Going to Maynooth: Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, The Works of William Carleton, Volume ThreeCarleton, William
General
Going to Maynooth: Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, The Works of William Carleton, Volume Three
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
“Faith, he was so; an' they say there wasn't a man in Maynewth able to
tache him. But, passin' that over--you see, the father, ould Denis--an'
be Gorra, he was very bright, too, till the son grewn up, an' drownded
him wid the languidges--the father, you see, ould Denis himself, tuck
a faver whin the son was near a year in the college, an' it proved too
many for him. He died; an' whin young Dinny hard of it, the divil a one
of him would stay any longer in Maynewth. He came home like a scarecrow,
said he lost his health in it, an' refused to go back. Faith, it was
a lucky thing that his father died beforehand, for it would brake his
heart. As it was, they had terrible work about it. But ould Denis is
never dead while young Denis is livin'. Faix, he was as stiff as they
wor stout, an' wouldn't give in; so, afther ever so much' wranglin',
he got the upper hand by tellin' them that he wasn't able to bear the
college at all; an' that if he'd go back to it he'd soon folly his
father.”
“An' what turned him against the college? Was that thrue?”
“Thrue!--thrue indeed! The same youth was never at a loss for a piece
of invintion whin it sarved him. No, the sarra word of thruth at all
was in it. He soodered an' palavered a daughther of Owen Connor's,
Susy--all the daughther he has, indeed--before he wint to Maynewth at
all, they say. She herself wasn't for marryin' him, in regard of a vow
she had; but there's no doubt but he made her fond of him, for he has a
tongue that 'ud make black white, or white black, for that matther.
So, be Gorra, he got the vow taken off of her by the Bishop; she soon
recovered her health, for she was dyin' for love of him, an'--you seen
their weddin'. It 'ud be worth your while to go a day's journey to get
a sight of her--she's allowed to be the purtiest girl that ever was in
this part o' the counthry.”
“Well! well! It's a quare world. An' is the family all agreeable to it
now?”
“Hut! where was the use of houldin' out aginst him? I tell you, he'd
make them agreeable to any thing, wanst he tuck it into his head.
Indeed, it's he that has the great larnin' all out! Why, now, you'd
hardly b'lieve me, when I tell you that he'd prove you to be an ass in
three minutes; make it as plain as the sun. He would; an' often made an
ass o' myself.”
“Why, now that I look at you--aren't you Dan Murray's nephew?”
“Phadrick Murray, an' divil a one else, sure enough.”
“How is your family, Phadrick? Why, man, you don't know your friends--my
name's Cahill.”
“Is it Andy Cahill of Phuldhu? Why, thin, death alive, Andy, how is
every bit of you? Andy, I'm regulatin' everything at this weddin', an'
you must turn over your horse till we have a dhrop for ould times. Bless
my sowl! sure, I'd know your brother round a corner; an' yourself, too,
I ought to know, only that I didn't see you since you wor a slip of a
gorsoon. Come away, man, sure thim men o' yours can take care o' the
cattle. You'll asily overtake thim.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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