60 SPECIMENS OF IRISH FAITH. 



raisin' murtherin' strong factions, an' you'l be in the middle iv it, as 

 sure as paise is paise. Go, mavvurneen ; go, an' don't be losin' the 

 precious time." 



" Och, Cathaleen," said Pat, turning himself round; "but it's my- 

 self that's ashamed to go there at all, at all, an' me bein' so long away 

 from id. Wait asthore, till we sells the pig, an' thin, maybe, we'd 

 have enough to pay the chappie dues for, by the rint ; an' then who 

 knows but Father Mulcahy would be aisy wid me. Though, by my 

 own soul, it's myself that hav'nt much to tell his riverince, ban-in' 

 that bit of a job about Barney Dooley's game cock (which turned out 

 afther all to be nothin' but a base born dunghill, the baste), an' the 

 whiskey, an' that bit of a blow that broke Darby Hoolaghan's nose, 

 when he attimpted to kiss my gossip, Moll Cassidy, at the wake ; an* 

 that, too, at the very foot of the corpse the blessins' iv the saints 

 upon id ! " 



" Arra, Paddy a leagh, get up, an' git the absolushin, 'afore you 

 heaps more sin upon yer poor sowl; do, an' St. Patrick's blessin' 

 attend yez." 



" Fait an' conscience, Catty, I believe it's yerself that's got the 

 rights of id ; an' be the same token 111 do yer biddin' in the regard 

 o' the absolushin. So here goes, any hows." 



Well, Paddy put on his best frize coat, took his Sunday hat and 

 stick, and away he went to the " chappie ;" where, after telling his 

 sins, and obtaining the benefit of a handful of holy water, he received 

 absolution, and returned home to his cabin, to tell Cathaleen all that 

 passed, " or," as he said, " all, how, an' about id." 



" Well, Paddy, my jewel," said Katty, " have yez got the abso- 

 lushin ? an' is ye clear intirely, dear ? " 



<e By my soukins !" said Pat, " but it's myself that have got that 

 same from the crown o' my head to the sowl o' my foot; but whisht \ 

 an' howld yer tongue, an' I'll tell yez all the rights iv id." 



" Och ! do, Paddy, a vie," says Katty, " for it's myself is dyin' to 

 hear id all." 



" Well, you see," said Pat, te I wint to the chappie, an' afther biddin 

 his riverince the top o' the mornin', I douns on my marrow-bones, an* 

 I ups an' I tells him all about Barney Dooley's game cock, an' how I 

 was desaved in id, in the regard of it's bein' no game cock at all ; an' 

 about the whiskey, an' the bit iv a blow as broke Darby Hoolaghan's 

 nose ; but the nivir a word myself let out regardin' the row that's 

 to be at the next fair, plaise St. Patrick ; an' why would I, in 

 the regard of it's not bein' there yit, an', maybe, wou'dn't at all at 

 all. Well, as I was a sayin', whin I had no more to say, he begins to 

 scould me, an' toult me, it was looking afther the praties myself 

 ought to be, instid iv stalein' game cocks, an' drinkin' the whiskey, 

 an' the likes iv id. Well, a vourneen, I toult him I wou'dn't do id no 

 more ; so, afther abit, he giv' me the absolushin, clane an' decent, to 

 the very heart's content iv me. An' faith, the moment he giv' id me, 

 it was myself that felt as light as a feather ; an' so, I thought, I'd 

 make bowld an' thry an' get the laste taste in life iv informashin. 

 An' so/ sis I, ' if yer riverince plaises,' sis I, ' what 'il we be doin' 

 in hiven ? ' 



