The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-10-03
IRISH CHARACTER SKETCHES.
THE VILLAGE HUNTER.
written for the Intermountaln Catf

THE VILLAGE HUNTER.
| written for the Intermountaln cain
olic.)
The village boasted of no co-opera-
tive store, but right there in the middle
of it was a hunters shop, over the door
Of which was written in badly-formed
red letters:
"John Dowd. Grocer and Provision
Merchant" and underneath;
Licensed to sell tobacco and sun
dries" You can have everything here
ma am" says the owner of the prem
Uses. leaning his hands on the small
counter, from a farthing needle TO a
cowld slice ov an elephant. Yes. ma am.
everything. and at marketp rice. too.
1t would be hard to guess John
Dowds age If we could believe him
self, "he was getting on 10 forty, but
if we trusted to appearances, ne was
over sixty. John was not a native OF
the place, having come there some
wears before Ito do a stroke of bust
ness" as he himself put it. He spent
a short time in America, and having his
wits sharpened up there, if indeed they
needed sharpening, he came back to his
motherland with just thirty pounds in
his pocket, and settled down to the
huxter's business in the town that l
speak of. He was known to the peo-
ple far and wider under the appropri-
ate name of Johnny Come Lately" I
see him behind his counter, a small, we'll
groomed man, with half-closed eyes,
shaded by spectacles, the glass of one
eve cracked across, and when he looked
at you he seemed to be looking out
over the rim of his specs. If he was
not engaged in serving the people, he
sat behind the counter on a high. stool,
pouring over the pages of the Cork EX-
aminer. especially the report column of
the different county councils. When a
customer entered his shop, he arose OBJ
sequiously, and, with a smile and hands
laid on the counter, he would politely
say, "Well. ma am. what can 1 do for
you today" After serving his custo-
mer with her wants, he would add:
There's nothing else you want to-
day. ma'am," and without giving her
time to reply, he would go on with:
"This is a lovely fitch ov bacon,
ma am. l got it yesterday from Liner
lex. Ye ought to try a bit ov it, ma am,
lest 1 might not have any ov it when
We call agin. No. ye don't any now,
ma am. Well. any pins, thread or
starch. No? Now what do We owe me,
ma'am All, let me see. One quarter ov
tay, one pound ov sugar, loaf ov
bread, one stone oV male and candle.
One shilling an sevenpince halfpenny,
with a stress on the halfpenny. foNthat
halfpenny came in every bill. Good
day, ma'am, an thank We. hope him
self an the childers we'll. Can't COM
plain meself, ma'am, Notwithstanding
the times"
When child of the village called for
anything, he would rub his hands, and
say:
"Ah! me dear; I know We have
sweet tooth" and then he would give
him or her the magnificent gift of one
sweet, with the same grace as if he
were bestowing a kingdom. Their
change. if there was any, he would roll
up in various folds of paper, and then
tying it in the corner Of their hand
kerchief, he would dismiss them thus:
Run off now, Alannah; and mind
don't lose yer change, an tell yer
nanny the loaf is a haIfpenny dearer."
The window of Johnnys shop was