Phelim Otoole's Courtship and Other Stories: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume ThreeCarleton, William
General
Phelim Otoole's Courtship and Other Stories: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume Three
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
In a few days after the night we have described, a man covered with
rags, without shoe, or stocking, or shirt, having on an old hat, through
the broken crown of which his hair, wefted with bits of straw, stood
out, his face shrunk and pale, his beard long and filthy, and his eyes
rayless and stupid--a man of this description, we say, with one child in
his arms, and two more accompanying him, might be seen begging
through the streets of Ballykeerin; yes, and often in such a state of
drunkenness as made it frightful to witness his staggering gait, lest he
might tumble over upon the infant, or let it fair out of his arms. This
man was Art Maguire; to such a destiny had he come, or rather had he
brought himself at last; Art Maguire--one of the great Maguires of
Fermanagh!
But where is she--the attached, the indomitable in love--the patient,
the much enduring, the uncomplaining? Alas! she is at length separated
from him and them; her throbbing veins are hot and rife with fever--her
aching head is filled with images of despair and horror--she is calling
for her husband--her young and manly husband--and says she will not be
parted from him--she is also calling for her children, and demands to
have them. The love of the mother and of the wife is now furious; but,
thank God, the fury that stimulates it is that of disease, and not of
insanity. The trials and privations which could not overcome her noble
heart, overcame her physical frame, and on the day succeeding that woful
night she was seized with a heavy fever, and through the interference
of some respectable inhabitants of the town, was conveyed to the fever
hospital, where she now lies in a state of delirium.
And Frank Maguire--the firm, the industrious, and independent--where is
he? Unable to bear the shame of his brother's degradation, he gave up
his partnership, and went to America, where he now is; but not without
having left in the hands of a friend something for his unfortunate
brother to remember him by; and it was this timely aid which for the
last three quarters of a year has been the sole means of keeping life in
his brother's family.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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