The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-02-08

Wrote great lnstilOlN, OF ulu great ac-
ton, you'll never hear it's a woman done
it; but if there is a duel with swords
and guns, or two boys cracking each
others crown with slillalahs, or Il
secret let out or character ruined, or n
man brought to the gallows, or mischief
made between father and his own flesh
and blood, then I'll engage you'll hear a
woman had some call to it. We needn't
have recoorse to histhory to know your
doin's, 'tis undher our eyes for twas
the likes o We two burned Throy, and
made the King o Lensther rebel against
Brian BoTu."
These shafts of eloquence struck
home; the women set up screaming,
and pulled their caps off their heads,
which i'll that part was equivalent to
gentlefolks drawing their swords.
"Oh, murther murther was it for
this [ married you, Guillaum Taafe p
"Och, Shamus. will We sit an hear
me compared to the likes? Would / re-
bel against Brian Boru, Shamus. ara
gal ?"
'Don't heed him, avourneen," said
Shamus; "he is an ould man.
But she would not be pacified "Oh,
vo. vol If ever I thought the likes 'ud
be said of me, that I'd rebel against
Brian Boru."
AS for the other, she prepared TO leave
the house. "Guillaum," said she, "I'll
never stay day mdher your roof with
them as would say I'd burn Throy.
Does he forget he ever had a mother
himself? All /! It's bad apple that de-
spises the tree it sprung from"
All this heated Shamus, SO that he
told the women sternly to sit down, for
the offender should go; and upon that,
to show they were of one mind, Guillaum
deliberately opened the door. Lurche1
ran out, aud the wind and the rain rush
ed ill., 1t was stormy night.
Then the old man took fright, and
hllmbled himself.
"Ah 81 anls, Grillaum, achree, lei
We have it as We will; I'm sorry for what
l said, ara gal Don't turn me out on
the highroad in my ould days, Guiflaum,
nnd I'll engage I'll niver open my mouth
against one o We the longest day / live
All Shamlls, it isn't long / have to stay
wild We, anyway. Yer own hair will be
as white as mine yet, plaise God and
yell be thanking Him We showed respect
to mine this night"
But they were all young and OF one
: mind, and they turned him ont ant
/ barred the door.
> He crept away, shivering in the wine
and rain. till he got on the lee side OF /
| stone wall. and there he stopped and ask
, ed himself whether he could live through
the night
Presently something cold and smooth
poked against his hand: it WIS a large
| dog that had followed him unobservet
till he stopped. Fly white mark on hi
breast lie saw it was Lurcher, Garret''
dog.
"Ah r. said the poor OLD wanderer
"ycu are not SO wise n dog AS | thought
to follo7y me-" When he spoke to th'
dog, the dog for 'la1 him. Then he
burst cut sobbing and crying: "-ih
| Lurcher Garret was rot wise either
but he would uiver have TUNED me t.
the door this bitter night, nor even thee.
And 50 lie moaned and lamented. Bn
Lurcher pulled his coat, and by hi
movements conveyed to him that III
. should not stay there all night; so thel
he crept on and knocked at more than
one door, but did not obtain admittance
: it WAS So tempestuous. At last he la,
t down exhausted on some straw i'll til,
corner of an outhouse; but Lurcher Ia.
? close to him, and it is probable th'
warmth Of the dog saved his life tina
| night.
' Next day the wind and rain abated
but this aged man had other ills TO figh
against besides winter and rough wealth
: er The sense of his sons ingratitud
? and his own folly drove him almost mad
| Sometimes he would curse and thirst fo
1 vengeance, sometimes he would she'
: tears that seemed to scald his witherei
t cheeks. He got into another county an,
| begged from door to door. As for LIlrch
| er, lie did not beg: lie used to disappear
t often for an hour at time, but alway
e returned. and often with rabbit or ever
+ q hare in his mouth. Sometimes tn
e friends exchanged them for Il gallon O
!. meal, sometimes they roasted them il
Il the woods: Lurcher was a civilized dog
/ and did not like them raw.
1 Wandering hither and thither. Brial
G Taafe came at last within few miles O
V his own house but he soon had caus
4 to wish himself further off it !; for her
g he met his first downright re
a buff, and, cruel to say, he owned it t
j his hard hearted SONS. One recognize
e him us the father of that rogue Guillaul
4 Iaafe. who had cheated him i'll the sal
. of horse. and another as the father G
g that thief Shamus, who had sold him
a diseased COW that died the week after
So, for the first time since he was drive
: out of his home, he passed the nigh
: supperless, for houses did not lie clos
}, together i'll that part.
l. Cold, hungry, houseless and distracte
d with grief ut what he had been and no'
g was, nature gave way at last, and, III
n able TO outlast the weary, bitter night
s he lost his senses Just before dawn, an
e lay motionless on the hard road.
t The chances were he must die; bu
e Just at death S door his luck turned.
Lrrcher put his feet over him and hi
J, chin upon her breast to guard him, as h
S had often guarded Carrots coat, an
e that kept up little warmth in his heart
t and at the very dawn of day the door
n farmhouse opened, and the maste
came out upon his business, and sa'
n something unusual lying in the road
n good way off. So he went toward il, an
found Brian Taafe i'll that condition. Thi
a farmer was very well-to-do, but he ha
e known trouble, and it had made hil
charitable. He soon hallooed to hi
F" men, and had the old man taken in b
i called to his wife too, and bade her OF
e serve that it was reverend face, thong
he was all in tatters. They laid him b'
It tween hot blankets, and, when he cam
b to bit, gave him warm drink, and
i, last a good meal He recovered b.
J, spirits, and thanked them with a certal