atheist. Things began to come my "way. I concluded 

 discretion 'was the better part of valor, and so took to 

 the woods, literally. They followed me for a mile, and 

 then gave up the chase. On the way home they met a 

 man who spoke ill of me, and they fell upon him and 

 nearly pounded his life out. 



I never had to lick any of my gang they looked after 

 this themselves. On pay nights they all got drunk and 

 fell upon each other broken noses and black eyes 

 were quite popular. Father Driscoll used to come 

 around every month and have them all sign the pledge. 

 QThat story about the Irishman who ate the rind of 

 the watermelon " and threw the inside away," is true. 

 That is just what the Irish do. Very often they are 

 not able to distinguish good from bad, kindness from 

 wrong, love from hate. Ireland has all the freedom 

 she can use or deserves, just as we all have. What 

 would Ireland do with freedom if she had it? Hate for 

 England keeps peace at home. Home-rule would 

 mean home rough-house and a most beautiful ar- 

 gument it would be, enforced with shillalah logic. 

 The spirit of Donnybrook Fair is there to-day as much 

 as ever, and wherever you see a head, hit it, would 

 be home-rule. Donnybrook is a condition of mind. 

 If England really had a grudge against Ireland and 

 wanted to get even, she could not do better than to 

 set her adrift. 



But then the Irish impulsiveness sometimes leads to 

 good, else how could we account for such men as 

 O'Connor, Parnell, Burke, Goldsmith, Sheridan, John 



61 



LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



