Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

RECOLLECTIONS OF IRELAND.

No. II.

A PARISH HISTORY.

THERE was something in the smile with which the rector heard his daughter's self-rebuked and acquiescent tone in saying the foregoing words, that convinced me his refusal had been by no means as decided as he certainly led us to imagine; however I knew nothing about this mighty matter, and the interest which either Miss Nanny or Kate Conolly might take in obtaining a holiday for John Tennisson was quite a mystery to me. Our rector probably conjectured this, and turning to me, still smiling,

said

'In our little world nothing is insignificant:' and having laid down this established dogma, he forthwith proceeded to its illustration.

'There is now going on here a little parish history, in which my daughter, at least, takes some interest.'

Now, papa,' Nanny interrupted with a very reproachful glance, I am sure you take as much yourself.'

Her father shook his head with a good-humoured smile.

'Quite impossible, my love, as our friend will say when she hears what it is. You must know we are

in expectation of no less an event than a wedding ; the intended bride you saw this morning; her future husband is John Tennisson, who, as I conclude you also know, is not only my head gardener, steward and manager, but general overseer of all the circumstances and affairs of the parish.'

I could not indeed have been long at the rectory without knowing this same, for seldom was a meal long ended without the servant having announced'John Tennisson wants to speak to you, sir.' He was a very respectable looking young man, one whose countenance might have been a passport for him; in England he would certainly have been MR. Tennesson, but at the glebe he was plain John.

'Well,' I said, on hearing the rector's information, 'I could hardly have thought that Irish feeling under such circumstances could have refused poor Kate's boon.'

"Ah! my dear lady,' said the rector, 'you are not aware of the circumstances under which those young people are placed. However I did not refuse.' 'Oh, papa, I am so glad.'

'Indeed, Nanny, you are very wrong.'

'But you have not told me, you know, what the holiday was wanted for.'

To go to the fair of '

'Oh! then I see your reason; but Tennisson is so steady, I am sure they will not mix in anything bad.' "I hope not, but in my opinion Kate has acted most imprudently in forming this plan.'

"You do not, I suppose, approve of these things?" I remarked, chiefly because I had nothing more important to say.

"They are not only the source of much evil and

sin, but unhappily they are selected as the occasion of putting into execution every malicious, violent, revengeful or unlawful purpose. I much fear John Tennisson is placing himself in the way of much unpleasantness, if not danger, by going to this fair tomorrow; but to explain the ground of my fear, I must tell you how he is situated. He is valuable to me, not merely as a most steady, upright, intelligent young man, but as being, like his father who used to boast that none of his name had ever been a Roman Catholic, a staunch Protestant; indeed he was at an early age enrolled among the Orangemen. It is possible therefore that, under any circumstances, he would not be without some enemies in this place, where party spirit runs so high, but John's disposition is so good, his manner is so pleasing, and his character so excellent, that he was, until lately, universally respected, and, putting his religion aside, I should say generally a favourite.'

'And what has produced the change?' I asked.

'An act which I think is on his part both inconsistent and unwise; his intention of marrying a Roman Catholic inconsistency in a religious profession makes the enemies of religion only more bitter against those whom they would rail at for being too strict or too uncompromising.'

'And is pretty Kate Conolly a Roman Catholic?' 'Yes, though she is Nanny Bawn's foster-sister: you would not take her to be as old as my bettergrown girl, yet she is a few months older. Her history is rather singular; her father was a soldier, he was professedly a Romanist, but having really no religion at all, he was, like the great men he fought against, very liberal to all; he married a poor Scotch

[ocr errors]

girl, a Presbyterian, who either fancied they could get on very well together, or perhaps never thought about it, until, being discharged, he came home to his native place, and they took up their abode with his widowed mother, a bigotted and most disagreeably-tempered woman. She made poor Margaret's life wretched; I believe the only peaceful time she knew was when she was in this house, nursing Miss Nan: this period was also, I trust, made the means of teaching her to think of religion, not as a matter to be held in name only, but as a power to be experienced in deed and in truth; I believe she returned to her home a sincere Christian, but then, as the hope of turning her to the chapel became less, her situation was more painful: for more than ten years she led a life of conflict, and then died of decline. Nothing could make Conolly treat her unkindly, but he was so dependant on his mother, who is pretty well off, and so anxious that she should take charge of the child, as his own health was very bad, that he could not take a very decided part: he watched over his poor wife, and received from her dying lips an injunction not to prevent their child from coming to the glebe or 'reading the minister's books,' if she wished to do so. At the time of her mother's death a finer child than little Kate could not have been seen; she had been carefully instructed by her mother, who, like most Scotch people, was well educated, for her station. She was a most lively, intelligent little thing, and as you have some idea how close a connection fosterage forms among Irish families, you will not wonder that the foster-sisters were very great friends. Simply on account of the privileges annexed to this claim of fosterage, little Kate was allowed a greater inter-,

course with us, and a more unrestricted access to our schools and meetings, than her grandmother, after her father's death, would probably have otherwise permitted. Kate was early instructed in the Bible, and the first religious sentiments implanted in her mind were Protestant, and her acute judgment and lively imagination always persuaded me she would not remain in the bondage of Popery. However, about two years ago this fair appearance began to change. I had heard, indeed, some slight accounts of her grandmother's becoming more unpleasant to her on this subject as she approached womanhood, than she had been before; but I am very sure that opposition would never make such a mind as her's to yield; and it is certainly singular, that both Nanny and myself remarked, that since she became so intimate with Tennisson she has withdrawn more and more from everything connected with Protestantism. They were always intimate as children, at least during their father's lives, for old Tennisson was sergeant in the regiment with Connolly, and came back here about the same time. Certainly Kate's complete dereliction has only taken place within the last year; but she undoubtedly became more reserved in the expression of her opinions-which she used to utter with a sort of careless frankness that spoke her no true disciple of the Papal church-at the very time we might suppose these opinions would be strengthened and encouraged. Latterly she has given up the Sunday school, the Bible class, and missionary meeting, at all of which she used to be a constant attendant; and indeed I should be grieved at her state, and at poor Tennison's prospects, if I did not find she still

« AnteriorContinuar »