The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-08-03
THE WAGER WON.

MOI many wears ago, there was set oil Jolly
boys one night drinking and carousing in klllaia;
and among the rest was Peter Cumming, the
chapel clerk Now when they were all pretty
well, thank you,n they all got valiant intIsy
and one said he wouldn't be AFRAID TO 40 mus
and another swore he had DONE ana wouiu again
do TINT. I'm
am tell YOU what I'll do says Peter; I'm
bet any one a golden guinea, and here y IS un'
der nv hand on the table, that III go TINS very
hour to Moyne Abbey and bring here skull Out
Of III in nv pocket handkerchief, and lay II down
on this table"
So all thinking il was an impossible thing
10 put an end 10 Peters brag, sure and certain II
was only boasling, they all said 'done 10 the
wager; aud Peters golden guinea was covered
in a moment with twenty -one shilings. SO Pc
Ter. for his courage sake and the money, and be-
side having the spirits in him, sets oil Tor the
Abbey and troh | don't envy the scapegrace
as he went whlstling along, putting out OF hum
The wind, as body may say, 10 give the more
room for his courage And now my Joker gets
near the place; and he sees the tower lifting us
tall self, and cutting on the blue SKY, and one
star bright entirely is sparkling like cats green
eve. lust over wonder pinnacle where the sea
eagle now and then comes and sits, (by-,he-by
there is story about that) Still Peters brave
nv was not put aback there was as yet no occa-
sion; all was silent in the air, on the land, and
out al sea except now and then the dash of the
swelling tide as the easy wave came IN, and shat
tered in foam among the shore-pebbles.
And now Peter passed the door, which as
YOU see lies continually open; and he has no
light TO guide him except one or two stars that
sent down but cold, green, good nothing
twnke-the walls and ivy darkening more and
more all around. So he turns 10 the right, and
down he goes on his hands and knees, and he
makes 10 the very spot where you and now
stand, creeping on and on; for he knew right
well that in that corner tornenst you, there was,
as there is now a heap of skulls Was MT the
mad fellow morthal brave Well, he gropes
and gropes for skull and he has just got a
grip Of one, and is fumbling in his pocket for
the handkerchief 10 lie It up in, when he hears
all at once a slow sckly voice, half groan half
growl, as body may say-just what you'd hear
from a dying crathur that was saying his last
words, with the rattle in his throat and this is
what was said: :. Och, Peter Cumming, you
bad boy, what's this you're about? bad luck to
We! what We doing with my skull 2"
With that, up rises Peter, his hands off the
ground but still standing on his two knees and
sure enough he was all of trimble, and well
he might, for looking toward that very corner
now before us he saw what he had reason 10
reminder to his dying day for there stood his
own grandfather, Phaarig Cumming, surround
ed by light that came, of bluesh color, from
out of the earta, like what comes in September
out of the reeds along the river and there old
Phaarig stood just he was before his last sick
ness, in his frieze coteen and his sheepskln
breeches all smooth and greasy, and his bay
wig, and the very tobaccy running down from
the two corners of his mouth. and staining all
his rough chin. Heavens rest be with you,
Phaarig but there We wor, the picthur of what
We looked the week before the death-sickness
came on We.
Och, then, Pethereen SAYS the ghost, for il
was nothing else. aye unucky boy; what brings
We here, and what are ye doing with my skull /?
What for would We have your grandfather stand
up at the day of judgment without head, ye
dlvll-may-care drunken, irregous BLACKBOARD?
Now all this while that the grandfather was
Seeding, Peter was getting up off his knees |;
and, as the ould fellow kept on abusing without
killing him, he takes courage, and he ups and
says 10 the ghost, "Ah, then, grand-daddy dear
is that Yourself? and why are We walking and
what makes We unquiet2 Maybe it S masses
We want for yer poor sowl and sure Pm a good
warrant TO get them sed for We, for I'm the cha
pecleIk, and il will go hard with me If | do Mt
coax his rlverence TO say dozen or two for We,
beside always keeping you IN his munitions.
And now daddy dear, do MT be angry" SAYS
Peter, in voice mighty sweet and coaxing
do nj, alana, grudge me the use of yer skull Just
for one bit of an hour. while | make guinea
oul VI u Sult II not every Hl8Ht poor lei
low the likes OF me can turn penny this way.
Stay, then, where you are till come back III
be here in no time and III lave the skull, God
bless IL, just where foundit; and daddy dear,
Ill tell ye what S more III do, if il be pleasing
10 you, now that know for sartn it is part of
yourself, and that YOU can I do without il at the
day Of Judgment, II come here tomorrow and
put il under the clay, in the very spot where
father and mother buried, and where my
SplE ,rH No. ,,,hn / f.,, ,,I l.
God and won't that please vou2 Do, Hea-
VEINS rest attend We and do nj say word
against my having an hours loan of your skull
W nth that, Pethereen cast fond but fearful
look towards his grandfather; but nor he saw
nothing the light was gone; nothing was to be
seen but Darkness no sound but the wind sigh
ing through the ivy leaves. Silence gives
conslnt" says Peter, so, tying up with two good
knots the skull in his handkerchief home he
comes by the way he went, finds his company
still drinking, lays down his skull before them,
and gets his guinea; for I'd be glad to know
who dare refuse say he had not won his wa
ger, seeing as how Peter proved his courage,
aud would stand up before any of them. when
he had just been after facing ghost II is said
Peter was as good as his word, and kept his pro-
mise to hi, grandtather's ghost. for he did bring
back the skull, and did tut it dacently under the
clay-where II ) resting, for aught know, to
this very day. Some people, to be sure, were
slow oil believing that Peter saw his grandfath-
er's ghost at all, and that it only drunkard's
boast; for il S but too thrue that Peter, though
chapel-clerk, was a great drunkard and great
liar TO his dying day. But this is sarain that
a man for wager brought away by night a skull
from this abbey, and brought it back again;
which is what | would not do for all the guineas
IN Cunnaught.
NOBLE SENTIMENTS.
We recommend the following eloquent re-