The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-01-04

WRITTEN Fur THE sUNDAY REPUBLIC.
A resident magistracy i'll Ireland is not
IN easy thing to come by nowadays.
Neither;i Is 1t a very attractive job.
Yet on the evening when l first PROFOUND
I'D the Idea to the young lady who had
.recently consented to become Mrs. Sinclair
Yeates It seemed. glttering with possibili-
ties.
a l was Their climbing the steep accent of
4 the captains toward my majority.
| had attained to the dignity of mud
Major and had spent a good deal on post
age stamps ard on railway fares TO inter-
view people Of influence before 1 found my
! self in the hotel at Skebawn opening long
envelopes addressed to Major Yeates,
r. NJ"
My most immediate concern was TO leave
it at the earliest opportunity.
But in those nine weeks / had learned.
among other. painful things, a little, a very
little. of the methods of the partisan in
the west of Ireland.
Finding a house had been easy enough.
] had had my choice of several, each with
some hundred of acres OF shooting. thor
oughIy poached. and a considerable portion
OF tho roof intact
l had selected one-the one that had The
largest extent of roof in proportion 10 the
/ shooting, and had been assured by my land
lord that in a fortnight or so it would he
hit for occupation.
There's sazfeseG little sodd things 10 be
Hone he raid easily; "a lick Of faint here
and there and q slab of plaster"
l am shortsighted; 1 am also of Irish eN-
traction: both facts that make for tolera-
tion-but even 1 thought he was und erstat-
ing the case.
So did the contractor.
These and kindred difficulties extended in
In unbroken chain through the SIMMER
months nntil a certain wet and windy day
n October, when. with my baggage. / drove
over to establish myself at Shire eiane.
1t was a tall. ugly house Of three stories
high. its walls faced with reather-beaten
plates. its windows staring, narrow and
vacant.
l stood on the steps, waiting for tie door
10 be opened. while the rain sIu:ced upon ne
from a broken eaveshoot that had, among
many other things, escaped The notice of
my landlord.
The door opened and revealed the hall.
az struck me that 1 had, perhaps, over,sti-
ma ted its possibilities.
among them 1 had certainly not included
a tagged floor, sweating with damp, and a
reek OF cabbage from the adjacent kitchen
stairs.
A large, elderly woman, with L red face
and a cap worn helmet-wise OF her fore
head. swept me a magnificent curtsey as
crossed the threshold.
Your honor's she began,
and then every door in the house damned
in obedience to the gust that drove through
IT. With something that sounded like 'Mend
We for a back door," Mrs. Cadogan aban-
doned her opening speech, and made for the
kitchen stairs.
I am a martyr 10 colds in he head. and
/ felt one coming on.
I made a lager In front of the dining
room fire with a ~tattered leather screen and
the dinner table, and gradually, with cigar
cites and strong tea. baffed the smell of
Efnust and cats, and fprvently trusted that
the rain might avert a threatened visit
from my landlord.
I 1 was then but specifically acquainted
with Mr.. Florence Mccarthy Knox and his
habits.
At about 4:30. when the room had warmed
up and my cold was yielding to treatment.
Mrs. Cadogan entered and informed me
that Mr.. FURRY" was In the yard and
would be thankful II I'd go out to him, for
he couldn't come in.
huddled on a macintosh and went out
Into the yard.
My landlord was there on horseback. and
with him there was a man standing at the
head Of a stout gray animal.
/ recognized with despair that 1 was about
to be compelled to buy a horse.
Good afternoon, Major" said Mr.. Knox
in his slow, singsons brogue; its rather
soon to be paying you a visit, but ] thought
you might be in a hurry to see the horse I
was telling you Of"
l thanked him and suggested that 1t was
rather wet for horse dealing.
oh. it's nothing when you're used to it,"
replied Mr.. Knox.
His gloveiess hands were red and wet;
the rain ran down his nose, and his covert
coat was soaked to a sodden brown.
I thought that l did not want to become
used to It
Ny relations with horses have been of a
purely military character.
| have endured the Sandhurst riding
school. L have g~alloped for an impetuous
General, 1 have been steward at regimental
races. but none of these feats have altered
nv opinion that the horse, as a means of
locomotion, Ia obsolete.
Nevertheless. the man who accepts a resi-
dent magistracy in the southwest of Ire
land voluntarily retires into the prehistoric
age: to Institute a stable became inevitable.
you ought to throw a leg over him"
said Mr.. Knox, "and you're welcome to
take him over a fence or two II you, like.
He's a nice, fiippane jumper
Even to my unexacting eye the gray horse
did not seem to promise ~nippancy.
/ explained that I wanted something to
drive and not to ride.
"Weli. that's a fine raking horse in har-
saea." said Mr.. Knox. looking at me with