The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1896-11-21


thought he wanted to be at me abopt
the ~ampagin' villin Of the captin's.
sBecase.' says he, important-lsloe.
Bridget Harrigan Is goin' TO marry
Tom O'Sheai'
"'Whati' says /.
sits a fact says he. 4
"'You lie, Billy Sheehan,' says !, for
I was mad.
"'Very well, says be, marelhn' avay
with his little fiddle under his ARM
If 1 do says he, I won't lie at your
dure, for anyhow it viii be a long tonne
before you'll want me to fiddle at your
weddin', unless We takes up wild the
turnip-headed onei' And away he whit
down the street, whistlin' The Weddin'
Of Ballypoureen.'
"Well. sor, twas thrue enough what
the little blackguard had been afther
tellin' me; Bridget was 10 be married
directly Lent was over, and Father
Cronin had been spoken to, and Tom
O'Shea had got the master to give him
a small cottage and a few acres, just
what I had my eye on, too. bad cess
to him.
"'Twas to be the grandest weddin'
at all at ALI A pig was killed and an
illigant little key of whisky stood on
the dresser, wild a tap ready to be
driven into it. Well, the mcrnin' of the
day when Tom O'Shea was to be mar
ried, he was out Shawn himself at the
cabin dure, when up little Billy
Sheehan out Of breath. and widout the
little fiddle.
"'Tom,' says he, when he could
spake, ''you're done
"'No, Pm not says Tom latherin' the
other side Of his jaw, but I'm half done,
and I'll do you too, my little fiddler,
while me hand is in, for the gurls
might think yer chin a bit rough for
a weddin'.'
"'There'n be no weddin' this day.
gays Billy.
what are you talkin' about, man
aliveP says Tom.
go! the thruth, as I'm a livin' man.
says Billy. The woman won't have
ye.'
"eWon't have me?' says Tom. Go
long, me little joker
"'Divil a joke says Billy. She's sit
tim at home in her common clothes,
and she says she won't have We. And
the foive gallons of the best whisky in
Oireland, and a grand pig just waitin'
to be swallowed! o, It's wicked, ter
rible wicked intoirely!'
"'Well says Tom, cool as the day
after Christmas, wait till I wash the
lather off me, an I'll jog down to the
farm and see what ais me lady, for I'm
very much sot ON being married to-
day!'
"Whin he got to the house, there
was the divil's ructions goin' on. The
ould man and Peg and an ould aunt
that lived Wild EN-, they were all at
Bridget, coaxin' and Begin and
badgerin' her to marry Tom, and all to
no good; the more they talked the
more Bridget sat still and said nothin,
only the face of her showed she meant
to have her way.
saiedAs s sa E9ens h Hs tH Tom T06SSshea. I'm very
sorry, but l won't marry We, and there's
my hand on it!'
"Well, Tom took a lucifer match out
of his pocket and lit his poipe, and sal
down; but the divil a word he said.
Only all the neighbors outside, think.
ing of the pig and the whisky, said a
great deal; they couldn't bear to
think of the waste that Bridget was
bringin' on the family. And the ould
father, too, he was terrible mad, know
in what people were sayin'.
"a length Peggy up, an says she:
I'll tell ye what, Biddy, if ye give me
them grand clothes We have for the
weddin' I'll marry Tom O'Shea myself
sooner than the family should be dis
graced in this way
"'Faith!' says Bridget, we may have
livery stitch l have in the world if We
marry Tom, an me blessin' into the
bargain
"But Tom sat still smokin' his dud-
heen and turnin' the matter over in his
head. At the long last he said, straight
and strong: What boot will l get?'
"'What boot will We get?' says the
ould father.
Yes says Tom; what will yc
throw imp
What do ye want?' says Mike Har-
rigan, strivin' to end the matter com.
Portable an friendly.
Well says Tom, there's that two
acre field hat broken 1 haven't a grain
to set it with. Now, if you'll throw in
a bag of seed oats, along wild Peggy, it's
a bargain
Done says the old man, an he
spits in the palm of his fist and houds
it out straight and friendly to Tom.
$50 the match was made, and they
shook hands on it. An Tom said to
Billy Sheehan the day after the weddin.'
when they got sober, he didn't rightly
think there was more than the differ
ence of a bag of oats between any two
women alive.
"Well, sor, a couple of months after
Pegs weddin' me an Bridget was mar.
ried; for twas Inc she wanted all the
time, only she got mad that | didn't az
her an didn't come down to that dance
all along O that etarnal rogue of the
captains. And, faith, she's been a
good wife an very clean about the
| hOuSe. buT she never woe n.y. bo--:,