Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-03-18
CONNEMARA MlRACL E,
by Frank matthews.

Copyright, 1893, by Frank Matthew'S
For The Gazette.
Some suid big John Murnane was the
LATEST man in Connenara, others called
him surly dog. but ] always liked him.
He had some excuse for his lu2incss and
surlincss. When l knew him FIRST he
was active enough lie used then to be-
gin the day in the brightest of tempers.
and III he Ind been let sit In peace aud
sunshine would have remained merry,
but work undermined his cheerfulness.
His farm lay high above Leenane at the
head of the Killeries, Il creek walled in
by mountains, In the heart of the Irish
Highlands.
Two roads wind down to the creek,
one lower by Finigan's shebeen, and one
by Murnane.s farm. In those days i
half enyicd him, he had a pretty little
wife. II neat home and three pigs, while
/ owned neither pig nor a wife; he had
no vain ambition, and asked nothing bet
ter than 20 live and die at home In that
wilderness,
But when I visited Connemara again
years later things had changed with
him, he had met with ill-luclI aud had
lost heart, A bank holding his money
had failed, his crops had failed, too, his
last pig had died everything had gone
badly with him. He spent half hig dime
ut the shebeen and had dangerous look.
To make matters worse, he was TO be
turned out Of his furm-hnd quurreled
with his landlord; for Y true Galway
man always quarrels with the man best
able 20 thrash him. Murunnc was full
OF light, his mother used 20 say Of him
| that he was never at rest except when
he was lighting, ind Of course he knew
that some one else must be responsible
| for his misIorIunes so he laid the blame
| at his landlords door.
| His luudlor1 WINS my friand glon ma
| Desmond, who In those days was always
| at war with his tenants. Here / thought
| were the makings of tragedy-a law
| less district, an unruly peasantry, aud q
hated landlord.
Well that summer my stay IN Come
mara was brief, and soon after left
| Murnane came To the turning point OF
his life / have the story from his own
lips.
I'm November, when the days grew
short and the nights dark, there WAS a
| rumor in the shebecn near Leenane that
| some Of THE boys" We're coming from
Desmond's estate IN Clara, fishing boat
! would bring them from Liscannor to the
hilleries, and take them back-withOut
any one being the wiser-and their tril
might mend matters.
One boisterOus evening, Murnane was
standing at his window watching hi,
wife trudHng heavily up the mountain
road All day the wind had been missing
| dreurily through the mountains; now il
dogs. There was a veil Of rain lowering
| ON the grey crescent of the sea.
He bad spent hours that day at thy
shebeen. As he watched bis wife Il,
thought In muddled way how pretty
she was VIXEN she was young though
now she was little plain woman, he
| thought of the time when he first caught
her IN his arms down yonder where the
| owen Errim runs by the Devils Mother
mountaiR-'l love ye Molly Joyce tel
me now, are ye listening to me, mayour
neen dteelish! / love ye!--then of Their
life, Of the careless years, OF his losses
and troubles, of the heavy evenings be
! spent smoking by the dull light Of tho
turf fire alone with her Ia his cabin
then Of the loud nights on the sheheen
ANA OF the dfeary tiaeg nc home after
She seemed TO get so silent aud duh
| he was tired Of her worried face, sick oil
her frightened way Of watching him.
Though he knew that she was q kind
| little woman. and that she loved hin
like dog, he had grown hard and oold
with her, Oaly that evening he had told
her roughly to stop maldug hare Of
herself moplng aud poking about d0ins
nothing and 10 get cut Of that and q
spend the night &C her fathers, aud she
knowing the little use Of speaking e
| Hlulf WENT hutNllg. lie ielt AOTry TOT nl
roughness rs he watched her. and aftel
all she WAS good soul ana thoy hnt
been happy together once, But now tia
he was 90 lose his last belongings, WHY
should he keep herr How could h
when he coeldntf Hhe Ulns, 10 buck &
her own folk, who We're wel.to-do fol
those parts-while be Went out 70 Try
his luck Ia the world.
Then he walked up and down his cabin
u looked .wfetchPd, the turf hre on "a,
hearth had smouinored, che whlte-washet
walls were biackened by smoke; they hat
little on them but Zig crucihx; ther,
was little. furniture left, He renlem
bered Y bright and homelike. now 4
would be uiroofed, ha would De PENN
less nnd homeless unless Desmond wal
shot that night,
Tor the boat had come from LAscan.
cor, ana when Desmond drove bach
from Carnla, the boys" were 10 wait
t@ nlm on the lower road III he came
hy ne npper road, Murnane would SEE
Nlm' apa was 70 put a Light IN his win