Show lely Y T THE HE FOOL aniya wife afe was as weather beaten and almost as gnarled and old fashioned as himself they were happy in their own way and foud fond of each other at heart but to superficial observers their life was one long discord balys satiric tongue delighted in teasing the too susceptible na tute of his spouse but the true bone of contention between them was if I 1 may so express it the sular sugar bowl the tane bime of poor iker mrs billys days was the effort to keep a supply of sugar la in the house bouse billys one great passion was sugar he would go through fire and water aye through brimstone for sugar hide it where mrs billy would he be would find it out for no pressman had ever such ouch afrose for or news as that same billy had bad for this delectable dainty he had one bright accomplish accomplishment an which made him prime aprice favorite he could wt lilt tunes as well as any ady man in manster how those boys and girls and old stagers too could have the heart and strength to whirl through the sets and step dances as they did after a long ling day of toil in the bogs and kitchens and gar denal but in one house or another adoth 0 one yard or another they mustered 0 on n most evenings and showed as set succeeded eljes bee I 1 I 1 what airy and youthful natures they preserved through all the labor of life and no one entered into the spirit of it all with such zest as billy his voice almost mam made the welkin ring as ha ba lilted eted inmost in most perfect time dance tune after tune that made imatt the best fidd fiddlers lers envious but bat ft a trw trial day came in his hi life thus thua it aram arose in the winter of each year ho he I 1 cr aped together the th rent of his hi little hold bold ww through the he we cal of it a few slips k of pip pigs that had been fattened in previous months one particular winter be and his had been harshly primed by bycer cir truth to tell tall in the be long loulu evenings when ho be gilted lilted his bast bufor for the th boys the poor fellows hunger was wa such as would have appalled them had they dreamed of it indeed on one occa occasion Xion when he be was bringing out follow me down to carlew in a style that fairly broke his hia record ho he suddenly eban changed god color and fell to the floor in a swoon he had been fasting since morning save for a small portion of sugar there abere was little left in those days that he be had stolen as an usual but he and mrs billy had every hope that the great winter fair in their county town would leave them with a tidy sum as the proceeds of the 1411 slips ps sale that it would pay the me rent and leave something in hand for the black winter it was a bitterly cold time tim and bulya good spouse had bad knitted a rough pair of gloves to save her bier lords hands from win tera chilly terrors billy stoutly opposed the idea for he despised gloves 6 and such frippery but thevan ithee bad her way this time so gloves and all a he be started out in the freezing wintry morning and made e for the fair alas alan that day of days he be fell before the devil and temptation he sold the slips at is a good bargain but he had a glass too much after the late hunger liguor played the mischief with him he came home lilting such tunes as the boys never heard beard in all their born bom days he fla threw his gloves into a corner with a gesture of contempt and swore more he would never take them up again he stepped up to mrs billy and rolled to the floor he was dead drunk for the first time in his life and ohl obi tragedy of tra tragedies gedles diesl he be had not six pence in his pocket the price of the 11 slips was lost or squandered nand or gone to the devil lira milly billy fain fainted t sd d when billy came to something his senses he a almost tainted too tip r years year great item of Income was gone black aja ruin stared them in the face t night and many nights after they went t bed eup perless erlem billy and his spouse were proud they kept their poverty from the neighbors knowledge but they suffered sorely and borent no rent being forthcoming the day came when they were to be turned out of the little home that they loved that was so sweet with ide memories morles their hearts were heavy and the world was mw black for them the sheriff and hla his min minions lons turned up at the appointed hour to evict them the tragedy of their days had badome come As they turned to go out forever mrs billys eye caught sight of the despised pair of glove gloves sAna a corner she took tookah them th up listlessly and opened a pocket to receive them she gave a strange cr cry Y in fever every y linger finger of either glove a shining sovereign ove reign was found yes res almost the whole price of the slips 11 placed thin there by billy la a whimsical hosrof hoar of al drink day and of courso course utterly forgotten Wh when khi his saji benses censes fet returned ed no mori more pleased than the sheriff at the chiw new development j billy billi got a terrible lecture from hu his spouse that evening but she obe overlooked 6 all ll his bl depredations d itliong in the mitter matter a anax eek atit wara 11 fi 1 amy his spouse are ous and ho he ailts lilts for tho apy as asin afi ucb as eveir but he awn never edew allowed lowe d to go 90 alone to fair bi or market m exchange VA v |