The Irish standard., 1907-01-19

barely time to fly through the stable
With the traps!" The traps were
twelve or fourteen rusty rifles, which
he carried in his arms. How the Peel~
ers did not hear the shouting, God
! knows; it was enough to wake the
dead. The chairman Of the town COM
missioners, all but stark naked, and
with his armful Of rifles, looked Very
funny. He had to swallow, tumblers
full of whisky, or he would have had
his death of cold.
THE general was himself one OF
the oldest figures in the Tipperary OF
those days. Peter Gill, both as jour-
nalist and an orator, was for many
years the principal articulate protector
T! Of the Tipperarv tenantry, a loaded
blunderbuss being their only other re-
source when "Pether's' eloquence
failed. His fearless paper. the Advo-
cate, was subject to occasional mys-
FERROUS disappearances, on which oc-
casions a printed slip was circulated
among the subscribers: I'm conse-
quence Of the absence of the proprie-
tor on important political business, the
Advocate will not appear this evening""
The absence on important political
business was sometimes occasioned
by his arrest for debt, and at other
times by the failure to beat up suffi-
Gent resources to pay "the staff" Not,
indeed. that "the staff were i'll tlle
least eSacting. They mostly lived on
the premises with "the general in a
queer communist promiscuity Of good
and victuals. Whenever the larder
was wholly empty, they put their
heads together as to how to fill the
deficit, and if the paper merchant was
| memorable, or the necessary postage
stamps not to be had, philosophica1y
adjourned the publication until better
| times. "Pether's'' addresses to the
electors Of Tipperary We're more. than
once dated from the county Jail. His
detractors used to hint that there was
IAN unalterable figure" at which his
election addresses were Withdrawn
and the opposing candidate admitted
without contest. The reproacl, were
it even we'll founded, would not be too
heinous i'll times when parliamentary
ianism was the synonym of corrupt
self-seeking. and when ':Pether" might
we'll have considered himself as doing
u national service by keeping the AL
vocate going at the expense of some
hypocritical place hunter. 6, .
| THE Generals" voice was. however,
a more potent instrument than his ucn.
He had an inexhaustible fund. of rich
natural eloquence, set off by a melloT.
voice: Il. mouth capable of the. drollest
by play, a rolling eye, and an eNcglass
which he at one moment thrust into
his mouth and sucked as it it We're q
lollipop, and the next moment fixed
under his eyebrow arch during his
speeches, convulsing his crowd now
with a variety of humorous jerks and
winks, and again appalling his enemies
with the glare of a basilisk. When
"Pether" got up to speak ION behalf
Of hundred thousand personal friends
in Tippcrary,'' his boast was net a
serious exaggeration. His huEor and
richness of imagination gave him q
special distinction among the men Of
Tipperary, whose gifts generally go in
the direction of straight ahead action
and deadly earnest rather than of flow
cry speech and he repaid his atlmiring
county with a passionate admiration
of his own. ''"They tell me,'' l once
tones over a Tipperary crowd-"they
tell ME, Pether, you are getting OIL in
years; isn't there a nice girl anywhere
around in Nenagll that would warm
the heart of poor old "Advocate??'" >
Gentlemen, said "Pether."' erecting
the eyeglass and glancing over the
crowd in all his majesty, "my bride
was Tipperary, and we spent the
honeymoon on the slopes of SLEEVE
na-lnon"" His stream Of sparkling
native eloquence was unfailing. Once
Mr.. George Henry Moore, NJ. p, missed
the morning train for a great meeting
at Thurles, and the. next train would
not arrive for three hours. The gem
eral was up to fill the gap, and hour
after hour kept the multitude in alter
nate roars of indignation and laugh
ter, as he lashed out at some local
tyrants with weapons of passion ard
ridicule that never failed. Suddenly
a priest. with his eye on his watch.
called out to him, cts all right. Petite !;
you may wind up" Gentlemen" our
sued the orator, Il have detained you
too long" (cries of "No, no!'); you
must blame til emurdering tyrants of
Tipperary if in the indignation of an