The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-10-17
The divil q step. was all for beauty in

wa - lac "liOat
story of it if yer honor won't be tired
No." 1 said. affably, go on; 1 an
very interested" and 1 sat myself OF
h fence that bounded his potato gar
den.
well, yer honor" said Patsey. AGAR
r~eadJusting his equilibrium with the
spade, "ould Mile Harrigan lived dowr
at killshela, on a snug farm he rinted
from the ould master. Twas more
thar a few acres, but twas proime fat,
TENN land, and he had a tidy lot OF
stock on it; he had half a dozen heifers
and four good dairy cows, and an il.
ligant lot of pigs, and two daughters
and Il son. But that same son was a
misfortunate idgit, and came to no good
a. the long end. What wild whisky and
divilment the farm went to the bad
and they TUX it from him; but that was
afterwards when the father was dead
rest to his soul, for he was an hon.
est nan decent, honest man, so he
was.
well, sor, the two girls were as diff
ferent from their misfortunate broth
er as they was from one another.
Bridget, the eldest, was as handsome
a CURL as ye'd see anywhere in them
days. Oh! the saints be praised, but
IA was as straight as thehandle of this
spade, yer honor. and walked like n
dhragoon, only light and aisy-like.
And her Dyes. Well. I tell yer honor.
her Dyes were dangerous: she'd shoot
fire at We 20 that We couldn't see for a
minute afther; and her teeth-white as
eggs, yer honor. All! twas she that
made short work of a plate of bacon
and praties wild them little white teeth
OF hers! Peggy, the second, was as
ugly as the divils mother-in-law. savin'
yer honOr's presence. They say that
the pig rolled upon her when she was a
baby, and faith. if it is true it must
have been a grand fat pig intoirely,
for her face was fiat as the lid of a warm
ing-pan. She was freckled. her hair
was red, and not much of thai same.
and she squinted so that she could see
one eye with the other! But, barring
these misfortunes. she was Il good CURL,
and could milk Il COW and make bet
ter butter than Bridget, wild all her
beauty.
"Oh! blood an 'ounds, but we lad
great tonnes at the cross roads on Sun
day in those days. when little Billy
SheeEan. the fiddler. was aloiye, Ri!lv
could set the Saints dancin' in Lent. the
little sPalpeen he could, so he could;
wild II rasp on his fiddle me legs Just
took command of me carcass: the mis-
CHIEF such al Instrument for stirring
a man will VI be heard agia till the
last thrump.
well, Yer honor, Bridget could dance
like q sunbeam on a running watner,
and faith, ugly Peg wasn't bad at Il
jig; but | was too grand to be on the
1iure wild the loikes of her. [ used TO
dance wild Bridget till Id lie like to
dhrop wild fatigue; but as for her,
she'd hould at it as long as the music,
and the boys all round would shout
and clap their hands to keep us at it.
And Billy would make his ould fiddle
to screech and holla, till the DOW went
so fast it seemed loike a streak of light!
And there was l pantin' fit to nurst me
lungs fornst me lady who just slept
it ont smilin' and aisy like a landlord
Oh rint day.
1T was well known that the two girls
had tidy fortunes; each was to have
a couple of heifers and a brace OF pigs,
and it was said that there would b.. Il
tPn-pOund note on the wedding dav for
the men who got them, so they weren't
wantin boys, neither the one nor the
other of EN-. But the only man who
had n chance wild Bridget beside mesclf
was Ton O'Shea. lie was always n
quiet boy, was Tom, but he was terrible
hard to get over, and he could dance,
pretty tidy-for all that his legs
were so long. he could belt the fure wid
them better than most. but he couldn't |
hOuld out as long as / did; and as for
the others. they were shy CIV askin'
Bridget. for 'twould ashamed they'd he
TO be danced down be n woman and so
Tom and me had her most to ourselves;
but twas me she'd walk home wild down
bOhereen L the house when the
was over. And everyone thought
it was mt she fancied, and SO faith,
did l, only l never aNed her; because, We
see, l lived wild me mother in the vii
age, an l hadn't a house to take e
to-. And so l sailed on aisy an con-
tinted like, dancin' me legs off every
Sunday wild the handsomest CURL in the
Darony, and all the boys ready to slash
he legs off me wild jealousy. Well,
yer honor, all went well till The ould
masters eldest son, the captin cum
home and he tuck me away 10 Balm
lsloe to bring back a hunter that he
wanted to buy there.
"Afther a deal of continuing. for the
was hard to suit, and a wicked
nan on a horse, at last was satisfied,
md 1 brought back home the con
~rariest divil of a brute haste hat ever
man threw his leg over. \ great
skamin' creature, wild a tail
hat he'd switch round and round like
fan ov a winnowin' machine. His {:
ars would lie back on his head same
S if he hadn't any. And the whites of
is eyes were as red as blood. o. We
eedn't laugh, yer honor. tits as thrue
S Gospel what 1 am telling We! Well, ]
or, this terrible haste dislocated every A:
one in me body, leppin' and prancin. I
was in spots we came home, toucnin' |
l. $1,000 ~-. - ~ -@,,Il | l