Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-04-22
FROM COLOONEY.

FROM COLOONEY.
He came to us when the last field OF
wheat had fallen before the irrepressible
advance of the reaping machine, and con-
sequently at time when fresh hands were
hardly wanted. His approach was leisure
ly and philosophical, his manner as easy
as the flow of his conversation, his attire
light and picturesque. Diogenes g0Ng
through modern England could not hafVe
maintained one 1.-THE of the quiet, St IL
cynical self possession typifed in the
bronzed face and humorous eyes that came
down the lane and shone over the garden
hedge like new sunburst.
'"The top of the mornin to ye, sor, and
many av thin"
h Civility, as the proverb says, is cheap
commodity. I returned the salutation, the
original purveyor thereof meanwhile adopt
ing an easy and graceful attitude against
the privet hedge that separated us.
"'Tis foine wither for the harvest, glory
be to God, and it's me own hands that is
Uneasy to be handlin fork or rake wild the
colleens beyant there. Maybe the masther
has job of worruk that he can give to a
man loike mesilf''
(. He slanted his head over in the direction
of field where half dozen rosy English
lasses were engaged in heaping The rakings
of thick crop of wheat The employment
was easy and congenial I thought it
would fit well with the disposition of the
traveller. The master came toward us at
that moment
"Here is man who wants work"
"Ah, God be good to yer honor, so I do
indade. It's mesilf that has an iligant
hand at harvest worruk. And yer honor'll
give me a job of worruk?"
His honor wanted no more hands, and
said SO abruptly, with certain pointed re-
marks concerning the assurance of people
who go idle at the end of harvest. =
"Oh, papa! And it is not an hour since
you said you could not do without another
man to take Jobs place. Give the poor
man something to do"
The poor man looked over the hedge
quick to seize the opportunity Miss Maud
fresh and dainty as one of her own roses,
blushed and started under the frank adora-
ton of those wicked Hibernian eyes.
God be good to ye, miss, but tits only
AeoA7OAA
self should spake soft to poor man as is
wanting worruk so badly. All, now, your
honor'll give me the worruk that the
young lady was spakin Of
His honor gave in, beaten by the touch
of his daughters little hand and the au-
dacity Of the bronzed features before him.
tits only a waste OF money" he said
when the traveller, after a liberal meal
hod IN, he !, Go1J =.
search of the much desired worruk. "He'll
do nothing. These wandering Irishmen
never do"
Certainly this one did not kill himself
with overeXertion. He performed his task
deliberately, if well. There was a ten
dency about him to sit down every few
minutes. II he had an audience close at
hand he betrayed a further tendency to
discourse on various topics.
''Sure, now" he said, as l stood by him
among the corn, what time the sun was
doing it's level best to burn us all into rags,
tits moighty improvident this spending
of yer strength in the hot SUNLIGHT. It's
aslape we should be at this mint. Worruk
in the cool and Shape in the hot-that's
how we do at Colooney"
''And where is Colooney?"
"Sure, yer honor knows that Colooney is
in Sligo. am from Colooney mesilf."
"You seem to have wandered a long
way from home"
''Ah, thin, but what good would do
and me not hayin seen the worruld? It's
the Travelled men that makes fortins."
care you making your fortune?"
"Ah, sure, but Pm on the way to that
same Ye should see me at me own trade.
Me hands a bit out at the harvestin. Did
your honor liver hear tell of Judy McCann"
He dropped easily to convenient seat
amid the sheaves and prepared to eds
coorse" at his leisure. l moved away, not
wishing to give him an excuse for idleness.
Looking around ten minutes afterward
found that he had not yet risen. He was
probably meditating over the story of Judy
Mccain.
The man from Colooney staid on. His
sleeping chamber was in the hayloft; he
washed at the pump, dispensing in some
mysterious fashion with the aid of soap or
towel. He lounged easily about the stack
yard O. nights, but always retired into the
paddock to smoke his pipe-a wise pro
ceeding which ingratiated him with the
master, who had no mind to see his stacks
burned down.
The women liked him, as they always do
like anything handsome and impudent
He fetched and carried for them. One day
I found him laboring under a heavy wheel
barrow load of manure, which he was tax
ing from the fold to the flower garden.
He was actually sweating heavily and
working hard without doubt
"What does this mean?" inquired. II
thought you considered this sort of thing
improyident.
The man from Colooney regarded me
with a humorous smile. His eyes twinkled
and one of them closed itself for an instant.
"Ah, thin, captain dear, sure and what
can poor boy loike mesilf do when the
sweetest voice in all the worruld axes him
to do little at the gardenin? And it's
yerself that knows what swate voice that
is, captain"
followed him into the garden and
found that under Miss Maud's instructions
he had cleared corner previously given
over to waste and weeds and was rapidly
bringing it into something like respecta-
bility. He worked hard that day and
earned right to rest and be thankful at
night.
"Ye see, captain" he remarked conf
dentially to me as ! met him washing
away the marks of toll at the pump, we
see, Pm that soft hearted wild the ladies.
Divil bit of me that doesn't do me best
to oblige thin when they come to me with
their murtherin iligant talk and ses,
Michael, will ye do this?' and Michael,
will ye do that?' All, it's mesilf that al
ways WAS fayortte wild the ladies"
The man from Colooney was perhaps not
far out in his assertion. There seemed to
be movement in his favor among the fe-'
males, from the mistress to the milkmaid.
The master looked upon 1t with true Eng
lish disgust.
because the mans impudently good
looking and picturesque you rave about
him. Lazy fellows, all his sort. Whoever
saw him run or get out of his lazy shuffle?'''
II haye," said Miss Maud. "He worked
like horse when l brought him into the
garden"
Iventured to hint, sotto Yoce. that any
thing male would brighten up under the
influence, and SO on.
''That's foolish, and it isn't true. The
man from Colooney," said the young lady,
sis good worker if you only manage him
right"