The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1894-07-24


for an unmannerly roguep'
1t was new light on Joanna. We
felt little out of it amid the enthu-
siastic affection of which she was the
center. We fingered therefore in
''the room" to which Mrs. OConnell
presently conducted us to lay aside
our wraps. A charming room it was,
with the tiny window framing pur-
pie Barlass. the gay patchwork quilt
on the bed, the altar with its statue
and lamp and the perfect purity we
had scarcely looked for. We con-
Guided that we should have to re-
make our impressions of Joanna.
When we went down at last, she
was sitting at the tea table, voluble
as usual, and buttering hot potato
cakes as they came from the griddle.
The father and mother we're looking
at her with pleased admiration; the
placid baby lay on her extended
knees; young Jennie was standing
by her skirt with an air of proprie-
torship. We had said to each other
up stairs that the brother and his
wife were of finer clay than Joanna,
a Judgment we afterward thought
upon remorsefully.
However, there was no doubt that
the simple refinement and good will
written in the faces of the pair did
not belle them. / have seldom spent
a pleasanter evening than in that
farmhouse kitchen. It was cold
enough to enjoy the big turf fire;
the tea and eggs and cake were deli
cious and served with = cleanliness
that left nothing to be desired.
Then James O'Connell, though
slower witted than the redoubtable
Joanna, who often reminded him of
this or that as he painstakingly eluci-
dated for us the problem of Landlord
and tenant as shown on the Polti-
more estate, was a man OF much in
telligenoe and fair mindedness
which came Of his extreme gentle
ness. He said very little of his own
sufferings in the bleak winter of evic-
ton, when the shelter for him and
his was one of those conical huts I'M
der the lee of Barlass.
II wouldn't live through it again,
ladies'" he said, mot for a power.
We carry the traces of 1t still-me an
Mollie, an even little Jennie, the
crature. But thanks be to God an
another who'll be nameless"-he lift
ed eloquent eyes to Joanna-"sure
it's in heaven we are now, an God
knows if we'd be as happy If we
hadn't had taste of the other place. y
The mystery of this speech was
elucidated when Mrs. O'Connell took
us to put on our hats. Joanna had
gone out with her brother to see "a
bit that needed drainin." Nothing
had amazed us more in this extraor-
binary girl than the practical knowl-
edge and enthusiasm she showed
about farming. We had left them
to set forth up the boreen; Joanna
with young Jennie at her side, and
with the baby clasped to a breast
suddenly, it seemed to us, grown ma
ternal. Mrs. O'Conneu watched
them forth with much pride and ten
derness and then led the way to the
room"
We said something of Joanna's
cleverness and beauty. AS we did a
flush came up in her sister-in-law's
delicate face. In her excitement she
became quite loud voiced and assert
i've.
Handsome she is an clever she is,
ladies'" she said, but our Joanna's
better than ayther. She hates to be
talked about an if she was here
would be the first to clap her hand
over my mouth. She'll never own it
to any one that it was her bit of a
fortune took us as Jennie says, out
of hell and put us in heaven She
had $500 of her own that the ould
man scraped an saved.
HE left Jennie the land, but
what good was it when the old lord
died and Poltimore came In an rizthe
rint7 When we were out there under
Barlass, she never mentioned to us
what was In her heart She came
often bringin the food an the
clothes thatswas life to me an Jem-
mie-Jemmfe that lay six months
with a lung complaint caught in that
rotten place An little Jennie at
the breast an little Jo-God bless
her-expected. But the day she could
release her fortune, fer the ould man
had tied it up till she was 81, she was
Otto Cork to 'torney, an she said
nothin to any one till she had
bought the lease of Agieesh from
Major Hannay.
land one day, when Jennie was
that low that feared he'd never lift
his head again, she came marchin
in and flung the lease on the quilt.
Get up, Jennie 0'Connell, She sad,
your farms waiting for you An
the next day we moved here. An
from that hour Jennie began to
pick up life an hope. We've done
finely since then, thank God. An
Major Hannay. kind gentleman that