AND HOW I HAVE CAUGHT MY FISH 131 



It was evident that knitting, poultry and eggs 

 brought in too little for anything beyond the 

 plainest and poorest of clothes much of which 

 needed mending and that it would be a blessing 

 to the mother and children if Pat, the husband 

 and father, would forget the past, give over dreams 

 of the future, buy the scythe and cut the grass. 



Amongst all this rugged life, bustle and con- 

 fusion, and in spite of it all, I saw a look from 

 the wife straight to the husband's eyes ; and the 

 answer they gave back plainly told that the great 

 twin Irish gems, mutual faith and love, were there. 



Having Mr. Sarly's pigs in mind I suggested to 

 him that he might make a better profit by selling 

 them direct to large consumers, thus dispensing with 

 the middleman. To this he replied, " Divil a 

 squeak of money have I as yet for the pig I sent 

 to Dublin." 



It is said there is comfort to be gained from 

 listening to another's parallel woes, so I attempted 

 to solace him by telling him that my father was 

 almost as unlucky with a pig as he had been. 

 Sarly's curiosity was immediately aroused, and I 

 had to give him these particulars : 



"My father had a very old friend who had 

 married a Scotch lady, and they settled in London. 

 He came to Devonshire to see my father about 

 nine years after I made my first appearance. My 

 father's friend was the biggest man I had ever seen, 

 and I thought him as clever as he was big. His 



K 2 



