Weekly Calaveras chronicle., 1868-04-11
Neither Priest Nor Parson.
When I WAS dnRn at Valent;a Ia

it was said, were to land no end of
Fenians, I passed 2 good deal of my
tine in quiet little public house, or
"Hot- he'll" and it being part of my
work to ask questions and ascertain the
feelings Of the country folks, I made
some rather queer acquaintancos-and
some rather pleasant ones, too. Among
the latter was the village postman, a
tall, good-lookipg young fellow, who
was once in the copstabulary. He had
a very nice cottage, and one of the
prettiest little women to wife I had seen
in Kerry. | told him 50 one day, and
this brought cut the Story | am about
to repeat.
"Faith, sir," he said, when I gave
him my opinion Of bis wife's beauty,
"she's pretty enough but Katy never
could hold candle to her sister Norah.
All ! then, she was beauty
"Was," said l. as she dead?"
"No, sir, but worse; she's mad, sir ;
and since you are fond of stories, may
be you d Ike to hear hers. You've
heard the famine times I was in the
constabulary then, and hard enough
work we had, toe, to keep the peace,
and make the poor starving creatures
listen to reason. Norah and Katy lived
with their grandmother, who had tidy
bit of land she let of Norah was the
prettiest girl in these parts, and very
proud was the cid woman Of her and
the lovers that came we're enough to
turn any girls head. How they didn't
turn Norah's was this: the little girl
had a lover Of her Own. Her heart vas
given to q neighbor's son, one Dick
Canty, handsome, boid-spirited boy as
ever stepped, but mighty reckless, and
without penny TO bless himself with /;
and SO when Norah turned the cold
shoulder to the best matches in the
country side, the old woman began to
look sharper, aud found cut that she
and Dick were courting With that
there WAS great disturbance, 80 much
that Dick vent off and listed, but no.
before he had sworn Norah to be true
to him.
"Whcn Dick was fairly gone, the
grandmother thought she would have
her own way, and SO, to make Norah
believe Dick had forgotten her, she
used to watch to get any letters he
might send and my brother, who was
postman then; told me he would see her
sitting i'll the window watching hui,
rs luck would have it, when the letter
,.id come, and he walked up to the
window, the old woman had fallen fast
asleep ); and there was Norah, with a
white, eager face, holding cut her hand,
and beside her Katy, laughing and
b.ushiDg, and making signs to him
to be quiet and not wake her grand.
mother.
''In that latter Dick told Norah he
could not go away without seeing her,
and would come down next night, Just
TO get one word from her before the
regiment left ireland
"Accordingly Dick came, and that
night, as Ill luck would have it, DeLis
Coyle's stacks were burnt. Some one
had seen Dick about; and then it was
brought up that he aud Denis had been
rivals /; that there vas black blood be-
tween them So, to make long story
short, Dick was taken up. I was one
Of the party sent after him and never
shall l forget the poor boys face when
our sergeant told him what they ac-
oused him Of.
" 4 am lost man. he said, getting
hold of my hand and squeezing it hard;
'but promise me one thing--if Denis
lays a finger On Norah, let me know
Well, the trial came on, and Dick
was convicted Of burning Mr.. Coyle's
stacks. Poor Dorah's life seemed to
go out. She went about like ghost,
and, in spite of all that her grandmoth-
er could say, would NOS SO much as
show her face either at church or any
place else where she could be seen. A
year passed by in this sort Of way.
Then came the. bad crops. the disease,
and the famine. Norah's people were
Protestaats, aud Denis was a Catholic
His barns were full, when everybody
else had parted with their last peck of
meal and Potatoes Denis, however,
held out for a higher price yet but
one day some one heard him say that
he'd give every root and grain in the
store if Norah Ennis would come and
bid him open the door on their wedding
day. The story few round the village,
and you may be sure, lost nothing in
the telling. 1t reached Norah's ears,
and served her grandmother for many a
hard word Starving people crowded
round the old woman's cabin-some
begging some threatening some ~
ing down as if to die there some hold
ing up starving and emaciated children,
praying all Gods blessings upon the
girl if she would save them. Norah
bore it for a week but what light
Dicks sentence bad left in her poor
eyes faded out. She sat with her hands
on her ears all day, trying to shut out
the horrible sounds which assailed her
on all sides; but they would be heard.
On the heavy, hot midnight air came
the shrill cries
/" For the sake av the little one, dar-
lint for the love av heaven and the
dying mother sure yen never take
the weight av our lives upon ye.'
Such were the appeals sbrieked or
moaned in through the chinks of the
door, through the window against which
pressed pale, passionate faces, until,