The Ned M'Keown Stories: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume ThreeCarleton, William
General
The Ned M'Keown Stories: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume Three
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
“The Squire knew very well that two better boys weren't to be met with
than the same M'Farlands, in the way of knowing how to manage land; and
although he had his doubts as to Larry's light and careless ways, yet he
had good depindance out of the brother and thought, on the whole, that
they might do very-well together. Accordingly, he set them the farm at
a reasonable rint, and in a short time they were both living on it with
their two wives. They divided the fourteen acres into aquil parts;
and for fraid were would be any grumbling between them about better or
worse, Tom proposed that they should draw lots, which was agreed to by
Larry; but, indeed, there was very little difference in the two halves;
for Tom took care, by the way he divided them, that none of them should
have any reason to complain. From the time they wint to live upon their
farms, Tom was up early and down late, improving it--paid attention to
nothing else; axed every man's opinion as to what crop would be best for
such a spot, and to tell the truth he found very few, if any, able to
instruct him so well as his own brother Larry. He was no such laborer,
however, as Larry--but what he was short in, he made up by perseverance
and care.
“In the coorse 'of two or three years you would hardly bleeve how he got
on, and his wife was every bit aquil to him. She spun the yarn for the
linen that made their own shirts and sheeting, bought an odd pound of
wool-now and then when she could get it chape, and put it past till she
had a stone or so; she would then sit down and spin it--get it wove
and dressed; and before one would know anything about it she'd have
the making of a dacent comfortable coat for Tom, and a bit of
heather-colored drugget for her own gown, along with a piece of striped
red and blue for a petticoat--all at very little cost.
“It wasn't so with Larry. In the beginning, to be sure, while the fit
was on him, he did very well; only that he would go off an odd time to
a dance; or of a market or fair day, when he'd see the people pass by,
dressed in their best clothes, he'd take the notion, and sot off with
himself, telling Sally that he'd just go in for a couple of hours, to
see how the markets were going on.
“It's always an unpleasant thing for a body to go to a fair or market
without anything in their pocket; accordingly, if money was in the
house, he'd take some of it with him, for fraid that any friend
or acquaintance might thrate him; and then it would be a poor,
mane-spirited thing, he would say, to take another man's thrate, without
giving one for it. He'd seldom have any notion, though, of breaking in
upon or spinding the money, he only brought it to keep his pocket, jist
to prevent him from being shamed, should he meet a friend.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account