myself; and then I started off on the run towards the woods, and old
Miss Bobbet, and Miss Gowdey, and Sister Minkley, and Deacon Dobbins'
wife, all rushed after me. Oh, the agony of them 2 or 3 minutes, my
mind so distracted with forebodin's, and the perspiration a pourin'
down. But, all of a sudden, on the edge of the woods we found him.
Miss Gowdey weighed 100 pounds less than me; had got a little ahead of
me. He sat backed up against a tree in a awful cramped position, with
his left leg under him. He looked dretful uncomfortable, but when Miss
Gowdey hollered out: "Oh, here you be; we have been skairt about you;
what is the matter?" he smiled a dretful sick smile, and says he: "Oh,
I thought I would come out here and meditate a spell. It was always a
real treat to me to meditate."
Jest then I came up, a pantin' for breath, and as the women all turned
to face me, Josiah scowled at me, and shook his fist at them 4 wimmen,
and made the most mysterious motions with his hands towards 'em.
But the minute they turned 'round he smiled in a sickish way, and
pretended to go to whistlin'.
Says I, "What is the matter, Josiah Allen? What are you off here for?"
"I am a meditatin', Samantha."
The wimmen happened to be a lookin' the other way for a minute, and he
looked at me as if he would take my head off, and made the strangest
motions towards 'em; but the minute they looked at him he would
pretend to smile that deathly smile.
Says I, "Come, Josiah Allen, we're goin' to have dinner right away,
for we are afraid it will rain."
"Oh, wal," says he, "a little rain, more or less, hain't a goin' to
hinder a man from meditatin'."
I was wore out, and says I: "Do you stop meditatin' this minute,
Josiah Allen."
Says he: "I won't stop, Samantha. I let you have your way a good deal
of the time; but when I take it into my head to meditate, you hain't a
goin' to break it up."
Says I: "Josiah Allen, come to dinner."
"Oh, I hain't hungry," says he. "The table will probably be full. I
had jest as leves wait."
"Table full!" says I. "You know jest as well as I do that we are
eatin' on the ground. Do you come and eat your dinner this minute."
"Yes, do come," says Miss Bobbet.
"Oh," says he, with that ghastly smile, a pretendin' to joke; "I have
got plenty to eat here, I can eat muskeeters."
The air was black with 'em; I couldn't deny it.
"The muskeeters will eat you, more likely," says I. "Look at your face
and hands."
"Yes, they have eat considerable of a dinner out of me, but I don't
begrech 'em. I hain't small enough, I hope, to begrech 'em one meal."
Miss Bobbet and the rest turned to go back, and the minute we were
alone he said:
"Can't you bring 40 or 50 more wimmen up here? You couldn't come here
a minute without a lot of other wimmen tied to your heels!"
I began to see daylight, and then Josiah told me.
It seems he had set down on that bottle of rhaspberry jell. That blue
stripe on the side wasn't hardly finished, as I said, and I hadn't
fastened my thread properly; so when he got to pullin' at 'em to
try to wipe off the jell, the thread started, and bein' sewed on a
machine, that seam jest ripped right open from top to bottom. That was
what he had walked off sideways towards the woods for. Josiah Allen's
wife hain't one to desert a companion in distress. I pinned 'em up as
well as I could, and I didn't say a word to hurt his feelin's, only I
jest said this to him, as I was a fixin' 'em: "Josiah Allen, is this
pleasure?" Says I: "You was determined to come."
"Throw that in my face again, will you? What if I wuz? There goes a
pin into my leg. I should think I had suffered enough without your
stabbin' of me with pins."
"Wal, then, stand still, and not be a caperin' round so. How do you
suppose I can do anything with you a tousin' round so?"
"Wal, don't be so agrevatin', then."
I fixed 'em as well as I could, but they looked pretty bad, and then,
there they was all covered with jell, too. What to do I didn't know.
But finally I told him I would put my shawl onto him. So I doubled
it up corner-ways, as big as I could, so it almost touched the ground
behind, and he walked back to the table with me. I told him it was
best to tell the company all about it, but he jest put his foot down
that he wouldn't, and I told him if he wouldn't that he must make his
own excuses to the company about wearin' the shawl. So he told 'em
that he always loved to wear summer shawls; he thought it made a man
look so dressy.
But he looked as if he would sink all the time he was a sayin' it.
They all looked dretful curious at him, and he looked as meachin' as
if he had stole a sheep, and he never took a minute's comfort, nor I
nuther. He was sick all the way back to the shore, and so was I. And
jest as we got into our wagons and started for home, the rain begun to
pour down. The wind turned our old umberell inside out in no time. My
lawn dress was most spilte before, and now I give up my bunnet. And I
says to Josiah:
"This bunnet and dress are spilte, Josiah Allen, and I shall have to
buy some new ones."
"Wal! wal! who said you wouldn't?" he snapped out.
But it wore on him. Oh, how the rain poured down. Josiah havin'
nothin' but his handkerchief on his head felt it more than I did. I
had took a apron to put on a gettin' dinner, and I tried to make him
let me pin it on to his head. But says he, firmly:
"I hain't proud and haughty, Samantha, but I do feel above ridin' out
with a pink apron on for a hat."
"Wal, then," says I, "get as wet as sop if you had ruther."
I didn't say no more, but there we jest sot and suffered. The rain
poured down, the wind howled at us, the old horse went slow, the
rheumatiz laid holt of both of us, and the thought of the new bunnet
and dress was a wearin' on Josiah, I knew.
After I had beset him about the apron, we didn't say hardly a word for
as much as 13 miles or so; but I did speak once, as he leaned forward
with the rain a drippin' offen his bandanna handkerchief onto his
white pantaloons. I says to him in stern tones:
"Is this pleasure, Josiah Allen?"
He gave the old mare a awful cut, and says he: "I'd like to know what
you want to be so agrevatin' for?"
I didn't multiply any more words with him, only as we drove up to our
door-step, and he helped me out into a mud puddle, I says to him:
"Mebby you'll hear to me another time, Josiah Allen?"
And I'll bet he will. I hain't afraid to bet a ten-cent bill that that
man won't never open his mouth to me again about a PLEASURE EXERTION.
SHAMUS O'BRIEN, THE BOLD BOY OF GLINGALL--A TALE OF '98
BY SAMUEL LOVER.
Jist afther the war, in the year '98,
As soon as the boys wor all scattered and bate,
'Twas the custom, whenever a pisant was got,
To hang him by thrial--barrin' sich as was shot.
There was trial by jury goin' on by daylight,
There was martial-law hangin' the lavins by night.
It's them was hard times for an honest gossoon:
If he missed in the judges--he'd meet a dragoon;
An' whether the sodgers or judges gev sentence,
The divil a much time they allowed for repentance,
An' it's many's the fine boy was then on his keepin'
Wid small share iv restin', or atin', or sleepin',
An' because they loved Erin, an' scorned to sell it,
A prey for the bloodhound, a mark for the bullet--
Unsheltered by night, and unrested by day,
With the heath for their barrack, revenge for their pay;
An' the bravest an' hardiest boy iv them all
Was SHAMUS O'BRIEN, from the town iv Glingall.
His limbs were well set, an' his body was light,
An' the keen-fanged hound had not teeth half so white;
But his face was as pale as the face of the dead,
And his cheek never warmed with the blush of the red;
An' for all that he wasn't an ugly young bye,
For the divil himself couldn't blaze with his eye,
So droll an' so wicked, so dark and so bright,
Like a fire-flash that crosses the depth of the night!
An' he was the best mower that ever has been,
An' the illigantest hurler that ever was seen,
An' his dancin' was sich that the men used to stare,
An' the women turn crazy, he done it so quare;
An' by gorra, the whole world gev it into him there.
An' it's he was the boy that was hard to be caught,
An' it's often he run, an' it's often he fought,
An' it's many the one can remember right well
The quare things he done: an' it's often I heerd tell
How he lathered the yeomen, himself agin four,
An' stretched the two strongest on old Galtimore.
But the fox must sleep sometimes, the wild deer must rest,
An' treachery prey on the blood iv the best;
Afther many a brave action of power and pride,
An' many a hard night on the mountain's bleak side,
An' a thousand great dangers and toils over past,
In the darkness of night he was taken at last.
Now, SHAMUS, look back on the beautiful moon,
For the door of the prison must close on you soon,
An' take your last look at her dim lovely light,
That falls on the mountain and valley this night;
One look at the village, one look at the flood,
An' one at the sheltering, far distant wood;
Farewell to the forest, farewell to the hill,
An' farewell to the friends that will think of you still;
Farewell to the pathern, the hurlin' an' wake,
And farewell to the girl that would die for your sake,
An' twelve sodgers brought him to Maryborough jail,
An' the turnkey resaved him, refusin' all bail;
The fleet limbs wor chained, an' the sthrong hands wor bound,
An' he laid down his length on the cowld prison-ground,
An' the dreams of his childhood kem over him there
As gentle an' soft as the sweet summer air,
An' happy remembrances crowding on ever,
As fast as the foam-flakes dhrift down on the river,
Bringing fresh to his heart merry days long gone by,
Till the tears gathered heavy and thick in his eye.
But the tears didn't fall, for the pride of his heart
Would not suffer one drop down his pale cheek to start;
An' he sprang to his feet in the dark prison cave,
An' he swore with the fierceness that misery gave,
By the hopes of the good, an' the cause of the brave,
That when he was mouldering in the cold grave
His enemies never should have it to boast
His scorn of their vengeance one moment was lost;
His bosom might bleed, but his cheek should be dhry,
For undaunted he lived, and undaunted he'd die.
Well, as soon as a few weeks was over and gone,
The terrible day iv the thrial kem on,
There was sich a crowd there was scarce room to stand,
An' sodgers on guard, an' dhragoons sword-in-hand;
An' the court-house so full that the people were bothered,
An' attorneys an' criers on the point iv bein' smothered;
An' counsellors almost gev over for dead,
An' the jury sittin' up in their box overhead;
An' the judge settled out so detarmined an' big,
With his gown on his back, and an illegant new wig;
An' silence was called, an' the minute it was said
The court was as still as the heart of the dead,
An' they heard but the openin' of one prison lock,
An' SHAMUS O'BRIEN kem into the dock.
For one minute he turned his eye round on the throng,
An' he looked at the bars, so firm and so strong,
An' he saw that he had not a hope nor a friend,
A chance to escape, nor a word to defend;
An' he folded his arms as he stood there alone,
As calm and as cold as a statue of stone;
And they read a big writin', a yard long at laste,
An' JIM didn't understand it, nor mind it a taste,
An' the judge took a big pinch iv snuff, and he says,
"Are you guilty or not, JIM O'BRIEN, av you plase?"
An' all held their breath in the silence of dhread,
An' SHAMUS O'BRIEN made answer and said:
"My lord, if you ask me, if in my life-time
I thought any treason, or did any crime
That should call to my cheek, as I stand alone here,
The hot blush of shame, or the coldness of fear,
Though I stood by the grave to receive my death-blow
Before GOD and the world I would answer you, no!
But if you would ask me, as I think it like,
If in the rebellion I carried a pike,
An' fought for ould Ireland from the first to the close,
An' shed the heart's blood of her bitterest foes,
I answer you, yes; and I tell you again,
Though I stand here to perish, it's my glory that then
In her cause I was willing my veins should run dhry,
An' that now for her sake I am ready to die."
Then the silence was great, and the jury smiled bright,
An' the judge wasn't sorry the job was made light;
By my sowl, it's himself was the crabbed ould chap!
In a twinklin' he pulled on his ugly black cap.
Then SHAMUS' mother in the crowd standin' by,
Called out to the judge with a pitiful cry:
"O, judge! darlin', don't, O, don't say the word!
The crathur is young, have mercy, my lord;
He was foolish, he didn't know what he was doin';
You don't know him, my lord--O, don't give him to ruin!
He's the kindliest crathur, the tendherest-hearted;
Don't part us forever, we that's so long parted.
Judge, mavourneen, forgive him, forgive him, my lord,
An' GOD will forgive you--O, don't say the word!"
That was the first minute that O'BRIEN was shaken,
When he saw that he was not quite forgot or forsaken;
An' down his pale cheeks, at the word of his mother,
The big tears wor runnin' fast, one afther th' other;
An' two or three times he endeavoured to spake,
But the sthrong, manly voice used to falther and break;
But at last, by the strength of his high-mounting pride,
He conquered and masthered his grief's swelling tide,
"An'," says he, "mother, darlin', don't break your poor heart,
For, sooner or later, the dearest must part;
And GOD knows it's betther than wandering in fear
On the bleak, trackless mountain, among the wild deer,
To lie in the grave, where the head, heart, and breast,
From thought, labour, and sorrow, forever shall rest.
Then, mother, my darlin', don't cry any more,
Don't make me seem broken, in this, my last hour;
For I wish, when my head's lyin' undher the raven,
No thrue man can say that I died like a craven!"
Then towards the judge SHAMUS bent down his head,
An' that minute the solemn death-sentince was said.
The mornin' was bright, an' the mists rose on high,
An' the lark whistled merrily in the clear sky;
But why are the men standin' idle so late?
An' why do the crowds gather fast in the street?
What come they to talk of? what come they to see?
An' why does the long rope hang from the cross-tree?
O, SHAMUS O'BRIEN! pray fervent and fast,
May the saints take your soul, for this day is your last;
Pray fast an' pray sthrong, for the moment is nigh,
When, sthrong, proud, an' great as you are, you must die.
An' fasther an' fasther, the crowd gathered there,
Boys, horses, and gingerbread, just like a fair;
An' whiskey was sellin', and cussamuck too,
An' ould men and young women enjoying the view.
An' ould TIM MULVANY, he med the remark,
There wasn't sich a sight since the time of NOAH'S ark,
An' be gorry, 'twas thrue for him, for devil sich a scruge,
Sich divarshin and crowds, was known since the deluge,
For thousands were gathered there, if there was one,
Waitin' till such time as the hangin' 'id come on.
At last they threw open the big prison-gate,
An' out came the sheriffs and sodgers in state,
An' a cart in the middle, an' SHAMUS was in it,
Not paler, but prouder than ever, that minute.
An' as soon as the people saw SHAMUS O'BRIEN,
Wid prayin' and blessin', and all the girls cryin',
A wild wailin' sound kem on by degrees,
Like the sound of the lonesome wind blowin' through trees.
On, on to the gallows the sheriffs are gone,
An' the cart an' the sodgers go steadily on;
An' at every side swellin' around of the cart,
A wild, sorrowful sound, that id open your heart.
Now under the gallows the cart takes its stand,
An' the hangman gets up with the rope in his hand;
An' the priest, havin' blest him, goes down on the ground,
An' SHAMUS O'BRIEN throws one last look round.
Then the hangman dhrew near, an' the people grew still,
Young faces turned sickly, and warm hearts turn chill;
An' the rope bin' ready, his neck was made bare,
For the gripe iv the life-strangling chord to prepare;
An' the good priest has left him, havin' said his last prayer,
But the good priest done more, for his hands he unbound,
And with one daring spring JIM has leaped on the ground;
Bang! bang! goes the carbines, and clash goes the sabres;
He's not down! he's alive still! now stand to him, neighbours!
Through the smoke and the horses he's into the crowd,--
By the heavens, he's free!--than thunder more loud,
By one shout from the people the heavens were shaken--
One shout that the dead of the world might awaken.
The sodgers ran this way, the sheriffs ran that,
An' Father MALONE lost his new Sunday hat;
To-night he'll be sleepin' in Aherloe Glin,
An' the divil's in the dice if you catch him ag'in.
Your swords they may glitter, your carbines go bang,
But if you want hangin', it's yourself you must hang.
He has mounted his horse, and soon he will be
In America, darlint, the land of the free.
"WHICH AM DE MIGHTIEST, DE PEN OR DE SWORD?"
The "Colored Debating Society" of Mount Vernon, Ohio, had some
very interesting meetings. The object of the argument on a
particular evening was the settlement, at once and forever, of
the question.
Mr. Larkins said about as follows: "Mr. Chaarman, what's de use ob a
swoard unless you's gwyne to waar? Who's hyar dat's gwyne to waar? I
isn't, Mr. Morehouse isn't, Mrs. Morehouse isn't, Mr. Newsome isn't;
I'll bet no feller wot speaks on the swoard side is any ideer ob gwyne
to waar. Den, what's de use ob de swoard? I don't tink dar's much show
for argument in de matter."
Mr. Lewman said: "What's de use ob de pen 'less you knows how to
write? How's dat? Dat's what I wants to know. Look at de chillun ob
Isr'l--wasn't but one man in de whole crowd gwine up from Egyp' to
de Promis' Lan' cood write, an' he didn't write much. [A voice in the
audience, "Who wrote de ten comman'ments, anyhow, you bet." Cheers
from the pen side.] Wrote 'em? wrote 'em? Not much; guess not; not
on stone, honey. Might p'r'aps cut 'em wid a chisel. Broke 'em all,
anyhow, 'fore he got down de hill. Den when he cut a new set, de
chillun ob Isr'l broke 'em all again. Say he did write 'em, what
good was it? So his pen no 'count nohow. No, saar. De _swoard's_ what
fotched 'em into de Promis' Lan', saar. Why, saar, it's ridiculous.
Tink, saar, ob David a-cuttin' off Goliah's head wid a _pen_, saar!
De ideer's altogedder too 'posterous, saar. De _swoard_, saar, de
_swoard_ mus' win de argument, saar."
Dr. Crane said: "I tink Mr. Lewman a leetle too fas'. He's a-speakin'
ob de times in de dim pas', when de mind ob man was crude, an' de han'
ob man was in de ruff state, an' not tone down to de refinement ob
cibilized times. Dey wasn't educated up to de use ob de pen. Deir
han's was only fit for de ruff use ob de swoard. Now, as de modern
poet says, our swoards rust in deir cubbards, an' peas, sweet peas,
cover de lan'. An' what has wrot all dis change? _De pen._ Do I take
a swoard now to get me a peck ob sweet taters, a pair ob chickens,
a pair ob shoes? No, saar. I jess take my pen an' write an order for
'em. Do I want money? I don't git it by de edge ob de swoard; I writes
a check. I want a suit ob clothes, for instance--a stroke ob de pen,
de mighty pen, de clothes is on de way. I'se done."
Mr. Newsome said: "Wid all due 'spect to de learned gemman dat's jus'
spoke, we mus' all agree dat for smoovin' tings off an' a-levelin'
tings down, dere's notting equals de swoard."
Mr. Hunnicut said: "I agrees entirely wid Mr. Newsome; an' in answer
to what Dr. Crane says, I would jess ask what's de use ob drawin' a
check unless you's got de money in de bank, or a-drawin' de order on
de store unless de store truss you? S'pose de store do truss, ain't
it easier to sen' a boy as to write a order? If you got no boy handy,
telegraf. No use for a pen--not a bit. Who ebber heard of Mr. Hill's
pen? Nobody, saar. But his swoard, saar--de swoard ob ole Bunker Hill,
saar--is known to ebbery chile in de lan'. If it hadden been for de
swoard ob ole Bunker Hill, saar, whaar'd we niggers be to-night,
saar? whaar, saar? Not hyar, saar. In Georgia, saar, or wuss, saar. No
cullud man, saar, should ebber go back, saar, on de swoard, saar."
Mr. Hunnicut's remarks seemed to carry a good deal of weight with the
audience. After speeches by a number of others, the subject was handed
over to the "committee," who carried it out and "sot on it." In due
time they returned with the followin' decision:
"De committee decide dat de swoard has de most pints an' de best
backin', an' dat de pen is de most beneficial, an' dat de whole ting
is about a stan'-off."
JUVENILE PUGILISTS.
S.C. CLEMENS.
"Yes, I've had a good many fights in my time," said old John Parky,
tenderly manipulating his dismantled nose, "and it's kind of queer,
too, for when I was a boy the old man was always telling me better. He
was a good man and hated fighting. When I would come home with my nose
bleeding or with my face scratched up, he used to call me out in the
woodshed, and in a sorrowful and discouraged way say, 'So, Johnny,
you've had another fight, hey? How many times have I got to tell
ye how disgraceful and wicked it is for boys to fight? It was only
yesterday that I talked to you an hour about the sin of fighting, and
here you've been at it again. Who was it with this time? _With Tommy
Kelly, hey?_ Don't you know any better than to fight a boy that weighs
twenty pounds more than you do, besides being two years older? Ain't
you got a spark of sense about ye? I can see plainly that you are
determined to break your poor father's heart by your reckless conduct.
What ails your finger? _Tommy bit it?_ Drat the little fool! Didn't ye
know enough to keep your finger out of his mouth? _Was trying to jerk
his cheek off, hey?_ Won't you never learn to quit foolin' 'round a
boy's mouth with yer fingers? You're bound to disgrace us all by such
wretched behaviour. You're determined never to be nobody. Did you
ever hear of Isaac Watts--that wrote, "Let dogs delight to bark and
bite"--sticking his fingers in a boy's mouth to get 'em bit, like a
fool? I'm clean discouraged with ye. Why didn't ye go for his nose,
the way Jonathan Edwards, and George Washington, and Daniel Webster
used to do, when they was boys? _Couldn't 'cause he had ye down?_
That's a purty story to tell me. It does beat all that you can't learn
how Socrates and William Penn used to gouge when they was under, after
the hours and hours I've spent in telling you about those great
men! It seems to me sometimes as if I should have to give you up in
despair. It's an awful trial to me to have a boy that don't pay any
attention to good example, nor to what I say. What! _You pulled out
three or four handfuls of his hair?_ H'm! Did he squirm any? Now if
you'd a give him one or two in the eye--but as I've told ye many
a time, fighting is poor business. Won't you--for your _father's_
sake--_won't you_ promise to try and remember that? H'm! Johnny, how
did it--ahem--which licked?"
"'_You licked him?_ Sho! Really? Well, now, I hadn't any idea you
could lick that Tommy Kelly! I don't believe John Bunyan, at ten years
old, could have done it. Johnny, my boy, you can't think how I hate to
have you fighting every day or two. I wouldn't have had him lick _you_
for five, no, not for ten dollars! Now, sonny, go right in and wash
up, and tell your mother to put a rag on your finger. And, Johnny,
don't let me hear of your fighting again!'"
"I never see anybody so down on fighting as the old man, was, but
somehow he never could break me from it."
THE OLD MAN IN THE STYLISH CHURCH.
JOHN H. YATES.
Additional effect may be given to this piece by any one who
can impersonate the old man.