initial commit of ebook 16017HEADmain

1 files changed, 5758 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/16017.txt b/16017.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6064115
--- /dev/null
+++ b/16017.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5758 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poor Scholar, by William Carleton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Poor Scholar
+       Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of
+       William Carleton, Volume Three
+
+Author: William Carleton
+
+Illustrator: M. L. Flanery
+
+Release Date: June 7, 2005 [EBook #16017]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POOR SCHOLAR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+TRAITS AND STORIES OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY
+
+BY WILLIAM CARLETON
+
+
+
+PART VI
+
+
+[Illustration: Frontispiece]
+
+
+[Illustration: Titlepage]
+
+
+
+
+THE POOR SCHOLAR.
+
+
+One day about the middle of November, in the year 18--, Dominick M'Evoy
+and his son Jemmy were digging potatoes on the side of a hard, barren
+hill, called Esker Dhu. The day was bitter and wintry, the men
+were thinly clad, and as the keen blast swept across the hill with
+considerable violence, the sleet-like rain which it bore along pelted
+into their garments with pitiless severity. The father had advanced
+into more than middle age; and having held, at a rack-rent the miserable
+waste of farm which he occupied, he was compelled to exert himself
+in its cultivation, despite either obduracy of soil, or inclemency of
+weather. This day, however, was so unusually severe, that the old man
+began to feel incapable of continuing his toil. The son bore it better;
+but whenever a cold rush of stormy rain came over them, both were
+compelled to stand with their sides against it, and their heads turned,
+so as that the ear almost rested back upon the shoulder in order to
+throw the rain off their faces. Of each, however, that cheek which was
+exposed to the rain and storm was beaten into a red hue; whilst the
+other part of their faces was both pale and hunger-pinched.
+
+The father paused to take breath, and, supported by his spade, looked
+down upon the sheltered inland which, inhabited chiefly by Prostestants
+and Presbyterians, lay rich and warm-looking under him.
+
+"Why, thin," he exclaimed to the son--a lad about fifteen,--"sure I know
+well I oughtn't to curse yez, anyway, you black set! an yit, the Lord
+forgive me my sins, I'm almost timpted to give yez a volley, an' that
+from my heart out! Look at thim, Jimmy agra--only look at the black
+thieves! how warm an' wealthy they sit there in our ould possessions,
+an' here we must toil till our fingers are worn to the stumps, upon this
+thievin' bent. The curse of Cromwell on it!--You might as well ax the
+divil for a blessin', as expect anything like a dacent crop out of
+it.--Look at thim two ridges!--such a poor sthring o' praties is in
+it!--one here an' one there--an' yit we must turn up the whole ridge for
+that same! Well, God sind the time soon, when the right will take place,
+Jimmy agra!"
+
+"An' doesn't Pasthorini say it? Sure whin Twenty-five comes, we'll have
+our own agin: the right will overcome the might--the bottomless pit will
+be locked--ay, double: boulted, if St. Pettier gets the kays, for he's
+the very boy that will accommodate the heretics wid a warm corner; an'
+yit, faith, there's: many o' thim that myself 'ud put in a good word
+for, affcher all."
+
+"Throth, an' here's the same, Jimmy. There's Jack Stuart, an' if there's
+a cool corner in hell, the same Jack will get it--an' that he may, I
+pray Gor this day, an' amin. The Lord sind it to him! for he richly
+desarves it. Kind, neighborly, and frindly, is he an' all belongin' to
+him; an' I wouldn't be where a hard word 'ud be spoken of him, nor a dog
+in connection wid the family ill-treated; for which reason may he get a
+cool corner in hell, I humbly sufflicate."
+
+"What do you think of Jack Taylor? Will he be cosey?"
+
+"Throth, I doubt so--a blessed youth is Jack: yit myself 'ud hardly wish
+it. He's a heerum-skeemm, divil-may-care fellow, no doubt of it, an'
+laughs at the priests, which same I'm thinkin' will get him below
+stairs more nor a new-milk heat, any way; but thin agin, he thrates thim
+dacent, an' gives thim good dinners, an' they take all this rolliken
+in good part, so that it's likely he's not in airnest in it, and surely
+they ought to know best, Jimmy."
+
+"What do you think of Yallow Sam?--honest Sam, that they say was born
+widout a heart, an' carries the black wool in his ears, to keep out
+the cries of the widows an' the orphans, that are long rotten in their
+graves through his dark villany!--He'll get a snug birth!"*
+
+     * This was actually said of the person alluded to--a
+     celebrated usurer and agent to two or three estates,
+     who was a little deaf, and had his ears occasionally
+     stuffed with black wool.
+
+"Yallow Sam," replied the old man, slowly, and a dark shade of intense
+hatred blackened his weather-beaten countenance, as he looked in the
+direction from which the storm blew: "'twas he left us where we're
+standin', Jimmy--undher this blast, that's cowldher an' bittherer nor a
+step-mother's breath, this cuttin' day! 'Twas he turned us on the wide
+world, whin your poor mother was risin' out of her faver. 'Twas he
+squenched the hearth, whin she wasn't able to lave the house, till I
+carried her in my arms into Paddy Cassidy's--the tears fallin' from my
+eyes upon her face, that I loved next to God. Didn't he give our farm to
+his bastard son, a purple Orangeman? Out we went, to the winds an' skies
+of heaven, bekase the rich bodagh made intherest aginst us. I tould him
+whin he chated me out o' my fifteen goolden guineas, that his masther,
+the landlord, should hear of it; but I could never get next or near to
+him, to make my complaint. Eh? A snug birth! I'm only afeard that hell
+has no corner hot enough for him--but lave that to the divil himself:
+if he doesn't give him the best thratement hell can afford, why I'm not
+here."
+
+"Divil a one o' the ould boy's so bad as they say, father; he gives it
+to thim hot an' heavy, at all evints."
+
+"Why even if he was at a loss about Sam, depind upon it, he'd get a hint
+from his betthers above, that 'ud be sarviceable."
+
+"They say he visits him as it is, an' that Sam can't sleep widout some
+one in the room wid him. Dan Philips says the priest was there, an'
+had a Mass in every room in the house; but Charley Mack tells me there's
+no! thruth in it. He was advised to it, he says; but it seems the ould
+boy has too strong ahoult of him, for Sam said he'd have the divil any
+time sooner nor the priest, and its likest what he would say."
+
+"Och, och, Jimmy, avick, I'm tir'd out! We had betther give in; the
+day's too hard, an' there's no use in standin' agin the weather that's
+in it. Lave the ould villain to God, who he can't chate, any way."
+
+"Well, may our curse go along wid the rest upon him, for dhrivin' us to
+sich an unnatural spot as this! Hot an' heavy, into the sowl an'
+marrow of him may it penethrate. An' sure that's no more than all the
+counthry's wishin' him, whether or not--not to mintion the curses that's
+risin' out o' the grave agin him, loud an' piercin'!"
+
+"God knows it's not slavin' yourself on sich a day as this you'd be,
+only for him. Had we kep our farm, you'd be now well an in your larnin'
+for a priest--an' there 'ud be one o' the family sure to be a gintleman,
+anyhow; but that's gone too, agra. Look at the smoke, how comfortable
+it rises from Jack Sullivan's, where the priest has a Station to-day.
+'Tisn't fishin' for a sthray pratie he is, upon a ridge like this. But
+it can't be helped; an' God's will be done! Not himself!--faix, it's
+he that'll get the height of good thratement, an' can ride home, well
+lined, both inside an' outside. Much good may it do him!--'tis but his
+right."
+
+The lad now paused in his turn, looked down on Jack Sullivan's
+comfortable house, sheltered by a clump of trees, and certainly saw
+such a smoke tossed up from the chimney, as gave unequivocal evidence of
+preparation for a good dinner. He next looked "behind the wind," with
+a visage made more blank and meagre by the contrast; after which he
+reflected for a few minutes, as if working up his mind to some sudden
+determination. The deliberation, however, was short; he struck his open
+hand upon the head of the spade with much animation, and instantly took
+it in both hands, exclaiming:
+
+"Here, father, here goes; to the divil once an' for ever I pitch
+slavery," and as he spoke, the spade was sent as far from him as he had
+strength to throw it. "To the divil I pitch slavery! An' now, father,
+wid the help o' God, this is the last day's work I'll ever put my hand
+to. There's no way of larnin' Latin here; but off to Munster I'll start,
+an' my face you'll never see in this parish, till I come home either a
+priest an a gintleman! But that's not all, father dear; I'll rise you
+out of your distress, or die in the struggle. I can't bear to see your
+gray hairs in sorrow and poverty."
+
+"Well, Jimmy--well, agra--God enable you, avourneen; 'tis a good
+intintion. The divil a one o' me will turn another spadeful aither, for
+this day: I'm _dhrookin'_ (* dripping) wid the rain. We'll go home an'
+take an air o' the fire we want it; and aftherwards we can talk about
+what you're _on_ (* determined) for."
+
+It is usual to attribute to the English and Scotch character,
+exclusively, a cool and persevering energy in the pursuit of such
+objects as inclination or interest may propose for attainment; whilst
+Irishmen are considered too much the creatures of impulse to reach
+a point that requires coolness, condensation of thought, and efforts
+successively repeated. This is a mistake. It is the opinion of
+Englishmen and Scotchmen who know not the Irish character thoroughly.
+The fact is, that in the attainment of an object, where a sad-faced
+Englishman would despair, an Irishman will, probably, laugh, drink,
+weep, and fight, during his progress to accomplish it. A Scotchman will
+miss it, perhaps, but, having done all that could be done, he will
+try another speculation. The Irishman may miss it too; but to console
+himself he will break the head of any man who may have impeded him in
+his efforts, as a proof that he ought to have succeeded; or if he cannot
+manage that point, he will crack the pate of the first man he meets, or
+he will get drunk, or he will marry a wife, or swear a gauger never
+to show his face in that quarter again; or he will exclaim, if it be
+concerning a farm, with a countenance full of simplicity--"God bless
+your honor, long life and honor to you, sir! Sure an' 'twas but a
+thrifle, anyhow, that your Reverence will make up for me another time.
+An' 'tis well I know your Lordship 'ud be the last man on airth to give
+me the cowld shoulder, so you would, an' I an ould residenthur on your
+own father's estate, the Lord be praised for that same! An' 'tis
+a happiness, an' nothjn' else, so it is, even if I payed double
+rint--wherein, maybe, I'm not a day's journey from that same, manin'
+the double rint, your honor; only that one would do a great deal for
+the honor an' glory of livin' undher a raal gintleman--an' that's but
+rason."
+
+There is, in short, a far-sightedness in an Irishman which is not
+properly understood, because it is difficult to understand it. I do
+not think there is a nation on earth, whose inhabitants mix up their
+interest and their feelings together more happily, shrewdly, and yet
+less ostensibly, than Irishmen contrive to do. An Irishman will make you
+laugh at his joke, while the object of that joke is wrapped up from
+you in the profoundest mystery, and you will consequently make the
+concession to a certain point of his character, which has been really
+obtained by a faculty you had not penetration to discover, or, rather,
+which he had too much sagacity to exhibit. Of course, as soon as your
+back is turned, the broad grin is on him, and one of his cheeks is stuck
+out two inches beyond the other, because his tongue is in it at your
+stupidity, simplicity, or folly. Of all the national characters on this
+habitable globe, I verily believe that that of the Irish is the most
+profound and unfathomable; and the most difficult on which to form a
+system, either social, moral, or religious.
+
+It would be difficult, for example, to produce a more signal instance of
+energy, system, and perseverance than that exhibited in Ireland during
+the struggle for Emancipation. Was there not flattery to the dust?
+blarney to the eyes? heads broken? throats cut? houses burned? and
+cattle houghed? And why? Was it for the mere pleasure of blarney--of
+breaking heads (I won't dispute the last point, though, because I
+scorn to give up the glory of the national character),--of cutting
+throats--burning houses--or houghing cattle? No; but to secure
+Emancipation. In attaining that object was exemplified that Irish method
+of gaining a point.
+
+"Yes," said Jemmy, "to the divil I pitch slavery! I will come home able
+to rise yez from your poverty, or never show my face in the parish of
+Ballysogarth agin."
+
+When the lad's determination was mentioned to his mother and the family,
+there was a loud and serious outcry against it: for no circumstance is
+relished that ever takes away a member from an Irish hearth, no matter
+what the nature of that circumstance may be.
+
+"Och, thin, is it for that _bocaun_ (* soft, innocent person) of a boy
+to set off wid himself, runnin' through the wide world afther larnin',
+widout money or friends! Avourneen, put it out of yer head. No; struggle
+on as the rest of us is doin', an' maybe yell come as well off at the
+long run."
+
+"Mother, dear," said the son, "I wouldn't wish to go agin what you'd
+say; but I made a promise to myself to 'rise yez out of your poverty if
+I can, an' my mind's made up on it; so don't cross me, or be the manes
+of my havin' bad luck on my journey, in regard of me goin' aginst yer
+will, when you know 'twould be the last thing I wish to do."
+
+"Let the gossoon take his way, Vara. Who knows but it was the Almighty
+put the thoughts of it into his head. Pasthorini says that there
+will soon be a change, an' 'tis a good skame it 'ill be to have him
+a _sogarth_ when the fat living will be walkin' back to their ould
+owners."
+
+"Oh, an' may the Man above grant _that_, I pray Jamini this day! for are
+not we harrished out of our lives, scrapin' an' scramblin' for the black
+thieves, what we ought to put on our backs, an' into our own mouths.
+Well, they say it's not lucky to take money from a priest, because
+it's the price o' sin, an' no more it can, seein' that they want it
+themselves; but I'm sure it's _their_ (* The Protestant clergy) money
+that ought to carry the bad luck to them, in regard of their gettin' so
+many bitter curses along wid it."
+
+When a lad from the humblest classes resolves to go to Munster as a poor
+scholar, there is but one course to be pursued in preparing his outfit.
+This is by a collection at the chapel among the parishioners, to whom
+the matter is made known by the priest, from the altar some Sunday
+previous to his departure. Accordingly, when the family had all given
+their consent to Jemmy's project, his father went, on the following day,
+to communicate the matter to the priest, and to solicit his co-operation
+in making a collection in behalf of the lad, on the next Sunday but one:
+for there is always a week's notice given, and sometimes more, that the
+people come prepared.
+
+The conversation already detailed between father and son took place
+on Friday, and on Saturday, a day on which the priest never holds a
+Station, and, of course, is generally at home, Dominick M'Evoy went to
+his house with the object already specified in view. The priest was
+at home; a truly benevolent man, but like the worthies of his day, not
+over-burdened with learning, though brimful of kindness and hospitality
+mixed up with drollery and simple cunning.
+
+"Good morning, Dominick!" said the priest, as Dominick entered.
+
+"Good morrow, kindly, Sir," replied Dominick: "I hope your Reverence is
+well, and in good health."
+
+"Troth I am, Dominick! I hope there's nothing wrong at home; how is the
+wife and children?"
+
+"I humbly, thank your Reverence for axin'! Troth there's no rason for
+complainin' in regard o' the health; sarra one o' them but's bravely,
+consitherin' all things: I believe I'm the worst o' them, myself, yer
+Reverence.. I'm gettin' ould, you see, an' stiff', an' wake; but that's
+only in the coorse o' nathur; a man can't last always. Wait till them
+that's young an' hearty now, harrows as much as I ploughed in my day,
+an' they won't have much to brag of. Why, thin, but yer Reverence stands
+it bravely--faix, wondherfully itself--the Lord be praised! an' it warms
+my own heart to see you look so well."
+
+"Thank you, Dominick. Indeed, my health, God be thanked, is very good.
+Ellish," he added, calling to an old female servant--"you'll take a
+glass, Dominick, the day is cowldish--Ellish, here take the kay, and
+get some spirits--the poteen, Ellish--to the right hand in the cupboard.
+Indeed, my health is very good, Dominick. Father Murray says he invies
+me my appetite, an' I tell him he's guilty of one of the Seven deadly
+sins."
+
+"Ha, ha, ha!--Faix, an' Invy is one o' them sure enough; but a joke is
+a joke in the mane time. A pleasant gintleman is the same Father Murray,
+but yer Reverence is too deep for him in the jokin' line, for all that.
+Ethen, Sir, but it's you that gave ould Cokely the keen cut about his
+religion--ha, ha, ha! Myself laughed till I was sick for two days afther
+it--the ould thief!"
+
+"Eh?--Did you hear that, Dominick? Are you sure that's the poteen,
+Ellish? Ay, an' the best of it all was, that his pathrun, Lord
+Foxhunter, was present. Come, Dominick, try that--it never seen wather.
+But the best of it all was--"
+
+--"'Well, Father Kavanagh,' said he, 'who put you into the church?
+Now,' said he, 'you'll come over me wid your regular succession from St.
+Peter, but I won't allow that.'
+
+"'Why, Mr. Cokely,' says I, back to him, 'I'll giye up the succession;'
+says I, 'and what is more, I'll grant that you have been called by the
+Lord, and that I have not; but the Lord that called you,' says I, 'was
+Lord Foxhunter.' Man, you'd tie his Lordship wid a cobweb, he laughed so
+heartily.
+
+"'Bravo, Father Kavanagh,' said he. 'Cokely, you're bale,' said he; 'and
+upon my honor you must both dine with me to-day, says he--and capital
+claret he keeps."
+
+"Your health, Father Kavanagh, an' God spare you to us! Hah! wather! Oh,
+the divil a taste itself did the same stuff see! Why, thin, I think your
+Reverence an' me's about an age. I bleeve. I'm a thrifle oulder; but I
+don't bear it so well as you do. The family, you see, an' the childhre,
+an' the cares o' the world, pull me down: throth, the same family's a
+throuble to me. I wish I had them all settled safe, any way."
+
+"What do you intind to do with them, Dominick?"
+
+"In throth, that's what brought me to yer Reverence. I've one
+boy--Jimmy--a smart chap entirely, an' he has taken it into his head to
+go as a poor scholar to Munster. He's fond o' the larnin', there's not
+a doubt o' that, an' small blame to him to be sure; but then again, what
+can I do? He's bint on goin', an' I'm not able to help him, poor fellow,
+in any shape; so I made bould to see yer Reverence about it, in hopes
+that you might be able to plan out something for him more betther nor
+I could do. I have the good wishes of the neighbors, and indeed of the
+whole parish, let the thing go as it may."
+
+"I know that, Dominick, and for the same rason well have a collection at
+the three althars. I'll mintion it to them after Mass to-morrow, and let
+them be prepared for Sunday week, when we can make the collection. Hut,
+man, never fear; we'll get as much as will send him half-way to the
+priesthood; and I'll tell you what, Dominick, I'll never be the man to
+refuse giving him a couple of guineas myself."
+
+"May the heavenly Father bless an' keep your Reverence. I'm sure 'tis
+a good right the boy has, as well as all of us, to never forget your
+kindness. But as to the money--he'll be proud of your assistance
+the other way, sir,--so not a penny--'tis only your good-will we
+want--hem--except indeed, that you'd wish yourself to make a piece of
+kindness of it to the poor boy. Oh, not a drop more, sir,--I declare
+it'll be apt to get into my head. Well, well--sure an' we're not to
+disobey our clargy, whether or not: so here's your health over agin,
+your Reverence! an' success to the poor child that's bint on good!"
+
+"Two guineas his Reverence is to give you from himself, Jimmy," said the
+father, on relating the success of this interview with the priest; "an'
+faix I was widin one of refusin' it, for feard it might bring something
+unlucky* wid it; but, thought I, on the spur, it's best to take it,
+any way. We can asily put it off on some o' these black-mouthed
+Presbyterians or Orangemen, by way of changin' it, an' if there's
+any hard fortune in it, let them have the full benefit of it, _ershi
+misha_." ( ** Say I.)
+
+     * There is a superstitious belief in some parts of
+     Ireland, that priests' money is unlucky; "because," say
+     the people, "it is the price of sin"--alluding to
+     absolution.
+
+It is by trifles of this nature that the unreasonable though enduring
+hatred with which the religious sects of Ireland look upon those of a
+different creed is best known. This feeling, however, is sufficiently
+mutual. Yet on both sides there is something more speculative than
+practical in its nature. When they speak of each other as a distinct
+class, the animosity, though abstracted, appears to be most deep; but
+when they mingle in the necessary intercourse of life, it is curious
+to see them frequently descend, on both sides, from the general rule to
+those exceptions of good-will and kindness, which natural benevolence
+and mutual obligation, together with a correct knowledge of each other's
+real characters, frequently produce. Even this abstracted hatred,
+however, has been the curse of our unhappy country; it has kept us too
+much asunder, or when we met exhibited us to each other in our darkest
+and most offensive aspects.
+
+Dominick's conduct in the matter of the priest's money was also a happy
+illustration of that mixture of simplicity and shrewdness with which
+an Irishman can frequently make points meet, which superstition, alone,
+without such ingenuity, would keep separate for ever. Many another
+man might have refused the money from an ignorant dread of its proving
+unlucky; but his mode of reasoning on the subject was satisfactory
+to himself, and certainly the most ingenious which, according to his
+belief, he could have adopted--that of foisting it upon a heretic.
+
+The eloquence of a country priest, though rude, and by no means
+elevated, is sometimes well adapted to the end in view, to the feelings
+of his auditory, and to the nature of the subject on which he speaks.
+Pathos and humor are the two levers by which the Irish character is
+raised or depressed; and these are blended, in a manner too anomalous to
+be ever properly described. Whoever could be present at a sermon on
+the Sunday when a Purgatorian Society is to be established, would hear
+pathos and see grief of the first water. It is then he would get
+a "nate" and glowing description of Purgatory, and see the broad,
+humorous, Milesian faces, of three or four thousand persons, of both
+sexes, shaped into an expression of the most grotesque and clamorous
+grief. The priest, however, on particular occasions of this nature, very
+shrewdly gives notice of the sermon, and of the purpose for which it is
+to be preached:--if it be grave, the people are prepared to cry; but
+if it be for a political, or any other purpose not decidedly religious,
+there will be abundance of that rough, blunt satire and mirth, so keenly
+relished by the peasantry, illustrated, too, by the most comical and
+ridiculous allusions. That priest, indeed, who is the best master
+of this latter faculty, is uniformly the greatest favorite. It is no
+unfrequent thing to see the majority of an Irish congregation drowned
+in sorrow and tears, even when they are utterly ignorant of the language
+spoken; particularly in those districts where the Irish is still the
+vernacular tongue. This is what renders notice of the sermon and its
+purport necessary; otherwise the honest people might be seriously at a
+loss whether to laugh or cry.
+
+"_Elliih avourneen, gho dhe dirsha?_"--"Ellish, my dear, what is he
+saying?"
+
+"_Och, musha niel eshighum, ahagur--ta sha er Purgathor, ta
+barlhum_."--"Och, I dunna that, jewel; I believe he's on Purgatory."
+
+"_Och, och, oh--och, och, oh--oh, i, oh, i, oh!_"
+
+And on understanding that Purgatory is the subject, they commence their
+grief with a rocking motion, wringing their hands, and unconsciously
+passing their beads through their fingers, whilst their bodies are bent
+forward towards the earth.
+
+On the contrary, when the priest gets jocular--which I should have
+premised, he never does in what is announced as a solemn sermon--you
+might observe several faces charged with mirth and laughter, turned,
+even while beaming with this expression, to those who kneel beside them,
+inquiring:
+
+"Arrah, Barny, what is it--ha, ha, ha!--what is it he's sayin'? The Lord
+spare him among us, anyhow, the darlin' of a man! Eh, Barny, you that's
+in the inside the English?" This, of course is spoken in Irish.
+
+Barny, however, is generally too much absorbed in the fun to become
+interpreter just then; but as soon as the joke is nearly heard out, in
+compliance with the importunity of his neighbors, he gives them a brief
+hint or two, and instantly the full chorus is rung out, long, loud, and
+jocular.
+
+On the Sunday in question, as the subject could not be called strictly
+religious, the priest, who knew that a joke or two would bring in many
+an additional crown to Jemmy's _caubeen_,* was determined that they,
+should at least have a laugh for their money. The man, besides, was
+benevolent, and knew the way to the Irish heart; a knowledge which he
+felt happy in turning to the benefit of the lad in question.
+
+     * Such collections were generally made in hats--the
+     usual name for an Irish peasant's hat being--_caubeen_.
+
+With this object in view, he addressed the people somewhat in the
+following language: "'_Blessed is he that giveth his money to him that
+standeth in need of it._'"
+
+"These words, my brethren, are taken from St. Paul, who, among
+ourselves, knew the value of a friend in distress as well as any other
+apostle in the three kingdoms--hem. It's a nate text, my friends,
+anyhow. He manes, however, when we have it to give, my own true,
+well-tried, ould friends!--when we have it to give. It's absence althers
+the case, in toto; because you have all heard the proverb--'there is no
+takin' money out of an empty purse:' or, as an ould ancient author said
+long ago upon the same subject:
+
+'Cantabit whaekuus coram lathrone whiathur!'
+
+--(Dshk, dshk, dshk*--that's the larnin'!)--He that carries an empty
+purse may fwhistle at the thief. It's _sing_ in the Latin; but sing or
+fwhistle, in my opinion, he that goes wid an empty purse seldom sings
+or fwhistl'es to a pleasant tune. Melancholy music I'd call it, an'
+wouldn't, may be, be much asthray al'ther--Hem. At all evints, may none
+of this present congregation, whin at their devotions, ever sing or
+fwhistle to the same time! No; let it be to 'money in both pockets,'
+if you sing at all; and as long as you have that, never fear but you'll
+also have the 'priest in his boots' into the bargain--("Ha, ha,
+ha!--God bless him, isn't he the pleasant gentleman, all out--ha, ha,
+ha!--moreover, an' by the same a token, it's thrue as Gospel, so it
+is,")--for well I know you're the high-spirited people, who wouldn't see
+your priest without them, while a fat parson, with half-a-dozen chins
+upon him, red and rosy, goes about every day in the week bogged in
+boots, like a horse-trooper!--("Ha, ha, ha!--good, Father Dan! More
+power to you--ha, ha, ha! We're the boys that wouldn't see you in want
+o' them, sure enough. Isn't he the droll crathur?")
+
+     * This sound, which expresses wonder, is produced by
+     striking the tip of the tongue against the palate.
+
+"But suppose a man hasn't money, what is he to do? Now this divides
+itself into what is called Hydrostatics an' Metaphuysics, and must be
+proved logically in the following manner:
+
+"First, we suppose him not to have the money--there I may be wrong or I
+may be right; now for the illustration and the logic.
+
+"Pether Donovan."
+
+"Here, your Reverence."
+
+"Now, Pether, if I suppose you to have no money, am I right, or am I
+wrong?"
+
+"Why, thin, I'd be sarry to prove your Reverence to be wrong, so I
+would; but, for all that, I believe I must give it aginst you."
+
+"How much have you got, Pether?"
+
+"Ethen, but 'tis your Reverence that's comin' close upon me; two or
+three small note an' some silver."
+
+"How much silver, Pether?"
+
+"I'll tell your Reverence in a jiffy--I ought to have a ten shillin',
+barring the price of a quarther o' tobaccy that I bought at the
+crass-roads boyant. Nine shillins an' somo hapuns, yer Reverence."
+
+"Very good, Pether, you must hand me the silver, till I give the rest of
+the illustration wid it."
+
+"But does your Reverence mind another ould proverb?--'a fool an' his
+money's asy parted.' Sure an' I know you're goin' to do a joke upon me."
+
+("Give him the money, Pether," from a hundred voices--"give his
+Reverence the money, you nager you--give him the silver, you dirty
+spalpeen you--hand it out, you misert.")
+
+"Pether, if you don't give it dacently, I'll not take it; and in that
+case--"
+
+"Here, here, your Reverence--here it is; sure I wouldn't have your
+ill-will for all I'm worth."
+
+"Why, you nager, if I wasn't the first orathor livin', barrin' Cicero or
+Demosthenes himself, I couldn't schrew a penny out o' you! Now, Pether,
+there's a specimen of logic for you; an' if it wasn't good, depind upon
+it the money would be in your pocket still. I've never known you to give
+a penny for any charitable purpose, since ever I saw your face: but I'm
+doin' a good action in your behalf for once; so if you have any movin'
+words to say to the money in question, say them, for you'll never finger
+it more."
+
+A burst of the most uproarious mirth followed this manoeuvre, in which
+the simple priest himself joined heartily; whilst the melancholy
+of Peter's face was ludicrously contrasted with the glee which
+characterized those who surrounded him.
+
+"Hem!--Secondly--A man, you see, may have money, or he may not, when his
+follow creature who stands in need of it makes an appale to his dacency
+and his feelings; and sorry I'd be to think that there's a man before
+me, or a woman either, who'd refuse to assist the distresses of any
+one, of any creed, church, or persuasion, whether white, black, or
+yallow--no; I don't except even the blue-bellies themselves. It's what I
+never taught you, nor never will tache you to the day of my death! To be
+sure, a fellow-creature may say, 'Help me, my brother, I am distressed,'
+or, 'I am bent on a good purpose, that your kindness can enable me to
+accomplish.' But suppose that you have not the money about you at the
+time, wouldn't you feel sorry to the back-bone? Ay, would yez--to the
+very core of the heart itself. Or if any man--an' he'd be' nothing else
+than a bodagh that would say it--if any man would tell me that you would
+not, I'd--yes--I'd give him his answer, as good as I gave to ould Cokely
+long ago, and you all know what that was.
+
+"The next point is, what would you do if you hadn't it about you?
+It's that can tell you what you'd do:--you'd say, 'I haven't got it,
+brother,'--for ev'ry created bein' of the human kind is your brother,
+barrin' the women, an' they are your sisters--[this produced a grin upon
+many faces]--'but,' says you, 'if you wait a bit for a day or two, or a
+week, or maybe for a fortnight, I'll try what I can do to help you.'
+
+"Picture to yourselves a fellow-creature in distress--suppose him
+to have neither hat, shoe, nor stocking--[this was a touch of the
+pathetic]--and altogether in a state of utter destitution! Can there be
+a more melancholy picture than this? No, there can't. But 'tisn't
+the tithe of it!--a barefaced robbery is the same tithe--think of him
+without father, mother, or friend upon the earth--both dead, and ne'er
+another to be had for love or money--maybe he has poor health--maybe
+he's sick, an' in a sthrange country--[here Jemmy's mother and friends
+sobbed aloud, and the contagion began to spread]--the priest, in fact,
+knew where to touch--his face is pale--his eyes sunk with sickness and
+sorrow in his head--his bones are cuttin' the skin--he knows not where
+to turn himself--hunger and sickness are strivin' for him.--[Here the
+grief became loud and general, and even the good-natured preacher's own
+voice got somewhat unsteady.]--He's in a bad state entirely--miserable!
+more miserable!! most miserable!!! [och, och, oh!] sick, sore, and
+sorry!--he's to be pitied, felt for, and compassionated!--[a general
+outcry!]--'tis a faver he has, or an ague, maybe, or a rheumatism, or an
+embargo (* lumbago, we presume) on the limbs, or the king's evil, or
+a consumption, or a decline, or God knows but it's the falling
+sickness--[ooh, och, oh!--och, och, oh!] from the whole congregation,
+whilst the simple old man's eyes were blinded with tears at the force of
+the picture he drew.--[Ay, maybe it's the falling-sickness, and in that
+case how on earth can he stand it.--He can't, he can't, wurra strew,
+wurra strew!--och, och, oh!--ogh, ogh, ogh!]--The Lord in heaven look
+down upon him--[amin, amin, this blessed an' holy Sunday that's in
+it!--och, oh!]--pity him--[amin, amin!--och, och, an amin!]--with
+miseracordial feeling and benediction! He hasn't a rap in his
+company!--moneyless, friendless, houseless, an' homeless! Ay, my
+friends, you all have homes--but he has none! Thrust back by every
+hard-hearted spalpeen, and he, maybe, a better father's son than the
+Turk that refuses him! Look at your own childre, my friends! Bring the
+case home to yourselves! Suppose he was one of them--alone on the earth,
+and none to pity him in his sorrows! Your own childre, I say, in a
+strange land.--[Here the outcry became astounding; men, women, and
+children in one general uproar of grief.]--An'--this may all be Jemmy
+M'Evoy's case, that's going in a week or two to Munster, as a poor
+scholar--may be his case, I say, except you befriend him, and show your
+dacency and your feelings, like Christians and Catholics; and for either
+dacency or kindness, I'd turn yez against any other congregation in the
+diocess, or in the kingdom--ay, or against Dublin, itself, if it was
+convanient, or in the neighborhood."
+
+Now here was a coup de main--not a syllable mentioned about Jemmy
+M'Evoy, until he had melted them down, ready for the impression, which
+he accordingly made to his heart's content.
+
+"Ay," he went on, "an' 'tis the parish of Ballysogarth that has the
+name, far and near, for both, and well they desarve it. You won't see
+the poor gossoon go to a sthrange country--with empty pockets. He's the
+son of an honest man--one of yourselves; and although he's a poor man,
+you know 'twas Yallow Sam that made him so--that put him out of his
+comfortable farm and slipped a black-mouth * into it. You won't turn
+your backs on the son in regard of that, any way. As for Sam, let him
+pass; he'll not grind the poor, nor truckle to the rich, when he gives
+up his stewardship in the kingdom come. Lave him to the friend of the
+poor--to his God; but the son of them that he oppressed, you will stand
+up for. He's going to Munster, to learn 'to go upon the Mission:' and,
+on Sunday next, there will be a collection made here, and at the other
+two althars for him; and, as your own characters are at stake, I trust
+it will be neither mane nor shabby. There will be Protestants here, I'll
+engage, and you must act dacently before them, if it was only to set
+them a good example. And now I'll tell yez a story that the mintion of
+the Protestants brings to my mind:--
+
+     * In the North of Ireland the word black-mouth means a
+     Presbyterian.
+
+"There was, you see, a Protestant man and a Catholic woman once married
+together. The man was a swearing, drinking, wicked rascal, and his wife
+the same: between them they were a blessed pair to be sure. She never
+bent her knee under a priest until she was on her death-bed; nor was he
+known ever to enter a church door, or to give a shilling in charity
+but once, that being--as follows:--He was passing a Catholic place of
+worship one Sunday, on his way to fowl--for he had his dog and gun with
+him;--'twas beside a road, and many of the congregration were kneeling
+out across the way. Just as he passed they were making a collection
+for a poor scholar--and surely they that love the larning desarve to be
+encouraged! Well, behold you, says one of them, 'will you remember the
+poor scholar,' says he, 'and put something in the hat? You don't know,'
+says he, 'but his prayers will be before you.' (* In the other world.)
+'True enough, maybe,' says the man, 'and there's a crown to him, for
+God's sake.' Well and good; the man died, and so did the wife; but the
+very day before her departure, she got a scapular, and died in it. She
+had one sister, however, a good crature, that did nothing but fast and
+pray, and make her sowl. This woman had strong doubts upon her mind, and
+was very much troubled as to whether or not her sister went to heaven;
+and she begged it as a favor from the blessed Virgin, that the state of
+her sister's sowl might be revaled to her. Her prayer was granted.
+One night, about a week after her death, her sister came back to her,
+dressed, all in white, and circled round by a veil of glory.
+
+"'Is that Mary?' said the living sister.
+
+"'It is,' said the other; 'I have got liberty to appear to you,' says
+she, 'and to tell you that I'm happy.'
+
+"'May the holy Virgin be praised!' said the other. 'Mary, dear, you have
+taken a great weight off of me,' says she: 'I thought you'd have a bad
+chance, in regard of the life you led.'
+
+"'When I died,' said the spirit, 'and was on my way to the other world,
+I came to a place where the road divided itself into three parts;--one
+to heaven, another to hell, and a third to purgatory. There was a dark
+gulf between me and heaven, and a breach between me and purgatory that
+I couldn't step across, and if I had missed my foot there, I would have
+dropped into hell. So I would, too, only that the blessed Virgin put my
+own scapular over the breach, and it became firm, and I stepped on it,
+and got over. The Virgin then desired me to look into hell, and the
+first person I saw was my own husband, standing with a green sod under
+his feet! 'He got that favor,' said the blessed Virgin, 'in consequence
+of the prayers of a holy priest, that had once been a poor scholar, that
+he gave assistance to, at a collection made for him in such a chapel,'
+says she, 'Then,' continued the sowl, 'Mary,' says she, 'but there's
+some great change in the world since I died, or why would the people
+live so long? It can't be less than six thousand years since I departed,
+and yet I find every one of my friends just as I left them.'
+
+"'Why,' replied the living sister, 'you're only six days dead.'
+
+"'Ah, avourneen!' said the other, 'it can't be--it can't be! for I have
+been thousands on thousands of years in pain!'--and as she spoke this
+she disappeared.
+
+"Now there's a proof of the pains of purgatory, where one day seems as
+long as a thousand years; and you know we oughtn't to grudge a thrifle
+to a fellow-crature, that we may avoid it. So you see, my friends,
+there's nothing like good works. You know not when or where this lad's
+prayers may benefit you. If he gets ordained, the first mass he says
+will be for his benefactors; and in every one he celebrates after that,
+they must also be remembered: the words are _pro omnibus benefactoribus
+meis, per omnia secula secularum!_
+
+"Thirdly--hem--I now lave the thing to yourselves.
+
+"But wasn't I match for Pettier Donovan, that would brake a stone for
+the marrow *--Eh?--(a broad laugh at Pother's rueful visage.)--Pettier,
+you Turk, will your heart never soften--will you never have dacency, an'
+you the only man of your family that's so? Sure they say you're going to
+be marrid some of these days. Well, if you get your wife in my parish, I
+tell you, Pettier, I'll give you a fleecin', for don't think I'll marry
+you as chape as I would a poor honest man. I'll make you shell out the
+yallowboys, and 'tis that will go to your heart, you nager you; and then
+I'll eat you out of house and home at the Stations. May the Lord grant
+us, in the mane time, a dacent appetite, a blessing which I wish you
+all,------&c."
+
+     * I know not whether this may be considered worthy of a
+     note or not. I have myself frequently seen and tasted
+     what is appropriately termed by the peasantry "Stone
+     Marrow." It is found in the heart of a kind of soft
+     granite, or perhaps I should rather say freestone. The
+     country people use it medicinally, but I cannot
+     remember what particular disease it is said to cure. It
+     is a soft, saponaceous substance, not unpleasant to the
+     taste, of a bluish color, and melts in the mouth, like
+     the fat of cold meat, leaving the palate greasy. How
+     far an investigation into its nature and properties
+     might be useful to the geologist or physician, it is
+     not for me to conjecture. As the fact appeared to be a
+     curious one, and necessary, moreover, to illustrate the
+     expression used in the text, I thought it not amiss to
+     mention it. It may be a _bonne bouche_ for the
+     geologists.
+
+At this moment the congregation was once more in convulsions of laughter
+at the dressing which Peter, whose character was drawn with much truth
+and humor, received at the hands of the worthy pastor.
+
+Our readers will perceive that there was not a single prejudice, or
+weakness, or virtue, in the disposition of his auditory, left untouched
+in this address. He moved their superstition, their pride of character,
+their dread of hell and purgatory, their detestation of Yellow Sam, and
+the remembrance of the injury so wantonly inflicted on M'Evoy's family;
+he glanced at the advantage to be derived from the lad's prayers, the
+example they should set to Protestants, made a passing hit at tithes;
+and indulged in the humorous, the pathetic, and the miraculous. In
+short, he left no avenue to their hearts untouched; and in the process
+by which he attempted to accomplish his object he was successful.
+
+There is, in fact, much rude, unpolished eloquence among the Roman
+Catholic priesthood, and not a little which, if duly cultivated by study
+and a more liberal education, would deserve to be ranked very high.
+
+We do not give this as a specimen of their modern pulpit eloquence,
+but as a sample of that in which some of those Irish clergy shone,
+who, before the establishment of Maynooth, were admitted to orders
+immediately from the hedge-schools, in consequence of the dearth of
+priests which then existed in Ireland. It was customary in those days to
+ordain them even before they departed for the continental colleges, in
+order that they might, by saying masses and performing other clerical
+duties, be enabled to add something to the scanty pittance which was
+appropriated to their support. Of the class to which Father Kavanagh
+belonged, there are few, if any, remaining. They sometimes were called
+"Hedge-priests," * byway of reproach; though for our own parts, we wish
+their non-interference in politics, unaffected piety, and simplicity of
+character, had remained behind them.
+
+     * This nickname was first bestowed upon them by the
+     continental priests, who generally ridiculed them for
+     their vulgarity. They were, for the most! part, simple
+     but worthy men.
+
+On the Sunday following, Dominick M'Evoy and his son Jemmy attended
+mass, whilst the other members of the family, with that sense of
+honest pride which is more strongly inherent in Irish character than is
+generally supposed, remained at home, from a reluctance to witness what
+they could not but consider a degradation. This decency of feeling was
+anticipated by the priest, and not overlooked by the people; for the
+former, the reader may have observed, in the whole course of his address
+never once mentioned the word "charity;" nor did the latter permit the
+circumstance to go without its reward, according to the best of their
+ability. So keen and delicate are the perceptions of the Irish, and
+so acutely alive are they to those nice distinctions of kindness and
+courtesy, which have in their hearts a spontaneous and sturdy growth,
+that mocks at the stunted virtues of artificial life.
+
+In the parish of Ballysogarth there were three altars, or places of
+Roman Catholic worship; and the reader may suppose that the collection
+made at each place was considerable. In truth, both father and son's
+anticipations were far under the sum collected. Protestants and
+Presbyterians attended with their contributions, and those of the
+latter who scrupled to be present at what they considered an idolatrous
+worship, did not hesitate to send their quota by some Roman Catholic
+neighbor.
+
+Their names were accordingly announced with an encomium from the priest,
+which never failed to excite a warm-hearted murmur of approbation.
+Nor was this feeling transient, for, we will venture to say, that had
+political excitement flamed up even to rebellion and mutual slaughter,
+the persons and property of those individuals would have been held
+sacred.
+
+At length Jemmy was equipped; and sad and heavy became the hearts of
+his parents and immediate relations as the morning appointed for his
+departure drew nigh. On the evening before, several of his more distant
+relatives came to take their farewell of him, and, in compliance with
+the usages of Irish hospitality, they were detained for the night. They
+did not, however, come empty-handed: some brought money; some brought
+linen, stockings, or small presents--"jist, Jimmy, asthore, to keep me
+in yer memory, sure,--and nothin' else it is for, mavourneen."
+
+Except Jemmy himself, and one of his brothers who was to accompany him
+part of the way, none of the family slept. The mother exhibited deep
+sorrow, and Dominick, although he made a show of firmness, felt, now
+that the crisis was at hand, nearly incapable of parting with the
+boy. The conversation of their friends and the cheering effects of the
+poteen, enabled them to sustain his loss better than they otherwise
+would have done, and the hope of seeing him one day "an ordained
+priest," contributed more than either to support them.
+
+When the night was nearly half spent, the mother took a candle and
+privately withdrew to the room in which the boy slept. The youth was
+fair, and interesting to look upon--the clustering locks of his white
+forehead were divided; yet there was on his otherwise open brow, a shade
+of sorrow, produced by the coming separation, which even sleep could not
+efface. The mother held the candle gently towards his face, shading
+it with one hand, lest the light might suddenly awake him; she then
+surveyed his features long and affectionately, whilst the tears fell in
+showers from her cheeks.
+
+"There you lie," she softly sobbed out, in Irish, "the sweet pulse of
+your mother's heart; the flower of our flock, the pride of our eyes, and
+the music of our hearth! Jimmy, avourneen machree, an' how can I part
+wid you, my darlin' son! Sure, when I look at your mild face, and think
+that you're takin' the world on your head to rise us out of our poverty,
+isn't my heart breakin'! A lonely house we'll have afther you, acushla!
+Goin' out and comin' in, at home or abroad, your voice won't be in my
+ears, nor your eye smilin' upon me. An' thin to think of what you may
+suffer in a sthrange land! If your head aches, on what tendher breast
+will it lie? or who will bind the ribbon of comfort * round it? or wipe
+your fair, mild brow in sickness? Oh, Blessed Mother!--hunger, sickness,
+and sorrow may come upon you when you'll be far from your own, an' from
+them that loves you!"
+
+     * The following quotation, taken from a sketch called
+     "The Irish Midwife," by the author, gives an
+     illustration of this passage:--"The first, meaning
+     pain in the head, she cures by a very formal and
+     serious process called 'measuring the head.' This is
+     done by a ribbon, which she puts round the cranium,
+     repeating during the admeasurement a certain prayer or
+     charm from which the operation is to derive its whole
+     efficacy. The measuring is performed twice--in the
+     first instance, to show that its sutures are separated
+     by disease, or to speak more plainly, that the bones
+     of the head are absolutely opened, and that as a
+     natural consequence the head must be much larger than
+     when the patient is in a state of health. The
+     circumference of the first admeasurement is marked upon
+     a ribbon, after which she repeats the charm that is to
+     remove the headache, and measures the cranium again, in
+     order to show, by a comparison of the two ribbons,
+     that the sutures have been closed, the charm successful,
+     and the headache immediately removed. It is
+     impossible to say how the discrepancy in the
+     measurement is brought about; but be that as it may,
+     the writer of this has frequently seen the operation
+     performed in such a way as to defy the most
+     scrutinizing eye to detect any appearance of imposture,
+     and he is convinced that in the majority of cases there
+     is not the slightest imposture intended. The operator
+     is in truth a dupe to a strong and delusive
+     enthusiasm."
+
+This melancholy picture was too much for the tenderness of the mother;
+she sat down beside the bed, rested her face on her open hand, and wept
+in subdued but bitter grief. At this moment his father, who probably
+suspected the cause of her absence, came in and perceived her distress.
+
+"Vara," said he, in Irish also, "is my darlin' son asleep?"
+
+She looked up, with streaming eyes, as he spoke, and replied to him in a
+manner so exquisitely affecting, when the circumstances of the boy, and
+the tender allusion made by the sorrowing mother, are considered--that
+in point of fact no heart--certainly no Irish heart--could withstand
+it. There is an old Irish melody unsurpassed in pathos, simplicity,
+and beauty--named in Irish "_Tha ma mackulla's na foscal me,_"---or
+in English, "I am asleep, and don't waken me." The position of the boy
+caused the recollection of the old melody to flash into the mother's
+heart,--she simply pointed to him as the words streamed in a low
+melodious murmur, but one full of heartrending sorrow, from her lips.
+The old sacred association--for it was one which she had sung for him
+a thousand times,--until warned to desist by his tears--deepened the
+tenderness of her heart, and she said with difficulty, whilst she
+involuntarily held over the candle to gratify the father's heart by a
+sight of him. "I was keepin' him before my eye," she said; "God knows
+but it may be the last night we'll ever see him undher our own roof!
+Dominick, achora, I doubt I can't part wid him from my heart."
+
+"Then how can I, Vara?" he replied. "Wasn't he my right hand in
+everything? When was he from me, ever since he took a man's work upon
+him? And when he'd finish his own task for the day, how kindly he'd
+begin an' help me wid mine! No, Vara, it goes to my heart to let him go
+away upon sich a plan, and I wish he hadn't taken the notion into his
+head at all."
+
+"It's not too late, maybe," replied his mother: "I think it wouldn't
+be hard to put him off of it; the crathur's own heart is failin' him to
+lave us. He has sorrow upon his face where he lies."
+
+The father looked at the expression of affectionate melancholy which
+shaded hia features as he slept; and the perception of the boy's
+internal struggle against his own domestic attachments in accomplishing
+hia first determination, powerfully touched his heart.
+
+"Vara," said he, "I know the boy--he won't give it up; and 'twould be a
+pity--maybe a sin--to put him from it. Let the child get fair play, and
+thry his coorse. If, he fails, he can come back to us, an' our arms an'
+hearts will be open to welcome him! But, if God prospers him, wouldn't
+it be a blessin' that we never expected, to see him in the white robes,
+celebratin' one mass for his parents. If these ould eyes could see that,
+I would be continted to close them in pace an' happiness for ever."
+
+"An' well you'd become them, _avourneen machree!_ Well would your mild
+and handsome countenance look wid the long heavenly stole of innocence
+upon you! and although it's atin' into my heart, I'll bear it for the
+sake of seein' the same blessed sight. Look at that face, Dominick;
+mightn't many a lord of the land be proud to have sich a son? May the
+heavens shower down its blessin' upon him!"
+
+The father burst into tears. "It is--it is!" said he. "It is the face
+that 'ud make many a noble heart proud to look at it! Is it any wondher
+it 'ud cut our hearts, thin, to have it taken from afore our eyes? Come
+away, Vara, come away, or I'll not be able to part wid it. It is the
+lovely face--an' kind is the heart of my darlin' child!" As he spoke,
+he stooped down and kissed the youth's cheek, on which the warm tears
+of affection fell, soft as the dew from heaven. The mother followed his
+example, and they both left the room.
+
+"We must bear it," said Dominick, as they passed into another apartment;
+"the money's gathered, an' it wouldn't look well to be goin' back wid it
+to them that befrinded us. We'd have the blush upon our face for it, an'
+the child no advantage."
+
+"Thrue for you, Dominick; and we must make up our minds to live widout
+him for a while."
+
+The following morning was dark and cloudy, but calm and without rain.
+When the family were all assembled, every member of it evinced traces
+of deep feeling, and every eye was fixed upon the serene but melancholy
+countenance of the boy with tenderness and sorrow. He himself maintained
+a quiet equanimity, which, though apparently liable to be broken by
+the struggles of domestic affection, and in character with his meek and
+unassuming disposition, yet was supported by more firmness than might be
+expected from a mind in which kindness and sensibility were so strongly
+predominant. At this time, however, his character was not developed,
+or at least not understood, by those that surrounded him. To strong
+feelings and enduring affections he added a keenness of perception and
+a bitterness of invective, of which, in his conversation with his father
+concerning Yellow Sam, the reader has already had sufficient proofs. At
+breakfast little or nothing was eaten; the boy himself could not taste
+a morsel, nor any other person in the family. When the form of the meal
+was over, the father knelt down--"It's right," said he, "that we should
+all go to our knees, and join in a Rosary in behalf of the child that's
+goin' on a good intintion. He won't thrive the worse bekase the last
+words that he'll hear from his father and mother's lips is a prayer for
+bringin the blessin' of God down upon his endayvors."
+
+This was accordingly performed, though not without tears and sobs, and
+frequent demonstrations of grief; for religion among the peasantry is
+often associated with bursts of deep and powerful feeling.
+
+When the prayer was over, the boy rose and calmly strapped to his back
+a satchel covered with deer-skin, containing a few books, linen, and a
+change of very plain apparel. While engaged in this, the uproar of grief
+in the house was perfectly heart-rending. When just ready to set out, he
+reverently took off his hat, knelt down, and, with tears streaming from
+his eyes, craved humbly and meekly the blessing and forgiveness of his
+father and mother. The mother caught him in her arms, kissed his lips,
+and, kneeling also, sobbed out a fervent benediction upon his head;
+the father now, in the grief of a strong man, pressed him to his heart,
+until the big burning tears fell upon the boy's face; his brothers
+and sisters embraced him wildly; next his more distant relations; and
+lastly, the neighbors who were crowded about the door. After this he
+took a light staff in his hand, and, first blessing himself after the
+form of his church, proceeded to a strange land in quest of education.
+
+He had not gone more than a few perches from the door, when his mother
+followed him with a small bottle of holy water. "Jimmy, _a lanna
+voght_," (* my poor child) said she, "here's this, an' carry it about
+you--it will keep evil from you; an' be sure to take good care of the
+written correckther you got from the priest an' Square Benson; an',
+darlin', don't be lookin' too often at the cuff o' your coat, for feard
+the people might get a notion that you have the bank-notes sewed in it.
+An', Jimmy agra, don't be too lavish upon their Munster crame; they say
+it's apt to give people the ague. Kiss me agin, agra; an' the heavens
+above keep you safe and well till we see you once more!"
+
+She then tenderly, and still with melancholy pride, settled his shirt
+collar, which she thought did not set well about his neck, and kissing
+him again, with renewed sorrow left him to pursue his journey.
+
+M'Evoy's house was situated on the side of a dark hill--one of that
+barren description which can be called neither inland nor mountain. It
+commanded a wide and extended prospect, and the road along which the lad
+travelled was visible for a considerable distance from it. On a small
+hillock before the door sat Dominek and his wife, who, as long as their
+son was visible, kept their eyes, which were nearly blinded with tears,
+rivetted upon his person. It was now they gave full vent to their grief,
+and discussed with painful and melancholy satisfaction all the excellent
+qualities which he possessed. As James himself advanced, one neighbor
+after another fell away from the train which accompanied him, not,
+however, until they had affectionately embraced and bid him adieu, and
+perhaps slipped, with peculiar delicacy, an additional mite into
+his waistcoat pocket. After the neighbors, then followed the gradual
+separation from his friends--one by one left him, as in the great
+journey of life, and in a few hours he found himself accompanied only by
+his favorite brother.
+
+This to him was the greatest trial he had yet felt; long and
+heartrending was their embrace. Jemmy soothed and comforted his beloved
+brother, but in vain. The lad threw himself on the spot at which they
+parted, and remained there until Jemmy turned an angle of the road which
+brought him out of his sight, when the poor boy kissed the marks of his
+brother's feet repeatedly, and then returned home, hoarse and broken
+down with the violence of his grief.
+
+He was now alone, and for the first time felt keenly the strange object
+on which he was bent, together with all the difficulties connected with
+its attainment. He was young and uneducated, and many years, he knew,
+must elapse e'er he could find himself in possession of his wishes. But
+time would pass at home, as well as abroad, he thought; and as there lay
+no impediment of peculiar difficulty in his way, he collected all his
+firmness and proceeded.
+
+There is no country on the earth in which either education, or the
+desire to procure it, is so much reverenced as in Ireland. Next to the
+claims of the priest and schoolmaster come those of the poor scholar for
+the respect of the people. It matters not how poor or how miserable
+he may be; so long as they see him struggling with poverty in the
+prosecution of a purpose so laudable, they will treat him with
+attention and kindness. Here there is no danger of his being sent to the
+workhouse, committed as a vagrant, or passed from parish to parish until
+he reaches his own settlement. Here the humble lad is not met by the
+sneer of purse-proud insolence, or his simple tale answered only in the
+frown of heartless contempt. No--no--no. The best bit and sup are placed
+before him; and whilst his poor, but warm-hearted, entertainer can
+afford only potatoes and salt to his own half-starved family, he will
+make a struggle to procure something better for the poor scholar;
+'_Becase he's far from his own, the craihur!_ An' sure the intuition in
+him is good, anyhow; the Lord prosper him, an' every one that has the
+heart set upon the larnin'!'
+
+As Jemmy proceeded, he found that his satchel of books and apparel gave
+as clear an intimation of his purpose, as if he had carried a label to
+that effect upon his back.
+
+"God save you, a bouchal!" said a warm, honest-looking countryman, whom
+he met driving home his cows in the evening, within a few miles of the
+town in which he purposed to sleep.
+
+"God save you kindly!"
+
+"Why, thin, 'tis a long journey you have before you, alanna, for I know
+well it's for Munster you're bound."
+
+"Thrue for you; 'tis there, wid the help of God, I'm goin'. A great
+scarcity of larnin' was in my own place, or I wouldn't have to go at
+all," said the boy, whilst his eyes filled with, tears.
+
+"'Tis no discredit in life," replied the countryman, with untaught
+natural delicacy, for he perceived that a sense of pride lingered about
+the boy which made the character of poor scholar sit painfully upon him;
+"'tis no discredit, dear, nor don't be cast down. I'll warrant you that
+God will prosper you; an' that He may, avick, I pray this day!" and as
+he spoke, he raised his hat in reverence to the Being whom he invoked.
+"An' tell me, dear--where do you intend to sleep to-night?"
+
+"In the town forrid here," replied Jemmy. "I'm in hopes I'll be able to
+reach it before dark."
+
+"Pooh! asy you will. Have you any friends or acquaintances there that
+'ud welcome you, _a bouchal dhas_ (my handsome boy)?"
+
+"No, indeed," said Jemmy, "they're all strangers to me; but I can stop
+in 'dhry lodgin',' for it's chaper."
+
+"Well, alanna, I believe you; but _I'm no stranger to you_--so come home
+wid me to-night; where you'll get a good bed, and betther thratement nor
+in any of their dhry lodgins. Give me your books, and I'll carry them
+for you. Ethen, but you have a great batch o' them entirely. Can you
+make any hand o' the Latin at all yet?"
+
+"No, indeed," replied Jemmy, somewhat sorrowfully; "I didn't ever open a
+Latin book, at all at all."
+
+"Well, acushla, everything has a beginnin';--you won't be so. An' I know
+by your face that you'll be bright at it, an' a credit to them owes (*
+owns) you. There's my house in the fields beyant, where you'll be well
+kept for one night, any way, or for twinty, or for ten times twinty, if
+you wanted them."
+
+The honest farmer then commenced the song of _Colleen dhas Crotha na
+Mho_ (* The pretty girl milking her cow), which he sang in a clear
+mellow voice, until they reached the house.
+
+"Alley," said the man to his wife, on entering, "here's a stranger I've
+brought you."
+
+"Well," replied Alley, "he's welcome sure, any way; _Cead millia, failta
+ghud_, alanna! sit over to the fire. Brian, get up, dear," said she to
+one of the children, "an' let the stranger to the hob."
+
+"He's goin' on a good errand, the Lord bless him!" said the husband, "up
+the country for the larnin'. Put thim books over on the settle; an' whin
+the, _girshas_ are done milkin', give him a brave dhrink of the sweet
+milk; it's the stuff to thravel on."
+
+"Troth, an' I will, wid a heart an' a half, wishin' it was betther I had
+to give him. Here, Nelly, put down a pot o' wather, an' lave soap an'
+a _praskeen_, afore you go to milk, till I bathe the dacent boy's feet.
+Sore an' tired they are afther his journey, poor young crathur."
+
+When Jemmy placed himself upon the hob, he saw that some peculiarly
+good fortune had conducted him to so comfortable a resting-place. Ho
+considered this as a good omen; and felt, in fact, much relieved, for
+the sense of loneliness among strangers was removed.
+
+The house evidently belonged to a wealthy farmer, well to do in
+the world; the chimney was studded with sides upon sides of yellow
+smoke-dried bacon, hams, and hung beef in abundance. The kitchen tables
+were large, and white as milk; and the dresser rich in its shining array
+of delf and pewter. Everything, in fact, was upon a large scale. Huge
+meal chests were ranged on one side, and two or three settle beds on
+the other, conspicuous, as I have said, for their uncommon cleanliness;
+whilst hung from the ceiling were the _glaiks_, a machine for churning;
+and beside the dresser stood an immense churn, certainly too unwieldy to
+be managed except by machinery. The farmer was a ruddy-faced Milesian,
+who wore a drab frieze coat, with a velvet collar, buff waistcoat,
+corduroy small-clothes, and top-boots* well greased from the tops
+down. He was not only an agriculturist, but a grazier--remarkable for
+shrewdness and good sense, generally attended fairs and markets, and
+brought three or four large droves of fat cattle to England every year.
+From his fob hung the brass chain and almost rusty key of a watch, which
+he kept certainly more for use than ornament.
+
+     * This in almost every instance, is the dress of
+     wealthy Irish farmer.
+
+"A little sup o' this," said he, "won't take your life," approaching
+Jemmy with a bottle of as good poteen as ever escaped the eye of an
+exciseman; "it'll refresh you--for you're tired, or I wouldn't offer
+it, by rason that one bint on what you're bint on, oughtn't to be makin'
+freedoms wid the same dhrink. But there's a time for everything, an'
+there's a time for this.--Thank you, agra," he added, in reply to Jemmy,
+who had drunk his health. "Now, don't be frettin'--but make yourself as
+aisy as if you were at your own father's hearth. You'll have everything
+to your heart's contint for this night; the carts are goin' in to the
+market to-morrow airly--you can sit upon them, an' maybe you'll get
+somethin' more nor you expect: sure the Lord has given it to me, an' why
+wouldn't I share it wid them that wants it more nor I do?"
+
+The lad's heart yearned to the generous farmer, for he felt that his
+kindness had the stamp of truth and sincerity upon it. He could only
+raise his eyes in a silent prayer, that none belonging to him might ever
+be compelled, as strangers and way-farers, to commit themselves, as he
+did, to the casualties of life, in pursuit of those attainments which
+poverty cannot otherwise command. Fervent, indeed, was his prayer; and
+certain we are, that because it was sincere, it must have been heard.
+
+In the meantime, the good woman, or _vanithee_, had got the pot of water
+warmed, in which Jemmy was made to put his feet. She then stripped up
+her arms to the elbows, and, with soap and seedy meal, affectionately
+bathed his legs and feet: then, taking the _praskeen_, or coarse towel,
+she wiped them with a kindness which thrilled to his heart.
+
+"And now," said she, "I must give you a cure for blisthers, an' it's
+this:--In the mornin', if we're all spared, as we will, plase the
+Almighty, I'll give you a needle and some white woollen thread, well
+soaped. When your blisthers gets up, dhraw the soapy thread through
+them, clip it on each side, an', my life for yours, they won't throuble
+you. Sure I thried it the year I went on my Station to Lough Derg, an' I
+know it to be the rale cure."
+
+"Here, Nelly," said the farmer,--who sat iwith a placid benevolent face,
+smoking his pipe on the opposite hob--to one of the maids who came in
+from milking,--"bring up a noggin of that milk, we want it here: let it
+be none of your washy _foremilk_, but the _strippins_, Nelly, that has
+the strinth in it. Up wid it here, a colleen."
+
+"The never a one o' the man but's doatin' downright, so he is," observed
+the wife, "to go to fill the tired child's stomach wid plash. Can't you
+wait till he ates a thrifle o' some-thin' stout, to keep life in him,
+afther his hard journey? Does your feet feel themselves cool an' asy
+now, ahagur?"
+
+"Indeed," said Jemmy, "I'm almost as fresh as when I set out. 'Twas
+little thought I had, when I came away this mornin', that I'd meet wid
+so much friendship on my journey. I hope it's a sign that God's on my
+side in my undertakin'!"
+
+"I hope so, avourneen--I hope so, an' it is, too," replied the farmer,
+taking the pipe out of his mouth, and mildly whiffing away the smoke,
+"an' God'll be always on your side, as long as your intentions are good.
+Now ate somethin'--you must want it by this; an' thin, when you rest
+yourself bravely, take a tass into a good feather-bed, where you can
+_sleep rings round you_. (* As much as you please.) Who knows but you'll
+be able to say mass for me or some o' my family yit. God grant that, any
+way, avick!"
+
+Poor James's heart was too full to eat much; he took, therefore, only
+a very slender portion of the refreshments set before him; but his
+hospitable entertainer had no notion of permitting him to use the free
+exercise of his discretion on this important point. When James put away
+the knife and fork, as an indication of his having concluded the meal,
+the farmer and his wife turned about, both at the same moment, with a
+kind of astonishment.
+
+"Eh? is it giving over that way you are? Why, alanna, it's nothin' at
+all you've tuck; sure little Brian there would make a fool of you, so
+he would, at the atin'. Come, come, a bouchal--don't be ashamed, or make
+any way sthrange at all, but ate hearty."
+
+"I declare I have ate heartily, thank you," replied James; "oceans
+itself, so I did. I couldn't swally a bit more if the house was full."
+
+"Arrah, Brian," said the wife, "cut him up more o' that hung beef, it's
+ashamed the crathur is! Take it, avick; don't we know the journey you
+had! Faix, if one o' the boys was out on a day's thravellin', you'd see
+how he'd handle himself."
+
+"Indeed," said James, "I can't--if I could I would. Sure I would be no
+way backward at all, so I wouldn't."
+
+"Throth, an' you can an' must," said the farmer: "the never a rise
+you'll rise, till you finish that"--putting over a complement out of all
+reasonable proportion with his age and size.
+
+"There now's a small taste, an' you must finish it. To go to ate nothin'
+at all! Hut tut! by the tops o' my boots, you must put that clear an'
+clane out o' sight, or I'll go mad an' barn them."
+
+The lad recommenced, and continued to eat as long as he could possibly
+hold out; at length he ceased:--
+
+"I can't go on," said he; "don't ax me: I can't indeed."
+
+"Bad manners to the word I'll hear till you finish it; you know it's but
+a thrifle to spake of. Thry agin, avick, but take your time; you'll be
+able for it."
+
+The poor lad's heart was engaged on other thoughts and other scenes; his
+home, and its beloved inmates--sorrow and the gush of young affections,
+were ready to burst forth.
+
+"I cannot ate," said he, and he looked imploringly on the farmer and his
+wife, whilst the tears started to his eyes--"don't ax me, for my heart's
+wid them I left behind me, that I may never see agin!" and he wept in a
+burst of grief which he could not restrain.
+
+Neither the strength nor tenderness of the lad's affection was
+unappreciated by this excellent couple. In a moment the farmer's wife
+was also in tears; nor did her husband break the silence for some
+minutes.
+
+"The Almighty pity an' strengthen him!" said the farmer's wife, "but
+he has the good an' the kind heart, an' would be a credit to any
+family.--Whisht, acushla machree--whisht, we won't ax you to ate--no
+indeed. It was out o' kindness we did it: don't be cast down aither;
+sure it isn't the ocean you're crossin'; but goin' from one county
+like to another. God 'll guard an' take care o' you, so he will. Your
+intintion's good, an' he'll prosper it."
+
+"He will, avick," said the farmer himself--"he will. Cheer up, my good
+boy! I know thim that's larned an' creditable clargy this day, that went
+as you're goin'--ay, an' that ris an' helped their parents, an' put them
+above poverty an' distress; an' never fear, wid a blessin', but you'll
+do the same."
+
+"That's what brings me at all," replied the boy, drying his tears; "if
+I was once able to take them out o' their distresses, I'd be happy: only
+I'm afeard the cares o' the world will break my father's heart before I
+have it in my power to assist him."
+
+"No such thing, darlin'," said the good woman. "Sure his hopes out o'
+you, an' his love for you will keep him up; an' you dunna but God may
+give him a blessin' too, avick."
+
+"Mix another sup o'that for him," said the fanner: "he's low spirited,
+an' it's too strong to give him any more of it as it is. Childhre,
+where's the masther from us--eh? Why, thin, God help them, the
+crathurs--wasn't it thoughtful o' them to lave the place while he was at
+his dinner, for fraid he'd be dashed--manin' them young crathurs, Alley,
+But can you tell us where the 'masther' is? Isn't this his night wid us?
+I know he tuck his dinner here."
+
+"Ay did he; but it's up to Larry Murphy's he's gone, to thry his son
+in his book-keepin'. Mavrone, but he had time enough to put him well
+through it afore this, any way."
+
+As she spoke, a short thickset man, with black twinkling eyes and ruddy
+cheeks entered. This personage was no other than the schoolmaster of
+that district, who circulated, like a newspaper, from one farmer's house
+to another, in order to expound for his kind entertainers the news
+of the day, his own learning, and the very evident extent of their
+ignorance.
+
+The moment he came in, the farmer and his wife rose with an air of much
+deference, and placed a chair for him exactly opposite the fire, leaving
+a respectful distance on each side, within which no illiterate mortal
+durst presume to sit.
+
+"Misther Corcoran," said the farmer, presenting Jemmy's satchel, through
+which the shapes of the books were quite plain, "_thig in thu shinn?_"
+(* Do you understand this) and as he spoke he looked significantly at
+its owner.
+
+"Ah," replied the man of letters, "thigum, thigum. (* I understand) God
+be wid the day when I carried the likes of it. 'Tis a badge of polite
+genius, that no boy need be ashamed of. So my young suckling of
+litherature, you're bound for Munster?--for that counthry where the
+swallows fly in conic sections--where the magpies and the turkey's
+confab in Latin, and the cows and bullocks will roar you Doric
+Greek--bo-a-o--clamo. What's your pathronymic? _quo nomine gowdes,
+Domine doctissime?_"
+
+The lad was silent; but the farmer's wife turned up the whites of her
+eyes with an expression of wonder and surprise at the erudition of the
+"masther."
+
+"I persave you are as yet uninitiated into the elementary principia of
+the languages; well--the honor is still before you. What's your name?"
+
+"James M'Evoy, sir."
+
+Just now the farmer's family began to assemble round the spacious
+hearth; the young lads, whose instruction the worthy teacher claimed as
+his own peculiar task, came timidly forward, together with two or three
+pretty bashful girls with sweet flashing eyes, and countenances full of
+feeling and intelligence. Behind on the settles, half-a-dozen servants
+of both sexes sat in pairs--each boy placing himself beside his favorite
+girl. These appeared to be as strongly interested in the learned
+conversation which the master held, as if they were masters and
+mistresses of Munster Latin and Doric Greek themselves; but an
+occasional thump cautiously bestowed by no slender female hand upon the
+sturdy shoulder of her companion, or a dry cough from one of the young
+men, fabricated to drown the coming blow, gave slight indications that
+they contrived to have a little amusement among themselves, altogether
+independent of Mr. Corcoran's erudition.
+
+When the latter came in, Jemmy was taking the tumbler of punch which the
+farmer's wife had mixed for him; on this he fixed an expressive glance,
+which instantly reverted to the _vanithee_, and from her to the large
+bottle which stood in a window to the right of the fire. It is a quick
+eye, however, that can anticipate Irish hospitality.
+
+"Alley," said the farmer, ere the wife had time to comply with the hint
+conveyed by the black, twinkling eye of the schoolmaster; "why, Alley"--
+
+"Sure, I am," she replied, "an' will have it for you in less than no
+time."
+
+She accordingly addressed herself to the bottle, and in a few minutes
+handed a reeking jug of punch to the _Farithee_, or good man.
+
+"Come, Masther, by the hand o' my body, I don't like dhry talk so long
+as I can get anything to moisten the discoorse. Here's your health,
+Masther," continued the farmer, winking at the rest, "and a speedy
+conclusion to what you know! In throth, she's the pick of a good
+girl--not to mintion what she has for her portion. I'm a friend to the
+same family, an' will put a spoke in your wheel, Masther, that'll sarve
+you."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Lanigan, very well, sir--very well--you're becoming quite
+facetious upon me," said the little man, rather confused; "but upon my
+credit and reputation, except the amorous inclination and regard to me
+is on her side," and he looked sheepishly at his hands, "I can't say
+that the arrows of Cupid have as yet pinethrated the sintimintal side of
+my heart. It is not with me as it was wid Dido--hem--
+
+Non 'haeret lateri lethalis arundo,'
+
+as Virgil says. Yet I can't say, but if a friend were to become
+spokesman for me, and insinuate in my behalf a small taste of amorous
+sintimintality, why--hem, hem, hem! The company's health! Lad, James
+M'Evoy, your health, and success to you, my good boy!--hem, hem!"
+
+"Here's wishin' him the same!" said the farmer.
+
+"James," said the schoolmaster, "you are goin' to Munsther, an' I can
+say that I have travelled it from end to end, not to a bad purpose, I
+hope--hem! Well, a bouchal, there are hard days and nights before you,
+so keep a firm heart. If you have money, as 'tis likely you have, don't
+let a single rap of it into the hands of the schoolmaster, although the
+first thing he'll do will be to bring you home to his own house, an'
+palaver you night an' day, till he succeeds in persuading you to leave
+it in his hands for security. You might, if not duly pre-admonished,
+surrender it to his solicitations, for--
+
+'Nemo mortalium omnibus horis sapit.'
+
+Michael, what case is mortalium?" added he, suddenly addressing one of
+the farmer's sons; "come, now, Michael, where's your brightness? What
+case is mortalium?"
+
+The boy was taken by surprise, and for a few minutes could not reply.
+
+"Come man," said the father, "be sharp, spake out bravely, an' don't be
+afraid; nor don't be in a hurry aither, we'll wait for you."
+
+"Let him alone--let him alone," said Corcoran; "I'll face the same boy
+agin the county for cuteness. If he doesn't expound that, I'll never
+consthru a line of Latin, or Greek, or Masoretic, while I'm livin'."
+
+His cunning master knew right well that the boy, who was only confused
+at the suddenness of the question, would feel no difficulty in answering
+it to his satisfaction. Indeed, it was impossible for him to miss it, as
+he was then reading the seventh book of Virgil, and the fourth of Homer.
+It is, however, a trick with such masters to put simple questions of
+that nature to their pupils, when at the houses of their parents, as
+knotty and difficult, and when they are answered, to assume an air of
+astonishment at the profound reach of thought displayed by the pupil.
+
+When Michael recovered himself, he instantly replied, "_Mortalium_ is
+the genitive case of nemo, by '_Nomina Partiva_.'"
+
+Corcoran laid down the tumbler, which he was in the act of raising to
+his lips, and looked at the lad with an air of surprise and delight,
+then at the farmer and his wife, alternately, and shook his head with
+much mystery. "Michael," said he to the lad; "will you go out and tell
+us what the night's doin'."
+
+The boy accordingly went out--"Why," said Corcoran, in his absence, "if
+ever there was a phanix, and that boy will be the bird--an Irish phanix
+he will be, a
+
+_Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno!_
+
+There's no batin' him at anything he undher-takes. Why, there's thim
+that are makin' good bread by their larnin', that couldn't resolve that;
+and you all saw how he did it widout the book! Why, if he goes on at
+this rate, I'm afraid he'll soon be too many for myself--hem!"
+
+"Too many for yourself! Fill the masther's tumbler, Alley. Too many for
+yourself! No, no! I doubt he'll never see that day, bright as he is, an'
+cute. That's it--put a hape upon it. Give me your hand, masther. I thank
+you for your attention to him, an' the boy is a credit to us. Come over,
+Michael, avourneen. Here, take what's in this tumbler, an' finish it.
+Be a good boy and mind your lessons, an' do everything the masther
+here--the Lord bless him!--bids you; an' you'll never want a frind,
+masther, nor a dinner, nor a bed, nor a guinea, while the Lord spares me
+aither the one or the other."
+
+"I know it, Mr. Lanigan, I know it; and I will make that boy the pride
+of Ireland, if I'm spared. I'll show him _cramboes_ that would puzzle
+the great Scaliger himself; and many other difficulties I'll let him
+into, that I have never let out yet, except to Tim Kearney, that bate
+them all at Thrinity College in Dublin up, last June."
+
+"Arrah, how was that, Masther?"
+
+"Tim, you see, went in to his Entrance Examinayshuns, and one of the
+Fellows came to examine him, but divil a long it was till Tim sacked
+him.
+
+"'Go back agin', says Tim, 'and sind some one that's able to tache me,
+for you're not.'
+
+"So another greater scholar agin came to yry Tim, and did thry him, and
+Tim made a _hare_ of _him_, before all that was in the place--five or
+six thousand ladies and gintlemen, at laste!
+
+"The great learned Fellows thin began to look odd enough; so they picked
+out the best scholar among them but one, and slipped him at Tim; but
+well becomes Tim, the never a long it was till he had him, too, as dumb
+as a post. The fellow went back--
+
+"'Gintlemen,' says he to the rest, 'we'll be disgraced all out,' says
+he, 'for except the Prowost sacks that Munsther spalpeen, he'll bate us
+all, an' we'll never be able to hould up our heads afther.'
+
+"Accordingly, the Prowost attacks Tim; and such a meetin' as they had,
+never was seen in Thrinity College since its establishment. At last when
+they had been nine hours and a half at it, the Prowost put one word to
+him that Tim couldn't expound, so he lost it by one word only. For
+the last two hours the Prowost carried on the examinashun in Hebrew,
+thinking, you see, he had Tim there; but he was mistaken, for Tim
+answered him in good Munsther Irish, and it so happened that they
+understood each other, for the two languages are first cousins, or, at
+all evints, close blood relations. Tim was then pronounced to be the
+best scholar in Ireland except the Prowost; though among ourselves, they
+might have thought of the man that taught him. That, however, wasn't
+all. A young lady fell in love wid Tim, and is to make him a present of
+herself and her great fortune (three estates) the moment he becomes a
+counsellor; and in the meantime she allows him thirty pounds a year to
+bear his expenses, and live like a gintleman.
+
+"Now to return to the youth in the corner: _Nemo mortalium omnibus horis
+sapit_, Jemmy keep your money, or give it to the priest to keep, and
+it will be safest; but by no means let the Hyblean honey of the
+schoolmaster's blarney deprive you of it, otherwise it will be a _vale,
+vale, longum vale_ between you. _Crede experto!_"
+
+"Masther," said the farmer, "many a sthrange accident you met wid on yer
+thravels through Munsther?"
+
+"No doubt of that, Mr. Lanigan. I and another boy thravelled it in
+society together. One day we were walking towards a gintleman's house
+on the road side, and it happened that we met the owner of it in the
+vicinity, although we didn't know him to be such.
+
+"'_Salvete Domini!_' said he, in good fresh Latin.
+
+"'_Tu sis salvus, quoque!_' said I to him, for my comrade wasn't cute,
+an' I was always orathor.
+
+"'_Unde veniti?_' said he, comin' over us wid another deep piece of
+larnin' the construction of which was, 'where do yez come from?'
+
+"I replied, '_Per varios casus et tot discrimina rerum, venimus a
+Mayo._'
+
+"'Good!' said he, 'you're bright; follow me.'
+
+"So he brought us over to his own house, and ordered us bread and cheese
+and a posset; for it was Friday, an' we couldn't touch mate. He, in the
+mane time, sat an chatted along wid us. The thievin' cook, however, in
+makin' the posset, kept the curds to herself, except a slight taste here
+and there, that floated on the top; but she was liberal enough of the
+whey, any how.
+
+"Now I had been well trained to fishing in my more youthful days; and no
+gorsoon could grope a trout wid me. I accordingly sent the spoon through
+the pond before me wid the skill of a connoisseur; but to no purpose--it
+came up wid nothin' but the whey.
+
+"So, said I off hand to the gintleman, houlding up the bowl, and looking
+at it with a disappointed face,
+
+'Apparent _rari_ nantes in gurgite vasto.'
+
+'This,' says I, 'plase your hospitality, may be Paotolus, but the divil
+a taste o' the proper sand is in the bottom of it.'
+
+"The wit of this, you see, pleased him, and we got an excellent treat
+in his _studium_, or study: for he was determined to give myself another
+trial.
+
+"'What's the wickedest line in Virgil?' said he.
+
+"Now I had Virgil at my fingers' ends, so I answered him:
+
+'Flectere si nequeo superos, Aeheronta movebo,'
+
+"'Very good,' said he, 'you have the genius, and will come to somethin'
+yet: now tell me the most moral line in Virgil.'
+
+"I answered:
+
+'Discere justitiam moniti et non temnere divos.' *
+
+     * He is evidently drawing the long-bow here; this
+     anecdote has been told before.
+
+"'Depend upon it,' said he, 'you will be a luminary. The morning star
+will be but a farthing candle to you; and if you take in the learning as
+you do the cheese, in a short time there won't be a man in Munsther
+fit to teach you,' and he laughed, for you see he had a tendency to
+jocosity.
+
+"He did not give me up here, however, being determined to go deeper wid
+me.
+
+"'Can you translate a newspaper into Latin prose?' said he.
+
+"Now the divil a one o' me was just then sure about the prose, so I was
+goin' to tell him; but before I had time to speak, he thrust the paper
+into my hand, and desired me to thranslate half-a-dozen barbarous
+advertisements.
+
+"The first that met me was about a reward offered for a Newfoundland dog
+and a terrier, that had been stolen from a fishing-tackle manufacturer,
+and then came a list of his shabby merchandise, ending with a
+long-winded encomium upon his gunpowder, shot, and double-barrelled
+guns. Now may I be shot with a blank cartridge, if I ever felt so much
+at an amplush in my life, and I said so.
+
+"'Your honor has hooked me wid the fishing hooks,' said I; 'but I grant
+the cheese was good bait, any how.'
+
+"So he laughed heartily, and bid me go on.
+
+"Well, I thought the first was difficult: but the second was Masoretic
+to it--something about drawbacks, excisemen, and a long custom-house
+list, that would puzzle Publius Virgilius Maro, if he was set to
+translate it. However, I went through wid it as well as I could; where I
+couldn't find Latin, I laid in the Greek, and where the Greek failed
+me, I gave the Irish, which, to tell the truth, in consequence of its
+vernacularity, I found to be the most convanient. Och, och many a larned
+scrimmage I have signalized myself in, during my time. Sure my name's
+as common as a mail-coach in Thrinity College; and 'tis well known
+there isn't a fellow in it but I could sack, except may be, the prowost.
+That's their own opinion. 'Corcoran,' says the prowost, 'is the most
+larned man in Ireland; an' I'm not ashamed,' says he, 'to acknowledge
+that I'd rather decline meeting him upon deep points.' Ginteels, all
+your healths--hem! But among ourselves I could bog him in a very short
+time; though I'd scorn to deprive the gintleman of his reputaytion or
+his place, even if he sent me a challenge of larnin' to-morrow, although
+he's too cute to venture on doing that--hem, hem!"
+
+To hear an obscure creature, whose name was but faintly known in the
+remote parts even of the parish in which he lived, draw the long-bow
+at such a rate, was highly amusing. The credulous character of his
+auditory, however, was no slight temptation to him; for he knew that
+next to the legends of their saints, or the Gospel itself, his fictions
+ranked in authenticity; and he was determined that it should not be his
+fault if their opinion of his learning and talents were not raised to
+the highest point. The feeling experienced by the poor scholar, when
+he awoke the next morning, was one both of satisfaction and sorrow. He
+thought once more of his home and kindred, and reflected that it might
+be possible he had I seen the last of his beloved relations. His grief,
+however, was checked when he remembered the warm and paternal affection
+with which he was received on the preceding night by his hospitable
+countryman. He offered up his prayers to God; humbly besought his grace
+and protection; nor did he forget to implore a blessing upon those who I
+had thus soothed his early sorrows, and afforded him, though a stranger
+and friendless, I shelter, comfort, and sympathy.
+
+"I hope," thought he, "that I will meet many such, till I overcome my
+difficulties, an' find myself able to assist my poor father an' mother!"
+
+And he did meet many such among the humble, and despised, and neglected
+of his countrymen; for--and we say it with pride--the character of this
+excellent farmer is thoroughly that of our peasantry within the range of
+domestic life.
+
+When he had eaten a comfortable breakfast, and seen his satchel stuffed
+with provision for his journey, the farmer brought him up to his own
+room, in which were also his wife and children.
+
+"God," said he, "has been good to me; blessed be his holy name!--betther
+it appears in one sinse, than he has been to you, dear, though maybe I
+don't desarve it as well. But no matther, acushla; I have it, an' you
+want it; so here's a thrifle to help your forrid in your larnin'; an'
+all I ax from you is to offer up a bit of a prayer for me, of an odd
+time, an' if ever you live to be a priest, to say, if it wouldn't be
+throublesome, one Mass for me an' those that you see about me. It's not
+much, James agra--only two guineas. They may stand your friend, whin
+friends will be scarce wid you; though, I hope, that won't be the case
+aither."
+
+The tears were already streaming down. Jemmy's cheeks. "Oh," said the
+artless boy, "God forever reward you! but sure I have a great dale of
+money in the--in the--cuff o' my coat. Indeed I have, an' I won't want
+it!"
+
+The farmer, affected by the utter simplicity of the lad, looked at his
+wife and smiled, although a tear stood in his eye at the time. She wiped
+her eyes with her apron, and backed the kind offer of her husband.
+
+"Take it, asthore," she added, "in your cuff! Musha, God help you! sure
+it's not much you or the likes of you can have in your cuff, avourneen!
+Don't be ashamed, but take it; we can well afford it, glory be to God
+for it! It's not, agra, bekase you're goin' the way you are--though that
+same's an honor to you--but bekase our hearts warmed to you, that we
+offered it, an' bekase we would wish you to be thinkin' of us now an'
+thin, when you're in a strange part of the country. Let me open your
+pocket an' put them into it. That's a good, boy, thank you, an' God
+bless an' prosper you! I'm sure you were always biddable."
+
+"Now childre," said the farmer, addressing his sons and daughters,
+"never see the sthranger widout a friend, nor wantin' a bed or a dinner,
+when you grow up to be men an' women. There's many a turn in this world;
+we may be strangers ourselves; an' think of what I would feel if any of
+you was far from me, widout money or friends, when I'd hear that you
+met a father in a strange counthry that lightened your hearts by his
+kindness. Now, dear, the carts 'll be ready in no time--eh? Why there
+they are at the gate waitin' for you. Get into one of them, an' they'll
+lave you in the next town. Come, roan, budan' age, be stout-hearted, an'
+don't cry; sure we did nothin' for you to spake of."
+
+He shook the poor scholar by the hand, and drawing his hat over his
+eyes, passed hurriedly out of the room. Alley stooped down, kissed his
+lips, and wept; and the children each embraced him with that mingled
+feeling of compassion and respect which is uniformly entertained for the
+poor scholar in Ireland.
+
+The boy felt as if he had been again separated from his parents; with a
+sobbing bosom and wet cheeks he bid them farewell, and mounting one of
+the carts was soon beyond sight and hearing of the kind-hearted farmer
+and his family.
+
+When the cart had proceeded about a mile, it stopped, and one of the
+men who accompanied it addressing a boy who passed with two sods of turf
+under his arm, desired him to hurry on and inform his master that they
+waited for him.
+
+"Tell Misther Corcoran to come into coort," said the man, laughing, "my
+Lordship's waitin' to hear his defince for intindin' not to run away wid
+Miss Judy Malowny. Tell him Lord Garty's ready to pass sintince on him
+for not stalin' the heart of her wid his Rule o' Three. Ha! by the holy
+farmer, you'll get it for stayin' from school to this hour. Be quick,
+abouchal!"
+
+In a few minutes the trembling urchin, glad of any message that might
+serve to divert the dreaded birch from himself, entered the, uproarious
+"Siminary," caught his forelock, bobbed down his head to the master,
+and pitched his "two sods" into a little'heap of turf which lay in the
+corner of the school.
+
+"Arrah, Pat Roach, is this an hour to inter into my establishment wid
+impunity? Eh, you Rosicrusian?"
+
+"Masther, sir," replied the adroit monkey, "I've a message for you, sir,
+i' you plase."
+
+"An' what might the message be, Masther; Pat Roach? To dine to-day wid
+your worthy father, abouchal?"
+
+"No, sir; it's from one o' Mr. Lanigan's boys--him that belongs to the
+carts, sir; he wants to spake to you, sir, i' you plase."
+
+"An' do you give that by way of an apologetical oration for your absence
+from the advantages of my tuition until this hour? However, non constat
+Patrici; I'll pluck the crow wid you on my return. If you don't find
+yourself a well-flogged youth for your 'mitchin,' never say that this
+right hand can administer condign punishment to that part of your
+physical theory which constitutes the antithesis to your vacuum caput.
+En et ewe, you villain," he added, pointing to the birch, "it's newly
+cut and trimmed, and pregnant wid alacrity for the operation. I correct,
+Patricius, on fundamental principles, which you'll soon feel to your
+cost."
+
+"Masther, sir," replied the lad, in a friendly, conciliating tone, "my
+father 'ud be oblaged to you, if you'd take share of a fat goose wid him
+to-morrow."
+
+"Go to your sate, Paddy, avourneen; devil a dacent boy in the seminary I
+joke--so much wid, as I do wid yourself; an' all out of respect for your
+worthy parents. Faith, I've a great regard for them, all out, an' tell
+them so."
+
+He then proceeded to the carts, and approaching Jemmy, gave him such
+advice touching his conduct in Munster, as he considered to be most
+serviceable to an inexperienced lad of his years.
+
+"Here," said the kind-hearted soul--"here, James, is my mite; it's but
+bare ten shillings; but if I could make it a pound for you, it would
+give me a degree of delectability which I have not enjoyed for a long
+time. The truth is, there's something like the _nodus matrimonii_, or
+what they facetiously term the priest's gallows, dangling over my head,
+so that any little thrifle I may get must be kept together for that
+crisis, James, abouchal; so that must be my apology for not giving
+you more, joined to the naked fact, that I never was remarkable for a
+superfluity of cash under any circumstances. Remember what I told you
+last night. Don't let a shilling of your money into the hands of the
+masther you settle wid. Give it to the parish priest, and dhraw it from
+him when you want it. Don't join the parties or the factions of the
+school. Above all, spake ill of nobody; and if the; masther is harsh
+upon you, either bear it patiently, or mintion it to the priest, or
+to some other person of respectability in the parish, and you'll be
+protected. You'll be apt to meet cruelty enough, my good boy: for there
+are larned Neros in Munster, who'd flog if the province was in flames.
+
+"Now, James, I'll tell you what you'll do, when you reach the larned
+south. Plant yourself on the highest hill in the neighborhood wherein
+the academician with whom you intend to stop, lives. Let the hour of
+reconnoitring be that in which dinner is preparing. When seated there,
+James, take a survey of the smoke that ascends from the chimneys of the
+farmer's houses, and be sure to direct your steps to that from which
+the highest and merriest column issues. This is the old plan and it is
+a sure one. The highest smoke rises from the largest fire, the largest
+fire boils the biggest pot, the biggest pot generally holds the fattest
+bacon, and the fattest bacon is kept by the richest farmer. It's a
+wholesome and comfortable climax, my boy, and one by which I myself was
+enabled to keep a dacent portion of educated flesh between the master's
+birch and my ribs. The science itself is called Gastric Geography, and
+is peculiar only to itinerant young gintlemen who seek for knowledge in
+the classical province of Munster.
+
+"Here's a book that thravelled along wid myself through all my
+peregrinations--Creech's Translation of Horace. Keep it for my sake;
+and when you accomplish your education, if you return home this way, I'd
+thank you to give me a call. Farewell! God bless you and prosper you as
+I wish, and as I am sure you desarve."
+
+He shook the lad by the hand; and as it was probable that his own former
+struggles with poverty, when in the pursuit of education, came with all
+the power of awakened recollection to his mind, he hastily drew his hand
+across his eyes, and returned to resume the brief but harmless authority
+of the ferula.
+
+After arriving at the next town, Jemmy found himself once more
+prosecuting his journey alone. In proportion as he advanced into a
+strange land, his spirits became depressed, and his heart cleaved more
+and more to those whom he had left behind him. There is, however, an
+enthusiasm in the visions of youth, in the speculations of a young
+heart, which frequently overcomes difficulties that a mind taught by
+the experience of life would often shrink from encountering. We may all
+remember the utter recklessness of danger, with which, in our
+youthful days, we crossed floods, or stood upon the brow of yawning
+precipices--feats which, in after years, the wealth of kingdoms could
+not induce us to perform. Experience, as well as conscience, makes
+cowards of us all.
+
+The poor scholar in the course of his journey had the satisfaction
+of finding himself an object of kind and hospitable attention to his
+countrymen. His satchel of books was literally a passport to their
+hearts. For instance, as he wended his solitary way, depressed and
+travel-worn, he was frequently accosted by laborers from behind a ditch
+on the roadside, and, after giving a brief history of the object he had
+in view, brought, if it was dinner-hour, to some farm-house or cabin,
+where he was made to partake of their meal. Even those poor creatures
+who gain a scanty subsistence by keeping what are called "dhry lodgins,"
+like _lucus a non lucendo_, because they never keep out the rain, and
+have mostly a bottle of whiskey for those who know how to call for
+it, even they, in most instances, not only refused to charge the poor
+scholar for his bed, but declined to receive any remuneration for his
+subsistence.
+
+"Och, och, no, you poor young cratlrur, not from you. No, no; if we
+wouldn't help the likes o' you, who ought we to help? No dear; but
+instead o' the _airighad_, (* money) jist lave us your blessin',
+an' maybe we'll thrive as well wid that, as we would wid your little
+'pences, that you'll be wanting for yourself whin your frinds won't be
+near to help you."
+
+Many, in fact, were the little marks of kindness and attention which the
+poor lad received on his way. Sometimes a ragged peasant, if he happened
+to be his fellow-traveller, would carry his satchel so long as they
+travelled together, or a carman would give him a lift on his empty car;
+or some humorous postilion, or tipsy "shay-boy," with a comical leer in
+his eye, would shove him into his vehicle; remarking--
+
+"Bedad, let nobody say you're a poor scholar now, an' you goin' to
+school in a coach! Be the piper that played afore Moses, if ever any
+rascal upraids you wid it, tell him, says you--'You damned rap,' says
+you, 'I wint to school in a coach! an' that,' says you, 'was what
+none o' yer beggarly gin oration was ever able to do,' says you; 'an'
+moreover, be the same token,' says you, 'be the holy farmer, if you
+bring it up to me, I'll make a third eye in your forehead wid the butt
+o' this whip,' says you. Whish! darlins! That's the go! There's drivin',
+Barny! Eh?"
+
+At length, after much toil and travel, he reached the South, having
+experienced as he proceeded a series of affectionate attentions, which
+had, at least, the effect of reconciling him to the measure he had
+taken, and impressing upon his heart a deeper confidence in the kindness
+and hospitality of his countrymen.
+
+Upon the evening of the day on which he terminated his journey, twilight
+was nearly falling; the town in which he intended to stop for the night
+was not a quarter of a mile before him, yet he was scarcely able to
+reach it; his short, yielding steps were evidently those of a young and
+fatigued traveller: his brow was moist with perspiration: he had just
+begun, too, to consider in what manner he should introduce himself to
+the master who taught the school at which he had been advised to stop,
+when he heard a step behind him, and on looking back, he discovered a
+tall, well-made, ruddy-faced young man, dressed in black, with a book in
+his hand, walking after him.
+
+"_Unde et quo viator?_" said the stranger, on coming up to him.
+
+"Oh, sir," replied Jemmy, "I have not Latin _yet_."
+
+"You are on your way to seek it, however," replied the other. "Have you
+travelled far?"
+
+"A long way, indeed, sir; I came from the County ------, sir--the upper
+part of it."
+
+"Have you letters from your parish priest?"
+
+"I have, sir, and one from my father's landlord, Square Benson, if you
+ever heard of him."
+
+"What's your object in learning Latin?"
+
+"To be a priest, wid the help o' God; an' to rise my poor father an'
+mother out of their poverty."
+
+His companion, after hearing this reply, bent a glance upon him, that
+indicated the awakening of an interest in the lad much greater than he
+probably otherwise would have felt.
+
+"It's only of late," continued the boy, "that my father an' mother got
+poor; they were once very well to do in the world. But they were put out
+o' their farm in ordher that the agint might put a man that had married
+a _get_ (* A term implying illegitimacy) of his own into it. My father
+intended to lay his case before Colonel B------, the landlord; but he
+couldn't see him at all, bekase he never comes near the estate.
+The agint's called Yallow Sam, sir; he's rich through cheatery an'
+dishonesty; puts money out at intherest, then goes to law, an' brakes
+the people entirely; for, somehow, he never was known to lose a lawsuit
+at all, sir. They say it's the divil, sir, that keeps the lawyers on his
+side; an' that when he an' the lawyers do be dhrawin' up their writins,
+the devil--God betune me an' harm!--does be helpin' them!"
+
+"And is Colonel B------ actually--or, rather, was he your father's
+landlord?"
+
+"He was, indeed, sir; it's thruth I'm tellin' you."
+
+"Singular enough! Stand beside me here--do you see that large house to
+the right among the trees?"
+
+"I do, sir; a great big house, entirely--like a castle, sir."
+
+"The same. Well, that house belongs to Colonel B------, and I am very
+intimate with him. I am Catholic curate of this parish; and I was,
+before my ordination, private tutor in his family for four years."
+
+"Maybe, sir, you might have intherest to get my father back into his
+farm?"
+
+"I do not know that, my good lad, for I am told Colonel B-----is rather
+embarrassed, and, if I mistake not, in the power of the man you call
+Yellow Sam, who has, I believe, heavy mortgages upon his property.
+But no matter; if I cannot help your father, I shall be able to serve
+yourself. Where do you intend to stop for the night?"
+
+"In dhry lodgin', sir, that's where my father and mother bid me stop
+always. They war very kind to me, sir, in the dhry lddgins."
+
+"Who is there in Ireland who would not be kind to you, my good boy? I
+trust you do not neglect your religious duties?"
+
+"Wid the help o' God, sir, I strive to attind to them as well as I can;
+particularly since I left my father and mother. Every night an' mornin',
+sir, I say five Fathers, five Aves, an' a Creed; an' sometimes when I'm
+walkin' the road, I slip up an odd Father, sir, an' Ave, that God may
+grant me good luck."
+
+The priest smiled at his candor and artlessness, and could not help
+feeling the interest which the boy had already excited in him increase.
+
+"You do right," said he, "and take care that you neglect not the worship
+of God. Avoid bad company; be not quarrelsome at school; study to
+improve yourself diligently; attend mass regularly; and be punctual in
+going to confession."
+
+After some further conversation, the priest and he entered the town
+together.
+
+"This is my house," said the former; "or if not altogether mine--at
+least, that in which I lodge; let me see you here at two o'clock
+to-morrow. In the meantime, follow me, and I shall place you with a
+family where you will experience every kindness and attention that can
+make you comfortable."
+
+He then led him a few doors up the street, till he stopped at a
+decent-looking "House of Entertainment," to the proprietors of which he
+introduced him.
+
+"Be kind to this strange boy," said the worthy clergyman, "and whatever
+the charges of his board and lodging may be until we get him settled, I
+shall be accountable for them."
+
+"God forbid, your Reverence, that ever a penny belongin' to a poor boy
+lookin' for his larnin' should go into our pockets, if he was wid us
+twelve months in the year. No--no! He can stay with the _bouchaleens_;
+(* little boys) let them be thryin' one another in their books. If he is
+fardher on in the Latin then Andy, he can help Andy; an' if Andy has
+the foreway of him, why Andy can help him. Come here, boys, all of yez.
+Here's a comrade for yez--a dacent boy that's lookin' for his larnin',
+the Lord enable him! Now be kind to him, an' whisper," he added, in an
+undertone, "don't be bringin' a blush to the gorsoon's face. Do ye hear?
+Ma chorp! if ye do!--Now mind it. Ye know what I can do whin I'm well
+vexed! Go, now, an' get him somethin' to ate an' dhrink, an' let him
+sleep wid Barney in the feather bed."
+
+During the course of the next day, the benevolent curate introduced
+him to the parish priest, who from the frequent claims urged by poor
+scholars upon his patronage, felt no particular interest in his case. He
+wrote a short letter, however, to the master with whom Jemmy intended
+to become a pupil, stating that "he was an honest boy, the son of
+legitimate parents, and worthy of consideration."
+
+The curate, who saw further into the boy's character than the parish
+priest, accompanied him on the following day to the school; introduced
+him to the master in the most favorable manner, and recommended him in
+general to the hospitable care of all the pupils. This introduction did
+not serve the boy so much as might have been expected; there was nothing
+particular in the letter of the parish priest, and the curate was but a
+curate--no formidable personage in any church where the good-will of the
+rector has not been already secured.
+
+Jemmy returned that day to his lodgings, and the next morning, with his
+Latin Grammar under his arm, he went to school to taste the first bitter
+fruits of the tree of knowledge.
+
+On entering it, which he did with a beating heart, he found the despot
+of a hundred subjects sitting behind a desk, with his hat on, a brow
+superciliously severe, and his nose crimped into a most cutting and
+vinegar curl. The truth was, the master knew the character of the
+curate, and felt that because he had taken Jemmy under his protection,
+no opportunity remained for him of fleecing the boy, under the pretence
+of securing his money, and that consequently the arrival of the poor
+scholar would be no windfall, as he had expected.
+
+When Jemmy entered, he looked first at the master for his welcome; but
+the master, who verified the proverb, that there are none so blind as
+those who will not see, took no notice whatsoever of him. The boy then
+looked timidly about the school in quest of a friendly face, and indeed
+few faces except friendly ones were turned upon him.
+
+Several of the scholars rose up simultaneously to speak to him; but
+the pedagogue angrily inquired why they had left their seats and their
+business.
+
+"Why, sir," said a young Munsterman, with a fine Milesian face--"be
+gorra, sir, I believe if we don't welcome the poor scholar, I think you
+won't. This is the boy, sir, that Mr. O'Brien came along wid yistherday,
+an' spoke so well of."
+
+"I know that, Thady; and Misther O'Brien thinks, because he himself
+first passed through that overgrown hedge-school wid slates upon the
+roof of it, called Thrinity College, and matriculated in Maynooth
+afther, that he has legal authority to recommend every young vagrant to
+the gratuitous benefits of legitimate classicality. An' I suppose, that
+you are acting the Pathrun, too, Thady, and intind to take this young
+wild-goose under your protection?"
+
+"Why, sir, isn't he a poor scholar? Sure he mustn't want his bit an'
+sup, nor his night's lodgin', anyhow. You're to give him his larnin'
+only, sir."
+
+"I suppose so, Mr. Thaddeus; but this is the penalty of celebrity. If I
+weren't so celebrated a man for classics as I am, I would have none of
+this work. I tell you, Thady, if I had fifty sons I wouldn't make one o'
+them celebrated."
+
+"Wait till you have one first, sir, and you may make him as great a
+numskull as you plase, Master."
+
+"But in the meantime, Thady, I'll have no dictation from you, as to
+whether I have one or fifty; or as to whether he'll be an ass or a
+Newton. I say that a dearth of larnin' is like a year of famine in
+Ireland. When the people are hard pushed, they bleed the fattest
+bullocks, an' live on their blood; an' so it is wid us Academicians.
+It's always he that has the most larned blood in his veins, and the
+greatest quantity of it that such hungry leeches fasten on."
+
+"Thrue for you, sir," said the youth with a smile; "but they say the
+bullocks always fatten the betther for it. I hope you'll bleed well now,
+sir."
+
+"Thady, I don't like, the curl of your nose; an', moreover, I have
+always found you prone to sedition. You remember your conduct at the
+'Barring out.' I tell you it's well that your worthy father is a dacent
+wealthy man, or I'd be apt to give you a _memoria technica_ on the
+_subtratum_, Thady."
+
+"God be praised for my father's wealth, sir! But I'd never wish to have
+a good memory in the way you mention."
+
+"Faith, an' I'll be apt to add that to your other qualities, if you
+don't take care of yourself."
+
+"I want no such addition, Masther; if you do, you'll be apt to subtract
+yourself from this neighborhood, an', maybe, ther'e won't be more than a
+cipher gone out of it, afther all."
+
+"Thady, you're a wag," exclaimed the crestfallen pedagogue; "take the
+lad to your own sate, and show him his task. How! is your sister's sore
+throat, Thady?"
+
+"Why, sir," replied the benevolent young wit, "she's betther than I am.
+She can swallow more, sir."
+
+"Not of larnin', Thady; there you've the widest gullet in the parish."
+
+"My father's the richest man in it, Masther," replied Thady. "I think,
+sir, my! gullet and his purse are much about the same size--wid you."
+
+"Thady, you're first-rate at a reply;--but exceedingly deficient in the
+retort courteous. Take the lad to your sate, I say, and see how far he
+is advanced, and what he is fit for. I suppose, as you are so ginerous,
+you will volunteer to tache him yourself."
+
+"I'll do that wid pleasure, sir; but I'd like to know whether you intind
+to tache him or not."
+
+"An' I'd like to know, Thady, who's to pay me for it, if I do. A purty
+return Michael Rooney made me for making him such a linguist as he is.
+'You're a tyrant,' said he, when he grew up, 'and instead of expecting
+me to thank you for your instructions, you ought to thank me for not
+preparing you for the county hospital, as a memento of the cruelty
+and brutality you made me feel, when I had the misfortune to be a poor
+scholar! under you.' And so, because he became curate of the parish, he
+showed me the outside of it."
+
+"But will you tache this poor young boy, sir?"
+
+"Let me know who's to guarantee his payments."
+
+"I have money myself, sir, to pay you for two years," replied Jemmy.
+'They told me, sir, that you were a great scholar, an' I refused to stop
+in other schools by rason of the name you have for Latin and Greek."
+
+"Verbum sat," exclaimed the barefaced knave. "Come here. Now, you see,
+I persave you have dacency. Here is your task; get that half page by
+heart. You have a cute look, an' I've no doubt but the stuff's in you.
+Come to me afther dismiss, 'till we have a little talk together."
+
+He accordingly pointed out the task, after which he placed him at his
+side, lest the inexperienced boy might be put on his guard by any of the
+scholars. In this intention, however, he was frustrated by Thady, who,
+as he thoroughly detested the knavish tyrant, resolved to caution
+the poor scholar against his dishonesty. Thady, indeed most heartily
+despised the mercenary pedagogue, not only for his obsequiousness to the
+rich, but on account of his severity to the children of the poor. About
+two o'clock the young wag went out for a few minutes, and immediately
+returned in great haste to inform the master, that Mr. Delaney, the
+parish priest, and two other gentlemen wished to see him over at the
+Cross-Keys, an inn which was kept at a place called the Nine Mile
+House, within a few perches of the school. The parish priest, though an
+ignorant, insipid old man, was the master's patron, and his slightest
+wish a divine law to him. The little despot, forgetting his prey,
+instantly repaired to the Cross-Keys, and in his absence, Thady,
+together with the larger boys of the school, made M'Evoy acquainted with
+the fraud about to be practised on him.
+
+"His intintion," said they, "is to keep you at home to-night, in ordher
+to get whatever money you have into his own hands, that he may keep it
+safe for you; but if you give him a penny, you may bid farewell to it.
+Put it in the curate's hands," added Thady, "or in my father's, an' thin
+it'll be safe. At all evints, don't stay wid him this night. He'll take
+your money and then turn you off in three or four weeks."
+
+"I didn't intind to give him my money," replied Jemmy; "a schoolmaster I
+met on my way here, bid me not to do it. I'll give it to the priest."
+
+"Give it to the curate," said Thady--"wid him it'll be safe; for the
+parish priest doesn't like to throuble himself wid anything of the
+mind."
+
+This was agreed upon; the boy was prepared against the designs of the
+master, and a plan laid down for his future conduct. In the meantime,
+the latter re-entered the school in a glow of indignation and
+disappointment.
+
+Thady, however, disregarded him; and as the master knew that the
+influence of the boy's father could at any time remove him from the
+parish, his anger subsided without any very violent consequences. The
+parish priest was his avowed patron, it is true; but if the parish
+priest knew that Mr. O'Rorke was dissatisfied with him, that moment
+he would join Mr. O'Rorke in expelling him: from the neighborhood. Mr.
+O'Rorke was a wealthy and a hospitable man, but the schoolmaster was
+neither the one nor the other.
+
+During school-hours that day, many a warm-hearted urchin entered into
+conversation with the poor scholar; some moved by curiosity to hear his
+brief and simple history; others anxious to offer him a temporary asylum
+in their father's houses; and several to know if he had the requisite
+books, assuring him if he had not they would lend, them to him. These
+proofs of artless generosity touched the homeless youth's heart the more
+acutely, inasmuch as he could perceive but too clearly that the eye
+of the master rested upon him, from time to time, with no auspicious
+glance.
+
+When the scholars were dismissed, a scene occurred which was calculated
+to produce a smile, although it certainly placed the poor scholar in a
+predicament by no means agreeable. It resulted from a contest among
+the boys as to who should first bring him home. The master who, by that
+cunning for which the knavish are remarkable, had discovered in the
+course of the day that his designs upon the boy's money was understood,
+did not ask him to his house. The contest was, therefore, among the
+scholars; who, when the master had disappeared from the school-room,
+formed themselves into a circle, of which Jemmy was the centre, each
+pressing his claim to secure him.
+
+"The right's wid me," exclaimed Thady; "I stood to him all day, and I
+say I'll have him for this night. Come wid me, Jimmy. Didn't I do most
+for you to-day?"
+
+"I'll never forget your kindness," replied poor Jemmy, quite alarmed at
+the boisterous symptoms of pugilism which already began to appear. In
+fact, many a tiny fist was shut, as a suitable, accompaniment to the
+auguments with which they enforced their assumed rights.
+
+"There, now," continued Thady, "that I puts an ind to it; he says he'll
+never forget my kindness. That's enough; come wid me, Jimmy."
+
+"Is it enough?" said a lad, who, if his father was less wealthy than
+Thady's, was resolved to put strength of arm against strength of purse.
+"Maybe it isn't enough! I say I bar it, if your fadher was fifty times
+as rich!--Rich! Arrah, don't be comin' over us in regard of your riches,
+man alive! I'll bring the sthrange boy home this very night, an' it
+isn't your father's dirty money that'll prevint me."
+
+"I'd advise you to get a double ditch about your nose," replied Thady,
+"before you begin to say anything disrespectful aginst my father.--Don't
+think to ballyrag over me. I'll bring the boy, for I have the best right
+to him. Didn't I do (* outwit) the masther on his account?"
+
+"A double ditch about my nose?"
+
+"Aye!"
+
+"Are you able to fight me?"
+
+"I'm able to thry it, anyhow, an' willin too."
+
+"Do you say you're able to fight me?"
+
+"I'll bring the boy home whether or not."
+
+"Thady's not your match, Jack Ratigan," said another boy. "Why don't you
+challenge your match?"
+
+"If you say a word, I'll half-sole your eye. Let him say whether he's
+able to fight me like a man or not. That's the chat."
+
+"Half-sole my eye! Thin here I am, an' why don't you do it. You're
+crowin' over a boy that you're bigger than. I'll fight you for Thady.
+Now half-sole my eye if you dar! Eh? Here's my eye, now! Arrah, be
+the holy man, I'd--Don't we know the white hen's in you. Didn't Barny
+Murtagh cow you at the black-pool, on Thursday last, whin we wor
+bathin'?"
+
+"Come, Ratigan," said Thady, "peel an' turn out. I say, I am able to
+fight you; an' I'll make you ate your words aginst my father, by way of
+givin' you your dinner. An' I'll make the dacent strange boy walk home
+wid me over your body--that is, if he'd not be afraid to dirty his
+feet."
+
+Ratigan and Thady immediately set to, and in a few minutes there were
+scarcely a little pair of fists present that were not at work, either
+on behalf of the two first combatants, or with a view to determine their
+own private rights in being the first to exercise hospitality towards
+the amazed poor scholar. The fact was, that while the two largest boys,
+were arguing the point, about thirty or forty minor disputes all ran
+parallel to theirs, and their mode of decision was immediately adopted
+by the pugnacious urchins of the school. In this manner they were
+engaged, poor Jemmy attempting to tranquillize and separate them, when
+the master, armed in all his terrors, presented himself.
+
+With the tact of a sly old disciplinarian, he first secured the door,
+and instantly commenced the agreeable task of promiscuous castigation.
+Heavy and vindictive did his arm descend upon those whom he suspected
+to have cautioned the boy against his rapacity; nor amongst the
+warm-hearted lads, whom he thwacked so cunningly, was Thady passed over
+with a tender hand. Springs, bouncings, doublings, blowing of fingers,
+scratching of heads, and rubbing of elbows--shouts of pain, and
+doleful exclamations, accompanied by action that displayed surpassing
+agility-marked the effect with which he plied the instrument of
+punishment. In the meantime the spirit of reaction, to use a modern
+phrase, began to set in. The master, while thus engaged in dispensing
+justice, first received a rather vigorous thwack on the ear from behind,
+by an anonymous contributor, who gifted him with what is called a
+musical ear, for it sang during five minutes afterwards. The monarch,
+when turning round to ascertain the traitor, received another insult on
+the most indefensible side, and that with a cordiality of manner, that
+induced him to send his right hand reconnoitring the invaded part. He
+wheeled round a second time with more alacrity than before; but nothing
+less than the head of James could have secured him on this occasion. The
+anonymous contributor sent him a fresh article. This was supported by
+another kick behind: the turf began to fly; one after another came in
+contact with his head and shoulders so rapidly, that he found himself,
+instead of being the assailant, actually placed upon his defence.
+
+
+[Illustration: PAGE 1099-- Received a rather vigorous thwack on the ear]
+
+
+The insurrection spread, the turf flew more thickly; his subjects closed
+in upon him in a more compact body; every little fist itched to be
+at him; the larger boys boldly laid in the facers, punched him in the
+stomach, I treated him most opprobriously behind, every kick and cuff
+accompanied by a memento of his cruelty; in short, they compelled him,
+like Charles the Tenth, ignominiously to fly from his dominions.
+
+On finding the throne vacant, some of them suggested that it ought to be
+overturned altogether. Thady, however, who was the ringleader of
+the rebellion, persuaded them to be satisfied with what they had
+accomplished, and consequently succeeded in preventing them from
+destroying the fixtures.
+
+Again they surrounded the poor scholar, who, feeling himself the cause
+of the insurrection, appeared an object of much pity. Such was his grief
+that he could scarcely reply to them. Their consolation on witnessing
+his distress was overwhelming. They desired him to think nothing of it;
+if the master, they told him, should wreak his resentment on him, "be
+the holy farmer," they would _pay_ (* pay) the masther. Thady's claim
+was now undisputed. With only the injury of a black eye, and a lip
+swelled to the size of a sausage, he walked home in triumph, the poor
+scholar accompanying him.
+
+The master, who feared, that this open contempt of his authority,
+running up, as it did, into a very unpleasant species of retaliation,
+was something like a signal for him to leave the parish, felt rather
+more of the penitent the next morning than did any of his pupils. He was
+by no means displeased, therefore, to see them drop in about the usual
+hour. They came, however, not one by one, but in compact groups, each
+officered by two or three of the larger boys; for they feared that,
+had they entered singly, he might have punished them singly, until his
+vengeance should be satisfied. It was by bitter and obstinate struggles
+that they succeeded in repressing their mirth, when he; appeared at his
+desk with one of his eyes literally closed, and his nose considerably
+improved in size and richness of color. When they were all assembled,
+he hemmed several times, and, in a woo-begone tone of voice, split--by
+a feeble attempt at maintaining authority and suppressing his
+terrors--into two parts, that jarred most ludicrously, he briefly
+addressed them as follows:--
+
+"Gintlemen classics, I have been now twenty-six years engaged in
+the propagation of Latin and Greek litherature, in conjunction wid
+mathematics, but never, until yesterday, has my influence been spurned;
+never, until yesterday, have sacrilegious hands been laid upon my
+person; never, until yesterday, have I been kicked--insidiously,
+ungallantly, and treacherously kicked--by my own subjects. No,
+gintlemen,--and, whether I ought to bestow that respectable epithet
+upon you after yesterday's proceedings is a matter which admits of
+dispute,--never before has the lid of my eye been laid drooping, and
+that in such a manner that I' must be blind to the conduct of half of
+my pupils, whether I will or not. You have complained, it appears, of
+my want of impartiality; but, God knows, you have compelled me to be
+partial for a week to come. Neither blame me if I may appear to look
+upon you with scorn for the next fortnight; for I am compelled to turn
+up my nose at you much against my own inclination. You need never want
+an illustration of the _naso adunco_ of Horace again; I'm a living
+example of it. That, and the doctrine of projectile forces, have been
+exemplified in a manner that will prevent me from ever relishing these
+subjects in future. No king can consider himself properly such until
+after he has received the oil of consecration; but you, it appears,
+think differently. You have unkinged me first, and anointed me
+afterwards; but, I say, no potentate would relish such unction. It
+smells confoundedly of republicanism. Maybe this is what you understand
+by the Republic of Letters; but, if it be, I would advise you to change
+your principles. You treated my ribs as if they were the ribs of a
+common man; my shins you took liberties with even to excoriation;
+my head you made a target of, for your hardest turf; and my nose you
+dishonored to my fage. Was this ginerous? was it discreet? was it
+subordinate? and, above all, was it classical? However, I will show you
+what greatness of mind is. I will convince you that it is more noble and
+god-like to forgive an injury, or rather five dozen injuries, than to
+avenge one; when--hem---yes, I say, when I--I--might so easily avenge
+it. I now present you wid an amnesty: return to you allegiance; but
+never, while in this seminary, under my tuition, attempt to take the
+execution of the laws into your own hands. Homerians, come up!"
+
+This address, into which he purposely threw a dash of banter and mock
+gravity, delivered with the accompaniments of his swelled nose and
+drooping eye, pacified his audience more readily than a serious one
+would have done. It was received without any reply or symptom of
+disrespect, unless the occasional squeak of a suppressed laugh, or the
+visible shaking of many sides with inward convulsions, might be termed
+such.
+
+In the course of the day, it is true, their powers of maintaining
+gravity were put to a severe test, particularly when, while hearing a
+class, he began to adjust his drooping eye-lid, or coax back his nose
+into its natural, position. On these occasions a sudden pause might be
+noticed in the business of the class; the boy's voice, who happened
+to read at the time, would fail him; and, on resuming his sentence by
+command of the master, its tone was tremulous, and scarcely adequate to
+the task of repeating the words without his bursting into laughter. The
+master observed all this clearly enough, but his mind was already made
+up to take no further notice of what had happened.
+
+All this, however, conduced to render the situation of the poor scholar
+much more easy, or rather less penal, than it would otherwise have been.
+Still the innocent lad was on all possible occasions a butt for this
+miscreant. To miss a word was a pretext for giving him a cruel blow. To
+arrive two or three minutes later than the appointed hour was certain
+on his part to be attended with immediate punishment. Jemmy bore it all
+with silent heroism. He shed no tear--he uttered no remonstrance; but,
+under the anguish of pain so barbarously inflicted, he occasionally
+looked round upon his schoolfellows with an I expression of silent
+entreaty that was seldom lost upon them. Cruel to him the master often
+was; but to inhuman barbarity the large scholars never permitted him to
+descend. Whenever any of the wealthier farmers'-sons had neglected their
+lessons, or deserved chastisement, the mercenary creature substituted a
+joke for the birch; but as soon as the son of a poor man, or, which was
+better still, the poor scholar, came before him, he transferred
+that punishment which the wickedness or idleness of respectable boys
+deserved, to his or their shoulders. For this outrageous injustice the
+hard-hearted: old villain had some plausible excuse ready, so that
+it was in many cases difficult for Jemmy's generous companions to
+interfere; in his behalf, or parry the sophistry of such: a petty
+tyrant.
+
+In this miserable way did he pass over the tedious period of a year,
+going about every night in rotation with the scholars, and severely
+beaten on all possible occasions by the master. His conduct and manners
+won him: the love and esteem of all except his tyrant instructor. His
+assiduity was remarkable, and his progress in the elements of English
+and classical literature surprisingly rapid. This added considerably
+to his character, and procured him additional respect. It was not long
+before he made himself useful and obliging to all the boys beneath his
+standing in the school. These services he rendered with an air of such
+kindness, and a grace so naturally winning, that the attachment of
+his schoolfellows increased towards him from day to day. Thady was his
+patron on all occasions: neither did the curate neglect him. The latter
+was his banker, for the boy had very properly committed his purse to his
+keeping. At the expiration of every quarter the schoolmaster received
+the amount of his bill, which he never failed to send in, when due.
+
+Jemmy had not, during his first year's residence in the south, forgotten
+to request the kind curate's interference with the landlord, on behalf
+of his father. To be the instrument of restoring his family to their
+former comfortable holding under Colonel B------; would have afforded
+him, without excepting the certainty of his own eventual success, the
+highest gratification. Of this, however, there was no hope, and nothing
+remained for him but assiduity in his studies, and patience under the
+merciless scourge of his teacher. In addition to an engaging person and
+agreeable manners, nature had gifted him with a high order of intellect,
+and great powers of acquiring knowledge. The latter he applied to the
+business before him with indefatigable industry. The school at; which
+he settled was considered the first in Munster; and the master,
+notwithstanding his known severity, stood high, and justly so, in
+the opinion of the people, as an excellent classical and mathematical
+scholar. Jemmy applied himself to the study of both, and at the
+expiration of his second year had made such progress that he stood
+without a rival in the school.
+
+It is usual, as we have said, for the poor scholar to go night after
+night, in rotation, with his schoolfellows; he is particularly welcome
+in the houses of those farmers whose children are not so far advanced
+as himself. It is expected that he should instruct them in the evenings,
+and enable them, to prepare their lessons for the following day, a task
+which he always performs with pleasure, because in teaching them he
+is confirming his own mind in the knowledge which he has previously
+acquired. Towards the end of the second year, however, he ceased
+to circulate in this manner. Two or three of the most independent
+parishioners, whose sons were only commencing their studies, agreed to
+keep him week about; an arrangement highly convenient to him, as by that
+means he was not so frequently dragged, as he had been, to the remotest
+parts of the parish. Being an expert penman, he acted also as secretary
+of grievances to the poor, who frequently employed him to draw up
+petitions to obdurate landlords, or to their more obdurate agents, and
+letters to soldiers in all parts of the world, from their anxious and
+affectionate relations. All these little services he performed kindly
+and promptly; many a blessing was fervently invoked upon his head; the
+"good word" and "the prayer" were all they could afford, as they said,
+"to the bouchal dhas oge * that tuck the world an him for sake o' the
+larnin', an' that hasn't the kindliness o' the mother's breath an' the
+mother's hand near him, the crathur."
+
+     * The pretty young boy. Boy in Ireland does not always
+     imply youth.
+
+About the middle of the third year he was once more thrown upon the
+general hospitality of the people. The three farmers with whom he had
+lived for the preceding six months emigrated to America, as did many
+others of that class which, in this country, most nearly approximates to
+the substantial yeomanry of England. The little purse, too, which he
+had placed in the hands of the kind priest, was exhausted; a season of
+famine, sickness, and general distress had set in; and the master, on
+understanding that he was without money, became diabolically savage.
+In short, the boy's difficulties increased to a perplexing degree. Even
+Thady and his grown companions, who usually interposed in his behalf
+when the master became excessive in correcting him, had left the school,
+and now the prospect before him was dark and cheerless indeed. For a few
+months longer, however, he struggled on, meeting every difficulty with
+meek endurance. From his very boyhood he had reverenced the sanctity of
+religion, and was actuated by a strong devotional spirit. He trusted in
+God, and worshipped Him night and morning with a sincere heart.
+
+At this crisis he was certainly an object of pity; his clothes, which,
+for some time before had been reduced to tatters, he had replaced by a
+cast-off coat and small-clothes, a present from his friend the Curate,
+who never abandoned him. This worthy young man could not afford him
+money, for as he had but fifty pounds a year, with which to clothe,
+subsist himself, keep a horse, and pay rent, it was hardly to be
+expected that his benevolence could be extensive. In addition to this,
+famine and contagious disease raged with formidable violence in the
+parish; so that the claims upon his bounty of hundreds who lay huddled
+together in cold cabins, in out-houses, and even behind ditches, were
+incessant as well, as heart-rending. The number of interments that took
+place daily in the parish was awful; nothing could be seen but funerals
+attended by groups of ragged and emaciated creatures from whose hollow
+eyes gleamed forth the wolfish fire of famine. The wretched mendicants
+were countless, and the number of coffins that lay on the public
+roads--where, attended by the nearest relatives of the deceased, they
+had been placed for the purpose of procuring charity--were greater than
+ever had been remembered by the oldest inhabitant.
+
+Such was the state of the parish when our poor scholar complained one
+day in school of severe illness. The early symptoms of the prevailing
+epidemic were well known; and, on examining more closely into his
+situation, it was clear that, according to the phraseology of the
+people, he had "got the faver on his back"--had caught "a heavy load
+of the faver." The Irish are particularly apprehensive of contagious
+maladies. The moment it had been discovered that Jemmy was infected, his
+schoolfellows avoided him with a feeling of terror scarcely credible,
+and the inhuman master was delighted at any circumstance, however
+calamitous, that might afford him a pretext for driving the friendless
+youth out of the school.
+
+"Take," said he, "every thing belongin' to you out of my establishment:
+you were always a plague to me, but now more so than ever. Be quick,
+sirra, and nidificate for yourself somewhere else. Do you want to
+thranslate my siminary into an hospital, and myself into Lazarus, as
+president? Go off, you wild goose! and conjugate _aegroto_ wherever
+you find a convenient spot to do it in." The poor boy silently and with
+difficulty arose, collected his books, and, slinging on his satchel,
+looked to his schoolfellows, as if he had said, "Which of you will
+afford me a place where to lay my aching head?" All, however, kept aloof
+from him; he had caught the contagion, and the contagion, they knew, had
+swept the people away in vast numbers. At length he spoke. "Is there any
+boy among you," he inquired, "who will bring me home? You know I am a
+stranger, an' far from my own, God help me!"
+
+This was followed by a profound silence. Not one of those who had so
+often befriended him, or who would, on any other occasion, share their
+bed and their last morsel with him, would even touch his person, much
+less allow him, when thus plague-stricken, to take shelter under their
+roof. Such are the effects of selfishness, when it is opposed only by
+the force of those natural qualities that are not elevated into a sense
+of duty by clear and profound views of Christian truth. It is one thing
+to perform a kind action from constitutional impulse, and another to
+perform it as a fixed duty, perhaps contrary to that impulse.
+
+Jemmy, on finding himself avoided like a Hebrew leper of old, silently
+left the school, and walked on without knowing whither he should
+ultimately direct his steps. He thought of his friend the priest, but
+the distance between him and his place of abode was greater, he felt,
+than his illness would permit him to travel. He walked on, therefore,
+in such a state of misery as can scarcely be conceived, much less
+described. His head ached excessively, an intense pain shot like
+death-pangs through his lower back and loins, his face was flushed, and
+his head giddy. In this state he proceeded, without money or friends;
+without a house to shelter him, or a bed on which to lie, far from
+his own relations, and with the prospect of death, under circumstances
+peculiarly dreadful, before him! He tottered on, however, the earth, as
+he imagined, reeling under him; the heavens, he thought, streaming with
+fire, and the earth indistinct and discolored. Home, the paradise of the
+absent--home, the heaven of the affections--with all its tenderness and
+blessed sympathies, rushed upon his heart. His father's deep but quiet
+kindness, his mother's sedulous love; his brothers, all that they had
+been to him--these, with their thousand heart-stirring associations,
+started into life before him again and again. But he was now ill, and
+the mother--Ah! the enduring sense of that mother's love placed her
+brightest, and strongest, and tenderest, in the far and distant group
+which his imagination bodied forth.
+
+"Mother!" he exclaimed--"Oh, mother, why--why did I ever lave you?
+Mother! the son you loved is dyin' without a kind word, lonely and
+neglected, in a strange land! Oh, my own mother! why did I ever lave
+you?"
+
+The conflict between his illness and his affections overcame him; he
+staggered--he grasped as if for assistance at the vacant air--he fell,
+and lay for some time in a state of insensibility.
+
+The season was then that of midsummer, and early meadows were falling
+before the scythe. As the boy sank to the earth, a few laborers were
+eating their scanty dinner of bread and milk so near him, that only
+a dry low ditch ran between him and them. They had heard his words
+indistinctly, and one of them was putting the milk bottle to his lips
+when, attracted by the voice, he looked in the direction of the speaker,
+and saw him fall. They immediately recognized "the poor scholar," and in
+a moment were attempting to recover him.
+
+"Why thin, my poor fellow, what's a shaughran wid you?"
+
+Jemmy started for a moment, looked about him, and asked, "Where am I?"
+
+"Faitha, thin, you're in Rory Connor's field, widin a few perches of the
+high-road. But what ails you, poor boy? Is it sick you are?"
+
+"It is," he replied; "I have got the faver. I had to lave school;
+none o' them would take me home, an' I doubt I must die in a Christian
+counthry under the open canopy of heaven. Oh, for God's sake, don't lave
+me! Bring me to some hospital, or into the next town, where people may
+know that I'm sick, an' maybe some kind Christian will relieve me."
+
+The moment he mentioned "faver," the men involuntarily drew back, after
+having laid him reclining against the green ditch.
+
+"Thin, thundher an' turf, what's to be done?" exclaimed one of them,
+thrusting his spread fingers into his hair. "Is the poor boy to die
+widout help among Christyeens like us?"
+
+"But hasn't he the sickness?" exclaimed another: "an' in that case,
+Pether, what's to be done?"
+
+"Why, you gommoch, isn't that what I'm wantin' to know? You wor ever and
+always an ass, Paddy, except before you wor born, an' thin you wor like
+Major M'Curragh, worse nor nothin'. Why the sarra do you be spakin'
+about the sickness, the Lord protect us, whin you know I'm so timersome
+of it?"
+
+"But considher," said another, edging off from Jemmy, however, "that
+he's a poor scholar, an' that there's a great blessin' to thim that
+assists the likes of him."
+
+"Ay, is there that, sure enough, Dan; but you see--blur-an-age, what's
+to be done? He can't die this way, wid nobody wid him but himself."
+
+"Let us help him!" exclaimed another, "for God's sake, an' we won't be
+apt to take it thin."
+
+"Ay, but how can we help him, Frank? Oh, bedad, it 'ud be a murdherin'
+shame, all out, to let the crathur die by himself, widout company, so it
+would."
+
+"No one wul take him in, for fraid o' the sickness. Why, I'll tell
+you what we'll do:--Let us shkame the remainder o' this day off o' the
+Major, an' build a shed for him on the road-side here, jist against the
+ditch. It's as dhry as powdher. Thin we can go through the neighbors,
+an' git thim to sit near him time about, an' to bring him little
+_dhreeniens_ o' nourishment."
+
+"Divil a purtier! Come thin, let us get a lot o' the neighbors, an' set
+about it, poor bouchal. Who knows but it may bring down a blessin' upon
+us aither in this world or the next."
+
+"Amin! I pray Gorra! an' so it will sure I doesn't the Catechiz say
+it? 'There is but one Church,' says the Catechiz, 'one Faith, an' one
+Baptism.' Bedad, there's a power o' fine larnin' in the same Catechiz,
+so there is, an' mighty improvin'."
+
+An Irishman never works for wages with half the zeal which he displays
+when working for love. Ere many hours passed, a number of the neighbors
+had assembled, and Jemmy found himself on a bunch of clean straw, in a
+little shed erected for him at the edge of the road.
+
+Perhaps it would be impossible to conceive a more gloomy state of misery
+than that in which young M'Evoy found himself. Stretched on the side
+of the public road, in a shed formed of a few loose sticks covered
+over with "scraws," that is, the sward of the earth pared into thin
+stripes--removed above fifty perches from any human habitation--his body
+racked with a furious and oppressive fever--his mind conscious of all
+the horrors by which he was surrounded--without the comforts even of a
+bed or bedclothes--and, what was worst of all, those from whom he might
+expect kindness, afraid; to approach him! Lying helpless, under these
+circumstances, it ought not to be wondered at, if he wished that death
+might at once close his extraordinary sufferings, and terminate those
+straggles which filial piety had prompted him to encounter.
+
+This certainly is a dark picture, but our humble hero knew that even
+there the power and goodness of God could support him. The boy trusted
+in God; and when removed into his little shed, and stretched upon his
+clean straw, he felt that his situation was, in good sooth, comfortable
+when contrasted with what it might have been, if left to perish behind a
+ditch, exposed to the scorching-heat of the sun by day, and the dews
+of heaven by night. He felt the hand of God even in this, and placed
+himself, with a short but fervent prayer, under his fatherly protection.
+
+Irishmen however, are not just that description of persons who can
+pursue their usual avocations, and see a fellow-creature-die, without
+such attentions as they can afford him; not precisely so bad as that,
+gentle reader! Jemmy had not been two hours on his straw, when a second
+shed much larger than his own, was raised within a dozen yards of it:
+In this a fire was lit; a small pot was then procured, milk was sent
+in, and such other little comforts brought together, as they supposed
+necessary for the sick boy. Having accomplished these matters, a kind of
+guard was set to watch and nurse-tend him; a pitchfork was got, on the
+prongs of which they intended to reach him bread across the ditch; and
+a long-shafted shovel was borrowed, on which to furnish him drink with
+safety to themselves. That inextinguishable vein of humor, which in
+Ireland mingles even with death and calamity, was also visible here. The
+ragged, half-starved creatures laughed heartily at the oddity of their
+own inventions, and enjoyed the ingenuity with which they made shift
+to meet the exigencies of the occasion, without in the slightest degree
+having their sympathy and concern for the afflicted youth lessened.
+
+When their arrangements were completed, one of them (he of the scythe)
+made a little whey, which, in lieu of a spoon, he stirred with the
+end of his tobacco-pipe; he then extended it across the ditch upon the
+shovel, after having put it in a tin porringer.
+
+"Do you want a taste o' whay, avourneen?"
+
+"Oh, I do," replied Jemmy; "give me a drink for God's sake."
+
+"There it is, _a bouchal_, on the shovel. Musha if myself rightly knows
+what side you're lyin' an, or I'd put it as near your lips as I could.
+Come, man, be stout, don't be cast down at all at all; sure, bud-an-age,
+we' shovelin' the way to you, any how."
+
+"I have it," replied the boy--"oh, I have it. May God never forget this
+to you, whoever you are."
+
+"Faith, if you want to know who I am; I'm Pettier Connor the mower, that
+never seen to-morrow. Be Gorra, poor boy, you mustn't let your spirits
+down at all at all. Sure the neighbors is all bint to watch an' take
+care of you.--May I take away the shovel?--an' they've built a brave
+snug shed here beside yours, where they'll stay wid you time about until
+you get well. We'll feed you wid whay enough, bekase we've made up our
+minds to stale lots o' sweet milk for you. Ned Branagan an' I will milk
+Kody Hartigan's cows to-night, wid the help o' God. Divil a bit sin in
+it, so there isn't, an' if there is, too, be my sowl there's no harm in
+it any way--for he's but a nager himself, the same Rody. So, acushla,
+keep a light heart, for, be Gorra, you're sure o' the thin pair o'
+throwsers, any how. Don't think you're desarted--for you're not. It's
+all in regard o' bein' afeard o' this faver, or it's not this way you'd
+be; but, as I said a while agone, when you want anything, spake, for
+you'll still find two or three of us beside you here, night an' day.
+Now, won't you promise to keep your mind asy, when you know that we're
+beside you?"
+
+"God bless you," replied Jemmy, "you've taken a weight off of my heart.
+I thought I'd die wid nobody near me at all."
+
+"Oh, the sorra fear of it. Keep your heart up. We'll stale lots o' milk
+for you. Bad scran to the baste in the parish but we'll milk, sooner nor
+you'd want the whay, you crathur you."
+
+The boy felt relieved, but his malady increased; and were it not that
+the confidence of being thus watched and attended to supported him, it
+is more than probable he would have sunk under it.
+
+When the hour of closing the day's labor arrived, Major ------ came down
+to inspect the progress which his mowers had made, and the goodness of
+his crop upon his meadows. No sooner was he perceived at a distance,
+than the scythes were instantly resumed, and the mowers pursued their
+employment with an appearance of zeal and honesty that could not be
+suspected.
+
+On arriving at the meadows, however, he was evidently startled at the
+miserable day's work they had performed.
+
+"Why, Connor," said he, addressing the nurse-tender, "how is this? I
+protest you have not performed half a day's labor! This is miserable and
+shameful."
+
+"Bedad, Major, it's thrue for your honor, sure enough. It's a poor day's
+work, the I never a doubt of it. But be all the books; that never was
+opened or shut, busier men! than we wor since mornin' couldn't be had;
+for love or money. You see, Major, these meadows, bad luck to them!--God
+pardon me for cursin' the harmless crathurs, for sure 'tisn't their
+fau't, sir: but you see, Major, I'll insinse you into it. Now look
+here, your honor. Did you ever see deeper: meadow nor that same, since
+you war foal---hem--sintce you war born, your honor? Maybe, your honor,
+Major, 'ud just take the scythe an' sthrive to cut a swaythe?"
+
+"Nonsense, Connor; don't you know I cannot."
+
+"Thin, be Gorra, sir, I wish you could; thry it. I'd kiss the book, we
+did more labor, an' worked harder this day, nor any day for the last
+fortnight. If it was light grass, sir--see here, Major, here's alight
+bit--now, look at how the scythe runs through it! Thin look at here
+agin--just observe this, Major--why, murdher alive, don't you see how
+slow she goes through that where the grass is heavy! Bedad, Major,
+you'll be made up this suson wid your hay, any how. Divil carry the
+finer meadow ever I put the scythe in nor this same meadow, God bless
+it!"
+
+"Yes, I see it, Connor; I agree with you as to its goodness. But the
+reason of that is, Connor, that I always direct my steward myself in
+laying it down for grass. Yes, you're right, Connor; if the meadow were
+light, you could certainly mow comparatively a greater space in a day."
+
+"Be the livin' farmer, God pardon me for swearin', it's a pleasure to
+have dalins wid a gintleman like you, that knows things as cute as
+if you war a mower yourself, your honor. Bedad, I'll go bail, sir, it
+wouldn't be hard to tache you that same."
+
+"Why, to tell you the truth, Connor, you have hit me off pretty well.
+I'm beginning to get a taste for agriculture."
+
+"But," said Connor, scratching his head, "won't your honor allow us the
+price of a glass, or a pint o' portlier, for our hard day's work. Bad
+cess to me, sir, but this meadow 'ill play the puck wid us afore we
+get it finished.--Atween ourselves, sir--if it wouldn't be takin'
+freedoms--if you'd look to your own farmin' yourself. The steward, sir,
+is a dacent kind of a man; but, sowl, he couldn't hould a candle to your
+honor in seein' to the best way of doin' a thing, sir. Won't you allow
+us glasses apiece, your honor? Faix, we're kilt entirely, so we are."
+
+"Here is half-a-crown among you, Connor; but don't get drunk."
+
+"Dhrunk! Musha, long may you reign, Sir! Be the scythe in my hand, I'd
+rather--Och, faix, you're one o' the ould sort, sir--the raal Irish
+gintleman, your honor. An' sure your name's far and near for that, any
+how."
+
+Connor's face would have done the heart of Brooke or Cruikshank good,
+had either of them seen it charged with humor so rich as that which
+beamed upon it, when the Major left them to enjoy their own comments
+upon what had happened.
+
+"Oh, be the livin' farmer," said Connor, "are we all alive at all afther
+doin' the Major! Pp., thin, the curse o' the crows upon you, pijor,
+darlin', but you are a Manus!* The damn' rip o' the world, that wouldn't
+give the breath he breathes to the poor for God's sake, and he'll threwn
+a man half-a-crown that 'll blarney him for farmin', and him doesn't
+know the differ atween a Cork-red a Yellow-leg."**
+
+     * A soft booby easily hoaxed.
+
+     **Different kinds of potatoes.
+
+"Faith, he's the boy that knows how to make a Judy of himself any way,
+Pether," exclaimed another. "The divil a hapurt'h asier nor to
+give these Quality the bag to hould, so there isn't. An' they think
+themselves so cute, too!"
+
+"Augh!" said a third, "couldn't a man find the soft side o' them as asy
+as make out the way to' his own nose, widout being led to it. Divil a
+sin it is to do them, any way. Sure, he thinks we wor tooth an' nail at
+the meadow all day; an' me thought I'd never recover it, to see Pether
+here--the rise he tuck out of him! Ha, ha, ha--och, och, murdher, oh!"
+
+"Faith," exclaimed Connor, "'twas good, you see, to help the poor
+scholar; only for it we couldn't get shkamin' the half-crown out of him.
+I think we ought to give the crathur half of it, an' him so sick: he'll
+be wantin' it worse nor ourselves."
+
+"Oh, be Gorra, he's fairly entitled to that. I vote him fifteen pince."
+
+"Surely!" they exclaimed unanimously. "Tundher-an'-turf! wasn't he the
+manes of gettin' it for us?"
+
+"Jemmy, a bouchal," said Connor, across the ditch to M'Evoy, "are you
+sleepin'?"
+
+"Sleepin'! Oh, no," replied Jemmy; "I'd give the wide world for one wink
+of asy sleep."
+
+"Well, aroon, here's fifteen pince for you, that we skham--Will I tell
+him how we cot it?"
+
+"No, don't," replied his neighbors; "the boy's given to devotion, and
+maybe might scruple to take it."
+
+"Here's fifteen pince, avourneen, on the shovel, that we're givin' you
+for God's sake. If you over * this, won't you offer up a prayer for us?
+Won't you, avick?"
+
+     *That is--to get over--to survive.
+
+"I can never forget your kindness," replied Jemmy; "I will always pray
+for you, and may God for ever bless you and yours!
+
+"Poor crathur! May the Heavens above have prosthration on him! Upon my
+sowl, it's good to have his blessin' an' his prayer. Now don't fret,
+Jemmy; we're lavin' you wid a lot o' neighbors here. They'll watch
+you time about, so that whin you want anything, call, avourneen, an'
+there'll still be some one here to answer. God bless you, an' restore
+you, till we come wid the milk we'll stale for you, wid the help o' God.
+Bad cess to me, but it 'ud be a mortual sin, so it would, to let the
+poor boy die at all, an' him so far from home. For, as the Catechiz
+says 'There is but one Faith, one Church, and one Baptism!' Well, the
+readin' that's in that Catechiz is mighty improvin', glory be to God!"
+
+It would be utterly impossible to detail the affliction which our poor
+scholar suffered in this wretched shed, for the space of a fortnight,
+notwithstanding the efforts of those kind-hearted people to render his
+situation comfortable.
+
+The little wigwam they had constructed near him was never, even for a
+moment, during his whole illness, without two or three persons ready to
+attend him. In the evening their numbers increased; a fire was always
+kept burning, over which a little pot for making whey or gruel was
+suspended. At night they amused each other with anecdotes and laughter,
+and occasionally with songs, when certain that their patient was not
+asleep. Their exertions to steal milk for him were performed with
+uncommon glee, and related among themselves with great humor. These
+thefts would have been unnecessary, had not the famine which then
+prevailed through the province been so excessive. The crowds that
+swarmed about the houses of wealthy farmers, supplicating a morsel to
+keep body and soul together, resembled nothing which our English readers
+ever had an opportunity of seeing. Ragged, emaciated creatures, tottered
+about with an expression of wildness and voracity in their gaunt
+features; fathers and mothers reeled under the burthen of their beloved
+children, the latter either sick, or literally expiring for want of
+food; and the widow, in many instances, was compelled to lay down her
+head to die, with the wail, the feeble wail, of her withered orphans
+mingling with her last moans! In such a state of things it was difficult
+to procure a sufficient quantity of milk to allay the natural thirst
+even of one individual, when parched by the scorching heat of a fever.
+Notwithstanding this, his wants were for the most part anticipated, so
+far as their means would allow them; his shed was kept waterproof; and
+either shovel or pitchfork always ready to be extended to him, by way of
+substitution for the right hand of fellowship.
+
+When he called for anything, the usual observation was, "Husht! the
+crathur's callin'. I must take the shovel an' see what he wants."
+
+There were times, it is true, when the mirth of the poor fellows was'
+very low, for hunger was generally among themselves; there were
+times when their own little shed presented a touching and melancholy
+spectacle--perhaps we ought also to add, a noble one; for, to
+contemplate a number of men, considered rude and semi-barbarous,
+devoting themselves, in the midst of privations the most cutting and
+oppressive, to the care and preservation of a strange lad, merely
+because they knew him to be without friends and protection, is to
+witness a display of virtue truly magnanimous. The food on which some
+of the persons were occasionally compelled to live, was blood boiled up
+with a little oatmeal; for when a season of famine occurs in Ireland,
+the people usually bleed the cows and bullocks to preserve themselves
+from actual starvation. It is truly a sight of appalling misery to
+behold feeble women gliding across the country, carrying their cans and
+pitchers, actually trampling upon fertility, and fatness, and collected
+in the corner of some grazier's farm waiting, gaunt and ravenous as
+Ghouls, for their portion of blood. During these melancholy periods of
+want, everything in the shape of an esculent disappears. The miserable
+creatures will pick up chicken-weed, nettles, sorrell, bug-loss,
+preshagh, and sea-weed, which they will boil and eat with the voracity
+of persons writhing under the united agonies of hunger and death! Yet
+the very country thus groaning under such a terrible sweep of famine is
+actually pouring from all her ports a profusion of food, day after day;
+flinging it from her fertile bosom, with the wanton excess of a prodigal
+oppressed by abundance.
+
+Despite, however, of all the poor scholar's nurse-guard suffered, he was
+attended with a fidelity of care and sympathy which no calamity could
+shake. Nor was this care fruitless; after the fever had passed through
+its usual stages he began to recover. In fact, it has been observed
+very truly, that scarcely any person has been known to die under
+circumstances similar to those of the poor scholar. These sheds, the
+erection of which is not unfrequent in case of fever, have the advantage
+of pure free air, by which the patient is cooled and refreshed. Be the
+cause of it what it may, the fact has been established, and we feel
+satisfaction in being able to adduce our humble hero as an additional
+proof of the many recoveries which take place in situations apparently
+so unfavorable to human life. But how is it possible to detail what
+M'Evoy suffered during this fortnight of intense agony? Not those
+who can command the luxuries of life--not those who can reach
+its comforts--nor those who can supply themselves with its bare
+necessaries--neither the cotter who struggles to support his wife and
+helpless children--the mendicant who begs from door to door--nor even
+the felon in his cell--can imagine what he felt in the solitary misery
+of his feverish bed. Hard is the heart that cannot feel his sorrows,
+when, stretched beside the common way, without a human face to look
+on, he called upon the mother whose brain, had she known his situation,
+would have been riven--whose affectionate heart would have been broken,
+by the knowledge of his affliction. It was a situation which afterwards
+appeared to him dark and terrible. The pencil of the painter could
+not depict it, nor the pen of the poet describe it, except like a dim
+vision, which neither the heart nor the imagination are able to give to
+the world as a tale steeped in the sympathies excited by reality.
+
+His whole heart and soul, as he afterwards acknowledged, were, during
+his trying illness, at home. The voices of his parents, of his sisters,
+and of his brothers, were always in his ears; their countenances
+surrounded his cold and lonely shed; their hands touched him; their eyes
+looked upon him in sorrow--and their tears bedewed him. Even there, the
+light of his mother's love, though she herself was distant, shone upon
+his sorrowful couch; and he has declared, that in no past moment
+of affection did his soul ever burn with a sense of its presence so
+strongly as it did in the heart-dreams of his severest illness. But God
+is love, and "temporeth the wind to the shorn lamb."
+
+Much of all his sufferings would have been alleviated, were it not that
+his two best friends in the parish, Thady and the curate, had been
+both prostrated by the fever at the same time with himself. There was
+consequently no person of respectability in the neighborhood cognizant
+of his situation. He was left to the humbler class of the peasantry, and
+honorably did they, with all their errors and ignorance, discharge those
+duties which greater wealth and greater knowledge would, probably, have
+left unperformed.
+
+On the morning of the last day he ever intended to spend in the shed,
+at eleven o'clock he hoard the sounds of horses' feet passing along
+the road, The circumstance was one quite familiar to him; but these
+horsemen, whoever they might be, stopped, and immediately after, two
+respectable looking men, dressed in black, approached him. His forlorn
+state and frightfully wasted appearance startled them, and the younger
+of the two asked, in a tone of voice which went directly to his heart,
+how it was that they found him in a situation so desolate.
+
+The kind interest implied by the words, and probably a sense of his
+utterly destitute state, affected him strongly, and he burst into tears.
+The strangers looked at each other, then at him; and if looks could
+express sympathy, theirs expressed it.
+
+"My good boy," said the first, "how is it that we find you in a
+situation so deplorable and wretched as this? Who are you, or why is it
+that you have not a friendly roof I to shelter you?"
+
+"I'm a poor scholar," replied Jemmy, "the son of honest but reduced
+parents: I came to this part of the country with the intention of
+preparing myself for Maynooth and, if it might plase God, with the hope
+of being able to raise them out of their distress."
+
+The strangers looked more earnestly at the boy; sickness had touched his
+fine intellectual features into a purity of expression almost ethereal.
+His fair skin appeared nearly transparent, and the light of truth and
+candor lit up his countenance with a lustre which affliction could not
+dim.
+
+The other stranger approached him more nearly, stooped for a moment, and
+felt his pulse.
+
+"How long have you been in this country?" he inquired.
+
+"Nearly three years."
+
+"You have been ill of the fever which is so prevalent; how did you come
+to be left to the chance of perishing upon the highway?"
+
+"Why, sir, the people were afeard to let me into their houses in
+consequence of the faver. I got ill in school, sir, but no boy would
+venture to bring me home, an' the master turned me out, to die, I
+believe. May God forgive him!"
+
+"Who was your master, my child?"
+
+"The great' Mr.------, sir. If Mr. O'Brien, the curate of the parish,
+hadn't been ill himself at the same time, or if Mr. O'Rorke's son,
+Thady, hadn't been laid on his back, too, sir, I wouldn't suffer what I
+did."
+
+"Has the curate been kind to you?"
+
+"Sir, only for him and the big boys I couldn't stay in the school, on
+account of the master's cruelty, particularly since my money was out."
+
+"You are better now--are you not?" said the other gentleman.
+
+"Thank God, sir!--oh, thanks be to the Almighty, I am! I expect to be
+able to lave this place to-day or to-morrow."
+
+"And where do you intend to go when you recover?"
+
+The boy himself had not thought of this, and the question came on him so
+unexpectedly, that he could only reply--
+
+"Indeed, sir, I don't know."
+
+"Had you," inquired the second stranger, "testimonials from your parish
+priest?"
+
+"I had, sir: they are in the hands of Mr. O'Brien. I also had a
+character from my father's landlord."
+
+"But how," asked the other, "have you existed here during your illness?
+Have you been long sick?"
+
+"Indeed I can't tell you, sir, for I don't know how the time passed
+at all; but I know, sir, that there were always two or three people
+attendin' me. They sent me whatever they thought I wanted, upon a shovel
+or a pitchfork, across the ditch, because they were afraid to come near
+me."
+
+During the early part of the dialogue, two or three old hats, or
+caubeens, might have been seen moving steadily over from the wigwam
+to the ditch which ran beside the shed occupied by M'Evoy. Here they
+remained stationary, for those who wore them were now within hearing of
+the conversation, and ready to give their convalescent patient a good
+word, should it be necessary.
+
+"How were you supplied with drink and medicine?" asked the younger
+stranger.
+
+"As I've just told you, sir," replied Jemmy; "the neighbors here let me
+want for nothing that they had. They kept me in more whey than I could
+use; and they got me medicine, too, some way or other. But indeed, sir,
+during a great part of the time I was ill, I can't say how they attended
+me: I wasn't insinsible, sir, of what was goin' on about me."
+
+One of those who lay behind the ditch now arose, and after a few hems
+and scratchings of the head, ventured to join in the conversation.
+
+"Pray have you, my man," said the elder of the two, "been acquainted
+with the circumstances of this boy's illness?"
+
+"Is it the poor scholar, my Lord?* Oh thin bedad it's myself that has
+that. The poor crathur was in a terrible way all out, so he was. He
+caught the faver in the school beyant, one day, an' was turned out by
+the nager o' the world that he was larnin' from."
+
+     * The peasantry always address a Roman Catholic Bishop
+     as "My Lord."
+
+"Are you one of the persons who attended him?"
+
+"Och, och, the crathar! what could unsignified people like us do for
+him, barrin' a thrifle? Any how, my Lord, it's the meracle o' the world
+that he was ever able to over it at all. Why, sir, good luck to the one
+of him but suffered as much, wid the help o' God, as 'ud overcome fifty
+men!"
+
+"How did you provide him with drink at such a distance from any human
+habitation?"
+
+"Throth, hard enough we found it, sir, to do that same: but sure,
+whether or not, my Lord, we couldn't be sich nagers as to let him die
+all out, for want o' sometlrm' to moisten his throath wid."
+
+"I hope," inquired the other, "you had nothing to do in the
+milk-stealing which has produced such an outcry in this immediate
+neighborhood?"
+
+"Milk-stalin'! Oh, bedad, sir, there never was the likes known afore
+in the caunthry. The Lord forgive them, that did it! Be gorra, sir, the
+wickedness o' the people': mighty improving if one 'ud take warnin' by
+it, glory be to God!"
+
+"Many of the fanners' cows have been milked at night, Connor--perfectly
+drained. Even my own cows have not escaped; and we who have suffered are
+certainly determined, if possible, to ascertain those who have committed
+the theft. I, for my part, have gone even beyond my ability in relieving
+the wants of the poor, during this period of sickness and famine; I
+therefore deserved this the less."
+
+"By the powdbers, your honor, if any gintleman desarved to have his cows
+_unmilked_, it's yourself. But, as I said this minute, there's no end to
+the wickedness o' the people, so there's not, although the Catechiz is
+against them; for, says it, 'there is but one Faith, one Church, an' one
+Baptism.' Now, sir, isn't it quare that people, wid sich words in the
+book afore them, won't be guided by it? I suppose they thought it only a
+_white_ sin, sir, to take the milk, the thieves o' the world."
+
+"Maybe, your honor," said another, "that it was only to keep the life in
+some poor sick crathur that wanted it more nor you or the farmers, that
+they did it. There's some o' the same farmers desarve worse, for they're
+keepin' up the prices o' their male and praties upon the poor, an' did
+so all along, that they might make money by our outlier destitution."
+
+"That is no justification for theft," observed the graver of the two.
+"Does any one among you suspect those who committed it in this instance?
+If you do, I command you, as your Bishop, to mention them."
+
+"How, for instance," added the other, "were you able to supply this sick
+boy with whey during his illness?"
+
+"Oh thin, gintlemen," replied Connor, dexterously parrying the question,
+"but it's a mighty improvin' thing to see our own Bishop,--God spare
+his Lordship to us!--an the Protestant minister o' the parish joinin'
+together to relieve an' give good advice to the poor! Bedad, it's
+settin' a fine example, so it is, to the Quality, if they'd take
+patthern by it."
+
+"Reply," said the Bishop, rather sternly, "to the questions we have
+asked you."
+
+"The quistions, your Lordship? It's proud an' happy we'd be to do what
+you want; but the sarra man among us can do it, barin' we'd say what we
+ought not to say. That's the thruth, my Lord; an' surely 'tisn't your
+Gracious Reverence that 'ud want us to go beyant that?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied the Bishop. "I warn you both against falsehood
+and fraud; two charges which might frequently be brought against you in
+your intercourse with the gentry of the country, whom you seldom scruple
+to deceive and mislead, by gliding into a character, when speaking to
+them, that is often the reverse of your real one; whilst at the same
+time you are both honest and sincere to persons of your own class. Put
+away this practice, for it is both sinful and discreditable."
+
+"God bless your Lordship! an' many thanks to your Gracious Reverence
+for advisin' us! Well we know that it's the blessed thing to folly your
+words."
+
+"Bring over that naked, starved-looking man, who is stirring the fire
+under that pot," said the Hector. "He looks like Famine itself."
+
+"Paddy Dunn! will you come over here to his honor, Paddy! He's goin'
+to give you somethin," said Connor, adding of his own accord the last
+clause of his message.
+
+The tattered creature approached him with a gleam of expectation in his
+eyes that appeared like insanity.
+
+"God bless your honor for your goodness," exclaimed Paddy. "It's me
+that's in it, sir!--Paddy Dunn, sir, sure enough; but, indeed, I'm the
+next thing to my own ghost, sir, now God help me!"
+
+"What, and for whom are you cooking?"
+
+"Jist the smallest dhrop in life, sir, o' gruel, to keep the sowl in
+that lonely crathur, sir, the poor scholar."
+
+"Pray how long is it since you have eaten anything yourself?"
+
+The tears burst from the eyes of the miserable creature as he replied--
+
+"Before God in glory, your honor, an' in the presence of his Lordship
+here, I only got about what 'ud make betther nor half a male widin the
+last day, sir. 'Twas a weeshy grain o' male that I got from a friend;
+an' as Ned Connor here tauld me that this crathur had nothin' to make
+the gruel for him, why I shared it wid him, bekase he couldn't even beg
+it, sir, if he wanted it, an' him not able to walk yit."
+
+The worthy pastor's eyes glistened with a moisture that did him honor.
+Without a word of observation, he slipped a crown into the hand of Dunn,
+who looked at it as if he had been paralyzed.
+
+"Oh thin," said he, fervently, "may every hair on your honor's head
+become a mould-candle to light you into glory! The world's goodness is
+in your heart, sir; an' may all the blessin's of Heaven rain down upon
+you an' yours!"
+
+The two gentlemen then gave assistance to the poor scholar, whom the
+Bishop addressed in kind and encouraging language:
+
+"Come to me, my good boy," he added, "and if, on further inquiry, I find
+that your conduct has been such as I believe it to have been, you may
+rest assured, provided also you continue worthy of my good opinion, that
+I shall be a friend and protector to you. Call on me when you got well,
+and I will speak to you at greater length."
+
+"Well," observed Connor, when they were gone, "the divil's own hard
+puzzle the Bishop had me in, about stalin' the milk. It went agin' the
+grain wid me to tell him the lie, so I had to invint a bit o' truth to
+keep my conscience clear; for sure there was not a man among us that
+could tell him, barrin' we said that we oughtn't to say. Doesn't all the
+world know that a man oughtn't to condimn himself? That was thruth, any
+way; but divil a scruple I'd have in blammin' the other--not but that
+he's one o' the best of his sort. Paddy Dunn, quit lookin' at that
+crown, but get the shovel an' give the boy his dhrink--he's wantin' it."
+
+The agitation of spirits produced by Jemmy's cheering interview with
+the Bishop was, for three days afterwards, somewhat prejudicial to his
+convalescence. In less than a week, however, he was comfortably settled
+with Mr. O'Rorke's family, whose kindness proved to him quite as warm as
+he had expected.
+
+When he had remained with them a few days, he resolved to recommence
+his studies under his tyrant master. He certainly knew that his future
+attendance at the school would be penal to him, but he had always looked
+forward to the accomplishment of his hopes as a task of difficulty and
+distress. The severity to be expected from the master could not,
+he thought, be greater than that which he had already suffered; he
+therefore decided, if possible, to complete his education under him.
+
+The school, when Jemmy appeared in it, had been for more than an hour
+assembled, but the thinness of the attendance not only proved the woful
+prevalence of sickness and distress in the parish, but sharpened the
+pedagogue's vinegar aspect into an expression of countenance singularly
+peevish and gloomy. When the lad entered, a murmur of pleasure and
+welcome ran through the scholars, and joy beamed forth from every
+countenance but that of his teacher. When the latter noticed this, his
+irritability rose above restraint, and he exclaimed:--
+
+"Silence! and apply to business, or I shall cause some of you to denude
+immediately. No school ever can prosper in which that _hirudo_, called
+a poor scholar, is permitted toleration. I thought, sarra, I told you
+to nidificate and hatch your wild project undher some other wing than
+mine."
+
+"I only entrate you," replied our poor hero, "to suffer me to join the
+class I left while I was sick, for about another year. I'll be very
+quiet and humble, and, as far as I can, will do everything you wish me."
+
+"Ah! you are a crawling reptile," replied the savage, "and, in my
+opinion, nothing but a chate and impostor. I think you have imposed
+yourself upon Mr. O'Brien for what you are not; that is, the son of an
+honest man. I have no doubt, but many of your nearest relations died
+after having seen their own funerals. Your mother, you runagate, wasn't
+your father's wife, I'll be bail."
+
+The spirit of the boy could bear this no longer; his eyes flashed, and
+his sinews stood out in the energy of deep indignation.
+
+"It is false," he exclaimed; "it is as false as your own cruel and
+cowardly heart, you wicked and unprincipled tyrant! In everything you
+have said of my father, mother, and friends, and of myself, too, you
+are' a liar, from the hat on your head to the dirt undher your feet--a
+liar, a coward, and a villain!"
+
+The fury of the miscreant was ungovernable:--he ran at the still feeble
+lad, and, by a stroke of his fist, dashed him senseless to the earth.
+There were now no large boys in the school to curb his resentment, he
+therefore kicked him in the back when he fell. Many voices exclaimed in
+alarm--"Oh, masther! sir; don't kill him! Oh, sir! dear, don't kill him!
+Don't kill poor Jemmy, sir, an' him still sick!"
+
+"Kill him!" replied the master; "kill him, indeed! Faith, he'd be no
+common man who could kill him; he has as many lives in him as a cat!
+Sure, he can live behind a ditch, wid the faver on his back, wid-out
+dying; and he would live if he was stuck on the spire of a steeple."
+
+In the meantime the boy gave no symptoms of returning life, and the
+master, after desiring a few of the scholars to bring him oat to the
+air, became pale as death with apprehension. He immediately withdrew
+to his private apartment, which joined the schoolroom, and sent out his
+wife to assist in restoring him to animation. With some difficulty
+this was accomplished. The unhappy boy at once remembered what had just
+occurred; and the bitter tears gushed from his eyes, as he knelt down,
+and exclaimed "Merciful Father of heaven and earth, have pity on me! You
+see my heart, great God! and that what I did, I did for the best!"
+
+"Avourneen," said the woman, "he's passionate, an' never mind him. Come
+in an' beg his pardon for callin' him a liar, an' I'll become spokesman
+for you myself. Come, acushla, an' I'll get lave for you to stay in the
+school still."
+
+"Oh, I'm hurted!" said the poor youth: "I'm hurted inwardly--somewhere
+about the back, and about my ribs!" The pain he felt brought the tears
+down his pale cheeks. "I wish I was at home!" said he. "I'll give up all
+and go home!" The lonely boy then laid his head upon his hands, as he
+sat on the ground, and indulged in a long burst of sorrow.
+
+"Well," said a manly-looking little fellow, whilst the tears stood in
+his eyes, "I'll tell my father this, anyhow. I know he won't let me come
+to this school any more. Here, Jemmy, is a piece of my bread, maybe it
+will do you good."
+
+"I couldn't taste it, Frank dear," said Jemmy; "God bless you; but I
+couldn't taste it."
+
+"Do," said Frank; "maybe it will bate back the pain."
+
+"Don't ask me, Frank dear," said Jemmy; "I couldn't ate it: I'm hurted
+inwardly."
+
+"Bad luck to me!" exclaimed the indignant boy, "if ever my ten toes will
+darken this school door agin. By the livin' farmer, if they ax me at
+home to do it, I'll run away to my uncle's, so I will. Wait, Jemmy, I'll
+be big yit; an', be the blessed Gospel that's about my neck, I'll give
+the same masther a shirtful of sore bones, the holy an' blessed minute
+I'm able to do it."
+
+Many of the other boys declared that they would acquaint their friends
+with the master's cruelty to the poor scholar; but Jemmy requested them
+not to do so, and said that he was determined to return home the moment
+he should be able to travel.
+
+The affrighted woman could not prevail upon him to seek a reconciliation
+with her husband, although the expressions of the other scholars
+induced her to press him to it, even to entreaty. Jemmy arose, and with
+considerable difficulty reached the Curate's house, found him at home,
+and, with tears in his eyes, related to him the atrocious conduct of the
+master.
+
+"Very well," said this excellent man, "I am glad that I can venture to
+ride as far as Colonel B------'s to-morrow. You must accompany me; for
+decidedly such brutality cannot be permitted to go unpunished."
+
+Jemmy knew that the curate was his friend; and although he would
+not himself have thought of summoning the master to answer for his
+barbarity, yet he acquiesced in the curate's opinion. He stopped that
+night in the house of the worthy man to whom Mr. O'Brien had recommended
+him on his first entering the town. It appeared in the morning, however,
+that he was unable to walk; the blows which he had received were then
+felt by him to be more dangerous than had been supposed. Mr. O'Brien, on
+being informed of this, procured a jaunting-car, on which they both sat,
+and at an easy pace reached the Colonel's residence.
+
+The curate was shown into an ante-room, and Jemmy sat in the hall: the
+Colonel joined the former in a few minutes. He had been in England and
+on the continent, accompanied by his family, for nearly the last three
+years, but had just returned, in order to take possession of a large
+property in land and money, to which he succeeded at a very critical
+moment, for his own estates were heavily encumbered. He was now
+proprietor of an additional estate, the rent-roll of which was six
+thousand per annum, and also master of eighty-five thousand pounds in
+the funds. Mr. O'Brien, after congratulating him upon his good fortune,
+introduced the case of our hero as one which, in his opinion, called for
+the Colonel's interposition as a magistrate.
+
+"I have applied to you, sir," he proceeded, "rather than to any other
+of the neighboring gentlemen, because I think this friendless lad has a
+peculiar claim upon any good offices you could render him."
+
+"A claim upon me! How is that, Mr. O'Brien?"
+
+"The boy, sir, is not a native of this province. His father was formerly
+a tenant of yours, a man, as I have reason to believe, remarkable for
+good conduct and industry. It appears that his circumstances, so long as
+he was your tenant, were those of a comfortable independent farmer. If
+the story which his son relates be true--and I, for one, believe it--his
+family have been dealt with in a manner unusually cruel and iniquitous.
+Your present agent, Colonel, who is known in his own neighborhood by the
+nickname of Yellow Sam, thrust him out of hia farm, when his wife was
+sick, for the purpose of putting into it a man who had married his
+illegitimate daughter. If this be found a correct account of the
+transaction, I have no hesitation in saying, that you, Colonel B------,
+as a gentleman of honor and humanity, will investigate the conduct of
+your agent, and see justice done to an honest man, who must have been
+oppressed in your name, and under color of your authority."
+
+"If my agent has dared to be unjust to a worthy tenant," said the
+Colonel, "in order to provide for his bastard, by my sacred honor, he
+shall cease to be an agent of mine! I admit, certainly, that from some
+circumstances which transpired a few years ago, I have reason to suspect
+his integrity. That, to be sure, was only so far as he and I were
+concerned; but, on the other hand, during one or two visits I made to
+the estate which he manages, I heard the tenants thank and praise him
+with much gratitude, and all that sort of thing. There was 'Thank your
+honor!'--'Long may you reign over us, sir!'--and, 'Oh, Colonel, you've
+a mighty good man to your agent!' and so forth. I do not think, Mr.
+O'Brien, that he has acted so harshly, or that he would dare to do it.
+Upon my honor, I heard those warm expressions of gratitude from the lips
+of the tenants themselves."
+
+"If you knew the people in general, Colonel, as well as I do," replied
+the curate, "you would admit, that such expressions are often either
+cuttingly ironical, or the result of fear. You will always find, sir,
+that the independent portion of the people have least of this forced
+dissimulation among them. A dishonest and inhuman agent has in his own
+hands the irresponsible power of harassing and oppressing the tenantry
+under him. The class most hateful to the people are those low wretches
+who spring up from nothing into wealth, accumulated by dishonesty
+and rapacity. They are proud, overbearing, and jealous, even to
+vindictiveness, of the least want of respect. It is to such upstarts
+that the poorer classes are externally most civil; but it is also such
+persons whom they most hate and abhor. They flatter them to their faces,
+'tis true even to nausea; but they seldom spare them in their absence.
+Of this very class, I believe, is your agent, Yellow Sam; so that any
+favorable expressions you may have heard from your tenantry towards him,
+were most probably the result of dissimulation and fear. Besides, sir,
+here is a testimonial from M'Evoy's parish priest, in which his father
+is spoken of as an honest, moral, and industrious man."
+
+"If what you say, Mr. O'Brien, be correct," observed the Colonel, "you
+know the Irish peasantry much better than I do. Decidedly, I have
+always thought them in conversation exceedingly candid and sincere. With
+respect to testimonials from priests to landlords in behalf of their
+tenants, upon my honor I am sick of them. I actually received, about
+four years ago, such an excellent character of two tenants, as induced
+me to suppose them worthy of encouragement. But what was the fact? Why,
+sir, they were two of the greatest firebrands on my estate, and put both
+me and my agent to great trouble and expense. No, sir, I wouldn't give
+a curse for a priest's testimonial upon such an occasion. These fellows
+were subsequently convicted of arson on the clearest evidence, and
+transported."
+
+"Well, sir, I grant that you may have been misled in that instance.
+However, from what I've observed, the two great faults of Irish
+landlords are these:--In the first place, they suffer themselves
+to remain ignorant of their tenantry; so much so, indeed, that they
+frequently deny them access and redress when the poor people are anxious
+to acquaint them with their grievances; for it is usual with landlords
+to refer them to those very agents against whose cruelty and rapacity
+they are appealing. This is a _carte blanche_ to the agent to trample
+upon them if he pleases. In the next place, Irish landlords too
+frequently employ ignorant and needy men to manage their estates; men
+who have no character, no property, or standing in society, beyond the
+reputation of being keen shrewd, and active. These persons, sir, make
+fortunes; and what means can they have of accumulating wealth, except by
+cheating either the landlord or his tenants, or both? A history of
+their conduct would be a black catalogue of dishonesty, oppression, and
+treachery. Respectable men, resident on or-near the estate, possessing
+both character and property, should always be selected for this
+important trust. But, above all things, the curse of a tenantry is
+a percentage agent. He racks, and drives, and oppresses, without
+consideration either of market or produce, in order that his receipts
+may be ample, and his own income large."
+
+"Why, O'Brien, you appear to be better acquainted with all this sort of
+thing than I, who am a landed proprietor."
+
+"By the by, sir, without meaning you any disrespect, it is the landlords
+of Ireland who know least about the great mass of its inhabitants; and
+I might also add, about its history, its literature, the manners of the
+people, their customs, and their prejudices. The peasantry know this,
+and too often practise upon their ignorance. There is a landlord's _Vade
+mecum_ sadly wanted in Ireland, Colonel."
+
+"Ah! very good, O'Brien, very good! Well, I shall certainly inquire into
+this case, and if I find that Yellow Ham has been playing the oppressor,
+out he goes. I am now able to manage him, which I could not readily do
+before, for, by the by, he had mortgages on my property."
+
+"I would take it, Colonel, as a personal favor, if you would investigate
+the transaction I have mentioned."
+
+"Undoubtedly I shall, and that very soon. But about this outrage
+committed against the boy himself? We had better take his informations,
+and punish the follow."
+
+"Certainly; I think that is the best way. His conduct to the poor youth
+has been merciless and detestable. We must put him out of this part of
+the country."
+
+"Call the lad in. In this case I shall draw up the informations myself,
+although Gregg usually does that."
+
+Jemmy, assisted by the curate, entered the room, and the humane Colonel
+desired him, as he appeared ill, to sit down.
+
+"What is your name?" asked the Colonel.
+
+"James M'Evoy," he replied. "I'm the son, sir, of a man who was once a
+tenant of yours."
+
+"Ay! and pray how did he cease to be a tenant of mine?"
+
+"Why, sir, your agent, Yallow Sam, put him out of our farm, when my
+poor mother was on her sick-bed. He chated my father, sir, out of some
+money--part of our rent it was, that he didn't give him a receipt for.
+When my father went to him afterwards for the receipt, Yallow Sam abused
+him, and called him a rogue, and that, sir, was what no man ever called
+my father either before or since. My father, sir, threatened to tell
+you about it, and you came to the country soon after; but Yallow Sam got
+very great wid my father at that time, and sent him to sell bullocks for
+him about fifty miles off, but when he come back again, you had left the
+country. Thin, sir, Yallow Sam said nothing till the next half-year's
+rent became due, whin he came down on my father for all--that is, what
+he hadn't got the receipt for, and the other gale--and, without any
+warning in the world, put him out. My father offered to pay all; but
+he said he was a rogue, and that you had ordered him off the estate. In
+less than a week after this he put a man that married a bastard daughter
+of his own into our house and place. That's God's truth, sir; and you'll
+find it so, if you inquire into it. It's a common trick of his to keep
+back receipts, and make the tenants pay double."*
+
+     * This is the fact. The individual here alluded to,
+     frequently kept back receipts when receiving rents,
+     under pretence of hurry, and afterwards compelled the
+     tenants to pay the same gale twice!
+
+"Sacred Heaven, O'Brien! can this be possible?"
+
+"Your best way, Colonel, is to inquire into it."
+
+"Was not your father able to educate you at home, my boy?"
+
+"No, sir. We soon got into poverty after we left your farm; and another
+thing, sir, there was no Latin school in our neighborhood."
+
+"For what purpose did you become a poor scholar?"
+
+"Why, sir, I hoped one day or other to be able to raise my father and
+mother out of the distress that Yallow Sam brought on us."
+
+"By Heaven! a noble aim, and a noble sentiment. And what has this d--d
+fellow of a schoolmaster done to you?"
+
+"Why, sir, yesterday, when I went back to the school, he abused me, and
+said that he supposed that most of my relations were hanged; spoke ill
+of my father; and said that my mother"--Here the tears started to his
+eyes--he sobbed aloud.
+
+"Go on, and be cool," said the Colonel. "What did he say of your
+mother?"
+
+"He said, sir, that she was never married to my father. I know I was
+wrong, sir; but if it was the king on his throne that said it of my
+mother, I'd call him a liar. I called him a liar, and a coward, and a
+villain: ay, sir, and if I had been able, I would have tramped him under
+my feet."
+
+The Colonel looked steadily at him, but the open clear eye which the boy
+turned upon him was full of truth and independence. "And you will find,"
+said the soldier, "that this spirited defence of your mother will be the
+most fortunate action of your life. Well; he struck you then, did he?"
+
+"He knocked me down, sir, with his fist--then kicked me in the back and
+sides. I think some of my ribs are broke."
+
+"Ay!--no doubt, no doubt," said the Colonel. "And you were only after
+recovering from this fever which is so prevalent?"
+
+"I wasn't a week out of it, sir."
+
+"Well, my boy, we shall punish him for you."
+
+"Sir, would you hear me for a word or two, if it would be pleasing to
+you?"
+
+"Speak on," said the Colonel.
+
+"I would rather change his punishment to--I would--that is--if it would
+be agreeable to you--It's this, sir--I wouldn't throuble you now against
+the master, if you'd be pleased to rightify my father, and punish Yallow
+Sam. Oh, sir, for God's sake, put my heart-broken father into his farm
+again! If you would, sir, I could shed my blood, or lay down my life
+for you, or for any belonging to you. I'm but a poor boy, sir, low and
+humble; but they say there's a greater Being than the greatest in this
+world, that listens to the just prayers of the poor and friendless. I
+was never happy, sir, since we left it--neither was any of us; and when
+we'd sit cowld and hungry, about our hearth, We used to be talking of
+the pleasant days we spent in it, till the tears would be smothered in
+curses against him that put us out of it. Oh, sir, if you could know
+all that a poor and honest family suffers, when they are thrown into
+distress by want of feeling in their landlords, or by the dishonesty of
+agents, you would consider my father's case. I'm his favorite son, sir,
+and good right have I to speak for him. If you could know the sorrow,
+the misery, the drooping down of the spirits, that lies upon the
+countenances and the hearts of such people, you wouldn't, as a man and a
+Christian, think it below you to spread happiness and contentment among
+them again. In the morning they rise to a day of hardship, no matter
+how bright and cheerful it may be to others--nor is there any hope of a
+brighter day for them: and at night they go to their hard beds to strive
+to sleep away their hunger in spite of cowld and want. If you could see
+how the father of a family, after striving to bear up, sinks down at
+last; if you could see the look he gives at the childhre that he would
+lay down his heart's blood for, when they sit naked and hungry about
+him; and the mother, too, wid her kind word and sorrowful smile, proud
+of them in all their destitution, but her heart breaking silent! All the
+time, her face wasting away. Her eye dim, and her strength gone--Sir,
+make one such family happy--for all this has been in my father's house!
+Give us back our light spirits, our pleasant days, and our cheerful
+hearts again! We lost them through the villainy of your agent. Give
+them back to us, for you can do it; but you can never pay us for what we
+suffered. Give us, sir, our farm, our green fields, our house, and every
+spot and nook that we had before. We love the place, sir, for its own
+sake;--it is the place of our fathers, and our hearts are in it. I often
+think I see the smooth river that runs through it, and the meadows
+that I played in when I was a child;--the glen behind our house, the
+mountains that rose before us when we left the door, the thorn-bush at
+the garden, the hazels in the glen, the little beach-green beside the
+river--Oh, sir, don't blame me for crying, for they are all before my
+eyes, in my ears, and in my heart! Many a summer evening have I gone to
+the march-ditch of the farm that my father's now in, and looked at the
+place I loved, till the tears blinded me, and I asked it as a favor of
+God to restore us to it! Sir, we are in great poverty at home; before
+God we are; and my father's heart is breaking."
+
+The Colonel drew his breath deeply, rubbed his hands, and as he looked
+at the fine countenance of the boy--expressing, as it did, enthusiasm
+and sorrow--his eye lightened with a gleam of indignation. It could
+not be against the poor scholar; no, gentle reader, but against his own
+agent.
+
+"O'Brien," said he, "what do you think, and this noble boy is the son
+of a man who belongs to a class of which I am ignorant! By Heaven, we
+landlords are, I fear, a guilty race."
+
+"Not all, sir," replied the Curate. "There are noble exceptions among
+them; their faults are more the faults of omission than commission."
+
+"Well, well, no matter. Come, I will draw up the informations against
+this man; afterwards I have something to say to you, my boy," he added,
+addressing Jemmy, "that will not, I trust, be unpleasant."
+
+He then drew up the informations as strongly as he could word them,
+after which Jemmy deposed to their truth and accuracy, and the Colonel,
+rubbing his hands again, said--
+
+"I will have the fellow secured. When you go into town, Mr. O'Brien,
+I'll thank you to call on Meares, and hand him these. He will lodge the
+miscreant in limbo this very night."
+
+Jemmy then thanked him, and was about to withdraw, when the Colonel
+desired him to remain a little longer.
+
+"Now," said he, "your father has been treated inhumanly, I believe; but
+no matter. That is not the question. Your sentiments, and conduct, and
+your affection for your parents, are noble, my boy. At present, I say,
+the question is not whether the history of your father's wrongs be true
+or false; you, at least, believe it to be true. From this forward--but
+by the by, I forgot; how could your becoming a poor scholar relieve your
+parents?"
+
+"I intended to become a priest, sir, and then to help them."
+
+"Ay! so I thought; and, provided your father were restored to the farm,
+would you be still disposed to become a priest?"
+
+"I would, sir; next to helping my father, that is what I wish to be."
+
+"O'Brien, what would it cost to prepare him respectably for the
+priesthood?--I mean to defray his expenses until he completes his
+preparatory education, in the first place, and afterwards during his
+residence in Maynooth?"
+
+"I think two hundred pounds, sir, would do it easily and respectably."
+
+"I do not think it would. However, do you send him--but first let me ask
+what progress he has already made?"
+
+"He has read--in fact he is nearly prepared to enter Maynooth. His
+progress has been very rapid."
+
+"Put him to some respectable boarding-school for a year; then let him
+enter Maynooth, and I will bear the expense. But remember I do not adopt
+this course in consequence of his father's history. Not I, by Jupiter; I
+do it on his own account. He is a noble boy, and full of fine qualities,
+if they be not nipped by neglect and poverty. I loved my father myself,
+and fought a duel on his account; and I honor the son who has spirit to
+defend his absent parent."
+
+"This is a most surprising turn in the boy's fortunes, Colonel."
+
+"He deserves it. A soldier, Mr. O'Brien, is not without his enthusiasm,
+nor can he help admiring it in others, when nobly and virtuously
+directed. To see a boy in the midst of poverty, encountering the
+hardships and difficulties of life, with the hope of raising up his
+parents from distress to independence, has a touch of sublimity in it."
+
+"Ireland, Colonel, abounds with instances of similar virtue, brought
+out, probably, into fuller life and vigor by the sad changes and
+depressions which are weighing down the people. In her glens, on her
+bleak mountain sides, and in her remotest plains, such examples of pure
+affection, uncommon energy, and humble heroism, are to be seen; but,
+unfortunately, few persons of rank or observation mingle with the Irish
+people, and their many admirable qualities pass away without being
+recorded in the literature of their country. They are certainly a
+strange people, Colonel, almost an anomaly in the history of the human
+race. They are the only people who can rush out from the very virtues
+of private life to the perpetration of crimes at which we shudder. There
+is, to be sure, an outcry about their oppression; but that is wrong.
+Their indigence and ignorance are rather the result of neglect;--of
+neglect, sir, from the government of the country--from the earl to
+the squireen. They have been taught little that is suitable to their
+stations and duties in life, either as tenants who cultivate our lands,
+or as members of moral or Christian society."
+
+"Well, well: I believe what you say is too true. But touching the
+records of virtue in human life, pray who would record it when nothing
+goes down now-a-days but what is either monstrous or fashionable?"
+
+"Very true, Colonel; yet in my humble opinion, a virtuous Irish peasant
+is far from being so low a character as a profligate man of rank."
+
+"Well, well, well! Come, O'Brien, we will drop the subject. In the
+meantime, touching this boy, as I said, he must be looked to, for he has
+that in him which ought not to be neglected. We shall now see that this
+d--d pedagogue be punished for his cruelty." The worthy Colonel in a
+short time dismissed poor Jemmy with an exulting heart; but not until
+he had placed a sufficient sum in the Curate's hands for enabling him to
+make a respectable appearance. Medical advice was also procured for him,
+by which he sooner overcame the effects of his master's brutality.
+
+On their way home Jemmy related to his friend the conversation which he
+had had with his Bishop in the shed, and the kind interest which that
+gentleman had taken in his situation and prospects. Mr. O'Brien told him
+that the Bishop was an excellent man, possessing much discrimination
+and benevolence; "and so," said he, "is the Protestant clergyman who
+accompanied him. They have both gone among the people during this heavy
+visitation of disease and famine, administering advice and assistance;
+restraining them from those excesses which they sometimes commit, when,
+driven by hunger, they attack provision-carts, bakers' shops, or the
+houses of farmers who are known to possess a stock of meal or potatoes.
+God knows, it is an excusable kind of robbery; yet it is right to
+restrain them."
+
+"It is a pleasant thing, sir, to see clergymen of every religion working
+together to make the people happy."
+
+"It is certainly so," replied the curate; "and I am bound to say, in
+justice to the Protestant clergy, that there is no class of men in
+Ireland, James, who do so much good without distinction of creed or
+party. They are generally kind and charitable to the poor; so are their
+wives and daughters. I have often known them to cheer the sick-bed--to
+assist the widow and the orphan--to advise and admonish the profligate,
+and, in some instances, even to reclaim them. But now about your own
+prospects; I think you should go and see your family as soon as your
+health permits you."
+
+"I would give my right hand," replied Jemmy, "just to see them, if it
+was only for five minutes: but I cannot go. I vowed that I would never
+enter my native parish until I should become a Catholic clergyman. I
+vowed that, sir, to God--and with his assistance I will keep my vow."
+
+"Well," said the curate, "you are right. And now lot me give you a
+little advice. In the first place, learn to speak as correctly as you
+can; lay aside the vulgarisms of conversation peculiar to the common
+people; and speak precisely as you would write. By the by, you acquitted
+yourself to admiration with the Colonel. A little stumbling there was in
+the beginning; but you got over it. You see, James, the force of truth
+and simplicity. I could scarcely restrain my tears while you spoke."
+
+"If I had not been in earnest, sir, I could never have spoken as I did."
+
+"You never could. Truth, James, is the foundation of all eloquence; he
+who knowingly speaks what is not true, may dazzle and perplex; but he
+will never touch with that power and pathos which spring from truth.
+Fiction is successful only by borrowing her habiliments. Now, James, for
+a little more advice. Don't let the idea of having been a poor scholar
+deprive you of self-respect; neither let your unexpected turn of fortune
+cause you to forget what you have suffered. Hold a middle course; be
+firm and independent; without servility on the one hand, or vanity on
+the other. You have also too much good sense, and, I hope, too much
+religion, to ascribe what this day has brought forth in your behalf, to
+any other cause than God. It has pleased him to raise you from misery to
+ease and comfort; to him, therefore, be it referred, and to him be your
+thanks and prayers directed. You owe him much, for you now can perceive
+the value of what he has done for you! May his name be blessed!"
+
+Jemmy was deeply affected by the kindness of his friend, for such, in
+friendship's truest sense, was he to him. He expressed, the obligations
+which he owed him, and promised to follow the excellent advice he had
+just received.
+
+The schoolmaster's conduct to the poor scholar had, before the close
+of the day on which it occurred, been known through the parish. Thady
+O'Rorke, who had but just recovered from the epidemic, felt so bitterly
+exasperated at the outrage, that he brought his father to the parish
+priest, to whom he give a detailed account of all that our hero and the
+poorer children of the school had suffered. In addition to this, he
+went among the more substantial farmers of the neighborhood, whose
+cooperation he succeeded in obtaining, for the laudable purpose of
+driving the tyrant out of the parish.
+
+Jemmy, who still lived at the "House of Entertainment," on hearing what
+they intended to do, begged Mr. O'Brien, to allow him, provided the
+master should be removed from the school, to decline prosecuting him.
+"He has been cruel to me, no doubt," he added; "still I cannot forget
+that his cruelty has been the means of changing my condition in life
+so much for the better. If he is put out of the parish it will be
+punishment enough; and, to say the truth, sir, I can now forgive
+everybody. Maybe, had I been still neglected I might punish him; but,
+in the meantime, to show him and the world that I didn't deserve his
+severity, I forgive him."
+
+Mr. O'Brien was not disposed to check a sentiment that did the boy's
+heart so much honor; he waited on the Colonel the next morning,
+acquainted him with Jemmy's wishes, and the indictment was quashed
+immediately after the schoolmaster's removal from his situation.
+
+Our hero's personal appearance was by this time incredibly changed for
+the better. His countenance, naturally expressive of feeling, firmness,
+and intellect, now appeared to additional advantage; so did his whole
+person, when dressed in a decent suit of black. No man acquainted with
+life can be ignorant of the improvement which genteel apparel produce in
+the carriage, tone of thought, and principles of an individual. It
+gives a man confidence, self-respect, and a sense of equality with
+his companions; it inspires him with energy, independence, delicacy
+of sentiment, courtesy of manner, and elevation of language. The face
+becomes manly, bold, and free; the brow open, and the eye clear; there
+is no slinking through narrow lanes and back streets: but, on the
+contrary, the smoothly dressed man steps out with a determination not
+to spare the earth, or to walk as if he trod on eggs or razors. No; he
+brushes onward; is the first to accost his friends; gives a careless
+bow to this, a bluff nod to that, and a patronizing "how dy'e do" to a
+third, who is worse dressed than himself. Trust me, kind reader, that
+good clothes are calculated to advance a man in life nearly as well
+as good principles, especially in a world like this, where external
+appearance is taken as the exponent of what is beneath it.
+
+Jemmy, by the advice of his friend, now waited upon the Bishop, who was
+much surprised at the uncommon turn of fortune which had taken place in
+his favor. He also expressed his willingness to help him forward, as far
+as lay in his power, towards the attainment of his wishes. In order to
+place the boy directly under suitable patronage, Mr. O'Brien suggested
+that the choice of the school should be left to the Bishop. This,
+perhaps, mattered him a little, for who is without his weaknesses? A
+school near the metropolis was accordingly fixed upon, to which Jemmy,
+now furnished with a handsome outfit, was accordingly sent. There we
+will leave him, reading with eagerness and assiduity, whilst we return
+to look after Colonel B. and his agent.
+
+One morning after James's departure, the Colonel's servant waited upon
+Mr. O'Brien with a note from his master, intimating a wish to see him.
+He lost no time in waiting upon that gentleman, who was then preparing
+to visit the estate which he had so long neglected.
+
+"I am going," said he, "to see how my agent, Yellow Sam, as they call
+him, and my tenants agree. It is my determination, Mr. O'Brien, to
+investigate the circumstances attending the removal of our protege's
+father. I shall, moreover, look closely into the state and feelings of
+my tenants in general. It is probable I shall visit many of them, and
+certain that I will inquire into the character of this man."
+
+"It is better late than never, Colonel; but still, though I am a friend
+to the people, yet I would recommend you to be guided by great caution,
+and the evidence of respectable and disinterested men only. You must
+not certainly entertain all the complaints you may hear, without clear
+proof, for I regret to say, that too many of the idle and political
+portion of the peasantry are apt to throw the blame of their own folly
+and ignorance--yes, and of their crimes, also--upon those who in no
+way have occasioned either their poverty or their wickedness. They are
+frequently apt to consider themselves oppressed, if concessions are not
+made, to which they, as idle and indolent men, who neglected their own
+business, have no fair claim. Bear this in mind, Colonel--be cool,
+use discrimination, take your proofs from others besides the parties
+concerned, or their friends, and, depend upon it, you will arrive at the
+truth.".
+
+"O'Brien, you would make an excellent agent."
+
+"I have studied the people, sir, and know them. I have breathed
+the atmosphere of their prejudices, habits, manners, customs, and
+superstitions. I have felt them all myself, as they feel them; but I
+trust I have got above their influence where it is evil, for there are
+many fine touches of character among them, which I should not willingly
+part with. No, sir, I should make a bad agent, having no capacity for
+transacting business. I could direct and overlook, but nothing more."
+
+"Well, then, I shall set out to-morrow; and in the meantime, permit me
+to say that I am deeply sensible of your kindness in pointing out my
+duty as an Irish landlord, conscious that I have too long neglected it."
+
+"Kindness, Colonel, is the way to the Irish heart. There is but one man
+in Ireland who can make an Irishman ungrateful, and that is his priest.
+I regret that in times of political excitement, and especially during
+electioneering struggles, the interference of the clergy produces
+disastrous effects upon the moral feelings of the people. When a tenant
+meets the landlord whom he has deserted in the critical momont of the
+contest the landlord to whom he has solemnly promised his support, and
+who, perhaps, as a member of the legislature, has advocated his claims
+and his rights, and who, probably, has been kind and indulgent to him--I
+say, when he meets him afterwards, his shufflings, excuses, and evasions
+are grievous. He is driven to falsehood and dissimulation in explaining
+his conduct; he expresses his repentance, curses himself for his
+ingratitude, promises well for the future, but seldom or never can
+be prevailed upon to state candidly that he acted in obedience to
+the priest. In some instances, however, he admits this, and inveighs
+bitterly against his interference--but this is only whilst in the
+presence of his landlord. I think, Colonel, that no clergyman, set apart
+as he is for the concerns of a better world, should become a firebrand
+in the secular pursuits and turmoils of this."
+
+"I wish, Mr. O'Brien, that every clergyman of your church resembled you,
+and acted up to your sentiments: our common country would be the better
+for it."
+
+"I endeavor to act, sir, as a man who has purely spiritual duties to
+perform. It is not for us to be agitated and inflamed by the political
+passions and animosities of the world. Our lot is differently cast, and
+we ought to abide by it. The priest and politician can no more agree
+than good and evil. I speak with respect to all churches."
+
+"And so do I."
+
+"What stay do you intend to make, Colonel?"
+
+"I think about a month. I shall visit some of my old friends there, from
+whom I expect a history of the state and feelings of the country."
+
+"You will hear both sides of the question before you act?"
+
+"Certainly. I have written to my agent to say that I shall look very
+closely into my own affairs on this occasion. I thought it fair to give
+him notice."
+
+"Well, sir, I wish you all success."
+
+"Farewell, Mr. O'Brien; I shall see you immediately after my return."
+
+The Colonel performed his journey by slow stages, until he reached "the
+hall of his fathers,"--for it was such, although he had not for years
+resided in it. It presented the wreck of a fine old mansion, situated
+within a crescent of stately beeches, whose moss-covered and ragged
+trunks gave symptoms of decay and neglect. The lawn had been once
+beautiful, and the demesne a noble one; but that which blights the
+industry of the tenant--the curse of absenteeism--had also left the
+marks of ruin stamped upon every object around him. The lawn was
+little better than a common; the pond was thick with weeds and sluggish
+water-plants, that almost covered its surface; and a light, elegant
+bridge, that spanned a river which ran before the house, was also
+moss-grown and dilapidated. The hedges were mixed up with briers, the
+gates broken, or altogether removed, the fields were rank with the
+ruinous luxuriance of weeds, and the grass-grown avenues spoke of
+solitude and desertion. The still appearance, too, of the house itself,
+and the absence of smoke from its time-tinged chimneys--all told a
+tale which constitutes one, perhaps the greatest, portion of Ireland's
+misery! Even then he did not approach it with the intention of residing
+there during his sojourn in the country. It was not habitable, nor had
+it been so for years. The road by which he travelled lay near it, and
+he could not pass without looking upon the place where a long line
+of gallant ancestors had succeeded each other, lived their span, and
+disappeared in their turn.
+
+He contemplated it for some time in a kind of reverie. There, it stood,
+sombre and silent;--its gray walls mouldering away--its windows dark and
+broken;--like a man forsaken by the world, compelled to bear the storms
+of life without the hand of a friend to support him, though age and
+decay render him less capable of enduring them. For a momont fancy
+repeopled it;--again the stir of life, pastime, mirth, and hospitality
+echoed within its walls; the train of his long departed relatives
+returned; the din of rude and boisterous enjoyment peculiar to the
+times; the cheerful tumult of the hall at dinner; the family feuds and
+festivities; the vanities and the passions of those who now slept in
+dust;--all--all came before him once more, and played their part in the
+vision of the moment!
+
+As he walked on, the flitting wing of a bat struck him lightly in
+its flight; he awoke from the remembrances which crowded on him, and,
+resuming his journey, soon arrived at the inn of the nearest town, where
+he stopped that night. The next morning he saw his agent for a short
+time, but declined entering upon business. For a few days more he
+visited most of the neighboring gentry, from whom he received sufficient
+information to satisfy him that neither he himself nor his agent
+was popular among his tenantry. Many flying reports of the agent's
+dishonesty and tyranny were mentioned to him, and in every instance he
+took down the names of the parties, in order to ascertain the truth.
+M'Evoy's case had occurred more than ten years before, but he found
+that the remembrance of the poor man's injury was strongly and bitterly
+retained in the recollections of the people--a circumstance which
+extorted from the blunt, but somewhat sentimental soldier, a just
+observation:--"I think," said he, "that there are no people in the world
+who remember either an injury or a kindness so long as the Irish."
+
+When the tenants were apprised of his presence among them, they
+experienced no particular feeling upon the subject. During all his
+former visits to his estate, he appeared merely the creature and puppet
+of his agent, who never acted the bully, nor tricked himself out in his
+brief authority more imperiously than he did before him. The knowledge
+of this damped them, and rendered any expectations of redress or justice
+from the landlord a matter not to be thought of.
+
+"If he wasn't so great a man," they observed, "who thinks it below him
+to speak to his tenants, or hear their complaints, there 'ud be some
+hope. But that rip of hell, Yallow Sam, can wind him round his finger
+like a thread, an' does, too. There's no use in thinkin' to petition
+him, or to lodge a complaint against Stony Heart, for the first thing
+he'd do 'ud be to put it into the yallow-boy's hands, an' thin, God be
+marciful to thim that 'ud complain. No, no; the best way is to wait till
+Sam's _masther_* takes him; an' who knows but that 'ud be sooner nor we
+think."
+
+     * The devil;--a familiar name for him when mentioned in
+     connection with a villain.
+
+"They say," another would reply, "that the Colonel is a good gintleman
+for all that, an' that if he could once know the truth, he'd pitch the
+'yallow boy' to the 'ould boy.'"
+
+No sooner was it known by his tenantry that the head landlord was
+disposed to redress their grievances, and hear their complaints, than
+the smothered attachment, which long neglect had nearly extinguished,
+now burst forth with uncommon power.
+
+"Augh! by this an' by that the throe blood's in him still. The rale
+gintleman to dale wid, for ever! We knew he only wanted to come at the
+thruth, an' thin he'd back us agin the villain that harrished us! To the
+divil wid skamin' upstarts, that hasn't the ould blood 'in thim! What
+are they but sconces an' chates, every one o' thim, barrin' an odd one,
+for a wondher!"
+
+The Colonel's estate now presented a scene of gladness and bustle. Every
+person who felt in the slightest degree aggrieved, got his petition
+drawn up; and, but that we fear our sketch is already too long, we
+could gratify the reader's curiosity by submitting a few of them. It
+is sufficient to say, that they came to him in every shape--in all the
+variety of diction that the poor English language admits of--in the
+schoolmaster's best copy-hand, and choicest sesquipedalianism of
+pedantry--in the severer, but more Scriptural terms of the parish
+clerk--in the engrossing hand and legal phrase of the attorney--in the
+military form, evidently redolent of the shrewd old pensioner--and
+in the classical style of the young priest:--for each and all of the
+foregoing were enlisted in the cause of those who had petitions to send
+in "to the Colonel himself, God bless him!"
+
+Early in the morning of the day on which the Colonel had resolved to
+compare the complaints of his tenantry with the character which his
+agent gave him of the complainants, he sent for the former, and the
+following dialogue took place between them.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Carson! Excuse me for requesting your presence to-day
+earlier than usual. I have taken it into my head to know something of my
+own tenantry, and as they have pestered me with petitions, and letters,
+and complaints, I am anxious to have your opinion, as you know them
+better than I do."
+
+"Before we enter on business, Colonel, allow me to inquire if you
+feel relieved of that bilious attack you complained of the day before
+yesterday? I'm of a bilious habit myself, and know something about the
+management of digestion!"
+
+"A good digestion is an excellent thing, Carson; as for me, I drank too
+much claret with my friend B----y; and there's the secret. I don't like
+cold wines, they never agree with me."
+
+"Nor do I; they are not constitutional. Your father was celebrated
+for his wines, Colonel: I remember an anecdote told me by Captain
+Ferguson--by the by, do you know where Ferguson could be found, now,
+sir?"
+
+"Not I. What wines do you drink, Carson?"
+
+"A couple of glasses of sherry, sir, at dinner; and about ten o'clock, a
+glass of brandy and water."
+
+"Carson, you are sober and prudent. Well about these cursed petitions;
+you must help me to dispose of them. Why, a man would think by the tenor
+of them, that these tenants of mine are ground to dust by a tyrant."
+
+"Ah! Colonel, you know little about these fellows. They would make black
+white. Go and take a ride, sir, return about four o'clock, and I will
+have everything as it ought to be."
+
+"I wish to heaven, Carson, I had your talents for business. Do you think
+my tenants attached to me?"
+
+"Attached! sir, they are ready to cut your throat or mine, on the first
+convenient opportunity. You could not conceive their knavishness and
+dishonesty, except you happened to be an agent for a few years.
+
+"So I have been told, and I am resolved to remove every dishonest tenant
+from my estate. Is there not a man, for instance, called Brady? He has
+sent me a long-winded petition here. What do you think of him?"
+
+"Show me the petition, Colonel."
+
+"I cannot lay my hand on it just now; but you shall see it. In the mean
+time, what's your opinion of the fellow?"
+
+"Brady! Why, I know the man particularly well. He is one of my
+favorites. What the deuce could the fellow petition about, though? I
+promised the other day to renew his lease for him."
+
+"Oh, then, if he be a favorite of yours, his petition may go to the
+devil, I suppose? Is the man honest?"
+
+"Remarkably so; and has paid his rents very punctually. He is one of our
+safest tenants."
+
+"Do you know a man called Cullen?"
+
+"The most litigious scoundrel on the estate."
+
+"Indeed? Oh, then, we must look into the merits of his petition, as
+he is not honest. Had he been honest like Brady, Carson, I should have
+dismissed it."
+
+"Cullen, sir, is a dangerous fellow. Do you know, that rascal has
+charged me with keeping back his receipts, and with making I him pay
+double rent!--ha, ha, ha! Upon my honor, its fact."
+
+"The scoundrel! We shall sift him to some purpose, however."
+
+"If you take my advice, sir, you will send him about his business; for
+if it be once known that you listen to malicious petitions, my authority
+over such villains as Cullen is lost."
+
+"Well, I set him aside for the present. Here's a long list of others,
+all of whom have been oppressed, forsooth. Is there a man called M'Evoy
+on my estate?--Dominick M'Evoy, I think."
+
+"M'Evoy! Why that rascal, sir, has not been your tenant for ten years?
+His petition, Colonel, is a key to the nature of their grievances in
+general."
+
+"I believe you, Carson--most implicitly do I believe that. Well, about
+that rascal?"
+
+"Why, it is so long since, that upon my honor, I cannot exactly remember
+the circumstances of his misconduct. He ran away."
+
+"Who is in his farm now, Carson?"
+
+"A very decent man, sir. One Jackson, an exceedingly worthy, honest,
+industrious fellow. I take some credit to myself for bringing Jackson on
+your estate."
+
+"Is Jackson married? Has he a family?"
+
+"Married! Let me see! Why--yes--I believe he is. Oh, by the by, now
+I think of it, he is married, and to a very respectable woman, too.
+Certainly, I remember--she usually accompanies him when he pays his
+rents."
+
+"Then your system must be a good one, Carson; you weed out the idle and
+profligate, to replace them by the honest and industrious."
+
+"Precisely so, sir; that is my system."
+
+"Yet there are agents who invert your system in some cases; who drive
+out the honest and industrious, and encourage the idle and profligate;
+who connive at them, Carson, and fill the estates they manage with their
+own dependents, or relatives, as the case may be. You have been alway's
+opposed to this, and I'm glad to hear it."
+
+"No man, Colonel B------, filling the situation which I have the honor
+to hold under you, could study your interests with greater zeal and
+assiduity. God knows, I have had so many quarrels, and feuds, and
+wranglings, with these fellows, in order to squeeze money out of them to
+meet your difficulties, that, upon my honor, I think if it required
+five dozen oaths to hang me, they could be procured upon your estate. An
+agent, Colonel, who is faithful to the landlord, is seldom popular with
+the tenants."
+
+"I can't exactly see that, Carson; and I have known an unpopular
+landlord rendered highly popular by the judicious management of an
+enlightened and honest agent, who took no bribes, Carson, and who
+neither extorted from nor ground the tenantry under him--something like
+a counterpart of yourself. But you may be right in general."
+
+"Is there anything particular, Colonel, in which I can assist you now?"
+
+"Not now. I was anxious to hear the character of those fellows from
+you who know them. Come down about eleven or twelve o'clock; these
+petitioners will be assembled, and you may be able to assist me."
+
+"Colonel, remember I forewarn you, that you are plunging into a mesh
+of difficulties, which you will never be able to disentangle. Leave
+the fellows to me, sir; I know how to deal with them. Besides, upon my
+honor, you are not equal to it, in point of health. You look ill. Pray
+allow me to take home their papers, and I shall have all clear and
+satisfactory before two o'clock. They know my method, sir."
+
+"They do, Carson, they do; but I am anxious they should also know mine.
+Besides, it will amuse me, for I want excitement. Good day, for the
+present; you will be down about twelve, or one at the furthest."
+
+"Certainly, sir. Good morning, Colonel."
+
+The agent was too shrewd a man not to perceive that there were touches
+of cutting irony in some of the Colonel's expressiqns, which he did
+not like. There was a dryness, too, in the tone of his voice and words,
+blended with a copiousness of good humor, which, taken altogether,
+caused him to feel uncomfortable. He could have wished the Colonel at
+the devil: yet had the said Colonel never been more familiar in his
+life, nor, with one or two exceptions, readier to agree with almost
+every observation made to him.
+
+"Well," thought he, "he may act as he pleases; I have feathered my nest,
+at all events, and disregard him."
+
+Colonel B-----, in fact, ascertained with extreme regret, that something
+was necessary to be done, to secure the good-will of his tenants; that
+the conduct of his agent had been marked by rapacity and bribery almost
+incredible. He had exacted from the tenantry in general the performance
+of duty-labor to such an extent, that his immense agricultural farms
+were managed with little expense to himself. If a poor man's corn were
+drop ripe, or his hay in a precarious state, or his turf undrawn, he
+must suffer his oats, hay, and turf, to be lost, in order to secure the
+crops of the agent. If he had spirit to refuse, he must expect to become
+a martyr to his resentment. In renewing leases his extortions were
+exorbitant; ten, thirty, forty, and fifty guineas he claimed as a fee
+for his favor, according to the ability of the party; yet this was quite
+distinct from the renewal tine, and went into his own pocket. When such
+"glove money" was not to be had, he would accept of a cow or horse, to
+which he usually made a point to take a fancy; or he wanted to purchase
+a firkin of butter at that particular time; and the poor people usually
+made every sacrifice to avoid his vengeance. It is due to Colonel
+B------ to say, that he acted in the investigation of his agent's
+conduct with the strictest honor and impartiality. He scrutinized every
+statement thoroughly, pleaded for him as temperately as he could; found,
+or pretended to find, extenuating motives for his most indefensible
+proceedings; but all would not do. The cases were so clear and evident
+against him, even in the opinion of the neighboring gentry, who had been
+for years looking upon the system of selfish misrule which he practised,
+that at length the generous Colonel's blood boiled with indignation
+in his veins at the contemplation of his villany. He accused himself
+bitterly for neglecting his duties as a landlord, and felt both
+remorse and shame for having wasted his time, health, and money, in
+the fashionable dissipation of London and Paris; whilst a cunning,
+unprincipled upstart played the vampire with his tenants, and turned his
+estate into a scene of oppression and poverty. Nor was this all; he
+had been endeavoring to bring the property more and more into his own
+clutches, a point which he would ultimately have gained, had not the
+Colonel's late succession to so large a fortune enabled him to meet his
+claims.
+
+At one o'clock the tenants were all assembled about the inn door, where
+the Colonel had resolved to hold his little court. The agent himself
+soon arrived, as did several other gentlemen, the Colonel's friends, who
+knew the people and could speak to their character.
+
+The first man called was Dominick M'Evoy. No sooner was his name
+uttered, than a mild, poor-looking man, rather advanced in years, came
+forward.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Colonel," said Carson, "here is some mistake; this
+man is not one of your tenants. You may remember I told you so this
+morning."
+
+"I remember it," replied the Colonel; "this is 'the rascal' you spoke
+of--is he not? M'Evoy," the Colonel proceeded, "you will reply to
+my questions with strict truth. You will state nothing but what has
+occurred between you and my agent; you must not even turn a circumstance
+in your own favor, nor against Mr. Carson, by either adding to, or
+taking away from it, more or less than the truth. I say this to you, and
+to all present; for, upon my honor, I shall dismiss the first case in
+which I discover a falsehood."
+
+"Wid the help o' the Almighty, sir, I'll state nothing but the bare
+thruth."
+
+"How long are you off my estate?"
+
+"Ten years, your honor, or a little more."
+
+"How came you to run away out of your farm?"
+
+"Run away, your honor! Grod he knows, I didn't run away, sir. The whole
+counthry knows that."
+
+"Yes, ran away! Mr. Carson, here, stated to me this morning, that
+you ran away. He is a gentleman of integrity, and would not state a
+falsehood."
+
+"I beg your pardon, Colonel, not positively. I told you I did not
+exactly remember the circumstances; I said I thought so; but I may be
+wrong, for, indeed, my memory of facts is not good. M'Evoy, however,
+is a very honest man, and I have no doubt will state everything as it
+happened, fairly and without malice."
+
+"An honest 'rascal,' I suppose you mean, Mr. Carson," said the Colonel,
+bitterly. "Proceed, M'Evoy."
+
+M'Evoy stated the circumstances precisely as the reader is already
+acquainted with them, after which the Colonel turned round to his agent
+and inquired what he had to say in reply.
+
+"You cannot expect, Colonel B------," he replied, "that with such a
+multiplicity of business on my hands, I could remember, after a lapse of
+ten years, the precise state of this particular case. Perhaps I may have
+some papers, a memorandum or so, at home, that may throw light upon it.
+At present I can only say, that the man failed in his rents, I ejected
+him, and put a better tenant in his place. I cannot see a crime in
+that."
+
+"Plase your honor," replied M'Evoy, "I can prove by them that's standin'
+to the fore this minute, as well as by this written affidavit, sir,
+that I offered him the full rint, havin', at the same time, as God is my
+judge, ped part of it afore."
+
+"That is certainly false--an untrue and malicious statement," said
+Carson. "I now remember that the cause of my resentment--yes, of my just
+resentment against you, was your reporting that I received your rent and
+withheld your receipt."
+
+"Then," observed the Colonel, "There has been more than one charge
+of that nature brought against you? You mentioned another to me this
+morning if I mistake not."
+
+"I have made my oath, your honor, of the thruth of it; an' here is a
+dacent man, sir, a Protestant, that lent me the money, an' was present
+when I offered it to him. Mr. Smith, come forrid, sir, an' spake up for
+the poor man, as you're always willin' to do."
+
+"I object to his evidence," said Carson: "he is my open enemy."
+
+"I am your enemy, Mr. Carson, or rather the enemy of your corruption and
+want of honesty," said Smith: "but, as you say, an open one. I scorn to
+say behind your back what I wouldn't say to your face. Right well you
+know I was present when he tendered you his rent. I lent him part of it.
+But why did you and your bailiffs turn him out, when his wife was on her
+sick bed? Allowing that he could not pay his rent, was that any reason
+you should do so barbarous an act as to drag a woman from her sick bed,
+and she at the point of death? But we know your reasons for it."
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Colonel, "pray what character do M'Evoy and Smith
+here bear in the country?"
+
+"We have known them both for years to be honest, conscientious men,"
+said those whom he addressed: "such is their character, and in our
+opinion they well deserve it."
+
+"God bless you, gintlemen!" said M'Evoy--"God bless your honors, for
+your kind Words! I'm sure for my own part, I hope though but a poor man
+now, God help me!"
+
+"Pray, who occupies the farm at present, Mr. Carson?"
+
+"The man I mentioned to you this morning, sir. His name is Jackson."
+
+"And pray, Mr. Carson, who is his wife?"
+
+"Oh, by the by, Colonel, that's a little too close! I see the gentlemen
+smile; but they know I must beg to decline answering that question---not
+that it matters much. We have all sown our wild oats in our time--myself
+as well as another--ha, ha, ha!"
+
+"The fact, under other circumstances," observed the Colonel, "could
+never draw an inquiry from me; but as it is connected with, or probably
+has occasioned, a gross, unfeeling, and an unjust act of oppression
+towards an honest man, I therefore alluded to it, as exhibiting the
+motives from which you acted. She is your illegitimate daughter, sir!"
+
+"She's one o' the baker's dozen o' them, plase your honor," observed a
+humorous little Presbyterian, with a sarcastic face, and sharp northern
+accent--"for feth, sir, for my part, A thenk he lies one on every hill
+head. All count, your honor, on my fingers a roun' half-dozen, all on
+your estate, sir, featherin' their nests as fast as they can."
+
+"Is this Jackson a good tenant, Mr. Carson?"
+
+"I gave you his character this morning, Colonel B."
+
+"Hout, Colonel!" said the Presbyterian, "deil a penny rent the man pays,
+at all, at all. A'll swear a hev it from Jackson's own lips. He made him
+a Bailey, sir; he suts rent free. Ask the man, sir, for his receipts,
+an' a'll warrant the truth will come out."
+
+"I have secured Jackson's attendance," said the Colonel; "let him be
+called in."
+
+The man in a few minutes entered.
+
+"Jackson," said the Colonel, "how long is it since you paid Mr. Carson
+here any rent?"
+
+Jackson looked at Carson for his cue; but the Colonel rose up
+indignantly: "Fellow!" he proceeded, "if you tamper with me a single
+moment, you shall find Mr. Carson badly able to protect you. If you
+speak falsehood, be it at your peril."
+
+"By Jing, sir," said Jackson, "All say nothin' aginst my father-in-laa,
+an' A don't care who teks it well or ull. A was just tekin' a _gun_ (* a
+half-tumbler of punch) with a fren' or two--an d---me, A say, A'll stick
+to my father-m-laa, for he hes stuck to me."
+
+"You appear to be a hardened, drunken wretch," observed the Colonel.
+"Will you be civil enough to show your last receipt for rent?"
+
+"Wull A show it? A dono whether A wull or not, nor A dono whether A hey
+it or not; but ef aall the receipts in Europe wur burnt, d---- my blood,
+but A'll stick to my father-in-laa."
+
+"Your father-in-law may be proud of you," said the Colonel.
+
+"By h----, A'll back you en that," said the fellow nodding his head, and
+looking round him confidently. "By h-----, A say that, too!"
+
+"And I am sorry to be compelled to add," continued the Colonel, "that
+you may be equally proud of your father-in-law."
+
+"A say, right agane! D---- me, bit A'll back that too!"and he nodded
+confidently, and looked around the room once more. "A wull, d---- my
+blood, bit no man can say agane it. A'm married to his daughter; an', by
+the sun that shines A'll still stan' up for my father-in-laa."
+
+"Mr. Carson," said the Colonel, "can you disprove these facts? Can you
+show that you did not expel M'Evoy from his farm, and put the husband of
+your illegitimate daughter into it? That you did not receive his rent,
+decline giving him a receipt, and afterwards compel him to pay twice,
+because he could not produce the receipt which you withheld?"
+
+"Gentlemen," said Carson, not directly replying to the Colonel, "there
+is a base conspiracy got up against me; and I can perceive, moreover,
+that there is evidently some unaccountable intention on the part of
+Colonel B. to insult my feelings and injure my character. When paltry
+circumstances that have occurred above ten years ago, are raked up in my
+teeth, I have little to say, but that it proves how very badly off
+the Colonel must have been for an imputation against my conduct and
+discretion as his agent, since he finds himself compelled to hunt so far
+back for a charge."
+
+"That is by no means the heaviest charge I have to bring against you,"
+replied the Colonel. "There is no lack of them; nor shall you be able to
+complain that they are not recent, as well as of longer standing. Your
+conduct in the case of poor honest M'Evoy here is black and iniquitous.
+He must be restored to his farm, but by other hands than yours, and that
+ruffian instantly expelled from it. From this moment, sir, you cease to
+be my agent. You have betrayed the confidence I reposed in you; you have
+misled me as to the character of my tenants; you have been a deceitful,
+cunning,  cringing, selfish and rapacious tyrant. My people you have
+ground to dust; my property you have lessened in value nearly one-half,
+and for your motives in doing this, I refer you to certain transactions
+and legal documents which passed between us. There is nothing cruel or
+mercenary which you did not practice, in order to enrich yourself. The
+whole tenor of your conduct is before me. Your profligacy is not only
+discovered, but already proved; and you played those villainous pranks,
+I suppose, because I have been mostly an absentee. Do not think,
+however, that you shall enjoy the fruits of your extortion? I will place
+the circumstances, and the proofs of the respective charges against you,
+in the hands of my solicitor, and, by the sacred heaven above me! you
+shall disgorge the fruits of your rapacity. My good people, I shall
+remain among you for another fortnight, during which time I intend to go
+through my estate, and set everything to rights as well as I can, until
+I may appoint a humane and feeling gentleman as my agent--such a one as
+will have, at least, a character to lose. I also take this opportunity
+of informing you, that in future I shall visit you often, will redress
+your grievances, should you have any to complain of, and will give such
+assistance to the honest and industrious among you--but to them
+only--as I trust may make us better pleased with each other than we have
+been.--Do not you go, M'Evoy, until I speak to you."
+
+During these observations Carson sat with a smile, or rather a sneer
+upon his lips. It was the sneer of a purse-proud villain confident that
+his wealth, no matter how ill-gotten, was still wealth, and worth its
+value.
+
+"Colonel," said he, "I have heard all you said, but you see me 'so
+strong in honesty,' that I am not moved. In the course of a few weeks
+I shall have purchased an estate of my own, which I shall manage
+differently, for my fortune is made, sir. I intend also to give up my
+other agencies: I am rather old and must retire to enjoy a little of the
+_otium cum dignitate_. I wish you all goo'd-morning!"
+
+The Colonel turned away in abhorrence, but disdained any reply.
+
+"A say, Sam," said the Presbyterian, "bring your son-in-laa wuth you."
+
+"An' I say that, too," exclaimed the drunken ruffian--"A say that; A do.
+A'm married to his daughter; an' A say stull, that d------my blood, bit
+A'll stick to my father-in-laa! That's the point!"--and again he nodded
+his head, and looked round him with a drunken swagger:--"A'll stick to my
+father-in-laa! A'll do that; feth, A wull!"*
+
+     * This dialect is local.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to inform the reader, that the Colonel's
+address to Carson soon got among the assembled tenantry, and a vehement
+volley of groans and hisses followed the discarded agent up the street.
+
+"Ha! bad luck to you for an ould villain. You were made to hear on the
+deaf side o' your head at last! You may take the black wool out o' your
+ears now, you rip! The cries an' curses o' the widows an' orphans that
+you made and oppressed, has ris up agin you at the long run! Ha! you
+beggarly nager! maybe you'll make us neglect our own work to do yours
+agin! Go an' gather the dhry cow-cakes, you misert, an' bring them home
+in your pocket, to throw on the dunghill!"
+
+"Do you remimber the day," said others, "you met Mr. M., an' you goin'
+up the street wid a cake of it in your fists, undher your shabby skirts;
+an' whin the gintlemen wint to shake hands wid you, how he discovered
+your maneness? Three groans for Yallow Sam, the extortioner! a short
+coorse to him! Your corner's warm for you, you villain!"
+
+"But now, boys, for the Colonel!" they exclaimed.--"Huzza for noble
+Colonel B------ the rale Irish gintlemen, that wouldn't see his tenants
+put upon by a villain!--Huzza! Hell resave yees, shout! Huzza! Huzza!
+Huzza! Huz--tundher-an'-ounze, my voice is cracked! Where's his
+coach?--where's his honor's coach? Come, boys, out wid it,--out wid it!
+Tattheration to yees, come! We'll dhraw it to the divil, to hell an'
+back agin, if it plases him! Success to Colonel B------! Blood-an-turf!
+what'll we do for a fight? Long life to noble Colonel B------, the poor
+man's friend!--long life to him for ever an' a day longer! Whoo! my
+darlins! Huzza!" etc.
+
+The warm interest which the Colonel took in M'Evoy's behalf, was looked
+upon by the other tenants as a guarantee of his sincerity in all he
+promised. Their enthusiasm knew no bounds. They got out his carriage
+from the Inn-Yard, and drew it through the town, though the Colonel
+himself, beyond the fact of their shouting, remained quite ignorant of
+what was going forward.
+
+After Carson's departure, the Colonel's friends, having been first asked
+to dine with him at the inn, also took their leave, and none remained
+but M'Evoy, who waited with pleasing anxiety to hear what the Colonel
+proposed to say--for he felt certain that it would be agreeable.
+
+"M'Evoy," said the Colonel, "I am truly sorry for what you have suffered
+through the villany of my agent; but I will give you redress, and allow
+you for what you have lost by the transaction. It is true, as I
+have been lately told by a person who pleaded your cause nobly and
+eloquently, that I can never repay you for what you have suffered.
+However, what we can, we will do. You are poor, I understand?"
+
+"God he sees that, sir; and afflicted, too, plase your honor."
+
+"Afflicted? How is that?"
+
+"I had a son, sir--a blessed boy! a darlin' boy!--once our comfort, an'
+once we thought he'd be our pride an' our staff, but"--
+
+The poor man's tears here flowed fast; he took up the skirt of his
+"Cotha More," or great-coat, and, after wiping his eyes, and clearing
+his voice, proceeded:--
+
+"He was always, as I said, a blessed boy, and we looked up to him
+alwayrs, sir. He saw our poverty, your honor, an' he felt it, sir, keen
+enough, indeed, God help him! How an'-iver, he took it on him to go
+up to Munster, sir, undher hopes of risin' us--undher the hopes, poor
+child--an' God knows, sir,--if--oh, Jemmy avourneen ma-chree!--doubt--I
+doubt you sunk undher what proved too many for you!--I doubt my child's
+dead, sir--him that all our hearts wor fixed upon; and if that 'ud
+happen to be the case, nothin'--not even your kindness in doin' us
+justice, could make us happy. We would rather beg wid him, sir, nor have
+the best in the world widout him. His poor young heart, sir, was fixed
+upon the place your honor is restorin' us to; an I'm afeard his mother,
+sir, would break her heart if she thought he couldn't share our good
+fortune! And we don't know whether he's livin' or dead! That, sir, is
+what's afflictin' us. I had some notion of goin' to look for him; but
+he tould us he would never write, or let us hear from him, till he'd be
+either one thing or other."
+
+"I can tell you, for your satisfaction, that your son is well, M'Evoy.
+Believe me, he is well--I know it."
+
+"Well! Before God, does your honor spake truth? Well! Oh, sir, for His
+sake that died for us, an' for the sake of his blessed mother, can you
+tell me is my darlin' son alive?"
+
+"He is living; is in excellent health; is as well dressed as I am; and
+has friends as rich and as capable of assisting him as myself. But
+how is this? What's the matter with you? You are pale! Good God! Here,
+waiter! Waiter! Waiter, I say!"
+
+The Colonel rang the bell violently, and two or three waiters entered at
+the same moment.
+
+"Bring a little wine and water, one of you, and let the other two remove
+this man to the open window. Be quick. What do you stare at?"
+
+In a few minutes the old man recovered, and untying the narrow coarse
+cravat which he wore, wiped the perspiration off his pale face.
+
+"Pray, don't be too much affected," said the Colonel. "Waiter, bring
+up refreshment--bring wine--be quiet and calm--you are weak, poor
+fellow--but we will strengthen you by-and-by."
+
+"I am wake, sir," he replied; "for, God help us! this was a hard year
+upon us; and we suffered what few could bear. But he's livin', Colonel.
+Our darlin' is livin! Oh, Colonel, your kindness went to my heart this
+day afore, but that was nothin'--he's livin' an' well! On my two knees,
+before God, I thank you for them words! I thank you a thousand an' a
+thousand times more for them words, nor for what your honor did about
+Yallow Sam."
+
+"Get up," said the Colonel--"get up. The proceedings of the day have
+produced a revulsion of feeling which has rendered you incapable of
+sustaining intelligence of your son. He is well, I assure you. Bring
+those things to this table, waiter."
+
+"But can your honor tell me anything in particular about him, sir? What
+he's doin'--or what he intends to do?"
+
+"Yes! he is at a respectable boarding-school."
+
+"Boordin'-school! But isn't boordin'-schools Protestants, sir?"
+
+"Not at all; he is at a Catholic boarding-school, and reading hard to be
+a priest, which, I hope, he will soon be. He has good friends, and you
+may thank him for being restored to your farm."
+
+"Glory be to my Maker for that! Oh, sir, your tenants wor desaved in
+you! They thought, sir, that you wor a hard-hearted gintleman, that
+didn't care whether they lived or died."
+
+"I feel that I neglected them too long, M'Evoy. Now take some
+refreshment: eat something, and afterwards drink a few glasses of wine.
+Your feelings have been much excited, and you will be the better for it.
+Keep up your spirits. I am going to ride, and must leave you: but if you
+call on me to-morrow, at one o'clock, I shall have more good news
+for you. We must stock your farm, and enable you to enter upon it
+creditably."
+
+"Sir," said M'Evoy, "you are a Protestant; but, as I hope to enther
+glory, I an' my wife an' childhre will pray that your bed may be made in
+heaven, this night; and that your honor may be led to see the truth an'
+the right coorse."
+
+The Colonel then left him; and the simple man, on looking at the cold
+meat, bread, and wine before him, raised his hands and eyes towards
+heaven, to thank God for his goodness, and to invoke a blessing upon his
+noble and munificent benefactor.
+
+But how shall we describe the feelings of his family, when, after
+returning home, he related the occurrences of that day. The severe and
+pressing exigencies under which they labored had prevented his sons
+from attending the investigation that was to take place in town. Their
+expectations, however, were raised, and they looked out with intense
+anxiety for the return of their father.
+
+At length he was seen coming slowly up the hill; the spades were thrown
+aside, and the whole family assembled to hear "what was done."
+
+The father entered in silence, sat down, and after wiping his brow and
+laying down his hat, placing his staff across it upon the floor, he drew
+his breath deeply.
+
+"Dominick," said the wife, "what news? What was done?"
+
+"Vara," replied Dominick, "do you remimber the day--fair and handsome
+you wor then--when I first kissed your lips, as my own darlin' wife?"
+
+"Ah, avourneen, Dominick, don't spake of them times. The happiness we
+had then is long gone, acushla, in one sense."
+
+"It's before me like yestherday, Vara--the delight that went through my
+heart, jist as clear as yestherday, or the blessed sun that's shinin'
+through the broken windy on the floor there. I remimber, Vara, saying
+to you that day--I don't know whether you remimber it or not--but I
+remimber sayin' to you, that if I lived a thousand years, I could never
+feel sich happiness as I did when I first pressed you to my heart as my
+own wife."
+
+"Well, but we want to hear what happened, Dominick, achora."
+
+"Do you remimber the words, Vara?"
+
+"Och! I do, avourneen. Didn't they go into my heart at the time, an' how
+could I forget them? But I can't bear, somehow, to look back at what we
+wor then, bekase I feel my heart brakin', acushla!"
+
+"Well, Vara, look at me. Amn't I a poor wasted crathur now, in
+comparishment to what I was thin?"
+
+"God he sees the change that's in you, darlin'! But sure 'twasn't your
+fau't, or mine either, Dominick, avilish!"
+
+"Well, Vara, you see me now--I'm happpier--before God, I'm
+happier--happier, a thousand degrees than I was thin! Come to my arms,
+asthore machree--my heart s breakin'--but it's wid happiness--don't be
+frightened--it's wid joy I'm sheddin' these tears--it's wid happiness
+an' delight In' cryin'! Jemmy is livin', an' well, childhre--he's livin'
+an' well, Vara--the star of our hearts is livin', an' well, an' happy!
+Kneel down, childhre--kneel down! Bend before the great God, an' thank
+him for his kindness to your blessed brother--to our blessed son.
+Bless the Colonel, childhre; bless him whin you're down, Protestant an'
+all, as he is. Oh, bless him as if you prayed for myself, or for Jemmy,
+that's far away from us!"
+
+He paused for a few minutes, bent his head upon his hands as he knelt
+in supplication at the chair, then resumed his seat, as did the whole
+family, deeply affected.
+
+"Now, childhre," said he, "I'll tell yez all; but don't any of you be so
+poor a crathur as I was to-day. Bear it mild an' asy, Vara, acushla, for
+I know it will take a start out of you. Sure we're to go back to our own
+ould farm! Ay, an' what'a more--oh, God of heaven, bless him!--what's
+more, the Colonel is to stock it for us, an' to help us; an' what is
+more, Yallow Sam is out! out!!"
+
+"Out!" they exclaimed: "Jemmy well, an' Yallow Sam out! Oh, father,
+surely"--
+
+"Now behave, I say. Ay, and never to come in again! But who do you think
+got him out?"
+
+"Who?--why God he knows. Who could get him out?"
+
+"Our son, Vara--our son, childhre: Jemmy got him out, an' got ourselves
+back to our farm! I had it partly from the noble Colonel's own lips,
+an' the remainder from Mr. Moutray, that I met on my way home. But
+there's more to come:--sure Jemmy has friends aquil to the Colonel
+himself: an' sure he's at a Catholic boordin'-school, among gintlemen's
+childhre, an' in a short time he'll be a priest in full ordhers."
+
+We here draw a veil over the delight of the family. Questions upon
+questions, replies upon replies, sifting and cross-examinations,
+followed in rapid succession, until all was known that the worthy man
+had to communicate.
+
+Another simple scene followed, which, as an Irishman, I write with
+sorrow. When the joy of the family had somewhat subsided, the father,
+putting his hand in his coat-pocket, pulled out several large slices of
+mutton.
+
+"Along wid all, childhre," said he, "the Colonel ordhered me my dinner.
+I ate plinty myself, an' slipped these slices in my pocket for you: but
+the devil a one o' me knows what kind o' mate it is. An' I got wine,
+too! Oh!--Well, they may talk, but wine is the drink! Bring me the ould
+knife, till I make a fair divide of it among ye. Musha, what kind o'
+mate can it be, for myself doesn't remimber atin' any sort, barrin'
+bacon an' a bit o' slink-veal of an odd time?"
+
+They all ate it with an experimental air of sagacity that was rather
+amusing. None, however, had ever tasted mutton before, and consequently
+the name of the meat remained, on that occasion, a profound secret to
+M'Evoy and his family.* It is true, they supposed it to be mutton;
+but not one of them could pronounce it to be such, from any positive
+knowledge of its peculiar flavor.
+
+     * There are hundreds of thousands--yes, millions--of
+     the poorer classes in Ireland, who have never tasted
+     mutton!
+
+"Well," said Dominick, "it's no matther what the name of it is, in
+regard that it's good mate, any way, for them that has enough of it."
+
+With a fervent heart and streaming eyes did this virtuous family offer
+up their grateful prayers to that God whose laws they had not knowingly
+violated, and to whose providence they owed so much. Nor was their
+benefactor forgotten. The strength and energy of the Irish language,
+being that in which the peasantry usually pray, were well adapted to
+express the depth of their gratitude towards a man who had, as they
+said, "humbled himself to look into their wants, as if he was like one
+of themselves!"
+
+For upwards of ten years they had not gone to bed free from the
+heaviness of care, or the wasting grasp of poverty. Now their hearth
+was once more surrounded by peace and contentment; their burthens were
+removed, their pulses beat freely, and the language of happiness again
+was heard under their humble roof. Even sleep could not repress the
+vivacity of their enjoyments: they dreamt of their brother--for in the
+Irish heart domestic affections hold the first place;--they dreamt of
+the farm to which those affections had so long yearned. They trod it
+again as its legitimate possessors. Its fields were brighter, its corn
+waved with softer murmurs to the breeze, its harvests were richer, and
+the song of their harvest home more cheerful than before. Their delight
+was tumultuous, but intense; and when they arose in the morning to a
+sober certainty of waking bliss, they again knelt in worship to God with
+exulting hearts, and again offered up their sincere prayers in behalf of
+the just man who had asserted their rights against the oppressor.
+
+Colonel B. was a man who, without having been aware of it, possessed an
+excellent capacity for business. The neglect of his property resulted
+not from want of feeling, but merely from want of consideration. There
+had, moreover, been no precedent for him to follow. He had seen no
+Irishman of rank ever bestow a moment's attention on his tenantry. They
+had been, for the most part, absentees like himself, and felt satisfied
+if they succeeded in receiving their half-yearly remittance in due
+course, without ever reflecting for a moment upon the situation of those
+from whom it was drawn.
+
+Nay, what was more--he had not seen even the resident gentry enter into
+the state and circumstances of those who lived upon their property. It
+was a mere accident that determined him to become acquainted with his
+tenants; but no sooner had he seen his duty, and come to the resolution
+of performing it, than the decision of his character became apparent.
+It is true, that, within the last few years, the Irish landlords have
+advanced in knowledge. Many of them have introduced more improved
+systems of agriculture, and instructed their tenants in the best methods
+of applying them; but during the time of which we write, an Irish
+landlord only saw his tenants when canvassing them for their votes, and
+instructed them in dishonesty and perjury, not reflecting that he was
+then teaching them to practise the arts of dissimulation and fraud
+against himself. This was the late system: let us hope that it will be
+superseded by a better one; and that the landlord will think it a duty,
+but neither a trouble nor a condescension, to look into his own affairs,
+and keep an eye upon the morals and habits of his tenantry.
+
+The Colonel, as he had said, remained more than a fortnight upon his
+estate; and, as he often declared since, the recollections arising from
+the good which he performed during that brief period, rendered it
+the portion of his past life upon which he could look with most
+satisfaction. He did not leave the country till he saw M'Evoy and his
+family restored to their farm, and once more independent;--until he had
+redressed every well-founded complaint, secured the affections of those
+who had before detested him, and diffused peace and comfort among every
+family upon his estate. From thenceforth he watched the interests of his
+tenants, and soon found that in promoting their welfare, and instructing
+them in their duties, he was more his own benefactor than theirs.
+Before many years had elapsed, his property was wonderfully improved;
+he himself was called the "Lucky Landlord," "bekase," said the people,
+"ever since he spoke to, an' advised his tenants, we find that it's
+lucky to live undher him. The people has heart to work wid a gintleman
+that won't grind thim; an' so sign's on it, every one thrives upon his
+land: an' dang my bones, but I believe a rotten stick 'ud grow on it,
+set in case it was thried."
+
+In sooth, his popularity became proverbial; but it is probable, that not
+even his justice and humanity contributed so much to this, as the
+vigor with which he prosecuted his suit against "Yellow Sam," whom he
+compelled literally to "disgorge" the fruits of his heartless extortion.
+This worthy agent died soon after his disgrace, without any legitimate
+issue; and his property, which amounted to about fifty thousand pounds,
+is now inherited by a gentleman of the strictest honor and integrity. To
+this day his memory is detested by the people, who, with that bitterness
+by which they stigmatized a villain, have erected him into a standard
+of dishonesty. If a man become remarkable for want of principle, they
+usually say--"he's as great a rogue as Yallow Sam;" or, "he is the
+greatest sconce that ever was in the country, barrin' Yallow Sam."
+
+We now dismiss him, and request our readers, at the same time, not
+to suppose that we have held him up as a portrait of Irish agents
+in general. On the contrary, we believe that they constitute a most
+respectable class of men, who have certainly very difficult duties to
+perform. The Irish landlords, we are happy to say, taught by experience,
+have, for the most part, both seen and felt the necessity of appointing
+gentlemen of property to situations so very important, and which require
+so much patience, consideration, and humanity, in those who fill them.
+We trust they will persevere in this plan; * but we can assure them,
+that all the virtues of the best agent can never compensate, in the
+opinion of the people, for neglect in the "Head Landlord." One visit,
+or act, even of nominal kindness, for him, will at any time produce more
+attachment and gratitude among them, than a whole life spent in good
+offices by an agent. Like Sterne's French Beggar, they would prefer a
+pinch of snuff from the one, to a guinea from the other. The agent only
+renders them a favor, but the Head Landlord does them an honor.
+
+     * This tale has been written nearly twelve years, but
+     the author deeply regrets that the Irish landlords have
+     disentitled themselves to the favorable notice taken of
+     them in the text.
+
+Colonel B., immediately after his return home, sent for Mr. O'Brien,
+who waited on him with a greater degree of curiosity than perhaps he had
+ever felt before. The Colonel smiled as he extended his hand to him.
+
+"Mr. O'Brien," said he, "I knew you would feel anxious to hear the
+result of my visit to the estate which this man with the nickname
+managed for me."
+
+"Managed, sir? Did you say managed?"
+
+"I spoke in the past time, O'Brien: he is out."
+
+"Then your protege's story was correct, sir?"
+
+"True to a title. O'Brien, there is something extraordinary in that
+boy; otherwise, how could it happen that a sickly, miserable-looking
+creature, absolutely in tatters, could have impressed us both so
+strongly with a sense of the injustice done ten years ago to his father?
+It is, indeed, remarkable."
+
+"The boy, Colonel, deeply felt that act of injustice, and the expression
+of it came home to the heart."
+
+"I have restored his father, however. The poor man and his family are
+once more happy. I have stocked their old farm for them; in! fact, they
+now enjoy comfort and independence."
+
+"I am glad, sir, that you have done them justice. That act, alone, will
+go far to redeem your character from the odium which the conduct of your
+agent was calculated to throw upon it."
+
+"There is not probably in Ireland a landlord so popular as I am this
+moment--at least among my tenants on that property. Restoring M'Evoy,
+however, is but a small part of what I have done. Carson's pranks were
+incredible. He was a rack-renter of the first water. A person named
+Brady had paid him twenty-five guineas as a douceur--in other words, as
+a bribe--for renewing a lease for him; yet, after having received the
+money, he kept the poor man dangling after him, and at length told him
+that he was offered a larger sum by another. In some cases he kept back
+the receipts, and made the poor people pay twice, which was still more
+iniquitous. Then, sir, he would not take bank notes in payment. No; he
+was so wonderfully concientious, and so zealously punctual in fulfilling
+my wishes, as he told them on the subject, that nothing would pass in
+payment but gold. This gold, sir, they were compelled to receive from
+himself, at a most oppressive premium; so that he actually fleeced them
+under my name, in every conceivable manner and form of villainy. He is a
+usurer, too; and, I am told, worth forty or fifty thousand pounds: but,
+thank heaven! he is no longer an agent of mine."
+
+"It gives me sincere pleasure, sir, that you have at length got correct
+habits of thinking upon your duties as an Irish landlord; for believe
+me, Colonel B., as a subject involving a great portion of national
+happiness or national misery, it is entitled to the deepest and most
+serious consideration, not only of the class to which you belong, but of
+the legislature. Something should be done, sir, to improve the condition
+of the poorer classes. A rich country and poor inhabitants is an
+anomaly; and whatever is done should be prompt and effectual. If the
+Irish landlords looked directly into the state of their tenantry, and
+set themselves vigorously to the task of bettering their circumstances,
+they would, I am certain, establish the tranquillity and happiness of
+the country at large. The great secret, Colonel, of the dissensions
+that prevail among us is the poverty of the people. They are poor, and
+therefore the more easily wrought up to outrage; they are poor, and
+think that any change must be for the better; they are not only poor,
+but imaginative, and the fittest recipients for those vague speculations
+by which they are deluded. Let their condition be improved, and the most
+fertile source of popular tumult and crime is closed. Let them be taught
+how to labor: let them not be bowed to the earth by rents so far above
+the real value of their lands. The pernicious maxims which float among
+them must be refuted--not by theory, but by practical lessons performed
+before their eyes for their own advantage. Let them be taught how to
+discriminate between their real interests and their prejudices; and none
+can teach them all this so effectually as their landlords, if they could
+be roused from their apathy, and induced to undertake the task. Who ever
+saw a poor nation without great crimes?"
+
+"Very true, O'Brien; quite true. I am resolved to inspect personally
+the condition of those who reside on my other estates. But now about our
+protege? How is he doing?"
+
+"Extremely well. I have had a letter from him a few days ago, in which
+he alludes to the interest you have taken in himself and his family,
+with a depth of feeling truly affecting."
+
+"When you write to him, let him know that I have placed his father in
+his old farm; and that Carson is out. Say I am sure he will conduct
+himself properly, in which case I charge myself with his expenses until
+he shall have accomplished his purpose. After that he may work his
+own way through life, and I have no doubt but he will do it well and
+honorably."
+
+Colonel B------'s pledge on this occasion was nobly redeemed. Our humble
+hero pursued his studies with zeal and success. In due time he entered
+Maynooth, where he distinguished himself not simply for smartness as
+a student, but as a young man possessed of a mind far above the common
+order. During all this time nothing occurred worthy of particular
+remark, except that, in fulfilment of his former vow, he never wrote to
+any of his friends; for the reader should have been told, that this was
+originally comprehended in the determination he had formed. He received
+ordination at the hands of his friend the Bishop, whom we have already
+introduced to the reader, and on the same day he was appointed by that
+gentleman to a curacy in his own parish. The Colonel, whose regard
+for him never cooled, presented him with fifty pounds, together with
+a horse, saddle, and bridle; so that he found himself in a capacity
+to enter upon his duties in a decent and becoming manner. Another
+circumstance that added considerably to his satisfaction, was the
+appointment of Mr. O'Brien to a parish adjoining that of the Bishop.
+James's afflictions had been the means of bringing the merits of that
+excellent man before his spiritual superior, who became much attached
+to him, and availed himself of the earliest opportunity of rewarding his
+unobtrusive piety and benevolence.
+
+No sooner was his ordination completed, than the long suppressed
+yearnings after his home and kindred came upon his spirit with a power
+that could not be restrained. He took leave of his friends with a
+beating heart, and set out on a delightful summer morning to revisit all
+that had been, notwithstanding his long absence and severe trials,
+so strongly wrought into his memory and affections. Our readers may,
+therefore, suppose him on his journey home, and permit, themselves to be
+led in imagination to the house of his former friend, Lanigan, where we
+must lay the scene for the present.
+
+Lanigan's residence has the same comfortable and warm appearance which
+always distinguishes the habitation of the independent and virtuous man.
+What, however, can the stir, and bustle, and agitation which prevail
+in it mean? The daughters run out to a little mound, a natural terrace,
+beside the house, and look anxiously towards the road; then return, and
+almost immediately appear again, with the same intense anxiety to catch
+a glimpse of some one whom they expect. They look keenly; but why is it
+that their disappointment appears to be attended with such dismay?
+They go into their father's house once more, wringing their hands, and
+betraying all the symptoms of affliction. Here is their mother, too,
+coming to peer into the distance, she is rocking with that motion
+peculiar to Irishwomen when suffering distress. She places her open hand
+upon her brows that she may collect her sight to a particular spot; she
+is blinded by her tears; breaks out into a low wail, and returns with
+something like the darkness of despair on her countenance. She goes into
+the house, passes through the kitchen, and enters into a bed-room; seats
+herself on a chair beside the bed, and renews her low but' bitter wail
+of sorrow. Her husband is lying in that state which the peasantry know
+usually precedes the agonies of death.
+
+"For the sake of the livin' God," said he, on seeing her, "is there any
+sign o' them?"
+
+"Not yet, a _suillish_; (* My light) but they will soon--they must soon,
+asthore, be here, an' thin your mind will be asy."
+
+"Oh, Alley, Alley, if you could know what I suffer for 'fraid I'd die
+widout the priest you'd pity me!"
+
+"I do pity you, asthore: but don't be cast down, for I have my trust in
+God that he won't desart you in your last hour. You did what you could,
+my heart's pride; you bent before him night an' mornin', and sure the
+poor neighbor never wint from your door widout lavin' his blessin'
+behind him."
+
+The dying man raised his hands feebly from the bed-clothes; "Ah!" he
+exclaimed, "I thought I did a great dale, Alley: but now--but now--it
+appears nothin' to what I ought to a' done when I could. Still,
+avour-neen, my life's not unpleasant when I look back at it; for I can't
+remimber that I ever purposely offinded a livin' mortal. All I want to
+satisfy me is the priest."
+
+"No, avourneen, you did not; for it wasn't in you to offind a child."
+
+"Alley, you'll pardon me an' forgive me acushla, if ever--if ever I did
+what was displasin' to you! An' call in the childhre, till I see them
+about me--I want to have their forgiveness, too. I know I'll have
+it--for they wor good childhre, an' ever loved me."
+
+The daughters now entered the room, exclaiming--"_Ahir dheelish_
+(beloved father), Pether is comin' by himself, but no priest! Blessed
+Queen of Heaven, what will we do! Oh! father darlin', are you to die
+widout the Holy Ointment?"
+
+The sick man clasped his hands, looked towards heaven and groaned aloud.
+
+"Oh, it's hard, this," said he. "It's hard upon me! Yet I won't be cast
+down. I'll trust in my good God; I'll trust in his blessed name!"
+
+His wife, on hearing that her son was returned without the priest, sat,
+with her face shrouded by her apron, weeping in grief that none but they
+who know the dependence which those belonging to her church place in
+its last rites can comprehend. The children appeared almost distracted;
+their grief had more of that stunning character which attends unexpected
+calamity, than of sorrow for one who is gradually drawn from life.
+
+At length the messenger entered the room, and almost choked with tears,
+stated that both priests were absent that day at Conference, and would
+not return till late.
+
+The hitherto moderated grief of the wife arose to a pitch much wilder
+than the death of her husband could, under ordinary circumstances,
+occasion. To die without absolution--to pass away into eternity
+"unanointed, unaneled"--without being purified from the inherent
+stains of humanity--was to her a much deeper affliction than her final
+separation from him. She cried in tones of the most piercing despair,
+and clapped her hands, as they do who weep over the dead. Had he died in
+the calm confidence of having received the Viaticum, or Sacrament before
+death, his decease would have had nothing remarkably calamitous in
+it, beyond usual occurrences of a similar nature. Now the grief was
+intensely bitter in consequence of his expected departure without the
+priest. His sons and daughters felt it as forcibly as his wife; their
+lamentations were full of the strongest and sharpest agony.
+
+For nearly three hours did they remain in this situation; poor Lanigan
+sinking by degrees into that collapsed state from which there is no
+possibility of rallying. He was merely able to speak; and recognize his
+family; but every moment advanced him, with awful certainty, nearer and
+nearer to his end..
+
+A great number of the neighbors were now assembled, all participating in
+the awful feeling which predominated, and anxious to compensate by their
+prayers for the absence of that confidence derived by Roman Catholics
+during the approach of death, from the spiritual aid of the priest.
+They were all at prayer; the sick-room and kitchen were crowded with his
+friends and acquaintances, many of whom knelt out before the door,
+and joined with loud voices in the Rosary which was offered up in his
+behalf.
+
+In this crisis were they, when a horseman, dressed in black, approached
+the house. Every head was instantly turned round, with a hope that it
+might be the parish priest or his curate; but, alas! they were doomed to
+experience a fresh disappointment. The stranger, though clerical enough
+in his appearance, presented a countenance with which none of them
+was acquainted. On glancing at the group who knelt around the door, he
+appeared to understand the melancholy cause which brought them together.
+
+"How is this?" he exclaimed. "Is there any one here sick or dying?"
+
+"Poor Misther Lanigan, sir, is jist departing glory be to God! An'
+what is terrible all out upon himself and family, he's dyin' widout the
+priest. They're both at Conwhirence, sir, and can't come--Mr. Dogherty
+an' his curate."
+
+"Make way!" said the stranger, throwing himself off his horse, and
+passing quickly through the people. "Show me to the sick man's room--be
+quick, my friends--I am a Catholic clergyman."
+
+In a moment a passage was cleared, and the stranger found himself
+beside the bed of death. Grief in the room was loud and bitter; but his
+presence stilled it despite of what they felt.
+
+"My dear friends," said he, "you know there should be silence in the
+apartment of a dying man. For shame!--for shame! Cease this clamor, it
+will but distract him for whom you weep, and prevent him from composing
+his mind for the great trial that is before him."
+
+"Sir," said Lanigan's wife, seizing his hand in both hers, and looking
+distractedly in his face, "are you a priest? For heaven's sake tell us?"
+
+"I am," he replied; "leave the room every one of you. I hope your
+husband is not speechless?"
+
+"Sweet Queen of Heaven, not yet, may her name be praised! but near it,
+your Reverence--widin little or no time of it.".
+
+Whilst they spoke, he was engaged in putting the stole about his
+neck, after which he cleared the room, and commenced hearing Lanigan's
+confession.
+
+The appearance of a priest, and the consolation it produced, rallied the
+powers of life in the benevolent farmer. He became more collected; made
+a clear and satisfactory confession; received the sacrament of Extreme
+Unction; and felt himself able to speak with tolerable distinctness and
+precision. The effects of all this were astonishing. A placid serenity,
+full of hope and confidence, beamed from the pale and worn features of
+him who was but a few minutes before in a state of terror altogether
+indescribable. When his wife and family, after having been called in,
+observed this change, they immediately participated in his tranquillity.
+Death had been deprived of its sting, and grief of its bitterness; their
+sorrow was still deep, but it was not darkened by the dread of future
+misery. They felt for him as a beloved father, a kind husband, and a
+clear friend, who had lived a virtuous life, feared God, and was now
+about to pass into happiness.
+
+When the rites of the church were administered, and the family again
+assembled round the bed, the priest sat down in a position which enabled
+him to see the features of this good man more distinctly.
+
+"I would be glad," said Lanigan, "to know who it is that God in his
+goodness has sent to smooth my bed in death, if it 'ud be plasin', sir,
+to you to tell me?"
+
+"Do you remember," replied the priest, "a young lad whom you met some
+years ago on his way to Munster, as a poor scholar! You and your family
+were particularly kind to him; so kind that he has never since forgotten
+your affectionate hospitality."
+
+"We do, your Reverence, we do. A mild, gentle crathur he was, poor boy.
+I hope God prospered him."
+
+"You see him now before you," said the priest. "I am that boy, and I
+thank God that I can testify, however slightly, my deep sense of the
+virtues which you exercised towards me; although I regret that the
+occasion is one of such affliction."
+
+The farmer raised his eyes and feeble hands towards heaven. "Praise an'
+glory to your name, good God!" he exclaimed. "Praise an' glory to your
+holy name! Now I know that I'm not forgotten, when you brought back the
+little kindness I did that boy for your sake, wid so many blessins to me
+in the hour of my affliction an' sufferin'! Childher remimber this,
+now that I'm goin' to lave yez for ever! Remimber always to help the
+stranger, an' thim that's poor an' in sorrow. If you do, God won't
+forget it to you; but will bring it back to yez when you stand in need
+of it, as he done to me this day. You see, childhre dear, how small
+thrifles o' that kind depend on one another. If I hadn't thought of
+helpin' his Reverence here when he was young and away from his own, he
+wouldn't think of callin' upon us this day as he was passin'. You see
+the hand of God is in it, childhre: which it is, indeed, in every thing
+that passes about us, if we could only see it as we ought to do. Thin,
+but I'd like to look upon your face, sir, if it's plasin' to you? A
+little more to the light, sir. There, I now see you. Ay, indeed, it's
+changed for the betther it is--: the same mild, clear countenance, but
+not sorrowful, as when I seen it last. Suffer me to put my hand on your
+head, sir; I'd like to bless you before I die, for I can't forget what
+you undertook to do for your parents."
+
+The priest sat near him; but finding he was scarcely able to raise his
+hand to his head, he knelt down, and the farmer, before he communicated
+the blessing inquired--
+
+"Musha, sir, may I ax, wor you able to do anything to help your family
+as you expected?"
+
+"God," said the priest, "made me the instrument of raising them from
+their poverty; they are now comfortable and happy."
+
+"Ay! Well I knew at the time, an' I said it, that a blessin' would
+attind your endayvors. An' now resave my blessin'. May you never depart
+from the right way! May the blessin' of God rest upon you for
+ever--Amin! Childhre, I'm gettin' wake; come near me, till, till I bless
+you, too, for the last time! They were good childhre, sir--they were
+ever an' always good to me, an' to their poor mother, your Reverence;
+an'--God forgive me if it's a sin!--but I feel a great dale o' my heart
+an' my love fixed upon them. But sure I'm their father, an' God, I hope,
+will look over it! Now, darlins, afore I bless yez, I ax your
+forgiveness if ever I was harsher to yez than I ought!"
+
+The children with a simultaneous movement encircled his bed, and could
+not reply for some minutes.
+
+"Never, father darlin'! Oh, never did you offind us! Don't speak in that
+way, or you'll break our hearts; but forgive us, father asthore! Oh,
+forgive an' bless us, an' don't remimber against us, our folly an'
+disobedience, for it's only now that we see we warn't towards you as we
+ought to be. Forgive us an' pardon us!"
+
+He then made them all kneel around his bed, and with solemn words, and
+an impressive manner, placed his hand upon their heads, and blessed them
+with a virtuous father's last blessing.
+
+He then called for his wife, and the scene became not only more
+touching, but more elevated. There was an exultation in her manner, and
+an expression of vivid hope in her eye, arising from the fact of her
+husband having received, and been soothed by the rites of her church,
+that gave evident proof of the unparalleled attachment borne by persons
+of her class to the Catholic religion. The arrival of our hero had been
+so unexpected, and the terrors of the tender wife for her husband's soul
+so great, that the administration of the sacrament almost superseded
+from her heart every other sensation than that of devotional triumph.
+Even now, in the midst of her tears, that triumph kindled in her eye
+with a light that shone in melancholy beauty upon the bed of death.
+In proportion, however, as the parting scene--which was to be their
+last--began to work with greater power upon her sorrow, so did this
+expression gradually fade away. Grief for his loss resumed its dominion
+over her heart so strongly, that their last parting was afflicting even
+to look upon.
+
+When it was over, Lanigan once more addressed the priest:--
+
+"Now, sir," he observed, but with great difficulty, "let me have your
+blessin' an' your prayers; an' along wid that, your Reverence, if you
+remimber a request I once made to you"--
+
+"I remember it well," replied the priest; "you allude to the masses
+which you-wished I me to say for you, should I ever receive Orders. Make
+your mind easy on that point. I not only shall offer up mass for the
+repose of your soul, but I can assure you that I have mentioned you by
+name in every mass which I celebrated since my ordination."
+
+He then proceeded to direct the mind of his dying benefactor to such
+subjects as were best calculated to comfort and strengthen him.
+
+About day-break the next morning, this man of many virtues, after
+struggling rather severely for two hours preceding his death, passed
+into eternity, there to enjoy the recompense of a well-spent life.
+
+When he was dead, the priest, who never left him during the night,
+approached the bed, and after surveying his benevolent features, now
+composed in the stillness of death, exclaimed--
+
+"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their
+labors, and their works do follow them!"
+
+Having uttered the words aloud, he sat down beside the bed, buried his
+face in his handkerchief, and wept.
+
+He was now only a short day's journey from home, and as his presence, he
+knew, would be rather a restraint upon a family so much in affliction,
+he bade them farewell, and proceeded on his way. He travelled slowly,
+and, as every well-known hill or lake appeared to him, his heart
+beat quickly, his memory gave up its early stores, and his affections
+prepared themselves for the trial that was before them.
+
+"It is better for me not to arrive," thought he, "until the family
+shall have returned from their daily labor, and are collected about the
+hearth."
+
+In the meantime, many an impression of profound and fervid piety
+came over him, when he reflected upon the incontrovertible proofs of
+providential protection and interference which had been, during his
+absence from home, under his struggles, and, in his good fortune, so
+clearly laid before him. "Deep," he exclaimed, "is the gratitude I owe
+to God for this; may I never forget to acknowledge it!"
+
+It was now about seven o'clock; the evening was calm, and the sun
+shone with that clear amber light which gives warmth, and the power of
+exciting tenderness to natural scenery. He had already gained the ascent
+which commanded a view of the rich sweep of country that reposed below.
+There it lay--his native home--his native parish--bathed in the light
+and glory of the hour. Its fields were green--its rivers shining like
+loosened silver; its meadows already studded with hay-cocks, its green
+pastures covered with sheep, and its unruffled lakes reflecting the
+hills under which they lay. Here and there a gentleman's residence rose
+among the distant trees, and well did he recognize the church spire
+that cut into the western sky on his right. It is true, nothing of the
+grandeur and magnificence of nature was there; everything was simple in
+its beauty. The quiet charm, the serene light, the air of happiness
+and peace that reposed upon all he saw, stirred up a thousand tender
+feelings in a heart whose gentle character resembled that of the
+prospect which it felt so exquisitely. The smoke of a few farm-houses
+and cottages rose in blue, graceful columns to the air, giving just
+that appearance of life which was necessary; and a figure or two, with
+lengthened shadows, moved across the fields and meadows a little below
+where he stood.
+
+But our readers need not to be told, that there was one spot which,
+beyond all others, riveted his attention. On that spot his eager eye
+rested long and intensely. The spell of its remembrance had clung to
+his early heart: he had never seen it in his dreams without weeping;
+and often had the agitation of his imaginary sorrow awoke him with his
+eye-lashes steeped in tears. He looked down on it steadily. At length he
+was moved with a strong sensation like grief: he sobbed twice or thrice,
+and the tears rolled in showers from his eyes. His gathering affections
+were relieved by this: he felt lighter, and in the same slow manner rode
+onward to his father's house.
+
+To this there were two modes of access: one by a paved bridle-way, or
+boreen, that ran up directly before the door--the other by a green lane,
+that diverged from the boreen about a furlong below the house. He took
+the latter, certain that the family could not notice his approach, nor
+hear the noise of his horse's footsteps, until he could arrive at the
+very threshold.. On dismounting, he felt that he could scarcely walk. He
+approached the door, however, as steadily as he could. He entered--and
+the family, who had just finished their supper, rose up, as a mark of
+their respect to the stranger.
+
+"Is this," he inquired, "the house in which Dominick M'Evoy lives?"
+
+"That's my name, sir," replied Dominick. "The family, I trust,
+are--all--well? I have been desired--but--no--no--I cannot--I
+cannot--father!--mother!
+
+"It's him!" shrieked the mother--"Its himself!--Jemmy"
+
+"Jemmy!--Jemmy!" shouted the lather, with a cry of joy which might be
+heard far beyond the house.
+
+"Jemmy!--our poor Jemmy!--Jemmy!!" exclaimed his brothers and sisters.
+
+"Asy, childhre," said the father--"asy; let the mother to him--let her
+to him. Who has the right that she has? Vara, asthore--Vara, think of
+yourself. God of heaven! what is comin' over her?--Her brain's turned!"
+
+"Father, don't remove her," said the son. "Leave her arms where they
+are: it's long since they encircled my neck before. Often--often would I
+have given the wealth of the universe to be encircled in my blessed and
+beloved mother's arms! Yes, yes!--Weep, my father--weep, each of
+you. You see those tears:--consider them as a proof that I have never
+forgotten you! Beloved mother! recollect yourself: she knows me not--her
+eyes wander!--I fear the shock has been too much for her. Place a chair
+at the door, and I will bring her to the air."
+
+After considerable effort, the mother's faculties were restored so far
+as to be merely conscious that our hero was her son. She had not yet
+shed a tear, but now she surveyed his countenance, smiled and named
+him, placed her hands upon him, and examined his dress with a singular
+blending of conflicting emotions, but still without being thoroughly
+collected.
+
+"I will speak to her," said Jemmy, "in Irish, it will go directly to her
+heart:--_Mhair, avourneen, tha ma, laht, anish!_--Mother, my darling, I
+am with you at last."
+
+"_Shamus, aroon, vick machree, wuil thu Ihum? wuil thu--wuil thu
+Ihum?_--Jemmy, my beloved, son of my heart, are you with me?--are
+you--are you with me?"
+
+"_Ish maheen a tha in, a vair dheelish machree_--It is I who am with
+you, beloved mother of my heart!"
+
+She smiled again--but only for a moment. She looked at him, laid his
+head upon her bosom, bedewed his face with her tears, and muttered out,
+in a kind of sweet, musical cadence, the Irish cry of joy.
+
+We are incapable of describing the scene further. Our readers must be
+contented to know, that the delight and happiness of our hero's whole
+family were complete. Their son, after many years of toil and struggle,
+had at length succeeded, by a virtuous course of action, in raising them
+from poverty to comfort, and in effecting his own object, which was,
+to become a member of the Catholic priesthood. During all his trials he
+never failed to rely on God; and it is seldom that those who rely upon
+Him, when striving to attain a laudable purpose, are ever ultimately
+disappointed.
+
+*****
+
+We regret to inform our readers, that the poor scholar is dead! He did
+not, in fact, long survive the accomplishment of his wishes. But as we
+had the particulars of his story from his nearest friends, we thought
+his virtues of too exalted a nature to pass into oblivion without some
+record, however humble. He died as he had lived--the friend of God and
+of man.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poor Scholar, by William Carleton
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POOR SCHOLAR ***
+
+***** This file should be named 16017.txt or 16017.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/0/1/16017/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.