New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-03-17
PADDY'S ROUGHIE.
a Legend of Donegal.

Towards the end OF the last century
little village in the County Donegal,
sailed Cloughfn, is said to have been
the scene Of certain supernatural
svents which read very much like a
German legend of the Middle Ages.
These curious circumstances were re-
lated to the present writer by an old
nurse, ONE of a past generation, who
mad been a young girl living with her
parents at Cloughfn when they took
place.
When the younger children in our
a.lrsery were put to bed, the elder ones
sRere won't to draw their stools close
90 old Mary sside and listen. with awe
stricken countenances and wide-open
eyes TO thestory Of .Paddy's Roughie, .
Waaich was certainly, stronger mental
food than either cinderella" or ssJack
sthe Giant-killer.
The tQwnland ofCloughfn was in the
ssaaaads OF tenant-farmers named Elem
Sng; and their farmhouse, surrounded
! by its Offices and cottier-houses,
Horned the village or "town" OF
Gloughfin. At the commencement Of
the story the family consisted OF
three brothers, stalwart, intelli-
gent, young men, called Joe, Will
lam and James Joe had just sue
seeeded his father in the farm, and
WAS engaged to be married. William
and Games were printers, one in Stra-
bane and the other in Derry. Unusu-
ally intelligent, the young printers ed
Joyed to the utmost their abundant
means of access to books, and having
educated themselves asfew young men
an Gheir station were educated in those
days Observation-Disclosures, they con-
Glnued to make large use of their OPP
port,;nlties, and spent every spare
moment in reading. But their stu
eilousness was a source Of grief to their
good minister and all other friends,
when it became known that books OF
8 skeptical tendency formed their chief
study.
Joe Fleming who shared his broth
ers' love OF reading, was supplied by
Ghem with these works on their arriv-
al at Goughfin eachSaturday evening;
and the three young men usually spent
The Sunday-the "Sabbath," as Pres
byterians still call the sacred day-in
Nngodly studies, to the unfeigned hor-
ror OF the Rev. Mr.. Cairnes and his en-
tire congregation. ga mlsbeliever!"
Name of horror in Orthodox Ulster
indeed, in Ireland generally-where the
people believe too much rather than
TOO little. Buta "misbeliever" in Mon
reagh congregation-not mile dis
6ant from the meeting-house-this, in
deed, was awful!
the bride elect, who still lived with
her parents on the adjoining farm, the
,Enaidservants at Cloughfin farmhouse,
were as much Mortified as the minister
coa1ld be. None approved except the
old shoemaker, Paddy Go1man, a
clever scoffer of Indifferent character,
who had never been known to darken
the door Of church, meeting or chapel.
Months passed thus; Sarah McPher-
son loved her bethrothed and could
not give him up. Her conscience said
May while her heart said
Yea The heart was listened to-,
and she became Joe Fleming's wife;
bntshe had no power to win him back
TO the fold. He and his brothers and
eald Paddy German still continued to
rnleab 6aa The farmhouse kitchen on Sun.
day afternoons to discuss their infdel
views and read their wicked books.
The neighbors expected to see direct
,iudgment from heaven fall upon their
guilty heads.
Cine summer day a fearful rumor
reached Coughfn that VIM. Fleming
was dead. It turned out to be true,
HE had been drowned while bathing
in the Foyle, near Strabane The
brothers grieved deeply-the more
deeply because they were in doubt
whether he had a soul, and had near
~ brought themselves to believe death
Co be humiliation. And their rela
sslans and neighbors, to whom Goo
and Judgment, heaven and hell, were
intense and awful certainties-
did they <grieve?
About a mile and half from
Gnughfa lies the churchyard where
NIL the Flelnings were buried, ane
sshither were Williams remains car
ssiaE- And now comes the part OF tn,
story which always filled Nurse Mary
young audience with the deepest hor
cor
The sexton, living in cottage clos
TO the churchyard gate, saw, on tn
nagant after the funeral, a large blacl
dog lying upon the new-made grave
and tearing up the earth. The grav
was re sodded in the morning, but, OF
che next night, the same thing hap
pened. The sexton was awakened
by bowling, and, as the nights wer
fsaen very bright, the moon being q
stae full, he plainly saw the same grea
BLACK dog stretched upon the grave
and tearing savagely at it.
Too snuch terrified toventure forth
,thtsasp erstitiou manlay trembling TN
tilmorning. He confided the matter t,
the dead mans sorrowing brothers
and it gradually crept out and be
came known throughout the neigh
borilood Besides, other watch
u ess saw the iA-omened dog, an,
tried in vain to drive him awav Fac