The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-06-18
BILLY KIRWAN's AFFAIR OFHONOR

Few affairs of honor have been sur
passed IN real Irish fun by the one
which took place in Dublin, in which
the celebrated fire-eater and champion
Of the Dublin corporation, D'Esterre
afterward shot by O'Connel. came out
IN ga new way TO pay old debts" ant
had his Overstrsined notions Of chiyaIry
turned into successful ridicuIe by az
honest plain-dealiDg mans mother wi
and common sense. D'EsteTre used Il
put his name to paper without thought
of payment. One day Billy Kirwan, {
wetlkuOwn bill hr ker, was offered {
bundle of bills for discount. It wal
Mr.. Krwan's boast that he instinctiveIy
knew bad paper by the feel of it.
There's bad paper in your lot
i can perceive, Sir, without taking the
trouble to look over it 8eri 1h-til1 q
lttc-T0h tim, remarked Billy who had
been originally intended by bis pious
Galway parents for the church, and bad
III his bOyhOOd a decent converse with
the preIiminaries of the classics
Ftp1l1lnl kGbct IN cOy7a1I," he continued
as body might say to spawned
horses. You had better remove it. il
you playse, Sir, before have anything
TO say to you, for I wouldn't touch !,
with pair of kitchen tongs, much less
dirty my hands with it.
I" / am astOnished Go hear YOU saw So
Sir said the merchant; "and would
you be pleased to mention what it is in
my hand that encounters your obiec.
tiOn ?"
"Why a certain acceptance signed
ii. ID Esterro, aad II you must know nv
opinion, / world not advance the value
OF brass button and all that a jackass
could draw on the same security"
GOOD heavens and why not?"
For rayson ] have; and NOBODY
knows it better than Mr.. D.Esterre
himself" answered Kirwap,
as MIR. Kirwan was sitting alone
after dinner the same evening, enicying
ms pipe and his glass of punch over
one OF MGhee's late leaders in the
Evening Post, or Just as palpable, cre
OF Dan OCOunell's earlier speeches in
favor of Catholic emancipation, the
servant came in with a card from Col
Onel Henry.
Who's Colonel Henry }" demsnded
KItw8n.
- Faith, and it's meself doesn't know
him from the man in the noon"
ROWl in the colonel and lay another
tUmb!er !" said the master of the house.
Colonel Henry, tall and gentleman
iy-lookinG man of middle eye was ush.
cred in.
Mighty glad am to see Won. colonel.
whatever you've come about, " said our
host "but before you begin 1 would
advise You to mix n tumbler of that ex
ceileut Johnny Power that's forenept
you. If You take It of at once. II viii
pull You through the openire part of
your business pleasantly end comfort
AMY aud then yoU can mix a second at
once 20 prepare yOu for contingencies "
Col Henry having taken Eirvan's
ADVICE 50 lar as mixing, but not sud
=. NY absorbing, the liquor, opened his
l'"r'iieS2 VIII ali the grandeur of per
rect or IsuciGs, as in days long gone bv
when Jack johnson used TO enect AZ
part not Tyrone Power.
he colonel very much regretted that
1t fell to his lot to have to ,!elive, = nos,
tile message to a gentleman of sucb re-
sIectamlIty as Mr.. Kirwan from ono
equally respectable and estinahIa os
Mr.. DEsterre. He repeated fine ~
furious and insulting expressions which
the gentleman whom he had the honor
OF addressing had made use of in sneak
ing OF his friend during the dav tn a
certain merchant in the Commercial
BUILDINGS, and which had travelled the
round of the city before niCht-faU. He
pointed out, moreover. the utter i'm
possibility Of Mr.. D'Esterre allowing
such an outrage on his name and char.
hcltr 10 DE uttered and sent forth TO the
w"'ld without demanding the satisfac
ton Of a gentleman.
Then, colonel, honey, come to the
point, and just tell me what it is that
you want" demanded Kirwan,
An apology or the alternative"
winch means that I must eat nv
words or fghtP"
Most DECIDEDLY"
g It can't lie done for the MONEY!"
&" For the money ~
'Aes, for the money. I'd be glad to
accommodate you, my dear colonel in
any way IN my power but the money
stands IN my way most completely and
entirely"
Col Henry locked hewildered. Kir.
vans 0rgUmentum ad crumenum was
evidently beyond him. What monev9
whose money p he exclaimed.
why, my money, to be sure; the
money that your respectable friend Mr..
DESterre owes me this last coupIe of
years nothing more nor less than
cool hundred, independent of interest
and expenses. l lent it to him at first
not as a matter of business but on his
pledged word of honor that he'd return
II to me at the time he promised; and,
mon my honor and sowl, he hasn't
done so from that day TO this"
The colonel doubted what he had
to do with the m oney question.
Everything, said Kirwan, Gin the
regard of your not having the ghost Of
an argument on your side when YOU ask
me to apologize or fight.
The colonel still could not see II but
ms opponent very soon made him, in
this wise : He'd be liar and coward
to apologize or in any way retract what
he had said and still felt of DEsterre.
so long as D'Esterre chose to act dis
hCnorably toward him and TO 90 ont
ard fight him wunld be to act like the
biggest fool IN existence. "Blood-an'-
'UUns, colonel = sald Billy, "do Won
want me to fire against my own money ?
On the other hand, II D'Esterre hits me.
he'll send me to the devil after it: aud
Won know tie scripture says That out of
hell there's no redemption I
"Vely true indeed, and by no means
an unreasonable way of putting it." OBJ |
served Colonel Henry "but, he added, |
will you, if 1 satisfy you on the money
question"
eff you pay me-that's the chat r
rOared Billy.
"Pay you-certainly that's what |
mean but viii You then fght?"
Like a Trojan, colonel cried Eir- |
wan. Anything TO obHge you-any- |
hing for peace and quieness."
II shall see you tomorrow morning |
again, Mr.. Kirwan, aid the colonel, |
rising and formally bowling TO his host, |
who vainly endeavored to make him |
take smother jorum, lust to show that |
there was no animOsity between them"
You'll have your friend ready in the |
morning when l call ?" asked Henry, as
! o turned for the last time,