Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-10-30
SMOKING A WITCH.
4 Donegal Legend.

SMUk1NG A WlTCH.
A Donegal, Legend.
"Pm feared to 60 wi you the NIGHT,
Jack"
",Fearedl Is it feared you are7 It's
the fine, brave man you are, for certain"
These last words, spoken in a tone of
whitening scorn, were addressed to Tom
Doolan by his comrade 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.
1t was sunny August day. The
mountains, covered with heather, glow.
ed warm crimson in the sunshine; when
the corn fields were like sheets of gold,
and Tamney Tough was a mirror to re-
feet 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.
Cleared is it you are, Tam?" re-
peated Devenny, as he showed off from
the land.
':Ay-the witch! the witchw faltered
tho osLo-, polar than before
On a sloping field just below the Tough
was a cabin no better than those in the
village, and Eom raised his timid eyes
ward it while he whispered, "the
witch! the witch!"
Betty Morisrty had lived there as
long as the oldest inhabitant. Paddy
Stevens, who had been born in the year
17no, declared Sl...t sLo Ls.L s~oA..vL al
old woman when be 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 everything
in her cottage; a 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 DID,"
All this seemed to be not merely
comfort, but wealth and splendor, in the
eyes of the simple people. Many a
woman who happened to have a 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 hec loss in guarded
whispers.
The only person who had courage
to reproach the witch was Tom
Doolan, whom she had now reduced tc
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
for bonny wean," and the child had
pined away ever since. Father Dan
indeed, had confirmed the suspicious OF
the parents by certifying that the little
fellow was suffering from the baneful in
fuence of an evil eye.
When Tom Doolan had openly charged
her with having bewitched the child
and had driven her down the village
street, not, indeed, lifting his own hane
to her, but permitting his boys to pei
her with mud and pebbles, she had turn
ed to shake her stick at him and threaten
vengeance, nluttering curses "not lout
but deep"
"She said she'd waste me to skin an
bone; she said her eyed be on me sleer
ing an waking" faltered the tremblin,
man.
Whisht, wi your foolitchuess," re
proved his companion.
Little Eileen Devenny, too young a
six years old to be afraid of the witch
came to Betty's door at that moment
and PeePea in.
She saw the old woman pour waite,
into large tub that stood in the middle
of the room, and place wooden dish il
it; and, full of interest and curiosity
she walked into the cabin. 5a.
"There, wean, said Betty, "you
watch thon tub, an tell me what thu
wee dish does, an I'll gle you piece wi
taste o. butter an sugar on it.'
The witch crouched by the hearth
with her pointed chin supported on hei
skinny, claw-like hands. Her face wa,
thin and furrowed, her nose meagre and
hooked, her eyes cruel and cunning, anc
the long teeth that her parted lips dis
01naod v1hS1o che
looked cruel, too.
What is it you're sayin', Betty?'
asked the child. =, ~
"Watch the wee dish, child, an tel
me what you see." .r.,,,.,s
=. ooh, Betty Bettyl the dish is going
round an round in the tubl" :,
More muttering.
"What's the dish doing now, Eileen
mav0urneen?": 5A&a@2 =,
Cob! OIL obi Muaha! smushai 1t.
spinning round as fast as any thinxt T It..
turning overl There! It's fun Of .wate,
its gone to the bottom Of the tub!'
"That's right" and Betty rubbed
her skinny claws together, and grinned
with pleasure. !" Thon's your daddy
boat that's sunk in Tamney Lough," sht
chuckled, "an' thon thief o. the world
thon rascal Tom 1Doolan, is in her, an
( he'll be drowned. Carse himl he sent
his boys to pelt me WI mud an stones
!, Let him drown an burn" She con
tinned, in lower tone: : ~ $500 e:*:t
y =, - :. Nae candle 1t his head " K: ,:.r,t.,
= ,"'s' Nae priest beside bis bed, To- ~;
go, 80 - Nae Winding sheet: nae hearse, -.
- = Nae comm for his coIse.," 1'
-. -. When little Eileen canuht chez dv...d
full words she became! frightened, an !
ran to the door. The sky was q dear q
ever, except directly above, the ozie1
island on Tsmney Tough, where a heavy
cloud seemed to hang; while white