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
“Miserable!” she exclaimed with flashing eyes. “Who talks of misery?”
But again she put her hand to her forehead, and endeavored to recollect
herself. “Denis,” she added, “Denis, my brain is turning! Oh, I have
no friend! Oh, mother, that I never seen, but as if it was in a dream;
mother, daughter of your daughter's heart, look down from heaven, and.
pity your orphan child in her sore trouble and affliction! Oh, how often
did I miss you, mother darlin', durin' all my life! In sickness I had
not your tend her hands about me; in sorrow I could no' hear your voice;
and in joy and happiness you were never with me to share them! I had not
your advice, my blessed mother, to guide and direct me, to tache me what
was right and what was wrong! Oh, if you will not hear your own poor
lonely orphan, who will you hear? if you will not assist her, who
ought you to assist? for, as sure as I stand here this night, you are
a blessed saint in heaven. But let me not forget the Virgin Queen of
Heaven, that I am bound to. I kneel to you, Hope of the Afflicted! To
you let them go that have a broken heart, as I have! Queen of Glory,
pity me!--Star of the Sea--Comfort of the Hopeless--Refuge of Sinners,
hear me, strengthen and support me! And you will, too. Who did you
ever cast away, mild and beautiful Virgin of Heaven? As the lily among
thorns, so are you among the daughters of Adam!* Yes, Denis, she will
support me--she will support me! I feel her power on me now! I see the
angels of heaven about her, and her mild countenance smilin' sweetly
upon the broken flower! Yes, Denis, her glory is upon me!” The last
words were uttered with her eyes flashing wildly as before, and her
whole person and countenance evidently under the influence of a highly
excited enthusiasm, or perhaps a touch of momentary insanity.
* The form of the Service of the Virgin, from which
most of the above expressions are taken is certainly
replete with beauty and poetry.
Poor Denis stood with streaming eyes, incapable of checking or
interrupting her. He had always known that her education and
understanding were above the common; but he never anticipated from
her such capacity for deep feeling, united to so much vivacity of
imagination as she then displayed. Perhaps he had not philosophy enough,
at that period of his youth, to understand the effects of a solitary
life upon a creature full of imagination and sensibility. The scenery
about her father's house was wild, and the glens singularly beautiful;
Susan lived among them alone, so that she became in a manner enamored of
solitude; which, probably mote than anything else, gives tenderness
to feeling and force to the imaginative faculties. Soon after she had
pronounced the last words, however, her good sense came to her aid.
“Denis,” said she, “you have seen my weakness; but you must now see
my strength. You know we have a trial to go through before we part for
ever.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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