Irish Jesuit Province

Making the MatchAuthor(s): John HamiltonSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 33, No. 386 (Aug., 1905), pp. 428-432Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20500818 .

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3 428 ]

MAKING THE MATCH

RS. HEALY had been thinkin' for a long'time that Mickle ought to be settlin' down. O' coorse she wasn't

manin' that he was to go off in a lep, but it 'd be just as well if he was lookin' about him. She'd take care to make a gobd bargain for wan thing, an' she was between two minds

whether there was a girl in the village she'd be after havin' as a daughter-in-law.

Old Biddy Egan agreed. "It's no knowin' what they're up to, now," she said. " Nothin' but dressin' up an' thinkin' themsel's shupayrior than their betthers. It's hard to say

what's goin' to become o' thim at all, at all. There's none o'

the fine bouncin' cailins [colleensl that could make a trough for the pigs an' milk the cows and thin be as fresh as ye like for a jig or a reel at the cross roads, that used to be in it whin I was young."

" Ye're not far out, ma'am," Mrs. Healy assured her. "'Tis hard to know the girls that's goin' now, at all, at all. They get the quarest notions into their heads. There's Eily Donelan, now, who says she'll never marry any wan but a townsman, the same as if a dacint boy o' a farmer isn't good enough for her.

It's a shopkeeper she'll be expectin' next. Whin girls start takin' notions like that, it's no knowin' where they'll stop."

" True for ye, Mrs. Healy," assented Mary Conneely from

Cnochan. " When I was gettin' marrid, there was none o yer talks o' townsboys or shopkeepers or anythin' but marry the boy laid out for ye. It's hard to say where the girls are

goin' to stop, now." " The Lord save us!" ejaculated Mrs. Healy. "I wouldn't

say ' no ' to what you're afther sayin', Mary. Things are takint a quare turn altogether. There isn't wan girl in the parish ye can say ye'd be sure of."

" What's that you're sayin', Mrs. Healy ? " asked Honor

Killeen, who had come up to the group just in time to hear the last remark. " 'There isn't wan girl in the parish ye can be sure of,' is it ? Faith, that's quare talks, an' Mrs. Egan an'

Mrs. Conneely (good mornin' to ye both) listenin to ye."

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MAKING THE MATCH 429

"' coorse she doesn't mane my Katie,)" said Biddy Egan. "We were just talkin' like between oursel's, an' as we are talkin',

Mrs. Killeen, ma'am, though it's mesel' that's sayin' it, there isn't a betther girl than my Katie within the four shores of

Ireland, an' a good housekeeper she'll make for the man that'll get her. I'm not sayin' but that there'll be a bitteen o' money goin' along 'ith her too. But himsel' must settle that, for

Peter doesn't care to part with the money soft." " Sure it isn't any money Katie 'd be wantin', Mrs. Egan,"

said Honor Killeen. " Doesn't she dhress the best an' look

the finest cailin in the parish or- the next parish ayther, for the

matther o' that ? An' the childre do be sayin' that she does be always readin' grand books. Ye gev her a good edication,

ma' am.)

Mrs. Egan was not quite certain about the sincerity of Mrs.

Killeen, and paused before replying, which enabled Mrs. Conneely to remark that " Book larnin' wasn't everything, an'

it 'd be betther for a girl to know how to darn a stockin' than

to be able to play the harmonium in the chapel on Sundays. Now there is my Delia "

" I'd have ye know, ma'am," interrupted Mrs. Egan, " that

my Katie is as well able to darn a stockin' as any other girl in

the parish. Kind mother for her, even though I'm sayin' it mesel'. An' even if she does know how to play the harmonium, she paid for her larnin', ma'am-that's it."

" Arrah, don't be gettin' crusty, Mrs. Egan," Honor advised, seeking to soothe her ruffled feelings. " I'm sure she wasn't

thinkin' o' Katie at all. Isn't that thrue, Mrs. Conneely ? "

"Musha, sure I was manin' no harm whin I spoke," said

Mrs. Conneely, "I was only makin' a remark like, an' Mrs.

Egan shouldn't be takin' me up like that. We're all neighbours. I know that Katie is wan o' the best girls in the parish, an' I

wouldn't be the wan to cast any reflections on her."

"I'm sure o' that, ma'am," returned Mrs. Egan, mollified

by the apology. "I was only tellin' ye the things for fear ye

might forget them An' as for your Delia, o' coorse I know she's

a good girl, not a betther." " Thank ye, ma'am, for your compliment," replied Mrs.

Conneely, " Yis, Delia is a good girl. She's always doin' some

thin' an' is that light-hearted that ye'd be niissin' her if she

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430 THE IRISH MONTHLY

only wint out to the well for a can o' water. She keeps the

place that clane that ye could ate your dinner off the floor." " Sorra a loss o' her, at all, Mrs. Conneely," assented Honor

Killeen, " Mesel' an' Ellen Thornton were talkin' about her

a while ago." " An' what might ye be sayin', if it's no harm to ask ?

queried Mrs. Conneely, somewhat sharply. " Oh, then, just that she always gets top price for the butter

an' eggs on Saturdays, an' we were wonderin' how she managed

it." " Well, then, there's no managin' in it. She takes great

pains with the churnin' an' has the roosts that clane an' nice

that ye'd be surprised."

* * * * *

Somehow Mrs. Conneely was not taken aback, though she said afterwards she was, when Mrs. Healy waited for her, comin

from Mass on the following Sunday. " That was a great sermon Father Tom gave to-day, God

bless him," Mrs. Healy began. "Is there any truth in the talks

of his lavin' ? '

" Well, then, I d'n' know, Mrs. Healy. I only heard it

mesel'. He's too good to be left out here at all, at all, an

there's talks o' bringin' him into the college." " You don't mane it. I was tould he was goin' to be sent

to another place. It's time they made a parish priest o' him

now, and gev him a good change whin they went about it." " Musha, faith, it's hard to say whin a change is for the

good. Wan never knows what's for wan's good."

"Now, that's just what I was sayin' to Mickle last night,"

returned Mrs. Healy. "'Ye're talkin' o' me gettin' marrid,'

sez he to me, ' an' how am I to know what's for me good ?'

'Wan never knows what's for wan's good,' sez I." " Thin, ye are thinkin' o' gettin' Mickle marrid, Mrs. Healy.

I'm sure ye'll be hard to plaze." " Wethen, I d'n' know about that. Ye see, Mrs. Conneely,

since himsel' died there's only me an' Mickle, an' we didn't

change the name in the resates yet. But I'm gettin' ould an'

I'd like to see a good young woman about the place before I

go, whenever it plazes the Lord to call me."

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MAKING THE MATCH 431

Arrah, don't be talkin' that way, ma'am, sure ye have

oceans o' life before ye yet. Sure, now, any wan lookin' at ye

this minute wouldn't think ye were more than forty, instead o' havin' a fine son like Mickle that any mother 'd be proud of."

" Thank ye, ma'am. I'm obliged to ye, so I am. O' coorse

I'm proud o' Mickle, an' I'll be expectin' somethin' with any

girl that'll come into the houldin'." " Sorra blame to ye, Mrs. Healy, I'd do the same mesel'

if I were you. Now, I always had thoughts like that for Delia ' Ye'll want somethin' to bring with ye, alanna,' I'd say to her,

an' she used to say she could do without it, for she could make

things go twice as far as other girls. But I knew betther an' I've always been savin' up for her."

" Ye have a fair share, thin, ma'am, I'll be bound," Mrs.

Healy ventured. " Wethen, yes, there's not a bad lot in the purse, I'll be

bould in sayin', an' (cugger,* Mrs. Healy) I'm only teLin' yersel'

an' I'm sure it won't pass this, the little bit o' money himsel' left whin he went Home, the Lord be good to him this day, is

in the bank yet."

"You're a fortunate woman, Mrs. Conneely. But it 'd be

hard to make a bargain with you, now, if wan were thinkin'

o it."

"Oh, musha, it 'd all depind on what the boy had."

"An' besides the money, now, ma'am-o' coorse ye'll tell

me if I'm askin' too much, but just as we're talkin'-who'll

ye be lavin the place to ? " " Well, now, that's hard to say. Ye see if Delia was settled

in a good houldin' an' had a good boy that I'd like-an' don't

take me as manin' anythin', but just to give ye an idea like

a boy o' the stamp o' Mickle, now, as we're talkin', I'd lave

the houldin' to Delia; but if I wasn't satisfied with the boy

she'd got, I'd lave it to Maurteen Kelly, me brother's son from

Ballyrue." * * *' * 4'

Mrs. Conneely was not surprised either, though in talking afterwards she did say she was, when Mrs. Healy asked her

to come down to the house on a visit that night, and she wasn't

* "Whisper I"-introducing a very confidential communication.

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432 THE IRISH MONTHLY

making a mistake when she told Delia that before long she'd

be housekeepin' for Michael Healy. Neither was Mrs. Healy

wrong when she told Mickle to be very lakthy* to Mrs. Conneely

when she came down, for she was going to be his mnother-in-law.

JOHN HAMILTON.

TO A JANUARY BABE

IF babes are blossoms, white and pink, Blossoms in winter are, I think, More welcome than when red the rose

Scents every royal garden-close.

If babes are blossoms, little maid,

Bloom sweetly like a flower arrayed

To give, by merely being born, June's beahty to the winter morn.

If babes are blossoms, she who sees

Your waking smile, has gathered these The wildflowers that are folded still, In snowy meadow and lone hill.

If babes are blossoms, mankind knows A constant summer through the snows. If babes are blossoms, cradles hold

Rose-gardens worth their weight in gold.

ISABEL KEITH LLOYD.

* Polite9 affable. making oae feel quite at home.

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