Evening star., 1896-10-24

rell. but there was nothing strange in the
coincidence. as the district about Meena-
clure abounds in Farrells and Neills. with
and without the prefixes Of and Mac.
and 1t seems only natural to suppose
similar state of things in New York. No
body could deny that there were plenty Of
O'Farrells very dacint people. So Mollys
mother mourned in private over an event
which seemed to set seal upon the sepa-
ration between her daughter and herself.
and in public was we'll pleased and very
proud. laying great stress upon the fact
that Molly had sent the money order just
as usual-"Sorra a fear Of little Molly for
gettin' the ould people at alr'-and serenely
scorning Mesdames O'Farrells' opinion that
when a girl had to thravel off that far
after husband, 1t was the quare crooked
stick OF one she'd be apt to pick up"
PART ".
After this Meenaclure received no very
thrilling foreign news for about a twelve
month. Then one fine Sunday the Wildly
O'Farrell was to be seen sailing along
masswards. with her head held extremely
high in its stiff-frilled cap and dark-blue
hood. and with swinging sweep of her
black homespun skirt, which betrayed an
exultant stride All her family, indeed,
wore a somewhat elated and consequential
air. which most of her neighbors allowed
to be justifiable when she explained that
she had become the happy grandmother of
her Pats fine young son; the letter with
the announcement had come last night.
This was indeed promotion. for her son
Tins children were all girls With the
congratulations upon so auspicious an
an event old Mrs. McNeill could mingle
only subdued murmurs about brats taking
after their fathers, that weren't good for
much, the dear knows. However, she had
not long to wait for as good or better a
right to strut chin in air. since 1t was with
a great-grandmother's dignity that few
days later she could inform everybody of
the arrival Of Meily's boy. She would. I
believe. have found itsvery hard to forgive
Molly If the child had been merely a
daughter. :, D
This rivalry. as it{were. between the
estranged families in the matter Of news
from their nonresident members recurred
with the same eauipeised result on more
than one similar occasion, and was ex-
tended even to less happy events. For in
stance, one time when, Pat wrote in great
distraction, and a wilder scrawl than usual.
that the three childer was dreadful bad
via the mumps, he doubted would they
over 1t. the next mail brought just such a
report from Molly; which was rather awk-
ward for the mother and grandmother,
who had been going about passing the re-
mark that when childer got proper
mindin' they never took anythin' Of the
sort"
At length, however. when perhaps half
a dozen years had gone by, the balance of
good fortune dipped decidedly toward the
arreiis. Ohe autumn morning letter
from Pat came to say that he and his fam
iiy were coming home. He had saved up a
tidy little bit Of money, and meant to try
could he settle himself on a dacint little
bit Of land: at any rate, he would get a
sight Of the ould place and the ould people
Great was the rejoicing of the OFarrells
Whereas for the McNeills at this time the
meager mailbags contained no foreign let
ter, no letter at all. bad or good. let alone
one fraught with such grand news. Molly's
mother, 1t is true, dreamt two nights run
ming that Molly had come home; but
dreams are sorry substitute for letter.
especially when everybody knows, and
some people remind you. that they always
60 by contraries. So Mrs. McNeill fretted
and foreboded, and had not the heart to be