Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1884-01-03
LAST NEW YEAR'S-EVE.

LAST NEW YEAR'S-EVE.
Down it came at last, in soft, feathery
fakes, floating gracefully past us as we
drove along the bleak mountain road
that leads from Glcnfynn to the remote
little village of Loughbeg. To our
right, in the distance, lay LDugh Cor
lib, calm and sullen nesting in n hol-
low, guarded on all sides by bare rug
ged hills, the keen north wind scarcely
wrinkling its surface as it swept across
it. To The left, far away as the eye
could reach, lay tho sea, the broad,
blue Atlantic, irctting itself against
the wild broken coast. Human habita-
ton there was nOne-nOt q friendly ray
of light, not a faint curl of smoke from
cottage chimney-nothing but sky
and sea, with q thin gray atmosphere
between, q rugged unsholtered road
winding wearily along the mountain
side, stony fields, stunted shrivelcd
hedges, and blue mountains ri,ing
grandly in the distance.
had driven over to Glenfynn to
meet my brother-in.law, Henry Scott,
who was coming to spend the "wind
up" of the holidays with us before his
return to London. My wife and | had
been living in Connemara lOr nearly n
year; and, with all its drawbacks and
disadvantages, we did not altogether
dislike it. In spite of the fact that |
was an agent and representative of 4
nonresident landlord, and that my
employer had purchased the Rathbar
property in the Encumbered Estates
Court, thereby, in common parlance Of
the country, dispossessing fine
could" family of their "rights," and
thenceforward mildly insisting on his
own rights in the matter of rent, | got
on tolerably well with the people.
They certainly had n deep-rooted
aversion to "quarter-day," and to
improving their land or altering their
wrotched wood cabins; but, with the
exception of these trlling idiosyncra-
sizes and an unconqucrable objection to
fresh air and cold water, found the
tenants on tho Rathbar estate pleasant
enough, gentle, warm hearted, quaint
ly humorous, and, in their loose way,
industrious, in every respect as differ.
ent as possible from the fierce, sullen,
scowling, suspicious, indolent creatures
they had been described to me. With
some misgivings Itook up myrcsidence
in Rathbar Lodge; but | received no
threatening letters, had no skulls,
collins, cross-bones, or other ghastly
designs painted on my front door,
never had an intimation that there was
''a wooden overcoat" awaiting me,
with leaden buttons to secure it, my
garden and farmyard were unmolested,
and even my Objectionable threshing-
machine escaped demolition, to the
astonishment of some of my less fortu-
nate neighbors.
Without being vain, l think may
say l was popular both with my own
tenants on the Rathbar estate and with
theinhabitants of the village generally.
They always greeted me with smiles
and kind words, and | am certain they
adored my wife; but that's not surpris-
ing-Maggie has way of making
friends, and keeping them too, a very
different and much more difficult mat
ter.
Though an Englishman by birth and
education, l am Irish by extraction;
and to that circumstance, and to the
fact that speak the language iluently,
and that my wife too can return n
salute or blessing and buy her butter
and chickens in pure County Galway
hish, attribute much of my success
in dealing with the people, and, had |
been lineal descendant of the ruined
and "wronged" MacCosgraves of Rath-
bar, they could not have treated me
much better.
1t had been sorely against the wishes
Of my wite's relatives that had ac-
cepted the agency; and as, during the
preceding months, there had been q
good deal of ill feeling and open dis
content in tho neighborhood, they
pressed me, for my wife's sake, TO
return to England and seek some less
risky, even if less renumerative, situa-
ton. But Maggie and were happy
enough, and safe enough too. We
enjoyed the magnificent solitude of our
hilly home, with the Twelve Pins look
ing down on us, and the sea laughing
in between. We had no wish to leave
Rathbar, and invited Henry to come
over and see how pleasantly VIC were
situated. l confess enjoyed the idea
of showing Off a little before my
cockney relative. How astonished ho
would be to see every man, woman,
and child greet me as we drove through
Loughbeg, and to find that | trudged
over every acre of the estate at all
hours, without any protector save
Scamp, my setter, and stout black
thorn, and that his sister went about
alone quite unconcernedly, and much
more securely than she could in
Bayswaterl
$50 you're alive, old fellow, and
looking uncommonly we'll tool"
"Henry cried, when l met him at the
railway station. "Do you know, Tom,
l expected to find you perfectly gray
and awfully haggard, with scared
look in your eyes and a general nerv-
GUS restlessness in your mannerP''
"Nonsense, old boy" / replied,
laughing heartily. "You look a good
deal more scared and nervous than
do"
"And where are the two able-bodied
members Of the Royal Irish Constabn-
larypn he continued. "Surely you
haven't driven all that long way
J alQpeg'