In most countries under the sun, the getting of a wife is no such railroad-speed kind of affair; and, (dating from the _first_ eloquent glance of a bright eye, or sly _squeeze_ of a lily hand, to the happy day when a certain little ceremony is performed,) occupies some little time, and, as many probably will be inclined to admit, no little anxiety, interlaced with a thousand little disappointments, &c.; all very well known, and very delightful in their way, no doubt, _when all comes right at last_. But in the land we are treating of, unlike all others, except in some particulars the Eastern nations, from whom many of our customs are derived, affairs are carried on in another kind of manner. The week before Lent, or Shrove, is the great time in Clare. And, oh! what a study is here for the plenipotentiary, the _attaché_, or the financier. A young man, (suppose, for instance,) hears of the “great fortune” of some young lady in the neighborhood, or, what generally happens, he is waited on by one of his friends, (_quite by accident_) when a conversation to the following purport occurs:— “Well, Jimmy, who do you think I’ve in my eye for you?” “Why, then, how do I know, Corny?” “What do you think of Judy Tucker?” “Oh, that would be _great_, Corny! I hear she has a good stockin’ full?” “Is it her? Two hundred pounds—no less; she’s no great beauty, but—” “Oh, never heed, Corny. Do you think you could manage it?” “Oh, let me alone.” Corny then mentions it to his wife, and she takes an early opportunity to go over to Judy’s residence, where she (quite casually) mentions Jimmy Melish. “Oh, but that’s the nice boy, Judy, agrah!” “Is it Jemmy Melish you mane, that lives beyond the old church of Kilbricken?” “Yes, agrah!” (softly.) “Oh, but it’s he would make you the dashin’ husband!” “Oh, yeh! what’s that you say?” “_A husband_, dear! And _sich_ a beautiful _farm_! Ten cows—no less, and every one of them white with a black star on their foreheads. Did you ever see him, Judy?” “No, I never did.” “Well, come wid me to mass on Sunday, an’ I’ll show him to you.” And thus is the ice broken. But who is Corny, all this time? Why he is the veritable _Shanahus_; and he it is who is the oracle for all the matches in the neighborhood. Every district has its “Corny,” and it is he who has been the projector of half the matches that have been made for years in that part of the country; and seldom does it happen, so good is his judgment, that any bad selection takes place.