New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-09-18
WEEDS.
BY NJ. LAFFAN.

of July in il, but with not chance of the thunder
showers that drench and cool the fierce temper of
The tog-days. Ii had been a crowded market-day,
and though the press of business was now nearly
over the steam and dust that hung about were
enough to make envy the swallows as they
scared overhead in the clear sunlight giving the
souare of Galteetown a wide berth. The donkeys
nj whom there were some hundreds, stood patiently
resigned to flies and drouth, waiting the leisure
~ their mstresses whose white caps were visible
in the seml-darkuess OF the shops they made
their weekly purchases before the start homeward.
Halt dozen carts were climbing already the billy
road that led from GalteetOwu toward the Water
ford mountains Some others were taking their
way by the Dublin and Tipperary roads, but the
crowd was scarcely diminished. At the first glance
il seemed "a mere assemblage of people without any
appreciable central rallylng point; but closer
inspection showed hat the fountain and in front
of the hotel, as the leading public house of the
town called, was a part of the square where
the leading dealers and their customers most re-
sorted. Baneys hsh-caIt was always drawn up
there, and the peders carts of old clothes and rags
The tn-ware merchant and the dealer In wicker
baskets and dishes were seldom tar oil, and to the
right and left of them stood, If by right the ass
carts of the most considerable fequenters of the
place. 1t was the hottest spot In the town that
afternoon and the hot sun drew out all the varied
odors, salt fish vying among them with the omni'
present turf smoke in which the clothes of the
try people seem To be soaked. Blaney's garron had
been taken out of the shc aud tied to the back
OF the next cart which belonged to Mrs. Roche. a
farmers wife from the mountain district Mrs.
Roche eating piece of dry bread. She could
very well afford to eat her own butter If she chose,
and she did when at home, but it ~ not wise to he
luxurious in public. and that commodity now,
owing to a spell of dry weather, fetching too good
AS she leaned against the wheel of her cart and bit
at the tough bread, she was talking TO changing
group of women on he other side OF the vehicle.
The centEe figure of this group a stout woman
OF about sixty, who had a black shawl folded over
her head instead OF white frlled cap like the rest
OF the women. She also wore slyer-rimmed spec
tacles and 1t was TO see from her manner. aud
the deferental address OF the Others that she
person of some Importance. She was In fact the
parish priests housekeeper, the leading gossip of
the toWn ana Us great oracle upon al matters Sa
dress, which of thick black stun, she had a
quasi look of some kind of religious. She had on
white apron, but that badge of servitude as
twisted up a to be out OF sight. She was busy
purchasing fowls for her master, feeling the breast
bones and pinching the thighs of the struggling
chickens, and declalming loudly the while as to
their shortcomings.
You can say what YOU like Mrs. Murphy she
was talking to an old woman who was standing q
little apart from the group. You cam repeated
the priests h9nsekeepeT Hut s your chickens are
ma'am. Mrs. Ready beyana got four good young
cocks for half a crown this morning that were
better fed than yours-much fuller
use your telling me / would rather take my little
chickens home agaln-so would.
very we'll then, tor me- returned the house.
keeper, letting the chicken fall FROM her hands
without more ado. as she addressed herself to an
other of the group. The bntter is to be had good
at Bowess shop beyOnt for ninepence, so | WI not
went on the housekeepcr IN tone of dignhed irony.
Then, dropping her voice discreetiy INTO the frls
OF a cap close by, would not, thin. be the person
that would tell the Clifords, Lawder. the agent is
bringing home his new wife tonight, eh. Mrs.
Ahearne
Tonight, thinv echoed Mrs. Ahearne a stout,
red-faeed woman of about forty. And it is to-
night 1t was this day fortnight they was married
come home on FRIDAY Saints be about u.s. but /
would not be in Lawders shoes when Charley
A violent push from a nelghbOr made her look
round suddenly and stop. The fish dealer Blauey,
was Harvesting his horse, and Big cDuStabulary
was standing close by, talking to him.
Lawder is a divil-so he is, indeed, my God
whined a little stopped old woman, whose face
he auQ pd NOT 10
so much as a baked potato. Look at us served
with the process 10 quit come NJ ichaelmas. And 1t
was my boys grandfather built the house over our
heads-dere above on Sheena Rinkey, and carried
de lime up dat mountain on his back dere too.
Forty years l am sleeping III dat house no ~ and
/ never can sleep in any other house. No | will
diel And dere Is my son James comm home next
week. get no work in England--an' we all 10 be
put out. An look at me- dat used always to have
my own side car to go to mass on, and dat brought
OF the finest heifeTs you ever laid eyes upon aud
not to mention featherbed that it took four of us
to haul into the house. And look at me now, has
to be beholden to neighbor to lift me down in her
little ass-cart, or / never could get to the market
at all. oh DEAR oh dear! if my good people, the
Brophys. could see my state this dayP And she
put her apron corner tn her eye and cried aloud
Is this Mary-Mary-F said the priests house
keeper, hesitatlng for the name. She knew it per-
fectly well; it was only one OF her ways of being
digniiied, to pretend not to know poor people
little woman through her sobs but lehernan
they do be calling me- She had been married TO
Con Hefernan for forty years but with the old
her q lass, counted herself among the Brophys still
She half curtsed she spoke, with the tears
running down her nose to the priests housekeeper
who surveyed her coOlly through her silver.
trimmed spectacles. They a cast pair of her
masters and btted the ridge of her nose exactly
If they suited her eyesight as well may be matter
of conjecture.
What did you get for your chickens this day p
asked she.
Fifteenpence for three, ma'am.' replied Mary
Ileiernan. L sold them to the bank manager
there below and. dropping her voice he's such a
naygur he would not give me the eighteenpence.'
Ay, ay, ay, joined all the other white caps in
chorus. That's the way wi them always
They knew, as well as the speaker, that the
chickens had been offered to the same bank man
ager at penny each below market price for the
simple reason that Con Heflernan was endeavoring
TO get him to bill for thirty pounds for an
other six months and his wife thought propitiate
him thus. The thirty pounds had gone TO the
landlord in part, the other part had bought Indian
meal and few pounds remained, and would per-
house. There had been two bad years The mar
ried son. with whom they lived, had found bat half
the usual employment in England, his wife had
gone out to service and, what was worse than
all there had been hard times in America. and the
daughters in New York whose earnings the
Heffernans mainly depended, had not been able to
send home any money. respite of another six
months made sure of-WhO could Tell what miracle
agricultural political, might not take place in the
time 7
i am told said Mrs. Ahearne, fixing her eyes on
the housekeepers face, that Lawder has got four
thousand with this new wife OF his.
Four assented the hOusekeeper, ID is quite
true but them she went on in bitter gliding
voice, LawdeT, you know. is a strong man him
self; he makes up TO thousand year out of this
place. so he does. Not but what he came here bare
enough
A silence fell upon the group their eyes were
al turned upon each others faces.
-Four thousanp repeated Mary Brophy or Heller
nan, as blanky as il they had said four millions
a IN ing a = far heFon1 he IA