Fardorougha, The Miser: The Works of William Carleton, Volume OneCarleton, William
General
Fardorougha, The Miser: The Works of William Carleton, Volume One
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
In the mean time, his boy grew up the pride and ornament of the parish,
idolized by his mother, and beloved by all who knew him. Limited and
scanty was the education which his father could be prevailed upon to
bestow upon him; but there was nothing that could deprive him of his
natural good sense, nor of the affections which his mother's love had
drawn out and cultivated. One thing was remarkable in him, which we
mention with reluctance, as it places his father's character in a
frightful point of view; it is this, that his love for that father was
such as is rarely witnessed, even in the purest and most affectionate
circles of domestic life. But let not our readers infer, either from
what we have written, or from any thing we may write, that Fardorougha
hated this lovely and delightful boy; on the contrary, earth contained
not an object, except his money, which he loved so well. His affection
for him, however, was only such as could proceed from the dregs of a
defiled and perverted heart. This is not saying much, but it is saying
all. What in him was parental attachment, would in another man, to
such a son, be unfeeling and detestable indifference. His heart sank
on contemplating the pittance he allowed for Connor's education; and no
remonstrance could prevail on him to clothe the boy with common decency.
Pocket-money was out of the question, as were all those considerate
indulgences to youth, that blunt, when timely afforded, the edge of
early anxiety to know those amusements of life, which, if not innocently
gratified before passion gets strong, are apt to produce, at a later
period, that giddy intoxication, which has been the destruction of
thousands. When Connor, however, grew up, and began to think for
himself, he could not help feeling that, from a man so absolutely
devoted to wealth as his father was, to receive even the slenderest
proof of affection, was in this case no common manifestation of the
attachment he bore him. There was still a higher and nobler motive. He
could not close his ears to the character which had gone abroad of his
father, and from that principle of generosity, which induces a man, even
when ignorant of the quarrel, to take the weaker side, he fought his
battles, until, in the end, he began to believe them just. But the most
obvious cause of the son's attachment we have not mentioned, and it is
useless to travel into vain disquisitions, for that truth which may be
found in the instinctive impulses of nature. He was Connor's father,
and though penurious in everything that regarded even his son's common
comfort, he had never uttered a harsh word to him during his life, or
denied him any gratification which could be had without money. Nay,
a kind word, or a kind glance, from Fardorougha, fired the son's
resentment against the world which traduced him; for how could it be
otherwise, when the habitual defence made by him, when arraigned for
his penury, was an anxiety to provide for the future welfare and
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