The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-02-19
Stierf Story.
LE.ns'i~h Magazine
HY GRAEDFAfHER'S WEDDING.


Ny ancestors have been settled for
generations in the vicinity of small sea
port in the west of Ireland. | doubt if
richer or more varied scenery is to be
met with anywhere Landward stretch
Is a broad lake, studded with green is
lands and besirt by lofty hills, most of
the latter being wooded to.the top. On
every commanding point stands a ruin
ed stronghold, AID in every one of the
many pleasant valleys mouIders a long
deserted shrine. While some of these
ruins are renowned in history, all have
their traditions of surprising interest,
even when told by the rude peasants.
Westward the narrow harbor expands
into Il wide bay, which in its turn opens
oat into the illimitable ocean. The
coast is n wild one; it consists in a great
part of a range Of .surperlluous cliffs
stretching for miles, and rising in many
places more than IA thousand feet sheer
above the water
What with its magnificent scenery aud
its wild iegenis, s. and Its neighbOr-
hood is precisely the spot to nonrish the
spirit of poetry and adventure.
Our family was one of eight or nine
which had divided two counties between
them in the time Of James /. Toward
the close of the last century. the period
of my story, its prosperity had long been
on the decline \ succession of repre-
sentativeS given to dUeling, gambling,
drinking. ra'iol.iug, and unlimited hos
pital!ty, haj sadly diminished its resour-
ceS. They were a race unusually reck-
less for even the Ireland of the olden
time. \ fair specimen of them was my
grandfather. While yet mere youth
lie had succeeded to the headship of the
house, with its fortunes and liabilities.
The latter included IA fcud with neigh
boring elan, the commencement of
which nobody remembered, but which
had been transmitted from sire 10 son,
exasperating as it went. Three months
never passed without riot and homicide
sometimes on an extensive scale-be-
tween the parties.
As it happened the Gregg chieftain of
the day was also young, though some
years the senior of my grandfather-a
fine, powerful man of twenty-six. For
tune willed that the pair should become
rivals ia love, both wocing the beauty of
the province. She was indeed beauty.
| saw her fifty years later. withered with
age and worn with troubles of ordinary
kind, yet still handsome, and her por-
trait, taken ia her prime, fully justified
the high praise awarded to her att'ac-
tions in song,and the still higher praise
included in the fiery affections which
they excited, and in the deeds as fiery TO
which they impelled. Here | shall take
leave to remark that the world contains
no finer specimens OF humanity than
abound among tine higher classes of
Western Ireland In the case of grand
mother, n strong Infusion of Spanish
blood had added the dash and brilliancy
of the South 10 the native grace of the
Handsome HamiItons'
Ny grandfather, one OF the widest spir-
its of his age and country, was an enthu-
siaStic sportsman. lie delighted in high
excitement, wiLs an uuerring shot and a
daring horseman, and no less skilled in
handling sail and car than in guiding the
steed. Indeed, Little" Allan Grants
desperate feats and hairbreadth escapes
to this day form the theme of fireside
story in the land of his birth. He was
about the last OF mortals whom one
would think Of turning rhymster
But love effects strange transformations
have before me bandle Of mildewed
papers. yrritten o:er with verses address
Ell to ''Pretty Fanny Hamilton" They
might be more polished, perhaps, but
they could hardly be more earnest and
original, or more free from affection and
cGlictlI-
Nv ancestors rival was favored Of the
relatives of the beauty, andm ancestor
was favored of the beauty herself, whose
heart WIS completely carried away by
the impetuosity of the frank, fearless
rhymer. In those stormy days, however,
the relatives OF Irish beauty We're aceus-
toned to bestow it in marriage without
much regard to the feelings of the pos
SCISSOR. And so pretty Fanny" as she
was called to the day of her death, was
condemned TO wed Mr. Gerald Gregg,
though the fact that her affections were
fixed elsewhere was notorious. Her
prayers and her tears were unavailable
TO move the despots of the domestic cir
ele. Her tiIreats-for beauty of spirit