The Irish standard., 1886-12-04

| lage of an experienced female relative,
he exchanged, during some years, the
land Of his birth, for that of his an
cestors, and found the advan age Of the
sacrifice he made Of his domestic con-
venience, in considerable increase OF
wealth. For some time. the accounts
which he received from home were such
as to leave him no ground to regret the
step which he had taken, and he went
on, boarding money, and forming a
thousand different schemes for it's dis
bursement, when letter from his
daughter, informing him, though in the
most guarded and cautious manner, OF
the reappearance of the delinquent
Dinny in the neighborhood, and even
at the cottage of the Palatine, startled
and filed HIM with dismay and appre-
hension. She deseribsd him in the mos
touching manner, as presenting pic
ture of misery. of repentance, and ab-
jeet poverty, which would make resent
1nent not only inhuman but ridiculous,
and ended by suggesting, in very Cir
cuitous way, the possibility Of an entire
reformation in the young man, in case
her father should give him another
trial. The sagacious Palatine: however,
judged that either the inezperience or
the enthusiasm of the letter writer had
led her into error, so far as hel prognos-
tic was concerned; and he was, although
much against his inclination, compelled
to suspect that she had used more or less
exaggeration in her account of the young
rebels mean submission. His estimate
OF Dinny's character was right, although
it was very true that the latter had, as
Sarah mentioned, made his appearance
on the farm. Segur Immediately ans
wered the letter in tone Of violent and
unabated indignation. and the subject
was. not again renewed. In a little time
after, an account reached him that his
kinsn1an had been struck with blindness,
and that several losses in consequence
had accrued to the property, This lat
ter circumstance, however, which he
was sufficiently provided against, gave
him not tithe of uneasiness which was
occasioned by the irregularity, and at
length the infrequency Of the letters
which we're transmitted to him from his
family, and the conviction that some
dreadful change had taken place, was
SOON confirmed by the total cessation of
all communication whatever. Filled
with thousand alarms and uncertain
ties, he was now returning to ascertain
the cause, whatever it might be, Of the
singular neglect which had panied him.
In The meantime it is necessary that
we should glance st the fortunes of his
young foe during the interval. He
had contracted, soon after his expulsion
from the Palatine's household, close
friendship with the sole offspring Of his
had been, for some years past, left with
himself in % state OF orphanage, under
circumstances peculiarly calculated iii
that alone had not been sufficient) TO
bind them to each other, i'll league,
toy. much closer than that involved by
the general claims Of their relationship,
which, according to the opinions of the
class in which they were brought up,
are sufficient grounds for casus feeder
is of mutual offence and defence on all
occasions. The brothers resided to-
gether in the cabin in which they had
first seen the light-held their acre of
potstoe~ ground in common, lived to-
gether, worked together, fought to-
gether and drank together. This very
closeness OF attachment, however, had
unhappily the effect of involving them
in greater number Of quarrels with
their neighbors than that TO which the
hereditary privilege of an Irish peasant
might be supposed fairly TO entitle
them. The secret of this tendency to
disunion might be found in the fact that
either of che friends was far more apt to
resent an insult, real or imagined, Of
fered to the other, than if he had received
it Ill his own person; and the natural
consequence was, that before long,
their hands, like those Of Ishmael,
were against every mans. and every
mans hand against theirs. Still, how
ever; there was no deep moral offence,
OF such nature as could awaken the
serious indignation Of their neighbors,
imputed to them, and their extraordi-
nary fondness for fighting had only the
effect Of injuring themselves, and in
creasing the custom Of the village apo
thecary.
Great therefore was the CONSERVATION
which spread through the cottage cir
cles, when one summer morning as the
Macnamaras wese leaving their humble