The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1893-08-19
CHAPTER II.
LEAVES FROM AYoUNG G

l
of my adventures, with a view
of future publication, illustrated by
my own brilliant sketches. fear the
promise was rash one-frstly, be-
cause am constitutionally lazy and
averse to literary exertion, and, Sec
ondly, because have, as yet, met with
no adventure worth writing about.
Not that I have altogether lost my
first enthusiasm for the idea. There
would be novelty in the title, at any
rate, Cruises in a Caravan by Charles
Brinlley, with illustrations by the au-
thor; Photographic frontispiece, the
caravan, with Tim as large as life,
Sinking self-consciously in delight at
having his picture taken. My friend
B. has promised to find me a pub
Usher, if I will only persevere. Well,
we shall see. If the book does not
progress, it will be entirely my own
fault; for I have any amount of time
on my hands. Paint as hard as may
all day, have always the long even
ings, when I must either write, read,
or do nothing.
$50 I am beginning this evening,
exactly fortnight after my first start
from Chester. I purchased the cara
van there from morose individual,
with one eye, who had it built with a
view to the exhibition of wild man
of Patagonia: but said wild man hav-
ing taken it into his head to return to
County Cork, where he was born, and
the morose individual having no def
mite idea of novelty to take his place,
| the caravan came into market. Hav-
ing secured this travelling palace, duly
furnished with window blinds, piece
of carpet, chair bedstead, table, a
stove, cooking utensils, not to speak of
! my own artistic paraphernalia, sent
over to Mulrany, County Mayo, for my
! old servant, Tim-na- Chainig, or Tim O.
/ the Ferry-otherwise Tim Linney; and
with his assistance, when he arrived, I
! purchased strong mare at Chester
fair All these preliminaries being
settled, we started one fine morning
soon after daybreak, duly bound for
explorations along the macadamized
| highways and byways of North Wales.
81 am pleased to say that Tim, after
| he had recovered the first shock of
seeing a peripatetic dwelling house,
took to the idea wonderfully. Sure
| it's just like the old cabin at home,
he averred, tbarrin' the wheels and the
windies and the chimley and the haste
to pull it along;' and l think the re-
semblance would have been complete
in his eyes if there had only been two
or three pigs to trot merrily behind
| the back door. AS for myself, took
to the nomad life as naturally as if l
had never in my life been in civilized
habitation. To be able to go where
one pleases,. to dawdle as one pleases,
to stop and sleep where one pleases,
was certainly new sensation. My
friends. observing my sluggish ways,
had often compared me to that inter
esting creature, the snail; now the re-
semblance was complete, for I was a
snail, indeed, with my house comfort
ably fixed upon my shoulders, crawling
TRANQUILITY along.
''Of course, the caravan has it's in
conveniences. Inside, to quote the
elegant smile of our progenitors,
there is scarcely room enough to swing
cat in, and when my bed is made,
and Tins hammock is swung just in
side the door, the place forms the
tiniest of sleeping chambers. Then
our cooking arrangements are print
tive, and, as Tim has no idea whatever
in the culinary art, beyond being able
to boil potatoes in their skins, and
make very doubtful 'stirabout,' there
| is certain want of variety in our re-
pasts. To break the monotony of
this living. endeavor whenever we
| come to town with a decent hotel in
it, to take a square meal away from
home.
| Besides the inconvenience which l
have mentioned, but which were, per-
haps, hardly worth chronicling, the
caravan has social drawbacks, more
particularly EN- EMBARRASSING to modest
man like myself. 1t is confusing, for
example, on entering a town, or good
sized village, to be surrounded by the
! entire juvenile population, who cheer
us vociferously, under the. impression
| that we constitute a show and, af-
forwards, on ascertaining their mis-
take, pursue us with opprobrious jeers;
| ana IL IS distressing W ItLudIh Gud =
our mode of life, instead of inviting
confidence, causes US to be regarded
with suspicion by the vicar of the par
ish and the local policemen. We are ex-
posed, moreover, to ebullitions of bucol-
ic humor, whichhave taken the form of
horse-play on more than one occasion.
| Tim has had several fights with the
Welsh peasantry, and has generally
come off victorious; though, on one oc-
casion, he would have been over
powered by numbers if had not gone
to his assistance. Generally speaking,
nothing will remove from the rural
population an idea that the caravan
forms an exhibition of some sort.
When airily alight, and stroll
through village, sketchbook in hand,
I have invariably 1T my heels long
attendant train of all ages, obviously
under the impression that am look