The Hedge School; The Midnight Mass; The Donagh: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume ThreeCarleton, William
History
The Hedge School; The Midnight Mass; The Donagh: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume Three
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
Their weapons of controversy were drawn from the Fifty Reasons, the
Doleful Fall of Andrew Sail, the Catholic Christian, the Grounds of
Catholic Doctrine, a Net for the Fishers of Men, and several other
publications of the same class. The books of amusement read in these
schools, including the first-mentioned in this list, were, the Seven
Champions of Christendom, the Seven Wise Masters and Mistresses of
Rome, Don Belianis of Greece, the Royal Fairy Tales, the Arabian Nights'
Entertainments, Valentine and Orson, Gesta Romanorum, Dorastus and
Faunia, the History of Reynard the Fox, the Chevalier Faublax; to these
I may add, the Battle of Auhrim, Siege of Londonderry, History of the
Young Ascanius, a name by which the Pretender was designated, and the
Renowned History of the Siege of Troy; the Forty Thieves, Robin Hood's
Garland, the Garden of Love and Royal Flower of Fidelity, Parismus and
Parismenos; along with others, the names of which shall not appear on
these pages. With this specimen of education before our eyes, is it not
extraordinary that the people of Ireland should be in general, so moral
and civilized a people as they are?
“Thady Bradly, will you come up wid your slate, till I examine you in
your figures? Go out, sir, and blow your nose first, and don't be
after making a looking-glass out of the sleeve of your jacket. Now that
Thady's out, I'll hould you, boys, that none of yez knows how to expound
his name--eh? do ye? But I needn't ax--well, 'tis Thaddeus; and, maybe,
that's as much as the priest that christened him knew. Boys, you see
what it is to have the larnin'--to lade the life of a gintleman, and to
be able to talk deeply wid the clargy! Now I could run down any man in
arguin', except a priest; and if the Bishop was after consecratin'
me, I'd have as much larnin' as some of them; but you see I'm not
consecrated--and--well, 'tis no matther--I only say that the more's the
pity.”
“Well, Thady, when did you go into subtraction?”
“The day beyond yesterday, sir; yarra musha, sure 'twas yourself, sir,
that shet me the first sum.”
“Masther, sir, Thady Bradly stole my cutter--that's my cutter, Thady
Bradly.”
“No it's not” (in a low voice).
“Sir, that's my cutter--an' there's three nicks in id.”
“Thady, is that his cutter?”
“There's your cutter for you. Sir, I found it on the flure and didn't
know who own'd it.”
“You know'd very well who own'd it; didn't Dick Martin see you liftin'
it off o' my slate, when I was out?”
“Well, if Dick Martin saw him, it's enough: an' 'tis Dick that's the
tindher-hearted boy, an' would knock, you down wid a lump of a stone, if
he saw you murdherin' but a fly!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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