no time to lose it must be all finished before the day breaks." My father did not lose much time at his toilet, for he just wrapped his big coat 'round him, and slipping on his brogues, left the house. I sat up in the basket and listened till they were gone some minutes; and then, in a costume as light as my parent's, set out after them, to watch the course of the adventure. I thought to take a short cut, and be before them; but by bad luck I fell into a bog hole, and only escaped being drowned by a chance. As it was, when I reached the house, the performance had already begun. I think I see the whole scene this instant before my eyes, as I sat on a little window with one pane, and that a broken one, and surveyed the proceeding. It was a large room, at one end of which was a bed, and beside it a table, with physic bottles, and spoons, and teacups; a little farther off was another table, at which sat Billy Scanlan, with all manner of writing materials before him. The country people sat two, sometimes three, deep round the walls, all intently eager and anxious for the coming event. Peter himself went from place to place, trying to smother his grief, and occasionally helping the company to whisky-which was supplied with more than accustomed liberality. All my consciousness of the deceit and trickery could not deprive the scene of a certain solemnity. The misty distance of the half-lighted room; the highly wrought expression of the country people's faces, never more intensely excited than at some moment of this kind; the low, deep-drawn breathings, unbroken save by a sigh or a sob― the tribute of affectionate sorrow to some lost friend, whose memory was thus forcibly brought back these, I repeat it, were all so real, that, as I looked, a thrilling sense of awe stole over me, and I actually shook with fear. A low faint cough, from the dark corner where the bed stood, seemed to cause even a deeper stillness; and then in a silence where the buzzing of a fly would have been heard, my father said, "Where's Billy Scanlan? I want to make my will !" "He's here, father!" said Peter, taking Billy by the hand and leading him to the bedside. "Write what I bid ye, Billy, and be quick; for I haven't a long time afore me here. I die a good Catholic, though Father O'Rafferty won't give me the 'rites'!" I 1 A general chorus of muttered "Oh! musha, musha," was now heard through the room; but whether in grief over the sad fate of the dying man, or the unflinching severity of the priest, is hard to say. "I die in peace with all my neighbors and all mankind!" Another chorus of the company seemed to approve these charitable expressions. "I bequeath unto my son, Peter, and never was there a better son, or a decenter boy!-have you that down? I bequeath unto my son, Peter, the whole of my two farms of Killimundoonery and Knocksheboora, with the fallow meadows behind Lynch's house, the forge, and the right of turf on the Dooran bog. I give him, and much good may it do him, Lanty Cassarn's acre, and the Luary field, with the limekiln; and that reminds me that my mouth is just as dry; let me taste what ye have in the jug." Here the dying man took a very hearty pull, and seemed considerably refreshed by it. "Where was I, Billy Scanlan ?" says he; "oh, I remember, at the limekiln; I leave him that's Peter, I mean the two potato gardens at Noonan's Well; and it is the elegant fine crops grows there." "Ain't you gettin' wake, father, darlin'?" says Peter, who began to be afraid of my father's loquaciousness; for, to say the truth, the punch got into his head, and he was greatly disposed to talk. "I am, Peter, my son," says he; "I am getting wake; just touch my lips again with the jug. Ah, Peter, Peter, you watered the drink!" "No, indeed, father; but it's the taste is lavin' you," says Peter; and again a low chorus of compassionate pity murmured through the cabin. "Well, I'm nearly done now," says my father: "there's only one little plot of ground remaining; and I put it on you, Peter, -as ye wish to live a good man, and die with the same easy heart I do now,-that ye mind my last words to ye here. Are ye listening? Are the neighbors listening? Is Billy Scanlan listening?" "Yes, sir. Yes, father. We're all minding," chorused the audience. "Well, then, it's my last will and testament, and maygive me over the jug,"-here he took a long drink-"and may that blessed liquor be poison to me if I'm not as eager about this as every other part of my will; I say, then, I be queath the little plot at the crossroads to poor Con Cregan; for he has a heavy charge, and is as honest and as hard-working a man as ever I knew. Be a friend to him, Peter, dear; never let him want while ye have it yourself; think of me on my deathbed whenever he asks ye for any trifle. Is it down, Billy Scanlan ? the two acres at the cross to Con Cregan, and his heirs in secla seclorum. Ah, blessed be the saints! but I feel my heart lighter after that," says he; "a good work makes an easy conscience; and now I'll drink all the company's good health, and many happy returns What he was going to add, there's no saying; but Peter, who was now terribly frightened at the lively tone the sick man was assuming, hurried all the people away into another room, to let his father die in peace. When they were all gone, Peter slipped back to my father, who was putting on his brogues in a corner: "Con," says he, "ye did it all well; but sure that was a joke about the two acres at the cross." "Of course it was, Peter," says he; "sure it was all a joke for the matter of that won't I make the neighbors laugh hearty to-morrow when I tell them all about it!" : "You wouldn't be mean enough to betray me?" says Peter, trembling with fright. "Sure ye wouldn't be mean enough to go against yer father's dying words?" says my father; "the last sentence ever he spoke;" and here he gave a low wicked laugh, that made myself shake with fear. 66 "Very well, Con!" says Peter, holding out his hand; a bargain's a bargain; yer a deep fellow, that's all!" and so it ended; and my father slipped quietly home over the bog, mighty well satisfied with the legacy he left himself. And thus we became the owners of the little spot known to this day as Con's Acre; of which, more hereafter. FOR HOME AND FIRESIDE. BY ALFRED TENNYSON. (From "The Princess.") THY Voice is heard through rolling drums, And gives the battle to his hands; ELLEN AT THE FARM. BY SUSAN WARNER. (From "The Wide, Wide World.") [SUSAN WARNER: A popular American novelist; born in New York city, July 11, 1819. Under the pen name of "Elizabeth Wetherell" she published "The Wide, Wide World" (1850), which had a sale of 250,000 copies in the United States, and was widely read in England. Among her later works are: "Queechy," "The Hills of the Shatemuc," "The Old Helmet," "Melbourne House," "Wych Hazel," and "My Desire." She died at Highland Falls, N. Y., 1885.] CLOUDS and rain and cold winds kept Ellen within doors for several days. This did not better the state of matters between herself and her aunt. Shut up with her in the kitchen from morning till night, with the only variety of the old lady's company part of the time, Ellen thought neither of them improved upon acquaintance. Perhaps they thought the same of her; she was certainly not in her best mood. With nothing to do, the time hanging very heavy on her hands, disappointed, unhappy, frequently irritated, Ellen became at length very ready to take offense, and nowise disposed to pass it over or smooth it away. She seldom showed this in words, it is true, but it rankled in her mind. Listless and brooding, she sat day after day, comparing the present with the past, wishing vain wishes, indulging bootless regrets, and looking upon her aunt and grandmother with an eye of more settled aversion. The only other person she saw was Mr. Van Brunt, who came in regularly to meals; but he never said anything unless in answer to Miss Fortune's questions and remarks about the farm concerns. These did not interest her; and she was greatly wearied with the sameness of her life. She longed to go out again; but Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday, and Sunday passed, and the weather still kept her close prisoner. Monday brought a change, but though a cool, drying wind blew all day, the ground was too wet to venture out. On the evening of that day, as Miss Fortune was setting the table for tea, and Ellen sitting before the fire, feeling weary of everything, the kitchen door opened, and a girl somewhat larger and older than herself came in. She had a pitcher in her hand, and marching straight up to the tea table, she said: "Will you let granny have a little milk to-night, Miss Fortune? I can't find the cow. I'll bring it back to-morrow." "You hain't lost her, Nancy?" "Have, though," said the other; "she's been away these two days." 66 Why didn't you go somewhere nearer for milk?” "Oh! I don't know -I guess your'n is the sweetest,” said the girl, with a look Ellen did not understand. Miss Fortune took the pitcher and went into the pantry. While she was gone, the two children improved the time in looking very hard at each other. Ellen's gaze was modest enough, though it showed a great deal of interest in the new object; but the broad, searching stare of the other seemed intended to take in all there was of Ellen from her head to her feet, and keep it, and find out what sort of a creature she I was at once. Ellen almost shrank from the bold black eyes, but they never wavered, till Miss Fortune's voice broke the spell. "How's your grandmother, Nancy?" "Now, if you don't bring it back to-morrow, you won't get any more in a hurry," said Miss Fortune, as she handed the pitcher back to the girl. "I'll mind it,” said the latter, with a little nod of her head, which seemed to say there was no danger of her forgetting. "Who is that, Aunt Fortune?" said Ellen, when she was gone. "She is a girl that lives up on the mountain yonder.” |