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wad VIHATICVIIN
Number 350.
MICK MeQUAIDS CONVERSION !
BY CAPT..WM, LYNAM.
a CHAPTER I.
Oughterard.— The Irish Highlands, or Conne-
mara.—Mick McQuaid : His Residence, Prop-
erty, and Character.— Arrival of an Agent
Sr.m the Foint Stock Papist Souls’ Conversion
Society (Limited).—Mick’s Introduction to the
Scripture-Reader, etc,
HE village of Oughterard is seventeen miles
from Galway. It is beautifully situated on
the banks of the Feogh, close by the grand sheet
of water, Lough Corrib. Leaving the village, you
at once get among the wifd mountains and lakes
of the far-famed district for fish and fowl known
as the Irish Highlands, or Connemara.
A couple of hours’ drive from Oughterard brings
you to the picturesque Lough Shindilla—a lake
whose rippling waters are shaded by the bold chain
of the Maam Mountains. ' Ata little distance from
the lake the old Castle of Cushla-na-Kirk is dis-
cernible, raising its crumbling ruins in melancholy ‘|
grandeur over the mighty Corrib—the whole, at
this point, presenting a view which, for scenic ef-
fect, is unsurpassed in the vast variety of landscape
Connemara is so justly famed for.
Now, close by Lough Shindilla, some short time
ago, might be observed a neglected looking cabin
and about four acres of badly tilled land adjoining.
The land and the cabin were in perfect keeping,
~-for if you beheld, as you might, an old hat stuck in
. for himself in the world worthy of all praise. . In
the paneless window as a substitute for glass, you
observed on the land a wheelbarrow in the place
of a gate, where ingress and egress were necessary.” =»)
The cabin, for want of a proper exit for the smoke,”
sent it through the door, window, and some holes
in the roof,.of which there were not a tew,
the four acres, not to be beat by the cabin, in this
— respect, smoked heavily too, on every watm day,
in consequence of the undrained state of the land,
and the many stagnant pools that rested upon it. «!
McQuaid, the owner of both cabin and land, was
not behind either in the smoking line, so that be-
tween the three smokes the locality was anything
- but agreeable or wholesome, Neglect, also, was
apparent everywhere, and it was not difficult to
come to the conclusion, be the reason what it may,
that the owner of the land and the cabin must be,
indeed, in a miserable condition. To be pitied, if
the cause was to be attributed to sickness, or to
some Other visitation of. Providence; to be de-
spised, if it was owing to the willful idleness or
depravity of the owner.
We regret to state that it was not owing to any
legitimate cause the neglect and wretchedness of
McQuaid’s holding could be attributed. . Neither
sickness, poverty of land, failure of crops, or to
any other of the various ways that thrifty farmers
from time to time sustain loss, could Mick attribute
the condition of his property, .
The land he held for'a mere nominal rent; Prov-
idence had also blessed him with good health and
strength, and honest labor would have made him
comfortable and independent; but, that curse of
Ireland, drink. and- its accompaniment, the du-
x
Price 5 Cents.
off to do as they like ; bedad it's a quare world we
live in surely.”
Thus was Mick soliloquizing when his attention
was attracted by a tall, thin man dressed in a suit
of faded black, endeavoring to force an obstinate
Connemara pony, to pull a small cart, lightly
loaded, up a Lill on‘hs road, ‘Mick was not a per-
son so entirely void of all good as to refuse to help
a neighbor in distress, and he quickly vroceeded
in the direction of the pony and cart, an.t offered
his services. ‘
““Y.u're hard set to get the baste on, neigh-
qor,” said Mick, as he stepped across a small
drain, and presented himself alongside the pony
cart and man,
“Yes, friend,” said the stranger, “the spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak.”
“ Bedad,” said Mick, ‘‘both the flesh and’ the
sperrit is wake with many iv us nowadays; but ¢an
Thelp you a bit ?” 4
Before his services wese verbally accepted Mick
had, by his knowledge of the tricks and instinct of
the Connemara cattle, coaxed the pony easily to
proceed on its journey, ‘ t
“Is there any hotel or house of entertainment
in this neighborhood,- friend?” asked the tall,
thin stranger, as he thanked him for his timely
assistance,
**None nearer, iv any account, than Maam,"
said Mick. ‘* And sure that’s a poor place, and it's
a couple o' mile off.” .
“If I had a cup of cold water even,” said the
S stranger, “it would assuage my thirst, and the
SEX... giver would entitle himself, to that reward the
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A
ALDERMAN MEAGHER—LORD MAYOR ELECT OF DUBLIN.
desire for iateness. His proneness to tobacco and
whiskey was to him a proof that he could not re-
main idle; the indulgence was no dissipation on
his part; it was merely a mental stimylant, because,»
he did not drink’ or smoke to excess. The neigh-
bors said the reason why he was moderate in those
matters was owing to the credit system not being
adopted with him.
value in kind were always of late resorted to, not-
withstanding his genius, as being far more satis-
factory to the shopkeepers. , Indeed, \in justice to
many a kind-hearted shebeen proprietor it must be
Said, that Mick had been tried and trusted with
credit for some, time before this apparently harsh
ready-money system was adopted with him, But
it was ascertaiived in Mick's case, as it had been in
many others, that genius and an empty pocket are
often found in the same person. And as trading
on empty pockets invari*bly leads to bankruptcy,
Ready-money dealings or |
deen, and, of course, the hours of idleness to enjoy. : Mick was necessitated to be exceedingly moderate,
both spent in the nearest shebeen,* were reasons : and being wonderfully healthy in consequence, at-
sufficient to account for the raggedness of Mike, ,; tributed his buoyancy of spirits and abhorrence of
his scarcely inhabitable hut, and the waste land he; . labor to genius. He could not point to one like
possessed, * Smoking and drinking in a public. himself in the barony. There were none engaged
house in the. daytime, are productive of sad con- ., as he was, living on their wits, a decided proof he
sequences, The mind must be either profitably or . Wasa genius, Men of genius are rare.
unprofitably engaged, and a shebeen in which the genius were never overcome by misfortune; Mick
brain is stupefied by the fumes of bad tobacco and was never overcome by misfortune. They laughed
worse whiskey, is not a place where we can Hope» at poverty the deepest; our hero, with good
anything can come from of a nature‘other than ~ grounds, could say he was as deep in poverty as he
~what is depraved, immoral, and a crime before could be,’ and still could laugh. Men of genius
God and man. . . were persuaded they must beeome great, and be
It may be well here to premise, asa key to Mick's acknowledged as such by a jealous world, Mick
character, and for the better understanding his believed there was nothing surer than that he
history, that he believed he was a mortal endowed © would become great. So, for all these reasons,
with no ordinary talents. \In a word, he imagined and many more, Mick fully believed he was a
he was a genius destined one day to make a name ' genius, but whether he was or not, our readers
will learn in the course of this truthful history.
his estimation the fact of his dislike for manual la- It was a fine morning towards the end of March.
bor was to be attributed to his higher order of in-; The farmers about were busily engaged in farming
tellect, requiring something refined, and not toany -. pursuits, when Mick McQuaid might have been seen
. in, sitting on the broken wheel of a cart close by his
cabin door, A pipe, as usual, was in his mouth,
* A small public house, .
and his appearance was that of ‘ene who had in-
dulged freely on the’previous night. There was no
anxiety apparent on his countenance to take advan-
tage of the day and do something on his land, No;
there he sat looking vacantly before him, sending
forth volumes of smoke, and only moving when it
became necessary to clear the shank of his dudeen
with a straw, or to replenish the bowl when the to-
cco was exhausted., To ,a° close observer of
McQuaid, besides the vacant stare, one’ might be-
hold pictured on his countenance an expression of
evident sorrow or anxiety. By those who were un-
acquainted with Mick, this, probably, would be at-
tributed to the natural cares and , vicissitudes of a
farmer's life, But to one who knew Mick that rea=
son would be about the last given for the serious
and thoughtful expression he wore, and the con-
clusion would be at once arrived at, alas !. with too
much truth, that Mick was low in spirits, not be-
cause his land was untilled, arid the coming har-
vest for him a poor one, but because. there was lit-
tle tobacco in his tin box, and no money in his
pocket to enable him to gratify his insatiable thirst
for that brutalizing poison—bad whiskey. Thus
was Mick engaged when all around him was an ex-
ample of toil and labor, not noticing the industry
of his neighbors and unnoticed by them, sitting on
his broken cart-wheel a true picture of that de-
graded condition, which raw. whiskey, ceaseless
smoking, and continued idleness, with low and bad
companions in the neighboring shebeen, are sure
to produce. . sec ghgets .
“*Purshuant to you,” said Mick, as he removed
his dudeen from his mouth and laid it aside whilst
he hunted for a straw to clear the shank, ‘it's my-
self is bodhered with you intirely:; my teeth’'s al-
most dhrawn dowi my throat pullin’ at you, and
instead iv betther it's worse you're gettin’, I won-
dher is there any paynil law for prosecutin’ the
makers iv bad pipes? I'd like to. know that; aye,
would I; that would be iv sarvice to the counthry
instead iv the rubbish iv laws that’s goin’, bangin’ 2
people for nothin’ and lettin’ rogues and vagabones.,
ards.~ Ve case was
sewart of the steamer Melrose
Scripture promises, although given only in the
name of a disciple; yet my thirst for souls is still
greater,
** Sowls is sperrits, I believe 2” said Mick.
“Yes, brother and friend, our souls are spirits,”
“Then, by my sivin sinses, I've a great thirst for
sowls thss minute, too; but I've the best spring in
Connemara, and you can have as much of it as you
like, in the name iv all the saints and marthyrs in
the calendhar.” '
The stranger thanked Mick, and, leaving the
pony on the roadside, they proceeded to the cabin,
where Mick handed his guest a noggin of cold
spring water, apologizing that it was no better,
“It is a bountiful gift,” replied the stranger, as
he looked at the water with an expression of sad- ,
ness, and laid down the noggin without drinking
any—“‘a bountiful gift,” he repeated, taising his
eyes and glancing around Mick's humble apartment
until his gaze was arrested by a black botileon'a ~
shelf, which he seemed to observe attentively, after!
which he sighed deeply, | Mick was not slow at per-
ception, and sighed also.
“The sowl iv that bottle is gone,” said Mick—
“‘departed this life this mornin’ abont sunrise,”
“You mistake me altogether,” said the stranger,
who hastily turned his eyes in another direction.
“I was thinking of souls,” :
‘And so was I,” replied Mick ; ‘* and that's the
reason I mintioned it.”
**Can I have lodgings, friend, anywhere about,
this neighborhood, as I have particular important
business to transact ?”
“*If you wouldn't object to a room at the Widow
Brannigan’s shebeen, I’m sure ‘you could get lodg-
in’s good and chape,” answered Mick.
“The very place of all others, I would desire,”
said the stranger, and his countenance seemed to’
brighten up at the thought,” “I suppose I can
have an opportunity there of conversing with the
People of the district, and introducing the ways of
salvation amongst them ?”
Mick's countenance, on hearing this, underwent
a peculiar change that should be seen to be under-'
stood, and he gave one of those tow whistles which
generally amongst his class, is indicative of a cer-|
tain feeling of surprise that might be expressed in
words to this effect : .
“My boy, is that what you're after; is that your.
trade and business here? . Maybe, you might be a
little out of your reckoning. In fact, this low
whistle, with the peculiar expression of countenance
accompanying it, is full of meaning, as the circum.
stances which occasioned it. '
“You can have plenty iv Opportunities, if the
people take an to you,” replied Mick, i
*. “Tam glad you have found mea lodging,” said
yemanded to enable the pris
as
here was an Irishman named Kelly from
Continued on page 6, perk