an tlie money this m as to strive with a very meditation to prevail on the miller s daughter the renown that he thought sandy had over her to open a miss for he knew that if one of the gates was unlocked an the girl let in the whole would soon be in her tliis plan was the more dangerous to miss because the miller s daughter had intended to d by a legend of the goat o bring about th m d m t f b t b f d b enemies it tb b d an t b t t t tl moment lie ba q t t l tl m t liis es j tb tl t b m ever b t t tb j i were t t k t b t the tl f h p s ii t be d p m t tl plot was mentioned to who was promised a good of the an as it was tlie very be about night an day ho snapped at it as a hungry dog would at a sheep s that night the miller s daughter â whose name i may as say was the i an the sweetest singer that ever was in the was to go to the an tell miss that the all gone killed au his whole array to this was a plan from poor s who now saw clearly what they were at but never heed a for witty when bard pushed d by the castle op ob i don t like to do it she for it like as my left the and i don t know he is gone to an yon know s ent in either man or woman still sandy it goes hard for me to refuse one that i i well i wish i knew where my father is â i like to know what he d think of it hut said sandy s the of such scruples in a good â when get the money well it is principally for the sake of you an her from the darkness of that we do it indeed my conscience not rest well if i let a sou an body like yours

49William Black

remain a prey to my well said she doesn t the captain this he does my beloved an with a will a few verses from the song of solomon it s then said she to sit under the word an perhaps some light may be given to us this delighted s heart who now looked upon pretty as his own indeed d by a legend of the brown goat he was to go gradually and to work for cruel though was sandy that if any violent act of kind should him the guilty party would sup sorrow well to this assembled all his who were not on duty about the in wliich he stood as an had a powerful the of which was devoted to he dwelt upon the happiness of religious love said that scruples were often suggested by satan an that a heavenly duty was but ten when put in an earthly one he also made to the oh squire that waa by sandy said it was often a judgment for the wicked man to die in his sins an was on great eloquence an when a low noise was heard an up his clenched hands an lis teeth shouted ont hell and d n i ll be ground to death i the mill s goin i it was true enough â she had been set by some one an before d by they had time to stop her tho ho of had the feet and legs off him before their eyes â a fair of his own doctrine that it is often a judgment for the man to die in his sins when the mill was stopped he was pulled out bat didn t live twenty minutes in consequence of the loss of blood time was so they ran np a shell of a coffin and tumbled it into a pit that was for it on the mill common this however by no manner of relieved poor from her difficulty for now finding himself first in command determined not to lose a moment in his plan upon the castle you see said he that a way is opened for us that we didn t an let us not close our eyes to the light that has been given lest it might be suddenly taken from us again in this instance i suspect that fool has been made the chosen instrument for it appears upon inquiry that he too has disappeared however heaven s will be we will have the more to s my beloved â it is now dark he proceeded so i shall go an d by a of the goat g take my usual at the mill an in about a of an hour i ll he but i m all in a tremor after a frightful accident replied an i want to get a minutes quiet before we engage upon our this was natural and accordingly took his usual seat at a little windy in the of the mill that faced the miller s an from the way the bench was fixed he was obliged to sit with his face exactly towards the same direction there we leave him upon his own righteous till we folly or fool as they called him who all that was done and that no time was to be lost gave all over as could be acted on quickly soil at once had thought of the mill but kept the plan to himself any farther than her not to be surprised at any thing she might see he then told her to steal him a gun bat if possible let it be s as he knew it d by the castle of or could be depended on but i yoa won t any blood if yoa can avoid it said she i don t tut replied to the question it s to have it about me for my own defence he could often have shot either or in daylight bat not without certain death to himself as he knew that escape was impossible besides time was not before so upon them an every day relief was expected now however that relief wa so for with a party of an s men must be within a couple of hours journey â it would be too entirely to see the castle and the lady carried off by such a legged as at great risk an opportunity of his gun to who was the best shot of the day in that or any other part of the country and it was in consequence of this that he was called or sharp eye bat indeed all the were famous shots an i m there s one of them now in that hit a pigeon s egg or a silver sixpence at the distance of a d by hundred yards did not merely raise the when he set the mill lie whipped it out altogether an threw it into the dam so that the of saving the of was he made off however an threw himself among the tall that grew upon the common till it got dark when as was his custom should take his smote at the windy here he sat for some period over many before he lit his pipe as he called it said he to himself what is there to me from away or rather from sure of the grand instead of the miller s if i get the castle it can be soon effected for if she has regard for lier reputation she will be quiet i m a handsome lad enough a thought high in the cheek bones in the skin an d a trifle but stout an an tough as a but again what is to be done wi hut she s but a miller s an may be disposed of if she gets troublesome i the tho first shot his day d by the castle

49William Black

of ob know she s fond of me but i ber for tbat however it become me now to entertain scruples that the way is made so plain for me but save ua eh tbat was an awful death an very like a judgment on the of it is often a judgment for the wicked to die in their sins that â â whatever be intended to say further cannot be by man for just as he had uttered the last word which he did while holding the candle to his pipe the bullet of his own gun entered between his eyes and the next moment he was a corpse the name be got for truer did never bullet go to the mark from s own aim than it did from bis re is now little more to be to my story before daybreak the next came to the relief of bis intended wife s were surprised taken an cut to pieces an it so happened that from that day to this the face of a to him was never seen near the mill or castle of with one exception only and tbat waa this you all know that the mill is often d by a legend of the brows goat heard to go at it when nobody sets ber a goin an tliat tbe most of torture come out of the an that when any one has the to took in they re sure to see a man dressed like a with a white face in the act so to say of his legs ground off him many was made who the spirit could be but all to no purpose there however is the truth for the spirit that shrieks in the is s t an he s to be ground that way till the day of judgment be and miss were married as war an sail an if they all lived long an happy i wish we may all live ten times longer an happier an so we will but in a world than this god well but tom said how does that for my name which yon said you d tell me right said tom i was near for it why you see was their veneration for the goat that was the god of s life that they d by t the castle op ok changed the name of to which in irish or a brown goat that all their posterity might know the obligations they lay to that reverend an do you mane to tell me said that ray name was never heard of s time i do never in the wide an earth was a name known till the i yon an it never either only for the goat sure i can prove it by path the will you give ua draw o the pipe tom s authority in these matters was and besides there was no one present learned to contradict him with any chance of success before such an audience the argument was without further discussion decided in his favor and was silenced touching the origin and of his own name d by white horse of the it was the night of the second of july in the year that a small remnant of a army forming its position in no very good order on the slope of a wild hill on the borders of the of in front of a small square tower a was pacing up and down darkly oyer the disastrous fight of the preceding day and his measured tread was sometimes broken by the fierce stamp of his foot upon the earth as some thought and muttered curse arose when the feelings of tiie man overcame the habit of the soldier the hum of the arrival of a small of horse came from the ale below borne up the hill â n the faint breeze that sometimes a summer s night d by t the white horse but tl tl th t ft n a mil t y t m d t w th th the v y t t ra d t h t tl t f t t t t tb t th t i th m to f t t m th it l h t ik i th w ih d â t â curse the word â shall we never do anything bnt fall back and back before this and his followers and yesterday too with so fine an of cutting the to pieces â and all thrown away and so much fighting to go for nothing oh if had led us we d have another tale to tell and here he the heavy of his war boot into the ground and up and down but he was roused from his angry musing by the sound of a horse s tramp that indicated a rapid approach to the tower and be soon perceived through the gloom a approaching at a gallop the the who returned the and was then permitted to ride up to the door of the tower he was mounted on a superb whose coat d by op the t of milk white was and the of whose breathing told of recent hard the alighted his dress was of a mi ed character that war was not his â though the troubled nature of the had him in it his head had no he wore the of a c common to the time but his body was defended bv the of a and a heavy sword suspended by a broad was at si eâ these the soldier for the large and mounted pistols that from the at his saddle bow were no more than any gentleman at the time might have been provided with will you hold the rein of my horse said he to the while i remain in the i am a sir answered the soldier and cannot i will

49William Black

not remain more than a few minutes i dare not sir while i m on but i suppose you will find some one in the castle that will take charge of horse the stranger now knocked at the door of the tower and after some questions and answers in d by the white h e e token of had passed i those inside it was opened let some one take charge of my horse said ho i do not want him to be as i shall not remain here long but i have ridden hard and he is warm so let him be walked np and down i am ready to get into the saddle again he then entered the tower and was ushered into a small and apartment where a man of between fifty and sixty years of age seated on a broken chair though in a rich ro e de waa engaged in conversation with a general officer a man of fewer years whose finger waa indicating certain upon a map which with many other papers on a table before them extreme waa the prevailing expression that the countenance of the elder while there mingled with the sadness that marked the noble features of a tinge of anger as certain suggestions he offered when ho laid finger from time to time on the map were received with coldness if not with refusal here at least we can make a bold stand d by said the general and his eye flashed and hia brow knit as ho spoke i fear not a d the king for it the unfortunate james the second who spoke withdrew his hand suddenly from the map and folding his arms became silent may please yon my said the whose entry had not been noticed by either or his sovereign i hope i have not on your majesty who speaks said the as he shaded his eyes from the light that on the table and looked into the gloom where the other was your enemies my said with some bitterness would not be so to discover a tried friend of majesty â tis the white and as he spoke gave a look full of welcome and joyous recognition towards him the felt with the pride of a gallant spirit all that the general s look and manner and he bowed his head respectfully d by the white horse to the leader whose and judgment he had so often admired ha my faithful white said the king majesty s poor and faithful subject was the answer tou have won the name of the white said and you deserve to wear it the bowed the general is right said the king i shall never remember you under any other name you and your white horse have done good would that they could have done more my was the and modest reply would that every one laying some stress on the word had been as true to the cause yesterday r said and what has brought you here said the king anxious perhaps to e from the thought that his general s last words had suggested i came my to ask permission to bid your majesty farewell and beg the privilege to kiss your royal hand d by farewell echoed king startled at the word are too t o ng â one de there was intense anguish in the of his voice for is he spoke h s fell upon a ring he which the trait ot favorite daughter anne aid the that she his own had e the same remark the of her father â th it bitter came across his soul aid smote h m to the heart he was suddenly silent â his contracted â he his in and one bitter tear sprang from under either lid at the thought he passed ills land a his fa e and w away the woman sh evidence of his weakness do not say i desert jou my g i leave j ou tis true for the present bat i do not leave you until i can see no way in which i can be longer useful while in my own immediate district there were many ways in which ray poor services might bo made available my knowledge of the county of its people and its resources its passes and its weak points were of no service but here or farther where your majesty is going i can d by tee white horse no do any thing which might w that majesty and general s are pleased to honor me with yon have still a stout heart a clear head a bold arm and a noble horse said i have a weak woman and helpless children general said the appeal was irresistible â was silent but though i cannot longer aid with my â my wishes and my prayers shall follow your majesty â and whenever i may be an agent to be made my king has but to command the willing services of his subject faithfully promised said the king the promise shall be as faithfully kept said his but before i leave may i beg the favor of a moment s private conversation with your majesty speak any thing yon have to communicate before said the king hesitated for a moment he was struggling between his sovereign s command and his own delicacy of feeling but the latter in deference to the former he d by your majesty s difficulties with respect to supplies i know said the king somewhat impatient j i owe jou five hundred pieces oil i my said the devoted subject dropping on his knee before him deem me not unworthy as to seek to remind your majesty of the you did me the honor to allow me to lay at your disposal i only regret i had not the means of more it is not that but i have brought here

49William Black

another hundred pieces it is all that i can raise at present and if your majesty will farther honor me by the acceptance of so poor a when the immediate necessities of army may render every trifle a matter of importance i shall leave you with a more contented spirit conscious that i have done all within ray power for my king and as he spoke he laid on a table a purse containing the gold i cannot deny that we are sorely said the king but i do not like pray do not it my said still kneeling â do not refuse the last poor d by the white horse vice your subject may ever have it in his power to do in your cause well the king i accept it â but i would not do so if i were not sure of having one day the means of your and generosity and thus allowing himself to be the of liis own hopes he took from poor the last hundred guineas he had in his possession with that happy facility that kings have always exhibited in accepting from enthusiastic and followers my mission here is ended now said may i be permitted to kiss my sovereign s would that all my subjects were as faithful said james as he held out his hand to who kissed it respectfully and then what do you purpose doing when you leave me said the king to return to my home as soon as i may ray if it be my fate to be driven from ray kingdom by my unnatural son in law i hope he may d by to my people and that none may from their to the cause of their sovereign i wish my said that he may have half the consideration for his irish subjects that majesty had for your english ones and he shook his head as he spoke and his countenance suddenly fell a hard drawn sigh escaped from and then biting his lip and with brow he exchanged a look of bitter meaning with adieu then said the king since yon will go see our good friend to his saddle once more good night king james will not forget the white so saying he waved his hand in adieu â bowed low to his sovereign and followed him from the chamber they were silent till they arrived at the of the tower and when the door was opened crossed the threshold with the visitor and stepped into â at the of tbe when the irish were the with slaughter them was heard to spare ray english subjects d by the white the fresh air which he audibly three or times as if it were a relief to him good night general said good night my gallant friend said in a voice that expressed much vexation of spirit don t be too much cast down general said better days may come and fairer fields be fought never i said was a fairer field than that of yesterday never was a game if it had been rightly played bnt there is a fate my friend hangs over our cause and i fear that destiny throws against us speak not thus general â think not thus would that i could think â bat i fear i speak do you then give up the cause said ill surprise ko said firmly almost fiercely never â i die in the cause bnt i will never desert it as long as i have a troop to follow me â but i must not here farewell where is your horse d by of the i left him io the care of one of the attend i hope you are well f yes here comes mj what said the white yes surely said you never saw me back any other bat after the tremendous fatigue of yesterday said ia is it possible he is still fresh fresh enough to serve my turn for tonight said as be mounted into the saddle the white horse gave a loud of seeming satisfaction as his master resumed his seat noble said as he patted the horse on the neck which was arched into the proud bend of a bold who knows a hold rider is on his back and now farewell general said extending his hand farewell my friend fate is to deny the charm of a victorious cause to so gallant a spirit there is more gallantry in remaining un d by and jou are bright example of the fact good night good night said anxious to escape from hearing his own praise and wringing the hand that was presented to him with much warmth he tm ned towards the of the tower but before he entered again addressed him pray tell me is your regiment here before i go i would wish to take leave of the of that gallant corps in whose ranks i have had the honor to draw a sword they are not yet arrived they are on the road perhaps by this time hat i ordered they be the last to leave for as yesterday they suffered the disgrace of being the first out of the battle i took care they should have the honor of being the last in the rear tonight to cover our retreat then remember me to them said they can never forget the white said and they shall hear yoa regiment after the enemy waa obliged to leave the field in order to protect the person of the king who chose to fly d by of the left the kind word of for them once more good night good night general god s be jou said and with you they then wrung each other s hand in silence re entered the tower and giving the rein to his stead the white horse left the spot ds rapidly as he bad approached it having remained

49William Black

some time in to find out what was going forward on discover ing that his property is sets off for home in order to save as many as possible on the way he meets his foster brother who being informed of what was about to occur takes means to delay the ess of the to whom the property had been granted â the many to accomplish this are drawn out to such a length as to prevent oar giving more than an outline the story we should have observed is divided into three the legend of the white horse if legend it can be called is nearly complete in the first and last the chapter being almost altogether occupied with the d by ass the white horse little of gate legend introduced by way of episode to entertain the in the third chapter mr lover continues let the division i have made in my chapters serve in the mind of the reader as an imaginary boundary between the past day and the morning let him in his own fancy also settle how the soldier watched slept or through this interval did not make his appearance however he had left the public on the preceding evening having made every necessary arrangement for carrying on the affair he had taken in hand so that the englishman on inquiry found that had departed being obliged to lave the place early on his own business but sure his honor could have any accommodation in life that he wanted in the regard of a guide or the like o that now for this had provided also having arranged with the of the public to whom he confided every thing connected with the affair that in case the should ask for a guide they should recommend him a certain young the son of s cousin the d by and one of the most mischievous knowing and daring young in the parish to such guidance therefore did the commit himself on this the third day of his search the lands of the which still remained a to him and the boy being previously upon the duties he was to perform in his new capacity was not one likely to him upon the subject the system of the preceding day was acted upon except the casting of the horse s shoe but by roads and crooked lanes were put in and every avenue but the one really leading to his object the was made to the boy affected simplicity or ignorance a s best suited his purposes to escape any inconvenient or investigation on the part of the stranger and at last the guide turned up a small rugged lane down whose gentle slope some water was slowly amongst stones and mud on at extremity he proceeded to throw down and pull away some that d by the horse to be placed there as aa artificial barrier to an extensive field that lay beyond the jane what are jou doing there said the soldier a convenience for your honor to get through the gap said the boy there is no road there said the oh no honor said the young rascal looking up in his face with an affectation of simplicity that might have deceived himself â it s not a road sir bat a short cut cut it as short then as yon can my boy said the soldier the only good thing he ever said in his life for your short cuts in this are the longest i ever knew â i d rather go around so we must go by the bottom o this field sir and then over the hill there we come out an the road then there is a road beyond the hill a fine road sir said the boy who having cleared a passage for the proceeded before him at a smart and led him down the slope of the hill to a small valley by a stream that lay at its foot when d by of the sill the arrived at this valley he ran briskly across it though the water up his feet at every bound he gave and dashing on through the stream he arrived at tie side hy the time the had reached the nearer one here the latter was obliged to pull up for his horse at the first step sank so deep that the animal instinctively withdrew his foot from the treacherous the called after his guide who was proceeding up the op and the boy tm ned round i can t pass this boy said the soldier the boy faced the hill again without any reply and his ascent at a rapid pace come back you young scoundrel or i ll shoot you said the soldier drawing his pistol from his tlie boy still continued his flight and the fired but upon which the boy stopped and after making a action at the englishman rushed up the and was soon beyond the reach of small arms and shortly after out of sight having passed the summit of the hill d by the the s was excessive at himself left in such a helpless situation for a long time he endeavored to find a spot in the he might make his crossing good but in â and after nearly an hour spent in this useless endeavor he was forced to turn back and strive to the ma of twisting and through which he had been led for the purpose of getting on some highway where a chance passenger might direct him in finding his road this he failed to accomplish and darkness at length him in a wild country to which he was an stranger he still continued however cautiously to progress along the road on which he was and at length the twinkling of a distant light raised some hope of in his heart this in view the made his way as well as

49William Black

he might until by favor of the glimmer he so discovered he at last found himself in front of the house whence the light proceeded he knocked at the door which after two or three loud was opened to him and then d by of the briefly the distressing in he was placed he requested shelter for the the domestic who opened the door retired to deliver the stranger s message to the owner of the house who immediately afterwards made his appearance and with a reserved courtesy invited the stranger to enter allow me first to sec my horse said the soldier he shall he cared said the other excuse me sir returned the blunt englishman if i wish to see him in his stall it has been a hard day for the poor brute and i fear one of his hoofs is much injured how far i am anxious to see as you please sir said the gentleman who ordered a to conduct the stranger to the stable there by the light of a lantern the soldier examined the of his r lad sustained and had good reason to fear that the next day would find him totally after many a hearty on irish roads and irish guides he was retiring from the stable d by t tht white ills attention was attracted by a white horse much as he was by his present the noble of the animal re too to be d after admiring all his points he said to the at what a creature this is may say that was the answer what a he make sure enough he must be very fleet as the win and leaps â over the moon if yon him that horse must trot at least ten miles the hour â it wouldn t he to him to trot fourteen and with this assurance on the part of the groom they left the stable on being led into the dwelling house the stranger found the table spread for supper and the owner of the mansion pointing to a chair invited him to partake of the evening meal the reader need scarcely be to d that the invitation came from for i suppose the white horse ui the stable has already d by of the explained whose house chance had directed the to though all hia to find it had proved still maintained the bearing which his first meeting with the englishman on his â it was that of reserved courtesy his gentle wife was seated near tbe table with an infant child sleeping upon her lap her sweet features were strikingly expressive of sadness and as the stranger entered tlie apartment her eye was raised in one glance upon the man whose terrible mission she was too well aware of and the long lashes sank downwards again upon the pale cheek that recent sorrows had robbed of its bloom come sir said after such a day of fatigue as yours has been some refreshment will be welcome and the englishman presently by deeds not words commenced giving ample evidence of the truth of the observation as the meal proceeded he some of the that had befallen him all of which knew before through who was in the house at that very moment though for oh d by t the white reasons he did not make his appearance and at last the stranger put the question to hia host if he knew any one in that neighborhood called felt her blood run cold but quietly replied there was a person of that name is his property a good one said the very much reduced of late said g they call it said the soldier is that far from here it would puzzle me to tell yon how to go to it from this place was the answer it is very provoking said the i have been looking for it these three days and cannot find it and nobody seems to know where it is at these words felt a momentary relief yet still she scarcely dared to breathe the truth is continued the soldier that i am entitled under the king s last commission to that property for all s possessions have been the baby as it slept in its mother s lap d by op the smiled its uttered these words and poor smote to tlie heart bj the incident melted into tears but by u powerful effort she repressed any of grief and eyes with her hand her tears dropped m over her sleeping child observed her emotion and found it difficult to master his own feelings now it is rather bard continued the soldier that i have been hunting up ami down the country for this confounded place and t find it i thought it a fine thing but i suppose it s nothing to talk of or somebody would know of it and more provoking stiu we soldiers have yet our hands so of work that i only got four days leave and to morrow night i am bound to return to or i shall bi guilty of a breach of duty and i am to return with my horse in the state that this detestable country has left him i cannot conceive you will be hard run to accomplish it said now will you make a bargain witli me said the soldier d by the white of nature said there â said tbe soldier throwing down on the table a piece of folded there ia the the thereof to the property i have named now i give np looking for it for the present and i am tired of hunting after it into the bargain god knows when i may be able to come here again you are on the spot and may make use of this instrument which you to take possession of the property whatever it may be to you it may be valuable

49William Black

if i give you this will you give me the white horse that is standing in your stable next to his wife and children loved ills white horse and the favorite so suddenly and unexpectedly named startled him and strange as it may appear he paused for a moment bat by the soldier behind whom she was seated clasped her outstretched hands in the action of to her husband and met his eye with an imploring that at once i answer said d by op the tis a bargain the soldier and he tossed the across the table aa the property of the man whom it was intended to leave having put the man into possession of his own property the soldier commenced spending the night pleasantly and it need not be added that was in excellent humor to help him aa for poor when the bargain was completed her heart was too full to permit her to remain longer and hurrying to the apartment where the elder children were sleeping she kissed them passionately and throwing on her knees between their beds wept as she offered the fervent of a grateful heart to heaven for the ruin so wonderfully averted from their innocent heads the next morning the english soldier was in his saddle at an early and he seemed to entertain all the satisfaction of an habitual in feeling tlie stately tread of the bold beneath the white horse his bit and by his occasional s that his accustomed rider was d by lu the white horse op the not back but the firm seat and hand of the shortly reduced such slight marks of rebellion into obedience and he soon bade farewell the parting was rather brief and silent for ia have been other would not have accorded with the habits of the one nor suited the immediate humor of the other in answer to the of the soldier the white horse galloped down the of his former master s domain and left behind him the fields in which he had been bred looked after his noble while he remained within sight and thought no one was witness to the tear he dashed from his eye when he turned to re enter his d by m the irish what a host of light hearted associations are revived by that living of fun and aa irish every thing connected with him is agreeable pleasant jolly all his anecdotes songs jokes stories and secrets bring as back from the pressure and cares of life to those happy days and nights when the heart was as light as the heel and beat time to the sound of his fiddle the is a character looked upon by the irish rather as a curiosity than a being specially created to contribute to their enjoyment there is something about him which they do not feel to be in perfect sympathy d by with their habits and he i above them not of them and although thej respect him and treat him jet he is never received among them with tliat of warmth and cordiality with which they welcome their own the the in fact belongs or rather did r to the gentry and to the gentry they are willing to leave him they listen to his when he feels disposed to play for them but it only their curiosity instead of their hearts â a fact evident from the circumstance of their seldom attempting o to it this preference however of the fiddle to the harp is a feeling by change of times and for it is well known that in days gone by when irish habits were purer older and more hereditary than they are now the harp was the favorite of young and old of high and low the fiddle however is the of au others most essential to the enjoyment of an dancing and love are very closely connected and of course the fiddle is never thought or heard of awakening the d by the and most emotions its soft sweet and cheerful is the thing for who under its of its and becomes soft sweet and cheerful himself the very tones of it act like a charm upon him and in his head a and delightful that he finds himself making love just as naturally as he would eat his meals it opens all the of his heart puts y in his veins gives honey to a tongue that was heaven knows sufficiently sweet without it aad gifts him with a pair of feather heels that might envy and to crown all him while hi cause in a quiet corner with a of invention and an easy assurance which nothing can in fact with great respect for my friend mr the fiddle it is that to be our national instrument as it is that which is most closely and agreeably associated with the best and impulses of the irish heart the very language of the people is a proof of this for whilst neither harp nor is ever introduced as peculiarities of feeling by any reference to their d by if the is an agreeable la their hands in more sen e than o le t t notion of flattery towards the other sex k by an e n ft cm it f r when he its he can ly words impress such in agreeable on upon sweetheart as ta make her is oa every of the hon ie there can he no conceived l or beautifully expressive of the h flows from that sweet instrument however is very often hit by liis own at a time when he least expects it when pleading his for instance and promising golden days to his fair one he is not met by ay ay it s all very well now you re of hut wait till we d he a year married an maybe like so many others that promised what

49William Black

you do you d never come home to me up your fiddle behind the door by which she means to charge him with the probability of being agreeable when abroad but in his own family having thus shown that the and its d by the h s are mixed ap bo strongly with our language feeling s and it is now time to say something of the in ireland it is impossible on looking through all classes of society to find any so perfectly free from care or in stronger words so completely happy as the especially if he be blind which he generally is his want of sight other wants and whilst it his not only renders him unconscious of their loss but gives a greater zest to those tiiat are left him simple and innocent as they are he is in truth a man whose lot in life is happily cast and whose lines have fallen in pleasant places the phase of life which is presented to him and in which lie moves is one of mirth and harmless enjoyment marriages dances and of all descriptions create the atmosphere of mirth and happiness which he ever breathes with the dark designs the crimes and of mankind lie has nothing to do and liis light spirit is never depressed by their indeed he may be said with truth to pass through none but tlie of life to hear nothing d by m but mirth to feel nothing bat kindness and to communicate but happiness to all around him he is at once the source and the centre of all good and friendly feelings by him the aged man forgets his years and is agreeably cheated back into youth the a pleasant moment from his toil and is the ceases to remember the anxieties that press him down the boy is with delight and the child is charmed with a pleasure that he feels to be wonderful sorely such a man is important as filling up with enjoyment so many of the pauses in human misery he is a times better than a and is a true without knowing it every man is his friend s it be a rival and hi is the friend of every man with the same exception every too every and every hand is open to him he never knows what it is to want a bed a dinner or a shilling good heavens what more than this can the of a human heart desire for my part i do not what others might aim at but i am of opinion that in such a world as this the highest proof of d by the irish er a wise man would be a wish to live and die an irish and yet alas is no condition of life without some remote or sorrow many a scene have i witnessed connected w tb this very subject tliat would tears from any eye and find a tender melancholy that the poor lad to an employment that is ultimately productive of so much happiness to himself and others this is seldom resorted to unless when some poor child â perhaps a favorite â is deprived of sight by tlie terrible of the small in life there is scarcely anything more touching than to witness in the innocent invalid the first effects both upon himself and his parents of this the utter helplessness of the pitiable and his total dependence on those around his acquaintance with the relative situation of all the places that were familiar to him â his tottering and timid step his affecting call of where are yon joined to the bitter consciousness on her part that the light of affection and innocence will never sparkle in those beloved eyes again â all d by m this a of deep and bitter sorrow when however the sense of his passes away and the cherished child grows up to the proper age fiddle is procured for by his parents if they are able and if not a is made up among their friends and neighbors to buy him all the family with tears in their eyes then kiss and take leave of him and his mother taking him by the hand leads him as had been previously arranged to the best in the neighborhood with whom he is left as an there is generally no fee required bat he is engaged to hand his master all the money he can make at from the time he is to play at them such ii the simple process of putting a blind boy in the way of becoming acquainted with the science of melody in my native there were four or five â all good in their way but the of the district was the far m where properly lived i never actually discover and for the best reason in the world â he was not at home once ia twelve months as says in the d by the play he wag a kind of a here and â a stranger nowhere this however mattered little for though perpetually shifting day after day from place to place yet it somehow happened that nobody ever at a loss where to find the truth is he never felt to travel he knew that his interest must suffer by doing so the was that wherever he went a little of local fame always attended him which rendered it an easy matter to find hie whereabouts was blind from his infancy and as usual owed to the small the loss of his sight he was about the middle size of rather a slender make and possessed an intelligent countenance on which beamed that singular expression of inward serenity so peculiar to the blind his temper was sweet and even but capable of rising through the of his own to a high of and enjoyment the dress he wore as far as i remember

49William Black

was always the same in color and fabric â to wit a brown coat a sober tinted cotton waistcoat grey stockings and black poor i think i see him before d by tt me his head erect as the leads of all men are the fiddle case under his left arm and his held ont like a exploring with the e of the ground before him even although some happy leads him onward with an eye an honor of which he will boast to his companions for many a mortal month to come the first time i ever heard play was also the first i ever heard a fiddle well and distinctly do i remember the occasion the was but summer was summer then â and a new belonging to frank thomas had been finished and was ready to receive him and his family the floors of irish in the country generally consist at first of wet clay and when this is well smoothed and hardened a dance is known to be an excellent thing to bind and prevent them from on this occasion the evening had been appointed and the day was nearly half advanced but no of the the state of excitement m which i myself could not be described the name of m had been ringing in my ears for g od d by the but i had seen him or oven heard his fiddle every two minutes i was on the of a little eminence looking out for him my eyes out of their and my head dizzy with the prophetic expectation of rapture and delight human patience however bear painful suspense no longer ami i privately resolved to find or perish accordingly proceeded across the a distance of about three miles to a place called where i found him waiting for a guide at this time i could not hare been more than seven years of age am how i wrought out my way over the lonely or through what mysterious instinct i was led to him and that by a path too over which i had never before must he left until it shall please that power which guides the bee to its home and the bird for thousands of miles through thb air to di e the principle upon which it i accomplished on our return home i see the young persons of both sexes flying out to the little eminence i spoke of looking eagerly towards the spot we from and immediately d by m in again clapping their hands and shouting with delight instantly the whole village was oat young and old standing for a moment to satisfy themselves that the intelligence was correct after which about a dozen of the sprang forward with the speed of so many to meet us whilst the elders returned with a but not less satisfied manner into the houses then commenced the usual battle as to whom should be honored by permission to carry the fiddle case oh i that fiddle for seven long years it was an honor exclusively allowed to myself whenever attended a dance anywhere near us and never was the lord s â to which by the way with great respect for his it bore a considerable resemblance â carried with a heart or a more eye but so it is â â these little things are great to little men blood alive you re welcome how is every bone of you we you up ko we didn t give yoa up never heed him sure we knew very d by the irish well you d not the â de to all won t you sing there was a devil came over the wall to be sure he will but â wait till he comes home and gets his dinner first is it off an empty stomach you d have him to sin give me the fiddle case won t you no to never heed them you promised it to me at the dance in boys the truth is none of can get the fiddle case my fiddle hasn t been well for the last day or two and can t bear to be carried by any one myself blood alive sick is it â on what her t why some o the doctors says there s a in her an that she has got the but i m to give lier a dose of when i get np to the house above harry says she s with fiddle an if that s boys maybe some o won t be in luck i ll be able to spare a young fiddle or two among many a tiny hand was clapped and many an d by su m eye was lit up with the hope of getting a fiddle for gospel itself waa never looked upon to be more true than this assertion of s and no wonder the fact is he used to himself by making small of deal and horse hair which he carried about with him as presents for as he took a fancy to this he made a serious business of and carried it with an importance becoming the intimation given indeed i remember the time when i watched one of them which i wo s so happy as to receive from him day and night with the hope of being able to report that it was growing larger for my firm belief was that in time it would reach the size as wc went along with his usual tact got out of us all the information respecting the several of the neighborhood that had reached ns and as too of the village gossip and scandal as we knew nothing can the overflowing kindness and affection with which the irish is received on tb occasion of a d or and to do him justice he loses no opportunity of his own imported the from habit and his

49William Black

po among the people his wit and power of are necessarily cultivated and sharpened not one of his ever fails â a which his for nothing on earth it so as knowing that whether good or bad it will be at by the was a and though blind was able as he himself to â â ty to see through his ears better than another could through the eyes he knew every at once and every boy and in the parish by name the moment he heard them speak on reaching the house he is bound for he either of or at la offered refreshment after which comes the moment to the but all is done by due and solemn preparation he for a pair of with which he or seems to his nails then asks for a piece of and in an instant half a dozen are ofi at a break neck pace to the next shoe maker s to procure it whilst in the mean time he deliberately a piece out of his pocket and his bow but what a the opening of d by m that fiddle ease is the of the blind man as he runs his down to the â the turning of the key â the taking out of the fiddle â the â and then the first sound as the bow is drawn across the then comes a then a or two again another â â and away he goes with the favorite tune of the good woman for such is the etiquette upon these occasions the house is immediately thronged with the neighbors and a preliminary dance is taken in which the old folks with violence are literally dragged out and forced to join then come the congratulations â ah jack you could do it says an can still you have a kick in you yet why i seen in my time the old man will reply his brow relaxed by a remnant of his former pride and the of the moment but yon see the isn t what it used to be me when i could dance the on the bottom of a ten but i think a glass o will do us no harm after that â well well â i m sure i thought my dancing days over d by the irish an you matched any how rejoined the carried as light a hue as you did a woman of her ji il s ever i seen cat the her you would know the on her feet still ah the truth is the good woman would say we have no now as there was in my i that glass but as good eh here s to you both and long may ye live to shake the toe be that s great stuff come now sit down jack till i give your favorite these were happy moments and happy times might well be looked upon as the simple manners of country life with very of moral shadow to obscure the cheerfulness which lit up the irish heart and hearth into humble happiness with his usual good nature never forgot the younger portion of his audience after entertaining tlie old and he would call for a key one end of wliich lie placed in his mouth in order to the sing for the children their snug with d by oh will you my wig this he did in such a manner through the medium of the key that tho words seemed in be by the instrument and not by himself after this was over he would sing ns to his own accompaniment another favorite there was a devil over the wall which generally closed that portion ot the entertainment so kindly designed fur us upon those moments i have often witnessed marks of deep and pious feeling occasioned by some memory of the absent or the dead that were as beautiful as they n ere affecting if for instance a favorite son or daughter happened to be removed by death the father or mother remembering the air which was loved best by the departed would pause a moment and with a voice full of sorrow ny there is one that i would like to hear i love to think of it and to hear it i do for the sake of them that s my son that s low it was he that loved it his ear is closed against it now but for his sake â ay for your sake we will hear it more d by the always played tunes in his best style and amidst a silence that was only broken by sobs suppressed and the other tokens of profound sorrow these however of natural feeling soon passed away in a few minutes the smiles returned the broke out again and the lively dance went on as if hearts had been incapable of such affection for the dead â affection at once so deep and tender but many a time the ht of cheerfulness plays along the stream of when sorrow lies removed from the human eye far down from the surface these preliminary amusements being now over is conducted to the dance house where he is carefully in the best chair and immediately the dancing it is not my purpose to describe an irish dance here having done it more than once elsewhere it is enough to say that is now in his glory and proud may the young man he who fills the honorable post of his companion and its next him he is a living store house of intelligence a for the parish â the lover s text book â the woman s best companion d by m for where is the going on of he ia e where is there a on the with the particulars of which he is not he is an authority whom nobody think of questioning it is now too

49William Black

that he his jokes about and so correct and well trained is his ear that he name the young man who dances by the of his step ah you re there t sore i d know the sound of smooth in irons any where is it that yon for down to to kill the for dan m but t what ll yon have is that grace on the yon can do it devil tf your likes i see any where i ll lay to a penny that yon could dance your own the the brown girl â npon a spider s without it don t be in a harry grace dear to tie the knot wait for several times in the course of the night a plate is round and a collection made d by the irish for the this was the moment when used to let the jokes fly in every direction the timid he into liberality the vain he praised and the he assailed by open satire all however with such an under of good humor that no one could take offence no joke ever told better than that of the broken string whenever this happened at night would call out to some soft fellow blood alive ned martin will yon bring me a candle i ve broken a string the young man forgetting that he was blind would take the candle in a hurry and fetch it to him ned i knew yoa fit for t u candle to a dark man t isn t he a beauty boys â look at him girls â as as a it is to say that the mirth on such occasions was another similar joke was also played off by him against as he knew to be at the collection smith i want a word you i m goin across the as far as ned don d by s and i want to help me along the road as the ni ht is dark to be sure i ll bring you as snug as if you on a plate man alive thank jou you ve the in you an kind father for yon maybe do as much for yon some other e spoke of this until the trick was played off after which he published it to the whole parish and of course was made the standing jest for being so silly as to think that i r r da had any difference to a man w ho could not see thus passed the life of m and thus pass the of most of his ss serenely and b the sailor to his ship the to his gun so is the attached to his fiddle his and pleasures though limited are full his heart is necessarily light lor he comes in with the best and brightest side of and nature and the consequence is that their mild and mellow lights are reflected on and from himself i am d by the irish whether poor is dead or not hut i dare he forgets the boy to whose young bo much delight and who often danced with a and careless to the pleasant notes of his fiddle m farewell living or dead peace be with ou â is living remembers the writer of this well aod felt very much flattered on hear the notice of himself read w c the end d by the of or in tlie a the from o is by mrs j with a steel the poor and of bv price bo cloth b cents gilt tl of the five or the bad veil and other tales l d by l f new york jt j co u l d by other tales of irish life w â new york t co b street l d by fireside library no vi tub a girl s love the tee d by d by the following of tlie origin of the tale of the poor scholar is taken from mr s introduction to a new and edition of his traits and stories of the irish published in in is it was about months after our removal to that an incident in my early life occurred which gave rise to one of the most popular tales perhaps with the exception of the that i have â that is the poor scholar there being now no classical school within eighteen or twenty miles of it was suggested to our family by a nephew of the parish priest then a young man of or eight and twenty that under the circumstances it would be a prudent step on their part to prepare aa and send me up to aa a poor scholar to complete my education pat who by the way had been a poor scholar himself had advised the same thing before and aa the name does not involve disgrace i felt no reluctance in going especially as the b nephew who proposed it bad made np his mind on d by vi me for a similar indeed the poor who go to are indebted for nothing but their bed and board wliich they kindly and from the parents of the scholars the masters are generally paid full terms by these pitiable beings but this rule like all others of course has exceptions at all events my was got ready and on a beautiful morning in the month of may i separated from my family to go in quest of education there was no however in my case as mentioned in tjie tale as my own family supplied the funds supposed to be necessary i hare been present at more one collection made for purposes and heard a good natured sermon not very much from that given in the the priest s nephew on the day we were to suddenly changed his mind and i consequently had to the alone which i did with a heavy heart the further i got

49William Black

from home the more my spirits sank or in the beautiful image of i â i earl too s b i and during the journey it is scarcely necessary to say that the almost parental tenderness and hospitality which i received on my way could not be described the reader will find an attempt at it in the story the parting home and my adventures on tbe road d by having reached my courage to fail and my family at home now tbat i had departed from them began also to feel like for having one bo young and aa i then was to go abroad alone upon the world my mother s sorrow especially was deep and her cry waa oh why did i let my boy got maybe i will never see him again i on i felt of course fatigued and went to where i slept soundly it was not however a sleep i thought i was going along a strange path to some particular place and that a mad met me on tht road and pursued me with such speed and fury that i awoke in a state of singular terror that waa my mind had been already and the dream determined me the next morning after i l ent my steps and os it happened my return took a load of f from the heart of my mother and family the i stopped at in was a kind of small inn kept by a man whose name waa peter such were the incidents which gave rise to the tale of the poor scholar d by d by the one day about the middle of in the year â m and his son were digging potatoes on the side of a hard barren hill called the day was bitter and wintry the men were c ad and as the keen blast swept across the hill with considerable violence the like rain which it bore along into their garments with pitiless severity the father had advanced into more than middle age and having held at a rent the miserable waste of farm which he ot he was compelled to exert himself in its cultivation despite either of f oil or of weather this day however was so unusually severe that the old man to feel incapable of his toil the d by the poor scholar bore it better but whenever a cold of stormy rain came over them both were compelled to stand with their sides it and their heads turned so as that the ear almost rested back upon the shoulder iu order to throw the rain off faces of each however that cheek which was exposed to the rain and storm was beaten into a red hue whilst the part of faces was both pale aud hunger the father to take breath and supported by his looked down upon the sheltered inland which inhabited chiefly by and rich and under him why he exclaimed to the a lad about fifteen â sure i know well i t to curse anyway you black set an the lord forgive me my sins i m almost to give a an that from my heart out look at â only look at the black thieves how warm an wealthy they sit there in our own ould possessions an here we must toil till our fingers are worn to the upon this bent d by the scholar the of on ton might as well as the for a as expect anything like a crop out of it â look at two iâ such a poor o ties is in it â one here an one there â an we mast up the whole ridge for that same well god the time soon when the right will take place an doesn t ni say it twenty five have our own the right w tie m ht â the pit w e locked â ay double if st gets the lay for e i the very boy that will a the a warm comer an f th tl er s many o that n ud at n a word for all aa here s the same there s jack a f s a cool corner in hell the same jack will get it â an that he may pray this day an the lord it to him for he richly it kind and is he an all to him an i wouldn t be where a hard word ud be of him nor a dog in d by the poor scholar the family ill for which may he get a cool corner in hell i humbly what do you think of jack will he be i doubt so â a blessed youth is jack nd hardly b it he s a m ay care fellow no doubt of it an laughs at the priests which same i m will get him below stairs more a new milk heat any way but thin he an good dinners aa they take all this in good port so that it s likely he s not in in it an surely they ought to know best what do yon think of sam â honest sam that they say was bom a heart an carries the wool in his ears to keep oat the of the an the that are long rotten in their graves through his dark â ho get a snug birth i â this was said of the person toâ a aid agent to two or who waa a little di af and had ears with black d by the ca lar san the old rain a of his r as he looked in the direction from which the storm he ns where we re â tl is that s an bit nor i step mothers hy turned us on tiie wide â poor mother was out of hei he wh n si e

49William Black

the t till learned her m mv into â the tear fill my upon her face tl at i next to god didn t he give our farm to his son a purple out we went to the winds an skies of heaven the rich made against us i him he me out o my fifteen guineas that his the landlord should hear of it bat i could never get next or near him to make my complaint eh â a snug i m only that hell has no corner hot enough for him â hut lave that to the himself if he doesn t give him the best hell can afford why i m not here d by ths poor scholar k one o the ould s so bad as say father he gives to aim hot an heavy at all why even if he was at a loss about sam upon it ho d get a hint from his above that ud be they say he visits him as it is an that sam can t sleep some one in the room him dan the priest was there an had a mass in every room in the but tells me there s no in it he was advised to it he says but it seems the boy has too strong a of for sam said he d have the any time sooner nor the priest and its what he say i m d out we liad give in the day s too hard an there s no use in the weather tiiat s in it lave the villain to god who he can t any way well may our curse go along the rest upon him for ua to an unnatural as this hot an heavy into the an of him may it i an sure d by that s no more than s whether or not â not to the that s out o the grave him loud an god knows it s not yourself on a day as this d be only for liim had we our farm you d be now an in your for a an there ud be one o the family to be a any how but a gone too look at the smoke comfortable it rises from jack s where the priest has a station to day t for a ie is upon a ridge like this but it can t be helped an god s will be done not himself i â it s he that get the height of good an can ride home well lined both inside an outside much good may it do him â tis but his right the lad now paused in his looked do ra on jack s comfortable house sheltered by a of trees and certainly saw a smoke tossed up from the chimney as gave evidence of preparation for a good dinner he next looked behind the wind with a made more blank and e by d by the contrast after which he reflected for a few as if working up his mind to some sudden determination the deliberation however was ho struck his open hand upon the head of the with much animation aud instantly took it in both hands exclaiming here father here goes to the once an for ever i pitch slavery as he spoke the was sent as far from him as he had strength to throw it to the i pitch slavery an now father the help o god this is the last day s work i ll ever put my hand to there s no way of latin here hut off to i ll start an my face you ll never see in this till i come home either a priest an a i but that a not all father dear rise you out of distress or die in the struggle i can t bear to see your grey hairs in sorrow and poverty well well â god enable you tis a good the a one o me will turn another for this day i m the rain we ll go home an take an air o the fire â we want it â toil labor f dripping wet d by the scholar it and we can talk what re on for it is usual to attribute to the english and scotch character a cool and ring energy in the pursuit of such as or interest may propose for are considered too the creatures of impulse to reach a point that requires coolness of thought and efforts repeated tliis is a mistake it is the opinion of and who know not the irish character thoroughly the fact is that in the of an object where a sad faced englishman would despair an will laugh drink weep and fight during his progress to accomplish it a will miss it perhaps having done all that could lie done he will try speculation the may miss it too but to console he will break the head of any man who may have him in his efforts as a proof that he ought to have succeeded or if he cannot manage that point he will crack the of the first man he meets or he will get d by the ri drunk or he will a or swear a never to liis face in that quarter again or he will exclaim if it be concerning a farm with a full of god bless long life and honor to you sir sure an t was but a any low that reverence will make up for me another time an well i know your lor ud be tlie last man on to give mo the so would an i an ould on your own father s estate the lord be praised for that same an tis a happiness an else so it is even if i double wherein maybe m not a

49William Black

day s journey from that same the double yer honor only that one would do a great deal for the honor an glory of under a an that s but there is in a far in an which is not properly understood because it is to understand it i do think there is a nation on earth mis up their interest and their feelings together more happily and yet less than contrive to do an will make you laugh at his joke while d by the poor scholar the object of that joke is wrapped up from yon in the mystery and jou will make the concession to a certain point of his character has been really obtained by a faculty you had not penetration to discover or rather which he had too much sagacity to exhibit of course as soon ab your ia turned the grin is on him and one of hia cheeks is stuck out two inches beyond the other because his tongue is in it â at your stupidity simplicity or folly of ail the national characters on this globe i verily believe that that of the irish is the most profound and and the most difficult on which to form a system either social moral or religious it would be for example to produce a more signal instance of energy system and perseverance than that exhibited in ireland during the le for was there not flattery to the dust to tlie eyes heads broken throats cut houses burned and cattle and why was it for the â mere pleasure of â of breaking heads i won t dispute the last point though because i scorn to give up the glory of d by the scholar the national character â of cutting throats â burning houses â or cattle no but to secure in that object was the method of gaining a point d j mm t the i pitch slavery i ii m m to rise from your r ty h w my face in the parish f b th wh tl i t m t n was mentioned to his m til th f ij there was a loud and s t y g t t for do is i h d tl t t away a from an irish hearth no matter what the nature of that circumstance may be is it for that of a boy to set off himself through the wide world money or friends put it out of yer head no struggle on as the rest of us is an maybe ye u come as well off at the long run mother dear said the son i wouldn t wish to go what you d say but i made a promise to myself to rise out of your poverty d by thb if i can an my s made up on it so don t cross me or be the of my bad luck on mj journey in regard of me yer will when you know be the last thing i d wish to do let the take his way who knows but it was the almighty put the thoughts of it into his head says that there will soon be a change an tis a good it ill be to have him a when the fat will be back to their ould owners oh an may the man above grant that pray this day for are n t we out of our lives an for the black thieves what we ought to put on our backs an into our own mouths well they it s not to take money from a priest because it s the price o sin an no more it can that they want it themselves but i m sure it s their money that to carry the bad luck to them in regard of their so many curses along it when a lad from the classes o go to as a poor scholar there is but tho clergy d by one course to be pursued in preparing bis this is by a collection at the chapel among tlie to whom the matter is known by the priest from the altar some previous to his departure accordingly when the family had al given their consent to project his father went on the following day to communicate the matter to the priest aud to his co operation in making a collection in behalf of the lad on the next sunday but one for there is always a week s notice given and sometimes more that the people may come prepared the already detailed between father and son took place on friday and on saturday a day on which the priest never a station and of coarse is generally at home m went to his house with the object already in the priest was at home a truly benevolent man but like the of his day not with learning though of kindness and hospitality mixed up with and simple cunning good morning said the priest as entered d by good morrow kindly sir replied hope your is well and in good health i am i hope there s nothing wrong at home how is the wife and children e i humbly thank reverence for e s no for in regard o the health one o them but s bravely all things i believe i m the worst o myself yer reverence i m you see an stiff an bat that s only in the o a man can t last always wait till them that s young an hearty now as aa i in my day an they won t have to of why thin but yer reverence stands it bravely â itself â the lord be praised an it my own heart to see you look so well thank jou indeed my health god be is very good he calling to an old female servant â

49William Black

you ll tain a the day is â here take the and get some spirits â t i â to the light hand in the copied the poor scholar board indeed my health is very good father says he me my appetite an i him he s guilty of one of the seven deadly sins ha ha ha i â an u one o sure enough hut a joke a joke in the time a is the same father but reverence is too deep for him in the line for all that sir but it s you that gave ould the keen cut about lis religion â ha ha ha myself laughed till i was sick for two days itâ the ould thief eh â did yon hear that are you sure that s the ay an the best of it all was that lis lord was present come try â it never seen but the best of it all â well i said he who put yon into the church now said le yon ll come over me your regular from st peter bat i won t allow that why mr says i back to i ll give up the succession says i and what is more i ll grant that have been called by d by the r tlie lord and that i have not but the lord that called says i was lord jou d tie hia a lie laughed so heartily father said he you re late said he aud upon my honor you mast both dine with me to day says he â and capital he keeps your health father an god spare you to us i oil tiie a taste itself did the same stuff see why thin i think your reverence an me s about an age i i m a but don t bear it so well as you do the family yon see au the an the o the world pull me down the same family s a to me i wish i had them all settled safe any way what do you intend to do with them in that s what brought me to yer i ve one boy â â a smart chap entirely an ho has taken it into his head to go as a poor scholar to he s o the there s not a doubt o that an j ic blame to him to be sure but then again i do lie s on goin an i m not able to help him poor fellow in shape bo i to see ce about t n hopes tl at yo m e able to plan oat something for h m it c er nor i could do i have the w of the n and of the p t t e g go as it i know that d mn k a j for tl e san e have a to at the th e i ll m nt ou t to them after ma s to mo ov and let them be ar for bu lay w when ve c n make the on hut man never fear well et as as hm ay to c pr an tell you what never le the man to giving him a of myself may the heavenly father bless an keep your reverence i m tis a good right the boy has as well as all of us to never forget kindness but as to the money â he ll be proud of your assistance the other way sir â so not a penny â tis only your good will wo want â hem â except indeed that you d wish yourself to d by the poor scholar t a piece of of it to the poor oh not a drop more sir â i declare it ll be apt to get into my head well well â an we re not to oar whether or not so here s your health over again your an success to the poor child that s on good two guineas his reverence is to give you from himself said the father on relating the success of this interview with the priest an i was one of it for it might bring something it bnt thought i on the spur it s best to take it any way we it off on some o these black mouthed or by way of it an if there s any hard fortune in it let them have the full benefit of it f it is by trifles of this nature that the unreasonable enduring hatred with which the religious of look upon those of a different creed is best known this feeling however is mutual yet on both i a t belief in some of ireland that pat a is t d by the ce is more e than practical in its nature when they speak of each other as a distinct class the though abstracted appears to be most deep but when they mingle in the necessary intercourse of life it is curious to them frequently descend on both sides from the general rule to those of good and kindness which natural benevolence and mutual obligation together with a correct knowledge of each other s real characters frequently produce even this abstracted hatred however has been the curse of our unhappy country it has kept us too much asunder or when we met exhibited us to each other in our darkest and most aspects s conduct in the matter of the priest s money was also a happy illustration of that mixture of simplicity and with which an can frequently make points meet which superstition alone without such ingenuity would keep separate for ever many another man might have refused the money from an ignorant dread of its proving but his mode of reasoning on the subject was d by the satisfactory to himself and

49William Black

certainly tlie most ingenious which according to his he could have that of it upon a the eloquence of a country priest rude and by no means elevated is sometimes well adapted to the end in view to the feelings of bis and to the nature of the subject on which he speaks pathos and humor are the two by which is ra or depressed and these are blended m a manner too to be properly described whoever could be present at a sermon on the sunday when a society is to be established would hear j and see grief of the first water it is then he would get a and glowing of and see the broad humorous of three or four thousand of both se e shaped into an of tlie ine and grief priest however on particular occasions ot this nature very gives notice of the sermon and of the for which it is to be preached â if it be the people are prepared to cry but if it d by the poor be for a political or any other purpose not decidedly there will be abundance of that rough blunt satire and mirth so keenly by the too by the most and ridiculous allusions that priest indeed who is the best master of this latter faculty is uniformly the greatest favorite it is no thing to see the majority of an irish congregation drowned in sorrow and tears even when they are utterly ignorant of the language spoken particularly in those districts where the irish is still the tongue this is what renders notice of the sermon and its purport necessary otherwise the honest people might he seriously at a loss whether to laugh or cry i my dear what is he saying m â ta sha er ta â i that jewel i believe he s on oc i oh â oh â oh i ah i oh and on understanding that is the subject they commence their grief with a rocking motion wringing their hands and d by passing their beads through their fingers whilst their bodies are bent forward towards the earth on the contrary when the priest gets â which i should have he never does in what is announced as a solemn sermon â you might observe several faces charged with mirth and laughter turned even beaming with this expression to those who kneel beside them inquiring what is it â ha ha ha i â what is it he s the lord spare among us any how the of a man eh yon that s in the inside the english this of course is spoken in irish however is generally too much absorbed in the fun to become just then but as soon as the joke is nearly heard out in compliance with the of his neighbors bo gives them a brief or two and instantly the full chorus is rung out long loud and on the sunday in question as the subject not be called strictly religious the priest who knew that a joke or two bring in many d by the an additional crown to s an been was determined that at least a laugh for their money the man besides was benevolent and knew the way to the irish heart a knowledge which he felt happy in turning to the benefit of the lad in question with this object in view he addressed the people somewhat in the following is he thai his money lo him thai n need of tl these words mj brethren are from st paul who among ourselves the of a friend m distress as well as other in the â it s a text mj j ny how he mines however when we have it to give my own true well tried ould friends â when we have it to its absence the ease in because yon hare all heard the proverb â there is money out of an empty purse or as an ould ancient said long ago upon the same subject ur he that carries an empty purse may whistle at d by the scholar tbe thief it s sing iu the latin but sing or whistle ill my opinion he that goes an empty purse seldom sings or to a pleasant tune melancholy music i d call it au wouldn t may be astray â hem at all may none of this present congregation at their ever sing or whistle to the same no let it he to money in both pockets if you sing at all and as long as you have that never fear but you ll also have the priest in his boots into the bargain â ha ha ha â god bless him isn t he the pleasant gentleman all out â ha ha ha â moreover an by the same a token it s as gospel so it is â for well i know that you re the people who wouldn t see your priest without them while a fat parson with half upon him red and rosy goes about every day in the week bo ed in boots like a horse iâ ha ha ha i â good father dan more power to yon â ha ha ha we re the boys that wouldn t see you in want o them sure enough isn t he the droll but suppose a man hasn t money what is he to do this itself into what is d by the poor called an and be proved in the following first we suppose him not to have tlie money â there i may be wrong or i may be right now for the illustration and the logic here your reverence now if i suppose you to have mo money am i right or am i wrong why thin i d be to prove reverence to be wrong so i would but for all that i

49William Black

believe i must give it you how much have you got bnt tis yer reverence that s close upon me two or three small notes an some silver how silver i ll tell your reverence ia a i ought to have a ten the price of a o that i bought at the roads nine an some yer reverence very good you must hand me the till i give the rest of the illustration d by the but does yer reverence mind another ould proverb â a fool an his money s as parted sure an i know you re goin to do a joke upon give the money from a voices â ve liis the money jou you â give him the jou dirty you â hand it out you if you don t give it i ll not take it and in that here here here it is sure i wouldn t have your ill will for all i m worth why you if i wasn t the first or himself i couldn t a penny out o now there s a specimen of logic for yon an if it wasn t good upon it the money he in your pocket still i ve never known you to give a penny for any purpose since ever i saw your face hut i m a good action in your behalf for once so if you have any words to say to the money in question bay them for you ll never finger it more a burst of the most mirth followed this in which the him d by tee scholar self joined heartily whilst the melancholy of s face was contrasted with the glee which those that surrounded hem iâ secondly â a man you see may have money or he may not when his who stands in need of it an to hia and his feelings and sorry i d be to think that there s a man before me or a woman either who d refuse to assist the of any one of any creed church or persuasion whether black or no i don t except the it s what i you nor will to the day of my death i to be a fellow may say help me my brother i am distressed or i am bent on a good purpose that kindness can enable me to accomplish but suppose that you have not the money ut you at the time wouldn t you fee sorry to the back bone ay would â to the very core of the heart itself or if any man â an he d bo nothing else than a that would say it â if any man would tell me that yon not i dâ i d give him his answer as good as i d by the poor scholar t to ould long ago and you all know wliat that was the nest point is what would jou do if hadn t it about yoa it s i that can tell you what you d do â you d say i haven t got it brother â for every created bein of the human kind is brother the women an they are your sisters â this produced a grin upon many faces â bat says you if you wait a bit for a day or two or a week or maybe for a fortnight i ll try what i can do to help jou picture to yourselves a in distress â suppose him to have hat shoe nor â this was a touch of the pathetic â and altogether in a state of utter can there he a more melancholy picture than no there can t but t the of it â a robbery is the same â think of him father mother or friend upon the earth â both dead and ne er another to be had for love or money â maybe he poor maybe he s sick an in a country â here s mother and friends sobbed aloud and the began to â the priest in fact knew where to â hi d by the poor face ia pale â his eyes sunk with sickness and sorrow in his his bones are the skin he knows not where to himself â and sickness are for him â here the grief became and general and even the good natured s own voice got somewhat unsteady â he s in a bad state entirely â miserable i more miserable i most miserable oh i sick sore and sorry â he s to he pitied felt for and â a general â tis a he has or an or a or a on the limbs or the king s evil or a consumption or a decline or god knows but it s the falling oh i â oh from the whole congregation whilst the simple old man s eyes were blinded with tears from the force of the picture he drew â ay maybe it s the and in that case how on earth can he stand it â he can t he can t ch oh â i â the lord in heaven look down upon him â this blessed an holy sunday that s in it â oh i â pity â an â with feeling and d by the poor scholar tion he hasn t a rap la his an ay my friends yoa have all hat he has none thrust back by every hard hearted and he be a better father s son than the that refuses him look at own my friends o tl e ca e home to yourselves suppose he was one of tl e u â alone on the earth and none to p ty h m q i sorrows your i a a e land â here the became ng men women and children in on general uproar of grief

49William Black

â an this may all le j mm m â case that s going in a week or two t as a poor scholar â may be his case i ay him and show your da and like christians and ol and tor either or kindness i d t m yea a a t any other congregation in the d f or tl e ii â ay or against itself if it was or in the neighborhood now here was a not a syllable mentioned about m until he had melted them down ready for the impression which he accordingly made to his heart s content d by the poor ay he went on an tis the parish of that has the name far and near for both and well thej deserve it yon won t see the poor go to a with empty he s the son of an honest man â one of yourselves and although he s a poor man know t was sam that made him so â that put him out of his comfort able farm and slipped a into it you won t turn your on the son in regard of that any way as for sam let him pass he ll not grind the poor nor to the rich when he gives up his in the kingdom come lave him to the friend of the poor â to his god hut the son of them that he oppressed you will stand np for he s going to to learn to go upon the mission and on sunday next there will be a collection made here and at the other two for him and as your own characters are at stake i trust it will be neither mane nor shabby there will be here engage and you must act before them if it was only to set them â in the north of ireland the word a d by the scholar a good example and dow i ll tell a story that the of the brings to my mind â there was you see a man and a catholic woman once married together the man wan a swearing dr ng w rat and his wife the ban e en they were a blessed pair to be re she never bent her knee under a priest the was on d th bed nor was he known to enter a h or to give a shilling m ty bnt on that being as follows â he was pass ng a c th i place of worship one u lay on h a w y t f â for he had his dog â t was beside a road and many of the on were kneeling oat across the way as he passed they were a collect for a poor scholar â and surely thej t at love the ng to be encourage i well behold you says one of them will yon remember the poor scholar says he and pat something in the hat you don t know says he bnt his prayers will be before you true enough maybe says the man and there s a crown to him for god s â iq tha other world d by the scholar sake well and good the man died and so did hie wife but some days before she got a and died ia it she had one sister a good that did nothing but fast and pray and make her this woman had doubts her mind and was very much troubled as to whether or not her sister went to heaven and she begged it as a favor the blessed virgin that the state of her sister s sow might be revealed to her her prayer was granted one night a week after her death her sister came back to her dressed all in white and round by a veil of glory is that mary said the living sister it is said the other i have got liberty to appear to you says she and to tell you that i m happy may the holy be said the other mary dear jou have taken a great weight off of me says she i thought you d have a bad chance in regard of the life yoa led when i died said the spirit and was on my way to the other world i came to a place where the road divided itself into three parts â d by the to heaven another to hell and a third to there was a dark gulf between and add a breach between me and that i couldn t across and if i had missed foot there i would have dropped into so i would too only that the blessed virgin put mj own over the breach and it became firm and i stepped on it and got over the virgin then desired me to look into hell and the first person i saw was my own husband standing with a green sod under his he got that favor said the blessed virgin in consequence of the prayers of a holy priest that had once been a poor scholar that he gave assistance to at a collection made for him in such a chapel says she then continued the mary says she bat there s some great change in the world since i died or why would the people live so long it can t be less than six thousand years since i departed and yet i find every one of my friends just as i left them why replied the living sister you re only days dead ah said the other it can t lie â it can t be for i have been thousands on d by the poor scholar of years in pain â and as she s now there s a proof of the pains of where one day seems as long as a thousand

49William Black

years and you know we t to grudge a to a fellow that we may avoid it so you see my friends there s nothing good works you know not when or where this lad s prayers may yon if he gets ordained the first mass he says will bo for his and in every one he after that they must also be remembered the words o r m i now lave the thing to but wasn t i a match for that would a stone for the â eh â i know not this may be of a or not i have seen and tasted what ia termed by the stone it ib found ia the heart of a kind of soft or perhaps i should rather the country people use it but i cannot what particular disease it is said to cure it ia a soft dot unpleasant to the taste of a color and in mouth like the fat of meat leaving the greasy d by the poor â a broad laugh at s â you will your heart never soften â will you never have an you the only man of your family that s so sure they say you re going to be some of these days well if you get wife in my parish i tell you i ll give yon a for don t think i ll marry you as as i would a poor honest man i ll make you shell out the and tis that will go to your you you and then i ll eat you out of house and home at the stations may the lord grant us in the mane time a appetite a blessing which i wish you all etc at this moment the congregation was once more in of laughter at the dressing which peter whose character was drawn with much truth and humor received at the hands of the worthy our readers will perceive that there was not how far aa investigation into aod properties be useful to lie or it is not for me tu as fact o be n one the i it not amiss to mention it it may be a for d by the p a prejudice or weakness or in the disposition of his left in this address he moved their pride of character their dread of hell and their of yellow and the remembrance of the injury so inflicted on m s family he glanced at the advantage to be derived from the lad s prayers the example they should set to made a passing at and indulged in the the pathetic and the in short he left no avenue to their hearts and in the process by which he attempted to his object he was successful there is in fact much rude eloquence among the roman catholic and not a little which if duly cultivated by study and a more liberal education would de to be very high we do not give this as a specimen of their modern eloquence but as a of that in some of those irish clergy shone who before the establishment of were admitted to orders immediately from the in consequence of the of priests d by the poor existed la it wa in days to them tl ev departed for the continental in that they might by saying masses and other duties be enabled to add something to the scanty which was appropriated to their sup of the class to which father belonged there are few if any they sometimes were called hedge priests by way of reproach for onr own parts we wish their non interference in politics unaffected piety and simplicity of character had remained behind them on the sunday following m and his son attended mass whilst the members of the family with that sense of honest pride which is more strongly inherent in irish character than is generally supposed remained at home from a reluctance to witness what they could not but consider a degradation this decency of feeling was anticipated by the priest and not overlooked by the people for the â this first by the them for tbey were for the most but worthy d by the poor scholar former the reader may have observed in tlie whole com se of his address never once mentioned the word charity nor did the latter permit the circumstance to go without its reward according to the best of their ability so keen and delicate are the of the irish and bo alive are they to those nice distinctions of kindness and courtesy which have in their hearts a spontaneous and sturdy growth that at the virtues of artificial life in the parish of there were three or places of roman catholic worship and the reader may suppose that the collection made at each place was considerable in truth both father and son s were far under the sum collected and attended with their and those of the r who to be present at what they considered to be an worship did not hesitate to send their by some roman catholic neighbor their names were accordingly announced with an from the priest which failed to excite a warm hearted of approbation d by the poor ir nor was this feeling for we will venture to say that had political excitement up even to rebellion and mutual slaughter the persons and property of those would have been held sacred at length was equipped and sad and heavy became the hearts of his parents and immediate relations as the morning appointed for his departure drew nigh on the evening before several of his more distant relatives came to take their farewell of him and in compliance with the of irish hospitality they were detained for the night they did not however come empty handed some brought money some brought linen stockings or small to keep we in yer memory sure â

49William Black

and else it is for except himself and one of his brothers who was to accompany him part of the way none of the family slept the exhibited deep sorrow and although he made a show of firmness felt now that the crisis was at hand nearly incapable of parting with the boy the conversation of their friends and the cheering effects of the enabled d by the poor scholar them to his loss better than they otherwise would have done and the hope of seeing him one day an ordained priest more than either to them when the night was nearly half spent the mother took a candle and privately withdrew to the room in which the boy slept the youth was fair and interesting to look upon â the locks of his white forehead were divided yet there was on his otherwise open brow a shade of sorrow produced by the coming separation which even sleep could not the mother held the candle gently towards hia face it with one hand lest the light might suddenly awake him she then his long and affectionately whilst the tears fell in showers from her cheeks there you lie she softly sobbed ont in irish the sweet pulse of your mother s heart the flower of our flock the pride of our eyes and the music of our hearth an how can i part you my son sure when i look at your mild face and think that you re the world on your head to rise us oat of our poverty isn t my heart d by tbe scholar a we ll have t jou i goin out or io at or abroad your voice won t be in mj ears nor your eye upon me an thin to of what you may suffer in a land if head on what breast will it lie or who will bind he ribbon of comfort the i taken from a sketch called the irish b the sa a thia â the ia the head the by a very formal serious process called the head this is done b a ribbon the puts round the repeating during the a certain prayer or charm from which the operation ia to derive whole the is performed in the first instance to that its are separated by disease or to speak more plainly that the bones of the head are absolutely opened and that as a natural the head must be much larger than the patient is in a state of health the of the first is marked npon a ribbon after â she the charm that b io remove the and measures the again in order to by a comparison of ths two that the have been closed the charm successful and the removed it is about but be that aa it may the writer of this has the operation performed in such a way aa to â the must aye to detect any appearance d by the pi round it or wipe your fair brow in oh blessed â hunger sickness and sorrow may come you you ll he far from your own an from them thai loves you this melancholy picture was too much for the tenderness of the mother she eat down beside the bed rested her face t her open hand and wept in but bitter grief at this moment his father who probably suspected the cause of lier absence came in and perceived her distress said he in irish also is my son asleep she looked op with streaming eyes as he spoke and replied to him in a manner so exquisitely affecting when the circumstances of the boy and the tender made by the mother are considered â that in point of fact no certainly no irish heart â could withstand it there is an old irish melody in pathos simplicity and beauty â named in irish tha ma s na me â or in english i am asleep and don t me the position of the boy the of the old melody to flash into the mother s d by the poor heart â he simply pointed to as the words in a low melodious murmur but one full of from her lips the old sacred association â for it was one which she had sung for him a thousand times â until warned to by his deepened the tenderness of her heart and id with difficulty whilst held over the candle to gratify the father s heart by a sight of him i was him before my eye she said god knows but it may be the last we ll ever see him our own roof i i can t part him from my then how can i he replied wasn t he my right hand in every th ing when was he from me ever since he took a man s work upon him and when he d finish his own task for the day how kindly he d begin an help mine no it goes to my heart to let him go away upon a plan and i wish he hadn t taken the notion into his head at all it s not too late maybe replied his mother i think it wouldn t be hard to him off of d by i the it the s own heart ie him to lave q he has borrow upon his face where he lies the father looked at the expression of affectionate melancholy which shaded his features as he slept and the perception of the boy s internal against his own domestic in his first determination powerfully touched his heart said he i know the he won t give it up and t would be a pity â maybe a sin â to put him from it let the child get fair play and his if he fails he can come back to us an our

49William Black

arms an hearts will be open to welcome but if god him wouldn t it be a that we never expected to see him in the white robes one mass for his if these ould eyes see that i would be to close them in pace an happiness for ever an well you d become them well mild and handsome countenance look the long heavenly stole of innocence npon you and although it s into my heart i ll bear it for the sake of the same blessed sight look at that face d by the poor nick t many a lord of the land be proud to have a son f may the heavens down its npon the father burst into tears it it is said he it is the face that ud make many a noble heart proud to at iti is it any it ad ent o r hearts thin to have it taken from afore our eyes come away come away or not be to it it is the lovely â an is the heart of mv n as he spoke he down and the youth b cheek on h the w arm of affection a the dew from the er f his example and thej left the room we bear it said as they passed into another apartment the j s gathered an it look well to be goin back it to that us tied have the lash upon our face for it an the child no k and we make up onr minds to live him for a while the following morning was dark and cloudy but calm and without rain when the family d by were all every member of it traces of deep feeling and every waa fixed upon the bat melancholy countenance of the with tenderness and sorrow he himself maintained a quiet which though apparently liable to be broken by the struggles of domestic affection and in character with his meek and disposition yet was supported by more than might be expected from a mind in which kindness and sensibility were so strongly at this time however his character was not developed or at least not understood by those that surrounded him to strong feelings and enduring affections he a lied a i fl of perception and a ness of of which in his on w th h s er concern ng i s un the reader has already had proofs at or nothing was eaten the boy im i ould i ot taste a morsel nor other per on m the ly when the form of tl e meal was the father it s right said he that we all go to our knees and join in a in behalf of the child that s goin on a good he won t d by the poor scholar the worse the last words that he ll hear from his father and mother s lips is a prayer for the of god down upon his this was accordingly performed though not without tears and sobs aod frequent of grief for religion among the is often associated with bursts of deep and powerful feeling when the prayer was over the boy rose and calmly to his back a covered with deer skin containing a few books linen and a change of very plain apparel while engaged in this the uproar of grief in the house was perfectly heart when just ready to set out he reverently took off his hat knelt down and with tears streaming from his eyes humbly aod meekly the blessing and forgiveness of his father and mother the mother caught him in her arms kissed his lips and kneeling also sobbed out a fervent upon his head the father now in the grief of a strong man pressed mm to his heart until the big burning tears fell upon the boy s face his brothers and sisters embraced him wildly nest d by the poor scholar hie more distant relations and lastly the neighbors who were crowded about the door after this he took a light staff in his hand and first blessing himself after the form of his proceeded to a strange land in quest of tion he had not gone more than a few from the door when his mother followed him with a small bottle of holy water a said she here s this an carry it about it will keep evil from you an be to take good care of the written you got from the priest an square an don t be too often at the o your coat for the people might get a notion that jou have the bank notes in it an don t be too lavish upon their they say it s apt to give people the kiss me an the heavens above keep safe and well till we see you once more she then tenderly and still with melancholy pride settled his shirt collar which she thought did not sit well about his neck and kissing him â my poor child d by again with renewed sorrow lest him to pursue bis m s was situated on the side of a dark â one of that barren description which an be called neither inland nor it a wide and extended prospect and the road along which the lad travelled was visible for a distance from it on a before the door and bis wife who as long as their son was visible kept their eyes which were nearly blinded with tears upon his person it was now they gave full vent to their grief and with painful and melancholy all the excellent which he possessed as james himself advanced one neighbor after another fell away from the train which accompanied him not however until they had affectionately embraced and bid him and perhaps slipped with peculiar delicacy an additional into his waist coat pocket after the neighbors then

49William Black

followed the separation from his friends â one by one left him as in the great journey of life and in a few hours he found himself accompanied only by his favorite brother d by the poor scholar this to him was the greatest trial he liad yet felt long and heart was their embrace soothed and comforted his brother but in vain the lad threw himself oâ the spot at which they parted and remained there until turned an angle of the road which brought him ont of his sight when the poor boy kissed the marks of his brother s feet repeatedly and then returned home hoarse and broken down with the violence of his grief he was now alone and for the first time felt keenly the strange object on which he was bent together with al the connected with its he was and and many years he knew must e er he could find himself in po es ion of wishes but time would pass at home as well as abroad he thought and as there lay no oi peculiar difficulty in his way he collected a l his firmness and proceeded there is no country on the earth in which either education or the desire to pro it is so much as in ireland next to the claims of the priest and come those of tlie poor scholar for the respect of the people d by it matters not low poor or how miserable he may be so as they see him straggling with poverty in the of a purpose so they will treat him with and here there is no danger of his being to the committed as a or passed from parish to parish until he reaches his own settlement here the humble lad is not met by the sneer of purse proud insolence or bis simple tale answered only by the frown of heartless contempt no the best bit and sup are placed before and whilst his poor but warm hearted can afford only potatoes at d salt to his own half starved family he will make a struggle to procure something better for the poor scholar â k s far from own the an sure the in him is good any how the lord prosper him an every one that has the heart set upon the as proceeded he found that his of books and apparel as clear an intimation of his purpose as if he had carried a to that effect upon his back god save you a said a warm d by honest looking man whom he met driving home his cows in the evening within a few miles of the town in which he to sleep god yon kindly why thin tis a long journey yon have before you for i know well it s for you re bound for you tis there the help of god i m goin a great of was in my own place or i wouldn t have to go at all said the boy whilst his eyes filled with tears tis no in life replied the with natural iy for he perceived that a sense of pride lingered about the boy which made the character of poor scholar sit painfully npon him tis no dear nor don t be cast down i ll warrant you that god will prosper you an that he may i pray this day and as he spoke he raised his hat in reverence to the being whom he an tell me dear â where do you intend to sleep to night in the town here replied i m hopes i ll be able to reach it before lark d by â i you will have you any friends or acquaintances there that ud welcome you a ray handsome boy v no indeed said they re all strangers to me bat i can in for it s well i yon but i m no to come home me to night where you ll get a good bed an nor in any of their lodging give me your books an i ll carry them for yon hut yon have a great rf them entirely can you make any o the latin at all yet no indeed replied somewhat i didn t ever open a latin book at all at all well everything has a â you won t be so an i know by your face that you ll be bi at it an a credit to them that owes you there s my house in the fields where you ll be well kept for one night any way or for or for ten times if you wanted them d by the poor scholar tbe honest farmer commenced the song of na which he sang in a clear mellow voice they reached the house alley said the man to his wife on entering here s a stranger i ye brought yon well replied alley he s welcome sure any way bit over to the fire get up dear said she to one of the children an let the stranger to the he s goin on a good errand the lord said the husband up the country for the put books over on the settle an the are done give him a brave of the sweet milk it s the stuff to on an i will a heart and a half it was i had to give him here pot down a pot o an lave soap an a afore yon go to milk till i the boy s feet sore an tired they are his journey poor young when placed himself npon the he saw that some peculiarly good fortune had â the pretty girl bet cow d by the poor scholar conducted to so comfort a resting e he considered tliis ai a f ood omen and in fact for of among was the house evidently belonged to

49William Black

a farmer well to do m the world the cl w th upon sides of yellow smoke ham ar i hung in al the kitchen tables were lai e and white as milk and the rich in its shining of and iii fact was upon a e scale huge meal were ranged on one side and two or three settle beds on the other conspicuous aa i have said for their uncommon cleanliness whilst hung from the ceiling were the a machine for and beside the stood an immense certainly too to be managed except by machinery the farmer was a who wore a coat with a velvet collar waistcoat small clothes and top boots well from the tops down he was not only an this in is the of a wo d by l nt a â remarkable for and good sense generally attended and and three or large of fat cattle to england every year from his hung the brass chain and almost rusty key of a watch which he kept certainly more for use than ornament a little sup o this said he won t take your life approaching with a bottle of good as ever escaped the eye of an it ll refresh you â for you re tired or i wouldn t offer it by that one on what you re on t to be the same ent there s a time for everything an there s time for this â â thank yon he added in reply to who had drunk health don t be â bat make yourself as as if yon were at your own father s hearth you ll have everything to your heart s for this night the carts are goin in to the market to morrow you can sit upon them an maybe you ll get more nor you expect the lord has given it to mo an why wouldn t i share it them that wants it more nor i do d by tiie lad a heart to the farmer for he felt that his kindness had the stamp of and sincerity upon it he could only raise his eyes in a prayer that none belonging to him might ever he compelled as strangers and way to commit themselves as he did to the of life in pursuit of those which poverty cannot command fervent indeed was his prayer and certain we are that because it was sincere it must have been in the meantime the good woman or had got the pot of water warmed in which was made to his feet she then stripped up lier arms to the elbows and with aiid meal affectionately bathed his legs and feet then taking the or coarse she wiped them with a kindness which thrilled to his heart and now said she i must give you a for an it s this â in the if we re all spared as we the almighty i ll give a needle an some white thread well when your gets tip the thread through them d by the scholar dip it on each bide an mj life for they won t you sure i it the year i went oa my station to an i it to be the cure here said the farmer â who sat â with a placid benevolent face smoking his pipe on the opposite â to one of the maids who came in from bring up a no in of that milk we want it here let it bo none of but the that has the in it up it here a the never a one o the but s downright so he is observed the wife to go to the tired child s stomach can t you wait till he a o stout to keep life in him his hard journey does your feet feel themselves cool an now a indeed said i m almost as fresh as when i set oat twas thought i had when i came away this that i d meet so much friendship ou my journey i it s a sign that god s on my side in my d by the poor i hope so â i hope so an it is too replied the farmer taking the pipe ont of hia mouth and mildly away the an god ii be always on side as long as intentions are good now ate â you must want it by this an thin when you rest yourself bravely take a into a good bed where you can sleep round who knows hut you l be able to say for me or some o my family god grant that any way poor james s heart was too full to eat much he took therefore only a very slender portion of the set before him but his hospitable no notion of permitting him to use the free exercise of hia discretion on this important point when james pot away the knife and fork as an indication of his having concluded the meal the farmer and his wife turned about both at the same moment with a kind of astonishment â eh is it over that way you are f why a it s at all you ve re little there would make a fool of you d by the poor bo be at the come a â don t bo ashamed or make any way at all but ate hearty i declare i have ate heartily thank you itself bo i did i a bit more if the house was fall said the wife cut him up more o that hung beef it s ashamed the take it don t we know the journey you had if one o the boys was out on a day s you d see how he d handle him indeed james i can t â if i i would sure i would be no way backward at

49William Black

all so i wouldn t an you can an must said the farmer tho never a rise yon ll rise till yon finish that â putting over a out of all reasonable proportion with his age and size there now s a small taste an you must finish it to go to ate at hut by the tops o my boots you must put that clear an out o my sight or i ll go mad an bum the lad and continued to eat d by the poor scholar as long as he could possibly hold oat at length he ceased i can t go on said he don t ax me i t indeed bad to the word i ll hear till yon finish it you know it s but a to of but take your time you ll ha able for it the poor lad s heart was engaged on other thoughts aud other scenes his home and its inmates â sorrow and the of young affections were ready to burst forth i cannot ate said he and he looked on the farmer and his wife whilst the tears started to his eyes â don t as me for my heart s them i left behind me that i may never see and be wept in a burst of grief which he could not restrain neither the strength nor tenderness of the lad s affection was by this excellent couple in a moment the farmer s wife was also in tears nor did her husband break the silence for some minutes the almighty pity oa strengthen him said the farmer s wife but he has the good an d by the poor scholar the kind heart an would be a credit to any family â we won t as jou to no indeed it was out o kindness we did it don t be cast down sure it isn t the ocean yon re bnt goin from one county like to another god ll guard an take care o you so he will tour s good an he ll prosper it he will said the farmer himself â he will cheer np my good i know that s an creditable this day that went as yon re goin â ay an that an helped their parents an put them above poverty an distress an never fear a but you ll do the same that s what brings mo at all replied the boy drying his tears if i was once able to take them out o their i d be happy only i m the o the world will break my father s heart before i have it in my power to assist him no thing said the good woman sure his hopes out o you an his jove for you will keep him up an you but god may give him a too d by the poor scholar mix another sup o that for him said the farmer he s low spirited an it s tâ o strong to give him any more of it as it is s the from ns â eh why thin god help them the â wasn t it thoughtful o them to lave the place while tie was at his dinner for he d be dashed â them young alley but can you tell us where the is isn t this his night us i know he his dinner here ay did he but it s np to s he s gone to his sou in his book but he had time enough to put him well through it afore this any way as she spoke a short man with black twinkling and cheeks entered this personage was no other than the of that district who like a newspaper from one farmer s house to another in order to for his kind the news of the day his own learning and the very extent of their ignorance the moment he came in the farmer and his wife rose with an air of much deference â d by placed a chair for him exactly the fire leaving a respectful distance on each side within which no mortal to bit said the farmer presents in s through which the shapes of the books were quite plain in aud as he spoke he looked significantly at its owner ah replied the man of letters f god be the day when i carried the likes of it tis a of polite genius that no boy need be ashamed of so mj young of re bound for â for that where the fly ill sections â where the and the in latin and the cows and will roar yoa bo a o â what s â ne the lad was silent bnt the farmer s wife turned up the of her eyes with an expression of wonder and surprise at the of the â do you f i i d by the poor scholar i you are as yet into the of the languages well â the honor is still before yon what s name james m sir just now the farmer s family began to as the spacious hearth the young lads whose instruction the worthy teacher claimed as his own peculiar task came timidly forward together with two or three pretty girls with sweet flashing eyes and countenances full of feeling and intelligence behind on the settles half a dozen servants of both sexes sat in pairs â each boy placing himself beside his favorite girl these a to be as strongly interested in the learned conversation which the master held as if they were masters and of latin and greek but an cautiously bestowed by no slender female hand upon the sturdy shoulder of her companion or a dry cough from one of the young men to drown tiie coming blow gave slight indications that they contrived to have a little amusement among

49William Black

themselves altogether independent of mr s d by the poor scholar tlie latter came in was taking the of punch which the farmer s wife had mixed for him on this he fixed an expressive glance which instantly to the and from her to the large bottle stood in a window to the right of the fire it is a quick eye however that can anticipate hospitality alley said the ere the wife had time to with the hint conveyed by the black twinkling eye of the why alley â sure i am she replied an will have it for yoa in less than no time she accordingly addressed herself to the t e and in a few minutes handed a of punch to the or good man come by the hand o my body i do nt like talk so long as i can get anything to the here s your health continued the farmer at the rest and a speedy conclusion to what you know in she s the pick of a good girl â not to what she has for her portion i m a to the same family an will a d by spoke in your wheel that ll u oh mr very well sir â very well â you re becoming quite upon me said the little man rather confused but upon my credit and reputation except the inch nation in regard to me is on her side and he looked at his hands i can t say that the arrows of have as yet the side of my heart it is not with me as it waa â hem â later as says yet i can t say but if a friend were to become for me and in ray behalf a small taste of why â hem hem hem i the company s health lad james m your health and to you my good boy â hem hem here s him the said the farmer james said the you are goin to an i can say that i hare travelled it from end to end not to a bad purpose i hem well a there are d by the poor scholar hard days and nights before yoa so keep a firm heart if you have money as tis like jou have don t let a single rap of it into the hands of the the first thing he ll do will be to bring jou home to his own an yoa night an day till he in persuading j on to it id lis hands for security oa ht if not j surrender it to for â mortal um â hat la e is added he suddenly addressing one of the farmer s sons come now michael where a brightness what case is the boy was taken by surprise and for a few minutes could not reply come man said the father be sharp out bravely an don t be nor don t be in a we ll wait for let him alone â let him alone said i ll face the same the county for if lie doesn t that i ll never a line of latin or greek or while i m d by his cunning master right well that the boy who was at the su of the quest on would fee no m answering it to his satisfaction indeed it was for him to miss it as he was then reading the seventh book of v ii il and the fourth of it it however a trick with some masters to put simple of that nature to their when at the houses of their parents as and difficult aid when they are answered to assume an air of astonish ment at the profound of displayed by the when michael recovered himself he replied is the case of by laid down the which he was in the act of raising to his lips and looked at the lad with an air of surprise and delight then at the farmer and his wife and shook his head with much mystery michael said he to the lad will you go out and tell us what the night s the boy accordingly went ont â why said in his absence if ever there was a d by and that boy will be the bird â an irish he will be a iu there s no him at anything lie there s that are good bread by their that couldn t resolve that and yon all saw how he did it the book why if lie goes on at this rate i m afraid he ll soon be too many for myself â hem i too many for yourself fill the s alley too many for no no i doubt he ll never see that day bright as he is an that s itâ put a upon it give mo your hand i thank you for your to him an the boy is a credit to us come over michael here take what s io this an finish it be a good boy an mind your lessons an do everything the here â the lord bless â bids you an you ll never want a nor a dinner nor a bed nor a guinea while the lord me the one or the other i know it mr i know it and i will make that boy the pride of ireland if i m spared ill show him that would d by the poor scholar the great himself and many other i li let him into that i have never let out yet except to tim that them all at in up last june how was that tim you see went in to his and one of the fellows came to examine him but a long it was till tim him go back says tim and some one that s able to me for you

49William Black

re so another greater scholar came to tim and did him and tim made a hare of before all that was in the place â five or six thousand ladies and at l the great learned fellows thin began to look odd enough so they picked out the best scholar among them but one and slipped him at tim but well becomes tim the never a long it was till he had too as dumb as a post the fellow went back â says he to the rest we ll be disgraced all out says he for except the that he ll d by aa the scholar ns all an we ll never be able to up onr heads accordingly the attacks tim and a as they had never was seen in college since its establishment at last when they had been nine and a half at it the put one word to him that tim couldn t so he lost it by one word only for the last two hours the can au the in hebrew thinking you see he ad tim there but he was for tim answered him in good irish and it so happened that they understood each other for the two language are first or at all close blood relations tim was then pronounced to be the best scholar in ireland except the though among ourselves they might have thought of the man that him that however wasn t all a young lady fell in love tim and is to make him a present of herself and her great fortune three estates the moment he becomes a and in the meantime she allows him thirty pounds a year to bear his expenses and live like a now to return to the youth in the corner d by keep your money or give it to the priest to keep aud it will be safest but by no means let tlie honey of the master s deprive you of it otherwise it will be a between yoa said the farmer many a strange accident yoa met on yer through v no of that mr i and another boy it in society together one day we were walking towards a s house on the road side and it happened that we met the owner of it in the we didn t know him to be f said he in good fresh tu said i to him for comrade wasn t an i was always said he over us another deep piece of the construction of which was where do come from v i replied per et a d by said he you re bright follow me so he brought us over to his own house and ordered us bread and cheese and a for it was friday an we couldn t touch mate he in the mane time sat an along us the cook however in making the kept the to herself except a slight taste here and there that floated on the top but she was liberal enough of the any how now i had been well trained to fishing in my more youthful days and no could a me i accordingly sent the spoon through the pond before me the skill of a but to no purpose â it came up but the so said i off hand to the up the bowl and looking at it with a disappointed face apparent ran in this says i your hospitality may be hut the a taste o the proper sand is in the bottom of it the wit of this yon see pleased him and we got an treat ia his or d by the poor study for he was determined to give myself another trial what s the line in v said he now i had vii il at my ends so i answered him si very good said he you hare tlie genius and will come to yet now tell me the most moral line in i answered el depend upon it said be yon will be a the morning star will be but a candle to you and if you take in the learning as you do the cheese in a short time there won t be a man in fit to teach you and be for you see he had a tendency to he did not give me up here however being determined to go deeper mo can you o newspaper into latin prose said he â he ie evidently drawing the long bow here this d by the row the a one tf me was just then sure about the prose bo i was goin to tell him bat before i had time to speak he thrust the paper into and desired me to dozen the first that met mo was a reward offered for a dog and a that had been stolen from a fishing tackle and then came a list of his shabby ending with a long upon hia shot and double guns now may i be shot a blank if i ever felt so much at an in my ufe and i said so your honor has me the said i but i grant the cheese waa good bait any how so he laughed heartily and bid me go on well i thought the first was difficult but the second was to it â something about â and a long list that would puzzle if he was set to it however i went through it as well as i could where i couldn t find latin i laid in the greek and d by the where the greek failed me i gave the irish which to tell the truth in consequence of its i found to be the most ma y a s r i have myself m d ir ng my t me sure my name s aa common as a ma in college and t s well

49William Black

known there n t a fellow in it but i could sa k except be the that ther own op on says the pro s tl e mn t lar ed man in ireland an i m not a han ed says he to acknowledge that i d rather decline meeting upon deep points is all your â hem but among ourselves i could him in a veiy short time though i d scorn to deprive the of his or his place even if he sent me a challenge of although he s too to venture on doing hem hem i to hear an obscure creature whose name was but faintly known ia the remote parts even of the parish in which he lived draw the long bow at such a rate waa highly the character of his however was no slight temptation to him for he knew that next d by to the legends of their saints or the gospel itself his in and he was determined that it should not be his if their opinion of his learning and talents were not raised to the highest point the feeling experienced by the poor scholar when h awoke the next morning was one both of satisfaction and sorrow he thought once of his home and kindred and reflected that it might be possible he had seen the last of his beloved relations his grief however was checked when he remembered the warm and paternal affection with which lie was received on the preceding night by his hospitable he offered up his prayers to god humbly his grace and protection nor did ho foi et to a blessing npon those who had thus soothed his early sorrows and afforded him though a stranger and shelter comfort and sympathy i hope thought he that i will meet many till i overcome my an find myself able to assist my poor father an mother and he did meet many such among the d by the poor scholar humble and despised and neglected of his countrymen for â and we say it with pride â the character of this excellent farmer ia thoroughly that of our within the range of domestic life he had eaten a comfortable breakfast and seen his stuffed with provision for his journey tlie farmer brought him up to his own room in which were also his and children god said he has been good to me blessed be his holy name â it appears in one than he has been to you dear though maybe i don t it as well but no i have it an want it so here s a to help you in your an all ax from you is to offer up a bit of a prayer for me of an odd time an if ever you live to be a priest to say if it wouldn t be one mass for me an those that yon see about me it s not much james â only two guineas they may stand friend friends will be scarce yon though i hope that won t be the the tears were already streaming down d by the scholar my s cheeks oh said the boy god for ever reward bat i have a great of money in the â in the â o my coat indeed i have an i won t want it the farmer affected by the of he lad looked at his wife and smiled a tear stood in his eye at the time she wiped her eyes with her apron and backed the offer of her husband take it she added in your god help sure it s not h yon or the likes of yoa have in don t be ashamed but take it we can well ff d t y h t god f t it t y g th w y y â th h th t h t â b t b k ir w th h j t f t f th th ra t t th t fe d i y tl k y god bless an prosper i m sore yoa always now said the farmer addressing his sons and daughters never see the d by the poor scholar a nor a bed or a dinner when yoa grow up to be men an women there s many a turn in this world we may be strangers an think of what i would feel if any of yon was far from me money or friends when i d hear that yon met a father in a strange that lightened your hearts by his kindness now dear the carts be ready in no time eh why there they are at the gate for yon into one of them an they ll lave you in the next town come man bud an e be stout hearted an don t cry sure we did for you to of lie shook the poor scholar by the hand and drawing his hat over his eyes passed out of the room alley stooped down kissed his lips and wept and the each embraced him with that mingled feeling of compassion and respect which is uniformly entertained for the poor scholar in ireland the boy felt as if he had been again separated from his parents with a sobbing bosom and wet cheeks he bid them farewell and mounting one of the carts was soon beyond sight and hearing of the kind hearted farmer and his family d by poor scholar tlie cart had proceeded about a mile it stopped and one of the men who accompanied it addressing a who passed with two of turf under his arm desired him to hurry ou and inform his master that they waited for him tell to come into said the man laughing my s to hear his for to run away miss tell him lord s ready to pass on him for

49William Black

not the heart of her his rule o three by the holy farmer you ll get it for from school to this hour be quick in a few minutes the trembling glad of any message that might to divert the dreaded from himself entered the caught his down his head to the master and pitched his two into a little heap of turf which lay in the corner of the school pat ia an hour to inter into my establishment f eh you sir replied the i ve a message for you sir i you d by the ud an what might the message be pat to dine to day your worthy father no sir its from one o mr s boys â him that belongs to the carts sir he wants to to yon sir i you an do yon give that by way of an for your absence from the advantages of my until this hour however mm i ll the crow yon on my return if you don t find yourself a youth for your never say that this right hand can administer punishment to that part of your physical theory which the to your en tt you villain he added pointing to the it s newly cut and trimmed and alacrity for the operation i correct on principles which you ll ee to your cost sir replied the lad in a friendly tone my ud be to you if you d take share of a fat goose him to morrow go to your a d by i the took scholar boy in the i joke so much ag i do yourself an all oat of respect for worthy faith i ve a great regard for them all oat aa tell them bo he then proceeded to the carts and approaching gave him such advice touching his conduct in as he considered to be most serviceable to an inexperienced lad of his years here said the kind hearted soul â here james is ray it s but bare ten shillings but if i could make it a pound for yon it would me a degree of which i have not enjoyed for a long time the truth is there s something like the or what they term the priest s gallows dangling over my head so that any little i may get be kept together for that crisis james so that must be my apology for not yon more joined to the naked fact that i never was remarkable for a of cash under any circumstances remember what i told you last night don t let a shilling of your money into the hands of the you settle give it to the parish priest and it from him when you want it d by the poor scholar don t join the parties or the of the school above all ill of nobody and if the is harsh npon yon either bear it patiently or it to the priest or to some other person of respectability in the parish and you ll be protected you ll be apt to meet cruelty enough my good boy for there are in who d if the was in flames now james i ll tell yon what you ll do when you reach the south plant yourself on the highest hill in the neighborhood wherein the with whom you intend to stop lives let the hour of be that in which dinner is seated there james take a survey of the smoke that from the chimneys of the farmers houses and be sure to direct your steps to that from whit h the highest and column is this is the old plan and it is a sure one the highest smoke rises from the largest fire the largest fire the biggest pot the biggest pot generally holds the bacon and tlie bacon is kept by the richest farmer it s a wholesome and table dim iv my boy and d by the one by which i myself waa enabled to keep a portion of flesh between the master s and ray ribs the science itself is called geography and is peculiar only to young who seek for know ledge in the classical province of here s a book that along myself through all my â s translation of keep it for my sake and when you accomplish your education if you return home this way i d thank you to me a call farewell god bless yon and prosper you as i wish and as i am sure you he shook the lad by the hand and as it was probable that his own former struggles with poverty when in the pursuit of education came with all the power of awakened recollection to his mind he hastily drew his hand across his eyes and returned to resume the brief but harmless authority of the after arriving at the nest town found himself once more his journey alone in proportion as he advanced into a strange land his spirits became depressed and his heart more and more to those whom he had d by the poor scholar left behind him m an m the of in the speculations of a heart which frequently difficulties that a taught by the experience of life would often shrink we may all the utter of with in onr youthful days we floods or stood the brow of ing â m after the wealth of could not induce us to perform as well as conscience makes of us all tlie poor scholar in the of his journey had the satisfaction of finding himself an object of kind and hospitable attention to his countrymen his of books was literally a to their hearts for instance as he h d h w f q a t d hy f m b d id a f f y f th tj t h h d w i t w h t

49William Black

m f id h ab th m e th p t h g wit d by the scholar called lodging like a thej never keep out the rain and have mostly a bottle of for those who know how to call for it â even they in most instances not only refused to chaise the poor scholar for his bed bat declined receiving any for his no you poor young not from no no if we wouldn t help the likes o you who ought we to help no dear but instead o the lave an maybe we ll as well that as we would your little that you ll be for your won t be near to help you many in fact were the little marks of kindness and attention which the poor lad received on his way sometimes a ra ed if he happened to be his fellow traveller would carry his so long as they travelled together or a would ve him a lift on his empty car or some humorous or boy with a in his eye would him into his vehicle remarking â money d by let nobody say you re a poor scholar an you goin to school in a be the that played afore moses if ever any rascal you it tell him says you â you damned rap says yon i to school ia a coach an that says you was what none o yer was ever able to do says yoa an be the same token says yon be the holy farmer if you bring it up to me i ll make a third eye in your forehead the butt o this whip says you that s there s eh at after much toil and travel he reached the south having experienced as ho proceeded a series of affectionate attentions which had at least the effect of him to the measure he had taken and upon his heart a deeper confidence in the and hospitality of his countrymen upon the evening of the day on which he terminated his journey twilight was nearly falling the town in which he intended to stop for the night was not a quarter of a mile before him yet he was scarcely able to reach it his short yielding steps were evidently those of a young d by the poor scholar and fatigued traveller his brow was moist with perspiration he had just begun too to consider in what manner he should himself to the master who taught the school at which he had been advised to stop when he heard a step behind him and on back he discovered a weu made faced young man dressed in with a hook in his hand walking after him et said the stranger on coming up with him oh sir replied i have not latin you are on way to seek it however replied the other have yon travelled far a long way indeed sir i came from the county sir â the upper part of it have letters from your parish priest i have sir and one from my father s landlord square if you ever heard of him what s your object in learning latin to be a priest sir the help o god an to rise my poor father an mother out of their poverty his companion after hearing this reply bent a glance npon him that indicated the awakening d by the ch lap of an interest in the lad much greater he probably otherwise would have felt it s only of continued the boy that my aa mother got poor they were once very to do in the world but they were put out o their farm in that tlie might put a man that had married a of bis own into it my father intended to lay his case before colonel b the landlord but he couldn t see him at a he never comes near the estate the s called sam sir he s rich through an puts money out at then goes to law an the people entirely for somehow he never was known to lose a law suit at all sir they say it s the sir that keeps the lawyers on his side an that when he an the lawyers do be up their the devil â god me an harm â does be and is colonel b actually â or rather was he your father s landlord he was indeed sh it s i you singular enough stand beside me here â a d by do bee that large house to the right among the trees i do sir a great big house entirely â like a castle sir the same well that house belongs to colonel b and am very intimate with him i am catholic of parish ami i my private in his family for four years maybe sir yon might have to get my father back into his farm i do not know that my good lad for i am told that colonel b is rather embarrassed and if i mistake not in the power of the man yon call yellow sam who has i believe heavy upon his property but no matter if i cannot help your father i shall be able to serve yourself where do you intend to stop for the night in sir that s where my father an mother bid mo stop always they war very kind to me sir in the who is there in ireland who would not be kind to my good boy i trust yon do not neglect your duties d by the the help o god sir i to to them as well as i can particularly since i left my father and mother every night an sir i say five fathers five an a creed an sometimes when i m the road i slip np an odd father sir ao ave that

49William Black

god may grant me good luck the priest smiled at his and and could not help the interest which the boy had already excited in him increase you do right said he and take care that you neglect not the of god avoid ba l company be not at school to improve yourself diligently attend mass regularly and be punctual in going to confession after some farther conversation the priest and he entered the town together this is my said the former or if not altogether mine â at least that in h i lodge let me see you here at two o clock tomorrow in the mean time follow and i shall place you with a family where you will experience every kindness and attention that i make yon comfortable d by loi the poor he then led him a few doors up the street til stopped at a decent looking e of entertainment to the of which he him be kind to this strange boy said the thy clergyman and whatever the charges of his board and lodging may be until we get him settled i shall be for them god forbid your that a penny to a poor boy for his should go into onr pockets if he was us twelve months in the year no â no he can stay with the let them be one another in their books if he is on in the latin then he can help an if has the of him why can help him come here boys all of here s a comrade for a boy that s for his the lord enable him now be kind to him an whisper he added in an tone don t be a blush to the s face do ye hear if ye â now mind it ye know what i can do i m well go now an get him little d by the poor to ate an an let him sleep in the feather daring the course of the next day the benevolent him to the parish priest who fi om the claims urged by poor upon bis patronage felt no particular interest in his case he wrote a short letter however to the master with whom intended to become a pupil stating that he was an honest boy the son of legitimate parents and worthy of consideration the who saw into the boy s character than the parish priest accompanied him on the following day to the school him to the master in the most favorable manner and recommended him in general to the hospitable care of all the pupils this introduction did not serve the boy bo much as might have been expected there was nothing particular in the letter of the i priest and the was but a â no formidable personage in any church where the of the has not been already secured returned that day to his lodgings and he next morning with his latin d by under his arm he went to the school to taste the first bitter fruits of the tree of knowledge on entering it which he did with a beating heart he found the of a hundred subjects behind a desk with his hat on a brow severe and his nose into a most cutting and tin curl the truth was the master knew the character of the and felt that because he had taken under his protection no opportunity remained for him of the boy under the pretence of securing his money and that consequently the arrival of the poor scholar would be no as he had expected when entered he looked first at the master for his welcome but the master who the proverb that there are none so blind as those who will not see took no notice whatsoever of him the boy then looked timidly about the school in quest of a friendly face and indeed few faces except friendly were turned upon several of the scholars rose up simultaneously to speak to him but the angrily d by the ch inquired why they had their seats and their basin ess why sir a with a fine face â be sir i if ice don t welcome the poor scholar i think won t this is the boy sir that mr o came along an spoke so well of i know that and o thinks that because he himself first passed through that overgrown hedge school upon the roof of it called college and in that he has legal authority to recommend every young to the benefits of legitimate an i suppose that you are acting the too and to take this young wild goose under your protection why sir isn t he a poor scholar sure he mustn t want his bit an sup nor his night s any how you re to give him his only sir i suppose mr but this is the of if i weren t so celebrated a man for as i am i would have none d by the scholar of this work i tell you if i had fifty sons i t make one o them celebrated wait till you have one first sir then yon may make him as great a as yon but in the mean time i ll have no from jou as to i ll have one or fifty or as to whether he ll be an or a i say a of ia like a year of famine id ireland when the people are hard pushed they the and live on their blood an so it is us it s always he that has the most blood in his and the greatest quantity of it that such hungry fasten on for you sir said the youth with a smile but they say the always the for it i hope you ll well now sir i don t like the curl of your nose

49William Black

an moreover i have always found you prone to yon remember conduct at the out i tell you it s well that you worthy father is a wealthy man or i d ba d by the scholar apt to give you a oa the god be praised for my father s wealth sir i bat i d never wish to hare a good memory in the way yon mention faith an i ll be apt to add that to your other qualities if you don t take care of yourself i want no addition if yon do yon ll be apt to from this neighborhood an may be there won t be more than a gone out of it all you re a wa exclaimed the take the lad to your own and show him his task how is sister s sore throat v why sir replied the benevolent young wit she s than i am she can swallow more sir not of there you ve the in the parish my father s the richest man in it replied i think sir ray and his purse are much about the same size â wit d by the poor scholar you re at a reply but exceedingly deficient in tlie retort take the lad to your i say and see how far lie is advanced and what lie is fit for i as you are so you will to liim yourself i ll do that pleasure sir but i d like to know whether you to him or rot an i d like to know who s to pay me for it if i do a michael made me for making him a as he is you re a tyrant said he when he grew up and instead of expecting me to thank you for your instructions yon to thank me for not preparing you for the county hospital as a of the and you made me feel when i had the misfortune to be a poor scholar under you and so because he of the parish he showed me the outside of it but will you this poor young boy sir let me know who s to his pay d by in i have money myself sir to pay you for two years replied they told me sir that were a great scholar aa i refused to stop in other schools by of tlie name you liave for latin and greek exclaimed the come here now you see i yon have here is your task get that half page by you have a look an i ve no doubt but the stuff s in you come to me dismiss till we have a little talk together he accordingly pointed out the task after which ho placed him at his lest the inexperienced boy might be put on his guard by any of the i in this intention however he was by who as he thoroughly detested the tyrant resolved to caution the poor scholar against his indeed most heartily despised the not only for his to the rich but on account of his severity to the children of the poor about two o clock the went out for a few and immediately returned in great haste to inform th d by the scholar master that mr the parish priest and two other gentlemen wished to see him over at the cross keys aa inn which was kept at a place called the nine mile within a few of the school the parish priest an ignorant old man was the master s patron and his slightest wish a law to him tlie little forgetting his prey instantly repaired to the cross and in hia absence tc with the lai er boys of the school made m with the fraud about to be practised on him his said they is to keep at home to night in to get whatever money you have into his own hands that he may keep it safe for you but if you give him a penny you may bid farewell to it it in the s hands added or in my father s an thin it be safe at all don t stay him this night he ll take your money and then turn you off in three or four weeks i didn t to give him my money replied a i met on my way here bid me not to do it i ll give it to the priest d by give it to the said â him it ll be safe for the parish priest doesn t like to himself of the this was agreed upon the boy was prepared against the designs of the master and a plan laid down for his future conduct in the mean time the latter re entered the school in a glow of indignation and disappointment however disregarded him and as the master knew that the of the boy s father could at any time remove him from the parish his anger subsided without any very violent consequences the parish priest was his patron it is true but if the parish priest knew that mr was dissatisfied with him moment he would join mr o in e him from the neighborhood mr o was a wealthy and a hospitable man bnt the was neither the the other during school that day many a entered into conversation with the poor scholar some moved by curiosity to hear his brief and simple history others d by the scholar to offer liim a temporary asylum in their and several to know if lie the requisite books that if he had not they would lend to these proofs of generosity the youth s heart tiie inasmuch as he perceive but too clearly that the eye of the master rested upon him from time to time with no when the scholars were dismissed a occurred which was calculated to produce a it certainly

49William Black

placed the poor scholar in a by no means agreeable it resulted from a contest among the boys as to who first bring him home tlie master who by that cunning for which the are remarkable had discovered in the se of the day that his design the boy s money was understood did not ask him to his house the contest was therefore among the scholars who when the master had disappeared from the school room formed themselves into a circle of which was the centre each pressing his to secure him the right s me exclaimed i d by to him all day an i say i ll hare him for this come me t i do most for to day i ll never forget your kindness r pi d poor at the boisterous symptoms of m which already began to appear in i t m ny a tiny fist was hut as a suitable a ment to the arguments with which they d their assumed rights there now continued th t pat an ind to it he says hell never forget my k nd ness that s enough come ine s il enough said a lad who if his father was less wealthy than s was resolved to put strength of arm against strength of purse it isn t say i bar it if your was fifty times as â don t be over us in regard of your riches man i ll bring the boy home this very night an it isn t your father s dirty money that me i d advise you to get a double ditch about your nose replied before you begin to say anything my father â don t think to over me i ll bring the d by u the boy for i haye the best right to him didn t i do the on his account a double ditch about my nose â i are yoa able to fight me f i m able to it any how an too do you sa y you re able to fight mc i ll bring the boy home whether or not s not match jack said another boy why don t you challenge your match if say a word v half sole your eye let say whether he s able to fight me like a man or not that s the chat half sole my eye thin here i am an why don t you do it you re over a boy that you re bigger than i ll fight you for now half my eye if you i eh here s my eye now be the holy man i d don t we know the white hen s in you didn t cow yon at the back pool on thursday last we come said an d by in turn out i say i am able to you an i ll make jou ate your words against my father by way of yon dinner an i ll make the strange boy walk home me over your body â that is if he d be afraid to dirty his feet and immediately set to and in a few there were scarcely a little pair of fists present that were not at work either on behalf of the two first or with a view to determine their own private rights iu being the first to exercise towards the amazed poor scholar tlie fact was that while the two largest were the point about thirty or forty minor all ran parallel to theirs and their mode of ion was immediately adopted by the of the school in this manner they were engaged poor attempting to and separate them when the master armed in all his terrors presented himself with the of a sly old he first secured the door and instantly commenced the agreeable task of heavy and did his arm descend upon d by the poor scholar those he to have the boy aa his nor i st the whom he so wa passed over with a tender hand springs blowing of fingers scratching of heads and rubbing of elbows â of pain and tions accompanied by act on that marked the effect with which he plied the of punishment in the mean time the spirit of reaction to use a modern in to set in the master thus ed in justice received a ti k on the ear from behind by an who gifted him with what is called a mu e for it during five minutes the monarch when turning round to the traitor received another on the moat and that with a of manner induced him to end his i ht hand a the invaded part he s round a second time with more alacrity than before but nothing le s than the head of could him on the occasion the d by the poor scholar a sent him a fresh article supported by kick the to fly after another came ia contact w ith hit head and shoulders rapidly hat he found himself instead of being the actually placed his the the turf flew thickly his closed in upon him m a more compact body every little fist to be at the larger boys boldly laid in the him in the stomach treated him most behind every kick and accompanied by a of his and in short they compelled him like charles the tenth to his on finding the throne vacant some of them suggested that it ought to be altogether however was the of the rebellion persuaded them to be satisfied with what they had and consequently succeeded in preventing them from destroying the again they surrounded the poor scholar who feeling himself the cause of tlie appeared an object of much pity such was his d by that he scarcely to thorn their consolation on witnessing his they desired liim to think nothing of it if the

49William Black

master they told him should his resentment on hm he the holy firmer they would the ma th r a claim was now with only the injury of a eye and a lip to the size of a san he walked home m triumph the poor scholar accompanying the ma who feared the open contempt of authority running up as it did into a very species of was something like a signal for him to leave the felt rather more of the penitent the nest morning than did of pupils he was by no meant displeased therefore to see them drop in the usual hour they came however not one by one but m compact groups each by two or of the boys they feared that had they entered singly he might ha e them his should be satisfied it was by bitter and obstinate that tliey succeeded in d by the scholar their when he appeared at his desk with one of his eyes literally closed and his considerably improved in size and richness of color when they were all assembled he hemmed several times and in a woe tone of split â by a feeble attempt at maintaining authority and his terrors â into two that most he briefly addressed them as follows â i have been now years engaged in the of latin and greek in but never until yesterday has my influence been until yesterday have hands been laid upon my person never until yesterday have i been kicked â and kicked â by ray own subjects no â and whether i ought to bestow that respectable epithet upon you after yesterday s proceedings is a matter which admits of dispute â never before has the lid of my eye been laid drooping and that in such a manner that i must be blind to the conduct of half of my pupils whether i will or not you have complained it appears of my d by want of but god knows yoa have me io be partial for a week to come neither me if i appear to look upon jou with scorn for the next for i am compelled to turn np my nose at against my own inclination ton need never want an illustration of the of again i m a living example of it that and the of forces have been in a manner that will prevent mo from ever these subjects in future no can himself properly such until after he has received the oil of but yoa it appears think differently tou have me first and me afterwards but i say no would relish such it smells of maybe this is what understand by the republic of letters but if it be i would a yon to change your principles you treated my ribs as if they were the ribs of a common man my jou took liberties with even to my head you made a of for your hardest turf and my nose you to my face was this was it discreet was it d by the poor scholar subordinate and above all was it classical however i will show you what greatness of mind is i will convince jou that it is more noble and god like to foi ive an injury or rather five dozen injuries than to one when â hem â yes i say when i â i â might ao easily it i now present you an return to your but never while in this under my attempt to take the execution of the laws into your own hands come up this address into which he purposely threw a dash of and mock gravity delivered with the of his swelled nose and drooping eye his audience more readily than a serious one would have done it was received without any symptom of unless the occasional of a or the visible shaking of many sides with inward might be t u h in the course of the day it a t u th u of maintaining gravity w put to a re test particularly when while ha f a la he began to his ye o ax back his nose into its natural position on d by i the poor scholar these a pause might be noticed in the of the class the s voice who happened to read at the time fail him and on his sentence by command of the its tone was and scarcely adequate to the task of repeating the words without his into laughter the master observed all this clearly enough but his mind was already made up to take no further notice of what had happened all this however to render the of the poor scholar more easy or rather less than it would otherwise have been still the innocent lad was on all possible occasions a butt for this to miss a word was a pretext for giving him a cruel blow to arrive two or three later than the appointed hour was certain on his to be attended with immediate bore it all with silent heroism he shed no tear â he uttered no remonstrance but under the anguish of pain so inflicted he occasionally looked round upon his with an expression of silent entreaty that was seldom upon them cruel to him the master d by the poor often was but to the scholars never permitted tim to descend any of the sons had neglected their lessons or deserved ment the creature a for the but as soon as the son of a poor or which better still the poor scholar before him he transferred that punishment which the wickedness or idleness of respectable boys de to his or their shoulders for this outrageous injustice the hard hearted old had some plausible excuse ready so that it was ia many cases for s generous companions to interfere in his behalf or the of such a petty tyrant

49William Black

in this miserable way did he pass over the period of a year going about every night in with the scholars and severely beaten on all possible occasions by the master his conduct and manners won him the love and esteem of all except his tyrant his was remarkable and his pi in the elements of english and classical literature rapid this added considerably to his character and procured him additional re d by ine poor scholar it was long before he made himself and obliging to all the beneath bis standing in the school these services he rendered with an air of kindness and a grace bo naturally winning that the attachment of ma increased towards him from day to day was his patron on all occasions neither did the neglect him the latter waa his banker for the boy had very properly committed his to his at the of every quarter the received the amount of his bill which he never failed to send in when due had not during his year s residence in the forgotten to request the kind s interference with the landlord on of his father to be the instrument of restoring his family to their former comfortable holding under colonel b have afforded him without excepting the certainty of his own the highest gratification of this however there was no hope and nothing remained for him but in his studies and patience under the merciless of his teacher in addition to an engaging person and d by the agreeable manners nature had gifted with a high order of intellect and great powers of knowledge the latter he applied to the before him with industry the school at which be settled waa considered the first in and the master not withstand his known severity stood high and justly so in the opinion of the people as an excellent classical and scholar applied himself to the study of both and at the of his second year had made progress that he stood without a ri al in the school it is usual as we have said for the poor scholar to go night after night in with his he is particularly welcome in the of those farmers children are not so far advanced os himself it is expected that he should instruct them in the evenings and enable them to prepare their lessons fur the following day a task which he always with pleasure because in teaching them he is his own mind in the knowledge which he has previously acquired towards the end of the second year however ho ceased to d by the pi in thia manner two or of the most whose sons were only their studies agreed to keep him week about an arrangement highly to him as by that means he was not so frequently dragged as he had been to the remotest parts of the parish being an he acted also as secretary of to the poor who frequently employed him to draw up to or to their more agents and letters to soldiers in all parts of the world from their anxious and affectionate relations all these little services he performed kindly and promptly many a was fervently upon his head the good word and the prayer were all they could afford as they said to the that the world an him for sake o the an that hasn t the o the mother s breath an the mother s hand near him the about the middle of tlie third year he was once more thrown upon the general hospitality â the pretty boy bay in does dot youth d by the of tlie people the three farmers with whom he had lived for the preceding six months to america aa did many others of that class wh ch this country most to the substantial j of i the little too which he had ed in the of the kind priest was a sea son of famine sickness and general di tie s had set in and the master on that he was money became d age in short the b y b difficulties increased to a degree and hie grown companions usually d in his when the became excess ve in him had left the school and the him was and cheerless indeed a few months longer he struggled on meeting difficulty w th meek endurance from his very he ad re ve the of religion and was by a strong he trusted in god and worshipped him night and morning a sincere heart at this crisis he was certainly an object of pity his clothes which for some time before had d by the pi been reduced to he had replaced by a cast off coat and small clothes a present from his friend the who never abandoned him â this worthy young man could not afford money for as he had but fifty pounds a j ear with which to clothe himself keep a horse and pay rent it was hardly to be expected that his e could be extensive in addition to this famine and disease raged witb formidable violence in the parish so that the claims upon his of who lay together in cold in and even behind were incessant as well as heart the number of that took place daily in the parish was awful nothing be seen attended by groups of ragged and creatures from whose hollow eyes gleamed forth the fire of famine the wretched were countless and number of that lay on the public roads â where attended by the nearest relatives of the deceased they had been placed for the purpose of charity â were greater than ever had been remembered by the oldest d by the poor such was the state of the parish oar poor scholar complained one day in school of severe the early symptoms of the were well known and on more closely into

49William Black

his it was clear that according to the of the people he had got the on his hack â had caught a heavy of the the irish are apprehensive of the moment it had been discovered that was his school fellows avoided him with a feeling of terror scarcely and the master was delighted at any circumstance however that might afford him a pretext for the youth out of the school take said he y thing to you out of my establishment you were always a plague to me but now more so than ever be quick and for yourself somewhere else do you want to my into an hospital and myself into as president go off you wild goose and wherever you find a convenient spot to do it in d by the scholar the poor boy silently and with arose collected books and on his looked to his as if he had said wliich of jou will afford me a place where to lay my aching head v all however kept aloof from him he had caught the on and tha they knew had swept the people away in vast numbers at length he spoke is there any boy among you ho inquired who will bring me home you know i am a stranger an far from my own god help me this was followed by a profound silence one of who had bo often him or who would on any other occasion their bed and their last morsel with him would even touch his person much less allow him when plague stricken to take shelter under their roof such ore the effects of selfishness when it is opposed only by the force of those natural qualities that are not elevated into a sense of duty by clear and profound views of truth it is one thing to perform a kind action from constitutional impulse and another to perform it as a fixed duty perhaps contrary to that impulse d by the poor scholar on finding himself ke a lie of old silently left tlie school and walked on without knowing he should ultimately direct his steps he thought of h s friend the priest but the distance between him and his place of abode was greater he felt than his illness would permit him to travel he walked on therefore in such a state of misery as can scarcely be conceived much less described his head ached excessively an intense pain shot like death pangs through his lower back and his face was flushed and his head giddy in this state he proceeded without money or friends without a house to shelter him or a bed on which to lie far from his own relations and with the prospect of death under circumstances peculiarly dreadful before him he on however the earth as he imagined under him the heavens he thought with fire and the earth indistinct and home the paradise of the the heaven of the with all its tenderness and blessed rushed npon his heart his father s deep but quiet kindness his mother s love his brothers all that they had d by the scholar been to him â these with their thousand associations started into life before him again and again but he was now and the that mother s love placed her brightest and strongest and in the far and distant group which his imagination forth mother i he oh mother why â why did i ever lave yon mother tlie son you loved is without a kind word lonely and neglected in a strange land oh my mm i why did i ever lave you v the conflict between his illness and his tions overcame him he â he as if for at the vacant he fell and lay for ome time in a of the season wai then that of and early were falling before the as the sank to the a few were eating their scanty dinner of bread and milk so near him that only a dry low ditch ran between him and them they h id his words and one of them putting fee milk bottle to his lips bv the voice he looked m the du of the ii d by the aad saw liim fall they immediately recognised the poor scholar and m a was attempting to recover him why thin my poor fellow what s a you started for a moment looked about him and asked where am i faith thin you re in s field a few of the high road but what yon poor boy e is it sick you are it is he replied i have got the had to lave school none o them would take me home an doubt i must die in a christian the open of heaven oh for god s sake don t lave bring me to some or into the nest town where people may know that i m sick an maybe some kind christian will relieve me the moment he mentioned the men drew back after having laid him against the green ditch thin an turf what s to be done exclaimed one of them thrusting his spread fingers into his hair is the poor boy to die help among like d by the scholar bat hasn t he the sickness another an in that case what s to be done why you isn t that what i m to know you ever and always an ass except before you born an thin you hke major m worse nor why the do you be about the sickness the lord protect us you know i m so of ite but another off from however that he s a poor scholar an that there s a great to that the likes of him ay is there that sure enough dan but you see â an age what s to be done he can t die this

49William Black

way nobody him but himself let us help him i exclaimed another for s sake an we won t be apt to take it thin ay but how can we help him frank oh it ud be a shame all out to let the die by himself company it would no one will take him in for o the d by sickness why i ll tell yon what we ll do â let us the o this day off o the major an build a shed for him on the roadside here against the ditch it s as as thin we can go through the neighbors an get them to sit near him time about an to bring o nourishment a come thin let us get a lot o the neighbors an set about it poor who knows but it may bring down a ui m this world or the next an never works for wages with half the which he when working for hours i number f the neighbors had assembled and on a bunch of clean straw in a i shed erected for him at the edge o the road it would be to a more gloomy state of misery than that in which m himself stretched on the side of the road in a shed formed of a few loose sticks covered over with that is the of the earth into thin removed above fifty from any d by the poor human habitation â his body with a furious and oppressive fever â his mind conscious of all the horrors by which he was â without the comforts even of a bed or bed clothes â and what was worst of all those from whom he might expect kindness afraid to approach lying helpless under those it ought not to he wondered at if he wished that death might at once close his extraordinary sufferings and those struggles which filial piety had prompted him to encounter this certainly is a dark picture but our humble hero knew that even there the power and goodness of god could support him the trusted in god and when removed into his little shed and stretched upon his clean straw he felt his situation was in good comfortable when contrasted with what it might have been if left to behind a ditch exposed to the heat of the sun by day and the of heaven by night he felt the ban of god even in this and placed himself with a short but fervent prayer under his protection however are not just that d by the poor scholar tion of persons who can usual aud see a fellow creature die without a attentions as they can afford him not precisely so bad as that gentle reader had not been two hours on his straw when a second shed much larger his own was raised within a yards of it in this a fire was lit a small pot was then procured milk was sent in and such other little comforts brought together as they supposed necessary for the sick boy having accomplished these matters a kind of guard was set to watch and nurse tend him a was got on the of which they intended to reach him bread across the ditch and a long was on which to furnish him drink with safety to themselves that vein of humor which in ireland even with death and calamity was also visible here the ra ed half starved creatures laughed heartily at the of their own inventions and enjoyed the ingenuity with which they made shift to meet the of the occasion without in the slightest degree having their sympathy and concern for the afflicted youth lessened d by the scholar their were completed one of them he of the made a little in of a spoon he stirred with the end of his tobacco pipe he then extended it across the ditch the after having it in a tin do you want a taste o oil i do replied give me a drink for god s sake there it is a on the if myself rightly knows what side you re an or i d put it as dear your lips as i could come be don t he cast down at all at all sure an age we re the to you any how â i have it replied the boy â oh i have it may god never forget this to you whoever yon are faith if you want to know who i am i m the that never seen tomorrow be poor boy yoa t let your spirits down at all at ail sure the neighbors is all to watch an take care of you â may i take away the â aâ they ve a brave snug shed here beside yours d by the poor scholar they ll stay you time about until yoa get well we ll feed yoa h we ve made up our minds to stale lots o sweet milk for ned i will milk s cows to the help o god a bit sin in it so there isn t an if there is too be my there s no harm in it any way â for he s but a himself the same so keep a light heart for be you re sure o the thin pair o any how don t think you re â for you re not it s all in regard o bein o this or it s not this way you d be but as i said a while when yoa want anything for you ll still find two or three of ns beside you here night an day now won t you promise to keep your mind when you know that we re beside yon god bless you replied you ve taken a weight off of my heart i thought i d die nobody near me

49William Black

at ail oh the fear of it keep your heart up we ll stale o milk for you bad io the in the parish but we ll milk sooner nor you d want the you you d by tub pi the boy felt relieved but lis malady increased and were it not that the being thus watched and attended to supported him it is more than probable be would have sank under it the of the day s major came to inspect the progress which his had made and the goodness of the crop upon his meadows no sooner was he perceive l at a distance than the were instantly resumed and the pursued their employment with an appearance of zeal and honesty that could not be suspected on arriving at the meadows however he was evidently startled at the miserable day s work they had performed why said he addressing the nurse tender how is thia i protest you have not performed half a day s labor this is and shameful major it s honor sure enough it s a poor day s work the never a doubt of it but be all the books that never was opened or shut men than we t be had for love or money d by you bee major these meadows bad luck to â god pardon me for the harmless for sure t their fan t sir but you see major i ll you into it now look hero your honor did you ever see deeper meadow nor that since you war â you war born your honor maybe your honor major ud just take the an to cut a nonsense don t you know i thin be sir i wish yoa could it i d kiss the book we did more labor an worked harder this day nor any day for the last fortnight if it was light grass sir â see here major here s a light bit â now look at how the runs through iti thin look at here â just observe this major â why alive don t you see how slow she goes through that where the grass is heavy major you ll be made up this hay any how carry the finer meadow ever i put in nor this same meadow god bless it tes i see it i agree with you as to its goodness but the reason of that is con d by the scholar nor that i always direct my steward myself id laying it for grass yes you re right if the meadow were light you certainly comparatively a greater space in be tlie farmer god pardon me for it s a pleasure to have a like you that knows things as aa if you war a yourself your honor i ll go sir it wouldn t bo hard to yon that same why to tell yon the truth you haye hit me off pretty well i m beginning to get a taste for but said scratching his head won t your honor allow us the price of a glass or a pint o for our hard day s work bad to mc sir hut this meadow ill play the pack us afore we get it finished sir â if it t be â if you d look to your own the steward sir is a kind of a man but he couldn t a candle to your honor in to the best way of doing a thing sir won t you allow us glasses a piece d by the scholar j honor we re so we are here is a crown among jou but don t get drank long may you reign sir be the in my hand i d yon re one o the ould sort sir â the irish your honor an sure your name s far and near for that any how s face would have done the heart of or good had either of them seen it charged with humor so rich as that which beamed from it when the major left them to enjoy their own comments upon what had happened oh be the farmer said are we at all the major oh thin the curse o the upon yon major but are a the damn o the world that wouldn t give the breath he breathes to the poor for god s sake and he ll a man half a crown that him for and him doesn t know the differ a an a f faith he s the boy that knows how to â a soft t different kinds of d by the poor of himself any way exclaimed another a nor to give these the bag to so there isn t an they think themselves so too i said a third t a man find the soft side o them as as make out the way to his own nose being led to it a sin it is to do any way sure he thinks we an nail at the meadow all day an me thought i d never recover it to see here â the rise he out of him ha ha ha â oh faith exclaimed twas good you see to help t ie poor scholar only for it we couldn t get the half crown out of i think we ought to give the half of it an him so sick he ll be it worse nor ourselves oh be he s fairly entitled to that i vote him surely they exclaimed t an wasn t he the of it for us t a said across the ditch to m are you d by the poor i oh no replied i d give the wide world for one wink of sleep well here s fifteen for you that we will i tell him how we got it no don t replied the boy s given to devotion an

49William Black

maybe might to take it here s fifteen on the that we re yoa for sa x if you over this won t you offer np a prayer for us won t you i can never forget your kindness replied i will always pray for yon and may god for ever you and poor may the heavens above have on him upon my it s good to have his n an his prayer now don t fret we re you a lot o here they ll h you time about so that yon want anything call an there still be some one here to answer god you an restore you till we come the milk stale for yon the help o god to me hat it d be a sin so it d by the poor scholar to let the poor boy die at all an so far from home it would be utterly impossible tc detail the af which oar poor scholar suffered in this wretched shed for the space of a notwithstanding the efforts of those kind d people to render his situation comfortable the httle they had constructed near him was never even for a moment during his whole illness without two or three persons ready to attend him in the evening their numbers increased a fire was always kept burning over which a little pot for making or was at night they amused each other with anecdotes and laughter and occasionally with songs when certain that their patient was not asleep their exertions to steal milk for him were with uncommon glee and related among themselves with great humor these would have been unnecessary had not the famine which then prevailed the province been so excessive the crowds that about the houses of wealthy farmers a to keep body and soul together resembled nothing which onr english d by the readers ever had an opportunity of seeing creatures about with an expression of and in their features fathers and mothers under the of their beloved children the latter either sick or literally for of food and the widow in many instances was compelled to down her head to die with the wail the feeble wail of her withered mingling with her last i in such a state of things it was to procure a quantity of milk to the unnatural thirst even of one individual when by the heat of a fever notwithstanding this his wants were for the most part anticipated so far as their means would allow them his shed was kept and either or always ready to be extended to him way of for the right hand of fellowship when he called f j anything the observation was the s i must take the an see what he wants there were times it is true when the mirth of poor fellows was very low for hunger was d by the poor r generally among there were times their own little shed presented a and melancholy spectacle â perhaps we ought also to add a noble one for to contemplate a number of men considered aiid semi themselves in the midst of the most cutting and oppressive to the care and preservation of a strange lad merely because they knew him to bs without friends and protection is to witness a display of virtue truly the food on some of the persons were occasionally compelled to live was blood up with a little for when a season of famine occurs in ireland the people usually the cows and to preserve themselves from actual starvation it is truly a sight of appalling misery to behold feeble women gliding across the country carrying their and actually upon and and collected in the corner of some s farm waiting gaunt and as for their portion of blood during these melancholy periods of want everything in the shape of an the miserable creatures will pick d by the poor scholar np chicken weed and weed which they will boil and eat with the of under the united j of and death to say the very thus groaning under such a terrible sweep of famine is actually pouring from her ports a profusion of food day after day flinging it from her fertile bosom with the wanton excess of a prodigal oppressed by abundance despite however of all that the poor scholar s nurse guard suffered he was attended with a fidelity of care and sympathy which no calamity could shake nor was this care fruitless after the fever had passed through its usual stages he began to recover in fact it has been observed very truly that scarcely any person has been known to die under circumstances similar to those of tbe poor scholar these sheds the of which is not in case of fever have the advantage of pure free air by which the patient is cooled and refreshed be the cause of it what it may the fact has been established and we feel satisfaction in being able to our humble hero as on proof d by the poor of the many which take in situations apparently so to human life bat how is it possible to detail what m suffered during this fortnight of intense agony those who can command the of life â not those who can reach its comforts â nor those who can supply themselves with its bare necessaries â neither the who struggles to support his wife and helpless children â the who from door to door â nor even the in bis can e he felt in the solitary misery of his bed hard is the heart that hia sorrows when stretched beside the common way without a human face to look on he called upon the mother whose brain had she known his situation would have been â whose affectionate heart would have been broken by the knowledge of his it was a which afterwards appeared to him dark

49William Black

and terrible the pencil of the painter could not it nor the pen of the poet describe it except like a dim vision which neither the heart nor the imagination are able to give the world as a in the sympathies excited by reality d by his whole heart and soul as he afterwards acknowledged were during bis trying illness ai the voices of bis parents of his sisters and of his brothers were always in his ears their his cold and lonely shed their hands touched him their eyes looked him in sorrow â and their tears him even there the light of his mother s though she herself was distant shone upon his sorrowful and he has declared that in no past â moment of affection did bis ever burn with a sense of its so strongly as it did in the heart dreams of bis illness but god is love and the wind to the lamb of all his sufferings would have been were it not that his two best friends in the parish and the had been both by the fever at the same time with himself there was consequently no person of respectability ia the neighborhood of his situation he was left to the class of the and did they with all their errors and discharge those duties which greater wealth and greater d by the poor scholar knowledge would probably have left oa the morning of the last day lie ever intended to spend in the shed at eleven o clock he heard the sound of horses feet passing along the road the circumstance was one quite familiar to him but these whoever they be stopped and immediately after two respectable looking men dressed in black approached him his forlorn state and wasted appearance startled them and the younger of the two asked in a tone of voice which went directly to his heart how it was that they found him in a situation so desolate the kind interest implied by the words and probably a of his utterly destitute state affected him strongly and he burst into tears the strangers looked at each other then at and if looks could express sympathy theirs expressed it my good boy said the first how is it that we find you in a situation so deplorable and wretched as this who arc you or why is it that you have not a friendly roof to shelter you d by i m a poor said the of but reduced parents i came to tliis part cf the country with the intention of preparing myself for and if it might god with the of being able to raise them ont of their distress the strangers looked more earnestly at the boy sickness had touched his fine intellectual features into a purity of expression almost ethereal his fair skin appeared nearly transparent and the light of truth and lit up his countenance with a lustre which could not dim the other stranger approached him more nearly stooped for a moment and felt his pulse how long have you been lu this country he inquired nearly three years you have been ill of the which is so but how did you come to l e left to the chance of upon the highway why sir the people were afraid to let me into their houses in consequence of the i got ill in school sir but no boy would venture d by the scholar to bring me home an the master turned me out to die i believe may god forgive him who was your master my the great mr sir if mr o the of the parish t been il himself at the same time or if mr o s son hadn t been laid on hia back too sir i wouldn t suffer what i did has the been kind to you sir only for him and the big i couldn t stay iu the on account of the master s cruelty since my money was out you are better now â are you not said the other gentleman thank god sir â oh thanks he to the al i ami i expect to be able to la te this place to day or to morrow and where do you intend to go when yon recover the boy himself had not thought of this and the question came on him so unexpectedly that he could only reply â indeed sir t don t know had you inquired the second stranger from your parish priest d by the poor scholar i had sir they are in the hands of mr o i also had a character from my father s landlord but how asked the other have yon existed here during illness have yon been long sick indeed i can t tell yon sir for don t know how the time passed at all bnt i know sir that there were always two or three people me sent me whatever they thought i wanted upon a or a across the ditch because they were afraid to come near during the early part of the dialogue two or three old hats or might have been seen moving steadily over from the to the ditch which ran beside the shed by m here they remained stationary for those who wore them were now within hearing of the conversation and ready to give their patient a good word should it be necessary how were you supplied with drink and medicine asked the younger stranger as i ve just told you sir replied d by the poor tile neighbors here let me want for nothing tliat they had they kept me in more than and they got me medicine too some way or other but indeed sir during a great part of the time i was ill i can t say how they attended me i wasn t sensible sir of what was

49William Black

goin on me one of those who lay behind the ditch now arose and after a few and of the head to join in the pray hare you my man said the elder of the two been acquainted with the circumstances of this s illness is it the poor scholar my lord oh thin it s myself that has that the poor was in a terrible way all out so he was he the in the school one day an was out by the o the world that he was from are yon one of the who attended hun the what could people like us do for him a d by any how my lord it s the o the world that he waa ever able to over it at all why sir good luck to the of him but suffered as much the help o god as ud overcome fifty how did you provide him witli at such a distance from any habitation hard enough we found it sir to do that same but sure whether or not my lord we couldn t be as to let him die all out for want o to hia i hope inquired the other you had nothing to do in the which has produced such an iii this immediate neighborhood milk i oh sir there never was the likes known afore in the the lord forgive that did it be sir the wickedness o the people s mighty if one nd take by it glory be to many of the farmers cows have been at night â perfectly drained even my own cows have not escaped and we who have suffered are certainly determined if possible to d by the poor scholar i certain those who have committed the i for mj part have gone even beyond my ability in the wants of the poor during this period of sickness and famine i therefore deserved this the less by the your honor if any to have his cows it s yourself but as i said this minute there s no end to the wickedness o the people so there s not i suppose they it only a while sin sir to take the milk the thieves o the world maybe your honor said another that it was only to keep the life in some poor sick that wanted it more nor you or the farmers that they did it there s some o the same farmers worse for they re up the prices o their male an upon the poor an did so all along that they might make money by our that is no justification for observed the graver of the two does any one among you suspect those who committed it in this instance if you do i command you as your bishop to mention them how for instance added the other were d by the poor scholar yoa able to supply this sick boy with during his oh thin replied the question bnt it s a mighty thing to see our own bishop â god spare his to us â an the minister o the j together to an give good advice to the poor i it s a fine so it is to the quality if they d take by it reply said the bishop rather sternly to the question we haye asked you the qui your it s proud an happy we d he to do what you want hut the man among us can do it we d say what we ought not to say that s the my lord an surely t your gracious that nd want ut to go that i ly not the b shop i warn you n t falsehood lad two h ch m frequently be ht j a n jo ir the gentry of the count whom you to ve a d m a bv g d ng into a character when to them that is often the reverse d by the scholar of your real one whilst at same time yon are both honest and sincere tâ persons of your own class put away this practice for it is both and god bless your an many thanks your gracious reverence for us well we know that it s the blessed thing to your words bring over that naked starved man who is stirring the fire under that pot said the he looks like famine itself will yon come over here to his honor he b goin to give you said adding of his own accord the last of the message the tattered creature approached him with a gleam of expectation in his eyes that appeared like insanity god bless your honor for your goodness exclaimed it s me that s in it sir i â sir sure enough bnt indeed i m the next thing to ray own ghost sir now god help me i what and for whom are you cooking the smallest in life sir o d by thb poor scholar to keep the in that lonely sir the poor scholar pray how long is it since yon have eaten yourself the tears from the eyes of the miserable creature as he replied â before god in glory your honor an in tho presence of his hero i only got what ud make nor a male the last day sir a grain o male that i got from a friend an as ned here me that had to make the for him why i shared it him he couldn t even beg it sir if he wanted it an him not able to walk the worthy s eyes with a moisture that did him honor without a word of observation he slipped a crown into tho hand of who looked at it as if he had been oh thin said he fervently may every hair on your honor s head become a mould candle to light yon

49William Black

into the world s goodness is in your heart sir and may all the s of heaven rain down upon you au yours d by c the poor scholar the two gentlemen then gave assistance to the poor scholar whom the bishop addressed in kind and â come to me my good boy he added and if on further inquiry i find that conduct has been such as i believe it to have been you rest assured provided also you worthy of ray good opinion that i shall be a friend and a protector to you call on me when you get well and i will speak to you at greater length well observed when they were gone the own hard puzzle the bishop had me in about the milk it the grain mo to tell him the lie so i had to a bit o truth to keep my conscience clear for sure there was not a man among us that could tell him we said what we t to say doesn t all the world know that a man t to that was any way but a i d have in the other â not but that he s one o the best of his sort quit at that crown but get the an give the boy his â he s it d by the poor the agitation of by s interview with the bishop for two or three days afterwards somewhat to his in than a however he was comfortably settled mr o s family whose kindness proved to him quite as warm as he had expected when he liad remained with them a few days he resolved to his under his tyrant master he certainly knew that his future attendance at the school would be to him but he had always looked forward io the accomplishment of his hopes as a task of aud distress the severity to be expected from the master not he thought be greater than that which he had already suffered he therefore decided if possible to complete his education under him the when appeared in it had been for more than an hour assembled but the of the attendance not only proved the of sickness and distress in the parish but sharpened the s aspect into an expression of countenance singularly and gloomy when the lad entered d by tee a murmur of pleasure and ran the scholars and joy beamed forth from every countenance but that of his teacher the latter noticed this his rose above and he exclaimed â silence i and apply to or shall cause some of you to immediately no school ever can prosper in which that called a poor scholar is permitted i thought i told you to and your wild project some other wing than mine i only you replied our poor hero to suffer me to join the class i left while i was sick for about another year i ll be very quiet and humble and as far as i can will do you wish me ah you are a crawling replied the savage and in my opinion nothing hut a and i think you have imposed yourself upon mr o for what you are not that is the son of an honest man i have no doubt but many of your nearest relations died after having seen their own tour mother you run gate wasn t your father s wife be d by the scholar the spirit of the boy could bear this no longer his eyes and his stood out in the of deep indignation it is false he exclaimed it is as false as year own cruel and cowardly heart yon and tyrant i in everything yon have said of my father mother and friends and of myself too you are a liar from the hat on head to the dirt your feet â a liar a coward and a the fury of the was he ran at the still feeble lad end by a stroke of his st dashed hun senseless to the earth there were now no large boys in the school to his resentment he therefore kicked him in the back when he fell many voices exclaimed in alarm â oh i sir i don t kill him oh sir dear don t kill him don t kill poor sir an him still sick him i replied the master kill him indeed faith he d be no common man who could him he has as many lives in him as a sure he can live behind a ditch on his back dying and he would live if he was stuck on the spire of a d by in the mean time the no of returning life and the master after desiring a few of the scholars to bring him oat to the air became pale as death with apprehension lie immediately withdrew to his private apartment which joined the school room and sent out his wife to assist in restoring him to animation with some this was accomplished the unhappy boy at once remembered what had occurred and the bitter tears from his eyes as he knelt down and exclaimed merciful father of heaven and earth have pity on yon see my heart great god and that what i did i did for the best said the woman he s passionate an never mind him come in an beg his pardon for him a liar an i ll become for you myself come an get lave for you to stay in the school still oh i m the poor youth i m inwardly â somewhere about the back and about my the pain he felt brought the tears down his pale cheeks i wish i was at home said he i ll give up all and d by tlie lonely boy then laid his his as he sat on the ground and indulged in a long

49William Black

burst of sorrow well said a manly looking little fellow whilst the tears stood in his eyes i ll teu my father this any i know he won t let me come to this school any more here is a piece of my bread maybe it will do yon good nt taste it dear said god bless but couldn t taste it do frank maybe it will back the pain don t ask me frank dear said i couldn t ate it i m inwardly bad luck to exclaimed the indignant boy if ever my ten toes will this school door by the farmer if they ax me at home to do it i ll ran away to my uncle s so i will wait i ll be big an be the blessed that s about my neck i ll give the same a of sore bones the holy an blessed minute i m able to do it many of the other boys declared that they would their friends with the master s d by the poor scholar cruelty to the poor bat requested them to do so aud said that he was determined to return home the moment he should be to travel the woman could t p p him to seek a reconciliation w tl h hi d although the expressions of th th hi induced her to press him to it t t ty arose and with j hi d reached the s house dim at h m and with tears in his eyes t d t h m th conduct of the master very well said this excellent man i am glad that i can venture to ride as far as colonel e s to morrow yon must accompany me for decidedly such cannot be permitted to go knew the was his friend and although he would not himself have thought of the master to answer for his yet ho in the s opinion he stopped that night in the of the worthy man to whom mr o had recommended him on his first entering the town it appeared in the however that he was d by ill unable to walk the blows which he had received were then felt by him to be more dangerous than bad supposed mr o on being informed of this procured a car on which they both sat and at an easy pace the colonel s residence the was shown into an room and sat in the hall the colonel joined the former in a few minutes he had been in england and on the continent accompanied by his family for nearly the last three years but had just returned in order to take possession of a very large property in land and money to which he succeeded at a critical moment for his own estates were heavily he was now proprietor of an additional estate the rent roll of which was six thousand per and also master of eighty five thousand pounds in the funds mr o after him upon his good fortune introduced the case of our as one which in his opinion called for the colonel s as a magistrate i have applied to you sir he proceeded rather than to any other of the neighboring d by the poor gentlemen because i think tliis lad has a peculiar claim upon any good yon could render him a claim upon me i how is that mr o v the boy sir is not a native of this his father was formerly a tenant of a man as i have reason to believe remarkable for good conduct and industry it appears that his circumstances so long as he was your tenant were those of a comfortable independent if the story which his son relates be true â and i for one believe it â his family have been dealt with in a manner unusually cruel and your present agent colonel who is known in his own neighborhood by the of sam him out of his farm when his wife was sick for the purpose of putting into it a man who had married hia daughter if this be found a correct account of the transaction i have no hesitation in saying that you colonel b as a gentleman of honor and humanity will investigate the of your agent and see justice done to an honest man who must have been d by the scholar in your under color of your authority if my agent has dared to be to a worthy tenant the colonel in order to provide for his by my sacred honor he shall cease to be an agent of mine i admit certainly that from some which a few years ago i have reason to suspect his integrity that to be sure was only so far as he and i were concerned but on the other hand during one or two visits i made to the estate which he i heard the tenants thank and praise him with much gratitude and all that sort of thing there was thank your honor â long may you reign over u ir i â and oh colonel you ve a mighty good man to your and so forth i do not think mr o that he has acted so harshly or that he would dare to do it upon my honor i heard those warm expressions of gratitude from the lips of the tenants themselves if you knew the people in general colonel so well as i do replied the yon would admit that such expressions are often either or the result of fear you will d by the pi find sir that the portion of the people hare least of this forced among them a and agent has in his own hands the power of and the under him the class most hateful to the people are those low wretches who spring np from into wealth accumulated

49William Black

by and they are proud and jealous even to of the least want of respect it is to such that the poorer classes are most civil but it is also such persons whom they most hate and they flatter them to their faces tis true even to but they seldom spare them in their absence of this very class i believe is your agent yellow sam so that any favorable expressions you may have heard from your towards him were most probably the result of and fear besides sir here is a from mr bi s parish priest in which his father is spoken of as an honest moral and industrious man if what yoa say mr o be correct d the colonel you know the irish d by the poor scholar its much better than i do decidedly j have always thought them iu conversation exceedingly candid and with respect tc from priests to in of tenants upon my honor i am sick of i actually received four years ago such an excellent character of two tenants as induced me to suppose them worthy of encouragement but what was the fact sir they were two of the greatest on my estate and put both me and my agent to great trouble and expense no sir i wouldn t give a for ft priest s upon such an occasion these fellows were subsequently con of on the evidence and transported well sir i grant that you may have been in that instance however from what i ve observed the two great faults of irish are these â in the first place they themselves to remain ignorant of their so much â indeed that they frequently deny them access and when the poor people are anxious to them with their for it is usual with to refer them d by ns the to those very agents against whose cruelty and tliey are appealing this is a to the agent to upon them if he pleases in the next place irish too frequently employ ignorant and men to manage their estates men who have no character no or standing in society beyond the reputation of being keen and active e persons sir make fortunes and what means can they have of wealth except by either the landlord or his tenants or both a history of would be a black catalogue of oppression and treachery respectable men resident on or near the estate possessing both character and property should always be selected for this important trust but above all things the curse of a is a per agent he and drives and without consideration either of market or produce in order that his may be ample and his own income large why o you appear to be better acquainted with all this sort of than i who am a landed proprietor d by the poor scholar ill by tlie by sir without meaning jou any it is the of who know least about the great s of its inhabitants and i also add about its history its literature the manners of the people their customs and their prejudices the know this and too often practise upon their ignorance there is a landlord s sadly wanted in ireland colonel ah very good o very well i shall certainly inquire into tliis case and if i find that yellow sam has been playing the oat he goes i am now able to him which i could not do before for by uie by he had on ray property i would take it colonel as a personal favor if yoa would investigate the transaction i have mentioned undoubtedly i shall and that very soon but about this outrage committed against the boy himself we had better take his and punish the fellow certainly i think that is the best way conduct to the poor youth has d by the p less and detestable we must put liim out of this part of the country call tbe lad in in this case i shall draw up the although does that assisted by the entered th room and the humane colonel desired him as he appeared ill to sit down what is name asked the colonel james m he replied i m the son sir of a man who was once a tenant of yours ay and pray how did be cease to be a tenant of mine why sir your agent sam put him out of our farm when my poor mother was on her sick bed he my father sir out of some money â part of our it was that he didn t give him a receipt for when my father went to him afterwards for the receipt sam him and called him a and that sir was what no man ever called my father either before or since my father su threatened to tell you about it and you came to the country soon after but sam got great my at that time and him d by the poor scholar to sell for him about miles off but when he come back again yon had left the country thin sir sam said nothing till the next s rent became due he came down on my father for all â that is what he hadn t got the receipt for and the other gale â and without any warning in the world him oat my father offered to pay ah bat he ho was a rogue and that you ordered him off the estate in less than a week after this he put a man that married a daughter of his own into onr house and place that s god s truth sir and you ll find it so if you into it it s a trick of his to keep and make the tenants pay double sacred heaven o can this be your best way colonel is to inquire into it was not father

49William Black

able to you at home my boy no sir we soon got into poverty after â this is the the here alluded to back when rents of tenants to pay the same gale twice d by ihe we left and another sir was no latin school in oar neighborhood for what purpose did you become a poor scholar sir i hoped one day or other to be able to raise my and mother ont of the distress that yellow sam brought on ns by a aim and a and what has this d â d of a done to you sir yesterday when i went back to the school he me and said that he supposed most of my relations we hanged spoke ill of ray father and said that my mother â here the tears started to his eyes â he sobbed aloud go on and be cool said the colonel what did he say of your mother he said sir that she was never married to my i know i was wrong sir bnt if it was the king on his throne that said it of my mother i d call him a liar i called him a liar and ft coward and a ay sir and if had been able i would have trampled him my feet the colonel looked steadily at him bnt the d by open clear eye which the boy turned upon him was full of truth and independence and yoa will find said the soldier that this spirited of mother will be the most fortunate action of life well ho struck you then did he t he knocked me down sir with his fist â then kicked ine in the back and sides i think some of my ribs are broke â no doubt no said colonel and yon were only after recovering from this fever is so wasn t a week out of it sir well my boy we shall punish for sir you hear me for a word or two if it would be pleasing to you speak on said the colonel would rather change his punishment to â i would â that is â if it would be agreeable to you â it s this sir â i wouldn t you now against the master if you d be pleased to my father and punish yellow sam oh sir for god s sake put my heart broken father into h s farm again if you would sir i could shed my d by the scholar or lay down my life for you or for any lo g lo you i m hut a poor boy sir low a d but they say there s a greater be g than the greatest in this world that s to tl e just prayers of the poor and i was n happy sir since we left it â neither was any of us and when we d and hungry our hearth we used to be talking of the pleasant days we spent in it till the tears would be smothered in curses against him that put us out of it oh sir if you could know all that a poor and honest family suffers when they are thrown into distress by want of feeling in their or by the of agents you would consider ray father s case i m his favorite son sir and good right have i to speak for him if you could know the sorrow the misery the drooping down of the spirits that lies upon the countenances and the hearts of such people you wouldn t as a man and a christian think it below you to spread happiness and contentment among them in the morning they rise to a day of hardship no matter how bright and cheerful it may be to others â nor is there any hope of a brighter day d by the poor scholar for l and at night they go to their hard beds to strive to sleep away their hunger in spite of and want if yoa how father of a family after striving to bear up sinks down at last if yoa see the look he gives at the that he lay down hi heart s blood for when they sit naked and hungry about him and the mother too with her kind word and sorrowful smile proud of them in all their bat her heart breaking silently all the time her face wasting away her eye dim and her strength gone â sir make one such family happy â for all this been in my father s give us back our light spirits our pleasant days and our hearts again we lost them through the of agent give back to us for you can do it but you can never pay us for what we have suffered give us sir our farm our green fields our house and every spot and nook tliat wo had before we love the place sir for its own sake â it is the place of onr fathers and our hearts are in it i often think i see the smooth river that runs through it and the meadows that i played in when i was a child â d by i the poor the behind oar house the that rose before us when wo left the door the at the garden the in the the little green beside the oh sir don t blame mo for crying for they are all before my eyes in my ears and in my many rt summer evening have i gone to the march ditch of the farm that mj father s now in and looked at the place i loved till the tears blinded me and i asked it as a favor of god to us to ne are m great at god we arc and mj fathers l the drew his breath deeply his hands

49William Black

and as he looked at the fine countenance of the e as it did enthusiasm and his lighted with a gleam of indignation it was not against the poor scholar no gentle reader bat against his own o said he whit do yon think and this noble lo the son of a belongs to a class of h i am by heaven we are i fear a d by the scholar is ot all sir replied the are noble exceptions among them their faults are more the faults of than well no matter come i will draw ap the against this man afterwards i to to yon mj boy he addressing that will not i trust he unpleasant he drew np the as strongly as he could word them after which to their truth and accuracy and the colonel rubbing his hands again said â i will have the fellow secured when you go into town mr o i ll thank you to on and hand him these he will lodge the in this very night then thanked him and was about to withdraw when the colonel desired him to remain a little longer now said he your father has been treats i believe but no matter that is not the question your sentiments and conduct and affection for your parents are noble my boy at present i say the d by the poor scholar is not whether the of your father s wrongs he true or false at least believe it to be true from this forward â but by tlie by i forgot how could your becoming a poor scholar i intended to become a priest sir and then to help them ay so i thought and provided your father were restored to his farm would you be still disposed to become a priest i would sir next to helping my father that is what i wish to be o what would it cost to prepare liim for the â i mean to ay his expenses he his preparatory education in the first place and afterwards during bis residence in i think two hundred pounds sir would do it easily and i do not think it would however do yon send but first let me ask what progress he has already made he has read â in fact he is nearly prepared to enter his has been very rapid d by put liim to some respectable boarding school for a year then liim and i will bear the expense but remember i do not adopt this coarse in of his er s i by i do it on his own account he is a boy and full of fine qualities if tliey be not by neglect and poverty i loved my father myself and fought a on his account and i honor the son who spirit to defend his absent parent this is a most surprising turn in the boy s fortunes colonel he deserves it a soldier mr o is not without his enthusiasm nor can he help admiring it in others when nobly and directed to see a boy in the midst of poverty the hardships and difficulties of life with the hope of raising up his parents from distress to independence has a touch of in it ireland colonel with instances of similar virtue brought out probably into fuller life and vigor by the sad changes and which are weighing down the people in her on her bleak sides and in d by lier remotest plains such examples of pure affection energy and humble heroism are to be seen but unfortunately few persons of rank or observation mingle with the irish people and their many admirable pass away without being recorded in the literature of their country they are certainly a strange people colonel almost an in the history of the human race they are the only who can out from the very virtues of private life to the of crimes at which we shudder there is to be sure an about their oppression bat that is wrong their and ignorance are rather the result of neglect â of neglect sir from the government of the country â from the earl to the they have been taught little that is suitable to their stations and duties in life as tenants who cultivate our lands or as members of moral or christian society well well i believe what you say is too bnt touching the records of virtue in humble life pray who record it when nothing goes down now a days but what is monstrous or fashionable d by the poor veiy true colonel yet in my humble opinion a irish peasant is far from being so low a character as a man of rank well well well come o we will drop the subject in the meantime touching this boy as i said he must be looked to for he has that in him which ought not to be neglected we shall now see that this dâ d be punished for his cruelty the worthy colonel in a short time dismissed poor with an heart not until he had placed a sum in the s hands for him to make a respectable appearance medical advice was also for h m by ch he sooner o e came tl e ff of his master s ty ou the way home ny related to h nd the on h he d had th i b hop a th shed and the k n ut rest tl at gentle had taken h s t at on d ts mr br en told h m that th b wa an excellent man jo se g m n t on and ce a ic tie p nt â ho on pan c n th y h ve gone a no ⠞ the d by the pi people this heavy of and and r them from those which thej

49William Black

sometimes commit when driven hy thej attach provision carts shops or the houses of farmer who are known to possess a k of or potatoes god it is an kind of robbery yet it is right to them it is pleasant thing ir to see of working to the people ap y but now about your own prospect i you should go and see family as your health you i give my light hand replied y just to see them if it was only for five minutes hut i cannot go i vowed that i would never enter my native parish until i should become a catholic clergyman i vowed that sir to god â and with his assistance i will keep my well said the yon are right and now let me give you a little advice in the first place learn to speak as correctly as j ou d by the poor scholar till hy aside tht ot to the common people and precisely ai would by the b e yoa yourself to admiration the colonel a little there was m the but you got oyer it you see james the force of truth and simplicity i could scarcely restrain my tears while you spoke if i had not been in earnest sir i could never have spoken as i did you never could james is the foundation of eloquence he who speaks what is not true may and but he will never touch with that power and pathos which spring from truth fiction is successful only by her now james for a little more advice don t let the idea of having been a poor scholar deprive you of self respect neither let your unexpected turn of fortune cause you to forget what you have suffered hold a middle course be firm and independent without on the one hand or vanity on the other you have also too much good sense and i hope too much religion to what this day has brought forth in your d by behalf to other cause than it has pleased him to raise from misery to ease aud comfort to liim therefore be it referred and to be your and prayers directed ton owe liim much for yon now can perceive the value of what he has done for you i may name be blessed i was deeply affected by the kindness of bis friend for such in friendship s truest sense was he to him he expressed the obligations which he owed him and promised to follow the excellent he bad just received the s conduct to the poor scholar had before the close of the day on w it occurred been known through the parish o who had but just from the so bitterly exasperated at the outrage that he brought his father to the parish priest to whom he gave a detailed account of all that our hero and the poorer children of the school had suffered in addition to this he went among the more substantial of the whose co operation he succeeded in obtaining for the purpose of driving the tyrant out of the parish d by the poor scholar still lived at the of entertainment on hearing what they intended to do begged mr o to allow him provided the master should be removed from the school to decline him he has been cruel to me no doubt he added still i cannot forget that his cruelty has been the means of changing my condition in life so much for the better if he is out of the parish it will bo punishment enough and to say the truth sir i can now forgive everybody maybe had i been still neglected i might punish him hut in the meantime to show him and the world that i didn t deserve his severity i ve him ml was not disposed to check a sen t that did the boy b heart â o much honor he w ted on the colonel the next him with s ind the was immediately the s removal from hia our appearance by this time changed for the better his naturally of and t non appeared to d by s goose ok all big but i ll tell yon it is upon my t owl you must turn a new or i ll lose a fall if yon or dick have any th q ns why t jou pro e h at and not be the tl e do the of ns w c your low mane thoughts any lo i hope jou seen s goose on your upon ye i you ought to be as to rise head this month to come ay now you re at it exclaimed harry rising and putting on his hat but for mj part i ll lave you to fight the walls till your tongue all you want is some one to jaw back to you just to keep the ball goin for a while outside the door he met his brother i was goin to sit awhile jou said dick i can t stand that woman s good or bad faith an i was goin in to you replied the other bid s in her glory there s no lier let us go an sit awhile ma d by the poor scholar by the advice of his friend now waited upon tlie who was much surprised at the turn of fortune which had place in his he also expressed his to help him forward as far as ia his power towards the of his wishes in order to place the boy directly under suitable patronage mr o suggested that the choice of the school should he left to the bishop this perhaps flattered him a little for who is without his weaknesses a school near the metropolis was accordingly fixed upon to which now furnished with a handsome was accordingly sent there we

49William Black

will leave him reading with eagerness and whilst we return to look after colonel b and his agent one morning after james s departure the colonel s servant waited upon mr o with a note from his master a wish to see him he lost no time in waiting upon that gentleman who was then preparing to visit the estate which he had so long neglected i am going said he to see how my agent yellow as they call him and my tenants agree it is my determination mr o d by the poor scholar to investigate the attending the removal of onr s father i shall moreover look closely into the state and feelings of my tenants in it is probable i shall visit many of them and certain that i will inquire into the character of this man it is better late than colonel but still though i am a friend to the people yet i recommend yon to be guided by great caution and the evidence of respectable and men only you must not certainly entertain all the you may hear without clear proof for i regret to say that too many of the idle and political portion of the are apt to throw the blame of their own folly and yes and of their crimes also â upon those who ia no way have occasioned either their poverty or their wickedness they are frequently apt to consider themselves oppressed if are not made to which they as idle and indolent men who neglect their own business have no f ir claim bear this in mind colonel â be cool use take your proofs from others be sides the parties concerned or their d by the poor scholar t and depend upon it you will arrive at the truth o you would mate an i have the people know them i have breath d the of the t and i i have felt them all myself as tl feel them but i trust i have got above their ce it is ev for then are fine of character among i not willingly part with wo sir i should make a bad agent having no for i could direct and overlook bnt nothing more well then i out to morrow and m the meantime permit me to say that i am deeply sensible of your kindness in pointing out ray duty as an irish landlord conscious tliat i have too long neglected it what stay do yon intend to make colonel i about a month i shall visit some of my old friends there from whom i expect a history of tiie and feelings of the country d by the poor scholar you will hear both sides of tlie before you act i haye written to my agent to bay tliat i shall look very closely into my own affairs on this i thought it fair to give him notice well sir i wish you all success farewell mr o i shall see you immediately after my return the colonel performed his journey hy slow stages until he reached the hall of hia fathers â for it was such although he had not for years resided in it it presented the wreck of a fine old mansion situated within a of stately whose moss covered and ragged trunks gave symptoms of decay and neglect the lawn had been once and the a noble one but that which the industry of the tlie curse of â had also left tlie marks of ruin stamped upon every object around him the lawn was little better than a common the pond was thick with weeds and water plants that almost covered its surface and a light elegant bridge that a river which ran before the house was d by also moss own and hedges were up with the gates broken or the fields were rank with the of weeds and the avenues spoke of solitude and desertion tlie still appearance too of the house itself and the absence of smoke from its time tinged chimneys â all told a tale which one perhaps the greatest portion of ireland s then he did not approach it with the intention of there during his in the country it was not nor had it been so for years the road by which he travelled lay near it and he could not pass looking upon the place where a long line of ancestors had each other lived their span and disappeared in their turn he contemplated it for some time in a kind of reverie there it stood sombre and silent â its gray walls its windows dark and broken â like a man forsaken by the world compelled to heap the storms of life without the hand of a friend to support him age and decay render him less capable of enduring them for a moment fancy it â d by the poor again the stir of life mirth to within its walls tlie train of liis long departed relatives returned the din of mile and boisterous enjoyment to the times the of the hall at dinner the family and the am the passions of those who now slept in dust â â all came before him once more and played their part in the of the as he walked on the flitting wing of a bat struck liim lightly in its flight he awoke from the which crowded on him and his journey soon arrived at the inn of the nearest town where he stopped that night the next morning he saw his agent for a short time hut declined entering upon for a few days more he visited most of the gentry from whom he received information to satisfy that neither he himself nor his agent was popular among liis many flying reports of the agent s and tyranny were mentioned to and in every he took down the names of

49William Black

the parties in order to ascertain the truth m s case had occurred more than ten years d by the poor before but he found that tlie remembrance of the poor man s injury was strongly ami retained in the recollections of the people â a which from the blunt but somewhat sentimental a just observation â i think said he that there are no people in the world who remember either an injury or a kindness so long as the irish when the tenants were of bis presence among them they experienced no feeling upon the all his former visits to his estate he appeared merely the creature and of his agent who never acted the bully nor himself out in hia brief authority more than he did before the knowledge of this them and rendered any expectations of or justice from the landlord a matter not to be thought of if he wasn t so great a man they observed who thinks it below him to speak to his tenants or hear their complaints there ad be some hope but that of hell sam can wind him round ms finger like a thread an does too there s no use in to petition him d by the or to lodge a stony heart for the first thing he d do ud he to put it into the s hands an thin god be to that ud complain no no the best way is to wait till sam s takes him an who knows bnt that be sooner nor we think they say another would reply that the colonel is a good for all that an that if he could know the truth he d pitch the to the ould boy no sooner was it known hj his that the head landlord was disposed to their and hear their complaints than the attachment which long neglect had nearly extinguished now burst forth with uncommon power by this an by that the blood s in him still the to for we knew he only wanted to come at the an thin he d back us the villain that to tho that hasn t the ould blood in what are â the devil â a familiar for him ia d by the poor they but an every one o an odd one for a tile colonel s estate now presented a scene of gladness and bustle every person who felt in the slightest degree got his petition drawn ap and but that wo fear our sketch is already too we gratify the reader s curiosity by a few of them it is sufficient to say that they came to in every in all the variety of that the poor english language admits in the s best copy hand and of â in the but more terms of the parish in the hand and legal phrase of the attorney in the military foi m evidently of the old â and in the classical style of the young priest â for each and ail of the foregoing were in the of those who had to send in to the colonel himself god bless early in the of the day on which the colonel had resolved to compare the complaints of his with the character which his agent gave him of the lie sent d by the pi for the former and the following dialogue took place between them good mr excuse me for presence to day earlier usual i have taken it into my head to know something of my own and as they hare me and letters and complaints i am anxious to have your opinion as you know them better than i do before we on business colonel allow me to inquire if you relieved of that attack you complained of the day before yesterday i m of a habit myself and know something about the management of i a good is an excellent thing car bon as for me i drank too much with my friend b y and there s the secret i don t like cold they never agree with me do r they arc not constitutional your father was celebrated for his colonel i remember an anecdote told me by captain â by the by do you know where could be found now sir i what do you drink d by the scholar a couple of glasses of sir at and about ten o a glass of brandy and water you are sober and well about these cursed yon must help me to dispose of them why a man would think by the tenor of them that these tenants of mine are ground to dust by a tyrant colonel you know little about these fellows they would make go and take a ride sir return about four o clock and i will have everything as it ought to be i wish to heaven i had your talents for business do yoa think mj tenants attached to me su tliey are ready to cut your throat or mine on the first convenient opportunity you could not conceive their and except you happened to be an agent for a few years so i have been told and i am resolved to remove every tenant from my estate la there not a man for instance called he has sent me a long petition here what do you think of him v d by show me petition colonel i cannot lay my hand on it just now but jou shall see it in tho mean time what s your opinion of the fellow why i know the man particularly well he is one of my what the deuce could the fellow petition though i promised the other day to renew hie lease for bim oh then if he be a favorite of yours his petition may go to the devil i suppose is the man honest so and has paid his

49William Black

rents very he is one of our safest tenants do yon know a man called the most on the estate indeed i ob then we mast look into the of his petition as ho is not honest had he been honest like i should have dismissed it sir is a dangerous fellow do you know that rascal has charged me with keeping back hia and with making him pay double rent â ha ha ha i my honor it s fact d by the poor scholar the scoundrel we shall him to some purpose however if you take my advice sir you will send him about his business for if it be once that you listen to malicious my over such as is lost well i set him aside for the present here s a li t of others all of whom have been is there a man called m on my estate â m i think why that rascal sir has not been your tenant for ten his petition colonel is a key to the nature of their in general i believe you most do i that well about that rascal why it is so long since that upon my honor i cannot exactly remember the circumstances of his he ran away who is in his firm now a very decent man sir one an exceedingly worthy honest fellow i take some credit to myself for k son oa your estate is married has he a d by married let me see why â yes â i he is oh by the by now i of it be is married and to a â ery respectable woman too certainly i remember â she usually when he pays his rents then your system must be a one you weed out the idle and to replace them by the honest and industrious v precisely so sir that is my system yet there are agents who your system in some cases who drive ont the honest and industrious and tlie idle and who at them and fill the estates they manage with their own or relatives as tlie case may be yon have been always opposed to this and i m glad to hear it no man colonel bâ filling the situation which i have the honor to hold under you could study your interests with greater zeal and god knows i have had so many quarrels and and with these fellows in order to squeeze money out of them to meet your difficulties that npon my honor i think if it required five dozen oaths fo hang me d by the poor tliey could be procured upon e an agent colonel who is il to the li seldom popular with the tenants can t exactly see car on live known an highly popular by the c ous of a i t and agent who took and who from nor the i i ke i ot yourself but you be right in la there anything t nt in which i can assist you i ow now i was anxious to hear act r of fellows from jou who now them al out ten or o clock tl w ill be assembled aid vou m be to assist me colonel remember i â ou u ore pin g ig into a of d wh jou will never be a le tj the fellows to me sir i how to deal with them my are not equal to it in po of health ion look ill allow me to ome their papers and d by the poor i shall have all clear and satisfactory before two o clock they know my method sir they do they do but i am anxious they should also know mine besides it will amuse mc for i want good day for the present you will be down about twelve or one at the farthest certainly sir good colonel the agent was too shrewd a man not to perceive that there were touches of cutting irony in some of the colonel s expressions which he did not like there was a too in the tone of his voice and words blended with a of good humor which taken altogether caused him to feel uncomfortable he could have wished the colonel at the devil yet had the said colonel never been more familiar in his nor with one or two exceptions to agree with almost every observation made to him well thought he he may act as he pleases i have my nest at all events and disregard him colonel b in fact ascertained with extreme regret that something was necessary to d by the scholar be done to secure good will of his tenants that the conduct of his agent had been marked by and almost incredible he had from the in general the performance of duty labor to such an extent that his immense agricultural farms were managed with little to if a poor man s com were drop ripe or his hay in a precarious state or his turf he must suffer his hay and turf to be lost in order to secure the crops of the agent if he had spirit to refuse he must expect to become a martyr to his resentment in his were ten thirty forty and fifty guineas he claimed as a fee for his favor according to the ability of the party yet this was quite distinct from the renewal fine and went into his own pocket when such glove money was not to be had he would accept of a cow or horse to which he usually made a to take a fancy or he d to purchase a of butter at that particular time and the poor people usually made every sacrifice to avoid his vengeance it is due to colonel b to say that he acted in the investigation of his agent s d by tbe fl conduct

49William Black

with the t honor and he every thoroughly pleaded for him as as he could or pretended to find motives for his most s but all would not do ihe cases so clear and evident against him even in the opinion of the gentry who had been for years looking upon the of which he practised that at length the generous colonel s blood boiled with indignation in his at the contemplation of hia he accused himself bitterly for duties as a landlord and both remorse and shame for having wasted h s t me health and money in the fashionable of london and paris whilst a played the with his tenants and turned his estate into a scene of oppression and poverty nor was this all he had been to bring the more and more into his own a point which he would have gained had not the colonel s late succession to so large a fortune enabled him to meet lis claims at one o clock the tenants were ai assembled d by the poor scholar about the inn door where the colonel had resolved to hold his little court the agent soon arrived as did other gentlemen the colonel s friends who knew the people and could speak to their character the first man called was m no sooner was his name than a mild poor looking man rather advanced in years came forward i beg your pardon colonel said here is some mistake this man is not one of your tenants you may remember i told you i remember it replied the colonel this is the rascal you spoke of â is he not m the proceeded you will reply to my questions with strict truth you will state nothing but what has occurred between you and my agent you must not even turn a circumstance in your own favor nor against mr by either adding to or taking away from it more or less than the truth i say this to you and to all present for upon my honor i shall dismiss the first case in which i discover a d by the poor the o the sir i ll state nothing but the bare how long are jou off my estate ten your honor or a little more how came you to run away oat of your run away god he knows i did nt ran away sir the whole knows that run mr here stated to me this morning that you ran away he is a gentleman of integrity and not state a i beg your pardon not i told you i did not exactly the circumstances i said i thought so but i may be wrong for indeed my memory of facts is not good m however is a man and i have no doubt will state everything as it happened fairly and without malice an honest rascal i suppose yon mean mr said the colonel bitterly proceed m m stated the circumstances precisely as tlie reader is already acquainted with them d by the poor scholar which the colonel round to his agent and what he had to say ia reply tou expect colonel e â ho replied that with such a of bu oa my hands i remember after a lapse of ten years the precise state of this particular case perhaps i may hare some papers a im or so at home that may throw light t at present i can only say that the man fa le n s i him and put a a hia place i cannot see a crime a tl at your honor replied m i can prove by them that s to the fore this minute as as by this written sir that i offered him the full at the same time as god is my judge part of it that is certainly an and malicious statement said i bow remember that the cause of yes of my just resentment you was that i received rent and withheld your receipt d by the then observed the colonel there been than one charge of that nature brought against jou ton mentioned another to me this morning if i mistake not i have made my oath honor of the of it an is a man sir a i that lent me the money an was present when i offered it to him mr smith come sir an up for the poor man as you re always to do i object to evidence said he is my open enemy i am mr or rather the enemy of your corruption and want of honesty said smith but as you say an open one i scorn to say behind your back what i wouldn t say to your face eight well yoa know i was present when he yon his rent i lent him part of it but why did yon and your him out when his wife was on her allowing that he could not pay liis rent was that any reason you should do so barbarous an act as to drag a woman from her sick bed and she at the point of death but we know your reasons for it d by the scholar gentlemen said tlie pray wliat character do m and smith bear iii the v we have known them both for years to be honest conscientious men said those whom he such is their character and in our op mon they well ve it god bless yon said m â god bless your honors for your kind i m sure for my own part i hope i ll always your good opinion although hut a poor man god help me pray who the farm at present mr the man i mentioned to yon this morning sir his name is and pray mr who is his wife oh by the by colonel that s a little too close i i see the

49William Black

gentlemen smile but they know i mast beg to answering that question â not that it matters much we have all sown our wild in our myself as well as ha ha ha the fact under other circumstances ob served the colonel could never draw d by the poor scholar from me but as it is with or has occasioned a gross and an act of towards an man i therefore alluded to it as the motives from which you acted she is your daughter sir she s one o the baker s dozen o them your honor observed a humorous little with a sarcastic face and sharp northern accent â for sir for my part a he one on hill head a ll count your honor on my fingers a half dozen on your estate sir their nests as fast as they can is this a good tenant mr car son i gave you his character this morning colonel b said the a penny rent the man pays at at a ll swear a it from s own lips he made him a sir he rent free ask the man sir for his an a ll warrant the truth will out i have secured s attendance said d by the poor l ie colonel let him be called in the man in a few minutes entered said the colonel how long is it since yon p d mr here any rent looked at for his cue but the colonel rose up indignantly he proceeded if yoa with me a single moment you find mr badly able to protect you if you speak falsehood be it at peril by sir said a ll say my father in au a don t care who it well or a was a gun with a or two â an d me a say a ll stick to my father for be stuck to you appear to be a hardened drunken wretch observed the colonel will you be civil enough to show your last receipt for rent a show it a whether a or not nor a whether a it or not but ef the in europe burnt d my blood but a ll stick to my father d by the poor scholar in law may be proud of you said the colonel by li a u back jou en that said the fellow nodding his head and looking round him by h a say that too and i am sorry to be compelled to add continued the colonel that you maybe equally proud of your father in law a say right d bit a ll back that too and he nodded confidently and looked the room once more a d my blood bit no man can say it a m married to his an hj the that shines a ll still up for my father in mr said the colonel can you these facts can you show that you did not m from his farm and put the husband of your daughter into it that you did not receive his rent decline giving him a receipt and afterwards compel him to pay twice because he could not produce the receipt which you withheld gentlemen said not directly replying to the colonel there is a base conspiracy d by g ot up mo and i can perceive moreover that there is some table intention on the part of colonel b to my feelings and injure my character when paltry circumstances that have occurred above ten years ago are up in my teeth i have little to but that it proves how very badly off the colonel must have been for an against my and discretion as his agent since he finds himself compelled to so far back for a charge that is by no means the heaviest charge i have to bring against jou replied the there is no lack of them nor shall you be able to complain that they are not recent as well as of longer standing your conduct in the case of poor honest m here is black and he must be restored to his farm but by other hands than yours and that instantly from it from this moment sir you cease to be my agent you have betrayed the confidence i in yon you have me as to the character of my tenants yon have a and tyrant my people you have ground d by to my property have lessened in value nearly one half and for your motives in doing this i refer you to certain and legal documents between us there is nothing cruel or which you did not practise in order to yourself the whole tenor of conduct is before me tour is not only discovered but already proved and yoa played those i suppose because i have been mostly an do not think however that you shall enjoy the fruits of your i will place the and the proofs of the respective charges against yon in the hands of my and by the sacred above you shall the of your my good people i shall among you for another fortnight during which time i intend to go through my estate and set everything to rights as as i can until i may a and feeling gentleman as my such a os will have at least a to lose i also take this opportunity of informing yon that in future i shall visit you often will your should you have any o complain of d by and will give assistance to the honest and industrious you â but to them as i trust may make as better pleased with each than we have â do not you go m until i speak to jou during these observations sat with a smile or rather a upon his lips it was the sneer of a purse proud confident that his wealth no matter how ill gotten was

49William Black

still wealth and worth its value colonel said he i have heard all you said bat you see me so strong in honesty that i am not moved in the course of a few weeks i have purchased an estate of my own i will manage differently for my fortune is made i intend also to give np my other i am rather old and must retire to enjoy a little of the i wish you all good tiie colonel turned away in but any reply a say sam said the bring your son yon an a say that too exclaimed the a say that a married to d by the poor his daughter an a say that d n my blood bit a ll stick to my father in that s the point â and again he nodded his head and looked round him with a drunken â a ll stick to my father in a ll do that a wall it is scarcely necessary to inform the reader that the colonel s address to soon got among the assembled and a vehement of groans and followed the discarded agent up the street ha bad luck to yon for an ould villain ton were made to hear on the deaf side o head at tou may take the black wool out o your ears now you the an curses o the an that yon made and oppressed has up you at the long run you be maybe you ll make us neglect our own work to do go an gather the cow cakes yon an bring them home in your pocket to throw on the do the day said others you met mr m aa you goin up the street â this dialect in local d by the poor scholar a cake of it in your fists shabby skirts an the to shake hands you how he discovered your three groans for sam the i a short to him your corner s warm for you yon but now boys for the colonel they exclaimed â for noble colonel b the irish that wouldn t sec his tenants put upon by a i â i hell shout i i i i â â an my voice is cracked where s his coach â s his honor s coach come boys out it â out it i to we ll it to the to an if it to colonel e blood an turf what ii we do for a i long life to colonel b the poor man s long life to him for ever an a day my c the warm interest which the colonel took ia m a behalf was looked upon by the other tenants as a of his sincerity in all he promised their enthusiasm knew no bounds d by the poor scholar they got his carriage from the yard and drew it through the town though the colonel himself beyond the fact of their shouting remained quite ignorant of what was going forward after s departure the colonel s friends having been st asked to dine with him at the inn also took their and none remained but m who waited with pleasing anxiety to hear what the colonel proposed to say â for be felt certain that it would be agreeable m said the colonel i am sorry for what you have suffered through the of my t ent but i will give you and allow you for what you have lost by the it is true as i have been lately toll y a p on who pleaded cause ol and that i can never repay to fo t o hi g suffered wh t e an wo w do you are poor i god he sees that s and t o your honor afflicted how is that i had a son sir â a blessed a boy â once onr comfort an once we thought he d be our pride an our staff but â d by t the poor mad s tears here flowed fast he took up the skirt of his more or great coat and after wiping his eyes and clearing his proceeded â he was s os i said a boy and we looked up to him always sir he saw our poverty your honor aa he felt it sir keen enough indeed god help him he took it on him to go up to sir hopes of us â the poor child â an god knows sir â if â oh â i â i you sank wliat proved too many for you â i doubt my child s dead him that all our hearts fixed upon and if that ud happen to be the case â not even your kindness in us justice make us we would rather beg him sir nor liave the best in the world him his poor young heart sir was fixed upon the place your honor is to ns on i m his mother sir would break her heart if she thought ho couldn t share our good fortune and we don t know he s or that sir is what s us i had some notion of to look d by the poor scholar for him l ut lie us ho would never write let us hear from him till he d be either one or other i can tell you for your satisfaction that your son is well m believe me he is i know it well before god your honor truth well oh sir for his sake that died for ms an for the sake of his blessed mother can you me is my son alive he is living is in excellent health is as well dressed as i am and has friends as rich and as capable of assisting him as myself but how is this wliat s the matter with you you are pale i good god

49William Black

here waiter waiter i waiter i say the colonel rang the bell violently and two or three entered at the same moment bring a little wine and water one of you and let the other two remove this man to the open window be quick what do you stare at in a few minutes the old n an recovered and the narrow coarse which he wore wiped the perspiration off his face d by pray don t be too much d a the colonel waiter up t â bring be quiet and calm â jou poor fellow â but we will strengthen t u ij and by i am wake sir he replied foi god help us this was a hard year upon us and we suffer ed what few bear i oh colonel s went to my heart this day afore b it tl at â he s an well on my knees before god i thank yon for them words i thank you a thousand an a thousand times more for them words nor for what your honor did about sam get said the colonel â get up the proceedings of the day have produced a of feeling which has rendered you incapable of intelligence of your son he is well assure you bring those things to this table waiter but can your honor tell anything in particular about him sir what he s â or what he to do yes he is at a respectable boarding school d by the scholar school but isn t schools sir not at all he ia at a catholic and reading hard to be a priest which i hope he will soon be he has good and you may thank him for being restored to your farm glory be lo my maker for that oh sir tenants in they thought sir that you a hard hearted that didn t care whether they lived or died i feel that i neglected them too long m now take some refreshment eat something and afterwards drink a few glasses of wine your feelings have been excited and you will be the better for it keep up your its i am going to ride and must e you but if you call on me to morrow at one o clock i shall have more good news for you we must stock your farm and enable jou to enter upon it sir said m yon are a but as i hope to glory i an my wife an will pray your bed may be made in heaven this night and that your honor d by the may be led io see tlie truth an right the colonel then left him and the simple man on at the cold meat bread and wine before him raised his hands and eyes to wards to thank god for his goodness and to a blessing upon his noble and but how shall we describe the feelings of his family when after returning home he related the of that day the severe a nd pressing which they labored had prevented his sons from attending the investigation that was to take place in town their expectations however were raised and they looked out with intense anxiety for the return of their father at length be was seen coming slowly np the hill the were thrown aside and the whole family assembled to hear what was done tlie father entered in silence sat down and after wiping his brow and laying down his hat placing his staff across it upon the floor he drew his breath deeply d by said the wife what news what was done replied do you the day â fair and handsome you when i first kissed your lips as my own wife v ah don t of times the happiness we had then is long gone in one sense it s before me like â the delight that went through my heart as clear as or the blessed sun that s through the broken windy on the floor there i saying to yon that day â i don t know whether you it or bnt i to yon that if i lived a thousand years i could never feel happiness as i did when i first pressed you to my heart as my own wife well bnt we want to hear happened do you the words i do didn t they go my at the time an how i forget them but i can t bear somehow to look back at what d by the poor scholar we then i fee my heart well look at me t i a poor wasted now in to what i was thin god he sees the change that s in you but t t or mine either well you see mo now â fm â before god i m happier â happier a thousand degrees than i was come to my arms ma my heart s â but it s don t be frightened â it s joy i m these tears â it s happiness and delight i m is an well â he s an well â the star of onr hearts is an well an happy kneel down â kneel down bend before the great god an thank him for his kindness to your blessed brother â to onr blessed son bless the colonel bless you re down an all as he is oh bless him as if you prayed for myself or for that s far away from he paused for a few minutes bent his head d by hu hands as he knelt in application at the chair then lis seat as did the whole family deeply affected now said he i ll tell all bat don t any of yon be so poor a as i was to day bear it mild an for i know it will take a start oat of yon sure

49William Black

we re to go back to onr own farm ay an what s oh god of heaven bless â what s more the colonel is to stock it for us an to help ns an what is more sam is out they exclaimed well an sam oh father now behave i say ay and never to come in again but who do you think got hun out who â why god he knows who could get him out our son â onr son got him out an got ourselves hack to our i had it partly from the colonel s own lips an the remainder from mr that i met on my way home but there s more to come â sure has friends to the colonel himself an sure he s at a catholic d by the poor scholar s an in a time he ii be a priest in full we here draw a over the delight of the family questions upon questions replies upon replies and cross in rapid succession until all was that the worthy man had to simple scene followed which as an i write with when the joy of the family had somewhat subsided the father put his hand in his coat pocket pulled out several e of mutton all ch sail he the colonel me my dinner i ate j myself an pi ed these in my pocket for yon but the devil one o me knows kind o ft is an i got wine too oh â well they may talk but wine is the bring me the knife till i make a fair divide of it je what kind mate can it be for myself doesn t any sort bacon an a bit of an odd time they all ate it with an experienced air of sagacity that was rather amusing none however had ever tasted mutton before and con d by g the poor scholar the name of the meat on tliat occasion a profound secret to m and bis family it is true they supposed it to be mutton but not one of could pronounce it to be from any positive knowledge of peculiar flavor well said it s no wliat the name of it is in regard that it s good mate any way for them that of it with a fervent heart and streaming eyes did this vii family offer up their grateful â to that god whose laws they had not and to whose providence tbey owed bo was their benefactor forgotten the strength and energy of the language being that in the usually pray were well adapted to express the of their gratitude towards a man who had as they said himself to look into wants as if he was like one o for upwards of ten years tbey bad not gone to bed free from the of care or the wasting grasp of poverty their hearth d by the poor scholar was once more san by peace and contentment their were removed beat freely and the language of happiness again was heard under their humble roof even sleep could not repress the vivacity of enjoy men ts they of their brother â for ia the heart tlie domestic affections hold the first place â they of the farm to which affections had so long they trod it again as its legitimate its fields were brighter its com waved with softer murmurs to the breeze its were richer and the song of their harvest home more cheerful than before their delight was tumultuous but intense and when they arose in the morning to a sober of waking they again knelt in ship to god with hearts and again offered up their sincere prayers in behalf of the just man who had asserted their rights against the colonel b was a man who without having been aware of it possessed an excellent capacity for business the neglect of his property resulted not from want of feeling bnt merely from d by s the pi want of consideration had been no precedent for him to follow he had been no of rank ever bestow a moment s attention on his they had been for the most part like himself and felt satisfied if they succeeded in receiving their half yearly in due course without ever reflecting for a moment upon the tion of those from whom it was drawn what was more â he had not seen the resident gentry enter into the state and circumstances of who lived upon their property it was a mere accident that determined him to become acquainted with his tenants but no sooner he seen his duty and to the resolution of performing it than tiie ion of his character became apparent it is true that the last few years the irish have advanced in knowledge many of them have introduced more improved systems of and instructed their tenants in the best methods of applying them bnt daring the time of which we write an irish landlord only saw bis tenants when them for their and in d by them m and not reflecting that he was then teaching them to the arts of and fraud himself this was the late let h hope that it will be by a better one and that a landlord will think it a duty but neither a trouble nor a condescension to look into hit own affairs and keep an eye u on the morals and habits of his the colonel as he lad said remained more than a fortnight upon his estate and as he n declared since the recollections arising from the good which he performed during that brief period rendered it the portion of hia past hie upon which he look with most satisfaction he did not the country till he m and his family restored to their farm and once more independent â until he had every well founded complaints

49William Black

secured the affections of those who had before detested him and diffused peace and amongst family upon his estate from he watched the of hie tenants and soon found that in their welfare and them in their duties he was more bis own benefactor d by the poor scholar theirs before many years had his property was wonderfully he was called the lucky landlord said the people ever since he spoke to an advised his tenants we find that it s to to live him the people has heart to work a that won t grind them sm so sign s on it every one upon his land an my bnt i believe a rotten stick nd grow on it set in case it was in his popularity became but it is probable that not even his and humanity contributed so much to this as the vigor with which he his suit against sam whom he compelled to the fruits of his heartless this worthy agent died soon after his disgrace without any legitimate issue and his property which amounted to about fifty pounds is now inherited by a gentleman of the honor and integrity to this day his memory is detested by the people who with that bitterness by which they a villain have erected him into a standard of if a man become remarkable for want of principle they d by il usually â he s as great a rogue as sam or he is the greatest that ever was in the country sam we now dismiss bim and request our readers at the same time not to suppose that we have held him up as a portrait of irish agents in ou the contrary we believe that they constitute a most respectable class of men who have certainly very difficult duties to perform the irish we are happy to say taught by experience have for the moat part both seen and felt the necessity of gentlemen of property to so very important and which require so much patience consideration and humanity in those who fill them we trust they will in this plan but we can assure them that all the virtues of the best agent can never in the opinion of the people for neglect in the head landlord one visit or act even of kindness from will at any time produce more attachment and gratitude among them than a whole life spent in â thia tale written twelve years but the author tliat the have to the notice taken of them in the d by the scholar good offices bj an like s french beggar tliey would prefer a pinch of snuff from the one to a from the other the agent only renders them a favor but the head landlord does them an honor colonel b immediately after his return sent for mr o who waited on him with a greater degree of curiosity than perhaps he had ever felt before the colonel smiled as he extended his hand to him mr o said he i knew you would feel anxious to hear the result of my visit to the estate which this man with the managed for me sir did you say managed i spoke in the past time o he is out then your story was correct sir true to a o there is something extraordinary in that otherwise how could it happen that a sickly miserable looking creature absolutely in could have impressed us both so strongly with a sense of the injustice done ten years ago to his father it is remarkable the colonel deeply felt that act of d by thk scholar aad the expression of it came home to the heart i restored his father however the poor man and his family are once more happy i liave their old farm for them in fact they now enjoy comfort and independence i am sir that you have done them justice that act alone will go far to redeem your character from the which the conduct of your agent was calculated to throw upon it there is not probably in ireland a landlord so popular as i am this moment â at least among my tenants on that property restoring m however is but a part of what i have done s were incredible he was a rack of the first water a person named had paid him twenty guineas as a â in other words as a bribe â for a lease for him yet after having received the money he kept the poor man dangling after him and at length told him that he was offered a larger sum by another in some cases he kept back the and made the poor people pay twice which was still more then sir he would not take bank d by the poor scholar notes ia payment no he was so and so in my as he told them on the subject that nothing would pass in payment but gold this d sir they were compelled to receive from himself at a most oppressive bo that he actually them under my name in every conceivable manner and form of he ia a too and i am told worth forty or fifty thousand pounds but thank he is no longer an agent of mine it gives me sincere pleasure sir that you have at length got correct habits of thinking upon your duties as an irish landlord for believe me colonel b as a subject a great portion of national happiness or national misery it is entitled to the deepest and most serious consideration not only of the class to you belong but of the something should be done sir to improve the condition of the poorer classes a rich country and poor inhabitants is an and whatever is done should be prompt and effectual if the irish looked directly the state of their and set themselves vigorously tf d by

49William Black

thâ task of their circumstances they would i am certain establish the and happiness of the country at large the t secret colonel of the that prevail among us is the of the people they are poor and therefore the more easily wrought they are poor and think that any change must be for the better they are not only poor but imaginative and the for those vague speculations by which they are let their condition be improved and tlie most fertile source of popular tumult and crime is closed let them be taught to labor let them not be bowed to the earth by rents so far above the real value of their lands the which float among them must be â cut by theory but by lessons performed before their eyes for their own advantage let them be taught how to between their real interests and their prejudices and none can teach them all this so effectually as their land if they could be roused from their and induced to undertake the task who ever saw a poor nation without great crimes d by the pi very o quite i am resolved to inspect personally the condition of those who reside on my other estates but now about onr l how is he doing extremely well i have had a letter from him a few days ago in which ho to the interest you have taken in himself and his family with a depth of feeling affecting when you write to him let him know that i have placed his father in his old farm and that is ont say i am sure he will conduct himself properly in which case i charge myself with his expenses until he shall have accomplished his purpose after that he may work his own way through life and i no doubt but ho will do it well and colonel b s pledge on this occasion was nobly our hero his studies with zeal and success in time he entered where he distinguished himself not simply for as a student but os a young man possessed of a mind far above the common order during all this time nothing x of particular remark that in of his former vow he never d by the poor scholar wrote to any of his for the reader should have been tow tbat this was comprehended in the determination he had formed he received at the hands of his friend the bishop whom we have already introduced to the reader and on the same day he was appointed by that to a in his own parish the colonel whose regard for him never cooled presented him with fifty pounds witli a horse saddle and bridle so that he himself in a capacity to enter upon his duties in a decent and becoming manner another that added considerably to his satisfaction was the appointment of mr o to a parish adjoining that of the james s had been the means of bringing the merits of that excellent before his spiritual superior who became much attached to him and availed himself of the earliest opportunity of his piety and benevolence no sooner was his completed than the long suppressed after his home and kindred came upon his spirit with a power that could not be restrained he took leave of his d by is the poor beating heart set ont on a delightful to r all that had been notwithstanding his long absence and trials so strongly wrought into hia and our readers may therefore suppose him on his home and permit to be led m to the of his former friend an where we must lay the scene fur the present a residence has the same comfortable and warm h its the habitation of the and virtuous man what however can the stir and and agitation which m it mean the run out to a little oi natural terrace the house and look towards the road then and almost im appear again with the same intense anxiety to ft glimpse of some one whom they expect ihey is it that their disappointment appears to be attended with dismay i ihey go into their fathers more wringing their hands and betraying all the of affliction here is their mother too to peer into the d by the scholar she is rocking with that motion peculiar to when suffering distress she places her open hand her brows that he may collect her sight to a spot she ib by her tears breaks out into a low and returns with something like the darkness of despair on her countenance she goes in o the house passes through the kitchen and enters into a bed room seats herself on a beside the bed and her low but bi wail of sorrow her husband is lying in tiiat state which the know usually the agonies of death for the sake of the god said he on seeing her is there any sign o them v not yet a bat they will soon â they must soon be here an thin mind will be oh alley alley if yon know what i suffer for i d die the priest jou d pity me i i do pity you bnt don t be cast down for i have my trust in god that he won t you in your last hour you what you â my d by the scholar could my heart s pride bent before him night an and sure the poor neighbor never from your door his behind him the dying man raised his hands feebly from the bed clothes ah he exclaimed thought i did a great alley bnt but now â it appears to what i ought to a done when i still my life s not unpleasant when i look at it for i can t that i purposely offended a mortal all i want to satisfy me

49William Black

is the priest no you did not for it wasn t in you to a child alley you ll pardon me an forgive me if ever â if ever i did what was to you an call in the till i see them about i want to have forgiveness too i know i ll have it â for they good an ever loved me the daughters now entered the room exclaiming â beloved father is by himself hat no priest blessed queen of heaven what will we do i d by the poor k oil father are jou to die the holy the sick man clasped his hands looked towards heaven and groaned aloud oh it s hard this said he it s hard npon me yet i won t be cast down i ll trust in my g od god i ll in his blessed name his wife on hearing that ner son was returned without the priest sat with her face by her apron weeping in grief that none bat they who knew the dependence which those belonging to her church place in its last rites can comprehend the children a almost distracted their grief had more of that character which unexpected calamity than of sorrow for one who is gradually drawn from life at length the messenger entered the room and almost choked with tears stated that both priests were absent that day at conference and would not return till late the hitherto grief of the wife arose to a pitch much than the death of her could under ordinary circumstances d by the poor sion to die without â to pass away eternity â without from the inherent of humanity â was to her a much deeper than her final separation from him she cried in tones of the most piercing despair and her hands as they do who weep over the dead had he died in the calm confidence of having received the or before death his would have had nothing remarkably in it beyond usual of a similar nature the grief was intensely bitter in consequence of expected departure without the priest his sons and daughters felt it as forcibly as his wife their were full of the strongest and est agony for nearly three hours did they remain in this situation poor sinking by degrees into that state from which there is no possibility of he was merely able to and recognise his family hut every moment advanced him with awful certainty nearer and nearer to his end a great number of the neighbors were now assembled all in the awful feeling d by the poor fl and anxious to by their prayers for the absence of tliat confidence derived by during tlie approach of death from the aid of the priest they were at prayer the sick room and were crowded with his friends and acquaintances many of whom ont before the door and joined with loud voices in the was offered up in his behalf in this crisis were tliey when a dressed in black approached the house every head was instantly turned round with a hope that it might be the priest or his but alas they were doomed to experience a fresh disappointment the stranger though enough in his appearance presented a countenance with which none of them was on glancing at the group who around the door he appeared to understand tlie melancholy cause which brought them together how is this he exclaimed is there one here sick or dying poor sir is glory be to an what is terrible all on upon himself and family he s th d by priest they re at sir and can t come â mr an his make said the stranger throwing himself off his horse and passing the people show me to the sick man s room â be quick my friends â i am a catholic clergyman was cleared and the f u d m if b d the bed of death grief tl w d nd bitter but his d t d p t f what they felt my dear friends said he you know there should be silence in the apartment of a dying man for shame iâ for shame cease this it will but him for whom you weep and prevent him from his mind for the great trial that is before him sir s wife his hand in both hers and looking in his face are yoa a priest f for heaven s sake tell us i am he replied leave the room every one of you i hope husband is not speechless sweet queen of heaven not yet may her d by the poor scholar i name be praised but near it your reverence â little or no time of it tliey spoke he was engaged in putting tlie his neck after which he cleared the room and commenced hearing s confession the appearance of a priest and the tion it produced rallied the powers of life in the benevolent farmer he became more collected made a clear and satisfactory confession received the of extreme and felt himself able to speak with tolerable distinctness and precision the effects of all this were astonishing a placid serenity full of hope and confidence beamed from the pale and worn of him who was but a few minutes before in a state of terror altogether indescribable when his wife and family after having been called in observed this change they immediately in his tranquillity death had been deprived of its sting and grief of its bitterness their sorrow was still deep bat it was not darkened by the dread of future misery they felt for him as a beloved father a kind husband and a dear friend who had lived a virtuous life d by the scholar feared god and was now about to pass into happiness when the rites of the were administered and the family

49William Black

again assembled round the bed the priest sat down in a position which enabled him to see the features of this good man more distinctly i would be glad said to know who it is that god in his goodness has sent to smooth my bed in death if it nd be sir to jou to tâ ll me do you remember replied the priest a young lad whom you met some years ago on his way to as a poor scholar you and your family were kind to him so kind that he has never since forgotten affectionate hospitality we do your we do a mild gentle he was poor boy i hope god him you see him now before yon the priest i am that boy and i thank god that i can testify however slightly my deep sense of the virtues which yon exercised towards me d by the poor scholar i regret that the occasion is one of such affliction the farmer raised his eyes and feeble hands towards heaven praise an glory to your name good god he exclaimed an glory to your holy name now i know that i m not forgotten when you brought back the little kindness i did that boy for r sake so many fa me in the of my affliction an t this now that i m goin to lave for ever always to help the stranger an that s poor an in sorrow if yon do god won t foi et it to you but will bring it back to when you stand in need of it as he done to me this day tou see how small o that kind depend on one another if i hadn t thought of his reverence here when he was young and away from his own he wouldn t think of upon us this day as he was tou see the hand of god is in it which it is indeed in every thing that passes about us if we only see it as we ought to do thin but i d like to look upon your face sir if it s to you a little more to the light sir d by the poor scholar i dow see you ay indeed it s changed foi the it is â the same mild clear but not sorrowful as when i seen it last suffer me to put hand on head sir i d like to bless you before i die for i can t foi et what yon to do for your parents the priest sat near him but finding that he was scarcely able to raise his hand to his head lie knelt down and the farmer before he the in inquired â sir may a you able to do anything to help f as you expected god said the priest made me the of raising them from their poverty they are now comfortable and happy â ay well i knew at the time an i said it that a would your an now lay may you never depart from the right may the of god rest upon you for ever â i m wake come near me till tiu i bless you too for the last time they good sir â they were ever an always good to me and to their poor mother d by your reverence an â god forgive me if it s a â but i feel a great o my heart an mj love fixed upon them bat sure i m their father an god i hope will look over it now afore bless i ax your forgiveness if ever i to than i the children with a movement encircled the bed and could not reply for some minutes never father i oh never did jou don t speak in that way or you ll break our hearts forgive m father oh forgive an bless u an don t against us our folly an for it s only now that we see we t towards as we ought to be for ve ua an pardon he then made them all kneel around bed and with solemn words and an impressive manner placed his hand npon their heads and blessed them with a virtuous father s last blessing he then called for his wife and the scene became not only more touching but elevated there was an in her manner and an expression of vivid hope in her eye arising from the fact of her husband having d by the poor scholar d b th d y th t f h h til t g d t p f tl np i d tt m t b by p râ f h t th c tl ig th if h h d b pe ted d th t f tl t d f f h h d g t tl t th im t t f th m t t tl th t f d t t e tht t mi k d h y th t ut th t h h ly b f p tl b f â h t b th i tâ h to w p g d y g f f h i d m hit t ly th t th t p t g i to k po when it was over once more the priest â now sir he observed but with great let me have an prayers an along that your reverence if you a request once made to you â l the poor i remember it well replied the pi you allude to the which you wi bed me to say for you should i ever receive orders make mind easy on that point i in t ot y shall offer up mass for the repose of your but i assure you that i mentioned you hy name in every mass which i celebrated mj he

49William Black

then proceeded to direct the mind of his dying benefactor to such subjects as were best calculated to comfort and strengthen him about day break the next morning this m n of many virtues after ling rather severely for two hours preceding his death passed into eternity there to enjoy the of a life when he was dead the priest who never left him during the night approached the bed and after surveying his benevolent features now composed in the of death exclaimed â blessed are the dead who die in the lord for tliey rest from their labors and their works do follow them i having uttered the words aloud he sat down d by the scholar beside the bed buried bis face in bis and wept he was now only a short day s from home and as his presence be knew would be rather a restraint upon a family so much in affliction he bade them farewell and proceeded on his way he travelled slowly and as every well known bill or lake appeared to him his heart beat quickly his memory gave np its early stores and his affections prepared themselves for the trial tbat was before it is better for me not to arrive be until the family shall have returned from their daily labor and are collected about the hearth in the meantime many an impression of profound and piety came over him when he reflected upon the proofs of protection and interference which had been during his absence from home under his struggles and in bis good fortune so clearly laid before liim deep he is the gratitude i owe to god for this may i never forget to acknowledge it it was now about seven o clock the evening d by was calm and the shone with that clear light wliich gives warmth the power of exciting tenderness to natural scenery he had already gained the ascent which commanded a of tlie rich sweep of country that there it lay â his native home â his native parish â bathed in the light and glory of the its fields were green â its rivers shining like loosened silver its meadows already studded with hay its green pastures covered with sheep and its lakes reflecting the hills under which they lay here and there a gentleman s residence rose among the distant trees and well did he recognise the church spire that cut into the western sky on the right it is true nothing of the grandeur and magnificence of nature was there everything was simple in its beauty the quiet the serene light the air of happiness and peace that upon a i he saw stirred np a thousand tender feelings in a heart whose gentle character resembled that of the prospect which it felt so exquisitely the smoke of a few farm and cottages rose in graceful columns to the air giving just thai appearance of life which d by the pi figure or two witli shadows moved across the fields and meadows a little below where he stood but our readers need not be told that there was spot which beyond all others hi attention on that spot his eager rested long and intensely the spell of its remembrance had clung to his heart he had never it in dreams and often had the agitation of his imaginary sorrow him with his in he looked down on it steadily at length he was moved with a strong sensation like grief he sobbed twice or thrice and the tears rolled in showers from his eyes his gathering affections were relieved by this he felt lighter and in the same slow manner rode onward to his father s house to tliis there were two modes of access one by a paved bridle way or that ran np directly before the door â the other by a green jane that from the about a below the he took the latter certain that the family could not notice his approach nor hear the noise of his horse s footsteps until he d by the poor arrive at the threshold on he felt that he could scarcely walk he approached the door however as steadily as he could he and the family who had just finished their supper rose up as a mark of their respect to the stranger is this he inquired the house in which m lives that s my name sir replied the family i trust are â well i have been desired but no â i cannot â i father i â mother i it s him shrieked the it s himself â iâ i shouted the father with a cry of joy which might be heard far beyond the house i â our poor â his brothers and sisters said the father â let the mother to him â let to him who the right that she has â think of yourself god of heaven what is over her â her brain s turned i father don t remove her said the son d by the scholar leave lier arms where tliey are it s long they encircled neck before often â often would i have given the wealth of the to be encircled in my blessed aad beloved mother s yes â weep my father â weep each of you yoa see those tears â consider them as a proof that i have never forgotten you beloved mother i recollect she knows me not â her eyes wander â i fear the shock has been too much for her place a chair at the door and i bring her to the after considerable effort the mother s faculties were restored so far as to be merely conscious that oar hero was her son she had not yet shed a tear bnt now she surveyed his countenance smiled and named placed her hands upon him and examined his dress with

49William Black

a singular of conflicting emotions bnt still being thoroughly collected i will speak to her said in irish it will go directly to her heart â tha ma â my darling i am with you at last d by the poor ab w â in i ih ih v â mj beloved of ny are jou w th me â are jou â are you tl me i a e â it i am yo mother ot my i art she m led aj a â but for mo ent she looked at n la i he id on her bosom s face y th her tear a d ed o t a li nd of sweet mu al the ir of joy we are incapable of describing this scene further our readers must be contented to know that the delight and happiness of onr hero s whole family were complete their son after many years of toil and struggle had at length succeeded by a course of action in raising them from poverty to comfort and in his own object which v z to become a member of the during all hia trials he never failed to rely on god and it is seldom that those who rely upon him when striving to a arc ever ultimately d by we regret to our readers that the poor scholar is dead i he did not in fact long the of his wishes but as we had the particulars of his from his nearest friends we thought his virtues of too exalted a nature to pass into oblivion without some record however humble he died as he had â the friend of god and of man d by peasant girl s love the a hid in my native a new of in h were brought in by a strong party of police had attacked only the previous evening a gentleman e house for the purpose of it of had been by the police who aware of their intentions lay in for them and lo f on both s des j on one of the bridges when they to the with ropes and with to the common ears of the ome of them were too a brow or hand oi clothing giving of the ent although the sion made by the whole of the groups was d by a peasant girl s love m one face among them interested me it was that of a young man not more than nine or twenty his features comely and i would have it full of goodness and gentleness his clear blue eye too was neither sulky savage nor reckless but seemed to express only great awe of his situation unless from some sudden mental to home â perhaps it or became with tears i followed the melancholy procession towards the of that young man after all the prisoners had been ushered into their new abode a popular anti attorney whom i knew me he was always ready to conduct the of poor wretches situated and he told me his intention of going into the jail that moment to try and collect materials for saving ihe at it of some of the new i expressed a to assist him in his task be readily observing that as the men would certainly put on the next day no offer of aid in their favor was to be disregarded so we entered jail d by a peasant a love it fell to my lot to visit the cell among others of the lad who had so much interested me his supported or not contradicted by most of his hand seemed to argue that i had not formed wrong opinion of his nay better still that there was a good chance of from the gallows even he mast leave his native land for ever he had been forced he said to accompany the others npon their fatal â had never been out and had not pulled a er or raised a hand against the police his more guilty associates supported or tl e not his statement so confident that the police would also bear him out at the really critical moment i took notes jf his defence for my friend the attorney and passed on to other bat of the results of my will not now the sagacious attorney was right by ti o clock next four of the men my favorite were placed at the b of their three others were too ill of their wounds to be at produced all was soon over â and over to my affliction and almost d by a peasant girl s love consternation instead of swearing that the young man had been comparatively the battle outside the gentleman s the police one and all from some strange mistake â for surely they they were in the right distinctly that his was the hand which one of their force and wounded in did he protest with the energy of a man pleading for dear dear life and all its array of promise against their evidence in vain did his fellow prisoners support him he and they were found guilty in common but his fate was the terrific one â of him the example was to be made and while the other men were only to for life he was doomed to be hanged by the neck within forty eight hours and his body given for as the judge ushered in the last words of his sentence a shriek i shall never forget itâ a woman s and a young woman s too pierced up to the roof of the silent court house and then i heard a heavy fall the young had been and swaying from to side during his sentence at the soul d by a girl s love sound he started into upright and perfect his hands which had grasped the bar of the dock were clapped together with

49William Black

a load noise the blood mounted to his very his lips parted widely and having almost shouted out â it s i knew she d be here he suddenly made a spring to clear the back of the ly no impulse to escape dictated the action he wanted to e â â from the floor of the and clasp her in his arms â and that was all and doubtless in his vigorous and thrice strength he must have succeeded in his wild attempt but that the sleeve of one arm and the hand of another became on the sharp which surmounted the formidable barrier before him thus cruelly however he was easily secured and instantly let down through a trap in the bottom of the dock to his condemned cell continuing till his voice was lost in the depths beneath us to call out ma i hastened with many others into the body of the court and there learned from her father and mother and other friends the be d by h a peasant s love lier and tlie lad they were to have been married at this did not my interest in my attorney joined me and we t of all possible efforts to obtain a of sentence after a parents had forced her out of the on the to their home ail her entreaties to be led into the jail and â married we thought of hearing what the wounded policeman might say but he was fourteen miles distant where the had occurred and even though his evidence might be favorable we knew we must be prepared to forward it to as the judge would leave our town that day we set to work however mounted two good horses and within three hours learned from the lips of the man that the who had fired at him was an elderly and ill favored fellow it was our next business to convey our new evidence into the town we did so in a carriage borrowed from the person whose house had been attacked he was confronted with all the prisoners we him to say nothing that might give a false hope to the object of onr interest â but after leaving d by a peasant girl s love the tell he persisted in him from either killed bis comrade or and pointed out the among those who had not been pat on their thi was a good beginning an was soon which the policeman signed a few ni s the attorney helped in bis expenses for the road ly some friends my e if among tlie started for as fast t four horses gallop out of the allowed to the condemned to prepare foi had already elapsed oar good attorney must now do the best he within thirty seven hours â it was fearful not to leave an to to calculate t me when it would he into eternity but we had good i it horses did not fail on the road and returning and if the and after him the lord could be rapidly approached it was a thing to be done tf however â i scarce slept a wink h the night early i called on the clergyman it wai to visit the poor lad in his condemned d by a s love cell he and i had been school and he was a young man of most character he tow me his poor penitent was not to die nor did be dread the fate before notwithstanding bis utter anguish of heart at bo sudden and terrible a parting from young i the hopes we had and asked the clergyman s as to the propriety of the lads agony by a slight of them my reverend friend would not hear of such a thing his con science did not permit him it was his he said his sacred duty to allow nothing to the mind and heart of his penitent from resignation to his lot and should he give him a hope of life and then see that hope dashed he would have helped to kill a human sou not to save one i gave up the point and endeavored to seek occupations and amusements to turn my thoughts from one subject which absorbed and them but in vain and when night came i had less sleep than on the t early on the second morning i took a wa k into the country along the vaguely hoping to meet even so early our zealous d by s to us with a li te streaming from the window of that idea liad got mj lead hke a picture and would every moment i met him not i lingered on the road i car i our twelve â the had bnt an hour to live i looked towards the il wh he had been removed for â the black dig wag waving over its drop door once more along the road i ran as fist as i towards the jail at the iron of its outer yard i wa scarce conscious of the multitude who sat on a height t all hushed and silent or of the of at the gate til one of them me way i the to convey my name to the governor of the prison and was admitted first into the yard then hy the door ai d along a of pillars connected with iron work at either hand into the inner courts of the jail the guard room was under the execution room and both formed a building in themselves separated from the main pile the of which i have spoken leading from one to the other â what had sent me where i d by now found myself was an to the whom i knew and who was necessarily m the jail to the condemned to the door of the execution room for some short of the fatal moment he came

49William Black

out to me m one of the courts at either side of tlie we spoke in whispers as the and kind hearted governor had done though there was not a creature to n in the deserted and places all around i knew tl e would at his pen make any j e m the hour hut i told liim our case ind eyes brightened with zeal and benevolence he put back his three of an hour and with my uncle oath i believe that he would it was r gilt and that all tl were wrong ind let them hang himself for his mistake our we sunk into silence it was impossible to go on talking even m our conscious whispers one soon struck the governor pale and agitated appeared making a sad signal to the we him over to us and the witch and retired again without i d by a peasant girl s love mj friend aid i standing side by side in resumed silence and all was silence us lave some few most melancholy moat all ag one caused by the step of a under tlie window of the cell at an unseen side of the another by the of the condemned and ins t heard through that l gi owing more fervent m since the dock had oi e and a third as by person also striking a stroke with a wooden about every half minute upon i large muffled bell at the of the prison â e â i can two other sounds which irritated me the ot si in the sun â ind i thought that note was now strangely sad â and the oi the watch which i heard in s f b the flew i pained in the â burning with thirst and losing my presence of m nd the governor appeared again friend entered the prison w th him i alone confused and ago in a few minutes the governor came out ind tears on hia cheeks the d by a peasant s love and liis penitent followed the former had passed an arm through one of the ones of tlie latter and the hands of both were clasped and both were praying audibly my old school fellow wept like a child had passed the threshold into the with a firm step his knees kept peculiarly stiff as lie paced and his cheeks and forehead were scarlet while eyes and beamed and was fixed on the steps going up to the room straight on before him he did not yet see me gazing at him as the appeared behind him and his priest also i rapidly snatched my hat from my head the action attracted his attention oar glances met â and oh how the flush instantly his forehead and his cheeks â and how his eyes ed â while cold perspiration out on his brow and he started stopped and faltered did he recognize me as the person who had spoken kindly to him in his cell his trial and perhaps with all my precaution given him a vague hope or was it that the unexpected appearance of a human creature staring at him in utter in that d by a girl s love otherwise lonely court yard had touched the of human and called him back to earth oat of his enthusiastic vision of heaven i know i cannot even guess who can as he faltered the young priest passed his arm round his body and gently urged him to his knees and knelt with him kissing his cheeks his lips pressing his hands and in tender whispers him again for facing shame and death and eternity the governor the and i instinctively assumed the attitude of prayer at the same moment but i hate to ve a character of clap trap to a real though wonderful occurrence hy continuing too s own boy never even mounted the steps of the room we were first startled while we all knelt by as it afterwards proved â her shrieks at the outer gates she had escaped from the restraint of her family and had come to the jail on married to him the rope itself round his neck to live a widow for him for ever â and next there a glorious shout from the multitude on the rural heights before the prison and my one ceaseless idea of our attorney with a d by streaming through the of his was realized though every one saw it but i and for life went out to van s land some weeks afterwards a happy and contented wife her family having yielded to her wishes at the instance of more than herself and put some money in her purse also d by and the irish those minister to are every where characters and fully as so in ireland as in other countries here amongst the people at lai no sort of person is more kindly regarded than the wandering or two of artists who may be mid to have the whole business of keeping in good upon their shoulders the is et a favorite in the primitive of monster and in they are not so common and in the north may be described as rare though i am not sure bat that for this very reason they are a welcome in as in the other provinces their notes d by hi and an which is agreeable in proportion to its novelty of coarse it is but natural that there should exist a striking resemblance between the habits and modes of life that the and the and of the latter as well as the former it may bo observed that most of his associations are drawn from the habits of the people in to those of the higher classes yet it is unquestionably true that lie is strongly with the lingering remains of that old spirit which has now nearly departed from the

49William Black

country even although generally neglected by the gentry and almost utterly overlooked by the nobility yet it is a melancholy but beautiful trait of the old feeling which him always to speak of them with respect and deference he will admit indeed that there is a that the good stock is gone and that the big house is not what it to be the square s father would bring liim into the parlor before all the quality an make him play his two favorite tunes of the fox s and the hare in the instead of that d by the irish the ha now will them but a kind of musical coffin that call a thirty or forty or something that way that to hear it ud a dog his father if he t himself this is the utmost length to which he carries his censure and even this is uttered more in sorrow than in anger oil the contrary nothing can be more than the simple and with il i he hit hearers that as be passed the big house the square brought hm in â an its himself that knows what the good of the pipes ik an more so he ought â in kind lor him to do so â its the â himself that had the true irish relish foi them i him all his fathers both in the light wai and in the sorrowful at done he five sh n s into my hand take this he for the sake o that s gone an of the ould times he spoke low an in a hurry as if his heart was m what he said an somehow i felt a tear an my at the time for it is a sorrowful thing to think how the blessed ould airs of our d by â tne only ones that go to the heart â are now so little known and of that a fashionable lady of present day would feel ashamed to acknowledge them or play them in company it s a bad sign of th times any how â may god mend them the irish from the necessary monotony of his life is a man of much simplicity of character â not however without a cast of humor which is at once single minded and shrewd his little and heart â and he has his share â form the serious of his life but it is remarkable that scarcely in a single instance are these indulged in at the expense of the agreeable who is by no means looked upon as a so his brother for in truth the high and spirit of competition by which they are animated never passes out of their own class but burns with heroic rage amongst themselves tiie to which this spirit has been frequently carried are almost beyond belief the moment a s reputation is established on his beat that moment his misery those from the neighboring beats as d by the irish sail him by that any thing hut principles of harmony sometimes it is true they are cunning enough to come disguised to hear him and if they imagine that a trial of is not likely lo to credit they off without allowing any one unless some particular to become of their secret these were forty or fifty years ago much more frequent than they have been of late in the good old times however when the farmers of ireland their own beer and had for a shilling a the and pursuits which took place between persons of this class were rich in dramatic effect and afforded great amusement fo both the gentry and tlie people i remember hearing the history of a chase iv a named a rival for eighteen month tl gi th province of before au ht n a d all in order to ascertain by a t a f k whether his was n nt tl d to have the epithet great p fix d t h t he himself it th t ih f d d by and admirers of tlie former were in the habit of calling him the great a circumstance which so completely roused the of his opponent that he declared he would rest night or day until he stripped him of the epithet great and transferred it to his own name he was beaten however and that hy a of an kind offered to play against while drunk â to remain sober thrown oflf his guard and anxious any circumstances to be able to st of a victory over such an agreed and was overcome the truth being that h nt ike car when on tl e harp w s ne er al le properly to distinguish n a a m r unless when under the op at on of y sail an not at ill a a e of the trick that the hid played on h m of course took t for g tl at as he hai stood no chance tl he an when u k he must have a still less one in his and the consequence was that the next morning it was found he had taken leave in the course of the night d by there was years ago playing in the of a blind named was singularly powerful and this man though blind from his infancy possessed mechanical genius of a high order and delicate and exact not merely as a but as a he used to perform in s tavern in street where he arrived every night eight o clock and played till twelve or bs the case might be one he was very social and when drawn out possessed much genuine irish humor and rich powers sometimes at a late period of the night he was prevailed upon to attach himself to a party of pleasant fellows who remained after the house was closed to enjoy themselves at

49William Black

full swing it was that shone not merely as a companion but as a the change in his style and manner of playing was extraordinary the spirit the power humor and pathos which he into his execution were observed by every one and when asked to account for so remarkable a change his reply was my irish heart is warmed i n d by a it now playing for bnt to please myself but could jou not play as well during the evening if you wished as you do now if were to hang me my heart must get warmed and irish â i must be as i am this minute this indeed was very significant and strongly of the same which distinguished and other eminent though blind used to employ his leisure hours in and organs and and mending almost every description of musical instrument that could be named his own pipes which he called the grand pipes were at least eight feet long and for beauty of appearance richness and delicacy of surpassed anything of the kind that could be witnessed and when considered as the production of his own hands were indeed entitled to be as an extraordinary natural curiosity played before george iv and appeared at most of the theatres where his were received with the most enthusiastic applause in person was a d by thb irish lai e looking man red faced and though strongly marked by traces of the he wore a coat fully made with gilt buttons and had altogether the look of what we call in ireland a or ha f sir which means a kin of gentleman farmer his pipes indeed were a very wonderful instrument or rather combination of instruments being bo complicated that no one could play upon them but himself the tones which he brought out of them might be imagined to proceed from almost every in an â now resembling the sweetest and most notes of the finest and again the deep and solemn of the organ like every irish of that we have met with he always preferred the rich old songs and airs of to every other of music and when lit up into the enthusiasm of his profession and his love of country he has often with tears in his â a and tm applied u a of to the ei the d by and eyes the which modern fashion had made and was making upon the good old of the bj gone times nearly the last words i ever heard from his lips were highly touching and characteristic of the man as well as the if we forget our own old music said he what is there to remember in its place â words alas which are equally with melancholy and the man however who ought to sit as the true type and representative of the irish is he whose whole life i passed among the ea s with the exception ot an occasional on to the lord s hall or the parlor â who equally with he and english has neither wife nor child home nor but from one village or farm house to another carrying mirth amusement and a warm welcome with him wherever he and the heart of the with and the true irish must wear a coat breeches grey stockings smoke tobacco drink and take for it is absolutely necessary from his peculiar position among d by tbe people that he should be awaiting of irish social and so he g is for to the practice and cultivation of these the simple tenor of his life is the most perfect specimen of this class we ever were acquainted with was a blind man known by the name of his beat extended through the county of and occasionally through those of and was precisely such a man as i have just described both as to dress a knowledge of english and irish and a thorough feeling of all those mellow old tints wliich an change in the spirit of irish society threatened even to i have said he was blind hut unlike s his face was smooth and his pale placid features while playing on his were absolutely radiant with enthusiasm and genius he was a and bad won one of the fairest and most modest girls in the rich agricultural county of in spite of the competition and of many wealthy and independent but no wonder for who could hear his magic performances without at d by once the whole heart and feelings to the almost influence of this miraculous â no no after hearing the yery remembrance of the music which proceeded from the and pipes was absolutely indifferent and yet the pipes on which he played were the meanest in appearance you could imagine and in point of size the smallest i ever saw it is however but no less true that we can scarcely name a celebrated irish whose pipes were not known to be old greasy and marked by the and which indicate an indulgence in the habits of life many a distinguished have we heard but never at all any whom we could think for a moment of comparing with unlike it mattered not when or he played his notes were still t ie same for he possessed the power of utterly his whole spirit into his music and any body who looked upon his pa e and intellectual countenance could perceive the shadows and lights of the irish heart over it with a change and d by the irish rapidity which nothing but the sou of genius could though unknown to any kind of fame but a local one was yet not unknown to in truth though modest humble and in his manners ho possessed the true pride of for instance though willing to play in a respectable farmer s house for the amusement of the family he never could be prevailed on

49William Black

to play at a common and his reasons which i have often heard him urge were such as exhibit the spirit and intellect of the man my music said he isn t for the feet or the but for tht ear an ae you ll get oo but i m none of i will now give a brief h of the last evening i ever spent in his society and as some of his observations bore slightly npon scotch music they may probably be with the more interest by readers he was seated when i entered at the spacious hearth of a wealthy farmer in the neighborhood surrounded by large clean settles and au ample whose well d by and ed the dancing blaze of a huge turf fire the ruddy farmer and his comely wife were placed opposite him their family of sons and daughters in a wide circle at a due distance whilst behind on the settles were the servant men and maids with several of the neighbors and old some sitting on chairs and others leaning against the the tables and the meal within the chimney brace depended large sides and of fat and dark smoke dried of hung beef presenting altogether that agreeable of abundance which gives a cheerful sense of solid comfort to the interior of a substantial farmer s house when i made mj appearance in the kitchen he was putting a tobacco pipe into his mouth but held it back for a moment and exclaimed i ought to know that after which he extended hand and asked me by name how i did ho then sat a while in silence â for such was his habit â and having sucked his as they say he began to blow his and played who hat when he had it well i observed what a fine piece of mar music that d by the irish no no he replied shaking his head there s more tears than blood in it it s too sorrowful for war play it aa will it s not the thing to rise the heart but to sink it but what do you think of the scotch in general would yon have me to ill of my own he replied with a smile sure they had it from well even so they ve not made a bad use of it god knows they haven t he replied the scotch airs â many o them â is ihe very breath of the heart itself even then i was much with the force of this expression but i was too young fully to perceive either its truth or beauty the conversation then became general and he addressed himself with great to the who began to him on the subject of a second how can dark men choose a wife mr v god makes up in one sense what they want in another tis the ear tis the ear d by continued he with apparent emotion that a what never you it did not mt an it never will any no why how do yon prove that ned it isn t the continued no nor the for i them that could sing like angels and to all appearance were merry enough too an god forgive them there was little but in them after all but it s the every day voice and natural if there s sweetness in that you may there s music in the heart it comes from so that as i said it s the ear that judges this coming from a man who had not his was indeed very characteristic and we certainly believe that the observation contains a great deal of moral truth â at least was certainly of the same opinion now said he hadn t we liave a dance and that i ll play all your so now trim your heels for a dance what s the world good for if we don t take it after playing the old bard s exquisite air the d by the myself among tl e rest jo i cl m the dance the punch being a happy i as spent in chat music rich old ei and traditions principally furnished by who in addition to k social and i n a tbe free and powers ir to the old irish such is a very feeble and imperfect of the irish a whom his countrymen love and respect and in every instance treat with the kindness and cordiality due to a relation indeed the of ireland are as harmless and a of persons as existed and there can he no greater proof of this than the very striking fact that in the criminal of the country the name of an irish or etc has scarcely if ever been known n d by frank the foster there is a trait of nature in more or generally the singular strength of which the humble of irish life lo his foster brother and more e if the latter he a person of rank or consideration this attachment though it be extent is s seldom known to be equal in strength between the experience has proved to us that instances of in feeling have been known to it the power of its spirit has always been found to exist iii the person of the party how d by the foster to for this would certainly require a more with human nature than has fallen to our lot we must therefore be content to know that the fact is precisely as we have stated it irish history and tradition ns with on which to ground clear and distinct proofs that tlie attachment of habit and in these far that of natural affection itself it is very seldom that one brother will lay down his life for another and yet instances of such high and heroic sacrifices have occurred in the case of the foster brother whose affection

49William Black

has thus not over death itself it is certainly impossible to this wild but attachment fo the force of domestic feeling because whilst we maintain that the affections in ireland are certainly stronger than those of any other country in the world still instances of this inexplicable devotion have occurred in the persons of those in whom the domestic ties were known to be very feeble ie is true there are many moral in the human heart with which we are as yet but im d by frank perfectly acquainted and as they arise from and irregular combination of its impulses that operate of any known principles of action it is not likely tiiat we ever thoroughly them there is another peculiarity in irish feeling which as it is to this we cannot neglect to mention it we allude to the a term which we must explain at further length to oar readers when the was in existence the poor infant an unhappy destiny consigned to that gloomy and withering institution were to different parts of the country to he nursed by the wives of the lower classes of the â such as day and small farmers who cultivated from three to six or eight acres of land these children were generally indeed almost always called â a word which be properly applied to only as having no known parents were supported by the parish in which they happened to be born it was transferred fo the however although with the exception of the metropolis which certainly paid d by the a parish tax for their maintenance they were supported by a very moral act of parliament l y the wise of a e grant held out a very liberal to at all events the epithet of was that usually fixed upon them now of all classes of our fellow creatures one might almost naturally suppose that those deserted and forsaken beings would be apt consigned aa they uniformly were to the care of strangers to experience neglect or even cruelty itself and yet honor be to the generous hearts and affectionate feelings of our people it been proved by the authority of a commission appointed to examine and report on the working of the very hospital in question that the care affection and tenderness with which these ill fated were treated by the to whom they were given out were if not to those bestowed upon own children even removed from these nurses to situations of more comfort â situations in which they were lodged d by fed and clothed in a far superior manner â they have been known in instances to from their and and return to their old preferring the of their affection with poverty and to anything else that life could offer all this however was very natural and reasonable for we know that even the domestic animal will love the hand that him bnt that which we have alluded to as the strong y between it and the attachment of the foster brother is the well known fact that the affection of the children to the nurses though strong and remarkable was as nothing when compared with that which the nurses felt for them this was proved by a force of testimony which no could encounter the parting scenes between them were affecting and in many instances to the la degree nay nurses have frequently come to and with tears in their eyes and in accents of the most sorrow begged that the might be allowed to stay with them undertaking rather than part with them that they would them at their own expense d by it would be very difficult to produce a more testimony to the moral generosity and exquisite s of which our people than the we have just mentioned they fell naturally m our way when treating of the subject that preceded and we could not in justice to circumstances so beautiful and striking much less in justice to the people themselves pass them over in silence we shall now relate a short story tlie attachment of a foster brother but as we have reason to believe that the ai e we shall introduce names of real ones tiie rebellion of ninety eight was just at its height when the incidents we are about to mention took place a gentleman named had a daughter remarkable for her beauty and accomplishments indeed so celebrated had she become that her health was always as the toast of her native county many she had of course but among the rest two were remarkable for their attentions to her and an intense anxiety to secure lier d by frank affections henry was a high as was her own father whose consent to gain the affections of his daughter had been long given a his young friend the other a young gentleman named who in point of fact had already secured her affections was deeply involved in or we should rather an open leader on the side his principles having become known to as a republican for some time before the breaking ont of the he was in consequence forbidden the house and warned against holding with any member of bis family he had however before this by the aid of miss herself who was aware of his principles in as butler in her father s family his own foster brother frank â an arrangement which never would have been permitted had known of the peculiar bond of affection which between them of this however he was ignorant and in admitting into his family he was not aware of the advantages he afforded to the of liis daughter this however came too late for the d by of prudence ere it was issued his had of mutual bnt the national outbreak ensued by forcing to assume ins as an leader appealed to liave placed a barrier between him and her v ai naturally considered to

49William Black

be in the himself and also a ot took an active part in the and in down and the was less zealous in following the ot the man to whom he to himself as bis future son in law thej acted together ind so were the of the that the other felt it in some in to check the of this however was not known to the for as always seemed to act under the instructions of friend so was it obviously enough inferred that harsh act stretch of authority which he was either or suggested by the other the consequence was that d by frank became if possible more odious who was looked as a rash hot whilst the was marked as a and old fox who had ten the cunning and cruelty of the senseless he was in this it is unnecessary to say they were mistaken in the meantime the rebellion went d and many acts of cruelty and were committed on both sides s house and family would have been attacked and most probably murder and ruin might hare visited him and hia were it not for the influence of with the twice did the latter succeed and on each occasion with great lu him and his household from victims to the vengeance of the was a man of great personal but apt to the character and of those who were opposed to him indeed hia prudence was by no means on a par with his bravery or zeal for he has often been known to sally out at the head of a party in quest of hia enemies and leave his own mansion and the lives of those who were in it exposed and d by on one of these it was that he chanced to capture a body of headed by an intimate friend and distant relative of s as the law at that unhappy period was necessarily quick in its operations we need scarcely say that having been taken openly armed against the king and the constitution they were tried and executed by the summary sentence of a ma a deep and bloody vengeance was now sworn against him and his by the who for some time afterwards lay in wait for the purpose of in a spirit prompted by the character of the times s attachment to s daughter however had been long known and his interference on behalf of her father had been successful on that account only now however the plan of attack was laid without his and that with the mo t solemn to every one concerned in it not to disclose their object to any human being not acquainted with it much less to â on who they calculated would once more take steps as might defeat their d by pose these having been made matters were allowed to remain quiet for a little until be off his guard for we mast here that he had felt it necessary after the execution of the capture to keep his house strongly and resolutely defended the attack was therefore postponed the apprehensions created by his recent gradually wear away and his might with less risk the work of and destruction the night at length was appointed on which the attack must be made all the dark details were arranged with a deliberation at removed as we now are from the excitement of the times the very s ii and gets sick a secret even under the most solemn sanction to a great number stands a great chance of being no secret at all especially during civil war where f o many interests of friendship blood and marriage bind the parties together in spite of the public principles which thej act miss s maid had a brother for instance who together with d by the foster of his friends and relatives being appointed to aid in the attack felt anxious that she should not be present on that night lest her with them might be to the he accordingly sought an opportunity of seeing her and in earnest language urged her to absent herself from her master s on the appointed night the girl was not surprised at the of his hints for the truth was that no person man or woman possessing common sense could be ignorant of the state of the country or of the evil in which and and all those who were active on the part of the government were held she accordingly told him that she would follow his advice and spoke to him in terms so and significant that he deemed it useless to preserve further secrecy the plot was thus disclosed and the girl warned to leave the house both for her own sake and for that of those who were to their vengeance upon and his family the poor girl hoping that her master and the rest might fly from the impending danger communicated the circumstances to miss d by frank who forthwith communicated them to her father who again instead of flying took measures to collect about lis premises during the early part of the dreaded night a large and well armed force from the next military station it bo happened that this girl whose name was had a leaning towards s brother her fellow servant who in plain was her accepted lover if love will not show itself in a case of danger it is good for nothing we need scarcely say that apprehensive of danger to her sweetheart confided the secret to him also in the early part of the day of the attack was surprised especially when he heard from that had been kept in ignorance of the whole design for so her brother had told her in consequence of his attachment to her young mistress there was now no possible way of off such a calamity unless by communicating with and this as was a sound united he

49William Black

knew he do without any particular danger he lost no time therefore in seeing him and we need scarcely that his foster brother felt d by the brother stunned and at tbe deed about to bo without his knowledge then left him but he reached the darkness had set in and on arriving he sought the kitchen and its comforts ignorant as were indeed most of the servants that upper rooms and were literally crammed with fierce and well armed soldiers matters were bow coming to a crisis aware that there was little time to be lost collected a small party of his own immediate and personal friends not one of whom from their known attachment to him had been any more than himself admitted to a knowledge of the attack upon determined therefore to be beforehand with the others he and they met at an appointed place from whence they went and with all possible secrecy to s house for the purpose not only of of the fate to which he and his were doomed but also with an intention of and all his family as far from his house as might be consistent with the safety of both parties our readers are of se prepared for the surprise and capture of honest and his friends d by i frank of whose friendly they are aware it is too true not expecting to find the defended they were unprepared for an attack or sally and the was that in a few two of them were shot and most of the rest among whom was taken prisoners on the spot those who escaped communicated to the other an account of the strength with which s house was defended and tlie latter instead of making an attempt to rescue their friends abandoned the meditated attack altogether and left and his party to their fate a gloomy fate that was and of their innocence were all in an party were expected to attack the house and of course they came headed by himself who as said no doubt intended to spare none of them but his daughter and her only in order that she might become a rebel s wife too his rival in and his foe in politics was on the and what had he to expect death and nothing bnt the darkness of the night prevented his enemies from putting it into execution upon him and his companions d by the foster brother s a silence and upon seeing his friends guarded from tlie hall where they were now assembled into a large barn he desired to be placed along with no said if are a rebel ten times over you are a gentleman and not herd with them and besides mr with great respect to yon we shall place jou in a much safer place in the highest room in a house unusually high we shall lodge you out of which if you escape we will say you are an innocent man frank show him and those two soldiers up to the get him and leave him in their charge guard his door men for yon shall be he d responsible for his appearance in the morning the men in obedience to these orders escorted him to the door of which was their station for the night when frank and he entered the the former gently shut the door and turning to his foster brother exclaimed in accents of deep distress bat lowering his voice there is not a moment to be lost you must escape d by frank that is impossible replied unless i had wings and could use them we try we can fail â at the most they can only take life and that they will do at all events i know that said and i am prepared for it hear me said the other i will come up by and bye with refreshment say in half an hour be yon stripped when i come we are both of a size and as these fellows don t know either of ns very well i wouldn t say but you may go out in my clothes i ll hear nothing he added seeing about to speak i m here too long and these fellows might begin to something be prepared when i come good bye mr he said aloud as he opened the door in and conscience i m sorry to see yon here but that s the consequence of rebel against king george an glory to loom ail he added in an in about half an hour i ll bring yon up some supper sir keep a sharp eye on him e whispered to the two soldiers giving them at he same time a knowing and confidential wink d by these is like aa will slip as through your fingers â an the devil s bit ther one have in there and as he spoke he pointed over his shoulder with his thumb to the door of the about the time he had promised to return a crash was heard upon the stairs and e voice in a high key the o ou ye for stairs an hell presume all the in europe i pray heavens this night there s my nose broke between you all he then stooped dow n and in a torrent of bitter â all however in mock oath â he collected and placed again upon the on which they had been all the materials for supper lie ascended and on presenting at the prisoner s door the blood was streaming from his nose the â who by the way were â on seeing him could not laughing at his a circumstance which seemed to him a good deal may he exclaimed but i d wi er i e shed more for his this night than either of you ever did in d by frank all lives may hell all any how

49William Black

off their faces of each however that cheek which was exposed to the rain and storm was beaten into a red hue whilst the other part of their faces was both pale and hunger pinched the father paused to take breath and supported by his looked down upon the sheltered inland which inhabited by and lay rich and warm looking under him why lie exclaimed to the â â â â n a lad about fifteen â sure i know well l iv bam yo anyway you black set a n k i jâ s i a id ut the poor scholar my sins fm almost to give a an that from my heart out look at â only look at the black thieves how warm an wealthy they sit there in our own ould possessions an here we must toil till our fingers are worn to the upon this bent the curse of on it you might as well ax the for a as expect anything like a crop out of it look at two such a poor o is in it â one here an one an we must turn up the whole ridge for that same well god the time soon when the right will take place â an doesn t say it sure comes we ll have our own the right will overcome the might â the pit will be locked â and the will be a warm corner an faith there s many o that myself ud put in a good word for all an here s the same there s jack an if there s a cool corner in it the same jack will get it â an that he may i pray this day the lord it to him for he richly it kind and is he an all to him an i wouldn t be where a hard word ud be spoken of him nor a dog in the family ill for which may he get a cool corner i humbly what do you think of jack will he be i doubt so â a blessed youth is jack myself ud hardly wish it he s a may care fellow no doubt of it an laughs at the priests which same i m will get him below stairs more nor a new milk heat any way but thin they take all this in good part so that it s likely he s not in in it an surely they ought to know best i what do think of y allow sam â honest sam that they say was born a heart es the the poor scholar black wool in his ears to keep out the cries of the an the that are long rotten in their graves through his dark â he ll get a snug birth sam replied the old man slowly and a dark shade of intense hatred blackened his countenance as he looked in the direction from which the storm blew twas he left us where we re standing â this blast that s an nor a step mother s breath this day twas he turned us on the wide world your poor mother was out of her twas he the hearth she wasn t able to lave the till i carried her in my arms into s â the tears from my eyes upon her face that i loved next to god did nt he give our farm to his son a purple j out we went to the winds an skies of heaven the rich made us i him he me out o my fifteen guineas that his the landlord should hear of it but i could never get next or near him to make my complaint eh â a snug birth i m only af that there is no corner in the place below hot enough for him â but lave that to the himself if he doesn t give him the best hell can afford i m not here a one o the ould boy s so bad as they say father he gives it to hot an heavy at all why even if he was at a loss about sam upon it he d get a hint from his above that ud be they say he visits him as it is an that sam can t sleep some one in the room him dan says the priest was there an had a mass in every room in the house but tells me this was actually said of the person alluded to fc and agent to two or three estates who waa a â a ears occasionally with black wool the poor there s no truth in it he was advised to it he says bat it seems the ould boy has too strong a of him for sam said he d have him any time sooner nor the priest and its what he would say t i m d out we had give in the day s too hard an there s no use in the weather that s in it lave the ould to god who he can t any way well may our curse go along the rest upon him for us to an unnatural spot as this hot an heavy into the an of him may it an sure that s no more than all the s him whether or not â not to the curses that s out o the grave him loud an i god knows it s not yourself on a day as this you d be only for him had we our farm you d be now well an in your for a an there ud be one o the family sure to be a any how but that s gone too look at the smoke how comfortable it rises from jack s where the priest has a station to day t for a he is upon

49William Black

a ridge like this but it can t be an god s will be done not himself â it s he that get the height of good much good may it do him â tis but his right the lad now paused in his turn looked down on jack s comfortable house sheltered by a of trees and certainly saw such a smoke tossed up from the chimney as gave evidence of preparation for a good dinner he next looked behind the wind with a made more blank and meagre by the contrast after which he reflected for a few minutes as if working up his mind to some sudden determination the deliberation however was short he struck his open hand upon the head of the with much animation and instantly took it in both hands exclaiming here father here goes to the once an it the poor scholar for ever i pitch slavery and as he spoke the was sent as far from him as he had strength to throw it an now father the help o god this is the last day s work ever put my hand to there s no way of latin here but off to i ll start an my face you ll never see in this parish till come home either a priest or a but that s not father dear i ll rise you out of your distress or die in the struggle i can t bear to see your grey hairs in sorrow and poverty well â well god enable you tis a good and not a one o me will turn another for this day i m the rain well go home an take an air o the fire â we want it and we can talk about what you re on f for it is usual to attribute to the english and scotch character exclusively a cool and energy in the pursuit of such objects as inclination or interest may propose for whilst are considered too much the creatures of impulse to reach a point that requires coolness of thought and efforts repeated this is a mistake it is the opinion of englishmen and who know not the irish character thoroughly the fact is that in the of an object where a sad faced englishman would despair an will probably laugh drink weep and tight during his progress to accomplish it a will miss it perhaps but having done all that could be done he will try another speculation the may miss it too but to console himself he will break the head of any man that may have him in his efforts as a proof that he ought to have succeeded or if he cannot manage that point he will crack the of the first man he meets or he will get drunk or he will marry a wife or swear a never to show his face in that quarter again or he will exclaim if it be con labour f very wet the poor scholar a farm with a countenance full of simplicity â god bless your honour long life and honour to you sir sure ah t was but a any how that your reverence will make up for me another time an tis well i know your ud be the last man on to give me the shoulder so you would an i am an ould on your own father s estate the lord be praised for that same an tis a happiness an else so it is even if i paid double â wherein maybe i m not a day s journey from that same the double yer honour only that one would do a great deal for the honour an glory of a an that s but there is in short a far in an which is not properly understood because it is difficult to understand it i do not think there is a nation on earth whose inhabitants mix up their interest and their feelings together more happily and yet less than contrive to do an will make you laugh at his joke while the object of that joke is wrapped up from you in the mystery and you will consequently make the concession to a certain point of his character which has been really obtained by a faculty you had not penetration to discover or rather which he had too much sagacity to exhibit of course as soon as your back is turned the broad grin is on him and one of his cheeks is stuck out two inches beyond the other because his tongue is in it â at your stupidity simplicity or folly of all the national characters on this globe i verily believe that that of the irish is the most profound and and the most difficult on which to form a system either social moral or religious it would be difficult for example to produce a more signal instance of energy system and perseverance than that exhibited in ireland during the struggle was there not flattery to the a to the eyes heads throats the poor scholar cut houses burned and cattle and why was it for the mere pleasure of â of breaking heads i won t dispute the last point though because i scorn to give up the glory of the national â of cutting throats burning houses or cattle no but to secure in that object was tne irish method of gaining a point â yes said i will come home able to y rise from your poverty or never show my face in th e p of mien the lad s determination was mentioned to his mother and the family there was a loud and serious against it for no circumstance is that ever takes away a member from an irish hearth no matter what the nature of that circumstance may be thin is it for that of a boy to set off

49William Black