Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-18

| after settln tnelr pay, ana ne said the pos
| once was that thick wild the soldier lads
| sendin' home the money to their friends he
| couldn't get speech Of a clerk to buy hi.
| stamp be no manner Of names. not if he'd
wrecked the place. Twas the Sidmoutf
| Limerick now"
But that's a grand regulation they
have" said Mick, vivid the short service
nowadays. Where's the hardship in it wher
a man can quit at the ind of three year, II
| speak off,
| Sure not at ALL you'd scarce notice II
passin' by Like Barney Bralligans sone
that finished before it begun-isn't that the
way of 1t, ma'am?'
| IT'S goodish ZENITH of a while" said
Mrs Doherty.
but thin there's the lave: don't be for.
gettin' the lave Paddy man. Supposin
| we"
Tub be sure. there's the lave. Why. it's
skytin' home on lave they do be most con.
tinial. And the Edende-ry is movin' no fur
| Their than just to Athlone that's as handy a
place as you could get"
| You'd not thravel from this to Athlone
IN tne INSIDE OF week, If it was liver sc
| handy" said Mrs. Doherty.
rs it week? Och! blathershins, Mrs
Doherty ma'am, you're mistook intirely
sure, onst you've stepped into the town
| yonder, the train'n take you there in a
| flash And the trains do be uncommon con-
| venient."
Free passes!' prompted Mick.
All. bedad, and free passes they'll give
| to any souldier takin' his furlough; so sorra
the expense 'twould be supposin' Mick here
| had notion to slip home of an odd day
and see you"
| "Mickr' said Mrs. Doherty
"Och, well, was just supposin'. But I'm
tould"-the many remarkable facts which
Paddy had been tould lost nothing in repe-
tition-'that they'll sometimes have out a
| special train for a man in the army, if he
wants to go anywhere particular in hur-
ry-there's Elegance for YOU And as for pro-
motion, it's that plinty you'll scarce git
time to reminder your rank from one day
to the next. whether it's full private you
are, or lance corporal, or maybe somethin'
greater. Troth, there's nothin' a man
mayn't rise to. And then, Mrs. Dohe-ty,
it's the proud woman you'd be-anybody' d
be-that they hadn't stood in the way of it.
And pensions-he might be pensioned off
wild as much as couple of shillin's day.
Not this long while yet, phase the pigs -
broke out Mick, squaring his shoulders, as
If time were a visible antagonist, and mo-
mentarily forgetting the matter immedia te-
ly in hand. But there's chances in it
splendid-och, it's somethin' you may call
livin'.''
And" said his friend, 1.-The rations I'm
tould is su:prisin' these times. The top of
everythin' that's to be got, uncooked, wild
out bone"
Paddy and Mick discoursed for good
while IN this strain about the dignities and
amenities of a military life, and Mrs. Do
herty had not much to say on the subject.
During the conversation, however. she con-
tlnued to rinse one Of her aprons. and
wiring 1t dry very carefully, and drop 1t
back into the water, like machine slightly
out OF gear, which goes on repeating some
process Intellectually. The two friends read
in her silence an omen of acquescent con-
viction, and congratulated one another upon
1t with furtive mods and winks. Mick went
n n a hne In lob fA,t boz Ill;
that the interview had been a great sue
cess, and that his mother was, as Paddy
put 1t, comm round to the notion gradual
like an ould goat grain round it's tetherin
stump" His hopes. indeed, were so COM
pletely In the ascendant that he summed
up his most serious uneasiness when he
said to himself: She'll do right enough
no fear, or I'd niver think of it. If Thady
was just somethin' steader But sure he
might happen to git thrifie more wit vet
he's no great age to spake Of"
But when he came home about sunsetting
his mother was feeding her few hens out
side their cabin. the end one of a mossy-
rooted row, with Its door turned at right
angles to the others. looking out across the
purple thrown of the bogland to the far-off
hills, faint, like blue mist with a waved
pattern in it, against the horizon. Mick
brought up short by the group, woke out
of his walking dream, in which he had been
performing acts of valor to the tune of
the Soldiers Chorus in Gounod's Faust
the last thing the band had played yes
terday: and he noticed a dimnution in the
select circle of fowls. who crooned and
crawked and pecked round the broken dish
of scraps.
Il see the specklety pullet's after strayin'
on YOU agin,'' he said. 'herselfs the con-
thrary little bein,: 1 must take a look about
for her prisintly."
'..Ah. sure she's sold" said his mother,
ITS too many had altogether 1 was tor
minted thryin' to git feedin' for them So
| sold her this mornin' to Mrs. Dunno at
her. Deed she'd have took her off of me
this while back. ony I'd just a sort of no.
ton agin partin' from the crathur. But be
comm in to your supper, child alive; it's
ready waitin' this good while. Molly's he
low at her sisters. and / dunn where
Thady's off to. so there's ony you and ME
in 1t tonight"
In the room the more familiar odor of
turf smoke was overborne by a crisp smell
of baking. and Mrs. Doherty picked up a
steaming plate which had been Keeping
warm on the hearth. Isn't that some
thin Ike now?' she said setting If on tho
table triumphantly. "Rale grand thew turn
ed out this tlme,nive a scorch on the whole
OF them. / was afeard me hand might NAV
be ma got out o mixin' them, tits so long
since had e'er one for YOU but sure /
bought half stone of seconds wild the
price Of the little hin. and that'n make a
good few. so it will. jewel savic, and then
we must see after some more Take one of
the thick bits, honey"
Probably most Of us have had experience
OF the unceremonious methods which fate
OFTEN chooses when communicating to us
important arrangements. We have seen
by what Httle-seeming triviality of an
incident she may intimate that our cher
ished hope has been struck dead. or that
the execution of some other decree has
turned the current of our life away IT Is
sometimes as If she contemptuously sent
US a grotesque and dwarfsh messenger
who makes grimaces at us while telling us
the bad news, which is ungenerous and
SCaTCGIV 0lpnifa6
der If Mick Doherty had to read the death
warrant of his darling ambition in a nile
of three-cornered griddle cakes At anv
rate he did read it there swiftly as clearly.
Most likely he knew it all before the plate
was set on the table, and his heart had
already gone down with run when he re-
piled to his mothers concentrations that
they locked first-rate AS he Endorsed this
praise with what appetite he could. being.
indeed, mechanically hungry, the upper-
most thought in his mind was how he
should at once let his mother understand
that she had got the price she hoped for
her pet hen; and after considering for a
WHILE he said: did you ever notice the
Quare sort of lane over the turf stack out
there's takin' on it? l question hadn't we
done Fighter to have took a leveler bit of
ground for under 1t. But I was thinkin'
this mornin' of what a different subject
he had been thinking-"that next year I'd
thry buildin' it agin the back o. tn ould
shed, where there does be ne'er a slant at
all"
"Ay, sure that 'ud be grand" said Mrs.
Doherty, much more elated than If she had
heard Of a large fortune; you couldn't find
an iliganter place for il in the width of this