The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1881-01-16
THE MAJORS vAlEDIcTION
ny d. CHRISTIE MURRAY.

The Major on a sunshny day in the main
street of Ballykillrowdy was pleasant to be.
hold. He was not strictly handsome man
perhaps, but he had the air of being hand
some man an air of so much nonchalance
and good-humored triumph that II imposed
upon most people and sent them away with
the notion that the Major was an Adonis.
He had one of the grandest figures remem-
Der to have seen. Strength sat side by side
with grace on his broad shoulders, and the
carriage of his head was in itself sort of
wonder of high temper and vivacity. His
mustaches took downward sweep; his hat
raked little the tips of the fingers of his
left hand entered his trousers pocket; his
right hand bore cane, which described, as
1t were of its own voltion, circles and seq
ments of circles. He took his way smiling,
and his bright gray eyes and faultless teeth
made his face look as gay as sunshine. This,
when l come to look at it, reads like the
description Of handsome man; but, like
the Majors air, there is a certain imposi-
ton in it, though know not how to lay my
finger OH it.
Ballykillrowdy was mainly owned by Miss
Vivian Blake, Young lady of charming ex.
terror who rode to hounds under the escort
of an ugly male second cousin, whom the
Major loathed. But such part of Ballykill-
rowdy as was not owned by the beautiful
Miss Blake was owned by her ugly male
second cousin, and the popular impression
was that Miss Blake and the cousin would
make match of it. Against this popular
beliefthe Major chafed as Socrates might have
riled up against decrepit syllogism. 1t
may be said of the Major that he had an air
of prosperity, which was greatly more de-
oantipa fhan his nj IF nh ha.,
Had his creditors met in conclave they might
possibly have decided among them a
problem of some interest," how did the Major
live? He owned neither lands nor mes
suages. Like his look of beauty and his air
of prosperity, his very title was misleading
to the stranger. He had never held a COM
mission anywhere in anything but man
with such figure ought to have been a
major-if the rank had been created espe-
cially that he might ornament it, the thing
had seemed most fitting and admirable-and,
In short, the title was popular tribute, un-
sought by him, conferred upon him by ma
ture, so it seemed, and adopted without one
dissentient voice by the public of Ballykill-
rnwdy, and Endorsed by the members of the
Ulster in lordly Belfast.
Novelists and other social moralists have
often been synical, at small cost, with re-
spect to the affection entertained by an I'M
acrsd gentleman for well-acred lsdy. But
as Boccacoio and Mr.. Tennyson will tell YOU
a real attachment is not altogether impos-
sible under such conditions. The Major
was madly in love-not with Miss Blake's
landed possessions, but with Miss Blake
Time had made his first inroads on the poor
gentleman's close-clustering hair. He was
but two-and-thirty, but such men age early,
and have never heard that partial or even
a complete badness gives safety against the
assaults of the grand passion. The ugly
second cousin, his own poverty, the rapidly
increasing width of his central parting, and
vivian's beauty and Yivian's kindness COM
bined together to fret the Majors heart. Yet
the Irish elasticity of his temperament
constantly pulled him out of the depths of
his dependency, though it as constantly
suffered him to fall again. Spiritually, he
resembled an infant seated in that American
invention, the baby jumper" and he
went up and down on the most insignificant
provocation.
In perfect seriousness, but with an Irish
sense of rhyme, he wrote ballads on his own
condition and to his mistress eyebrow. Per-
init that the Muse of History conserve a
verse. The title of this story should, per-
haps, have been, some of the Majors Vale
dictions, or The Majors Last valedic-
tion )" for during the years of his passion he
was always bidding farewell, in terms more
or less affecting to the adorable Vivian.
"Apd as for me-" wrote the Major, after
wishing Vivian all happiness, even with the
ugly second cousin:
"And as for me there's FIJI and Tamil,
And lots OF other places 1T to die In;
Ana when ~ dead your smallest sign OF pity,
Wihreach and thrill me even where IN lying"
1t was an honest passion. The poor fellow
fairly hooLod ,,,ouuar of o,,l,;
tions began to bestir Themselves; for there
was more In him, or at least he thought so,
than the helpless power to dream of good
luck over bottle Of the club Pommard, or a
glass OF hot Irish, as the state of the funds
might order. Perhaps the title conferred
upon him was not without its influence upon
his dreams.
"I'd hang me harp ON the willow tree,
AM of to the wars again." said the Major;
but havn't the harp, or the funds to buy
one, and there's no willow tree handy and
no wars convenient; the Lord be good to
me ~
Whether Phil Durgan, the ugly second
cousin, had or had not in his own person
exhausted the family stock of physical I'M
happiness, cannot tell, but know for a
fact that his sister was as pretty as Vivian
herself. II knew of anything prettier,
would compare her toit, but do not, and in
these declining days am not likely to find
1t. Whose Is the hand which shall, by the
aid Of movable types, describe pretty girl 7
Mine has no cunning. ~ say that each of
these Young ladies was ravishing, ninsteep,
| and Irish, have done my best Like Rosa
lind and Celia, they learned, played, ate
together, and wherssoe'er they went, like
Juno's swans, still they went coupled and
inseparable. 1t followed that II Phil Durgan
had known as much "a was known to his sis
ter Julia, he would have known more of
Vivian's likings than he knew. In that case
the ineffable satisfaction which commonly
illumined his foggy features might have
dimmed little. Yet, why should triumph
over ugly Phili Your story teller Is rarely
| content unless he fogs his rascals. Dickens,
| for example, gloated over the Bullets dealt
by his unpopular people. With what q
gusto he fiogs squeers, how rejoioingly he
| throws Wegg into the scavenger's cart, with
what exultation he tells the story of Peck
| shifts thrashing II is in my power to ad-
minister to Mr.. Philip Durgan such horse
whipping as never vet mortal man received,
but as am strong will be mercitul. Phil,
as the late Lord Lytton said OF somebody,
was uglier than he had right to be. There
is a certain Irish type of face which trenches
perilously on the aspect Of tho gorilla, and
Phil, who was naturally gifted in this direc-
ton, improved his chances by the disposition
Of his hair and whiskers. lie had all the
graces Of lady-killer, as an initiative ape
might have them lie had brogue man
might have hung his hat on, and believed
that he spoke with the purest of all possible
English accents.
| "0i was niver taken for an Oirshman but
wonce In me loite," Phil had been known to
say, " an that was be Polish jew OF met in