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diff --git a/old/54584-0.txt b/old/54584-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index be50d0a..0000000 --- a/old/54584-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1615 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 27, -January 2, 1841, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 27, January 2, 1841 - -Author: Various - -Release Date: April 20, 2017 [EBook #54584] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IRISH PENNY JOURNAL, JAN 2, 1841 *** - - - - -Produced by Brownfox and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by JSTOR www.jstor.org) - - - - - - - - - - - THE IRISH PENNY JOURNAL. - - NUMBER 27. SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1841. VOLUME I. - -[Illustration: THE IRISH MIDWIFE.--PART II. - -BY WILLIAM CARLETON.] - -The village of Ballycomaisy was as pleasant a little place as one -might wish to see of a summer’s day. To be sure, like all other Irish -villages, it was remarkable for a superfluity of “pigs, praties, and -childre,” which being the stock in trade of an Irish cabin, it is to be -presumed that very few villages either in Ireland or elsewhere could go -on properly without them. It consisted principally of one long street, -which you entered from the north-west side by one of those old-fashioned -bridges, the arches of which were much more akin to the Gothic than the -Roman. Most of the houses were of mud, a few of stone, one or two of -which had the honour of being slated on the front side of the roof, and -rustically thatched on the back, where ostentation was not necessary. -There were two or three shops, a liberal sprinkling of public-houses, a -chapel a little out of the town, and an old dilapidated market-house -near the centre. A few little bye-streets projected in a lateral -direction from the main one, which was terminated on the side opposite to -the north-west by a pound, through which, as usual, ran a shallow stream, -that was gathered into a little gutter as it crossed the road. A crazy -antiquated mill, all covered and cobwebbed with grey mealy dust, stood -about a couple of hundred yards out of the town, to which two straggling -rows of houses, that looked like an abortive street, led you. This mill -was surrounded by a green common, which was again hemmed in by a fine -river, that ran round in a curving line from under the hunchbacked arch -of the bridge we mentioned at the beginning. Now, a little behind, or -rather above this mill, on the skirt of the aforesaid common, stood a -rather neat-looking whitish cabin, with about half a rood of garden -behind it. It was but small, and consisted merely of a sleeping-room -and kitchen. On one side of the door there was a window, opening on -hinges; and on the outside, to the right as you entered the house, there -was placed a large stone, about four feet high, backed by a sloping -mound of earth, so graduated as to allow a person to ascend the stone -without any difficulty. In this cabin lived Rose Moan, the Midwife; and -we need scarcely inform our readers that the stone in question was her -mounting-stone, by which she was enabled to place herself on pillion or -crupper, as the case happened, when called out upon her usual avocation. - -Rose was what might be called a _flahoolagh_, or portly woman, with a -good-humoured set of Milesian features; that is to say, a pair of red, -broad checks, a well-set nose, allowing for the disposition to turn up, -and two black twinkling eyes, with a mellow expression that betokened -good nature, and a peculiar description of knowing _professional_ humour -that is never to be met with in any _but_ a Midwife. Rose was dressed -in a red flannel petticoat, a warm cotton sack or wrapper, which pinned -easily over a large bust, and a comfortable woollen shawl. She always -wore a long-bordered morning cap, over which, while travelling, she -pinned a second shawl of Scotch plaid; and to protect her from the cold -night air, she enfolded her precious person in a deep blue cloak of the -true indigo tint. On her head, over cloak and shawl and morning cap, was -fixed a black “splush hat,” with the leaf strapped down by her ears on -each side, so that in point of fact she cared little how it blew, and -never once dreamed that such a process as that of Raper or Mackintosh was -necessary to keep the liege subjects of these realms warm and waterproof, -nor that two systems should exist in Ireland so strongly antithetical to -each other as those of Raper and Father Mathew. - -Having thus given a brief sketch of her local habitation and personal -appearance, we shall transfer our readers to the house of a young -new-married farmer named Keho, who lived in a distant part of the parish. -Keho was a comfortable fellow, full of good nature and credulity; but his -wife happened to be one of the sharpest, meanest, most suspicious, and -miserable devils that ever was raised in good-humoured Ireland. Her voice -was as sharp and her heart as cold as an icicle; and as for her tongue, -it was incessant and interminable. Were it not that her husband, who, -though good-natured, was fiery and resolute when provoked, exercised a -firm and salutary control over her, she would have starved both him and -her servants into perfect skeletons. And what was still worse, with a -temper that was vindictive and tyrannical, she affected to be religious, -and upon those who did not know her, actually attempted to pass herself -off as a saint. - -One night, about ten or twelve months after his marriage, honest Corny -Keho came out to the barn, where slept his two farm servants, named Phil -Hannigan and Barny Casey. He had been sitting by himself, composing his -mind for a calm night’s sleep, or probably for a curtain lecture, by -taking a contemplative whiff of the pipe, when the servant wench, with a -certain air of hurry, importance, and authority, entered the kitchen, and -informed him that Rose Moan must immediately be sent for. - -“The misthress isn’t well, Masther, an’ the sooner she’s sint for, the -betther. So mind my words, sir, if you plaise, an’ pack aff either Phil -or Barny for Rose Moan, an’ I hope I won’t have to ax it again--hem!” - -Dandy Keho--for so Corny was called, as being remarkable for his -slovenliness--started up hastily, and having taken the pipe out of his -mouth, was about to place it on the hob; but reflecting that the whiff -could not much retard him in the delivery of his orders, he sallied out -to the barn, and knocked. - -“Who’s there? Lave that, wid you, unless you wish to be shotted.” This -was followed by a loud laugh from within. - -“Boys, get up wid all haste: it’s the misthress. Phil, saddle Hollowback -and fly--(puff)--fly in a jiffy for Rose Moan; an’ do you, Barny, clap -a back-sugaun--(puff)--an Sobersides, an’ be aff for the Misthress’s -mother--(puff.)” - -Both were dressing themselves before he had concluded, and in a very few -minutes were off in different directions, each according to the orders -he had received. With Barny we have nothing to do, unless to say that he -lost little time in bringing Mrs Keho’s mother to her aid; but as Phil is -gone for a much more important character, we beg our readers to return -with us to the cabin of Rose Moan, who is now fast asleep; for it is -twelve o’clock of a beautiful moonlight night, in the pleasant month of -August. Tap-tap. “Is Mrs Moan at home?” In about half a minute her warm -good-looking face, enveloped in flannel, is protruded from the window. - -“Who’s that, _in God’s name_?” The words in italics were added, lest the -message might be one from the fairies. - -“I’m Dandy Keho’s servant--one of them, at any rate--an’ my Misthress has -got a stitch in her side--ha! ha! ha!” - -“Aisy, avick--so, she’s _down_, thin--aisy--I’ll be wid you like a bow -out of an arrow. Put your horse over to ‘the stone,’ an’ have him ready. -The Lord bring her over her difficulties, any way, amin!” - -She then pulled in her head, and in about three or four minutes sallied -out, dressed as we have described her; and having placed herself on the -crupper, coolly put her right arm round Phil’s body, and desired him to -ride on with all possible haste. - -“Push an, avouchal, push an--time’s precious at all times, but on -business like this every minute is worth a life. But there’s always one -comfort, that God is marciful. Push forrid, avick.” - -“Never fear, Mrs Moan. If it’s in Hollowback, bedad I’m the babe that’ll -take it out of him. Come, ould Hack-ball, trot out--you don’t know the -message you’re an, nor who you’re carryin’.” - -“Isn’t your misthress--manin’ the Dandy’s wife--a daughter of ould Fitzy -Finnegan’s, the schrew of Glendhu?” - -“Faith, you may say that, Rose, as we all know to our cost. Be me song, -she does have us sometimes that you might see through us; an’ only for -the masther----but, dang it, no matther--she’s down now, poor woman, an’ -it’s not just the time to be rakin’ up her failins.” - -“It is not, an’ God mark you to grace for sayin’ so. At a time like -this we must forget every thing, only to do the best we can for our -fellow-creatures. What are you lookin’ at, avick?” - -Now, this question naturally arose from the fact that honest Phil had -been, during their short conversation, peering keenly on each side of -him, as if he expected an apparition to rise from every furze-bush on -the common. The truth is, he was almost proverbial for his terror of -ghosts and fairies, and all supernatural visitants whatever; but upon -this occasion his fears arose to a painful height, in consequence of the -popular belief, that, when a midwife is sent for, the Good People throw -every possible obstruction in her way, either by laming the horse, if she -rides, or by disqualifying the guide from performing his duty as such. -Phil, however, felt ashamed to avow his fears on these points, but still -could not help unconsciously turning the conversation to the very topic -he ought to have avoided. - -“What war you looking at, avick?” - -“Why, bedad, there appeared something there beyant, like a man, only it -was darker. But be this and be that--hem, ehem!--if I could get my hands -on him, whatsomever he”---- - -“Hushth, boy, hould your tongue: you don’t know but it’s the very word -you war goin’ to say might do us harm.” - -“--Whatsomever he is, that I’d give him a lift on Hollowback if he -happened to be any poor fellow that stood in need of it. Oh! the sorra -word I was goin’ to say against any thing or any body.” - -“You’re right, dear. If you knew as much as I could tell you--push -an--you’d have a dhrop o’ sweat at the ind of every hair on your head.” - -“Be my song, I’m tould you know a power o’ quare things, Mrs Moan; an’ if -all that’s said is thrue, you sartinly do.” - -Now, had Mrs Moan and her heroic guide passed through the village of -Ballycomaisy, the latter would not have felt his fears so strong upon -him. The road, however, along which they were now going was a grass-grown -_bohreen_, that led them from behind her cabin through a waste and lonely -part of the country; and as it was a saving of better than two miles -in point of distance, Mrs Moan would not hear of their proceeding by -any other direction. The tenor of her conversation, however, was fast -bringing Phil to the state she so graphically and pithily described. - -“What’s your name?” she asked. - -“Phil Hannigan, a son of fat Phil’s of Balnasaggart, an’ a cousin to -Paddy who lost a finger in the Gansy (Guernsey) wars.” - -“I know. Well, Phil, in throth the hairs ’ud stand like stalks o’ barley -upon your head, if you heard all I could mintion.” - -Phil instinctively put his hand up and pressed down his hat, as if it had -been disposed to fly from off his head. - -“Hem! ahem! Why, I’m tould it’s wonderful. But is it thrue, Mrs Moan, -that you have been brought _on business_ to some o’ the”--here Phil -looked about him cautiously, and lowered his voice to a whisper--“to some -o’ the fairy women?” - -“Husth, man alive--what the sorra timpted you to call them anything but -the Good People? This day’s Thursday--God stand betune us an’ harm. No, -Phil, I name nobody. But there was a woman, a midwife--mind, avick, that -I don’t say _who_ she was--may be I know why too, an’ may be it would be -as much as my life is worth”---- - -“Aisey, Mrs. Moan! God presarve us! what is that tall thing there to the -right!”--and he commenced the Lord’s Prayer in Irish as fast as he could -get out the words. - -“Why, don’t you see, boy, its a fir-tree, but sorra movin’ it’s movin.” - -“Ay, faix, an’ so it is; bedad I thought it was gettin’ taller an’ -taller. Ay!--hut! it _is_ only a tree.” - -“Well, dear, there was a woman, an’ she was called away one night by -a little gentleman dressed in green. I’ll tell you the story some -time--only this, that havin’ done her _duty_, an’ tuck no payment, she -was called out the same night to a neighbour’s wife, an’ a purtier boy -you couldn’t see than she left behind her. But it seems she happened to -touch one of his eyes wid a hand that had a taste of _their_ panado an -it; an’ as the child grew up, every one wondhered to hear him speak of -the multitudes o’ thim that he seen in all directions. Well, my dear, -he kept never sayin’ anything to them until one day when he was in the -fair of Ballycomaisy, that he saw them whippin’ away meal and cotton and -butther, an’ everything that they thought serviceable to them; so you see -he could hould in no longer, an’ says he to a little fellow that was very -active an’ thievish among them, ‘Why duv you take what doesn’t belong to -you?’ says he. The little fellow looked up at him”--“God be about us, -Rose, what is that white thing goin’ along the ditch to the left of us?” - -“It’s a sheep, don’t you see? Faix, I believe you’re cowardly at night.” - -“Ay, faix, an’ so it is, but it looked very quare somehow.” - -“--An’ says he, ‘How do you know that?’ ‘Bekase I see you all,’ says the -other. ‘An’ which eye do you see us all wid?’ says he again. ‘Why, wid -the left,’ says the boy. Wid that he gave a short whiff of a blast up -into the eye, an’ from that day not a stime the poor boy was never able -to see wid it. No, Phil, I didn’t say it was _myself_--I named _nobody_.” - -“An’, Mrs Moan, is it thrue that you can put the dughaughs upon them that -trate their wives badly?” - -“Whisht, Phil. When you marry, keep your timper--that’s all.--You knew -long Ned Donnelly?” - -“Ay, bedad, sure enough; there was quare things said about”----“Push an, -avick, push an; for who knows how some of us is wanted? You have a good -masther, I believe, Phil? It’s poison the same Ned would give me if he -could. Push an, dear.” - -Phil felt that he had got his answer. The abrupt mystery of her manner -and her curt allusions left him little indeed to guess at. In this -way did the conversation continue, Phil feloniously filching, as he -thought, from her own lips, a corroboration of the various knowledge -and extraordinary powers which she was believed to possess, and she -ingeniously feeding his credulity, merely by enigmatical hints and -masked allusions; for although she took care to affirm nothing directly -or personally of herself, yet did she contrive to answer him in such a -manner as to confirm every report that had gone abroad of the strange -purposes she could effect. - -“Phil, wasn’t there an uncle o’ yours up in the Mountain Bar that didn’t -live happily for some time wid his wife?” - -“I believe so, Rose; but it was before my time, or any way when I was -only a young shaver.” - -“An’ did you ever hear how the reconcilement came betune them?” - -“No, bedad,” replied Phil, “I never did; an’ that’s no wondher, for it -was a thing they never liked to spake of.” - -“Throth, it’s thrue for you, boy. Well, I brought about----Push an, dear, -push an.--They’re as happy a couple now as breaks bread, any way, and -that’s all they wanted. - -“I’d wager a thirteen it was you did that, Rose.” - -“Hut, gorsoon, hould your tongue. Sure they’re happy now, I say, -whosomever did it. I named nobody, nor I take no pride to myself, Phil, -out o’ sich things. Some people’s gifted above others, an’ that’s all. -But, Phil?” - -“Well, ma’am?” - -“How does the Dandy an’ his scald of a wife agree? for, throth, I’m tould -she’s nothing else.” - -“Faix, but middlin’ itself. As I tould you, she often has us as empty as -a paper lanthern, wid divil a thing but the light of a good conscience -inside of us. If we _pray_ ourselves, begorra she’ll take care we’ll have -the _fastin’_ at first cost; so that you see, ma’am, we hould a devout -situation undher her.” - -“An’ so that’s the way wid you?” - -“Ay, the downright thruth, an’ no mistake. Why, the stirabout she makes -would run nine miles along a deal boord, an’ scald a man at the far end -of it.” - -“Throth, Phil, I never like to go next or near sich women or sich places, -but for the sake o’ the innocent we must forget the guilty. So push an, -avick, push an. Who knows but it’s life an’ death wid us? Have you ne’er -a spur on?” - -“The divil a spur I tuck time to wait for.” - -“Well, afther all, it’s not right to let a messager come for a woman like -me, widout what is called the Midwife’s Spur--a spur in the head--for it -has long been said that one in the head is worth two in the heel, an’ so -indeed it is,--on business like this, any way.” - -“Mrs Moan, do you know the Moriartys of Ballaghmore, ma’am?” - -“Which o’ them, honey?” - -“Mick o’ the Esker Beg.” - -“To be sure I do. A well-favoured dacent family they are, an’ full o’ the -world too, the Lord spare it to them.” - -“Bedad, they are, ma’am, a well-favoured[1] family. Well, ma’am, isn’t it -odd, but somehow there’s neither man, woman, nor child in the parish but -gives you the good word above all the women in it; but as for a midwife, -why, I heard my aunt say that if ever mother an’ child owended their -lives to another, she did her and the babby’s to you.” - -The reader may here perceive that Phil’s flattery must have had some -peculiar design in it, in connection with the Moriartys, and such indeed -was the fact. But we had better allow him to explain matters himself. - -“Well, honey, sure that was but my duty; but God be praised for all, for -every thing depinds on the Man above. She should call in one o’ those -newfangled women who take out their Dispatches from the Lying-in College -in Dublin below; for you see, Phil, there is sich a place there--an’ it -stands to raison that there should be a Fondlin’ Hospital beside it, -which there is too, they say; but, honey, what are these poor ignorant -cratures but _new lights_, every one o’ them, that a dacent woman’s life -isn’t safe wid?” - -“To be sure, Mrs Moan; an’ everyone knows they’re not to be put in -comparishment wid a woman like you, that knows sich a power. But how does -it happen, ma’am, that the Moriartys does be spakin’ but middlin’ of you?” - -“Of me, avick?” - -“Ay, faix; I’m tould they spread the mouth at you sometimes, espishily -when the people does be talkin’ about all the quare things you can do.” - -“Well, well, dear, let them have their laugh--they may laugh that win, -you know. Still one doesn’t like to be provoked--no indeed.” - -“Faix, an’ Mick Moriarty has a purty daughther, Mrs Moan, an’ a purty -penny he can give her, by all accounts. The nerra one o’ myself but -would be glad to put my comedher on her, if I knew how. I hope you find -yourself aisey on your sate, ma’am?” - -“I do, honey. Let them talk, Phil, let them talk; it may come their turn -yet--only I didn’t expect it from _them_. You! but, avick, what chance -would _you_ have with Mick Moriarty’s daughther?” - -“Ay, every chance an’ sartinty too, if some one that I know, and that -every one that knows her, respects, would only give me a lift. There’s -no use in comin’ about the bush, Mrs Moan--bedad it’s yourself I mane. -You could do it. An’, whisper, betune you and me it would be only sarvin’ -them right, in regard of the way they spake of you--sayin’, indeed, an’ -galivantin’ to the world that you know no more than another woman, an’ -that ould Pol Doolin of Ballymagowan knows oceans more than you do.” - -This was perhaps as artful a plot as could be laid for engaging the -assistance of Mrs Moan in Phil’s design upon Moriarty’s daughter. He -knew perfectly well that she would not, unless strongly influenced, lend -herself to any thing of the kind between two persons whose circumstances -in life differed so widely as those of a respectable farmer’s daughter -with a good portion, and a penniless labouring boy. With great -adroitness, therefore, he contrived to excite her prejudices against -them by the most successful arguments he could possibly use, namely, a -contempt for her imputed knowledge, and praise of her rival. Still she -was in the habit of acting coolly, and less from impulse than from a -shrewd knowledge of the best way to sustain her own reputation, without -undertaking too much. - -“Well, honey, an’ so you wish me to assist you? Maybe I could do it, and -maybe--But push an, dear, move him an; we’ll think of it, an’ spake more -about it some other time. I must think of what’s afore me now--so move, -move, acushla; push an.” - -Much conversation of the same nature took place between them, in which -each bore a somewhat characteristic part; for to say truth, Phil was as -knowing a “boy” as you might wish to become acquainted with. In Rose, -however, he had a woman of no ordinary shrewdness to encounter; and the -consequence was, that each after a little more chat began to understand -the other a little too well to render the topic of the Moriartys, to -which Phil again reverted, so interesting as it had been. Rose soon saw -that Phil was only a _plasthey_, or sweetener, and only “soothered” her -for his own purposes; and Phil perceived that Rose understood his tactics -too well to render any further tampering with her vanity either safe or -successful. - -At length they arrived at Dandy Keho’s house, and in a moment the Dandy -himself took her in his arms, and, placing her gently on the ground, -shook hands with and cordially welcomed her. It is very singular, but no -less true, that the moment a midwife enters the house of her patient, she -always uses the plural number, whether speaking in her own person or in -that of the former. - -“You’re welcome, Rose, an’ I’m proud an’ happy to see you here, an’ it’ll -make poor Bridget strong, an’ give her courage, to know you’re near her.” - -“How are we, Dandy? how are we, avick?” - -“Oh, bedad, middlin’, wishin’ very much for you of coorse, as I hear”---- - -“Well, honey, go away now. I have some words to say afore I go in, -that’ll sarve us, maybe--a charm it is that has great vartue in it.” - -The Dandy then withdrew to the barn, where the male portion of the family -were staying until the _ultimatum_ should be known. A good bottle of -potteen, however, was circulating among them, for every one knows that -occasions of this nature usually generate a festive and hospitable spirit. - -Rose now went round the house in the direction from east to west, -stopping for a short time at each of the windows, which she marked with -the sign of the cross five times; that is to say, once at each corner -and once in the middle. At each corner also of the house she signed the -cross, and repeated the following words or charm:-- - - The four Evangels and the four Divines, - God bless the moon an us when it shines. - New moon,[2] true moon, God bless me, - God bless this house an’ this family. - Matthew, Mark, Luke, an’ John, - God bless the bed that she lies on. - God bless the manger where Christ was born, - An’ lave Joy an’ comfort here in the morn. - St Bridget an’ St Patrick, an’ the holy spouse, - Keep the fairies for ever far from this house. Amen. - Glora yea, Glora yea, Glora yea yeelish, - Glora n’ahir, Glora n’vac, Glora n’spirid neev. Amen. - -These are the veritable words of the charm, which she uttered in the -manner and with the forms aforesaid. Having concluded them, she then -entered into the house, where we leave her for a time with our best -wishes. - -In the barn the company were very merry, Dandy himself being as pleasant -as any of them, unless when his brow became shaded by the very natural -anxiety for the welfare of his wife and child, which from time to time -returned upon him. Stories were told, songs sung, and jokes passed, all -full of good nature and not a little fun, some of it at the expense -of the Dandy himself, who laughed at and took it all in good part. An -occasional _bulletin_ came out through a servant maid, that matters were -just the same way; a piece of intelligence which damped Keho’s mirth -considerably. At length he himself was sent for by the Midwife, who -wished to speak with him at the door. - -“I hope there’s nothing like danger, Rose?” - -“Not at all, honey; but the truth is, we want a seventh son who isn’t -left-handed.” - -“A seventh son! Why, what do you want him for?” - -“Why, dear, just to give her three shakes in his arms;--it never fails.” - -“Bedad, an’ that’s fortunate; for there’s Mickey M’Sorley of the Broad -Bog’s a seventh son, an’ he’s not two gunshots from this.” - -“Well, aroon, hurry off one or two o’ the boys for him, and tell Phil, -if he makes haste, that I’ll have a word to say to him afore I go.” This -intimation to Phil put feathers to his heels; for from the moment that -he and Barny started, he did not once cease to go at the top of his -speed. It followed as a matter of course that honest Mickey M’Sorley -dressed himself and was back at Keho’s house before the family believed -it possible the parties could have been there. This ceremony of getting a -seventh son to shake the sick woman, in cases where difficulty or danger -may be apprehended, is one which frequently occurs in remote parts of the -country. To be sure, it is only a form, the man merely taking her in his -arms, and moving her gently three times. The writer of this, when young, -saw it performed with his own eyes, as the saying is; but in his case the -man was not a seventh son, for no such person could be procured. When -this difficulty arises, any man who has the character of being lucky, -provided he is not married to a red-haired wife, may be called in to -give the three shakes. In other and more dangerous cases Rose would send -out persons to gather half a dozen heads of blasted barley; and having -stripped them of the black fine powder with which they were covered, she -would administer it in a little new milk, and this was always attended by -the best effects. It is somewhat surprising that the whole Faculty should -have adopted this singular medicine in cases of similar difficulty, for -in truth it is that which is now administered under the more scientific -name of _Ergot of rye_. - -In the case before us, the seventh son sustained his reputation for good -luck. In about three quarters of an hour Dandy was called in “to kiss a -strange young gintleman that wanted to see him.” This was an agreeable -ceremony to Dandy, as it always is, to catch the first glimpse of one’s -own first-born. On entering he found Rose sitting beside the bed in all -the pomp of authority and pride of success, bearing the infant in her -arms, and dandling it up and down, more from habit than any necessity -that then existed for doing so. - -“Well,” said she, “here we are all safe and sound, God willin’; an’ if -you’re not the father of as purty a young man as ever I laid eyes on, I’m -not here. Corny Keho, come an’ kiss your son, I say.” - -Corny advanced, somewhat puzzled whether to laugh or cry, and taking -the child up with a smile, he kissed it five times--for that is the -mystic number--and as he placed it once more in Rose’s arms, there was a -solitary tear on its cheek. - -“Arra, go an’ kiss your wife, man alive, an’ tell her to have a good -heart, an’ to be as kind to all her fellow-creatures as God has been to -her this night. It isn’t upon this world the heart ought to be fixed, for -we see how small a thing an’ how short a time can take us out of it.” - -“Oh, bedad,” said Dandy, who had now recovered the touch of feeling -excited by the child, “it would be too bad if I’d grudge her a smack.” -He accordingly stooped, and kissed her; but, truth to confess, he did it -with a very cool and business-like air. “I know,” he proceeded, “that -she’ll have a heart like a jyant, now that the son is come.” - -“To be sure she will, an’ she must; or if not, _I’ll_ play the sorra, -an’ break things. Well, well, let her get strength a bit first, an’ -rest and quiet; an’ in the mean time get the groanin’-malt ready, until -every one in the house drinks the health of the stranger. My sowl to -happiness, but he’s a born beauty. The nerra Keho of you all ever was the -aiquails of what he’ll be yet, plaise God. Troth, Corny, he has daddy’s -nose upon him, any how. Ay, you may laugh; but, faix, it’s thrue. You -may take with him, you may own to him, any where. Arra, look at that! My -soul to happiness, if one egg’s liker another! Eh, my posey! Where was -it, alanna? Ay, you’re there, my duck o’ diamonds! Troth, you’ll be the -flower o’ the flock, so you will. An’ now, Mrs Keho, honey, we’ll lave -you to yourself awhile, till we thrate these poor cratures of sarvints; -the likes o’ them oughtn’t to be overlooked; an’ indeed they did feel -a great dale itself, poor things, about you; an’ moreover they’ll be -longin’ of coorse to see the darlin’ here.” - -Mrs Keho’s mother and Rose superintended the birth-treat between them. It -is unnecessary to say that the young men and girls had their own sly fun -upon the occasion; and now that Dandy’s apprehension of danger was over, -he joined in their mirth with as much glee as any of them. This being -over, they all retired to rest; and honest Mickey M’Sorley went home -very _hearty_,[3] in consequence of Dandy’s grateful sense of the aid he -had rendered his wife. The next morning Rose, after dressing the infant -and performing all the usual duties that one expected from her, took her -leave in these words:-- - -“Now, Mrs Keho, God bless you an’ yours, and take care of yourself. I’ll -see you agin on Sunday next, when it’s to be christened. Until then, -throw out no dirty wather before sunrise or afther sunset; an’ when -Father Molloy is goin’ to christen it, let Corny tell him not to forget -to christen it _against the fairies_, an’ thin it’ll be safe. Good bye, -ma’am; an’ look you to her, Mrs Finnegan,” said she, addressing her -patient’s mother, “an’ _banaght lath_ till I see all again.” - -[1] This term in Ireland means “handsome”--“good-looking.” - -[2] If it did not happen to be new moon, the words were “good moon,” &c. - -[3] Tipsy. - - - - -THE MINSTREL’S WALK. - -BY J. U. U. - -(To the old Irish air of “Bidh mid a gol sa poga na mban.”) - - - Green hills of the west, where I carolled along - In the Mayday of life with my harp and my song, - Though the winter of time o’er my spirit hath rolled, - And the breast of the minstrel is weary and cold; - Though no more by those famous old haunts shall I stray, - Once the themes of my song, and the guides of my way, - That each had its story, and true-hearted friend, - Before I forget ye, life’s journey shall end! - - Oh, ’twas joy in the prime of life’s morning to go - On the tracks of Clan Connell, led on by Hugh Roe, - O’er the hill of Keiscorran, renowned Ballimote, - By the Boyle, or by Newport, all passes of note, - Where the foe their vain armaments haughtily kept; - But the foot of th’ avenger went by while they slept: - The hills told no tale, but the night-cloud was red, - And the friends of the Sassenagh quaked at their tread. - - By the plains of Rath Croghan, fields famous of yore, - Though stronghold and seat of the kingly no more, - By Tulsk and Tomona, hill, valley, and plain, - To grey Ballintubber, O’Connors’ domain; - While ages rolled backwards in lengthened array, - In song and old story, the long summer day; - And cloud-like the glories of Connaught rolled by, - Till they sank in the horrors of grim Athenry! - - Through the heaths of Kiltullagh, kind, simple, though rude, - To Aeluin’s bright waters, where Willesborough stood, - Ballinlough then spoke welcome from many a door, - Where smiles lit kind faces that now smile no more; - Then away to the Moyne, o’er the moors of Mayo, - Still onward, still welcomed by high and by low, - Blake, Burke, and O’Malley, Lynch, Kirwan, and Browne, - By forest, lake, mountain, through village and town. - - Then kind were the voices that greeted my way, - ’Twas _Cead mille failte_ at closing of day, - When young hearts beat lightly, and labour was done, - For joy tracked my steps, as light follows the sun; - I had tales for the hamlet, and news for the hall, - And the tune of old times, ever welcome to all, - The praise of thy glory, dear land of the west; - But thy praises are still, and thy kind bosoms rest! - - My blessing rest with you, dear friends, though no more - Shall the poor and the weary rejoice at your door; - Though like stars to your homes I have seen you depart, - Still ye live, O ye live in each vein of my heart. - Still the light of your looks on my darkness is thrown, - Still your voices breathe round me when weary and lone; - Like shades ye come back with each feeling old strain, - But the world shall ne’er look on your equals again. - - * * * * * - -The difference between a rich man and a poor man is this--the former eats -when he pleases, the latter when he can get it.--_Sir W. Raleigh._ - - - - -APOLOGUES AND FABLES FROM FOREIGN LANGUAGES. - -(_Translated for the Irish Penny Journal._) - - -No. VI.--THE REMORSE OF A NIGHT. - -The last night of the year was about to expire; the winds, after a day -of storminess, had subsided into slumber; the white earth lay outspread, -like a shrouded map, under the moon; and innumerable stars arose out from -the remotest abysses of heaven, twinkling as brightly as though they had -but then begun their existence, and were never to suffer impairment. -Eleven o’clock had tolled from the tower of an ancient Gothic church; and -as the vibrations died away on the transparent air, an Old Man drew nigh -to the window of a dark room in the desolate dwelling of which he had -long been the solitary tenant, and cast his dull despairful eyes upwards -towards the immoveable firmament, and from thence down on the blank waste -of the earth, and then breathed a groaning prayer, that those eyes might -never survey that firmament or that earth again. Wretched was he, in -truth, that Old Man, beyond all parallel and beyond all consolation--for -his grave lay open for him, as it seemed, by his side; it was thinly -covered over, not by the flowers of Youth, but by the snows of Age; and -when, heartsick of the sight, he looked away from it into himself, he saw -that the sole fruits that he had gathered from a long and eventful life -were sins, regrets, and maladies--a decayed body, a plague-smitten soul, -a bosom full of bitterness, and an old age full of remorse. The beautiful -days of his youth now came again before him like ghosts, and resummoned -to his remembrance the cheerful morning upon which his venerable father -had first placed him upon the great Cross-road of Life--a road which, -trodden on the right hand, conducts the pilgrim along the noonday path -of Virtue into a spacious, joyous land, abounding in sunbeams, harvests, -and angelic spirits, but which, followed on the left, betrays him through -lampless and miry ways, into the rueful wildernesses of Vice, where -serpents for ever swarm, and pestilence chokes the atmosphere, and to -quench his burning thirst the sluggish black rivers yield him but slime -and poison. - -Alas! the serpents were now coiled about him--the poison was rilling -through his heart! Alas for him! he knew too well which road he had -chosen--where he was--and what he must undergo--for eternity--for -eternity! - -With an anguish, with an agony, with a despair, that language cannot even -faintly pourtray, he uplifted his withered arms towards heaven, clasped -his hands, and cried aloud, O! give me back, give me back my youth! O! my -father, lead me once more to the Cross-road, that I may once more choose, -and this time choose with foreknowledge! - -But his cries wasted themselves idly upon the frozen air, for his father -was no more, and his youth was no more--both had alike long, long ago -evanished, never to reappear. He knew this, and he wept--yes, that -miserable old man wept; but his tears relieved him not; they were like -drops of hot lava, for they trickled from a burning brain. - -He looked forth, and he saw flitting lights--wills-o’-the-wisp--dancing -over the morasses and becoming extinguished in the burial-grounds; and he -said, Such were my riotous days of folly! He again looked forth, and he -beheld a star fall from heaven to earth, and there melt away in blackness -that left no trace behind, and he said, I am that star!--and with that -woeful thought were torn open anew the leprous wounds in his bosom which -the serpents that clung around him would never suffer to be healed. - -His morbid imagination, wandering abroad till it touched on the confines -of frenzy, showed him figures of sleep-walkers traversing like shadows -the roofs of the houses:--the chimneys widened into furnaces vomiting -forth flames and monsters--the windmills lifted up their giant arms, -and threatened to crush him--and a forgotten spectre, left behind in -a deserted charnel-house, glared on him with a horrible expression of -malignity, and then mocked his terror by assuming his features. - -On a sudden there flowed out upon the air a deep, rich, and solemn stream -of music. It came from the steeple of the old Gothic church, as the bells -announced the birth of the new year, for it was now the twelfth hour. -Its cadences fell with a thrilling distinctness upon the ear and the -heart of the Old Man; and every tone in the melody, through the agency -of that mysterious power which sound possesses of re-assembling within -the forsaken halls of the soul images long departed, brought before his -mind some past scene of his life, vivid as a panoramic picture. Again -he looked round upon the lucid horizon and over the frosted earth; and -he thought on the opportunities he had forfeited--the warnings he had -slighted--the examples he had scoffed at. He thought upon the friends -of his youth, and how they, better and more fortunate than he, were now -good men, at peace with themselves--teachers of wisdom to others, fathers -of blessed families, torchlights for the world--and he exclaimed, Oh! -and I also, had I but willed it, I also might, like them, have seen with -tearless eyes, with tranquil heart, this night depart into eternity! Oh, -my dear father--my dear, dear mother! I, even I, might have been now -happy, had I but hearkened to your affectionate admonitions--had I but -chosen to profit by the blessings which on every returning New Year’s -Morn like this your tenderness led you to invoke on my head! - -Amid these feverish reminiscences of his youth, it appeared to him as -though the spectre which had assumed his features in the charnel-house -gradually approached nearer and nearer to him--losing, however, as it -advanced, one trait after another of its spectral character--till at -length, as if under the dominion of that supernatural influence which on -the last night of the old year is popularly said to compel even the Dead -to undergo a change of form, it took the appearance of a living young -man--the same young man that he had himself been fifty years before. - -He was unable to gaze any longer: he covered his face with his hands; -and, as the blistering tears gushed from his eyes, he sank down, -powerless and trembling, on his knees--and again he cried out, as if his -heart would break, O! come back to me, lost days of my youth!--come back, -come back to me once more! - -And the supplication of the Penitent was not made in vain, for they came -back to him, those days of his youth, but not yet lost! He started from -his bed--the blue moonbeams were shining in through the windows--the -midnight chimes were announcing the beginning of a new year. Yes!--all -had been but an appalling dream--all, except his sins and transgressions: -these, alas! were but too real, for conscience, even in sleep, is a -faithful monitor. But he was still young--he had not grown old in -iniquity--and with tears of repentance he thanked God for having, even by -means of so terrific a vision, awakened in his heart a feeling of horror -for the criminal career he had been pursuing, and for having revealed to -him in that glimpse of a land full of sunbeams, harvests, and angelic -spirits, the blissful goal in which, if he pleased, the path of his -existence might yet terminate. - -Youthful reader! on which of these two paths art thou? On the right-hand -path? Go forward, then, with the blessing of thy Maker, and fear nothing! -On the left-hand path? If so, pause: be forewarned--turn while yet thou -mayest--retrace thy steps--make a happier choice! I will pray that the -terrors of this ghastly Dream may not hereafter be arrayed in judgment -against thee! Alas for thee, if the time ever come when thou shalt call -aloud in thy despair, Come back, ye precious days of my youth!--unlike -the dreamer, _thou_ wilt but be mocked by the barren echo of thine own -lamentation--the precious days of thy youth will never, never come back -to thee! - - M. - - - - -TEETOTALLERS AND TOPERS. - - -It is not a little curious, and perhaps not a little amusing in its -way, to mark the feelings with which these two very different classes -contemplate each other. The introduction of teetotallism was a thing -for which the toper was wholly unprepared. It was a thing of which, _a -priori_, he could have formed no conception--a thing of which he never -dreamt. It therefore took him quite by surprise; and when it came, his -opinion of it was, and to this good hour is, that it is one of the most -absurd and monstrous ideas that ever entered into the human head. - -That a class of men should arise who would forswear the use of those -exhilarating stimulants in which he himself so much delighted--that there -should ever appear on the face of the earth such an ass as the man who -would refuse a glass of generous liquor when offered him, is to him a -thing surpassing belief; and in fact he does not, or rather will not, -believe in it. He insists upon it that it is all humbug, and that its -professors, the professors of teetotallism, may say what they please, -but that they can and do take their drink as freely as he does; the only -real difference being, that they take theirs secretly. No evidence -whatever will convince him that it is otherwise, or at least will induce -him to admit that it is so. He is, in short, determined not to believe -in so monstrous a doctrine. But should conviction at any time be too -strong for him, he then falls back on the consolatory belief that it -cannot long prevail--that it will not, can not stand. An association -whose rules should enjoin every member always to walk backwards instead -of forwards, or which should enjoin any other equally ridiculous -absurdity, might live and prosper; but teetotallism, the abstaining from -the dear potations--no, no, _that_ cannot stand any time--ridiculous, -impossible--not in the nature of things. - -As might be expected, the toper entertains a most cordial hatred of the -teetotaller; he abhors him, and detests his principles--he in fact cannot -hear him spoken of with any degree of patience. Oh, what a triumph to him -when he catches a teetotaller tripping! With what delight he treasures -up anecdotes of backsliding on the part of the professors of abstinence! -And of such anecdotes he has a large store; for he is constantly on -the look-out for them, and is not very particular on the score of -authenticity. With what glee he relates these anecdotes to his club! and -with what glee his club listens to the edifying and refreshing relation! -They will chuckle over a story of this kind for a month. Nor, in the -matter of anecdote, is the teetotaller a whit behind his unregenerated -brother. The two parties, in fact, carry on a war of anecdote against -each other--the teetotaller’s being stories of ruin and misery resulting -from dissipation--the toper’s, facetious little tales of hypocrisy and -backsliding. Both collect their anecdotes with great industry, and -propagate them with great zeal and diligence. - -The toper’s attitude, as regards the teetotaller, is of course a hostile -one. But it is not a bold one. There is nothing of defiance in it, -although he sometimes affects it. For although he hates the teetotaller, -he also stands in awe of him; being oppressed with an awkward -consciousness that the latter has the right side of the argument, and the -weight of general opinion is on his side--that, in short, the teetotaller -is right and he is wrong. - -This consciousness gives to his hostility a sneaking and timid character, -and induces him to confine himself in the matter of retaliation to the -facetious joke and sly insinuation. On more open warfare he dare not -venture. The teetotaller is thus the assailing party: he takes and keeps -the field manfully, and with bold front and loud voice dares the toper to -the combat. The latter, in conscious weakness, shrinks at the sound, as -do the small animals of the forest when they hear the roar of the lion; -and getting out of his way as fast as he can, retires to his fastnesses, -the drinking-shops, and hedges himself round with bottles and quart-pots. - -The toper always carefully eschews any thing like direct and open -personal contact with the enemy, in the shape of discussions on the -merits of the question of abstinence. There is, in fact, nothing he so -much abominates as any attempt at reasoning on the subject, where such -reasoning has for its object to show the advantages of temperance or -intemperance. The toper thus at all times prefers keeping out of the -teetotaller’s way, and, although professing the most entire disregard of -him, will at any time go a mile about to avoid him. He has an instinctive -dislike of him, and this because he is a living personified reflection on -himself. - -Turning now to the teetotaller, we find two or three things in his -conduct, too, with reference to the toper, that are rather curious in -their way. In the first place, it is curious to mark the deep interest he -takes in what may be called the tippling statistics of his neighbourhood; -and the amount of knowledge which he contrives to acquire on this -subject is really amazing. He knows all the topers in his vicinity, and -keeps a sharp eye on their proceedings. He knows every one of their -haunts too--knows the different degrees of dissipation to which each -has attained, and could almost tell on any given day what quantity each -drank on the preceding night. In short, so vigilantly does he watch all -the outgoings and incomings of these marked men, and yet without seeming -to notice them, that they can hardly swallow a single _cropper_ without -his knowing it. The whole thing, in fact, is a sort of private study of -his own, and one to which he devotes a great deal of quiet observation -and secret reflection: he takes a deep interest in it, and hence the -proficiency he makes out in the knowledge of its details. - -But our teetotaller not only knows all the professed, undisguised -topers of his locality; he knows--much more striking proof of his -vigilance--every man also whose habits, although not yet sufficiently -intemperate to attract the attention of any one but a teetotaller, -exhibit signs and symptoms of becoming gradually worse. The tippling -progress of these persons he watches with the deepest interest, and keeps -himself accurately informed regarding the extent and frequency of their -debauches. The teetotaller, in short, keeps a vigilant eye over the -entire drinking system of his neighbourhood, and professes an astonishing -knowledge of what every one is doing in this way. If the teetotaller’s -residence be in a small town, his surveillance then embraces its whole -extent, and hardly can a single bumper be swallowed within its limits, of -which he does not, somehow or other, obtain notice. - -Abhorring dissipation itself, the teetotaller naturally extends that -abhorrence to its signs and symptoms. On flushed and pimpled faces -he looks with aversion and distrust, but on a red nose with absolute -horror. We once saw a curious instance of this:--A gentleman with a -highly illumed proboscis one evening entered a teetotal coffee-room in -which we happened to be seated. The nose--for we sink the gentleman, -its owner, altogether, as an unnecessary incumbrance--passed, although -with deliberate movement, like a fiery meteor, up the entire length of -the room, exciting in its progress the utmost horror and dismay amongst -the teetotallers with whom the apartment was thronged. The sensation, -in fact, created by the red nose was immense, although not noisy in its -expression. - -It was indicated merely by an extensive and earnest whispering, by a -shuffling of feet, and a general fidgetty sort of movement, giving, -though in an unobtrusive form, a very vivid idea of the presence of some -exceedingly disagreeable object. The whole room, in short, was shocked -by the red nose, although they refrained from expressing that feeling by -any more marked demonstration than those we have mentioned. The red nose -seemed for some time unconscious of the effects it was producing, but the -detection of a number of horror-stricken faces peering eagerly over the -edges and round the corners of boxes, to get a glimpse of the detestable -object, betrayed the real state of the case. The red nose, however, -evinced no emotion on making the discovery, but passed quietly into an -unoccupied box, took up a paper, and ordered a glass of lemonade. The -landlord looked queer at the nose as he tabled the order, but of course -said nothing. - -Now, we thought at the time, how different would have been the reception -of the gentleman with the red nose by a club of topers! In such case, his -nose, in place of being looked on with horror, would have been viewed -with respect. It would have been a passport to the highest favour of the -jolly fraternity, and would have at once admitted its owner to their -confidence and good-fellowship. We do not know, indeed, that its entrance -would not have been hailed by a shout of acclamation; for, viewed as one -of the chief insignia of a boon companion, it was truly a splendid nose. - - C. - - - - -MORAL EVIL MAN’S OWN CREATION. - - -Man brings upon himself a thousand calamities, as consequences of his -artifices and pride, and then, overlooking his own follies, gravely -investigates the origin of what he calls evil:-- - -He compromises every natural pleasure to acquire fame among transient -beings, who forget him nightly in sleep, and eternally in death; and -seeks to render his name celebrated among posterity, though it has no -identity with his person, and though posterity and himself can have no -contemporaneous feeling. - -He deprives himself and all around him of every passing enjoyment, to -accumulate wealth that he may purchase other men’s labour, in the vain -hope of adding happiness to his own. - -He omits to make effective laws to protect the poor against the -oppressions of the rich, and then wears out his existence under the fear -of becoming poor, and being the victim of his own neglect and injustice. - -He arms himself with murderous weapons; and on the slightest instigation, -and for hire, practises murder as a science, follows this science as -a regular profession, and honours its chiefs above benefactors and -philosophers, in proportion to the quantity of blood they have shed, or -the mischiefs they have perpetrated. - -He disguises the most worthless of the people in showy liveries, and -then excites them to murder men whom they never saw, by the fear of being -killed if they do not kill. - -He revels in luxury and gluttony, and then complains of the diseases -which result from repletion. - -He tries in all things to counteract or improve the provisions of nature, -and then afflicts himself at his disappointments. - -He multiplies the chances against his own life and health by his numerous -artifices, and then wonders at their fatal results. - -He shuts his eyes against the volume of truth as presented by Nature, -and, vainly considering that all was made for him, founds on this false -assumption various doubts in regard to the justice of eternal causation. - -He interdicts the enjoyment of all other creatures, and regarding the -world as his property, in mere wantonness destroys myriads on whom have -been bestowed beauties and perfections. - -He forgets that to live and let live is a maxim of universal justice, -extending not only to his fellow creatures, but to inferior ones, to whom -his moral obligations are greater, because they are more in his power. - -He afflicts himself that he cannot live for ever, though his forefathers -have successively died to make room for him. - -He repines at the thought of losing that life, the use of which he so -often perverts: and though he began to exist but yesterday, thinks the -world was made for him, and that he ought to continue to enjoy it for -ever. - -He desires to govern others, but, regardless of their dependence upon his -benevolence, is commonly gratified in displaying the power entrusted to -him by a tyrannical abuse of it. - -He makes laws, which, in the hands of mercenary lawyers, serve as snares -to unwary poverty--but as shields to crafty wealth. - -He acknowledges the importance of educating youth, yet teaches them any -thing but their social duties in the political state in which they live. - -He passes his days in questioning the providence of Nature, in ascribing -evil to supernatural causes, in feverish expectation of results contrary -to the necessary harmony of the world. - - * * * * * - -THE LABOUR OF STUDY.--It is impossible for any man to be a determined -student without endangering his health. Man was made to be active. The -hunter who roams through the forest, or climbs the rocks of the Alps, -is the man who is hardy, and in the most robust health. The sailor who -has been rocked by a thousand storms, and who labours day and night, -is a hardy man, unless dissipation has broken his constitution. Any -man of active habits is likely to enjoy good health, if he does not -too frequently over-exert himself. But the student’s habits are all -unnatural, and by them nature is continually cramped and restrained. -Men err in nothing more than in the estimate which they make of human -labour. The hero of the world is the man that makes a bustle--the man -that makes the road smoke under his chaise-and-four--the man that -raises a dust about him--the man that ravages or devastates empires. -But what is the real labour of this man, compared with that of a silent -sufferer? He lives on his projects: he encounters, perhaps, rough roads, -incommodious inns, bad food, storms and perils; but what are these? His -project, his point, the thing that has laid hold on his heart--glory--a -name--consequence--pleasure--wealth--these render the man callous to the -pains and efforts of the body. I have been in both states, and therefore -understand them; and I know that men form this false estimate. Besides, -there is something in bustle, and stir, and activity, that supports -itself. At one period I preached and read five times on a Sunday, and -rode sixteen miles. But what did it cost me? Nothing! Yet most men would -have looked on, while I was rattling from village to village, with all -the dogs barking at my heels, and would have called me a hero; whereas, -if they were to look at me now, they would call me an idle, lounging -fellow. “He gets into his study (they would say)--he walks from end to -end--he scribbles on a scrap of paper--he throws it away and scribbles -on another--he sits down--scribbles again--walks about!” They cannot see -that here is an exhaustion of the spirit which, at night, will leave -me worn to the extremity of endurance. They cannot see the numberless -efforts of mind which are crossed and stifled, and recoil on the spirits -like the fruitless efforts of a traveller to get firm footing among the -ashes on the steep sides of Mount Etna.--_Rev. John Todd--Student’s -Guide._ - - * * * * * - -NECESSITY OF A STEADFAST CHARACTER.--The man who is perpetually -hesitating which of two things he will do first, will do neither. The -man who resolves, but suffers his resolution to be changed by the first -counter-suggestion of a friend--who fluctuates from opinion to opinion, -from plan to plan--and veers, like a weathercock, to every point of the -compass, with every breath of caprice that blows--can never accomplish -anything great or useful. Instead of being progressive in anything, he -will be at best stationary, and more probably retrograde, in all. It is -only the man who first consults wisely, then resolves firmly, and then -executes his purpose with inflexible perseverance, undismayed by those -petty difficulties which daunt a weaker spirit--that can advance to -eminence in any line. Let us take, by way of illustration, the case of -a student. He commences the study of the dead languages; but presently -a friend comes, and tells him that he is wasting his time, and that, -instead of obsolete words, he had much better employ himself in acquiring -new ideas. He changes his plan, and sets to work at the mathematics. -Then comes another friend, who asks him, with a grave and sapient face, -whether he intends to become a professor in a college; because, if he -does not, he is misemploying his time; and that, for the business of -life, common mathematics is quite enough of mathematical science. He -throws up his Euclid, and addresses himself to some other study, which in -its turn is again relinquished, on some equally wise suggestion: and thus -life is spent in changing his plans. You cannot but perceive the folly -of this course; and the worse effect of it is, the fixing on your mind a -habit of indecision, sufficient of itself to blast the fairest prospects. -No--take your course wisely, but firmly: and having taken it, hold upon -it with heroic resolution; and the Alps and Pyrenees will sink before -you--the whole empire of learning will lie at your feet; while those who -set out with you, but stopped to change their plans, are yet employed in -the very profitable business of changing their plans. Let your motto be -_Perseverance_. Practise upon it, and you will be convinced of its value -by the distinguished eminence to which it will conduct you.--_Wirt’s -Essays._ - - * * * * * - -ILL TEMPER.--Mankind are ignorant enough, both in the mass, about general -interests, and individually, about the things which belong to their -peace; but of all mortals none perhaps are so awfully self-deluded as -the unamiable. They do not, any more than others, sin for the sake of -sinning; but the amount of woe caused by their selfish unconsciousness -is such as may well make their weakness an equivalent for other men’s -gravest crimes. There are great diversities of hiding-places for their -consciences--many mansions in the dim prison of discontent; but it may be -doubted whether, in the hour when all shall be uncovered to the eternal -day, there will be revealed a lower deep than the hell which they have -made. They perhaps are the only order of evil ones who suffer hell -without seeing and knowing that it is hell. But they are under a heavier -curse even than this; they inflict torments, second only to their own, -with an unconsciousness almost worthy of spirits of light. While they -complacently conclude themselves the victims of others, or pronounce -that they are too singular, or too refined, for common appreciation, -they are putting in motion an enginery of torture whose aspect will one -day blast their minds’ sight. The dumb groans of their victims will -sooner or later return upon their ears from the heights of the heaven -to which the sorrows of men daily ascend. The spirit sinks under the -prospect of the retribution of the unamiable; if there be indeed an -eternal record--an impress on some one or other human spirit--of every -chilling frown, of every querulous tone, of every bitter jest, of every -insulting word--of all abuses of that tremendous power which mind has -over mind. The throbbing pulses, the quivering nerves, the wrung hearts, -that surround the unamiable--what “a cloud of witnesses” is here! -and what plea shall avail against them? The terror of innocents who -should know no fear--the vindictive emotions of dependents who dare not -complain--the faintness of heart of life-long companions--the anguish -of those who love--the unholy exultation of those who hate--what an -array of judges is here! and where can an appeal be lodged against their -sentence? Is pride of singularity a rational plea? Is super-refinement, -or circumstance from God, or uncongeniality in man, a sufficient ground -of appeal, when the refinement of one is a grace granted for the luxury -of all, when circumstance is given to be conquered, and uncongeniality -is appointed for discipline? The sensualist has brutified the seraphic -nature with which he was endowed--the depredator has intercepted the -rewards of toil, marred the image of justice, and dimmed the lustre of -faith in men’s minds--the imperial tyrant has invoked a whirlwind to lay -waste, for an hour of God’s eternal year, some region of society. But the -unamiable--the domestic torturer--has heaped wrong on wrong and woe on -woe, through the whole portion of time that was given him, until it would -be rash to say that there are any others more guilty than he. If there be -hope or solace for the domestic torturer, it is that there may have been -tempers about him the opposite of his own. It is matter of humiliating -gratitude that there were some which he could not ruin, and that he was -the medium of discipline by which they were exercised in forbearance, in -divine forgiveness and love. If there be solace in such an occasional -result, let it be made the most of by those who need it; for it is the -only possible alleviation to their remorse. Let them accept it as the -free gift of a mercy which they have insulted, and a long-suffering which -they have defied.--_From Deerbrook, a Tale, by Harriet Martineau._ - - * * * * * - -SLANDER AND VINDICATION.--Vindication in some cases partakes of the same -qualities that Homer ascribes to prayer. Slander, “strong, and sound of -wing, flies through the world, afflicting men;” but Vindication, lame, -wrinkled, and imbecile, for ever seeking its object, and never obtaining -it, follows after, only to make the person in whose behalf it is employed -more completely the scorn of mankind. The charge against him is heard by -thousands, the vindication by few. Wherever Vindication comes, is not the -first thing it tells of the unhappy subject of it, that his character -has been tarnished, his integrity suspected--that base motives and vile -actions have been imputed to him--that he has been scoffed at by some, -reviled by others, and looked at askance by all? Yes; the worst thing I -would wish to my worst enemy is, that his character should be the subject -of vindication. And what is the well-known disposition of mankind in this -particular? All love the scandal. It constitutes a tale that seizes upon -the curiosity of our species; it has something deep and obscure, and -mysterious in it; it has been whispered from man to man, and communicated -by winks, and nods, and shrugs, the shaking of the head, and the speaking -motion of the finger. But Vindication is poor, and dry, and cold, and -repulsive. It rests in detections and distinctions, explanations to be -given to the meaning of a hundred phrases, and the setting right whatever -belongs to the circumstances of time and place. What bystander will bend -himself to the drudgery of thoroughly appreciating it? Add to which, that -all men are endowed with the levelling principle, as with an instinct. -Scandal includes in it, as an element, that change of fortune which is -required by the critic from the writer of an epic poem or a tragedy. -The person respecting whom a scandal is propagated is of sufficient -importance, at least in the eyes of the propagator and the listener, to -be made a subject for censure. He is found, or he is erected into, an -adequate centre of attack; he is first set up as a statue to be gazed -at, that he may afterwards be thrown down and broken to pieces, crumbled -into dust, and made the prey of all the winds of heaven.--_Godwin’s -Mandeville._ - - * * * * * - -The weather is not a safe topic of discourse; your company may be -hippish; nor is health; your associate may be a hypochondriac; nor is -money; you may be suspected as a borrower.--_Zimmerman._ - - * * * * * - -When all is done, human life is at the best but like a froward child, -that must be played with and humoured a little to keep it quiet till it -falls asleep, and then the care is over.--_Sir W. Temple._ - - * * * * * - -Time runs on, and when youth and beauty vanish, a fine lady who had never -entertained a thought into which an admirer did not enter, finds in -herself a lamentable void. - - * * * * * - -The poorest of all family goods are indolent females. If a wife knows -nothing of domestic duties beyond the parlour or the boudoir, she is a -dangerous partner in these times of pecuniary uncertainty. - - * * * * * - -Friendship, love, and piety, ought to be handled with a sort of -mysterious secrecy; they ought to be spoken of only in the rare moments -of perfect confidence--to be mutually understood in silence. Many things -are too delicate to be thought--many more to be spoken. - - * * * * * - - Printed and published every Saturday by GUNN and CAMERON, at - the Office of the General Advertiser, No. 6, Church Lane, - College Green, Dublin.--Agents:--R. GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley, - Paternoster Row, London; SIMMS and DINHAM, Exchange Street, - Manchester; C. DAVIES, North John Street, Liverpool; J. DRAKE, - Birmingham; SLOCOMBE & SIMMS, Leeds; FRASER and CRAWFORD, - George Street, Edinburgh; and DAVID ROBERTSON, Trongate, - Glasgow. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. -27, January 2, 1841, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IRISH PENNY JOURNAL, JAN 2, 1841 *** - -***** This file should be named 54584-0.txt or 54584-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/5/8/54584/ - -Produced by Brownfox and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by JSTOR www.jstor.org) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. 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