now digging, now resting on the handle, he
told me all about his gradual promotion from
a herd-boy to a country jontleman.

"My father," said he, "lived under ould
Squire Kilkelly, an' for awhile tinded his
cattle: but the Squire's gone out iv this part iv
the counthry, to Australia or some furrin part,
an' the mentioned house (mansion house) an'
the fine propperty was sould, so it was, for little
or nothin', for the fightin' was over in furrin
parts; Boney was put down, an' there was
no price for corn or cattle, an' a jontleman
from Scotland came an' bought the istate.
We were warned by the new man to go, for
he tuk in his own hand all the in-land about
the domain, bein' a grate farmer. He put
nobody in our little place, but pulled it
down, an' he guv father a five guinea note,
but my father was ould an' not able to face
the world agin, an' he went to the town
an' tuk a room-- a poor, dirty, choky place
it was for him, myself, and sisther to live
in. The naighbours were very kind an'
good, though. Sister Bridget got a place wid
a farmer hereabouts, and I tuk the world on
my own showlders. I had nothin' at all but the
rags I stud up in, an' they were bad enuf
Poor Biddy got a shillin' advanced iv her
wages that her masther was to giv her. She
guv it me, for I was bent on goin' towards
Belfast to look for work. All along the road
I axed at every place; they could giv it me
but to no good, except when I axed, they 'd
giv me a bowl iv broth, or a piece iv bacon,
or an oaten bannock, so that I had my shillin'
to the fore when I got to Belfast.

"Here the heart was near lavin' me all out
intirely. I went wandtherin' down to the
quay among the ships, and what should there
be but a ship goin' to Scotland that very night,
wid pigs. In throth it was fun to see the sailors
at cross-purposes wid 'em, for they didn't know
the natur iv the bastes. I did. I knew how
to coax 'em. I set to an' I deludhered an'
coaxed the pigs, an', by pullin' them by
the tail, knowing that if they took a fancy
I wished to pull 'em back out of the ship,
they 'd run might and main into her, and so
they did. Well, the sailors were mightily
divarted, an' when the pigs was aboord, I
wint down to the place-- an' the short iv it is
that in three days I was in Glasgow town, an'
the captain an' the sailors subschribed up tin-
shillins an' guv it into my hand. Well, I
bought a raping hook, an' away I trudged
till I got quite an' clane into the counthry, an'
the corn was, here and there, fit to cut. At
last I goes an' ax a farmer for work. He
thought I was too wake to be paid by the day,
but one field havin' one corner fit to cut, an'
the next not ready, ' Paddy,' says he, ' you may
begin in that corner, an' I 'll pay yees by the
work yees do,' an' he guv me my breakfast
an' a pint of beer. Well, I never quit that
masther the whole harvest, an' when the
raping was over I had four goolden guineas to
carry home, besides that I was as sthrong as a
lion. Yees would wonder how glad the sailors
was to see me back agin, an' ne'er a far-
thin' would they take back iv their money,
but tuk me over agin to Belfast, givin' me the
hoighth of good thratemint of all kinds. I
did not stay an hour in Belfast, but tuk to the
road to look afther the ould man an' little
Biddy. Well, sorrows the tidins' I got. The
ould man had died, an' the grief an'
disthress of poor little Biddy had even
touched her head a little. The dacent people
where she was, may the Lord reward 'em,
though they found little use in her, kep her,
hoping I would be able to come home an' keep
her myself, an' so I was. I brought her away
wid me, an' the sight iv me put new life in
her. I was set upon not being idle, an' I 'll
tell yees what I did next.

"When I was little bouchaleen iv a boy I
used to be a head on the mountain face, an'
'twas often I sheltered myself behind them
gray rocks that's at the gable iv my house, an'
somehow it came into my head that the new
Squire, being a grate man for improvin',
might let me try to brake in a bit iv land
there, an' so I goes off to him, an' one iv the
sarvints bein' a sort iv cousin iv mine, I got
to spake to the Squire, an' behould yees he guv
me lave at onst. Well, there's no time like
the prisint, an' as I passed out iv the back
yard of the mentioned (mansion) house, I sees
the sawyers cutting some Norway firs that had
been blown down by the storm, an' I tells
the sawyers that I had got lave to brake in
a bit iv land in the mountains, an' what
would some pieces iv fir cost. They says they
must see what kind of pieces they was that
I wished for, an' no sooner had I set about
looking 'em through than the Squire himself
comes ridin out of the stable-yard, an' says he
at onst, McNale, says he, you may have a load
iv cuttins to build your cabin, or two if you
need it. 'The Heavens be your honour's bed,'
says I, an' I wint off to the room where
I an' Biddy lived, not knowin' if I was
on my head or my heels. Next day, before
sunrise, I was up here five miles up the face
of Slieve-dan, with a spade in my fist, an' I
looked roun' for the most shiltered spot I
could sit my eyes an. Here I saw, where the
house an' yard are stan'in, a plot iv about
an acre to the south iv that tall ridge of rocks,
well sheltered from the blast from the north
an' from the aste, an' it was about sunrise
an' a fine morning in October that I tuk up the
first spadeful. There was a spring then drippin'
down the face iv the rocks, the same you
see gushin' through the crockery pipe in the
farm-yard; an' I saw at once that it would
make the cabin completely damp, an' the land
about mighty sour an' water-slain; so I
determined to do what I saw done in Scotland.
I sunk a deep drain right under the rock to
run all along the back iv the cabin, an' workin'
that day all alone by myself. I did a grate
dale iv it. At night, it was close upon dark
when I started to go home, so I hid my spade