Our Little Irish CousinWade, Mary Hazelton Blanchard
General
Our Little Irish Cousin
Wade, Mary Hazelton Blanchard
Children -- Ireland -- Juvenile literature; Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Juvenile literature
Did you ever hear of the Blarney Stone? Or did you ever hear one person
say to another, who has made a very polite or flattering speech, "Well,
well, I think you must have kissed the Blarney Stone?"
Perhaps you did not understand the reason for such a remark. Now you
shall hear it.
If you ever climb to the top of the walls of Blarney Castle and look
down over the walls on the outside, you will see a certain stone.
[Illustration: MOLLIE AND HER FATHER VISIT BLARNEY CASTLE.]
It is a magic stone, you may be told. It has a great charm, for, if you
kiss it, you will be blessed ever after with the power of eloquent
speech. Your words to charm and wheedle will never fail you. You will
always be able to say the right thing in the right place at the right
time. You will say it so well you will make yourself very pleasing to
your listeners.
But how is anybody able to kiss the Blarney Stone? It is too far down to
be reached from the top, and too far up to be reached from the bottom.
There is only one way. You must have a rope tied to your waist, and
trust some one to let you down over the wall till you reach it.
There are some people foolish enough to do this very thing.
As Mollie stood looking and wishing she dared try it, she heard some
one telling a story. It was about a young man who got his friends to
lower him out over the wall.
But, just as his lips touched the stone, a shower of coins fell to the
ground below. The young man had forgotten to take the money out of his
pockets.
Every one laughed at the story, and Mollie wished she could have been
there to see the funny sight.
"I didn't kiss the real Blarney Stone," she told Norah. "But there was
one inside the walls. It was a sort of make-believe Blarney Stone, and
we all kissed that instead."
"Daniel O'Connell must have been to Blarney Castle and kissed the
stone," said Norah, quite seriously. "How else could he have had the
power to move every one by his words? He was a great man. When I grow
up, I'll be after going to the great city of Dublin to see his
monimint. You see if I don't, Mollie darlint."
"Maybe we'll be going together, Norah," was the answer.
And the two little girls skipped arm in arm across the fields of the
beautiful Emerald Isle.
THE END.
Selections from The Page Company's Books for Young People
THE BLUE BONNET SERIES
_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per
volume_ $1.75
A TEXAS BLUE BONNET
By CAROLINE E. JACOBS.
"The book's heroine, Blue Bonnet, has the very finest kind of wholesome,
honest, lively girlishness."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._
BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY
By CAROLINE E. JACOBS and EDYTH ELLERBECK READ.
"A healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every chapter."--_Boston
Transcript._
BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON
By CAROLINE E. JACOBS and LELA HORN RICHARDS.
"It is bound to become popular because of its wholesomeness and its many
human touches."--_Boston Globe._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account