Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-10-29
SMOKING A WITCH.
A Donegal Legend.

NJ feared TO go WI you the nIcht,
Jack"
Cleared! Is it feared you are? It's
the fine, brave man you are, for certain"
These last words, spoken in tone of
whitening scorn, were addressed to Tom
Doolan by his conrade and neighbor,
Jack Devenny.
The two men were about to launch
their boat and row across the Tough, to
cut osiers on the island, and Tom, whose
face was pale, and whose step tottered,
hung back when the time came to take
his place and begin to handle his oar.
It was sunny August day. The
mountains, covered with heather, glow.
ed a warm crimson in the sunshine; when
the corn fields were like sheets of gold,
and Tamney Tough was q mirror to re-
fleet unbrokenly the blue sky and sailing
clouds.
Far away beyond Mulroy, an inlet of
the Atlantic, stretched other mountains,
tier upon tier, the nearest hills purple,
the more distant ones like smoke-colored
phantoms against the sky. Even the
acres on acres Of bog that lay between
the corn fields had beauty of their
own. Every thing was silent. There
was no whir and bleat of snipe, no cry
of gull or plover. Smoke rose from the
chimneys of the little mud cabins scat
tered here and there over the country,
but there were no voices to be heard !;
only in the village of Tamney there was
some slight traffic and stir.
"Feared is it you are, TamP re-
peated Devenny, as he showed off from
the land.
"Ay-the witch! the witchl' faltered
the other, paler than before.
On sloping field just below the Tough
was cabin no better than those in the
village, and Tom raised his timid eyes
toward it while he whispered, I" the
witch! the witch!"
Betty Moriarty had lived there as
long as the oldest inhabitant. Paddy
Stevens, who had been born in the year
1908, declared that she had seemed an
old woman when he was boy; and now,
in 1900, she looked younger than he.
There was another circumstance that
made Betty's neighbours regard her with
awe.
She had no ostensible means of sup
port, yet she had plenty of every thing
in her cottage; pile of the driest turf,
which no one had seen cut, and butter
that she had not bought at the shop;
clothes that, like the garments Of the
children of Israel, "waxed not old.'
All this seemed to be not merely
comfort, % ut wealth and splendor, in the
eyes of the simple people. Many a
woman who happened to have small
churning firmly believed Betty to have
drawn away the butter from her churn,
but was afraid to quarrel with her, and
therefore spoke of her loss in guarded
whispers.
The only person who bad courage
TO reproach the witch was Tom
Doolan, whom she had now reduced to
an abject state of fear.
Some months before the beginning OF
our story Betty had kissed TOMS young.
est boy without saying "God bless you
Tor bonny wean," and the child had
plned away ever since. Father Dan
indeed, bad confirmed the suspicious OF
the parents'sX certifying that the LITTLE
fuence of an evil 30 '1o '''"i IL
her wit having bewiteepesn tye charged a5s
and had driven her down ~ i1amt
street, not, indeed, lifting his ON sI hsgt
to her, but permitting bis boys to'sn1a "a,
her with mud and pebbles, she had turf
ed to shake her stick at him and threate
vengeance, muttering curses "not lou
but Deep"
"She said she'd waste me to skin al
bone; she said her eyed be on me sleel
ing an waking" faltered the tremblir
man. as5a .
Whisht, WI your foolitchness," +
proved his companion.
Little Eileen Devenny, too young
six years old to be afraid OF the vito
came to Betty's door at that momen
and peeped in.
She saw the old woman pour wat
into large tub that stood in the mldd
of the room, and place wooden dish
it; and, full of interest and curlosit
she walked into the cabin.