Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-11-23
SMOKING A WITCH
A Donegal Legend

SMOklNG A WITCH
! A Donegal Legend.
"I'm feared to go wi you to the NIGHT,
Jack"
"Feared? Is it feared you are? 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 and
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 handle his oar.
| It was sunny August day. The
mountains, covered with heather, glowed
warm crimson in the sunshine; while
the cornields were like sheets of gold,
and Tamney Lough was mirror to re-
fleet unbrokenly the blue sky and sail
ing 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 color
phantons against the sky. Even the
acres on acres of bog that lay between
the corn fields had beauty OF their own
Every was silent. There was no
whir and bleat Of snipe, no cry Of gull
OF plover. Smoke rose from the Chin
neys Of the little mud cabins scattered
here and there over the country, but
! there were no voices to be heard ; only in
the village of Tsmmy there was some
slight traffic and stir
"Feared you are, Tam?" repeated Dev-
emmy, as he showed off from land.
'Ay-the witch! the witch! faltered
the other, paler than before.
On sloping field just above the Tough
was a cabin no better than those in the
village, and Tom raised his timid eyes
toward it while he whispered "the|witch
the witch"'
Betty Moriarty had lived there as long
as the Oldest inhabitant could remember.
Paddy Steven, who had been born in the
year l70S, declared that she seemed an
old woman when he was boy, and now,
IN 1900, she looked younger than he.
There were other circumstances that
made Bettys neighbors regard her with
awe.
She had no ostensibie means OF sup
port, yet she had plenty of everything in
her cottage; pile of the driest turf,
which no one had seen cut, or drawn
home from the bog; quantities Of milk
and butter, that she had not bought at
at the shop clothes that, like the garments
Of the children Of Israel, 'swaxed not
DID, ALI this seemed to be not merely
comfort, but wealth and splendor, in the
eyes of the simple people. Many d wo-
man who happened to have small churn-
ing, firmly believed Betty to have drawn
the butter away from her churh, but was
afraid to quarrel with her, and therefore
spoke Of her loss in guarded whispers.
The only person who HAD had the cour-
age to reproach the witch, was Tom Doc
Ian, 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 for
bonny wean," and the child had pinned
away ever SINCE. Father Dan, indeed,
had confirmed the suspicious Of the par
ents by certifying that the little fellow
was suffering from the baleful influence
of an evil eye
When Tom Doolan openly charged
her with having bewitched his child, and
had driven her down the village street,
not, indeed, lifting his own hand to her,
but permitting his boys to pelt her with
mud and pebbles, she had turned to
shake her stick at him, muttering curses,
threatening vengeance, not loud but
deep.
'She said she'd waste me to skin an
bone! She said her eyed be on me Sleep
in or wakin,' faltered the trembling
man.
"Whisht, wi your foolitchness," re-
proved his companion.
Little Eileen Devenny, too young at
six years old to be afraid Of witch, came
to old Betty's door at that moment, and
peeped in.
She saw the old woman pour water in
to large tub that stood in the middle of
the room, and place a wooden dish in it;
and full Of interest and curiosity, she
walked into the cabin.
''There, wean," said Betty, "you watch
thon tub, an tell me what the wee dish
does, an I'll gle you piece o'bread with
a taste O. butter an sugar on it,"
The witch crouched by the hearth,
with her pointed chin supported on her
skinny, claw-l1kc hands, Her face was
thin and furrowed, her nose meagre and
hooked, her eyes cruel and cunning, and
the long teeth that her parted lips dis
closed while she muttered lamentations
looked cruel too.
"What is ityou're sayin, Betty?" asked
the child.
swatch the wee dish, child. an tell
me what you see."
ooh, Betty! Betty the dish is going
round in the tub!''
More muttering.
"What's the dish doing now, Eileen
mavourneen?"
"Oh! oh! oh! Musha musha It's spin
ming round as fast as anything! It's turn
ing over! There! It's full Of water-it's
gone to the bottom O. the tub!'
s'That's right" and Betty rubbed her
skinny claws together, and grinned with
pleasure. "Thon's your daddy's boat
that sunk in Tamney Lough," she chuck
led, IAN thon thief OF the world, thon
| rascal Tom Doolan, S in her an he'll be
| drowned. Curse him he set his boys to
pelt me WI mud an stanes. Let him
drown an burn" She continued, in a
lower tone: e.
"'Nae candle at his head
Nae priest beside his bed,
Nae winding sheet, nae hearse,
Nae coffin for his corse'"