226 AN OCTOBER ABROAD. 



might start up the field sparrows in our own up-lying 

 fields. 



Is the magpie a Celt and a Catholic ? I saw not 

 one in England, but plenty of them in France, and 

 again when I reached Ireland. 



At Queenstown I awaited the steamer from Liver- 

 pool, and about nine o'clock in the morning was de- 

 lighted to see her long black form moving up the bay. 

 She came to anchor about a mile or two out, and a little 

 tug was in readiness to take us off. A score or more 

 of emigrants, each with a bag and box, had been wait- 

 ing all the morning at the wharf. When the time of 

 embarkation arrived, the agent stepped aboard the tug 

 and called out their names one by one, when Bridget 

 and Catherine and Patrick and Michael, and the rest, 

 came aboard, received their tickets and passed " for- 

 ward'' with a half-frightened, half-bewildered look. 

 But not much emotion was displayed until the boat be- 

 gan to move off, when the tears fell freely, and they 

 continued to fall faster and faster and the sobs to come 

 thicker and thicker, until, as the faces of friends began 

 to fade on the wharf, both men and women burst out 

 into a loud, unrestrained bawl. This sudden demon- 

 stration of grief seemed to frighten the children and 

 smaller fry, who up to this time had been very jovial ; 

 but now, suspecting something was wrong, they all 

 broke out in a most pitiful chorus, forming an anti- 

 climax to the wail of their parents that was quite amus- 

 ing, and that seemed to have its effect upon the u chil- 



