1829-3 "«//^* "' Ireland. 51 



moving. Then turning abruptly to me, — " Are ye a ministher ?"* said 

 she, " because, if ye are, say some o' yer prayers : any body's prayers 'il 

 be betther nor mine." I assured her that though I did not belong to the 

 sacred profession, yet I sincerely compassionated her desolate condition, 

 and would willingly assist her to the utmost of my power, takmg out my 

 purse at the same time as the best and shortest proof of my sincerity. 

 ]\Iy singular companion bent on me a look of solemnity not unmixed 

 with scorn. " Put up your purse^ young man," said she, " and leave 

 off condolin' me. I don't want your money — an' I'm not in grief. 

 But mind what I'm sayin'. Ye say ye want shelther till daylight — take 

 my warnin', and go look for it somewhere else, or maybe ye'll never see 

 daylight again — lave the place — there's neither loock nor grace in it." 

 " Why," said I, " what danger can happen to me from remaining here 

 for a few hours ? You are alone, I suppose." — " Yes," replied she, 

 sternly : '' yes — I am alone — here, and in the world — but I'll soon be 

 where there's company enough." She paused for a moment, as if to 

 master her feelings, and recal and collect her scattered thoughts ; and so 

 wild and convulsed was the expression of her countenance, while, with 

 a powerful effort, and without uttering word or groan, she controlled an 

 obvious tendency to something like epilepsy, that, for the instant, I was 

 afraid both mind and body would give way in the struggle, and, with 

 an impulse of pity which I coixld not check, I caught her in my arms to 

 prevent her from falling on the floor. The eifect of this trifling act, not 

 of kindness, but mere humanity, was magical. The touch of human 

 sympathy struck to the fountain of her grief like the wand of the prophet 

 to the waters of the rock : and the unhappy creature burst into a flood of 

 tears, so passionate, vehement, and overpowering, that it resembled 

 rather a struggle of nature for life and death, than any ebullition of 

 mortal- grief I had ever beheld. At last, when the hysterical sobbing 

 suffered her to articulate — " Ye're the first,'' said she, " that spoke a" 

 kind word, or looked a kind look at me for many a long day, and may 

 God Almighty grant ye an innocent life and a happy death, and may 

 the Heavens be ye're bed for the same. Many and many a weary hour 

 I've been pray in' to be able to cry, an* I didn't think there was a tear 

 left in my heart ; but God was good to me, and gave me leave to cry at 

 last ; so let me alone a little, an' I'll be betther by and by." I saw, of 

 course, that the best thing I could do was to let Nature take her own 

 time, so I turned away from her at once, and employed myself in 

 examining the cabin itself. 



Every thing that met my eye in this house of death, spoke of the most 

 abject, hopeless poverty : that state of self-abandonment and despair, when 

 the wretch gives up the contest with his destiny,, and sullenly resigns 

 himself to his doom. A low ruinous partition had divided the cabin 

 into two rooms -^ but the door and door-frame were gone, and the greater 

 part of the partition itself had fallen down and cumbered the floor, 

 from which the inmates had not even taken the trouble of shovelling it 

 away, though, to all appearance, it had remained there a considerable 

 time. The entire furniture consisted of two or three broken stools, a 

 crazy dresser, ungarnished by a single plate, a large wooden chest, and 

 the wretched pallet where the dead man lay ; and so scanty was the 

 covering of bed-clothes that lay upon the body, that I could judge of his 



• In most parts of Ireland the Protestant ilcrgyman is .so called by the lower classcF. 



n 2 



