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

"Well, sol. III tell yer the whole
story Of it II yer honor won't be tired"
mo-" I said, affably, Ego on; 1 am
very interested" and / a myself on
the fence that bounded his potato gar
den.
swell, yer honor" said Patsey, again
readJusting his equilibrium with the
spade. ''ould Mile Harrigan lived down
at Killshela, on a snug farm he rinted
from the ould master. Twas more
than 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 a 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 mana decent. honest man, so he
was.
well, sor, the two girls were as diff
ferent from their misfortunate broth
err 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
she was as straight as the handle of this
spade, yer honor, and walked like a
dhragoon, only light and aisy-like.
And her oyesl Well, 1 tell yer honor,
her Dyes were dangerous; she'd shoot
fire at We so that ye couldn't see for a
minute afthar; and her teeth-white as
eggs, yer honor. Ali 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 divil's 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 that same,
and she squinted so that she could see
one v with the other! But, barring
these misfortunes, she was a good CURL,
and could milk a COW and make bet
ter butter than Bridget, wild all her
beauty.
"Oh! blood an 'ounds, but we had
great tonnes at the cross roads on Sum
day in those days, when little Billy
Sheehan, the fiddler, was aloiyel Billy
could set the Saints dancin' in Lent, the
little spalpeen he could, so he could;
wild one rasp on his fiddle me legs just
took command of me carcass; the mis-
chief such an Instrument for stirring
a man will ever be heard agin till the
last thrump.
well, yer honor, Bridget could dance
like a sunbeam on a running wather,
and faith, ugly Peg wasn't bad at a
jig; but 1 was too grand to be on the
fiure wild the loikes of her. 1 used to
dance wild Bridget till I'd be like To
dhrop wild fatigue; but as for her
she'd hould at it as long eWAotBbfa shout
and clap their hands to keep us at it
And Billy would make his ould fiddle
to screech and holla, till the bow went
so fast it seemed loike a streak of light!
And there vas ! pantin' fit to burst me
lungs fornst me lady who just slept
it out smilin' and aisy like a landlord
on riDt day.
ut 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.. a
ten-pound note on the wedding day for
the men who got them, so they weren't
wantin' boys, neither the one nor the
other of 'em. But the only man who
had q chance wild Bridget beside mesclf
was Tom O'Shea. He was always a
quiet boy, was Tom, but he was terrible
hard to get over, and he could dance,
too, pretty tidy-for ali that his legs
were so long, he could belt the fure wild
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 be
to be danced down be a m and so
Tom and me had her most to ourselves;
but twas me she'd walk home wild down
the bohereen to the house when the
dancin' was over. And everyone thought
1T was me she fancied, and so faith,
did l, only l never axed her; because, We
see, / lived wild me mother in the vii
lage, an I hadn't a house to take her
to. And so I sailed on aisy an con-
tinted like, dancin' me legs off every
Sunday wild the handsomest CURL in the
barony, and all the boys ready to slash
the 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
asloe to bring back a hunter that he
wanted to buy there.
"Afther a deal of contlrivinC. for the
captin was hard to suit, AID a wicked
man on a horse, at last was satisfied,
and I brought back home the on
trariest divil of a brute haste that ever
q man threw his leg overl A great
chestnut skamin' creature, wild a tail
that he'd switch round and round like
the fan ov a winnowin' machine. His
ears would lie back on his head same
as if he hadn't any. And the whites of
his eyes were as red as blood! O! We
needn't laugh, yer honor, tbs as thrue
as Gospel what / am telling vel Well,
sor, this terrible haste dislocated every
bone in me body, leppin' and prancin',
AM.- = ~ #.