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Show '1 IRISH CHARACTER SKETCHES. (Continued.) He was the foipgest man T fver saw. I No, I mistake. I have seen one bigger ' I h German, and lie was employed toy s i a knowing restaurant keeper to stand i outside the door. His great size at- tracted attention, and the people pas- ., ing, seeing: such a big man standing so complacently and evidently happy, came to the conclusion that the proprietor proprie-tor inside was a fjood judge of thy in-j ner man, so after feasting: their eyes on x the bis heap of humanity outside, they entered in to feast their stomachs on the big: heap of corn and roast beef, chicken and ham and such like courses all for the pmall sum of "one and sixpence. six-pence. That restaurant was on the ! Strand in London, the name of the puardian angel outside was Hans D.i-vous-t. and the name of tin? tinker of our village was Jimmy Hope. Now a tinker in Ireland was. as the poet puts it,, "an inglorious trade." However, what would we do without tht-in? You had a tin can to mend, a kettle or a teapot, a new article of these said kind costs money, whereas Jimmy Hope, for the sum of twopence, would mend such and enable Madam Darey or Jladam-o-selle Cooney to boil hot water for the blackest and strongest cup of tea you ever saw or ta.sted in your earthly ca-' ca-' leer. So you see Jimmy Hope was ;;n acquisition to our villape, and the -..Id women simply doted down on him because be-cause he repaired these articles without with-out which they could never get that up which, as they put it. would brand i lamb. Jimmy was over seven feet 1wo in height, with the kindest of Irish faces, the only thing foreign about it being a Danish red beard, wiikh ai-jnost ai-jnost covered his ontire breast. He wn .-is straight as the pine, without oik1 ounce of superfluous flesh, and Lis equal at throwing any kind of weight was not in the whole breadth of the land. T never saw him but I was reminded re-minded of that beautiful character in Knocknagow Matt 111" Troasiior. -AI! in j- readers hav vend Knoknagovv, the inoFt delightful book ever written, and the only true book on Irish character with my Now Curate that I over came cross. Toe kernel of Irish life is in th?so two books, and the reason is bc- a.use poor dear diaries Kickam and I):. Seehan. a household name in Amer ica, knew the Irish in all their moods sMiti tenses: they had before them as 1 hey wrote living examples of the character char-acter they described. As I said before, a tinker in Ireland is looked upon as an inglorious trade, and to call a man a tinker would be far worse than to consign bim forever and a day to the shades of Erebus. Like the Arab, the true or real tinker pitched his tent for the night wherever he happened to be. and his family, once the tent was pitched, set forth to the neighboring houses in quest of potatoes, milk. meal. , bread, and if they d d not obtain tltse articles by dint of hard begging, why, 1 1'iey resorted to the affirmative of the seventh commandment. "Thou shalt steal," and they did this stealing in such a polite, gent'-e! way. that for my i part I would forgive them their trans gressions. Now. to give you an instance in-stance of this taking from Peter to pay Paul, just accompany me for one moment mo-ment to Fg t her Tom's house.' Father Tom stands on tho steps before the hall (ionr. snuff box in hand, and before him rp two women w'th a child tied at their back (Indian fashion), and an-! ' other pining at their skirts. I see : world of commiseration in Father Tom's eyes as he bears the plaintive i story of these women and beholds the : taiefooted urchins looking so piteously rt him. Or.e of ilie- women is speaking. Just listen for a moment and you hoar such phrases as these: -Owl bless yer riverence, bud wed veh have an Agnn f Dei. lost the wan I had." "I want a cateelrsm from yer riverence for my Jimeen there wants to larn the truths ov hi? religion. He's goin' on tin now. ; an I was thinkin' ov gettin' him con- ' farmed next time th bishop comes." "Veh wudn't have a sixpense to give a poor woman to buy a grane ov tay." "God bless yer riverence. bud I be say-in' say-in' yen are a saint, an' ye'U be canonized canon-ized afore yish die." "Och. what wud we do at all. at all, without yeh?" Ther? is another batch of the same band of tinkers at P"ather Tom's kitchen kitch-en door, and they are holding a conversation con-versation with Father Tom's housekeeper house-keeper somewhat after tin's fashion: "Yed wudn't buy a tin can this inorn-in'? inorn-in'? I'll give it to yeh for threepence." "We hadn't bit bite or sup since yis-tevday yis-tevday evening, an' maybe yeh have a ; bit ov mate to give us an' the childer." "Thank yeh, ma'am onareceiving sonic portions of cold ham), bud we'd be all right now iv we nad a grane ov tay." "Ah. musha, bud may the heavens thimselves be yer bed. it's hard to drink black tay. cud yeJi give us a sup o mild." "AVe don't like to ax yeh for too much, ye're so good, bud it's liari to ate dry bread, an' a wee bit ov butter but-ter wud do us no liarm, an' the angils in heavin will reward yeh." While the women folk are storming Father Tom's house, front and rear, the men portion of the band are doing a little begging, too. taking I should say. They are helping themselves to some hay and potatoes in Father Tom's garden and. to judge from the cool matter of form way they do It. you would imagine they were absolute owners own-ers of these goods. Such, in fine, is a general description of the tinkers In Ireland. Wandering from one parish to another, they sold, begged and borrowed, bor-rowed, stole would be the right word, but there is no such word as steal in an Irish tinker's vocabulary, and if there is he ignores it. But poor Jimmy Hope was not like the general run of tinkers. He was as. honest as the sun, and led not a wandering life. His little home stood on the little boreen below the priest's house, and there you found him diligently plying his trade and humming repeatedly the song: "If you like to sec the height of hospitality; hospi-tality; The cranio ov kindly welcome and the. core ov cordiality, Joy ov the olden time you're wishing 4 to recall again. Cj.me down to Donovan's and there von'll lnoet lhem all a fa in " Jimmy Hope had the kindest and sweetest heart in that big frame of his. The youngest of his children had spine disease, and the love of that big man for that sick girl and his devotion to her was one of the most beautiful characteristics charac-teristics in that simple, honest man's life. Her every wish he anticipated; he fed her with his own hands, and on the fine days he would carry her chair out in the sun with: "I'm bringin' yeh. alanna, where yeh can feel the sunshines an' hear the birds an' see the other childer dovn the street. An when I finish the tin- can, I'll go up to Dowd's for sugar stick for yeh. Iv ye want anything, call me, an' ye're not to be frettin', bud read yer book an' reniiniber, I'm to bring me pet some 'day soon to Dublin. "Yc'll see Father Tom passin' to the school soon, an' ycli can ax him what yeh wanted to know from me yister-day yister-day about the angils. Keep yer shawl wrappevl about yeh now. an' the robins will keep yeh company while I'm finishing finish-ing me tin can." The patient eyes of that sickly child would look so fondly, so lovingly up at her big father with the sweeping red beard and the kindest of father's hearts, and say: "Father, I'm not lonely when I have you, and father, Doctor Gerald says I'll get better some day and be able to work for you when you get old. Father Tom is praying for me. I asked him to say a mass yesterday for mother. Ah, ijfther, don't cry, if you do I'll cry. too. Mother is- gone to heaven, an" if 1 don't get better, I would like to go to her, too. but 1 won't go until you are able to come, too." Dear reader, do you want to find the beautiful, the simple, the pure, the good, the angels of the earth? You will find it here on this earth, and not among the rich, the learned or the great, but amongst God's poor who so patiently bear the cross, who so honestly fulfill the duties of their daily life, and while they labor leaven their labors with the dews of a simple enduring faith in God and heaven. Truly heroic, these people are, and though the world in its hurry-stops hurry-stops not to see the holiness of these lives, sees only the commonplace in them, their names are inscribed in the Book of Life, and" the little of this earth are the greatest of the life to come. Jimmy Hope could neither read nor write, his was but a rough exterior, but in his kindly smile and in the grip of his strong hand was sincerity, honor and truth. "The rank is but the guinea stamp, A man's a man for a' that." "Worth makes the man and want of it the fellow," The rest is all but leather and prunella." pru-nella." By Cabin. Next week: "The Landlord." |
