The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-22

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wife as we sat by the fire, 'Itn be Rose
Harper" said one. "ItH be Anne Farrell
said another. The woman's Mary Hicks"
said a third, "as sure as daylight" An we
were all wrong. Tom outwitteG US. 'Twasn't
Mary or Anne, or Rose; 'twasn't any one
we'd thought OF at all. but just the one
that only Tom d think of. BE DANCED to
we ALL" he said TO himself; IAN I'm much
obliged to We. But I'll pick me W wom-
an says Tom, like the obstinate divil he
was AN I'll pick her the way that's agree
able to me-" An he kept his word.
It's the fashion wi men when MARVIN
takes them TO kiss the Barney stone an
go out -coortin'. The women like it, the
%neighbors expect it; sure it's pleasant any
way to put your toes in the ashes, set a
grin on your face, an make-belleve you're
DRAWN the heart out of the girl beside we.
It's somethin' to make the days go quicker,
it helps the nights TO travel; maybe God is
good 70 let ye taste heaven before your end.
Time enough afterwards to sit mopin';
plenty Of time to forget your f~oolishness.
"Arrah. Judy, DEAR We say. an tighten
your arm. "Arrah, Paddy, love-" says she.
So time goes. sirs; so time goes; but with
Bulldog Martin it never went like that.
All, not at all! Is it Bulldog? Tut, tut!
Once the notion had tight grip Of him,
an he was strong enough on his pins; Tom
set his hat IN the back Of his big head,
took a staff from the corner, an set out
to search for a wife, just in the same way
he'd have started to pick a COW in q fair.
No coortin' for him; no blarneyin' or fool
ishness; somewhere or another, near home
or far from il, was the woman he wanted,
an when he found her twas his intention
to have her, spite Of man or mortal. She
mattered nothin'. He was the one to be
considered. Twas a pure affair o. business.
When he was satisfied, all was done. He
knew what he wanted; he knew led get it;
that was all.
1t took him time. Don't imagine he went
everywhere, eyein' every woman up an
down. Not at all. sirs; not at all. There
were houses he never entered; there were
whole townlands he passed by. Near home,
for one place, where Rose Harper lived,
an Anne Farrell, an Mary Hicks, an all
the rest we'd chose for him, was soon trav-
eled; he knew them, he'd take no mans
choice; that gang was put beyond the
hedge in a lump. Then there was Emo, with
only two women in 1t, an them hop o. me
thumbs; there was Rhamus with only one,
an her ~spoOn-fed; there was Bilboa, where
not one In ten had sixpence in her stockin'
there was Armop, a whole nest o. Catho-
lies, an Drumhill, with the women as
| coarse as bean straw, an the Loughside
with them in %tatters, an the mountain
with them wild as hares, an Lismahee
with its sidewalk manners. an the rest Of
the world, sure, with only one in ten worth
castin' an eye on. Let all that go, says
Tom, with a bang Of his staff; an makes
for the thick Of the fair.
Gorteen, to be sure, gave him plenty o.
trampin', for all that It lay at his feet.
There was money in Gorteen, an a share
o good looks, to say nothin' o. blood an
muscle; an I've heard men say that no less
than three OF it's women took Toms fancy.
One was Jane Fallon, that afterward mar
ried Martin the squire; tn other was Han
nah, her sister, that now keeps house for
Sam the Hump; the third was Kate Trant.
the s~chOolmistress, that's a maiden vet.
But though all had their points. all had
their faults-Jane was too pious, Hannah
too bouncin, Kate had a mother tina went
with her-so, in the end, Tom passed Cor
teen by, an tramped further into the world.
An mebbe he was wise; for in Gorteen it's
easier to choose a wife than to get her.
Tom was a mule OF a man; but a mule
goes when the kickin's over.
I'd weary We il L followed Tom through
all his travels (even if knew how, an
went over all his adventures: how he was
thrashed once by a girls brother for his
impotence. an challenged another time by
a lassie's sweetheart for his interference:
how Long Of Midtown invited him out one
evenin TO look at a powerful star an left
him beyond the door; how Lizzie Bredin
shut herself from sight Of him an refused
him a word; how this one pleased, only she
was poor, an that one would do only she
was fine in the bone, an another squinted.
an the next was short in q leg; let all that
go, an let us march straight with Tom to
the end of his journeyin', when the woman
was found, an he was satisfied, an there
was nothin' to do but bring her home.
Ye can imagine Tom comm at last. then,
one mmer day, to a house out in Leek,
beyond near the mountain, between Drum
hill an Pettilo, where lived a wildly man
named Lang. with his one daughter Sarah.
He'd been recommended there by a friend,
an when he came he found a Idly farm, a
snug house, good crops an pasture, likely
stock on the fields, an fat pigs in the yard.
All this Tom seen for himself as he went,
an was pleased with it; when he inter-
viewed Lang in a meadow, mentionin' who
he was an who'd sent him, he liked the
man; when he entered the house, in a
while. an clapped eyes on Sarah, somethin'
told him on the minute that here was her
self at last. She'll do" says Tom, as she
offered him a chair; my faith, she'll do!'
She was a big woman, thick and strong,
broad in the shoulders, heavy on her feet,
with big arms. sandy hair, cheeks like an
apple, an a square cut face. She had a
chin like Toms own, her nose went I'D at
the point: he'd met handsomer females in
his travels, but the more he looked at her
an studied her ways, an cast eye on the
house she kept, the more he said to him
self: "Bedad here she is" All the better
that she was no dandy; all the likeabIer
that she spoke little; all the safer that she
ruled the father an was mistress in the
house. See her swing a pot off the crook
an tumble it into a basket; look at the
knack she had in buildin' a fire. an putin
Goals round the cake oven; see how clean
she kept the hearth, an the tins on the
WALL; listen to her now rattlin' the cups
in the parlor, an trampin' out TO the dairy
for fresh butter for the tayi All. sure as
day, here's herself at last, thinks Tom,
an grins to himself as he sits by the fire
talkin' cattle wi the father.
Then the three marches TO the parlor an
sits down TO tay: an sure now Tom was