Tarian Y Gweithiwr

THE COLLEEN BA WX. ] -Œ CHAPTER IV. --& (Continued.) -0-- "A very notable undertaking that would be, Lowry. But how was it?" "Some o' them boys—them Garryowen lads-sir, to get about Danny Mann, the Lord, Mr Hardress's boatman, as he was coming down from Mihifs with a new rope 1 for some part o' the boat, and to begin re-j fleeting on him in regard o' the hump on his back, poor creatur 1 Well, if they did, Master Hardress heerd 'em, and he having a stout blackthorn in his hand, this way, and he made up to the foremost of 'em, 'What's that you're saying, you scoundrel ?'' says be. 'What would you give to know?' says the other, mighty impudent. Master Hardress made no more, only up with the stick, and without saying this or that, or by your leave, or how do you do, he stretched him. Well, such a scuffle as began among 'em was ever seei). They all fell upon Master Hardress; but faix they had only the half of it, for he ¡ made his way through the thick of 'em with- z!l out as much as a mark. Aw, indeed, it is7at a goose or a duck they had to' do with when they came across Mr Cregan, for all." "And where were you all this while, Lowry ?" "Above in Mihil's door, standing and look- m' Tibout the fair for myself." "And 'Eily?" "Ah, hear to this again, niw I I'll run away out the place entirely from yoiu, mastfher, that's what I'll do;" and suiting the action to the phrase, exit Lowry Looby. "Well, Kyrle," said. M r Daly, as the latter rose and laid aside his chair, "I suppose we are not to expect you back to-night ?" "Likely not. sir. If I have any good mews to tell, I shall send an answer by Lowry, I who goes with me; and if—" something seemed to stick in his throat, and he tried I to laugh it out—"if I should be unsuccessful, I will ride on to the dairy-farm at Gartenas- pig, where Hardress Cregan promised to fBeet me." Mr Daly wished him better fortune than be seemed to hope for, and repeated an old proverb about a faint heart and a fair lady. The affectionate mother, who felt the fever- ishness of the young lover's hand, as he placed it in hers, and probably in secret participated in his apprehensions-, follow- ed him to the stefps of the hall-door.. He was already on horseback. "Kyrle," said Mrs. Daly, smiling while she looked up in his face, and shaded her own with her hand—Remember, Kyrle, if Anne CHute should play the tyrant with you, that there is many a prettier girl in Miumster." Kyrle seemed about to reply, but his young horse became' restive, and! as the gentleman felt rather at a, loss, he made the impatience of the animal an apology for his silence. He waved his hand to the kind old tady. and rode away. "And if she 'should' play the! tyrant with I'ou, Kyrle," Mrs Daly continued in solilo- quy, while she saw his handsome and grace- ful. figure diminish in the distance, "Anne Chute is not of my mind." S3 said the mother as she returned to the paadour, and so would many younger,ladies have said, had they knOown Kyrle Daly as jvefi as she did. While Mrs. Daly, who was the empress of all housekeepers, superintended ti-be re- moval of the breakfast-table, not disdaining, with her own fair hands, to restore ^he plate and china, to their former neatness, the old! gentleman called all his children around film, to undergo a, customary examination. They came flocking to his knees, the boys their satches thrown over their should- ers, and the girls with their gloves and bon- ttets on, ready for school. Occasionally, as they stood before the patriarchal sire, their eyes wandered frorrn his face towards a lofty pile of sliced bread and* butter, and a bowi t £ white sugar which stood: near his elbow. "N. Torth-east (" Mr Daly began, address- ing the eldest. ft should be premised: that this name %vas given to the child in compliance with a popular superstition; for, sensible as the Dalys were accounted in their daily affairs, they were not wholly exempt from the pre-1 vailing weakness of their countrymen. Three cCMrs Daly's children died at nurse, and it *vas suggested to the unhappy parents that if "the next little stranger were baptized by the name of North-east, the curse would be removed from their household. Mrs Daly tscceded to the proposition, adding to it at thetsame time the slight precaution of chang- ing her nurses. With what success this in- genious remedy was attended, the flourish- ing state of Mr Daly's nursery thenceforword sufficiently testified. "N orth-east," said! the old gentleman, "when was Ireland first peopled?" "Bv Fartholanus, sir, in anno mundi *95fc the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandr fjoffi of Noah." "'Six greats. Right, my boy. Although the; Cluan-Mac-Noisk makes if 1969. But a differetnice of a few years, at a distance of nearly four thousand, is not a matter to be quarrelled with. Stay, I have not done with rou yet. Mr Tickleback tells me you are a great Latinist. What part of Ovid. are you feading now?" "Ah, poor Ajax! he's an example and a naming for all Irishmen. Well, North-east, Ulysses, ofuight to supply you with Latin enough to answer me one question. Give tiie the construction of this: Mater mea sua est mala." The boy hesitated a moment, laughed, reddened a little, and looked, at his mother. "That's a queer thing, sir," he said at last. "Come, construe, construe." "My mother is a bad sow," said North-east, laughing; "that's the only English I can find Cor it." "Ah, North-east! Do you call me names, Imy lad ?" said Mrs Daly, while she land aside the china in a cupboard. "Tis dadda you shouldl blame, ma'am; he said it. I only told' him the English This affair produced much more laughter nttd merriment than it was worthy Atf length Mr Daly condescended to explain. 41 You gave me one construction of it* jxaQ he, "but not the right one. However, _■ ILHIIH.MIH ■—II ■ IM r~ >■ MW—nil—111! ■ — these things cannot be learned all in a day, and: yonjir translation was correct, North-east, in point of grammar, at all events. But (he continued, with a look of learned wisdom) the true meaning of the sentence is this: Mater, mother; mea, hasten; sus, the sow; est, eats up (edere, my boy, not esse), mala, the apples." "0, it's a cran, I see," said the boy with some indignatiin of tone. ''One isn't oblig- ed to know crans. I'd soon puzzle you if I was to put you all the crns I know." "Not so easily as you suppose, perhaps," said his father in dignified alarm, lest his repuation should suffer in the eyes of his wife, who really thought him, a profound linguist. "But you are a good boy. Go to school. North-east. Here, open your satchel." The satchel was opened, a, huge slice of bread from the top of the pile above-men- titawed was dropt into it, and North-east set off south-south-west out of the house. "Charles, who is the finest fellow in Ire- land ?" "Henry Grattan, sir." "Why so, sir ?'J "Because he says we must have a free Grade, sir." "You shall have a lump of sugar with your 0 bread for that. Open your satchel. There; run away now to school. Patcy "Patcy, tell me, who was the first Lord -Lietitenant of Ireland in the present reign?" Patcy, are idle young rogue, stood glanc- ing alternately at the pile of bread and at his father's face, and shifting from one foot to another like a foundered nag. At last he said stoutly— "Julius Caesar, sir." "That's a good boy. Ah, you young villain, if I had asked you who won the last boat race, or how many hookers went, by this' moaning, yoiu'd: give me a, better answer than that. Was it Julius Caesar sailed round the revenue cutter, near Tarbert, the other day "No, sir, it was Larry Kett." "M engage you know that. Well, tell me this;, and I'll forgive you! Who was the bravest seaman you ever heard of? always excepting Hardress Cregan." "'Brown, sir, the man that brought the Bilboa ship into Youghail after making pris- oners of nine Frenchmen—the fellows, dadda" -the boy continued, warming with his subject—"were sent to take the vessel into France, and Brown had only three men and a boy with him, and they re-took the ship, and brought her into Youghal. But, sura one Irishman was more than a match for two Frenchmen." "Well, I perceive you have some know- tedge in physics, and comparative physiolo- gy. There's some hope: of you. Go to school." And the piLe of bread appeared1 a few inches lower. The remainder was distributed amongst the girls, to whom the happy father put questions in history, geography, catechism, etc., proportioned to the capacity of each. lo At length he descended to the youngest, a little cherub, with roses of three years'- growth in her cheek. "Well, Sally, my pet, what stands for: sugar?" < i dadda." "Ah, Sally's a, wag, I see. You do stand for it, indeed, and you sliall get it. We must not expect to force nature,he added, looking at his wife, and tossing his head. "Every beginning is weak, and Sam John- j son himself was as indifferent a philologist once in his day. And now, to school' at once, darlings, and: bring home good1 judg- ment's. Nelly will go fO/r you at three c/dock. The little flock of innocents, who were matched in size like the reeds of a pandean pipe, each under each, havin-g left the scene, Mr Daly proceeded to diespatch his own affairs, and possessed himself of his hat and cane. f*- "111 step over to the meadow, my dear- andi see how the hay gets on. And give me that pamphlet of Hutchinson's—Comb 'rnerciai restraints—I promised to lend it to Father Mai achy. And: let the stranger's room be got read)", my love, and the sheets aired, for I expect Mr Windfall, the tax- gatherer, to sleep here; to-night. And Sally, if Ready should: come1 about his pigs that I RCLt in pound last night, let him have them z, free of cost, but not without giving the fellow a fright about them; and, above all, insist upon having rings in their noses before right. My little iawni is like a fallow-field with them. I'll be back at five." Saying this, and' often turning his head as some new commission arose to, his memory, the Munster 'Middleman' sallied out of his house, and walked along the gravelled1 avenue, humming, as he went, a verse of the popular old song— "And when I at last must throw1 off this frail covering, -Which I have worn for three score years and ten, On the brink of the grave I'll not seek to .keep hovering, Nor my thread wish to- spin o'er again; My face in the glass I'll serenely survey, And with smiles count each wrinkle and furrow. For this old wornHjut stuff that is threadbare to-day, May become everlasting to-morrow! To-morrow! To-morrow! May become everlasting to-morrow!" Such, in happier days than ours, was the fife of a, M unster farmer. Indeed the word is 1ft adapted to convey to an English read- er- am idea of the class of persons whom it is intended to designate, for they were and are, 1 in raind and education, far superior to the persons who occupy that rank in most other. Countries. Opprobrious as the term: 'middle- manf has been rendered in our time, it is cetBuh that the origjool formation of the sepff was both natural and beneficial. When tfic country was deserted by its gentry, gpneraf promotion of one grade took place among those who, remained at home. The farmers became gentlemen., and the labourers- ^became farmers, the former assuming, to- getfter with the station and influence, the quick and honourable spirit, the love of {^essjriTev and the feudal authority which dis-. tinguisfc-x? their arostocratic archetypes, while the humbler classes looked up to them; for advice and assistance, with the same feeling of respect and of dependence which they had cj,ce entertained for the actual pro- prietors of the soil. The co vetousness of landlord:; themselves, in selling leases to the highest bidder, without any inquiry into his character or fortune, first tended to throw imputations on this respectable and useful, body of men,, which in progress of time swelled m'to a; papular outcry, and ended in an act of the legislature for their gradual extirpation). There are few now in. that class as prosperous, many as intelligent and high-principled, as Mr Daly. (To be Continued.)