The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-07-10

Good luck to your money" Hughie
answers back.
The umpire again intervenes
You're a decent fellow, Hughie. Tel
him you'll divide
This was ruse to get Hughie te
accept the proposal; and then they
would split the remainder. But Hughie
was too old bird to be caught with
chaff of that kind. No. 1 now comes
rushing down in a state of assumed
frenzy, hits Hughes open hand al
awful wallop, and roars at him: evil
you do what that man says?'
But Hughie quietly rejoins: evil
you do it yourself?"
Here, hold out your hand" He
gives him another terrific slap
'There's the money to you, and give
me ten pounds back"
"Fll not do it. I'll not do it, for nc
man. They're good sheep"
"All right, Hughie. Good luck tc
you"
Good luck to YOURSELF
The rest of us then proceed to the
car, leaving the umpire behind to talk
to Hughie in a fatherly way They
come slowly up, and as they approach
the driver, who knows what is ex
pected of him on these occasions
starts the engine to give Hughie the
impression that we may meet in
Heaven, but certainly never again in
this world. No. l shouts to the UNI
pire to come on, that Hughie "is keep
ing the sheep for somebody else
This Hughie emphatically denies
Then the thanksgiving and shouting
start afresh. In all, think got into
and out of the car four times and the
engine was started three times. But
at last the bargain was amicably com
pleted to the entire satisfaction OF
both parties. And the whole perform
ance did not occupy much more time
than it takes to tell it.
l shall always retain a vivid recol
lection of the final scene in that
sheep-deal. Hughie fitted the picture
perfectly as he stood there on that
mountain road with the heather-clad
hills all around, a good-humored
smile on his honest face, two shapely
big, bare feet firmly planted under
him, a well-worn tweed cap hanging
over his right ear a copious harvest
of brown beard ready for the sickle
no waistcoat, and a coat the original
of which no tailor could detect. But
underneath that humble exterior,
have not the least doubt, there beat
the heart of man. And who would
thing of comparing that honest son OF
the mountains with the falsified dan
dies whom nature and commonsense
alike abhor. Hughie showed he was
no miser either by the fistful of notes
be handed back to the purchaser
after he was paid.
The counting of the money was
nearly as prolonged as the buying
hand and after he had recounted it,
he gave it to one of his brothers to
repeat the calculation. I noticed a
puckered frown gathering on his
countenance. This is not right" he
said at last. 1t struck me he thought
he was being paid short; but was
treasured when he added: "There' s
ten pound too much here He had
counted a couple of five-pound notes
as tens.
Well, Hughie got G375 into his
fist, and he laughingly told us he had
not pocket to put it in. And that is
the Hughie I'll remember, standing
there in the middle of the road in his
bare feet, with 9375 in his hand
and no pocket to put it in, not the
Hughie 1 saw next day at the fair
booted and groomed and dressed to
kill.
There was a little surprise in store
for me when the deal was over. The
buyer told Hughie to pick out the
small ones and send $50 of the best
to so-and-so's yard in town. "I'll dc
that" said Hughie. And Immediately
after more handshaking, away we
went. l could not help remarking as
we came along that they must have
some confidence in Hughes honesty
when they left the picking of the
sheep to himself. The answer l got
was: 81 wish l was as sure of Heaven
as am that Hughie will pick out
the small ones and deliver the rest
in that yard tonight or early tomor
row morning" Which was another
proof to me that this old Irish civil
zation of Gus is worth retaining.
was subsequently informed, to my
great regret, that we left some broken
hearts behind us in that house, be
cause they did not get an opportun
ity of making us tea. l was really
sorry I missed that tea, not that
was then in need of it, but there is E
special luxury about the tea you gel
in one of those homely kitchens. Il
is an expression of the traditional
hospitality of the race, remnant Of
our ancient civilization. And so,
repeat it, the sooner we seriously SCI
about saving what is left of that civ
iliZation and restoring what is los
in this and similar directions, the
better for the Irish nation.
At the next house we visited, there
was not single word of English
No business was done, because the
sheep were not of the proper class
But, my friends told me that the
owner with no English sold the sheer
at the fair to the officials of a bigotee