The Irish standard., 1898-12-24
The Curing Of Jack Burke
"a Christmas Story.)

the greatest cursor in the town. He had
not, indeed, the fierce, malicious invec-
tives of old Maj. Turner, who kept the
livery stable, nor the flow of horrid
language which Hans Olson, the saloon
keeper, thought necessary for his bust
ness, but these were only a pair of pa
gans with whom no Christian would
think of comparing himself, so the YER
dict of the neighbors went strongly
against Jack. Mrs. Flynn declared, with
uplifted hands, that twas shocking to
listen to him. Mr.. OMeara didn't know
what that boy of Burke's was coming to.
Hes steering straight for Saltwater"
said Mike Monaghan, meaning, of course,
the state prison in that beautiful city.
AYE, aye, sure enough" added the
pious Mrs. Dempsey, land maybe worse,
agrah, the Lord only knows" an opinion
more clearly expressed by the less pious
Mrs. Moran, when Jack, having cursed
the dog for barking at him, she informed
him that the place would soon be we'll
cleared of him, when he'd find himself
dangling at ropes end. Yet, as in the
case with the majority of criminals,
Jack was not half as bad as represented.
He had a great desire to get rid of the
evil habit, but evil habits, strongly fixed,
are far from being easily cast off. When
only Is he had, as he boosted, cured
himself of that blankety blank, foolish
habit of chewing tobacco, and smoking
the deadly cigaret, but the cursing GUS
tom chung fast. His father philosophi-
cally declared that every habit, good and
bad, was formed by the repetition of the
act. "Hew on earth did you get into it,
dear?" asked his mother, and then gave
an Oh! of despair as her dear one re-
piled: by -, I guess 1 caught the
d thing from that gang at the high
school, where studied those blarsted
quadratics." So Jacks was hard case.
Two persons, however, seemed to UNDER
stand him-his confessor and his
younger sister Maryland it was by the
advice of these confidants that he formed
Nov, Mary, you keep track of me and
make mark for every curse I give, so
that l may say Hail Mary for each
break, and-a wise addition of my own
every day fall 40 times go supperless
to bed" In vain Mary protested against
this additional penance. Jack was
proud of his own plan-and which one of
us is not ?-so he could with difficulty be
persuaded to change that 40 to 60, for
the first 10 days. "Well, we must fix
the thing as a descending SERIES" he
laughed, making unity the common diff
ference" Then Mary laughed too,
cheered him with the opinion that he
was bound to succeed, warned him to
pray we'll that night, and fixed next
morning as the opening of the contest.
MARY amt bit like most folk he
thought, as he was retiring to rest. "She
never catches UP a fellow sharp, nor
sulks, but has good, pleasant smile and
an encouraging word for all. What IA
Their calls the repetition of the act makes
her more lovable every day. The Sisters
of st. Joseph may we'll feel proud Of their
pupil, Mary" Then he lay down Just to
think things over little, and immedi-
ately fell into healthy sleep.
When the alarm clock aroused our
hero next morning, he dressed quickly,
said his prayers pretty we'll, and went to
| breakfast with such a determined air
that Mary, who was serving table, could
not repress laugh of amusement. But
soon business began. When he returned
at noon to dinner, 81 little lines on
to his self*confessed offenses, and five of
them he insisted on having crossed as
humping big ones. God help mel" he
exclaimed. II am afraid the whole
beads must be said round before night.
And it was, with more than a decade
added.
The second day was not much better,
and the third was worse. by -,
well, we'll, by gosh" he cried, this
won't do. The devil is making a hard
fight for me. but, with Gods help, III
get free yet" Then he went to his work
singing the Battle of Freedom" making
curious comments here and there, such
as: Il guess it's black sheep Mary
has in me. and not a little lamb with
fleece as white as snow, but courage, old
chap. Where there's will there's a
way"
BY the tenth day the acuteness of the
disease seemed, as our learned physi-
clans say, notably modified, and a ten
dency to recuperation became distinctly
manifest. The three supperless nights
did world of good, for Jack had fierce
appetite, and felt the fast dreadfully. By
the twentieth day the neighbors got onto
the business, for Tommy Hynes and
Willie Mccarthy, being accommodated
with repeated rides in Jacks delivery
wagon, on condition of reminding him
when he broke through with curse, and
being solemnly pledged to secrecy
promptly gave the whole thing away
Now, indeed, there was subject for the
gossips. He'll never succeed" said the
aforementioned pious old Mrs. Dempsey
Whats bred in the bone is bound tt
come out in the flesh" He is improv.
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