THE

CROSS AND THE SHAMROCK, OR, HOW TO DEFEND THE FAITH. 

AN

IRISH-AMERICAN CATHOLIC TALE

OF REAL LIFE, DESCRIPTIVE OF THE

TEMPTATIONS, SUFFERINGS, TRIALS, AND TRIUMPHS

OF THE

CHILDREN OF ST. PATRICK

IN THE

GREAT REPUBLIC OF WASHINGTON. 

A BOOK

FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT AND SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS OF

THE CATHOLIC MALE AND FEMALE SERVANTS OF THEUNITED STATES. 

WRITTEN BY

A MISSIONARY PRIEST. 

[Transcriber's Note: a pseudonym for Hugh Quigley. ]

BOSTON:

PATRICK DONAHOE, 3 FRANKLIN STREET. 

1853. 

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by

PATRICK DONAHOE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District ofMassachusetts. 

STEREOTYPED AT THEBOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. 

DEDICATION. 

To the faithful Irish-American Catholic citizensof the whole Union, and especially to the workingportion of them, on account of their piety, their liberality, their patriotism, and their steadyloyalty to the virtues symbolized by the "Crossand the Shamrock, "--on account of their attachmentto the land of St. Patrick, and to thereligion of her patriot princes and martyrs, --thiswork, written for their encouragement and instruction, is respectfully inscribed by

Their humble servant, And devoted friend and fellow-citizen, THE AUTHOR. 

September, 1853. 

PREFACE. 

"There are moments when every citizen who feels that he can saysomething promotive of the welfare of his countrymen and of advantage tohis country is authorized to give _public_ utterance to his sentiments, how humble soever he may be. "--_Letter of Archbishop Hughes on theMadiai_, February, 1853. 

"There may be, in public opinion, an Inquisition a thousand times moregalling to the soul than the gloomy prison or the weight ofchains. "--_National Democrat_, March, 1853. 

1st. The above extracts, from different but respectable sources, comprise the author's chief motives in the publication of the followingwork. It is a well-known fact, that thousands of our fellow-Christians, in all parts of this vast _free country_, are continually subjected to amost trying ordeal of temptation and persecution on account of theirreligion, and that the wonderful progress of Catholicity and renewedpower of the church only add to the malice, if not to the influence, ofsectarians, in their efforts to make use of this odious persecution ofservant boys and servant girls, of widows and orphans, to build up theirown tottering conventicles, and to circumscribe the giant strides ofwhat they call "the man of sin. "

A very intelligent American lawyer lately remarked to the writer ofthis, "that, about twenty-five years ago, the parsons fulminated alltheir eloquence against Satan; but they seem to have formed a leaguewith him now, for all their vengeance is directed against the pope, who, they say, is far more dangerous than Old Harry. "

When we know this to be literally true, and find our poor, neglected, and uninstructed brethren in danger accordingly, how can any thing thatcan be said, written, or done, to alleviate their condition, or toremove prejudice from the public mind, be counted a work ofsupererogation?

2d. The corruption of the cheap trash literature, that is now ordinarilysupplied for the amusement and instruction of the American people, --andthat threatens to uproot and annihilate all the notions of virtue andmorals that remain, in spite of sectarianism, --calls for some antidote, some remedy. In every rail car, omnibus, stage coach, steamboat, orcanal packet, publications, containing the most poisonous principles anddestructive errors, are presented to, and are purchased by, passengersof both sexes, whose minds, like the appetites of hungry animals, willtake to eating the filthiest stuff, rather than want food forrumination. It is for the philanthropists of the present day, and forthose who are paid for making such inquiries, to trace the connectionbetween the _roués_ of your cities, your Bloomer women, your spiritualrappers, and other countless extravagances of a diseased public mind, and between the abominable publications to which we allude. 

3d. Our people are not generally great readers of the trashy newspapersof the day; and in this respect they show their good sense, or at leasthave happened on good luck: it is therefore our duty to supply them withcheap and amusing literature, to entertain them during the few hoursthey are disengaged from work. And what reading can afford the IrishCatholic greater pleasure than any work, however imperfect, having forits end the exaltation and defence of his glorious old faith, and thevindication of his native land--his beloved "Erin-go-bragh"? Impress onhis susceptible mind the honor and advantage of defence and fidelity tothe CROSS and the SHAMROCK, and you give him two ideas that will come tohis aid in most of his actions through life. We are ashamed here of thecross of Christ, when we see it continually dishonored and trampled onby heretics and modern pagans, in their scramble for money and pleasures. On the other hand, the poverty, humiliation, and rags of old Erin, ofthe kings, saints, and martyrs, scandalize us; and from these two falsenotions the degradation and apostasy of many Irishmen commence. Hence theyno sooner land on the shores of America than they endeavor to clip themusical and rich brogue of fatherland, to make room for the bastardbarbarisms and vulgar slang of Yankeedom. The remainder of the course ofthe apostate is easily traced, till, ashamed of creed and country, he endsby being ashamed of his Creator and Redeemer, and barters the inheritanceof heaven for the miserable and short enjoyments of this earth. 

A _fourth_, and a leading motive in the publication of this work, is torecord the manly defences which the people among whom the author liveshave made of the creed of their fathers, and to enable them to refute, in a simple, practical manner, for the edification of their opponents, the many objections proposed to them about the faith. By placing a copyof this work in the hands of every head of a family in the congregationin which he presides, the author thinks he will have done somethingtowards the salvation of that parent and his house, by showing him howhe may educate his children, and save them from those subtle snares laidto rob them and him of happiness here and hereafter; for, without truereligion and virtue, there is neither enjoyment nor happiness even inthis world. 

But are the principles sound, and the estimate he has formed of Americancharacter and the conduct and motives of the sectarian parsons correct?There may be, and undoubtedly there is, great variety in Americancharacter; and, so far, what may be true of the people of one state orcounty, may not at all be applicable to those of the rest; but as far asregards sectarianism and its slanders of the church, and the lowcharacter, intellectually and morally, of the parsons, ministers, dominies, and preachers, with few honorable exceptions, it may be said, in the words of the poet, --

"Ex uno disce omnes. "

"They are all chips of the same block;" and the description in thefollowing pages of their attempts to proselytize, seduce, and corrupt, is not at all exaggerated, as thousands of candid American Protestantscan testify. Perhaps the sectarian dominies do not see the sadconsequences that are infallibly produced on the minds of their hearers, after they come to detect the frauds and falsehoods which the parsonsinculcate on them when children; but they are in _the cause_, andmorally responsible for that doubt, irreligion, and downright infidelitywhich are the well-known characteristics of the male and female youthof our great country, and which threaten such disastrous consequences tosociety. 

Yes, dominies, you are responsible for all the extravagances of moderntimes, for the irreparable loss to virtue and society of the noble youthof your country. You hate the church of God because she is a witnessagainst you. The priest, the nun, and the recluse are objects of yourmalice; for they are living examples of what you call impossible morals, and refuters of the code of low virtue you practise and preach. Thefaith of the Catholic laity, too, you endeavor to destroy, in order moresecurely to deceive your hearers, and to secure your children, yourwives, and yourselves, that bread which you eat by the dissemination oferror, contradiction, and contention, and which you are too lazy to"earn by the sweat of your brow. "

_Finally. _ This work is submitted to the reader by one who will be wellpleased if it affords the former any pleasure or amusement during one ortwo of such few hours of leisure as it took the latter to write it. Regarding style, method, and arrangement of the matter, the author hasno apology to offer, except that the work has been written in greathaste, and by one who, in five years, has not had a single entire dayfor recreation or unoccupied by severe missionary duty. Let not thecritics forget this. 

CONTENTS. 

 PAGECHAPTER I. A DEATH BED SCENE, 13

CHAPTER II. GETTING THE MOTHER'S BLESSING, 23

CHAPTER III. AN OFFICIAL, 32

CHAPTER IV. THE POORHOUSE, 41

CHAPTER V. THE O'CLERYS, 52

CHAPTER VI. THE COUNCIL, 60

CHAPTER VII. A RUDE LOVER OF NATURE, 69

CHAPTER VIII. THE ORPHANS IN THEIR NEW HOME, 77

CHAPTER IX. THE PRYING FAMILY, 87

CHAPTER X. A RAY OF HOPE, 97

CHAPTER XI. VAN STINGEY AGAIN. --HOW HE GETS RICH AND ENDS, 106

CHAPTER XII. MASS IN A SHANTY, 117

CHAPTER XIII. THE TEMPTER AT THE WOMAN, 129

CHAPTER XIV. THE FRUITS OF THE CROSS, 136

CHAPTER XV. THE CONVERSION, 145

CHAPTER XVI. THE ENLIGHTENED CITIZENS, 155

CHAPTER XVII. "HE AND HIS WHOLE HOUSE BELIEVED, " 164

CHAPTER XVIII. "TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION, " 178

CHAPTER XIX. WHAT HAPPENED TO LITTLE EUGENE O'CLERY, 187

CHAPTER XX. THE SAME, CONTINUED, 201

CHAPTER XXI. CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS, 213

CHAPTER XXII. THE DESERTED HOME OF THE ORPHANS, 223

CHAPTER XXIII. IN WHICH THE SCENE OF OUR TALE IS CHANGED, 240

CHAPTER XXIV. SHOWS HOW THE CROSS AND SHAMROCK WERE PERMANENTLYUNITED AFTER A LONG SEPARATION, 251

CHAPTER XXV. CONCLUSION, 260

CHAPTER I. 

A DEATH-BED SCENE. 

A cold evening in the month of January, a drizzling rain storm blowingfrom the south-west, a cheerless sky, a dull, threatening atmosphere, together with almost impassable roads, --these are the chilling anduninviting circumstances with which, if we pay regard to truth, we mustintroduce our narrative to our readers. It is usual, with writers offiction and romance, to preface their literary exhibitions withhigh-wrought and dazzling descriptions of natural and artificialobjects--the sun, moon, and stars; the clouds, meteors, and otherfantastic creations of the atmosphere; the seas, rivers, and lakes; themountains, fields, and gardens; the birds, fishes, and the inhabitantsof the savage forests, as well as the forests, groves, and woodsthemselves, --in a word, all nature seems as if conscious of the effectslikely to result to the morals, habits, and projects of men, while someof your modern novelists are arranging their matter, sharpening theirscissors, preparing pen, ink, and paper, and taking indigestible suppersto make way into the world for the offspring of their creative fancies. Ours being a tale of truth, --yes, of bare, unvarnished truth, yet oftruth more interesting, if not "stranger, than fiction, "--it is not tobe wondered that, when we acknowledge the homely dame, and her alone, asour guide, inspirer, and preceptor, we lack the advantage of romancers, and cannot command "a special sunset, " or a storm made to order, orother enchanting scenery, to introduce us to our patrons. 

We must take things as we find them; and this is why cold, rain, andfrost, the whistling of merciless winds, together with false andpitiless ice, constitute the principal features of our introductorychapter. The merry chimes of sleigh bells, as if to add gloom to thescene, were silent, no snow having fallen this winter, and the ice beingirregular and lumpy. The streets of the city of T---- were almostentirely deserted of foot passengers, owing to the danger of walkingover the slippery pavement; while cabmen and omnibus conductors hadcautiously driven their teams to the stable or smithy, to have them"sharpened" for the frozen coat of mail which enveloped the earth. Whenabout dusk, an aged gentleman, in a cloak, with a sharp-pointed cane inhis hand, might be observed moving along the gutter of a narrow street. Occasionally he would slip so as to come on one knee, and now he wouldsteer himself along by taking hold of the sills of windows, and of therailings which here and there were erected in front of a few houses onthe retired and deserted street on which he crept along. 

At length he approaches an old three-story, red, frame-built house, which, from its shattered and dilapidated windows, at first seemed tobe deserted, but which, from the description left by a messenger withhis domestic in the forenoon, he could not doubt was the place where heheard the emigrant widow lay at the point of death. 

"Is this where the sick woman is?" said he to an old woman who openedthe door. 

"Yes, your reverence, " answered Mrs. Doherty, at once recognizing thepriest; "and thank God you are come. The Lord never deserts his own, praise be to his holy name. "

"Is she very ill?" said Father O'Shane; for thus was named the solepastor of the city of T---- in those days. 

"That she is, your reverence, and callin' for the priest this threedays; but as we heard your reverence say that you would be in thecountry till this day, we thought it no use to give in the sick callsooner. I myself gave it in this morning afore my poor, sick old man gotup. "

"God help the poor!" muttered the tender-hearted priest, as he ascendedto the third floor, where the dying woman lay. 

"Amen!" answered Mrs. Doherty, aloud. "You would pity her, yourreverence, if you seen the misery they are in this two months; and it iseasily telling they saw better days in the ould country. It is easilyknowing _that_, by the _dacent_, mannerly children she has around her, God help 'em. "

"Pax huic domui, et omnibus habitantibus in ea"--"Peace to this house, and all that dwell therein, " uttered the priest of God, as he openedthe latchless door of the room on the third story of the old "Oil MillHouse, " where the patient was extended on her "pallet of straw. " For amoment he stood on the threshold, for within an unusual and solemn sightpresented itself to his view. A woman of fair and comely features, between about thirty and forty years of age, lay as described on thefloor, with four children kneeling around her. The eldest, a lad ofabout fifteen years, read aloud the litanies and prayers of the churchfor the dying, while the three younger children repeated the responsesin fervent but trembling accents. 

"Lord, have mercy on her, " cried Paul, the eldest boy. 

"Christ, have mercy on her, " answered the younger children. 

"Holy Mary. " _R. _ "Pray for her. "

"All ye holy angels and archangels. " _R. _ "Pray for her. "

"All ye choirs of the just. " _R. _ "Pray for her. "

"All ye saints of God. " _R. _ "Make intercession for her. "

"From thy anger, from an unhappy death, from the pains of hell. " _R. _"Deliver her, O Lord. "

"By thy cross and passion, by thy death and burial, by thy gloriousresurrection, in the day of judgment. " _R. _ "Deliver her, O Lord. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant from all danger of hell, andfrom all pain and tribulation. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Enochand Elias from the common death of the world. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Noah fromthe flood. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Abrahamfrom the midst of the Chaldeans. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Job fromall his afflictions. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Isaacfrom being sacrificed by his father. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Lot fromSodom and the flames of fire. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Mosesfrom the hands of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Danielfrom the lions' den. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst the threechildren from the fiery furnace and from the hands of an unmercifulking. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Susannafrom her false accusers. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Davidfrom the hands of Goliah and Saul. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Deliver, O Lord, the soul of thy servant, as thou deliveredst Peterand Paul out of prison. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"And as thou deliveredst that blessed virgin and martyr, St. Thecla, from most cruel torments, so vouchsafe, O Lord, to deliver the soul ofthis thy servant, and bring it to the participation of thy heavenlyjoys. " _R. _ "Amen. "

"Depart, Christian soul, out of this world, in the name of God, theFather Almighty, who created thee; in the name of Jesus Christ, Son ofthe living God, who suffered for thee; in the name of the Holy Ghost, who sanctified thee; in the name of the angels, archangels, thrones anddominations, cherubims and seraphims; in the name of the patriarchs andprophets, of the holy martyrs and confessors, of the holy monks andhermits, of the holy virgins, and of all the saints of God. Let thyplace be this day in peace, and thy abode in _Sion_, through Christ, ourLord. " _R_. "Amen. "

The offering up of this most beautiful prayer by the children for theirdying parent was not unattended with several breaks and pauses, causedby the overwhelming grief of the poor orphans. They "gave out" the shortprayers of the litany very well, and without much interruption; but whenthey came to the more solemn portion of that beautiful service, the"recommendation of a departing soul, " they could no longer restraintheir tears or suppress their lamentations. 

Small blame to the poor children for this manifestation of grief, sincewe have known instances of the most hardened hearts being touched, andthe most manly eyes yielding their tribute of tears, at the bare recitalof the most beautiful form of prayer for the "soul departing. " We haveourselves read this service a thousand times, at least, by the deathbedsides of many "departing souls;" and never could we once go throughthe form of it entire without yielding to the weakness of nature, andbecoming speechless by the violence of our tears. Let the most obstinateunbeliever attend but a few times by the bedside of a dying Catholic, and observe the piety and faith of the priest and people around the bedof the "soul departing;" and if he be not an atheist or a blasphemer ofGod's providence, it is impossible for him not to perceive thesuperiority of the Catholic religion to all other forms of worship thatever existed. But to be present at the death hour of a Christian is aprivilege which Protestants and unbelievers seldom or never enjoy; theirlevity and want of devotion, with their impiety and irreverence, beingsufficiently powerful obstacles to their admittance into such sacredplaces as the chamber in which the sacred offices of religion areadministered to the "departing soul. " It is only the true believers, andnot "those outside, " who have the privilege of hearing the "prayer offaith" that saves the sick man--it is only they who enjoy occasionallythe consolation from the inspiring words of the church to join theirtears, and unite their sighs, sobs, and sorrows with those of theirpastors and fellow-Christians, for the happy passage and mercifuljudgment for their departing brother. Such were the tears and sadnessthat Paul O'Clery and his little attendants shed around the bed oftheir dying mother. 

"Paul, my child, why do you act so?" said she, gently chiding him. 

"O mother! mother! how can I help it? Stop ye your crying there, " saidhe, taking courage, and turning to his younger associates. "SilenceBridget, Patrick, and Eugene. Answer me distinctly, and hold your grief. It will vex mother. " And he continued the prayer from where he left offwith as good grace as he could. 

The venerable priest, though inside the door, was unperceived duringthis affecting scene; and the heavy tears might be seen stealing downhis furrowed cheeks as he surveyed the group before him. 

"O, faith of my Lord, O, best gift of God, how precious thou art! Thoucanst change men into angels, earth into paradise, and convert themisery and poverty of the poor emigrant into a picture like this, thatheaven itself must delight to gaze on. That's right, my darling son, "said he, "you have finished well; you have done your duty towards yourmother, for which God will bless you, and I bless you in his name. Innomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. "

"The priest, mother!" whispered Bridget. "I know him by his cloak. "

"Glory, honor, and praise be to the Almighty, " said the calm and nowrejoicing widow, as she saw the face of the venerable minister ofreligion. "The Lord is too good to me, not to let me die in a strangeland, without the consolations of my holy religion, " she continued, kissing the silver crucifix of her beads. 

The heart of the good man was too full to give utterance to many words;and seeing that Death was at hand, that already he was master of all butthe heart, --for the extremes were cold and without feeling, --he orderedthe children down to Mrs. Doherty's, while he heard the short and humbleconfession of the poor departing soul, administered the most holyviaticum, with extreme unction, and read the last benediction of thechurch--"In articulo mortis. "

He then strengthened her soul with a few words of exhortation, andhaving prescribed a few short, ejaculatory prayers, bidding her to havethe name, as well as the image, of Jesus ever in her heart and lips, hedeparted, promising to call again as soon as possible, taking theprecaution to leave two dollars in silver and a three dollar bill on thelittle stool that stood by her bed. He had now, he said, to go aboutforty miles into the country; and he would, after his return, call tosee how she was, and to comply with her request about the children. 

"I commend you now to the care of God and his angel. God bless you, "said he, departing. 

"Into thy hands I commend my spirit. O Lord, receive my soul. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, have mercy on me. O God of love, goodness, and mercy, accept my imperfect thanksgiving; save my soul, redeemed by thy preciousblood, and make me worthy to see thy glory. I believe in thee, O Lord, I hope in thee, and I love thee. O my God and my Lord, who am I thatthou shouldst visit me!"

With these and other fervent aspirations, this pure and exalted soulprepared for the manifestation of the glory of her Lord, and sighed tobe dissolved, and to fly to the beatific vision that faith promised her, and through the merits of Christ she expected to obtain. After this, thesymptoms of her disease became sensibly less dangerous than before thevisit of the priest; but this calm, this seeming relief, was onlytemporary. Presently the impress of pale death was unmistakably settledon her calm brow. 

CHAPTER II. 

GETTING THE MOTHER'S BLESSING. 

When the priest departed from the precincts of "Oil Mill House, " incompany with the impatient messenger that required his services in thecountry, after a few words of encouragement and advice spoken to Paul, Bridget, Patrick, and Eugene, --for so were widow O'Clery's childrennamed, --they returned to the bedside of their dying mother. LittleBridget was the first to observe on the small bench by the bedside themoney left there by Father O'Shane. 

"Paul, " she whispered, "look here! This is money left, I suppose, by thepriest. " Paul, who was acquainted with American coin, took up the eightpieces, or quarters, in silver, and the bill, and examining them by thecandle, said, "O Bid, see how good the priest is! He has left us fivedollars, or one pound, without saying a word about it. Mother, how doyou feel? Look! the priest left us a deal of money here quietly. "

"God reward him for it, " answered she, with a hoarse and broken voice. "Paul, darling, go on your knees, you and your sister and brothers, tillI give ye my blessing before I die. Quick, children, quick, while I havestrength. "

"O mother! mother! sure you aren't going to leave us orphans? May beyou will get better now, after extreme unction. "

"Kneel down here by my side, my children, " said she, feeling that hertime was now short. "Paul, do you promise me you will be a good boy, love God, and keep his commandments?"

"Yes, mother, with God's help. O woe!"

"Will you watch over your brothers, and sister Bridget, and go with themto the priest, telling him not to forget that I gave ye all up to hiscare, and the care of God and his blessed mother?"

"O, I will. "

"Bridget, Patrick, and Eugene, will ye obey, and be said by Paul, who isthe oldest?"

"Yes, mother, please God, " they answered, amidst sobbing and tears thathalf choked them. 

"God bless ye, and guard ye, and save ye from all dangers of soul andbody. I give ye up to God. I place ye under the holy care of theblessed mother of God. I pray that ye may preserve pure the faithof Saint Patrick. I bless ye. O, pray for me. Jesus, into thyhands--Jesus--Mary--Jesus----. " There was a sigh, and by a single effortthe soul extricated itself from its prison of clay to join the ranks ofits kindred spirits. The widow O'Clery is no more, and Paul and hisbrethren are orphans indeed. 

For a few minutes there was a deep silence in that chamber of death, andPaul repeated the "De Profundis, " in English, out of his Prayer Book;but when the cold and ghastly form of death was perceived by this poorcompany to be all that was left of their darling and affectionatemother, loud and mournful were their lamentations. Then, and not tillthen, did the forlorn state to which they were reduced reveal itselfeven to their juvenile minds. There they were, helpless and destitute, without father or mother, friend or relation; on every side strangers, cold, hunger, and want. The mysterious hand of Providence conducted themfrom comparative comfort, if not luxury, through several stages oftrial, danger, and trouble, till they were now entirely stripped, likeJob, of all but an existence to which death was preferable. Many are thephases of misery and crosses with which the life of man is surrounded inthis vale of tears; but we think the condition of the orphan, deprivedof both parents, and thrown for support or existence on a strange andselfish world, the most desolate of all. A policeman was the first whowas attracted to the house of mourning by the wailing and cries of thosewhom this night saw alone and desolate. Mrs. Doherty, attended by anIrish servant maid from a neighboring house, were the next visitors;and, after piously kneeling around the corpse to offer their ferventprayers for the soul, they prepared to "lay out" the body. Thisconsists, as all are probably aware, of washing the corpse, clothing itin clean linen, extending it on a table or bed, and putting up suchtemporary fixtures as would deprive the room in which it lies of thegloom and repulsiveness attendant on such an event. After arranging allthings so that she looked "a decent corpse, " with the _religious habit_around her, Mrs. Doherty hung up the crucifix, pinned to a white linensheet at the head of where she lay, placed her "Ursuline Manual" on herbreast, and her beads on her arms, crossed on the body. 

"She was a handsome, fine woman, in her day, God bless her, " said Mrs. Doherty. 

"Yes, any body can tell that, " answered Norry. "I wonder how they camehere at all. "

"I know it well, " answered old Peggy Doherty. "She telled me all aboutit afore she took bad entirely. Her man was well off, and had a brothernext to the bishop in the church, in the county of C----. When landlordsbegan to root out the people from their homes, the brother of Mr. O'Clery, her husband, wrote letters in the newspapers about the crueltyof the landlord, who was called 'Lord Mandemon;' and on that account, and because the priest took part with the poor, --as they always do, Godbless 'em!--the landlord came down on Mr. O'Clery, sold out his sixtymilch cows, after being twenty-one days in pound; and though the cowswere worth ten pounds each, Lord Mandemon's agent sold them by auction, and he bought them back himself for two pounds each; and so the poorfamily was ruined. After that, O'Clery sold out another farm he had;and, collecting all that was due to him, he came to America, against theadvice of the priest, his brother. He thought, he said, to live with hisfamily in 'a free country, ' where there were no landlords or tyrants, and, while he had some means, to buy a farm which he could call his own. But he took the cholera when within sight of land, and he only lived afew days. God rest his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed. And God help those poor orphans, " she said, piously, looking to wherethe little group, wearied from grief and crying, lay asleep on a strawbed. 

"I do really pity the poor creatures, " said Norry. "I suppose they willhave to go to the poorhouse. "

"I hope not; God forbid, _asthore_, the poorhouse is such a dangerousplace for Catholics. I heard the priest say he would call to-morrow; andmay be he will _do for_ the little dears. "

"'Tis hard for him to provide for all that are in distress, " said Norry. 

"I know it; but it would be a murther to let such well-reared and decentchildren into the hands of those poormasters, but especially that VanStingey, whose great delight is, they say, to convart the children ofCatholics to his own sect. See what he done to the little Croninchildren, whose father and mother died lately. "

"I heard of that; but I am afraid the priest won't be able to call onto-morrow, as he promised, if it continue to snow so. "

"_O yea_, God forbid; but it is a terrible night. Do ye hear how itblows? _O Heirna Dioa. _"

"Yes, and the snow is falling in mountains; the roads will be blockedup, and hills and hollows will be on a level in the morning. "

"God help every poor Christian that is out to-night, " said Mrs. Doherty. "I hope the Lord will save his reverence from all harm. "

"Amen!" answered Norry. "He will have a hard night of it. Had he far togo?"

"He had, _agra_, forty miles out in Vermont; but sure he could notrefuse going. The woman is just dying; and besides, she is a Protestant, who wants to die in the faith. "

"Happy for her, " said Norry, "if he overtakes her alive. How good thepriests are to these Yankees, although they are always ridiculing theclergy; yet, if one of them is going to die, the priest not onlyforgives them, but is willing to travel any distance to do them aservice. "

"Sure that's the orders of God and the church, " said Mrs. Doherty. "Itis not for them alone they are working, but for God, you know. "

"That's true, " said Norry. "But still and all, when one hears how theyare always ridiculing priests and nuns, and sees how they hate ourreligion, it is very hard, I think, to forgive them. "

"Yes, _agra_, " said Peggy, who was better informed than Norry; "so it ishard for flesh and blood to forgive the heretics; but, unless we forgivethem, God won't forgive us. The priest knows this well; and so, if therewere two sick calls to come at one time to him, as happened lately, onea Protestant and the other a Catholic, he would go to the Protestantfirst. "

"That beats all, " said Norry, "and is more than I would do, if I werethe priest; for I know well all that is said of him behind his back. "

"What harm will all that scandalous talk do the priest?" said Peggy. "Itonly does him good; and he has a blessing for being 'spoken evil of'like our Lord. He forgives all those whom God forgives; and so, if hisenemy, the Protestant, falls sick, and wants his services, he goes tohim _first_, in order that he may be brought into the church, wherealone he can be saved. "

"Thanks be to God, " said Norry. "Is not it a wonder the Protestantsdon't understand this, and look on the priests and the church as theirbest friends, seeing that the priests are as ready, and readier, toattend to them than to the Catholics themselves?"

"How can they understand it when they are blinded by love of money, impurity, and the hatred that the ministers excite against the church inthe minds of their hearers? Wasn't our Lord himself hated by those whomhe most loved, and put to death by them? It is so with every priest whofollows his steps, now as well as then. The world will always hategood. "

This Christian philosophy was a little too sublime for poor Norry'smind, who was a long time among the Yankees, sufficiently instructed inthe customs of this "free country" to be ready to observe the law of"Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and life for life;" and who, besides, hadher naturally warm temper rather spoiled from her continual rencontreswith her mistress on such subjects as confession, priests' celibacy, purgatory, and other subjects too profound for the understanding of hermistress to know any thing about them, and too sacred in the eyes ofNorry to allow them to be irreverently handled without saying somethingin their defence. It requires not only a perfect acquaintance with thesublime and heavenly tenets of Catholicity to speak of them withprecision and propriety, but, in addition to a deep study of the truthsof true religion, the _practice of her precepts_, and the frequentreception of the sacraments, are necessary to imbue the mind with thetrue Christian notions regarding her high commands. 

Poor Norry "had not a chance, " she said, of going to her duties forseveral years; and that is why she considered "Peggy Doherty's" talkabout forgiveness so strange and unaccountable. 

"Yes, a _Greffour_, " resumed "old Peggy, " "we must forgive all theworld; and myself would forgive any thing sooner than kidnappin' orstealing away the children of Catholics, which these Yankee parsons areso fond of doing. "

"O, so they are, the villains, " said Norry. "Did they take away or stealany of this poor woman's children? 'Tis a wonder if they didn't. "

"Well, besides the four children you see here, _asthore_, she hadanother neat child, one year old, named Aloysia, whom a lady up towntook with her, two months since, to rear her up along with her ownchildren; and it was only about ten days since she got news of herdeath. When the poor woman heard this, the heart broke entirely withinher, especially as she could not be present at the child's death bed orat the funeral. "

"Why, that's rather strange, " said Norry. "Did they send her word thatshe was sick?"

"Not a word. It was only when I went up to Mrs. Sillerman's, the otherday, to inquire about the child, she comes out and tells me the childdied, and was decently interred. When I told the mother, she cried out, 'O Aloysia, Aloysia, my darling! are you, too, gone?' And she was notherself since. "

"I do think there must be something wrong in the matter, " said Norry. "Did you tell the priest?"

"No, I did not, for I had not time, " said Mrs. Doherty. "God forgive me. I have a doubt in my own mind that the lady of the house (I renouncejudging her) was not honest when she told me of the child's death. 'Perhaps, ' says I to myself, 'she is kidnapped. ' And she was such apurty angel, with a face you would delight looking on; and on her righthand, --the Lord save us!--a circle like a ring was on her middle finger. She was too good to live; and was made for heaven, I suppose. Glory beto God. "

CHAPTER III. 

AN OFFICIAL. 

Our poormaster, Van Stingey, was a very conscientious officer. He neversquandered what he called the people's property, the commonwealth. Hewas none of your vulgar, ordinary poormasters. He did not want theoffice; they only forced it on to him. Like some of your greatstatesmen, he acted for _man_, as he emphatically said; not for poorwidows and orphans, taken one by one; that was only a secondaryconsideration. His whole duty, his very existence, seemed to be neededfor the good of man, or humanity in general. The question with him was, not how to relieve this or that poor man or woman. _That_ might engagethe attention of a man of no intelligence, no education, or nophilosophy: what he aspired to was, always to act by principle; to actso that the state, or the people who owned _real estate_, and whoelected him against his will, to see that their interests were attendedto, whatever became of the poor. Accordingly, when he heard of any caseof particular distress, such as that a poor emigrant died of misery in acold, deserted house, our poormaster regretted it, as an individual;but, as an officer, he said, he acted according to principle. He couldnot betray his constituents, who elected him against his will, by anyact of extravagance; and the good of the many must be consulted. "Eventhe Lord, " he used to say, --for he was a religious man, --"when hecreated the sun, left spots in it. " The best statesman must sometimes dowhat may be cruel to the few; but, in the end, it would turn out for thegood of man. This district, since his election, now twice successively, had made a saving of some two hundred a year since he became itsofficer; and that would, in time, open the eyes of the people as to whowere proper candidates for office, tend to diminish taxes, and, in fact, be a work for man--progress and virtue. Besides this, Mr. Poormaster VanStingey had "got religion, " by which he was wonderfully enlightened, having been so lucky as to gain that valuable accomplishment just sixmonths, and only six months, before his election, at a camp meeting heldnear the village of M----ville. 

"I tell you what, the fact of the matter is, Mr. Knicks, " said he, "there is nothin' like religion. Before I got religion, and jined thechurch, I didn't have any knowledge of God. I used to pity theseemigrants, seeing them poor and pale looking as death; but now, sir, Ireads my Bible, and finds that the Lord must not regard nor love thesePapists, wher'n he lets them run down so. The word of life is great. "

"Wal, I do not know. I care not a straw about any church; but my oldmother used to teach us, when children, that poverty and crosses were nosign of the Lord's displeasure; as witness holy Job and Christ himself, who were poor. In fact, she never stopped telling us, when boys, thatriches were dangerous, the love of money the root of all evil, and that'whom he chastiseth the Lord loveth. '"

"O, but your mother was a stiff Papist, you know, and did not understandthe word of God. "

"Yes, sir-ee, she did that; for I well recollect that, in the manyarguments she had with father, she always had the best of it. That shehad. "

"She may argue from Jesuit books and the like; but the Bible she durstnot look at, you know, Knicks. "

"I know better, Van. Don't you talk so. I have got the very Bible sheused and read every day--a great large one, printed in London. Motherwas English, and herself a convert to the church of Rome, though fatherwas Dutch. "

"Why, I never knowed that, Knicks. That was a great misfortune. Thesepriests, by the arts of Antichrist, will come round simple folks so, that they often succeed in leading them down to destruction. "

"Well, sir, " said Knicks, "I can tell you I never met a Christian but mymother; and I cannot believe or listen to you say she went todestruction, but to heaven, if there is such a place. And again: if Iwere to embrace any religion, it would be the Roman Catholic religion;for it is the only _honest religion_ there is. Father often broughtMethodist and Presbyterian ministers to make mother give up her'n; butit was no go. She always treated them civil; but they had the worst ofthe argument, I can tell you. They brought their Bibles, and she her'n;and then they would set to, and be at it, till at last they were obligedto give up. The only difference between her Bible and theirs is, thather'n contained some fourteen or fifteen books more than the ProtestantBible. The end of it was, that father turned with mother, and had theIrish priest O'Shane to attent him afore he died. Mother got us allbaptized too. "

"Indeed!" carelessly ejaculated our official. "I must call and see thatBible of yours some day. "

This conversation--which happened a few days before the death of ouremigrant widow--between his neighbor "Knicks" and our official showswhat an _enlightened gentleman_ he was. Since his elevation to office, he also got promotion to another situation, which, though not solucrative as that of poormaster, in the course of time, by propermanagement, promised to come to something. In a certain school house inhis vicinity, where the faithful were too poor, too irreligious, or toopernicious to hire a preacher, our official held forth every Sunday, andseveral evenings on the week days, at prayer meetings, protractedmeetings, and other roaring exercises. And to do him credit, his nasalaccent and piercing shrill voice made him a capital substitute for the_hired_ regular Methodist preacher. He could be heard for nearly a miledistant calling on the _brethern_ and _sistern_ to come to heaven. 

"O, let us come!" he would cry; "we were made and intended for heaven. Isee the shining seats, I see the crystal fountains, I see the Lordsitting on the throne. Come, sisters, come! I could embrace ye all forthe Lord's sake. I could hide ye in my bosom. O! O!"

There were some whose faith was not strong enough to place implicitreliance on the veracity of this very enlightened "minister of theword;" but the great majority believed, or pretended to believe, andexpressed their faith by crying out, "Glory! glo-ry! glo-r-y!"

If a more particular or personal description of our official isrequired, we can state, from minute observation, that Mr. Van Stingeywas of the middle size, of thin, cadaverous appearance, short neck, snake head, with lank, sandy hair, nose flat and simex-like, small eyes, one of which he kept continually shut, as if he supposed himself a matchfor the poor whom he had to deal with by keeping one "eye skinned, "reserving the other for some important office in church or state, towhich he unquestionably aspired. Several times during the two months thedestitute widow and her family were reduced to penury and sickness. Ourworthy master was apprised of their condition by the neighbors; but healways answered that the law did not allow him to spend any more, justnow; that these emigrants ought to remain at home; that they had noright to this country; that he heard a very godly minister foretell lastyear, at camp meeting, that the Romanists would yet have this country;that too many were coming by millions; that he feared that they couldnot be converted as fast as they were arriving; that they ought to bemade pay a heavy sum, or sent back. "In short, " said he one day to poorMrs. Doherty, "I was not elected by them Irish paupers, and I neverexpect to be. "

"If every thing you say was as true as that last word, I think you wouldbe an honest man for wonst, " said Mrs. Doherty; "for there is no fearthat an Irishman's or a Christian's vote will ever elect the like ofyou. God forgive you this day!"

To suppose that any man could display such _bona fide_ ignorance as thisofficial did in the foregoing, would be to form an incorrect andinadequate estimate of the human mind. The fact was that Van Stingey wasa false, low, cruel man, whose soul, steeped in the sensuality of hispast life, had lost all that was divine in its nature. His circumstanceswere so reduced by his crimes and dissipation, that, being "too lazy towork, and ashamed to beg, " he assumed first the guise of religion togain popularity; and when he had "got religion, " then the teachers ofthe stuff which they call by that noble name, to keep it respectable, procured him this office as a reward for his hypocrisy. 

This was the official who startled the inmates of our house of mourningabout five o'clock in the morning, when, thrusting his head inside thedoor, he cried out, "A corpse there, eh?"

"The Lord save us! Who are you, or what brings you here this hour o'night?" said old granny Doherty, suspecting him as "nothing good. "

"Like you Irish, allers asking questions, " said he, discharging a massof tobacco almost in her face. "I am the poormaster; and, havingreceived a report that there was a dead pauper here, thought I wouldhave it put out of the way early, before the folks would get up. "

"You are a very polite gintleman, God bless you. I hope she won't beburied so soon. This is not the custom in any Christian country. Afterto-morrow will be soon enough. You need not be in a hurry. We expect thepriest here to see to the children, as he has already left some help, God bless him. "

"She must be enterred this morning, having died with the ship fever, Isuppose. The citizens expect me to do my _dooty_; and that I will do, ifthe Lord spares me. "

"The dickens a ship fever nor no other fever she had; but the poorwoman's heart broke, seeing what she had come to in a strange country, "said Mrs. Doherty, pityingly. 

"Wal, wal, if she had trusted in the Lord, and knew the word of God, hewould not have deserted her as he has, " hypocritically answered theofficial. 

"I beg your pardon, sir, don't judge rashly. She was not deserted byGod, but died content and happy, after all the rites of her holyreligion were administered to her, " was the prompt reply. 

"You think so; but I want to know how she could love God without theBible; and you Roman Catholics are not allowed its use. "

"God help those that can't read so, " said Mrs. Doherty. "There is nochance for me or my old man, for neither of us can read it; but not soMrs. O'Clery, God be good to her. She had her Bible, and many more goodbooks. "

"Yes, sir, " said Paul, joining in the dialogue. "We have always had thetrue Catholic Bible, and mother always read it on her knees. "

"Wal, my good lad, you are _pooty_ smart; and now get you ready, withthe rest of you little critters, and come on the sleigh I will send foryou. Let's see how many of you there are. One, two, three, four--a greatlot of ye. As I was saying, be ready to come up to the county house tillI can get some folks to take ye in to keep till ye are of age. "

"The priest, sir, " said Paul, "promised to call to-day; and as healready has left us a good sum of money, I know the good man willprovide for us till he writes to my uncle, who would be very sorry tohear of our going to the poorhouse or the county house, though it may bea better place. "

"My young lad, you will be provided for by law, and don't fail to beready by ten o'clock, " said the official, sternly, as he left the room. 

In a few hours after, the body of the widow O'Clery was deposited in arough, unplaned pine coffin, and placed on board a two-horse, opensleigh. The four orphans were stowed around in the same vehicle, and, incare of a constable, the _cortege_ drove off at full speed to thecemetery. By half past eleven, the remains of the widow were consignedto their kindred earth, the few lumps of hard frozen clay on the surfaceher only monument--the sobs, sighs, and prayers of her own dear childrenthe only requiem uttered over her lowly and soon-to-be-forgotten tomb. "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth now, saith theSpirit, that they may rest from their labors. " (Apoc. Xiv. 13. )

CHAPTER IV. 

THE POORHOUSE. 

When Father O'Shane left for the village of B----, in Vermont, toadminister the rites of Christian unction to a departing soul, the roadswere very hard to travel, and his progress, in company with his faithfulguide, was tedious and slow in the extreme. The call was to a sick womannamed Finmore, who was in the last stage of consumption, and who hadoften, during her illness, expressed a desire that she should beattended by a priest before she would die. Her husband did not opposeher wish, but was yet either too indifferent on the subject, or toolazy, to go such a journey as to the city of T---- in search of apersonage of whom he stood in such awe, and knew so little of, as theCatholic priest. A neighboring Irish farmer, named O'Leary, hearing ofthe wish of the dying woman, volunteered to bring the priest, if "therewas one to be found in all America, " he said, "provided he got a horseand wagon from the stable of the rich Yankee. " And it was in companywith this simple but brave and faithful man that Father O'Shane set outon the evening of the widow's death. They had not advanced many miles, however, when the wind veered round to the north-west, and a mostviolent snow storm blew quite in their face. Slow and unpleasant wastheir progress over the hard, icy road; but in the course of a few hourstheir farther advance became an utter impossibility with a wagon. Theyhad, therefore, to stop at a tavern; and after a good deal of entreaty, and after having fed their horse, they succeeded in hiring from the bossthe use of a sleigh to carry them along to Vermont. 

"Ye can't travel nohow to-night, " said the boss; "the roads will beblocked up, chuck full. "

"We'll have to travel, sir, " said the Irishman, "or die in the attempt;so let us have the cutter. Charge what you have a mind to. "

"Why, what in the world can be the matter? Ye ain't subpoenaed, or goingto arrest somebody?" said the jolly boss. 

"Ah, no such thing, man, " said the farmer; "but there is a womandangerously ill, and yon gentleman in the sitting room is a doctor, going to visit her. Cost what it may, we must go ahead. "

"O, that alters the case. Why did you not say so at first? and youshould have had it and welcome. It will be ready in no time. Hitch on tothat new, light cutter in the shed, Sam, " said he to the hostler. 

"Ya, ya, " said Sam; and in five minutes the priest and his guide wereagain proceeding on their charitable mission. They reached theirdestination about two o'clock in the night, just one hour before thedeath of her on whose account they had come such a journey. FatherO'Shane--poor old gentleman!--suffered terribly; had his earsfrostbitten, and two of his fingers frozen. But no matter; a soul was tobe saved, and that consideration alleviated all his sufferings, andrendered him dead to every thing--cold, pain, watchings, hunger, thirst, and weariness; nay, even death itself was but a trivial, inadequateprice to be paid by a mortal man to gain an immortal soul to Christ andeternal happiness. 

"'Tis an awful night, reverend sir, " said O'Leary. "I fear we can't goahead. "

"What matter, O'Leary, " said Father O'Shane, "as we reached in time?What is this night and all its violence compared with the sufferings ofa poor soul in the next world? All I regret is that you did not send mein the sick call sooner. All is well, however; she was perfectlyconscious, and, I hope, worthily received all the rites of religion. Hold up! you will rest well to-night, your conscience at ease, afterhaving been engaged in such a meritorious act of charity. "

In nothing does the church of God manifest the divinity of her originand mission more than in the care which she bestows on her children, theadopted brethren of Jesus Christ, at the awful hour of death. Shereserves all her good things for this her last service to her children. She sends her keys there, to the bedside of the dying man, to open tohim the gate to the calm and peaceful walks of justification. She sendsher oils thither, too, to anoint the Christian gladiator for his lastand final struggle with his powerful enemies. She sends her divinemanna, to strengthen him and sustain him for the trying and unknownjourney; and she sends the music of her sweet hymns and litanies tocheer him on, and the light of indulgences and benedictions to guide hissoul, illumine his understanding, and shed the rays of their heavenlyreflection on the difficult passage that he has to traverse. And thisfood, these blessings, gifts, and graces, she has ready for allrepentant sinners without exception, be they the inmates of the truefold, or straying without the boundaries of the city of God; be they thetimorous souls who are already washed, or the negligent, who havefollowed the hard ways of the world. If, in her other functions, thespouse of Christ is "terrible as an army set in array, " "fair as themoon, and beautiful as the setting sun, " in this, her last office at thedeath bedside, she is all mercy, tenderness, and goodness. O, how cold, selfish, and intolerable would life be, if the Catholic church was notpresent, on all occasions, with the graces, blessings, and consolationsof Christ!

"O Lord, if it be thy will, deprive us of every thing--riches, health, renown, pleasure; but never leave thy creatures, thy inheritance, thychildren, without the consolations of thy church! O Lord, the many sheepthat are here not of thy fold gather and bring in speedily, that theremay be but one fold and one Shepherd, as thou thyself hast foretold. "Thus prayed this pious priest of God, after having added another strayedsheep to the fold of his divine Master; and his soul was at peace. 

For two days the storm continued unabated, the whole country becominglike an undulating ocean of snow. Drift snow, mountain high, wasaccumulated in the valleys between hills; whole herds of sheep andcattle were suffocated; and the bodies of several teamsters, whose teamswere overset, were dug out lifeless from under the drifts by the men whohad assembled with their ox teams and shovels to open the interruptedcommunication with the city. 

Father O'Shane bemoaned his fate in doleful terms; the more so as Sundaywas approaching, when he feared he should be absent from hiscongregation; and he also regretted that he had it not in his power, according to his promise to the widow O'Clery, to visit her next day, and provide for her poor orphans among the benevolent of his flock. And, well aware of the character of the hard-hearted Van Stingey, heshuddered for the fate of the children. 

The apprehensions of the good priest were not groundless; for no soonerwas the body of Mrs. O'Clery consigned to its narrow, cold habitation, than the official, assisting the children into the sleigh that had bornetheir mother's body to the tomb, drove off in a rapid trot towards thepoorhouse. 

"Have we far to go yet, sir?" said Paul, thinking that the "countyhouse" was something different from the much dreaded poorhouse. "I amafraid Bridget will perish with cold, sir. "

"No fears of her; she's hardy, I guess. "

"Yes, sir, but her dress is so very light. "

"Well, she can pull that ere buffalo around her. "

"Ou, hou, hou!" cried Bridget, breathing on her little bare hands, whichshe kept pressed to her lips. 

"I hope, sir, you are not going to take us to the poorhouse, " said Paul;"we don't want to go there. The priest that attended my mother--God resther soul!--told us he would provide for us. "

"Indeed! How can he do so?" said Van Stingey. 

"Why, sir, I don't know; but perhaps he will write to my uncle, who is avicar general in Ireland, and he will send us money to take us backhome. "

"Is your uncle in the British sarvice, then, and a general in the army?"

"No, sir, but he is a priest next to the bishop in station in thechurch. "

"That's it, eh? Wal, I guess you better not talk of going back, any how. You must live here in this free country, and learn to be a man and aChristian--a thing you could not be at home, in the old country. "

"I beg your pardon, sir, " replied Paul; "the very best Christians are inIreland, which was once called the 'Isle of Saints, ' when all the peoplewere Catholics; and where I came from, even now, they are all mostlyCatholics. There are in the whole parish but two _peelers_, the ministerand his wife, and the tithe proctor, or collector of tithes; in all, five Protestants. "

"You are a lad, I see, " said the official, as he dismounted from thesleigh and ordered the children to enter their new home. 

"O, woe, woe, woe!" cried they, as they found themselves admitted as_paupers_, and enclosed within the precincts of the terrible poorhouse. "O Lord, what will we do?" cried they. "O sir, don't keep us here, orsend word to the priest first. I will go to his house, myself, " saidPaul. 

"Shet up, ye little fools!" said the official; "this is a better placenor ye think. Ye ain't going to get no potatoes, nohow, but somethingbetter than ye ever were used to. Take these young 'uns to the stove inthe kitchen, " said he to an under official. And the sobs and groans ofthe destitute orphans were drowned in the uproarious rumbling of thegong that called the officers of the establishment to dinner, it beingnow noon. 

The repugnance of the Irishman to the poorhouse is proverbial. Neitherprison, dungeon, nor death is invested with greater horror, in the mindsof the peasantry of Ireland, than this institution. Solely founded, asthey are told, for their special use and benefit, there are instances, countless, on record, where the affectionate mother has thanked Heaven, when by fever, plague, or hunger it deprived her of her darling infant, rather than that it should become an inmate of the poorhouse!

"Is not this prejudice unreasonable and strange?" it will be asked. "Andwhy is it that the Irishman shuns and abhors an institution which hisEnglish neighbor enjoys and petitions to enter?" The reasons arenumerous, and the difference in the feelings of both obvious andpalpable. It must be first remarked, that the Irish are a traditionalpeople, and remarkably conservative of the customs and usages of theirancestors. They look back into the history of their country, or consulttheir fathers and grandfathers, and in vain look back for the existenceof a poorhouse, or any necessity for its existence, before the advent ofthe "godly reformation" and the established church in their midst. Theyheard of such establishments as the ancient "_beataghs_, " or houses ofhospitality, which were provided for the stranger and destitute in everytownland, the doors of which were open day and night, and on the boardsof which cooked victuals for scores of men were continually ready. Thesewere the substitute for the poorhouse in the days when England and allEurope sent their poor scholars to receive a gratuitous education amongthe inhabitants of the Island of Saints. There the poor and the hungrycould come in and eat, and be filled, and go his way, without beingquestioned who he was, without being asked for a _pauper ticket_ toadmit him, without being obliged or compelled to lead a life ofcelibacy, or running the risk of his soul's salvation, to keep his bodyfrom perishing of hunger. 

In a word, when Brian Boru expelled the Danes from Ireland, when HughO'Niel triumphed over the troops of Elizabeth, as well as when Dathiheld the sceptre, or Nial of the hostages planted his colors on theAlps, there was enough to feed the poor of Ireland. There was nonecessity for a poorhouse; and there is no need of it now, says theIrish peasant, if justice was done to Ireland. "Give us back ourmonasteries and abbeys, and we will bestow you the poorhouses. "

Besides these considerations, the English poorhouse has this advantageover the Irish one--that the former is conducted and presided over byEnglishmen, who have a sympathy for, or at least are of, the same blood, religion, and race with its inmates. But in Ireland the case isdifferent. The poorhouses, prison-like edifices, in Elizabethan style ofarchitecture, presided over by Englishmen, generally, and nominees ofthe crown, are a monument of conquest and tyranny. 

The inmates being principally "mere Irish, " and the cost of theirsupport derived chiefly from the land, the landlords consider theirhealth, comfort, or life of only secondary importance. Hence we find thenumber of deaths in these charnel houses averaging that of years ofplague; and each pauper is allowed far less weekly for his support thanthe lord of the soil allows the meanest dog in his kennel. Add to thesethe separation of man and wife, the isolation of members of the samefamily, the dangers of perversion and proselytism to the thinning ranksof the "law church;" and then, if you can, blame the poor Irishman forhis horror of the dreadful poorhouse of England. He saw hundreds of hisneighbors enter the gates of the poorhouse, but he never saw one returnback. Less active imaginations than that of the Irish peasant would beworked on so as to conclude that some means more _active_ than sicknessor old age were had recourse to, for the purpose of lessening the taxeson land, by getting rid of the poor. 

In truth, the British poorhouse is a great government establishment, where the sons of the low squirearchy are provided for--a terrible mill, where the bodies and souls of Irishmen and women are ground up andannihilated--a labor-saving machine of political economy, introducedinto the world by the robbers of the reformation, in order to get rid ofsurplus population, and in order that the Lazaruses of society might notdisturb the false repose of their hypocrisy, by begging the crums thatfall from their plunder-burdened tables!

The American poorhouse, however, is of quite a different description, and the promptitude and unanimity of the public mind regarding thenecessity of a law to provide for the support of the poor are among themost laudable traits in the American character. In America, thepatrimony of the poor was never wrested from the church, to which Godcommitted their care; the charities and bequests of ages were notplundered and squandered by the vilest of the human race, as in Britain;hospitals, churches, abbeys, monasteries, convents, and other endowedprovisions for the poor, were not robbed and confiscated by thesectarians of the new world, (probably because they did not existthere;) and hence the essential difference between the English andAmerican poorhouse. There is no part of the Scripture the reformationpeople so rigidly adhered to, or now pretend to adhere to, as theadvice of Judas, "Let this be sold and given to the poor. " They made thesale, but the poor they left unprovided for, till their numbersincreased so as to threaten the ill-gotten goods of the plunderers, whoat length passed laws compelling the poor to support the poor. And thiswas the origin of poorhouses--a true Protestant creation. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE O'CLERYS. 

The O'Clery family was an ancient and honored one in Ireland. Princes, chieftains, and warriors of the name were renowned before Charlemagne orAlfred ascended the throne, or before any of the petty princes of theheptarchy ruled over the barbarous Saxons. Like all the royal and noblehouses of Europe, the O'Clerys, after ages of glory and prosperity, hadtheir hour of decline and decay also. But it was a question whether thevirtues of this renowned house were more brilliant or conspicuous in thezenith of its glory, or in its fallen or humbled state. The Irish churchfounded by Saint Patrick never wanted an O'Clery to adorn her sanctuaryor to record her victories. The annals of the Four Masters will stand tothe end of the world as a proud monument of the services rendered to theIrish church and to history by these illustrious annalists; and when thedeeds of the most renowned knights and chieftains of this royal houseshall have been obliterated by the merciless chisel of time, the authorsof the Four Masters' Annals will become only brighter among the shiningstars that adorn the literary firmament of old Ireland. 

The martyrology of the Irish church can attest the virtues of constancyand patriotism with which the O'Clerys bore their share of the wrongs ofErin and of her faithful sons. Whether or not the subjects of ournarrative, the poor emigrant orphans, had any of this royal and nobleblood flowing in their veins, is a thing that we cannot genealogicallyvouch. But that they were not degenerate sons of Erin, or faithless totheir allegiance to the glorious old church of their fathers, we trustthis history will amply demonstrate. At all events, the uncle of ourhero, Paul O'Clery, held a very high station in the Irish hierarchy. Having, with eclat, finished his ecclesiastical and literary primarystudies in the colleges of his native land, he subsequently repaired toRome, where he won with distinction the title of "doctor in divinity andcanon law, " and carried the first premium from many French, German, andeven Italian competitors. Hence, soon after his return from abroad, onaccount of his learning, as well as his tried virtues, he was appointedthe vicar general of the diocese of Kil----, a promotion which, far fromexciting the envy, gained the unanimous approval, of the diocesanclergy. During the horrors of the general landlord persecution of theIrish Catholics, (for it is nothing else than a persecution ofCatholics, ) the O'Clerys found their name on the roll of the proscribed, and got notice to quit the homestead of their fathers. The principalcause for this proscription by the landlord was, that Dr. O'Clery, inthe newspapers, exposed the system of cruel and barbarous exterminationwhich took place on the extensive estates of Lord Mandemon--a gentlemanwho said he thought it far more honorable, as well as profitable, tohave his princely estates in Munster tenanted by fat cattle than byIrish Papists. His lordship had also the mortification to learn that allthe meat, money, and clothing he had employed for the last five yearscould not make one single sincere convert to his rich "lawestablishment. " When the "praties" were dear, and the crops failed, there were a few, to be sure, who would profess themselves ready to "atethe mate" on Friday; but as soon as plenty returned, the "new lights"went out, or returned to ask pardon of God, the priest, and the people;and Lord Mandemon and his soup were pitched to the "seventy-ninedevils. " This failure, this result, so often before seen and felt, andso certain to follow, was, in his zeal for proselytism, attributed byhis lordship to Dr. O'Clery's zeal and learning. For, whenever orwherever he went among the peasantry to preach to them in their ownsweet and loved dialect, the "jumpers, the new lights, and the soupers"disappeared like the locusts from Egypt when exorcised by the magic rodof Moses. Hence the hatred with which the O'Clerys were persecuted. Hence, also, the oath of Lord Mandemon, that he would never return tohis home in England till every Papist on his estates was rooted out. This oath was kept by his lordship, probably the only true one he everswore; for in less than a fortnight he fell a victim to the cholera, andexpired on board the Princess Royal steamboat on her return toLiverpool. 

Arthur O'Clery, father to the subject of our tale, sold out a secondfarm he held near Limerick, turned all his effects into money, badeadieu to his beloved brother, Dr. O'Clery, who was averse to hisemigration, and, in the autumn, set sail from Liverpool for New York, inthe ship Hottinguer. He had all his family with him: they werecomfortably provided with all necessaries, and, besides, had onethousand pounds, in hard cash, to start with in the new world. They werenot long out at sea, when, owing to the crowd on board, the lack ofproper arrangements, and room, or ventillation, as well as on account ofthe cruelly of the inhuman captain, ship fever and cholera broke out onboard. 

The number of bodies consigned to the ocean from that unlucky vessel wasfrom five to ten daily, and among the victims of the plague was ArthurO'Clery. He was the only one of the cabin passengers who was attacked bythe epidemic, which, in the ardor of his charity, he contracted whileattending on, and ministering to, the wants of the poor steeragepassengers. 

Sad and impressive was the scene when the Rev. H. O'Q----, a young Irishpriest on board, in the middle hold of the ship, where O'Clery had beenremoved by order of the captain, called on the six hundred survivingpassengers to kneel while he was administering the rites of the churchto the benefactor of them all. Never was a call on the piety and faithof any number of men more cheerfully obeyed. Instantaneously that mixed, nondescript crowd--Irish, English, Scotch, Welsh, Dutch--Catholic, Protestant, infidel--fell on their knees, and, if they did not pray, they paid that _outward homage_ to Religion which sometimes the mostindifferent and irreligious cannot resist paying her. Infidelity is agreat coward, as well as a false guide. In her hour of ease and satiety, she pretends to scorn the threats and judgments of the Most High, and, like Satan in his pandemonium, to make war on Heaven; but no sooner doesthe roaring of the thunderbolt shake the earth, or the vast abyss openits devouring throat to swallow her unhappy victims, than she hides herhead in the caves of the earth, or, flying to some secure place, abandons her votaries to the forlorn hope of trusting to the weakness oftheir own minds for resources to extricate themselves from the evilsthat threaten them. It was so on board the ill-fated Hottinguer. Thosewho, under the influence of the security offered by the prosperoussailing of the few first days, were bold, independent, and defiant ofdanger, no sooner did they see their comrades thrown overboard, after afew hours' sickness, than their hearts failed within them, their tone ofdefiance was turned into despair, their mockery of religion ceased, andthat priest of God, whom they ridiculed, insulted, and despised for thefirst few days, was now respected, confided in, and regarded by themwith sentiments bordering on religious homage. 

Fervently did that priest, who thanked God that he was on hand, pray, not that God would restore him to his wife and children, --for all hopeof recovery was now gone, --but that, in accordance with the anxiousdesire of the dying man, he should have the privilege of burial in aChristian, consecrated tomb. 

"Pray, father, " said he, "that, if it be God's holy will, I may beburied in a consecrated soil. It seems to me a sort of profanation, thatthe cruel fishes and those monsters of the deep, which we see leapingaround the vessel, should devour my flesh, united with, and I hopesanctified now by, the flesh and blood of my Lord. "

The priest did pray, and the people joined in that impulsive prayer offaith, and that prayer was heard; for, though O'Clery breathed his laston board, and, by the captain's orders, the sailors--poor fellows!--werestanding around his berth, prepared, as soon as the last breath lefthim, to throw him overboard, yet he lingered for three days after; andthey reached quarantine before that pure soul quitted its tenement ofclay and winged its flight to heaven. The wife and her children had thebody conveyed to shore and interred in the Catholic cemetery of NewYork, where a neat marble monument could be seen with these wordsinscribed:--

_"Pray for the soul of Arthur O'Clery, whose body lies underneath. Requiescat in pace. Amen. "_

It was thus that the O'Clerys were deprived of their good and virtuousfather, and the widow of her husband; but this, as already has beenpartly seen, was but the beginning of their woes; for, after theirarrival in New York, an individual, who, during the voyage, ingratiatedhimself with the family by his attention around the sick man's bed, joined them at their lodgings. But in a few days they found him gone onemorning, after their return from mass at Barclay Street Church, and withhim the canvas bag, containing the thousand pounds in gold and Bank ofEngland notes left by them in a trunk. Thus were six persons, strangersand destitute in a great city, reduced from competency to poverty at"one fell swoop" by the villany of a pretended friend and associate. 

"O Lord, pity me! One misfortune never comes alone, " groaned the nowpoor and afflicted widow O'Clery, when she was informed by littleBridget that the "trunk was broke open, " and all the things ransacked"through and fro. "

She soon saw that all she had was gone, and concluded that Cunningham, as he was absent from breakfast contrary to his wont, must be the thief. The police got immediate notice; advertisements were issued, and rewardsoffered, and in a day or two after Cunningham was arrested; but as noneof the money was found on his person, and as there was no directevidence of his guilt, the magistrate discharged him. The articles ofdress in her well-supplied wardrobe were detained, in payment of herboard bill, by the hotel keeper where she lodged in New York; and withthe few shillings that remained in her purse, she, with her children, took passage on one of the Hudson River boats, hoping to make outcertain acquaintances of her husband, whom she heard were settled in thevicinity of T----. The rest has been already told--namely, how she tooksick and died after great sufferings; how her children were leftdestitute, and next to naked; how they were now reduced to the rank ofpaupers, and secured within the precincts of the county house. 

"Of all the things which we brought from home with us, we have nothingof value now left, Bridget, " said Paul, "but this silver crucifix, whichbelonged to my grandfather. Glory be to God. Let us be glad that thishas been left, " said he, kissing it with religious affection. "This isall we have now left. Let us defend it. "

CHAPTER VI. 

THE COUNCIL. 

Father O'Shane was now several days weather bound and laid up sick inVermont, where, with great anxiety, he waited the first opportunity toreturn home to his mission; and the orphans were safely lodged in thepoorhouse, where our friend Paul, to calm the anxiety and dispel thegrief of his younger companions, began to contrast, with an air ofsatisfaction, the aspect of things here with what he had heard of thehorrors of the Irish poorhouse. 

"What nice men we have in America over the poorhouse, " said he; "theyare very kind to us. "

"Yes; but I don't like that man with the great beard, " said Bridget; "hefrightens me when I meet him. O, such a _feesage_; a robin redbreastcould make her nest in it, " said she, smiling. 

"He might be a nice man for all that, Bid. Most people here don't shaveat all, you know, as we saw in New York. And did you notice that sailorthat saved the boy who fell overboard, what a long beard he had? And hemust be a brave, good man, to risk his own life to save another's. "

"Yes, Paul; but he was a Catholic, and from Ireland, too; for he madethe sign of the cross on himself in Irish before he leaped out, for Iwas near him; and besides, I saw him going to confession to the samepriest we went to the day after we landed. "

"And are not they all Catholics here, Paul?" said Patsy. "I seen crosseson three churches, the time I went with Mrs. Doherty for the priest formother, God be good to her. "

"No, Patsy, they are not; for if they were, there would be more than onepriest for this large town; and you heard Father O'Shane say that therewas only himself for all the city and a great part of the country, " saidPaul. 

"I hope somebody will take us to mass on Sunday, " said little Patrick;"and, Paul, will you ask the priest to allow me to answer mass? You knowFather Doyle told us never to forget the lessons we learned of him. "

"I'd know are there any nuns here, " said Bridget. "O, how beautiful theconvent chapel in Limerick was! I hope I have not lost my beautifullittle silver medals and crucifix they gave me when I was coming away. No; here they are, and my Agnus Dei, too, " she said, kissing them. "Godrest mother's soul, how glad she was when I got these from the holynuns!" And the tears streamed down her fair cheeks in floods. 

"Hold your tongue, Bridget, again, " said Paul, with emphasis. "Don't youknow that mother told us not to grieve, but pray for her soul? Andbesides, in the 'Imitation of Christ, ' which I read for you this morningand last night, it is said that grief kills devotion, and excessive, sorrow is a sin. You can serve mother, or rejoice her soul, by praying, but not by crying, Bridget. "

"O, how can I help it? 'Tis against me will, Paul, " said she, wiping hereyes. 

"Always look attentively at that crucifix, " said Paul, "and you neednever grieve for any thing except sin. This is what Father Doyle used tosay. "

"O Paul, we have no father or mother now. "

"Yes we have, Bridget--our Father in heaven, and the blessed virginmother of God, our mother also, " said the young preacher. 

"How well the priest did not call as he said he would. "

"May be he could not help it; he had to go far into the country, and thesnow might stop him. You know he will find us out. The priest alwaysvisits the poorhouse in Ireland. "

While this conversation was going on between the members of this poororphan family, Paul acting the meritorious part of a comforter, (I sayacting, for his own noble soul was almost crushed with grief, which hethought it better to disguise than to have his little charge renderedquite stupid and almost dead from crying and sobbing;) while this wasthe way Paul entertained his little charge, in another part of thepoorhouse, in a well-furnished room, were seated around a tablecontaining the "_reliquiæ"_ or remnants of a good dinner, five persons, engaged in earnest chat about the late importation of orphans. 

"Really they are likely young 'uns, and no mistake, " said Mr. VanStingey, wiping his mouth with the corner of the tablecloth. 

"Dear me!" said a lady who formed one of the council. "Charles, if yousaw them, they are perfect beauties, you would say. The oldest boy is asnoble-looking a lad as ever you did see--Roman nose, raven hair, delightfully-carved mouth, and lips, and eyes, and eyelashes quiteindescribable, so beautiful are they. The little girl is a perfectVenus; while the two younger children, Patrick and Eugene, are as ifthey came from the chisel of Powers, or some renowned artist ofantiquity. "

"Why, my love, " said Parson Burly, "you are quite classical in yourdescription; whether or not it is a correct one, is another thing. "

"I assure you, Mr. Burly, " said Van Stingey, "that your lady has notdescribed them beyond what is true. They are almighty fine young 'uns. "

"I want you to adopt that eldest one, Mr. Burly, " said the parson'swife, who was president of the council. "He would make such an elegantpreacher, I am sure. You must also change the name of the second boyfrom Patrick, which is so Irish, to Ebenezer, Zerubabbel, or someScripture name, or even classical one. "

"Why, madam, I am beginning to get jealous, and to think you don'tsufficiently admire my powers of oratory, " said her husband. 

"Well, my dear, putting aside jokes, " she solemnly remarked, "you knowhow much we need Irish ministers to preach to the Irish amongst us, whoare the best church attenders on earth, I believe. And it is notorious, that those whom we can take out from the ranks of Papacy while youngbecome the greatest ornaments to our denomination. Witness Kirvoin, Maclown, Moffat, and several others. "

"Well, well, my fair refuter, " said the parson, who really feared hiswife would rivet her affections on the young orphan if adopted; "youknow it would never do to keep that little fellow with us. How old didyou say he was--about fifteen? Well, fifteen or sixteen--ya--yourecollect how that old priest acted last July, at the village of Scurvy?A little girl I sent out to Brother Prim this priest smelt and huntedout; and actually broke in the room door where she was confined, andtook her off by physical force to a Roman Catholic orphan house. Thesepriests are terrible fellows; and your young fancy orphan, Paul, wouldsoon find out the priest, and have his grievance redressed. And what isworse, this priest got Americans--ay, members of my own church--toapplaud his conduct, and defend him from prosecution! The Irish aregetting so powerful in this country, " said the parson, after a pause, "from their admirable union of purpose and the perfect organization oftheir church, that I dread their influence. In fact, 'you catch aTartar' when you get one of them into your family. Ten to one, insteadof converting this young Papist, he would convert our whole family tohis own creed. "

"O Burly, " said the disappointed wife, "you are always a prophet ofevils. I tell you, I must have that young lad, for I want him. "

"You do? Cynthia, my dear, " said the parson, "we cannot have the lad inour family. We _dare not_, without the consent of the trustees, who payus our salary. Do you understand _that_, my fair disputant?" said he, triumphantly. 

"Well, Burly, as soon as I recover the means my father willed me, Ishall have that young man--already almost fully educated, as you canperceive--brought up for the church. "

"O, _then_ you can try it, madam, " said the man in white neckcloth, in asharp, sarcastic style; "but as for me, and I think my opinion is ofsome weight, I tell you much can never be made out of that shrewd boy. "There was a solemn, ominous silence, for a moment, in the company. "Didyou remark the sort of dignified and independent motions of the fellow, "continued he, "when you had him here just now?"

"Fellow!" said his wife, looking at her husband, in anger. "Is that aproper term to apply to the child?"

"It is not an improper or inappropriate one, not more so than callinghim 'child, '" said he. "I was just going to remark the coolness of hisreply when you introduced my name as the parish clergyman. 'A Catholicclergyman, I hope, sir, ' said he; 'as such, I am very glad to see you. 'Did you observe how sad and demure he looked when told he was to be sentto school, where he could read the Bible, and become acquainted with theword of God?' O sir, ' said he, 'much obliged to you; I have got a Biblealready, and other good books of devotion, which we brought from home. Ishould be very glad to learn what is good, ' said he; 'but I trust I havegot my catechism well committed to memory; and having made my firstcommunion and been confirmed, I was discharged from class, and appointeda Sunday school teacher, by our good priest, Father Doyle. ' And on mytelling him that he could be a teacher here of a better religion thanthat of his country, he shook his head, declining the honor of the postoffered, and remarking that 'it was impossible to have a better religionthan that which had God for its author--the Catholic religion. ' Withthis bit he retired (ye all saw him, I need not repeat more) from ourpresence, a blush of mental triumph playing on his smooth cheek. "

"Sartain there was such a feelin', " said an old gray-headed Yankee, whosat at the head of the table, and who was guardian of the establishment. "You can't do nothin' with these Papists, " continued he. "I have seedthe attempts made time and agin, but allers fail. The very children, only five years of age, of that ere religion, refuse to eat flesh onFriday, or to disobey such other darned ceremonies of their church asthey are brought up to. "

"Wal, Mr. Burly, madam, and my esteemed brother Valentine, my plan isthis, " said Van Stingey: "send them, separate or in couples, here andthere, into the country, and there, with the farmers, they will soon getused to our church ways, and be gradually broke in. "

"That you can't do safe, neither, Van, " said the boss of the house, "for they would raise such a dust as would bring half the city aroundus; and you know the people would never consent to any thing likecruelty towards one so young and interesting as these here are. "

"You say the truth there, sir, " said the parson. 

"It would be cruel to separate the dear ones, " said the wife; "whereverthey are sent, let them go together. I could pledge my watch and weddingdiamond ring to help to raise such beauties, " said she, passionately. "Surely they cannot be Irish, or they must belong to some race differentfrom the Celtic half savages which we have read inhabit Ireland. "

"You mistake, Cynthia, my dear, " said the parson; "these are Irish, andgenuine Celts, too, as one can tell from the hair and nose. I think, however, you exaggerate their beauty. Have you not read the Europeanletters of Thurlow W---- and Horace G----, which described the middleand upper classes of the Irish as the most beautiful complexioned anddignified people in Europe or the world? Now, this is my mind, that youmust get some farmers in a good Protestant neighborhood to adopt thesechildren, so that they may all live in the same vicinity, if not in thesame family; and by this means all unpleasant consequences will beobviated. "

"I say ditto to that, " said the Nestor of the council, old Valentine;"but you must lose no time, for the eldest lad told me the priestpromised to call for them; and if that gentleman gets them into hishands, I'll warrant all your plans will be frustrated. "

"That's just it. You have hit the nail on the head, friend Valentine, "said Van Stingey. "I will take charge on them, and take them to thatgentleman's house, in W---- county, who was here last week looking for aboy and a girl to raise; and _mebbee_ I will scare up somewhere else forthe other two young critters. "

"Take 'em along, then, and see that you get your pay, " said the boss, rising. 

"O, never mind, leave that to me, " said the vile, wily knave, as he wentto see to his arrangements for carrying the orphans to parts unknown. 

CHAPTER VII. 

A RUDE LOVER OF NATURE. 

Father O'Shane, who had suffered severely from the effects of exposureto the late violent storm, no sooner found himself a little recruited, and the roads passable, than he prepared to return to his residence inthe city. He had, as conductor, a green young Irishman, lately arrived, who felt almost inspired by the unusual luxury, presented for the firsttime to his view, of a North American snowfall, and petitioned earnestlyto accompany his reverence back to the city to enjoy the "glorioussport, " as he called it, of a sleigh ride. The enthusiasm of the youngnative of the perennial green fields of Munster did not escape thenotice of Father O'Shane, who himself was once not less enthusiastic, and now not altogether insensible, to the chaste and almost sublimebeauty of Nature, when arrayed in her bridal robes of white on theadvent of spring. 

"Well, Murty, how do you like this manner of travelling?"

"Be gonnies, your reverence, there is nothing I like better. What a finetime it would be for tracking the hare, or hunting the fox!"

"You are fond of sport, I perceive. "

"Bedad, sir, I would rather be out such a day as this, with dog andgun, than eating bread and honey. I wonder if they would put you to jailor transport you here, as they would at home, for fowling a bit in thesewoods?"

"No, Murty, I believe not. "

"No, " said Murty, doubtingly. "You don't tell me so, your reverence?"

"I tell you that there are no game laws, or only very nominal ones; sothat, when you come back, if you and your dog traverse yonder mountainfrom top to bottom, you need not be afraid of the rifle of thegamekeeper, or of a sentence to a free passage to Van Diemen's Land. "

"Murther! Must not they be very fine gentlemen here, to be so liberal?Signs by I shall, please God, one of these days, visit that old, grandmountain with the white head; and if there be a hare's form in his roughsides or his curly beard, I will ferret it out, and soon have pussy bythe hind legs. "

"I can see, Murty, you are growing poetical in your description of oldMount Antoine, " said the priest. 

"Your reverence, did you ever see such a grand sight? I can't helpcomparing that grand mountain there to the king of yon wild regions. Thesnow on the trees, on the summit, causes them to look like gray locks;and, looking down on the smaller mountains on every side, they appearlike his subjects or his sons, which, in time, are to grow big likehimself, affording shelter and refuge from the snares of the hunter tothe wild animals of nature. O, how I like America!" said he, hisenthusiasm still rising. 

"That's right, Murty; I am glad you do like it. Wait till summer orautumn, and then how beautiful these bleak hills will appear duringthese delightful seasons!"

"O sir, it is a great, grand country! No tyrants, no landlords, nopoverty. "

"No poverty, Murty, except what is purely accidental, or brought on bythe improvidence of individuals. In the very best regulated societythere must, of necessity, be poverty less or more, " said the priest, byway of qualification. 

"Every thing is free, and there is liberty for all. The very fences, yousee, sir, unlike our stone walls at home, give liberty to the winds andstorms to blow through them. The mountains are free to the huntsman; thevery snow is free to blow and form itself into those beautiful banks, and little mountains, and castles, and stacks, and curtains, and draperythat we see on every side of us as we glide along. "

The priest listened with astonishment. 

"Was there ever seen any thing so _purty_, " continued the peasant, "asthose ridges and mounds of snow? I have seen the grandest buildings inIreland, --Marlborough Street Church, in Dublin, the stone carving andceiling in Cashel of the Kings, the stucco work on the old ParliamentHouse in College Green, --but I think I see work in these fantastic snowbanks that beats them all hollow. And--glory be to God!--all thisbeauty, so dazzling, so chaste, was created by a storm, when all naturewas in a rage, and men shut themselves up in houses from its violence! Iam glad now, " said he, "our landlord turned us out. I now forgive himfor being the cause of our coming to this country of the brave and thefree. "

"Was it a landlord who has been the occasion of so much enjoyment toyou, Murty?" said Father O'Shane, drawing him out. 

"Yes, sir. It vexes me to think of it, much more to speak of it, " saidthe simple youth, with a tear full created in his eye. "We, and ourforefathers before us, had the farm of Lapardawn for more than threehundred years. A new landlord coming in possession of the estate, we gotnotice to quit, in the middle of winter. My father refused to yield thehearth of his forefathers without a struggle, and locked himself andfamily up. My mother was just after her confinement, and becoming shortof provisions and even of water, she begged of the police who kept guardto hand her in a drink. They refused. She then begged, for God's sake, to have a messenger go for the priest. For two days, the police refusedto let any body out of the house, unless we surrendered. My father, whohad cut a hole in the roof of the house to catch at rain water for mydying mother, made his escape through it. A neighbor, who handed me adrink of water through a broken pane in a window, had his hand cut offby a stroke from the police sergeant's sabre. My poor mother died beforethe priest arrived. My oldest brother, seeing his mother dead, and thatwe had nothing now to guard, surrendered. We were all lodged in jailthat night, and all our means were sold at auction. It was lucky for uswe were put into jail; for, one week from that day, the landlord thatwas the cause of all our misery and of my mother's death was shot deadon the road from our farm to the town of Ennis. If we were out of jail, we would all have been accused of the cruel landlord's murder, andhanged; but we were, after one year in prison for the crime of defendingour homestead, liberated, and came out in a body to America. And now Iam glad of it, for two signs of tyranny I find wanting here--landlordsand game laws. The absence of one allows me to trace the steps of thewild quadruped; and of the other, to trace my title to the soil which Ishall possess, down to the middle of the earth and up to the sky, unfrowned on, or unawed by the landlord's tyranny or the 'peeler's'cruelty. This is partly why I like to see these mountains of snow, " saidhe, "for I think that neither landlords nor 'peelers' could exist here. They would become buried under these snow banks, for it is by night thatthey are generally patrolling the highways, and plotting against thepeace of innocent families; and such a storm as the late one could notbut be fatal to the villains. "

These and the like sentiments are those which generally pervade thebosom of the Irish emigrant after landing on this enfranchised land. Wonder not, then, you natives of this God-provided country, that theforeigner is likely to become more republican than yourselves, and thathis is a keener sense of enjoyment than yours, from the evils of hisantecedent life. Do not, therefore, become jealous of his purer and moreardent love for this republic, the inheritance of the oppressed; but, instead of envying his growing influence in this country of his choiceand adoption, receive him with open arms, and make him a participatorwith yourselves in the good things which you and your fathers haveenjoyed for ages, and your claims to which are grounded on no bettertitle than that of the emigrant; and which title is founded on theadventitious discovery of this continent by a Catholic and a foreigner, and on oppressions undergone by your fathers in their native lands. Wonder not, then, that the Irish Catholic is the best lover of thiscountry, and that he feels himself at home here; for his sufferings inthe cause of liberty and of conscience have been such as to give him thestrongest title deed to the liberties and privileges, if not to theenjoyments and comforts, of this favored land. Every prejudice isunreasonable, but none more irrational than that which would throwobstacles in the way of the gallant emigrant towards procuring a homeand a sanctuary in this land of refuge and freedom. 

The land is wild and uncultivated, with its womb groaning under theburden of plenty and fertility that have been dormant for ages uponages, and that must remain so for ages to come, unless the thrifty handof husbandry assist them into birth; and where are we to find, or whenwill the "nativists" be able to procure, as busy hands and stalwartarms, sufficiently numerous to bring into cultivation the millions ofacres within the extent of our country, if the emigrant and foreignerare to be discouraged, and the mad clamor of the "nativists" is toprevail? It was not all native blood that was spilled in theestablishment of the republic. It was not native genius alone thatcreated the constitution, laws, and institutions of our country. It wasnot "natives, " of course, that first discovered, settled, or establishedthe several states that form the grand Union. It was by emigrants, by"furriners, " that all these things were done. What, therefore, can bemore ungrateful, if not more unjust, in the "nativists, " than to attemptto rob the poor emigrant of the rewards of his labor and merit, in orderthat they may enjoy all the fruit of the latter's toil? This is theheight of ingratitude and injustice; a far more glaring instance of boththan that of the _reputed_ forefathers of these "nativists" when theyrobbed the old Britons of their homes and of those liberties which theywere _hired_ to defend. What models of honesty, justice, and truth youare, most distinguished "nativists"! The foreigner built your house, after having first procured the site or the lot; they furnish the housewith all useful, and necessary, and ornamental furniture; and these veryemigrants are yet necessary to keep the house in order; and you come andthreaten to turn them out, telling them you can now dispense with theirservices, and that they are "furriners"! And, what is more inconsistentand unjust still, by this policy of yours, if it could prevail, youwould be doing the most effectual thing to annihilate yourselves, bothphysically, politically, morally, and socially. For, if you turned offall the "furriners, " not only would you sink in wealth andresources, --your ships unmanned, your factories unworked, your canalsand railroads undug, and your battles unfought, --but your very bloodwould corrupt, and turn into water! Your physical stature would soon bereduced to the standard of the Aztecs; and, what is worse, following thenatural channel of your Anglo-Saxon instincts, you would become agodless race of Liliputians! Yes, followers of Mormon Smith, Joe Miller, Theodore Parker, and spiritual raps. O nativists, to what an abyss yourmental intoxication was hurrying you, in your blind zeal against theemigrant and the foreigner!

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ORPHANS IN THEIR NEW HOME. 

After the arrival in the city of the wearied missionary, his first visitwas to the scene of his late visit to the dying widow; and learning allthe particulars there that came under the cognizance of Mrs. Doherty, henext drove rapidly to the poorhouse, where, as we have already stated, the _pious_ officials had arranged the details so as to disappoint thePopish priest of his benevolent designs, and to secure, if possible, theadhesion of the young and interesting orphans to what they called "Biblereligion. "

When Father O'Shane called at the county house, he learned from an underofficial that the boss "_warn't to home_; and, " said he, "the childrenhadn't been here mor'n a few hours, when a highly-respec'able farmer hadtaken them with him to bring up. " He couldn't "tell nothin' about whothe farmer was, or where he was from; but the children wor well donefor, that's all. " It was in vain the priest represented that thechildren were no paupers, but of highly-respectable connections, whowere able and willing to provide for them. He didn't "know nothin' aboutthat; but he knowed papers were signed, (as he was directed falsely toassert, ) and that sartain the children could not now be claimed by anypersons except their parents. They were now under the care ofguardians. " After repeated visits, continued for weeks and months, tothe same establishment, Father O'Shane could gain no more satisfactoryknowledge of the fate of the orphans. He was obliged to relinquish hissearch in despair, concluding that the children were kidnapped, andthat, except by God's mercy, their faith and morals were doomed, underthe influence of cold, contradictory infidelity or heresy. He mentionedthe case to his congregation, earnestly soliciting their prayers forthese poor orphans of Christ; and he oftentimes offered the holysacrifice, to enlist the influence of heaven in their regard. 

Let it not be said we exaggerate this account of the conduct of thepoorhouse officials; and from the improbability of such an instance ofinjustice and cruelty happening in our day, let not our readers concludethat such a case, and many such cases, happened not in times gone by. Then the Irish Catholic population of the state was not much more thanwhat that of one county is now. Then an Irish Catholic could not get theoffice of constable or bailiff; now we have Catholic cabinet ministers, judges, senators, legislators, and aldermen. 

Then the ballot box was surrounded but by a few Irish naturalizedcitizens, and these not of such importance as to influence the electionof a constable or poormaster; now the Irish adopted citizen, by thepower he exercises in his vote, is solicited by candidates, from a townofficer to the president; and whoever would attempt to reënact thekidnapping of Van Stingey, and many other officials of his class, intheir days of petty power, would be sure to be compelled to retireforever from public life, and pass into the gloom and infamy of hisdepraved private circle. There were many exposures and wailings of thechildren of Israel on the waters of the river of Egypt, before Moses;and there was many an instance of the kidnapping of Irish Catholicchildren from their parents, or natural guardians, by the jealousPharaohs of sectarianism, before the attempt made by Mr. Van Stingey tokidnap Paul O'Clery and his brethren. 

In their new home, however, up to this time, Paul and his little chargewere well treated, as far as meat and clothing were concerned. Even inregard to religion, and the devotional exercises prescribed by itsprecepts, there was no obstacle thrown in their way; although thefidelity of Paul and his sister Bridget to their morning and nightprayers was quite astonishing to their patrons. A few indirect, covertattacks were all that, for many months, it was thought prudent theyshould have to encounter from the family, named Prying, with whom theystaid. The truth was, that Paul, the eldest of the children, was such asmart, watchful, prudent young lad, his younger brothers and sister wereso accustomed to obey him, and he exercised such emphatic authority overthem, that it was the advice of the most prudent of the preachers whointerested themselves in his case, to let him alone for the present. Thechange intended to be brought about was to be left to time, conversation, and the influence of common school education toaccomplish. His education, in Ireland, was principally religious andclassical, rather than commercial; and he was just now acquiring, in hispresent trying noviceship, what was precisely wanting to his previouscourse. He and his brothers, who lived in the next farmer's house, together with Bridget, his sister, who was under the same roof withhimself, obstinately refused to attend the Sunday school, the meetinghouse, or to join in the prayer with which school was daily opened. Hence they were more than once publicly prayed for by the fanaticalPresbyterian minister, the Rev. Mr. Gulmore, at whose church the Pryingfamily attended. There was a sufficiency of prayers now "put up, " in Mr. Gulmore's opinion, to begin the work of more practical conversion. Accordingly, a "big dinner" was prepared, a turkey cooked, and Fridayfixed upon--the appetite being chosen, after a very ancient pattern inparadise, as the channel through which to "open the eyes" of these blindyoung Papists! Some neighboring ministers were of opinion that it wastoo soon to begin; but they were but Methodist, Universalist, and otherpreachers, who were jealous of the influence and of the salary of Mr. Gulmore, and who, besides, did not think it exactly fair that all thechildren should be converted to Presbyterianism, while there were adozen as good denominations around, "and better too. " But thegood-salaried disciple of John Calvin had no respect for such opinion;so "forthwith the good work must begin, " as he authoritatively said. Heshould not be trifled with any longer, or have it said that, after allthe prayers "put up, " and pains taken, "they should still be leftwallowing in the mire of Popery. "

"It should not be! It could not be! The power of the Lord must be mademanifest. He could not any longer allow the light to remain under abushel. It should shine, and he should then and there convert thoseobstinate young things to vital religion. "

"Some turkey, Paul, my dear?" said Gulmore, after having first servedthe ladies and senior members of the family. 

"Not any, sir, thank you, " said Paul. 

"Not any!" repeated the parson, frowning. "Why so? That's not goodmanners, my lad. "

"If it be not, I am sorry, sir, " said Paul. "I cannot be expected to bevery polite, or to know the usages of this country, as yet. So I beg tobe excused. "

"You should not refuse the gifts of God when offered you, " replied _hisreverence_. 

"But I do not think it would be good for me to use these gifts of God inthe present instance. "

"You must eat meat, Paul, and use the good things of our gloriouscountry, or you will fail and die. "

"I know I will die, " said Paul; "and I guess eating turkey won't make meimmortal. "

A loud laugh followed this remark from all but the parson and a femalemember of the family. This "raised his dander a _leetle_, " as old uncleJacob afterwards used to say. 

"That is more unmannerly still, Paul, " said the parson. 

"You think you are smart; but I tell you, child, you are ignorant, andimpudent to boot. "

"I should be sorry to make a saucy or impudent answer to any body, muchmore to a clergyman of any church; but I thought you were aware that itis counted very insulting to Catholics to offer them meat on Fridays, asif they were apostates who would sell their souls for a 'mess ofpottage;' and I thought you were aware that we are Catholics, and thatour religion forbids us to eat flesh on Friday. "

"I know, sir, the Romish faith forbids her votaries the use of meat;but, Paul, I thought you were now thoroughly weaned from such notions, from what you have seen since you came to this free and Protestantcountry. "

"All I have seen since I was unfortunately compelled to come to theseparts, only confirms me in my attachment to the religion of ourancestors, " said Paul. 

"My child, I love you, " said the parson, seeing he had been committed byhis temper, and now changing his air of haughtiness into that ofaffected kindness; "I love you in my soul, and that is why I want toteach you to know Jesus, and to cause you to give up the fooleries ofPopery. What can be more foolish than to abstain from what God has givenfor man's use?"

"I hope I appreciate that _love_, sir, " said Paul; "but if you wish notto insult me, and if you do not want to cause me to doubt the sincerityof your love, you won't call any prescription of the church of Christfoolish. The Scriptures tell us that we may lawfully and meritoriouslyabstain from many good and useful gifts of God--as Samson abstainedfrom wine; St. John the Baptist from flesh and the luxury of apparel;St. Paul fasted and chastised his body; the Jews were commanded toabstain from the use of pork and other meats. Finally, our Saviorpromises to reward those publicly who will fast or abstain from food. "

"Ah, poor, lost, ignorant one, " exclaimed the parson, "you are in error;sunk in superstition!"

"I hope your assertions do not prove me so. "

"Paul, child, don't you speak so to the minister, " interrupted old Mrs. Prying. "He is for your good, and desires to make you a Christian. "

"Ma'am, I don't wish to insult any body, as I said before; but I can'thear my religion run down and misrepresented while I know the contraryto be the fact. "

"Well, madam, let me alone; I will soon catch the lad in his own Jesuitnet. Paul, you _know_ the Bible, you think; where in the Bible do youfind it ordered to fast from flesh on Fridays?"

"Where in the Bible, " said Paul, "do you find it ordered to keep Sundayholy instead of Saturday, the Sabbath? where are you ordered to buildchurches? where do you find authority for establishing feasts and fasts?where to hold synods or assemblies? where to baptize infants?"

"O Paul, the Bible does not order these things expressly; but theChristian church does. "

"Well, " said Paul, "it is only our church that forbids her children theuse of flesh on Friday; and 'he that does not hear the church, let himbe to thee as the heathen and publican. '"

"But you ought not to obey the church in what is evidently wrong; and itmust be wrong to forbid the use of meat made for man's use. "

"If it was wrong, God would not have forbidden the Jews the use of meatthat we now use as a gift of God. "

"That was in the old law. You cannot find any such prohibition in thegospel. "

"I can. In the Acts of the Apostles, xv. 29, the use of blood andstrangled meat is forbidden. Besides, our Lord fasted forty days fromthe use of all the good gifts of God in the shape of food. TheIsraelites fasted from flesh in the desert, and were terribly punishedfor asking for it; over seventy thousand of them having died as apunishment for their carnal desires. "

"Paul, I fear the Lord has deserted thee, " said this ignorant hypocrite, when he saw himself refuted by this young boy. "Don't we read from themouth of truth itself, that 'what entereth into the mouth defilethnot'?"

"I think I heard the teetotal lecturer on the road there say that aglass of brandy defiled a man; and I am sure a quart or two of it wouldcause a man to sin, and thus defile him. And as the apple in the gardendefiled Eve, not by its nature, but by reason of the prohibition of God, so the meat on Friday does not defile of itself, but by reason of theprohibition of the church. "

"You should not obey the church, Paul, in all these things. It isslavery the most vile, so it is. "

"Is it slavery in one to obey his parents in what is good and useful?"

"No. "

"Well, then, the church is my mother; and when she prohibits anindifferent thing, I, as a good child, am bound to obey her, particularly when I have the promise of Christ that she can nevererr--that 'the gates of hell can never prevail against her. ' We have aninstance in this very county, " said Paul, now warming into the argument, "of the effects of a prohibitory law. A few years ago it was no harm tofish for pickerel in the lakes and brooks of this county; but some ofthe people petitioned the legislature, and got a law passed forbiddingthe fishing for such fish for twenty years; and now, whoever is detectedin violating the law is fined or imprisoned. So it was no sin to eatmeat on Friday; but the church, for wise reasons, and to encouragemortification, has forbidden its use; and so now, after the prohibition, just as after the passage of the law in regard to fishing, whoeverknowingly violates the law disobeys the church; and he who disobeys thechurch, or his parents, offends God, and will be punished byimprisonment, death, or eternal condemnation. "

"That boy will never do any good, and is a dangerous viper in a family, "said the parson, abruptly rising, and taking his hat. 

"Well done, my young paddy, " said uncle Jacob, as he saw the dominieretire; "you have beaten the minister holler. Ha! ha! ha! I am reallyglad you silenced his gab, for he is 'tarnally blabbing about hisreligion; though I think he hain't much of it himself, exceptcounterfeit stuff, like a bad bill, --ha! ha!--that he wants to pass. "

"I hope he is not angry, " said Paul, timidly. 

"Pshaw! And who cares, Paul? Let him cool, if he is mad, the darnedfool, " said uncle Jacob. "I am glad to have the house shet of him. "

Paul and uncle Jacob, with whom he was of late becoming a greatfavorite, retired for the evening to the latter's bed room, where Paulwas accustomed to read aloud for him out of his Catholic books ofinstruction. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE PRYING FAMILY. 

The farms of the brothers Prying were situated in a beautiful valley. Onthe one side were the Vermont snow-crowned and cloud-capped mountains, rising up like eternal ramparts against all eastern hostile incursionsof the elements. On the other, or the western side, were the pleasanthills of York State, which, in contrast with the mountains of Vermont, looked like so many tumuli of the deceased Indian giants of ages goneby. In the centre between, in a southerly course, ran a clear, silverbrook, well stocked with an abundance of trout and other species of thefinny tribe. On both sides of this stream were situated the extensivefarms of the Pryings. They had abundance of woods from the elevatedextremes on either side. The rivulet constituted a cooling retreat forcattle in summer, and in spring afforded an abundant source ofirrigation to the rich meadows on both sides. 

Ephraim's family, where Paul and Bridget remained, consisted of Mrs. Prying, Amanda, the senior daughter, Melinda, and Mary, called after hergrandmother, who was Irish. There were besides, Calvin, Wesley, Cassius, and Cyrus, younger members of the family, together with old uncleJacob, an unmarried brother of Ephraim, the head of this family. We mayas well here remark that Mr. Prying was, from the beginning, averse toreceive these orphans into his house, seeing, as he said, "that hewanted no more such hands as they were;" but Amanda persuaded him, inorder to have the glory of being instrumental in the conversion of the"interesting orphans, " as they were called. 

There were frequent friendly contentions in the family to see who wouldhave the special care of the new comers. Little Mary insisted on havingBridget to sleep with herself instead of her sister Melinda, whom shewanted to dispossess. Wesley, Calvin, and Cassius wanted to monopolizePaul, especially on Sundays, when each of them were about to separatefor their respective meetings to hear the preacher. 

"Father, " said Calvin, "won't Paul come with me? Our minister, Mr. Gulmore, is such a clever preacher, and our Sunday school the best andthe largest. "

"I say he shan't, now, Calvin, " replied Wesley. "Your minister, the oldfeller, is nothing, compared with ours, Mr. Barker. "

"Well, brothers, " said Cassius, "I don't see the use of your jawingabout it. But I say Paul had better come to our meeting--the very name, Universalist, signifying the same with Catholic, as I was telling Paulyesterday, while a-fishing, and as our minister said. "

"Well, boys, " said uncle Jacob, laughing, "my advice to you is; to seefirst whether Paul is willing to go with any of ye to yer meetings. Ithink his mind is made up to stay at home, like myself. "

Amanda now stepped forward to inform this conference that Paul had beenspoiled by their example; that he cried when told he must go to meeting;and that it was better now not to urge the matter further. In future, she intended to instruct Paul and Bridget herself; and she was resolvedto cut off all intercourse between them and the younger members of thefamily. 

Our readers are aware that Amanda was the Miss Prying, a child of herfather by a former marriage; and besides this, she was an old maid. Inaddition to the foregoing circumstances, she became pious, attended campmeetings, donation parties, and _quilting matches_ at young ministers'houses, who were just preparing to get a _rib_. And though she waspraised as the best needle lady in the town, her epistles on love toyoung preachers were the most admirable mixture of classical andbiblical composition that could be found. Though she had a good pair ofhands at making pies, puddings, and other culinary preparations, thoughshe was praised, flattered, and admired, yet nobody ever yet went beyondthis. All was admiration, praise, flattery, no more. Again: Amanda, though a strict old school Presbyterian, in order to exhibit herliberality and prove that she had no objection to a partner from any ofthe other countless sects of Protestantism, be he Baptist, Methodist, orUnitarian--in order to prove her liberality, she attended the donationsof the six ministers of her village, and each of the dominies receivedfrom her a neatly-worked handkerchief for pulpit use. Yet, though shewas at once liberal and strict, pious and politic; though she inducedone Sally Dwyer to join her church and declare she "got the change ofheart;" though she was eternally working and planning to bring others toher way of thinking, and had some success in her proselytingefforts, --she never could, with all her art, biblical lore, and policy, succeed in causing any body to say, "I take thee, Amanda, to my weddedwife. " This was the chief point; and here is just where she failed. Whatwas the cause of it? She was not too old--not near so old as MissLongface, whom the youthful parson Barker lately wedded. "And besides, "said she, in a soliloquy, "when I was young, it was just the same badluck. Is it that men are less numerous than ladies? There might besomething in that, for she had seen it stated in their newspaper, 'TheHome Journal, ' that female births exceeded that of males by fortythousand annually in certain European kingdoms. The number of Popishpriests also, " she said, "who remain unmarried, adds greatly to thesuperfluity of the female sex. Hence there is no part of the wickedPopish system I regard so much contrary to God's holy word as celibacy. Celibacy!" she cried aloud; "one of the doctrines of devils, as any onecan tell, who has been these twenty years in search of a mate, and couldnever yet find one! O horrid thought!" She had consulted the famousfortune teller at the state fair of Vermont, and, after having paid that"seer of future events" a fee of ten dollars, she found his predictionwas false. For she was told she would be married within two years, andto a neighboring minister; but now it was twenty-six months since, andthe only single minister around lately got married to Miss Longface, avery ignorant and unamiable person. But there was no taste, or judgment, or discernment nowadays in men, as this fact clearly proved. "Thunderation on them!" said she, in a rage. 

Such were the ideas that were passing through the brain of Amanda oneSunday morning, as she lounged on the sofa of her sitting room, when, upon her looking out towards the lawn in front, she perceived Paul andBridget kneeling by a seat, at the foot of a large wild plum tree thatstood at the end of the green plot in front of the house, and that hadits branches bent within a few feet of the ground by the embraces of arich grape vine that for years had grown around it and impeded itsdevelopment. For a few moments she watched the movements of the orphansas they smote their breasts at the "Confiteor, " or bowed their heads atthe "Sanctus, " accompanying the priests who, they knew, in thousands ofchurches, were engaged in offering sacrifice to God; and reading the"Prayers at Mass" out of the Key of Heaven manual of devotion. 

Instead of admiring this sincerity of devotion, or giving thanks to Godfor the grace of fidelity and piety that his mercy had vouchsafed tothese children of grace, Amanda, as if she could not endure the sight ofsuch happiness, or mortified at the miscarriage of her vain attempts torob these innocent hearts of the treasure of true faith and piety whichthey possessed, still pale with rage in consequence of her ruminationsabout her own misfortune, the ill-tempered old maid there and thenresolved to try another and a severer plan to effect her purpose ofproselytism. 

"Confound yer impudence, ye little Popish paupers!" she said to herself. "I shall soon make ye give up these superstitious practices. Paul, Paul, dear, " she said, tapping at the window, "come in out of that, come inBridget, ye little fools; the sun will spoil yer features, cover ye withtan. "

"Yes, miss, in a few minutes; we are just finishing, " said Paul. 

Ever since Paul came to this house, in obedience to the advice of hismother, as well as in accordance with the prescriptions of the excellentreligious education he received at home in the diocesan seminary, healways read the "Prayers at Mass, " accompanied by his sister Bridget, first; and after having read them with her at home, he went across thebrook to Reuben Prying's, where his brothers lived, and taking them intothe fields, or to the barn if the weather did not answer, he read forthem the same devotions, causing them to answer "Amen" after the end ofeach prayer, and reading to them a chapter of the catechism forcommittal to memory. And to do justice to Reuben, whose wife was asouthern lady, there was no obstacle thrown in the way of the childrento prevent them from discharging their duties to their religion. On thecontrary, the fidelity of Paul, and his watchfulness over the faith andmorals of his younger brothers Patrick and Eugene, commanded thehighest approbation of Mrs. Reuben Prying. And such was her horror ofany thing like the domestic tyranny or intolerance of Amanda, that Mrs. Reuben always allowed the two young lads to say their own prayers inprivate, notwithstanding the advice of the ministers to the contrary. The only times that Pat and Eugene were ever asked into the parlor topray was on some rare occasions, when Mrs. Reuben, through a laudablecuriosity, and to serve as an example to her own children, caused theorphans to say their prayers aloud before retiring to bed. The twolittle fellows, one five and the other eight years of age, joining theirhands before their breasts, repeated the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, theApostles' Creed, the General Confession, the Acts of Faith, Hope, andCharity, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, the Prayer of the AngelGuardian and Patron Saint, and Prayers for the Dead: these they repeatedaloud, and correctly, to the astonishment of the other children and theedification of the mistress. 

"Ah, Reub, Ben, and Will, " she said, "when will you be such good boys asPatsy and Geny? You can't say the Lord's Prayer yet. "

"I can tell, " said Reub, blushing, "more than Pat can. I know how oldMathusalem was, who was the wife of Abraham, and who was the mother ofSolomon, and the wife of Putiphar. "

"I don't know how to say so many prayers, " said Ben, contemptuously;"but I can tell how many cents in ten dollars, how many states in theUnion, and how large England is. "

"I can sing a hymn, " said Will, "which I heard in the choir in theMethodist meeting house when I went there with cousin. "

"Let us hear you, Will, " said his mother. 

"Mother, I have only a little of it, " said Will. 

"Say all you remember, " said she, "and sing it. "

"The ladies first said, ma, " said he, commencing, --

 'O for a man--O for a man--O for a mansion in the skies. '

"The men answered, --

 'Send down sal--send down sal-- Send down salvation to our souls. '"

At this specimen of ludicrous poetical composition the mother burst outa-laughing, in which she was joined by the two arch Irish lads; andWill, discouraged, blushed and stopped. 

"I would rather not have any prayer than have that foolish hymn, " saidBen. "O Will! O, you goose!"

"Silence, boys!" said Mrs. Prying. "Pat and Eugene, can you not sing?Come, let us hear how you can sing. Commence. Don't be ashamed. "

"Will we sing, ma'am, what the Christian brothers taught us?"

"Yes, Pat, any thing; don't be shy, " said the lady. The lads began thus, with joined hands and uplifted eyes:--

 "Ave Maria! hear the prayer Of thy poor helpless child! Beneath thy sweet maternal care Preserve me undefiled. 

 "Ave Maria! do I sigh In deep affliction's hour. Nor to a suppliant heart deny Thy mediative power. 

 "Ave Maria! for to thee, Whom God was pleased to choose The mother of his Son to be, No prayer will he refuse. 

 "Ave Maria! then implore One only grace for me-- This heart to give forevermore To God alone and thee. "

"To bed, children, with you all, " said the good lady, covering her facewith her handkerchief, for the tears started from their source in hernoble soul on hearing this delightful hymn sung by the poor orphans, whose countenances looked like those of angels' while chanting it. "Godforgive those, " she said to herself, in a half-audible tone, "that wouldrob these poor children of that divine religion that teaches herchildren such heavenly hymns. "

This incident recalled to her mind vividly the days of her girlhood, when, in the "sunny south, " she heard Catholic hymns sung and Catholicdevotion practised in the convent where she, though a Protestant, received her education. And probably her conscience, too, reproached herfor the neglect of the good resolutions she formed while there. 

CHAPTER X. 

A RAY OF HOPE. 

Many times during what we shall call his captivity within the gates ofthe strangers Paul had contrived to write letters to Father O'Shane inthe city of T----, as well as to his uncle in Ireland; but from somecause or other, to his innocent mind inexplicable, the letters neverreached their destination, nor were they ever after heard of. Thepostmaster of S----, not generally supposed to be a very exact man, particularly when remitting money in letters for farmers' boys to theirIrish friends in eastern or western parts, was ever ready to oblige, andwith hearty good will entered into the views of, Parson Gulmore, when hecalled on him, according to the advice of Amanda, "to have Paul'sletters seen to. " And never mind they were "seen to" and secured. 

This disgraceful proceeding, so disreputable to all concerned, and socharacteristic of the fidelity with which the business of "Uncle Sam" ismanaged, was not confined to the detention and destruction of the poororphan's letters, but to the piracy of their contents too. 

There is no department of the public service in the United States sobadly managed as the post-office department. Not only do robberpostmasters continue in office after their exposure and their plunder ofmoney letters, but they can be bribed to convey the epistles ofindividuals to interested parties, who would come at their secrets; andthus the most sacred and secret concerns of life are liable to exposure, and to be sold for gain. We knew a postmaster who for years continued torob with impunity the letters that were deposited in his "den ofthieves;" and when he was exposed and disgraced through theinstrumentality of the writer of this tale, whole bushels of letters, directed to Ireland by poor emigrants to their fathers, wives, and sons, were found thrown aside in a nook of his office; the sole motive forthis scandalous robbery being the plunder of the twenty-four cents paidon the letters to free them to Europe. 

Sadly did the mysterious miscarriage of his letters puzzle the ingenuousheart of poor Paul; though he had reason to suspect, from certain hintsthrown out by Amanda, that she, somehow or other, was in possession oftheir contents. On a certain day, however, a circumstance convinced Paulthat he could not now expect an answer from his letters to FatherO'Shane; for Miss Amanda had just pointed out to him a paragraph in thenewspaper stating that the Catholic priest of T---- had died of shipfever, taken by him in the discharge of his duties among the sick of hisflock. 

"God rest his soul, " said Paul, raising his eyes to heaven; "he was agood friend to us in our hour of need. "

"What's that you say, Paul?" said Amanda, with a frown. "Did I not tellyou repeatedly, Paul, that it was useless to pray for the dead?"

"I know _you told_ me that often, 'Mandy; but am I bound to believe you, when I know the church teaches me the contrary? In fact, the Bible saysit is 'a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that theymay be loosed from their sins. '" (Mac. Xii. 42. )

"Don't you call me 'Mandy, Paul, " said the vain old maid; "my name isMiss A-man-day. "

"A-man-a-day, " said Paul, with a sarcastic smile. "I beg pardon, " saidhe, "miss; I must guard against that blunder in future, and say_A-man-a-day_. "

"Ah, you naughty boy!" she said, catching him by the hand. "Come here tome till I teach you the knowledge of God's word. Now, Paul, that passageyou quoted I do not find in my Bible. "

"No, " said Paul, "for your Bible is no other than an imperfect, mutilated Bible, corrupted by the men who made your religion. TheCatholic church, from which the Protestants stole their piecemeal Bible, always regarded the book of Machabeus as the inspired word of God. "

"But, Paul, it is so foolish, this 'half-way house. '"

"Then, miss, you must blame God, who created it, for the folly of hisnot consulting with some Protestant philosopher before he created such a'half way. ' For most certainly there was always, since the dawn ofcreation, a third place; as, for example, the place where the souls ofthe just were confined before Christ, who was the first to ascend intoheaven, as himself says in his gospel. Now, the Bible does not say thatthis half way was 'foolish, ' or abolished either. Besides, it is butreasonable that there should be a place to purify the frail andimperfect soul before admitting her to God's holy presence. "

"Where the tree falleth, there it lieth, " said she. 

"Yes, fallen, " said Paul, "it lieth there till it is taken away toanother place. Where the soul falleth, --that is, whether in a state ofgrace or in sin, --there it will lie forever; but those who go topurgatory die in a state of grace, and so their eternal destiny isheaven--like those just souls who died before Christ; yet they are notfit for heaven immediately, for 'nothing defiled can enter therein. '"

"You wrote to the priest, didn't you, to say masses for your mother'ssoul in purgatory? How do you know she is there?" said Amanda, unguardedly. 

"I hope she is in no worse place, " said Paul, the fire kindling in hisdark Celtic eye; "and whether in heaven or in hell, --which Godforbid!--the mass can do no harm, but tend to the honor and glory ofGod, and I hope procure me and the celebrant merit. But, Amanda, how doyou know that I wrote any such request to the priest? I know you areabove reading my letters, though I should leave them open under youreye; but I am afraid that hypocritical-looking postmaster may have keptmy letters, and given them to somebody. In Ireland, that crime deservedhanging as a punishment; and I do not know what I would do to any body Iwould detect in opening my letters, and pilfering my secrets, " said he, raising himself up. 

"O, my dear Paul, " said the old maid, perceiving her imprudence, "I onlyguessed at the contents of your letters. We Yankees are great atguessing, you know. Be silent; shut up, my good fellow, " she added, going over to the window. "What crowd is that there below on the road?"

An unusual sight in that part of the country now presented itself toview. Slowly moving along the road was a crowd of men and women--themen, as they came up, taking off their hats, and the women courtesying, in that way that only Catholics can courtesy, to a young gentleman, who, seated in a one-horse carriage, the top lowered down, seemed to beengaged, as he was, in earnest conversation about some subject of anabsorbing interest to those around him. In truth, any body, even Amanda, who never saw one, could have guessed that this personage, surrounded byso many of the Irish railroad laborers lately settled in the vicinity, was no other than the Catholic priest. Paul's eye, so lately kindledinto passion from the hints dropped by Amanda about the foul playregarding his letters, became immediately subdued into composure, and, taking out a small miniature reliquary and silver crucifix which he everwore on his breast, he pressed them to his lips, saying to himself, "Glory be to God; and Mary, his virgin mother, be ever blessed. I seethe priest, if he is alive. " And instantly he was over the fence and onthe road. 

"There is one of 'em, " said Mrs. Murphy, "your reverence; and it wouldbe a charity to do something for the poor children, for they were wellreared. "

Paul could not, owing to the tears that rushed on him in floods, darefor some time to join the crowd to offer his respects to therepresentative of religion; and it was a full quarter of an hour beforehe could say, "Welcome to these parts, your reverence. "

"Thank you, my child, " said the priest, reaching him his hand. 

"Forgive me, sir, " said the poor youth; "I can't but weep, 'tis so longsince I saw a priest or heard mass. "

There was not a dry eye in the crowd as the young lad clung to thepriest's hand, embracing it, and crying aloud, "O my uncle! my uncle!"

"Take him into the shanty and calm him a little, " said the stalwartmissionary. "Poor little fellow! poor child! poor child!"

"O, God help the orphan!" said Mrs. Murphy again, fearing she had nottouched his reverence's heart. "It would be the charity of God to dosomething for them. The men would be all willing to subscribe. "

"We will do all we can, " said his reverence. "God will provide for them, if they be what you represent. Meet me here to-morrow, at six o'clock. We will have mass and confessions here in the shanty, as we couldprocure no better place. Give word around through the entireneighborhood. Good by for the present, " said he, moving along towardsthe village of S----. 

"God speed your reverence, " answered a hundred voices, as they returnedthe adieu. 

This was the first night since the death of his beloved mother, and thatwas over two years, that the slightest ray of hope penetrated theburdened but confiding soul of Paul. For himself he did not much care. He could have escaped any day, and repudiated the iniquitous contract bywhich the villanous poormaster had sold him and his brethren; but whatwas to become of his younger sister and brothers? He knew how to plough, mow, cradle, and farm it, as well as any body of his age. He knew how toread, count, write, and even defend his religion, against all opponents, as he did last winter at the Lyceum; but what was to become of Bridget, Patrick, and little Eugene, who had yet many years to serve? This waswhat puzzled him. But now the priest had come for the first time to thisremote region, and _he_ knew what to do, and would not desert theorphan, for no priest ever had done so. He felt there was to be now achange, and he felt assured that it would be for his good. "Thank God, "said he, "I saw the priest at last. I return thee thanks, my God, andthee, my mother in heaven, now my only mother, and I thank all theheavenly citizens and all heaven, for this dawn of hope that I feel inmy soul. O Lord, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. "

Fervent and pious were the prayers offered to God on this night by Paul, as he thanked him for having seen one in whom he could confide as afriend, as well as because he was preparing to go to his religiousduties on the morrow. Let it not be said that it was superstition inPaul to thank God so fervently for having permitted him once more toconverse with his priest. What can be imagined a more worthy cause forthanksgiving than the meeting with a true friend? What better gift canwe receive from God than a friend? And who ever, in need, has failed tofind the good priest a friend in all emergencies?

CHAPTER XI. 

VAN STINGEY AGAIN. --HOW HE GETS RICH AND ENDS. 

After a year or two in office, our friend Van Stingey found Fortunerather adverse to him, a thing not unusual with the worshippers of thatfickle goddess; for not only was he put out of office by the influenceof the "furren" vote thrown against him, but his farther promotion evenin the church became almost problematical. His was now a ratherunpleasant situation. He was not only defeated at the ballot box by the"Irish element, " according as Mrs. Doherty foretold, but he was indisgrace with many of his regular church-going brethren. This lattertrial was caused by the well-known fact that a negro girl, who was putunder this _religious_ man's care by the abolitionists, and who was nowtwo years in his family, had just given birth to a young mulatto childin his house. Yes, and worse; the miserable yellow thing not only wasborn, and in health, under the roof of this _religious teacher_, but hewas mortified to find that it had his very nose on its face, and couldnot by any possibility be fathered on any body else. Thus were theprospects of this pious gentleman blasted in one day. He got religion, but now it failed him. He was of the true nativist stamp in politics;but here again his defeat was signal and complete, and all through thesuffrages of foreigners. 

What was he to do for a living? He must give up religion and politics, and take to some other pursuit. Loafing or living on his neighbors wasnow impossible, as he was in disgrace with many; and besides, he had awife and family to support. Peddling was so common, that nothing couldnow be made in that line; and besides, it took some capital to startwith--a thing that was out of the question in our ex-official's case. 

The only chance now open for him was the railroad, and to the railroadshe said he would betake himself as soon as he could. On the railroad hesaw men of little talent, of less honesty, and of no capital, amass notonly a competency, but wealth, in a few years; and our official was veryanxious to try his luck in that line of business. Accordingly, when theNorthern Railroad was about to be let, Van Stingey, in company with fourothers, put in their estimate, which was the very lowest, and they thussucceeded in getting ten miles of the road. The partners of Van Stingeywere one Purse, one Mr. Kitchins, one Timens, generally called BlindBill, one Whinny, together with Mr. Lofin, an Irishman. They had the jobnow, but had neither horses, carts, shovels, nor any of the variousimplements necessary to carry on the work. A council was held amongthese five worthies to see what was to be done. They had neither money, nor means, nor credit to begin with, and how were they to fulfil theircontract? Most of them were novices in this sort of business; but therewas Mr. P. Lofin, whose experience was something, and who suggested aplan which could not but succeed, if his advice was followed. The planwas, that they should advertise for three thousand men and severalhundred horses, and on the strength of their advertisements, and theircertificate of having obtained such a respectable contract, try toborrow some provisions on three months' credit. 

In a few days, the public places of the cities of T---- and A---- wereposted up with large placards, and advertisements were inserted in allthe daily papers, which read thus:--

 WANTED. 

 Three thousand men to work on the Northern Railroad at one dollar a day of twelve hours. Men who wish to work extra time will receive extra wages. 

 Wanted, also, six hundred horses to hire, at three dollars a day for every team, on the same work. 

 P. LOFIN, VAN STINGEY, KITCHINS, & CO. 

In a few days, not only did the three thousand men make theirappearance, but twice that number were now located on the site of theproposed line. But how were so many men to live? There was some delay inproceeding with the works, and Van Stingey and Co. , having representedthemselves as very independent and wealthy contractors, said that, asthey did not like to be hard on the men, they would give them free sitesfor their shanties, which the men could afterwards have without thenecessity of having to pay so much a month for their use, as was thecustom with other but less honorable contractors than Van Stingey, Purse, Lofin, & Co. 

This bait took "capitally, " as Van used to say, and not only were twohundred shanties built, but the praise of the "ginerous contractors" wasin every mouth; and "Hurrah for Lofin, Van Stingey, & Co. , " became aregular toast among the men, as they went to spend a shilling in thecompany's grocery store. The shanties were now up, and the horses, threehundred in number, all ready for work; but a week, and another, and athird passed on, and not a sod of ground was broke on the ten miles ofour independent company's contract. Here was now a sad and alarmingspectacle. Thousands of men, women, and children, seduced into awilderness by the specious promises of these vile knaves; and now, afterhaving spent every penny they had earned for years, brought to the veryverge of starvation. Some were obliged to trade off and sell theirclothes for food; others had to open small retail groceries to keepthemselves and their neighbors from starving. The more independent incircumstances were obliged to mortgage their horses and carts forprovisions and fodder; and all had, as far as their means went, topatronize the new store opened by the contractors, who retailedprovisions and groceries, to those who had any thing to lose, at aprofit of one hundred and a quarter per cent. On their original cost. For three months this was the state of things on the contract of our_honorable_ company. Works not yet commenced, men and horses halfstarving, occasional murmurs among the most knowing of the hands--whichmurmurs were, however, soon allayed by the representations of the bossesand their countryman Mr. Lofin, who pledged _his honor_ as a "gintlemonthat the whault lied intirely with the directors, and the _faurmuns_, who refused to settle for the right uv way. " The mystery was sooncleared up by the appearance on the ground of Messrs. Van Stingey, Lofin, & Whinny, with fifteen constables, who laid an injunction on allthe shanties, and quietly, revolver in hand, drove off the three hundredhorses to the county town, to secure those contractors in their pay forthe debt into which they brought all those men whom they got to deal intheir store, or who had any property. This is the way thousands of menwere deceived, betrayed, and robbed of all they possessed in the wideworld. And this is the way in which Messrs. Van Stingey, Timens, Kitchins, Whinny, & Lofin supplied themselves with horses, carts, shanties, and all other necessaries for carrying on the work accordingto agreement. The plan had so far succeeded; the only question now was, how to deprive these poor men of all legal redress, and have themexterminated from the neighborhood. This was not difficult to effectwith poor men who were half starved, and who had to look out for worksomewhere else for the support of their families. Those men who had themeans left had quitted this cursed ground already, and Mr. P. Lofinstruck on an expedient by which others, the more bold, were sooncompelled to follow them. He proceeded some eighty or a hundred milesinto the State of Massachusetts, where he represented to several hundredmen from the part of Ireland to which himself belonged, which wasConnaught, that several of their countrymen were driven off and illtreated by Munster men and _far-downs_, and that now they had not only achance of defending the _honor_ of the _province_, but, by driving offtheir _far-up_ and _far-down_ enemies, they could have a year's job, anda dollar a day. 

This was enough; one thousand men immediately started for the scene ofaction, breathing vengeance against their fellow-countrymen, anddetermined on establishing the "anshint ghilory of Connaught. " Everyunfortunate Munster or Ulster man they met on their route was knockeddown, and left senseless on the road; and shouts of victory were heard, and shots were fired, in anticipation of the triumph that awaited them. Lofin, the head mover in all these disgraceful scenes, now drove off tothe capital of the state; and--will it be believed?--this vile, lowwretch, who could neither read nor write, succeeded in getting the loanof _one thousand muskets_ out of the state arsenal to enable him tocarry out his murderous and swindling scheme! A few days previous tothis, Lofin got some few boards on his work set fire to, in order tohave a case made out for the authorities, and by this means, and throughthe influence of political wirepullers, he succeeded in getting the armsof the state placed in the hands of his ignorant dupes, for the murderof their plundered countrymen. During these troublesome times, the houseof Father Ugo, the priest of these parts, was literally besieged withweeping women and enraged men, stating their grievances, and asking foradvice and counsel; for they had no other friend. 

"Surely, " said his reverence to one Hannohan, whose eight horses wereseized, and who had used some violence in defending his property, "surely the law will not sanction such barefaced plunder. I am witnessmyself of the cruelty to which many of you have been subjected by thesevillanous contractors. I know the decision of the law will be in yourfavor. "

"Law!" said poor Hannohan. "God help us if we have to look to _law_ forjustice; go to law with Old Nick, and the court held in the lowcountries! Besides, we are going to be attacked and butchered in ourbeds by night. You know Mr. Lofin's men are all up and armed everynight, firing rounds, and shouting till our wives and children arealmost scared to death. "

"What can I do?" said the priest. "You know I have been censured beforefor interfering when some of the men were on a strike for higher wages;and I can't expect to have any influence with such men as you have todeal with. They are a lawless and hardened set of knaves. "

"God help us, then, your reverence, " said Hannohan; "I and my family mayas well go into the poorhouse or starve, if you can't influence that Mr. Lofin, who is a Catholic, to let me have my eight horses and carts, forI owe him not one single cent. "

"He may call himself a Catholic, Mike, " said Father Ugo; "but he cannotbe a Catholic, or even a believer in God's justice, if he is guilty ofall those villanies which are laid to his charge. It would be no usefor me to speak to such an abandoned scoundrel and robber as, by allaccounts, he is. "

Poor Hannohan got the benefit of law, which resulted in his losing hiseight horses and carts: a warrant was issued for his capture, forthreatening the robbers of his property with chastisement. He was takenin a few days, and lodged in prison, where he died in a fortnight of theinjuries inflicted on him by the drunken constables, who succeeded inarresting him after a two days' chase through the woods. No doubt _thegood Catholic_, Mr. Lofin, rested quiet when he heard of the death ofthis formidable opponent. And I suppose, by way of appeasing the publicindignation, --for I do not think he had any dread of the anger ofHeaven, --his name appeared, a few days after, at the head of a list ofsubscriptions for the support of an orphanage in the city. And well hemight spend a little of his profits in _charitable_ objects, for he andhis partners had, by the late manoeuvre got up under Lofin's auspices, saved not less than five thousand nine hundred dollars' worth ofproperty in horses, carts, harness, and shanties! We have heard ofrobbers in Italy and Spain, who, after they rob and murder the rich, arevery _liberal_ to the poor, although, like your railroad-contract robberthe poor Italian brigand has not the chance of having his name publishedin the newspapers, or read out from the pulpit, as a good, charitable, and humane gentleman. Of the two charities, I think that of the obscurebrigand is the most worthy and laudable. 

One Sunday evening, as Father Ugo was returning from service in thecountry, where he officiated every two weeks, he came up with a largeand enraged crowd of people on both sides of the road on which hetravelled. On one side of the way about one hundred carts were placed ina line, so as to form a rampart and protect some two hundred men, who, with loaded muskets, crouched behind the carts as if watching for anobject to fire at. An occasional shot was fired from this rampart, andthe volley was returned slowly but deliberately from an old house infront, on which this large body of men were making an assault. While thepriest stood at a distance, looking on at this horrid contest, he wasperceived by the people in the house, who at once despatched a messengerto inform his reverence of the danger they were in, assailed by so manymen resolved on their extermination. At no small risk, leaving themessenger in charge of his horse, he entered between the ranks of thecombatants, and, with crucifix in hand uplifted, he implored theassailants, in the name of Christ, to desist from their cruel warfare, and take some other means and time than the Lord's day for gettingpossession of that old house about which the contention arose. By agreat deal of difficulty, and after a speech of an hour, he succeeded inquelling this cruel and disgraceful riot, and before he left the groundhe had all the arms secured in one pile, and conveyed to an adjacentfarmer's house for security. 

After this the work went on peacefully. Van Stingey & Co. Made money, and were now rich; the poor priest had every thing but the thanks of thecontractors for his pains, and he concluded, from his experience ofthis and other railroads and public works in America, that, of all themen living, the railroad and day laborer of this "free country" is themost ill treated and oppressed. He has to work from dark to dark; he hasto take _store pay_ for his wages; and he has to obey the nod, look, andarbitrary commands of the lowest, cruellest, and most brutal class ofmen on earth. I ask any man, Is not this slavery? Van Stingey was nowrich--had horses, wagons, and a splendid mansion. He took another, and athird contract, in which he was very successful. One day, however, hewas on his work, and a blast having failed to go off, Van ordered hismen to return to the dump. They refused. He stamped and swore, and thenand there discharged all the "darned paddies, " who were not fools enoughto get killed. So himself and his nephew, who bossed for him, returnedto the "cut, " where they were no sooner arrived than the blast went off, and poor Van Stingey was blown into atoms. 

Thus perished, at the height of his success and of his guilt, themeanest and most worthless of the human race--the mocker and robber ofthe poor, the persecutor and kidnapper of Paul O'Clery and his brethren, the merciless swindler and defrauder of the laborer's wages, and, finally, the hypocritical sensualist and drunkard. We boast of ourprogress, and advertise, as proof of it, the number of railroads inoperation, their extent, and the rapidity of the motion over their ironsurface; but the trials, tears, labors, sufferings, and injustice whichour indifference or avarice has inflicted on those thousands of ourfellow-creatures whose hands have built them never occur to our minds orcause us a single regret, while glorying in the advancement of our"great country. " "How can we help _that_?" answers Uncle Sam. "It is thecontractors that are unjust and cruel, and the men themselves that arenot 'wide awake enough' in allowing themselves to be so imposed upon. "

The whole fault is yours, "Uncle, " and lies at the doors of the people, who, having the power to protect the laborer by law, neglect to exercisethat power, and, by this their neglect of duty, create your VanStingeys, your Lofins, your Blind Bill Timenses, your Whinnys, and othervillains, who are a disgrace to our country, and whose crimes, encouraged by our silence and tolerance, will ultimately bring thevengeance of Heaven on us and our children. _Quod avertat Deus_. 

It has been remarked by some, that if the tears shed by emigrants on thebosom and on the banks of the great Father of Waters, the Mississippi, were preserved in a great reservoir, they would form a lake many fathomsin depth and many miles in circumference. With less exaggeration can itbe stated, if the number of men killed, murdered, and otherwise cut off, on the railroads of the Union, by the ill treatment, neglect, cruelty, avarice, and malice of contractors, storekeepers, overseers, andbosses, --if all these men's dead bodies were placed within three feet ofone another, or even side by side, they would cover, from end to end, the ten thousand miles of railroad that are within the United States. And if the tears shed on the Mississippi would make a lake the size ofthe Lakes of Killarney, the tears shed on the railroads would form abody of salt, burning water, as great in bulk as Lakes Superior andOntario together. If there be any irresponsible, cruel, barbarousdespotism on earth, in savage or civilized life, it is emphatically inthe discipline that prevails on the railroad _régime_. There is no mandaring enough to speak a word in favor of the cruelly-oppressed railroadman, except an odd priest here and there; and even he has often to do itat the risk of having a revolver presented at him, or having hischaracter maligned by the slanders of the moneyed ruffians whose crimesand excesses he may feel it his duty to reprimand. Father Ugo was notthe man to wink at the cruel treatment to which, in the part of therailroad that ran through his mission, his poor fellow-men andfellow-Christians were submitted; and he had, consequently, often toexperience no small share of the malice, and a _tolerable_ share ofoutrage, in the shape of threats and insulting language, from ourindependent company, Lofin, Van Stingey, Whinny, & Co. 

CHAPTER XII. 

MASS IN A SHANTY. 

There was great bustle and preparation in the valley of R---- Creek, onAscension Thursday. Hired men were up at _three_ o'clock that morning todo "chores, " and hired girls were busy the night before in arranging thehousehold, so that the female _bosses_ of the several farm-houses wouldbe able to find all things in order. Many and violent also were thearguments that passed between Catholic servants and their hereticalmasters and mistresses, on one hand to ignore, and on the other toassert, the right to worship according to one's conscience. Yes, totheir shame be it told, the Protestant sects in America, as they do inall countries where they have sway or are tolerated, practically denythat article of the federal constitution that guarantees the right toevery citizen to worship God according to the dictates of conscience orindividual judgment. With the word _liberty_ ever on their lips, likethe lion's skin on the ass, to deceive, the sects, great and small, fromthe Church of England down, down, down to the Mormons orTranscendentalists, through the grades of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, all play the tyrant in their own way. All act the despot, andwould exercise spiritual tyranny, if in their power. For proof of this, the history of the "Blue Laws" in the land of the Pilgrims is only to beconsulted on this side of the Atlantic; and at the other side, modern aswell as by-gone records show, that, wherever Protestantism had thepower, _there_ the few were oppressed by the many. Every sovereign, fromElizabeth down to Victoria, acted the tyrant over the Catholics; and inSweden, Denmark, Prussia, and the Protestant Swiss cantons, persecutionis now a part of the laws of these several states. Persecution is notsanctioned by the laws of the United States, if we except theprescriptive code of New Hampshire, which comes under that genus; but ifit be not legalized, we are not to thank Protestantism for that. Wherever it has sway in the family, in the town council, or theassembly, there the cloven foot of intolerance and persecution is seenfrom under the sanctimonious gown it puts on. Indeed, although thecompulsion of the conscience is not enforced by State laws, it isattempted, as far as practicable, where its effects are more galling, and its existence more intolerable, --namely, in the family at home, orin the camp or barrack abroad. Catholic servants are not only denied theright to attend their duties in many families, but actually forced tohear the disgusting ranting or ludicrous prayer of any impostor who maytake on himself the office of preacher. And Catholic soldiers arepunished by fine and severe corporal chastisements for refusing toattend the service of an heretical chaplain. And no senator, zealousfor liberty, raises his voice on behalf of the Catholic soldier, and ofthe Catholic servant girl, while they are exposed to a persecution suchas no Catholic government, king, or despot ever attempted to force onthe consciences of their dissenting subjects, not even Queen Mary, ofEngland, excepted; for the so-called persecution by Catholic princes hasnever been to compel men to adopt a new religion. Protestants in Europeand here attempt to compel the adoption of their false tenets by thosewho are neither desirous nor willing to adopt them, and who alreadyprofess a true religion. This is what makes a vast difference betweenthe persecution your "Madiai" suffer, and this ten times worsepersecution which many an otherwise honest and kind-hearted Americanfarmer allows to take place in his family. The Day of Judgment alonewill reveal to light what trials, crosses, and real persecution Catholicservant men and women have to endure in remote and country places fromthe bigotry, hypocrisy, and cruelty of ignorant, unfeeling farmers andtheir wives, goaded on, no doubt, and urged, by low, base, and brutalparsons, who have scarcely enough to eat, and who envy the priest thecomparative independence which the liberality and true Catholic charityof his flock enable him to maintain. 

By these remarks I am not to be understood as saying that good-nature, justice, and even generosity, do not govern the conduct of the Americanpeople. I am aware of their kindness, hospitality, and philanthropy; butthese fine traits of character are obscured, perverted, and renderedabortive, whenever the demon of sectarian influence touches them withher black rod. And, like the Jews, while they are persecuting the HolyOne of God in his humble members, they think they are doing a service toGod. Such is the effect of the poison, in the shape of religiousinstruction, infused into the minds of this noble people by the lyingand ignorant teachers that they allow to instruct them. The Americanpeople are generally so busy, so intent in making a fortune or alivelihood, that they have not time, as they cannot have theinclination, to pay much attention to religious training. Hence it is inthe science of the soul and salvation, as in that of medical science, the number of impostors and quacks is infinite. 

The following dialogue between an Irish Catholic servant and her_evangelical_ mistress will serve faintly to illustrate what is theweekly, if not daily, recurrence in tens of thousands of families allover this "free country":

"You can't go, that's the amount of it, Anne, " said Mrs. Warren to anIrish Catholic servant maid of hers, who heard of the priest's being atthe shanties on this morning. 

"Why so, ma'am?" said Anne. "All the girls of the country around areallowed to go; but I never get a Sunday or holy day to myself. It is toobad. "

"Why don't you come with us to our meeting, where all the decent folksgo, and none of your Irish are present?"

"Many decent folks go to 'Old Harry!'" cried Anne, in anger. "Is thatthe reason I must go too?"

"Anne, your obstinacy in refusing to join our family worship has made meresolve not to let you go to hear the old priest. And your refusal toattend to the sermon of our preacher, Mr. Scullion, has also displeasedme much. I mean to punish you according. "

"Why should I go hear the old sinner's stuff, " said Anne, "when your ownsons laugh at him and say he is a fool? Besides, I am told he is everabusing the Catholics, and I heartily despise his nonsensical, lyingcant. "

"Well, Anne, I am determined to punish you for it, " calmly replied themistress. "So you can't see the priest to-day. That settles it. "

"I beg your pardon, ma'am; the priest I will see, please God, let whatwill happen. "

"You must leave this house, then. "

"Small loss, madam. America is wide, thank God!" answered Anne. 

"Don't you know Mr. Scullion is a brother of mine?"

"I don't care, ma'am, if he was your father. I know he is ignorant ormalicious, either one or the other, or maybe both, or he would not speakof the Catholic Church as he does. Oh, dear, " she cried, bursting intotears of anger, "what a 'free country' it is! The Protestants in Irelandwere decent. They came, attended by the peelers, to their tenants, telling them they must conform to the will of the landlord, or quittheir homes; but here ye say all religions are equal, and yet ye try tocompel us to go to listen to low, ignorant preachers, who know they arelying about the Church of Christ. Ye want us to change the religion ofSt. Patrick and of the martyrs for such ridiculous churches as ye havehere. Oh, dear! oh, dear!" said the poor girl, as she contrasted herpresent situation with what it was when she was at home at her father's, where she heard Mass daily, and knew not what it was to sufferpersecution for conscience' sake. 

While scenes such as we have here described were taking place in thefarmers' houses, and such scenes are not occasional nor unusual, all wasbusy preparation at the shanties. The largest shanty in the "patch" wascleared of all sorts of lumber. Forms, chairs, tables, pots, flour andbeef barrels, molasses casks, and other necessary stores were all putoutside doors. The walls, if so we can call them, of the shanty, werethen hung round with newspapers, white linen tablecloths, and otherchoice tapestry, while a good large shawl, spread in front of the altar, served as a carpet on which his reverence was to kneel and stand whileofficiating. Green boughs were cut in a neighboring wood lot and plantedaround the entrance by the men, while around the altar and over it werewreaths of wild flowers and blossoms, gathered by the little girls ofthe "patch" in the adjacent meadows, in order to prepare a decent placefor the holy Mass. At an early hour the priest made his appearance, andwas very much pleased to see the transformation which the piety ofthese poor, hard-working people wrought in the appearance of the humbleshanty. For fifteen miles along the line the crowds were gathering, andthe works were suspended for the day. The overseers and contractors, todo them justice, had no objection to this occasional interruption oftheir profits. At all events, they knew it was a holy day; and eventhey, with all their irresponsible control over their men, had ampleproof that, even in the wild deserts and savage woods of America, theIrish Catholic "remembers" the Sabbaths and festivals of his God or hisChurch. 

Long before the hour of Mass, the shanty was crowded, and many were thecomments and remarks made on the physical powers and other externalaccomplishments of the new priest. 

Some remarked that his reverence, --God bless him!--need not be afraid oftravelling alone through these lonesome glens, for it would require "agood man to handle him; that it would. "

"That's thrue, " said another; "he would be able to 'settle bread' on ahalf-dozen Yankees any day; that is, provided they did not use anyweapon but the arm that God gave 'em. "

"But you know, " said a third, "these Yankees always carry a _rewolwer_or two in their pockets, the treacherous rogues. Look how they killedthat Irish peddler, and robbed him, and fired six shots into MichaelGasty's house the other night, and he in bed quietly sleeping. "

This and other such narratives and comments were the order of the dayoutside the door, only where those who were careless or not preparingfor their duties were congregated. Inside, a large crowd of women andrough-fisted men gathered around the door of the temporary confessional, and it was near noon before the priest ascended the temporary altar tooffer up the "victim of peace" for the assembled sons of toil. Upon hisreverence asking if there was anybody to answer or serve Mass, severalpresented themselves; but he accepted the services of Paul, because hehad been accustomed from his childhood to wait round the altar, and hewas the most intelligent of those who offered to assist the priest whilecelebrating. 

The substance of the priest's discourse was, that they should not forgetthat it was God's will that the holy sacrifice should be offered in"every place, from the rising to the setting of the sun, " and thatprobably they were made the instruments which he made use of for the_literal_ fulfilment of that famous prophecy; for if they were not hereemployed on these public works, probably the holy sacrifice would notbe, for years and years to come, offered up in such places as this. Thatthey should all regard themselves as missionaries engaged in God'sservice to spread the knowledge of the true religion in this virgin soilamong a people who had lost the true mode of God's worship, though agenerous and successful race of men. That they should guard againstdrunkenness and faction fights, for these crimes brought their properpunishment both here and hereafter; and that they should, by pure moralsand fidelity to their religion, rather than by controversy ordisputation, make a favorable impression on, and confute the errors of, those opponents of their faith among whom their lot was cast. In fine, that they should lose no opportunity of receiving the sacraments, for, without their use, salvation was very difficult, if not absolutelyimpossible. Let them not regret the loss of this day, or think it toomuch to dedicate it to God's service: that was the chief end for whichthey were created. When population was small, and a livelihood easilyobtained, and men had to work but little, God had appointed one day inthe week to rest and service. Now, when the cares, distractions, andlabors of life had increased a thousandfold, it seemed not too much if, instead of one day, two or more days were devoted to rest and worship. And if the Church had her way unrestricted, she, by her festivals andholy days, would do a great deal towards alleviating the presenthardships of labor, and men would be taught to be content with acompetency, and employers would treat their men with kindness andjustice combined. 

"You, poor fellows, have to work hard, frequently for years, withouthaving a chance to frequent the sacraments. Thank God, then, and begrateful for this opportunity, and spend this day as becomethChristians. You are exposed to dangers from accidents, and frequentlyfrom the influence of evil-advising men. In Religion and her resourcesalone you can find the only safeguard against the effects of the former, and the best security against the wiles of your enemies: keep thecommandments, and hear the Church. "

On this day no less than ninety-five received, and the effects of thisone visit even were felt by the overseers and employers of these men formonths to come. Even Anne Council, the girl whom we introduced asdisputing with her ignorant mistress about "the freedom ofworship, "--and which dispute was then decided in Anne's favor by theinterference of the boss, who remonstrated with his wife on herimprudence in resolving to discharge her maid in the midst of theirhurry, while there was no chance of having her place supplied, --evenAnne, brought to a better sense by the advice of the priest administeredin confession, when she came home asked her saucy mistress's pardon forspeaking back to her this morning. 

"I forgive you, Anne, " she said; "though I am sure there is not a _lady_in the hollow that would put up with your impudence but myself. "

"I know I am hot, " answered Anne, smothering her anger at this secondprovocation in being called _impudent_. "The priest told us to beobedient to those even who are not amiable nor kind; to serve them forGod's sake, as a punishment for our sins. "

"Now, " said Mr. Warren to his wife, "you see Anne has rather improved byher visit to the priest, which you thought to prevent. Were you and I tobe _at her_ for six months, we could not get her to acknowledge as muchas she now has. The fact is, I am certain those much-abused priests arefar ahead of our dominies in knowledge of religion and human nature. Itis impossible otherwise to account for the influence they exercise overthe ungovernable Irish race, and over those millions whom they instructand rule. "

"It's all priestcraft, " said his wife. 

"I don't know, Sarah, what craft it is, but I wish our ministers learneda little of the same craft; for they are fast losing all influence overthe minds of the people, and especially over that of the youth. That wecan all see. "

"That's because people are daily getting worse, " said this femalephilosopher. 

"Worse! Then whose fault is it that they are? What have we ministersfor, but to prevent this state of things? There are six of them in thesmall village of S----, and it can't be beat in the Union for blacklegsand rowdies. Would we have so many wild, irreligious young men, andwomen, too, if, instead of six preachers, we had six Catholic priests? Iwould like to see one of your young ones show such signs of a superiormind and training, such manliness and fortitude, as that Irish Catholiclad, Paul, down at Prying's. They have had all the ministers withinfifty miles of you to convert him, but they could no more move him thanthey could Mount Antoine. In fact, he beat them all to pieces inScripture and argument. Take no more pains about religion, wife, " saidthe honest Yankee; "let Anne alone. I won't have her disturbed any moreon the subject. If there be any religion on earth, those very peoplehave it whom you want to bring round to the exact pattern of yourfavorite minister's manner of doubting. It's ridiculous, wife, " saidhe, rising, and calling his men to the fields; "it's ridiculous to tryto convert these Catholics, who appear to have some religion, to thecountless systems of NO RELIGION that are so numerous on allsides around us. I say it's ridiculous, " said he, departing. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE TEMPTER AT THE WOMAN. 

It was arranged among the Pryings and their advisers, one day in August, that, as Amanda said Paul was an incorrigible young man, he should besent off to the State fair of Vermont, and, in the meantime, a certain"true blue" Presbyterian minister, named Grinoble, should try his handat converting Paul's little sister Bridget. It was, some thought, wrongto begin with Paul, as all experience, but especially scripturaltestimony, taught that temptation was more likely to succeed when womanwas the subject or the instrument. So thought Parson Grinoble; and, withtrue serpent wisdom, he concluded that it was through the woman, theweaker sex, that, in this instance, Popery was to be conquered. Besides, this old hand at proselytism read somewhat of the epistles of St. Paul, and read there of the success of his predecessors in unbelief inseducing "silly women, " and ensnaring their confiding souls within themeshes of their wily nets. So thought Mr. Grinoble, and he began to acton it on the day in question, by going into the kitchen and addressinghimself to Bridget, as she was peeling apples for cooking, in thefollowing manner:

"Come here, my dear, and shake hands, " said his dominieship to the girl. 

She walked over shyly, holding the knife in one hand, and stretchingforward for the other. 

"Sit down here beside me, on the settle, my dear. "

"I must do what 'Mandy ordered me, sir, " she said, excusingly. 

"Oh, don't you fear Amanda, " he said; "I will be your security, mylittle woman, that she won't be displeased. Dear me, what nice hair andpurty curls you have! and such beautiful teeth! Don't you think MissAmanda is jealous of your charms? eh? Why do you turn away your head, mypet?"

"I don't like such talk, sir, " she answered. "My Prayer Book, in the'Table of Sins, ' says it is a sin to listen to praise or flattery. "

"Well said, my little lady, " said the tempter. "You are right, Bridget;I was only trying you. I do not wish you to sin. You know I am theminister. I love you, and wish to see you a good Christian, " said he, caressing her. 

"I thank you, sir, " was her answer. 

"Now, my little good one, I want to tell you some news. I have a messagefor you, --a letter from a friend. "

"Please show it, sir, " she said, impatiently; "perhaps it is from myuncle, in Ireland, to whom Paul often wrote, but never got an answerback. "

"No, my dear, it is from your father, " said the tempter. 

"My father is dead, sir, " she quickly rejoined. "It can't be from him, anyhow, God rest his soul. "

"It is from your Father in heaven, --behold it!" said he, in a dramaticaccent, and pulling out of his breast-pocket a small octodecimo Bible. 

"Queer letter carrier, and purty heavy letter, " grinned a young fellow, who was sitting by, waiting for the return of the boss to employ him. 

"Christ sent you this by me, " said the dominie, presenting the Bible. "It will teach you the knowledge of the Lord, and the true spirit of hisgospel. "

"Never knew before that the Lord kept a post-office, " said the youngCelt; "but I'm sure he never sent the like of you to beletter-carrier, --too slow, too stupid, entirely, entirely; and not veryhonest, maybe. "

"I am not addressing you, sir, " said the parson, gruffly. "How do youlike that, Bridget?" said he, plying his arts. 

"It is very nicely bound, sir, " said she; "but I dare not take itwithout acquainting my brother Paul. "

"Now, my little favorite, " said the representative of the serpent, "ifyour uncle at home left you all his property, would you not like to beable to read the _will_, or would you wait for Paul's leave to read adocument by which you inherited so much wealth?"

"Perhaps not, sir, " she answered, "particularly if he did not forbid meto do so. "

"Very well, this is the will, the testament of God to all men, to me, to you. Now, Bridget, learn this will, read it, study its contents, without consent of priest or brother. Don't you see how proper thisadvice is?" said he, thinking he had her little reasoning powersconquered. 

"Yes, old fellow, " said the young man at the table; "but if that willwas disputed, which would you do, --submit it to an able lawyer, or gointo court yourself without advice or counsel? You surely would fee alawyer, if money or property was at stake. Well, you '_omadawn_, '" saidour young stranger, "don't you see that, though that Bible is the will, the devil, and his small heretical attorneys--Luther, Calvin, Wesley--dispute the will, and the Church is the able advocate, andjudge, too, that will conquer the devil, and put to shame his agents, and secure the stake, which is heaven, and the salvation of the soul?Let the child alone, " said he, boldly, "as you see she doesn't want yourbiblical pills, or, 'be the tinker that mended _Fion-vic Couls' pot_, ' Iwill turn you out of doors, if I were to hang for it after. Let thechild alone this minute, " said he, firmly. 

"Who are you, sir?" said the indignant parson, turning to view hisantagonist. "How dare you interrupt me when I am not addressing you?"

"I am an Irishman and a Catholic, " said he; "and furthermore, if youwish to know my name, it is, sir, Murty O'Dwyer, Tipperary man and all. "

The reader will recollect the rollicking young attendant who droveFather O'Shane in the snowdrifts from Vermont, a specimen of whoseoratory we have given in a preceding chapter. The antagonist of ParsonGrinoble was no other than the same young man. He had rambled up to thisneighborhood in search of work, and hearing that Mr. Prying was in needof a hay hand, he waited his return from the Vermont State fair. 

The minister Grinoble returned to the parlor to report progress toAmanda, and to represent the controversial rencontre which he had withO'Dwyer, while Murty learned with wonder and indignation from Bridget, that they were the children which cost Father O'Shane so much vainsearch, and that they were kept in continual annoyance by all sorts ofmale and female religious quacks and mountebanks, all bent on the workof perversion. "Oh, thunder and age!" said he; "and ye are widowO'Clery's children, God rest her soul! What a murthur Father O'Shanecould not find ye out before he died! The Lord have mercy on him. "

"We have heard he died, " said Bridget. "Is it long since, sir?"

"Almost two years. He published ye in the Boston _Pilot_, and all thenewspapers. He even offered a reward for yer discovery. Oh, _millemurther_! what a pity I did not know ye were so near home!"

"I suppose uncle wrote to him, and sent us money to take us home again?"added pensive Bridget. 

"Money!" said the disinterested young man; "what money? I would give allI earned since I came to this queer country myself to have ye foundout. We all thought ye were lost, drowned, or killed on the railroadcars. I am glad I have found ye out; ye will have to leave right off. Iwill take ye away myself to-morrow. "

"Oh, no, sir!" said Bridget; "we can't leave this till our time isserved out or our board paid, --two dollars a week for nearly threeyears. The priest, not long since, came here to see if he could get mybrother and me off, but they told him they would not let us go. Andbesides that, they insulted his reverence by telling him, if he dared tocome to try to kidnap us, they would tar and feather, or shoot him, theLord save us. "

"I wish to God I was present, " said Murty; "I would settle bread on someof them; that I would, and no mistake, " said he, bringing his clenchedfist down on the table, "if I heard them insult the minister of Christin any shape or form. Oh, America! America!" said he, in an undervoice, "I am deceived in you. I thought you were a second paradise, where allwas peace, and comfort, and justice, and prosperity, and true liberty. But alas! I find all my ideas of your character erroneous and false. Allthe crimes of the old world are not only here, where we thought the verysoil was virgin pure and unstained, but here in the most odious forms. The poor at home were naked, and hungry, and ground; but most of themwere _innocent_, and _an innocent man is not entirely miserable_. Thepoor here, besides their poverty and wretched slavery, working eighteenout of the twenty-four hours, are almost all wicked in addition. Thecrimes in the old country, that aristocratic institutions kept up inthe inaccessible palaces of the rich, --like the panther's den on thesummit of yonder mountain, --here are familiar to the lowest andvulgarest of the populace. In the old country, the few and the rich wereunjust, cruel, wicked; it was so in Ireland. Here the vices of the feware ingrafted on the many, and, like the small-pox, they do not becomeweaker, but stronger, by universal propagation. I wish I never saw you, America, " said he, musing, his head resting against the wall; "I wish Iwas in the grave with my two sisters and mother, rather than here towitness the slavery, corruption, and vice of America. " The remainder ofhis musings were lost in the sighs and emotions that proceeded from hismanly bosom. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE FRUITS OF THE CROSS. 

Paul was now a free man, the term of apprenticeship having expired. Itwas his right now, according to the terms of the implied contract, notonly to receive support and clothing, but wages; and Mr. Prying was verywilling to keep him in the house and give him a man's wages; but thisconflicted with Amanda's plan and that of her advisers; consequently, Paul was reluctantly obliged to part with the society of his sisterBridget, who had yet a part of her term to serve, and to look out amongthe neighboring farmers for a situation. This he soon found in agentleman's family named Clarke, who was very glad to receive such amodest and intelligent young man into his family. This Mr. Clarke wasnot a farmer by profession, but a lawyer, and editor of a daily journalin the capital of Vermont, and only spent a few days in the summer andfall with his family at the farm. Paul's chief occupation was to attendyoung Master Clarke in his sports of fishing, fowling, and riding onhorseback. The duties of his present situation afforded Paul not onlytime and leisure to keep up his accustomed religious exercises, but, inaddition, he was able to revise what he had previously studied, and toadd considerably to his stock of useful knowledge. The equal terms andfamiliarity in which he stood in his relation with his young employerafforded him an opportunity of revising Virgil, Sallust, Lucian, andother classical authors, the use of which he was so long obliged todiscontinue. 

Mr. Clarke was delighted when he learned from his son that Paul knewGreek and Latin much better than his former teacher in the academy. Andthis information he knew to be correct, from the fact that he found hisson had learned more during vacation, in company with Paul, than he didduring the whole year before in college. He therefore advanced Paul'swages by one-third, and prolonged his son's stay in the country beyondthe usual period. This generous and kind-hearted man was also sensiblyaffected when Paul, at his request, related how he came to know Latin;how he was nephew of the grand vicar of Kil----; how he had spent fiveyears in college; how his father was obliged to emigrate with hisfamily; how he had died on the voyage; how they were robbed of athousand pounds; how his mother sunk under her trials; how he and hisbrethren were kidnapped out hither; how the priest of T---- hadadvertised for them; and how, "I suppose, " said he, "they gave us up indespair; thinking, probably, that we were lost in some of the latesteamboat disasters; but here we are yet, thank God!"

Mr. Clarke, with the instinct of a true-hearted Yankee, immediately sawinto the snare laid for the faith of the young orphans; and he thankedhis God mentally that he had come to the knowledge of these facts, forhe was the man to expose and reprobate such foul play. "I now wellremember, Paul, " said he, "the advertisements respecting you and yourbrothers and sister. I shall see to this business, I promise you. In themeantime, be you and Joe good friends. Don't spend too much time atfishing and gunning, but study a good deal. Good-by, Joe, my son. Good-by, Paul. I shall soon return again to see you. "

Paul took every favorable opportunity to visit his sister and brothers, to console and strengthen them against the temptations to which he knewthey were exposed. 

"Now, Patsy, my boy, " he said to the elder of his younger brothers, "every time you look at that cross--show it to me--have you lost it?"

"No, sir-ee; I never put it off my neck since mother put it on, " saidPatrick, pulling it out of his bosom. 

"Every time you look at that crucifix, " continued Paul, "think how ourLord God Himself suffered; how, when he was a boy like you, he was good, obeyed his parents, and was subject to them. Now, you have no parentshere but one, the Catholic Church; and if you obey not her counsels andprecepts, you will not be rewarded by Christ, whose image you weararound your neck. Say the Six Precepts of the Church for me, Pat. "

"First. I am the Lord thy God--"

"Oh, Pat, you are saying the ten commandments of God. Your littlebrother Eugene can say _them_. I examined you in these before. "

"Oh, I forgot. 1st. To hear Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. 2d. To fast and abstain on the days commanded. 3d. To confess our sinsat least once a year. 4th. To receive communion at Easter. 5th. Tocontribute to the support of our pastors. 6th. Not to solemnize marriagewithin forbidden degrees, nor clandestinely. "

"The first precept, Patrick, we cannot keep here, as we are not near thechurch. But the second, 'to abstain on the days commanded, ' we can keep. Do you ever eat meat on Friday, Pat?"

"Never but once, through mistake, " said Pat. "I thought it was Thursday. Mr. Prying is always wanting me to eat it every day, and so was agentleman whom he called the _priest_, --sure he is not a right priest, is he, Paul?"

"Not at all, Pat; he is only a Protestant minister. "

"A minister!" said Pat, in astonishment. "Why did they call him apriest? He wanted me and Eugene to eat meat on Friday; but I said Icould not, it would make me sick. Then Mrs. Prying told him to let mebe; that she could not allow any interference with our religion; andsince that, the minister never returned to our house, or nobody said aword about it. I think she is very good. She often cries when she hearsme and Eugene speaking of father and mother, God rest their souls!Paul, " said Pat, introducing a new subject, "ain't there a hell topunish the wicked, as well as a heaven to reward the good?"

"Certainly, Pat; does not the Catechism say so?"

"Yes, but yesterday, Cassius Prying tried to persuade me that there wasno hell. He said all would go to heaven, in the end. I told him it wasno such thing. He said the minister said so. "

"Oh, Patrick, my boy, beware of Cassius; you must not listen to histalk, for it is wicked. God tells us there is a hell, and we mustbelieve all he teaches us by his church and his word, or we will becondemned to hell forever. "

"Oh, the Lord save us! I won't hear to Cassius no more. "

"That's a good boy, Patsy; mind to watch Eugene, and make him do as youdo. We will all soon be going home to uncle's, please God. "

"How soon, Paul? I am tired of being in 'Merica. "

"Very soon, please God. Good-by, and be good: learn this, the eighthchapter of the Catechism, next. "

"I will, Paul, with God's help. "

This is the way Paul, our hero, took care of the responsibility God hadthrown on his tender shoulders at the age of fifteen. Never didmissionary or priest labor, by prayer, and prudence, and anxiety, tosave souls to Christ, as Paul did to save his brothers. He was to themthe true Joseph, who not only kept their bodies from starving, butpreserved their souls from a worse than Egyptian captivity. And not onlydid his exertions produce the desired effect on the immediate objects ofhis solicitude, but God added as the reward of his zeal other souls, "not of this fold. "

Old uncle Jacob was all but disconsolate at the loss of Paul. He was hisbed-fellow for years, and every night and morning was witness of hispiety and punctuality in prayer. And although poor uncle Jacob himselfhad long since learned to doubt of all forms of faith, he could not beindifferent to the example set him by Paul's steady devotion. The poorold man, besides, led a very innocent life, and the grace of God had fewobstacles to contend with in its influx into his empty but innocentsoul. He was often heard to say in presence of even Mr. Gulmore, theminister, and Amanda, who might be called the female parson, that, ifany religion was worth having, it was that one which made Paul sovictorious in his arguments, and so pure and pious in his conduct. "Thatwas the young one, " said uncle, his voice trembling with feeling, for heloved Paul as a son, "that was the child that deserved to be called one;that knowed what he owed to God, and man too. "

"He was as cunning as a fox, and as full of the spirit of Popery as anegg is of meat, " said Mr. Grinoble bitterly. 

"I know him to be as innocent as a dove, " said uncle Jacob, warmly, "andbelieve him to be as full of the Spirit of God as Samuel was in thetemple. There, now. "

"Then, uncle Jacob, I see you are beginning to believe in the Bible, "sarcastically added the parson. "I am glad to find your mind inclined inthat way. I hope you will soon get religion and the change of heart. "

"I hope and pray to the Lord, " said the old man, in a voice littleremoved from that of one in tears, "to change my heart, and give mereligion, as I now believe there is such a thing on earth. But, Mr. Grinoble, your hard and cruel religion, I trust, shall never be mine. God forbid! _It_ will never change my heart. "

"Uncle, don't you talk that way, " said Amanda. "This is very unpleasant. Take no notice of him, sir, " said she, addressing the parson, whoappeared to be disconcerted at this pointed attack of uncle Jacob. 

"Amanda, I will talk so, I must talk so, " said poor uncle, rising. "Howcan ye reconcile it to religion, to justice, or to charity, the snaresand plots laid by you, miss, in company with those _men of God_, to robthat poor child Paul, and his little sister and brothers, of theirancient, noble, and holy religion? Fie, fie, fie! Is it such conduct youcall religion? It is the very reverse. It resembled more the conduct ofthe serpent in paradise, than that of the meek disciples of JesusChrist. It was more like the religious profession of Herod, to get theChild at Bethlehem into his clutches, than anything else we read of, your conduct was. There is more Bible for you, Mr. Grinoble, " said he, slamming the door after him, and retiring to his room. 

"'Tis not much use attempting to convert such an old hardened sinner, "said Grinoble, smothering his mortification at the rebuff of uncleJacob. 

"That Paul has ruined him, " said Amanda. "I would not be a bitsurprised if he died a Papist yet. "

"Sure you would not let the Popish priest visit him, on any account?"said the tolerant parson. 

"I fear pa would, for you know uncle Jacob left him this farm, and morethan half what he possesses in money and stock. Come, tea is ready. "

Poor uncle Prying, as we have said already, was the senior brother ofEphraim and Reuben Prying, and was now about seventy-two years of age. During the last twenty years of his life he labored under a slightasthmatic affection, which lately increased in violence, and, joinedwith a disease of the liver, which physicians said he suffered from, nowseriously endangered his life. Since he was eighteen years old, Mr. Jacob Prying never went inside a meeting-house or professed anyreligion; a conclusion which he partly was drove to by the hypocrisy ofa certain minister in his neighborhood, who wanted to have Mr. Jacobmarried to a daughter of his, who, two days before the marriage, hefound out, accidentally, had been seduced by an ex-senator in Boston. This piece of deception on the part of the religious teacher, and thetreachery of the _maid_ herself, so disgusted Jacob Prying, that heregistered a vow in heaven that he never again would allow himself tobecome the victim of hypocrisy or of female dissimulation. The parsons, all round, because he was proof against their transparent baits, to filltheir meeting-houses, cried him down as an infidel, whose heart washardened, and who despised the Bible. Uncle Jacob never attempted todispel the prejudices raised against him by the malice of despiseddominies; but his heart refuted their lies, for it was open to everynoble and humane influence, and, above all, undefiled from thecorruption of the world. Hence, in his hour of sickness, in his hour oftrial and need, the Almighty rewarded him for his natural good parts, and sent His angel to conduct him, by the simple means herein recorded, to the bosom of that holy religion, outside which there is nothing butbitterness and woe, and without which "it is impossible to please God. "Knowing the nature of the enemies he had to contend with, poor Mr. JacobPrying was silent on the subject of his religious doubts till the adventof Paul to the farm. Like the ancient noble Roman, who, under the garbof folly, concealed his profound heroic wisdom, uncle Jacob was contentto be called an infidel and unbeliever, so that he might preserve hisheart undefiled, and ready for that precious pearl "of great price"which his heart sighed for, and which he was about now to receive;becoming, in his latter days, a further illustration of the Divinenarrative that "God adds daily to the Church those who are to be saved. "

CHAPTER XV. 

THE CONVERSION. 

"The Lord be praised; I am glad to hear it, " said Paul, one day, as hesat by the bedside of uncle Jacob, who was now in the last stage of hisdisease. "Paul, " said the dying man, "while I was robust, andindependent in means, I relied too much on these gifts of God, and toolittle on the Giver of them. But now, when this frail wall, that shutsthe soul in from her world of kindred spirits, is nearly worn down, andthe glorious light of eternity shines through the chinks of this earthenrampart, in all directions I see the necessity of having the soulprepared, thoroughly washed, before she goes into a world of such purityand justice; and you have convinced me, or, rather, God has taught me, that it is only in that religion of which God alone is the Author thatthe means of purification can be found. So, Paul, in God's name, take ateam, and go for the priest of God immediately; there is no time to belost. 'Tis consoling to reflect that there is a priest of God now to behad on earth, as well as in the days of the ancient patriarchs. Howmerciful God was, " said he, soliloquizing, "in leaving us on earth apriest, a representative of his divine Son, to prepare the soul for theterrible voyage of eternity! All eternity is not too long to thank himfor this blessing. "

Paul communicated the wishes of his dying brother to Mr. Ephraim Prying, who answered, "Certainly, Paul; why not? Go for the priest; take thebest team--that black mare, there, is the fastest traveller. O my poorbrother, why will you leave us?" said he, as he rushed up to hisbrother's bed room. 

It soon went abroad that uncle Jacob was at the point of death; and allthe friends and many neighbors were assembled around the bed, and amongothers Mr. Barker, the Methodist preacher, who thought, as thePresbyterian dominie's nostrums were rejected by Jacob, his own, asbeing more novel, might have the desired effect. And though theseseveral ministers were jealous each of the influence of his neighbor, yet any thing with them was preferable to the priest. Let uncle Jacobturn Turk, Jew, or Heathen, any thing but a Papist, and the sixsectarian teachers of the village of S---- were content. 

"Now, brother Jacob, " said his roaring reverence, after a long-windedprayer, in which he professed to command great influence with the powersabove, "how do you feel? Tell us your experience, and what you see. "

"I am afraid, if I tell ye what I think and feel, " said the feebleinvalid, "ye may not like to hear it, and I do not wish to give offence. I have something else now to occupy my time besides talking for yourentertainment. "

"O, by all means, brother, " said the reverend roarer, "tell what youexperience; we will not be displeased, but I hope edified. I haveprayed earnestly to the Lord Jesus for thee, and he has answered me--Ihave been heard. "

"Well, my experience and conviction are, that there is no real religion, but superstition or infidelity, in all the sects that I ever yet knewaround here. My experience is, that I led a very worthless and carelesslife, for which I expect God's pardon; but I fear ye parsons will have ahard account to settle for the contradiction and confusion ye haveintroduced into the Christian religion. Ye first attempted to make aninfidel of me, by your glaring contradictions and hypocriticalpretensions; and now, on the very brink of eternity, ye would deceive mysoul into the delusion that I am fit for glory direct, in the blossom ofmy sins, 'unhouselled, unanointed, and unannealed. ' Retire from mypresence, ye deceivers, and make way for the minister of God's church, who can absolve me from my sins in the person of Christ, give me histrue body to repair the ruins in my own body and soul, and strengthenme, by the oil of faith, against the terrible struggle that I mustencounter, and the awful journey over which I must pass. O Lord, " hecried, "forgive these persecutors of my soul; and, O virgin mother ofJesus, obtain for me to confess my sins and repent ere I die. "

All were astonished at the foregoing impassioned speech of uncle Jacob. The parson retired like an evil spirit exorcised by the powerful wordsof holy writ. The room was empty, and the priest was soon after at thedying man's bedside. After a full, sincere, and humble confession, conditional baptism was administered; and, confirmed by all the rites ofthe church, purified by penance, strengthened by the holy eucharist, andhealed by the holy unction of heaven, that pure soul passed away to Godin two days after, having become speechless in about an hour after theadministration of the sacrament. 

"Now, " said the priest, addressing Paul, "did I not tell you God hadsome mysterious design in view by the succession of trials which heenabled you to pass through? But for you, probably, this good soul wouldnot have heard of the Catholic church; but for your mother's death youcould not be out here, where the malice of those who wanted to rob youof your faith sent you. It is owing to the robbery of the money youpossessed that your mother died; and, finally, but for the cruelty ofthe landlord and his injustice, you might be now at home in Ireland, andprobably studying in Maynooth College. See how God brings good fromevil. See how, as he made the hardness of Pharaoh's heart contribute tothe glory and miraculous power of Moses and Aaron, he continually makesuse of the tyranny of the landlords of Ireland--not inferior to thecruelty of Pharaoh or Herod--to contribute to the spread of the faith, without which there is no salvation, among the generous and naturallygood people of this vast country. "

"I understand it all now, " said Paul, "and thank God for all that hashappened to us. "

"That's right, my boy; you will be yet a priest, perhaps, yourself. Imust now prepare to return. "

As Father Ugo passed down stairs, he was met by Mrs. And Mr. Prying, who invited him to the parlor, and by a good deal of persuasionprevailed on him to remain there over night, rather than go to the hotelsix miles off. Even the bigoted Amanda was very anxious to have anargument with a real priest--that mysterious sort of being whom shenever saw, but heard so much about. 

Father Ugo was a robust, brave-looking man, of unaffected manners, bordering on plainness, though highly educated, and accustomed inEurope, where he was chaplain to Lord C----d, to the most aristocraticsociety. Perhaps it was owing to his knowledge of the vanity ofaristocratic airs that he affected such a plainness of manners, beingthoroughly tired of the odd, unmeaning ceremonials of fashion. It mustbe confessed, at any rate, that he entertained no small contempt for themushroom aristocratic imitations that he witnessed in America; and thismade him a little sarcastic, and therefore rather rude, in hisassociation with what he called "the monkey aristocracy" of the newworld. 

Such being the sentiments of Father Ugo, the reader ought not to besurprised that his reluctance to enter into a theological discussionwith Amanda was great, and his answers to that indefatigable _she bore_rather curt and ironical. After a good deal of conversation about theweather, crops, the telegraph, railroads, thunder storms, electricity, and such other subjects as were suggested by the climate and state ofthe weather, Mr. Prying left the room, wondering where this priest gothis knowledge, and how could he be one of that low, canting, Scripture-phrase class to which all ministers he ever knew belonged, andin which he thought the priest must have exceeded the ministers indegree as much as the Green Mountain exceeded the little knoll in frontof his house. 

"That's a well-read, intelligent fellow, " said he to his wife. 

"We allers heard they knowed nothing but ignorance and idolatry, " shecarelessly remarked. 

"I guess those who represented the Catholic priests as such are the mostignorant, " was the remark of Ephraim. 

"Well, sir, " said Amanda, who was now alone with the priest in theparlor, "there are many admirable things in your religion; there areindeed. "

"I am glad you think so; but are not all its institutions admirable andperfect?" said the priest. 

"I can't concede that, by any means, " she replied, with a consciousnessof her logical powers. "For instance, there's celibacy; why don't youpriests get married? I think this very wrong; the Bible calls it the'doctrine of devils' to encourage that institution. "

"I am astonished, if you think so, miss, " said the priest, "you have notgot married yourself before this, for you appear to be of age. "

"O, that, perhaps, is my own choice, " she said, coughing withembarrassment. 

"Well, it is my fixed and determined choice, " rejoined Father Ugo, "tolead a single, unmarried life, free from care and anxiety. "

"I think you are mistaken, sir, " she said; "the single life is one ofmuch more care and anxiety than the married. Witness pa and ma; howhappy _they_ have lived for thirty-five years in this our homestead. "

"Although such may have been _your_ experience, miss, " said Dr. Ugo, "Imust beg leave to decline accepting it as an authority, particularlywhen I have my own experience, though not so venerable as yours, tobalance it. Besides, does not the inspired St. Paul tell us that thosewho are married are divided, and have heavier cares; while those wholead a single, chaste life, as he did, would be better able to serve Godfree from anxiety?"

"O, Paul, " she replied, "was very poor authority on the subject, being abachelor when he wrote that passage. Probably in after life his opinionsunderwent a change on the subject. I am aware of his oddity in thatway. "

"Do you joke, miss?" said the priest, solemnly. "If you do not joke, Ihave no hesitation in saying you blaspheme, in thus trifling with thewords of the Holy Ghost. "

"I am serious, sir, " she said; "it is your church that is guilty ofmisinterpretation of God's word, and, in addition, denies its 'free use'to the people. "

"I hope my church, miss, will never allow her children to trifle withGod's holy word as you have now been guilty of, " said the priest. 

"What's this? At theology again, Amanda? I think you have met your matchat last, daughter, " said Mr. Prying. "This young lady has taken to thestudy of Scripture and theology, " continued he; "she and the severalministers who visit here are ever at controversy, and she seldom comesoff second best, I tell you. "

"Don't you speak so, father, " she said; "no, I don't, neither. I havebeen arguing with this gentleman about celibacy, and we can't agreeabout the interpretation of a text; that's all. But this is thebirthright of every American citizen, the right to differ; the right toread the word of God, and to interpret it each for himself, without letor hinderance. "

"I have no great desire, nor does it at all accord with my notions ofpropriety, I assure you, " said the priest, "to enter into controversialdisputations around the fireside, in a family whose hospitality I amenjoying, and especially when a lady is my antagonist. "

"O you need not be particular, " said this female bore; "we are used tosuch discussions. I had a few questions to put to you as a Catholicpriest, of which I had taken notes, and my object is information onthose points, as much as the refutation of your church doctrines. "

"Any information you require I am ready to afford, if in my power; but Ihave a horror--I suppose from the invariable habit of my past life--ofintroducing either political or religious discussions into the firesidefamily circle. "

"We are always disputing here, " she said. "I am a Presbyterian, Cassiusa Universalist, Wesley a Methodist, and Cyrus has taken to the spiritualrapping, and is a 'medium. ' So you see controversy is no novelty here. "

"In Europe, miss, " said the priest, "we never introduce----"

"In Europe, " she said, interrupting Father Ugo, "there is nothing buttyranny, despotism, poverty, and superstition. We despise the customs ofEurope, sir. I am told, " she added, after a glance at her notes, "thatpriests in general, and you in particular, forbid Catholics to attendthe meetings, or join in the prayers or worship, of other denominations. Is this true, or how can you reconcile it with liberty or religion?"

"Certainly, " said the priest, "it is our duty to guard the Catholicsfrom such immoral customs. We do not believe any of the sectariandenominations, into which I regret to learn your family is divided, derive their existence or institutions from God, or contain the_ordinary means_ of salvation. And while under this belief, in which weare joined by millions upon millions of Christians, living and dead, howcan we join your prayer or worship, when we know it to be spurious andillegitimate?"

"I shall, before I am done with you, sir, " she replied, "prove yourchurch idolatrous, and all Papists idolaters; and this is one of theproofs, this horrid opinion of yours, sir. "

"It is not my _opinion_ at all, miss, " said he, coolly; "it is my_faith_, and that of God's church in all ages. Now, on the very pleathat we all are idolaters, as you call us, for this very reason youshould except your hired help from joining in your 'long prayers. ' Forif you have any faith in God, or believe you address him in prayer, whyshould you insult and mock him by taking an unenlightened, Papisticalidolater to join your petitions? If you were to go to ask a favor of aking, or of the president, would you deem it prudent to take one toaccompany you who was guilty of high treason? Would not this lead toyour certain rejection from the presence of majesty or excellency withdisgrace and punishment? Now, Catholics, if they be idolaters, areguilty of treason against Heaven. Do not, then, insult heaven and itsdivine Majesty, by asking them to join in your 'holy prayers. '"

This "nonplussed" the self-confident and vain Amanda; all she couldanswer was, that "that was fine Jesuitism. "

"Meditate well on it, " said the priest, "and repent, if you have beenguilty of violating the laws of God, the laws of your country, and thedictates of reason, by compelling Catholics to join in your, to them, repulsive and unlawful worship. Forgive me, miss; I must be off. Goodby. God bless you, " said he, departing. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE ENLIGHTENED CITIZENS. 

"Any news this morning, squire?" said Mr. Wakely, the tavern keeper, tohis _honor_ Squire Wilson, as he entered the bar room with a cigar inhis mouth. 

"Wal, nothin' except this report of the turning of old uncle JacobPrying, if we can give credit to such a rumor. "

"I seed the priest riding past here two days since, " said the tavernman, "and his team half dead from driving. There can be little doubt ofJac's conversion to the Romish faith. I asked that young lad Paul, whoused to stop at Prying's, and he said it was true. "

"'Tis really astonishing, " said Benjamin Lifford, the Quaker. "I'd havelet him die without a minister, if he did not content himself with theinflooence of the speerit. These is how I would sarve thee, Jacob. "

"I consider Mr. Prying rather simple to allow such a man as the priestto come into his house at all, " said his _honor_ Squire Wilson, theUniversalist. 

"Had it been my brother, " said old Elder Fussel, "I would pay noattention to the dying request of old uncle Jacob. That would be the wayto bring him to. "

"That would be cruel, " said High Sheriff Walter, "seeing that Jacobleft him all his property, real and personal. Besides, this is a freecountry, and I say a man ought to be allowed to embrace any religion hehas a mind to. That's my creed, at all events. "

"Yes, " said Mr. Ebenezer White, the Methodist class leader, "_pervided_the creed he wanted to jine was the religion of the Bible; otherwisenot. "

"Do not the Roman Catholics ground their doctrines on the Bible?" saidthe sheriff. "That they do, and their Bible contains many books thatyours does not contain. "

"Nonsense, sheriff!" said his enlightened _honor_. "The Papists neverread the Bible. I have a boy, Thomas Noonan, --you know him, --and heneither will read it himself, nor listen to it read. The priest won'tallow him. No Catholic is allowed to have or read a Bible. "

"You state what is not true, " said a loud, emphatic voice from behindthe stove. It was the voice of Murty O'Dwyer. 

"I guess, squire, you are in error there, " said the sheriff. "My boy, you know, Patrick, a very strict Catholic, every month at confessionwith the priest, has a Bible with him in my house, which Bible thepriest gave him. I have read the book time and again. Nay, I heard thepriest preach out of our Bible last summer. "

"Is it not astonishing, " began Murty again, "that, though ye all differin opinion, ye agree in hating and maligning the church of Christ?Though ye can't 'join in love, ' ye know well how to 'join in hate. ' Hereare unbaptized Quakers, groaning Methodists, blaspheming Presbyterians, faithless Universalists and Unitarians, and humbug spiritual rappers;and yet ye not only coincide in hating the pope, but ye are allintolerant and cruel save this gentleman here, " said he, pointing to Mr. Walter. "Now, will any body tell me whence is this hatred?" said theIrishman, pausing. "Is it grounded on knowledge or well-formed opinion?No; for ye are all grossly ignorant of the principles and facts ofCatholicity, as ye have shown by your statements about the Bible. Intruth, it is impossible to evade the conclusion that ye hate the churchfor the same cause that the devil envied and hated our first parents;namely, because he saw them the heirs of that bliss which he and hisrebellious crew had lost. "

"Take care what you say, my man; the law does not suffer any person todisparage the Bible so, " said the squire, threateningly. 

"I am not afraid, sir, to speak my mind, whatever you, as therepresentative of the law, may threaten. 'Tis really amazing that yeshould be so busy and troubled about Catholics, take such pains inkidnapping Catholic children, and forcing Catholic servants to go tolisten to your disgusting prayers and bellowing preachers, when your ownchildren are beyond your control; go to bed like cattle, without everbending a knee in prayer; and if they go to 'meeting, ' as it is properlycalled, it is only to mock the 'old fool' who holds forth to them. "

"There is some truth in what he says, " added the sheriff, looking at thesquire. 

"Agree among yourselves first, " said the Irish peasant, "before youcommence to convert Catholics. Convert the rowdies that crowd yourvillage and city tavern bar rooms before you extend your zeal to thosewho are in no need of it, or on whom it will be all spent in vain. Agreeabout the meaning of one single text in your Bible before you hand it tous for our study. "

"We all agree it's the word of God. "

"Well, the word of God cannot contradict itself, and yet the religioussystem of each of you contradicts that of his neighbor. One man saysChrist is God; another denies this; and both quote Scripture in proof. This man says bishops are necessary and divinely appointed; the next mandenies this totally. The Quaker denies what the disciple of Calvin orKnox believes, while the Universalist ignores what the latter professes;and now the Mormons, spiritual rappers, and Transcendentalists explodethe Bible altogether. The Catholic church, with those countless millionsof her children that constitute her body, has been reading the Bible andstudying it these nineteen hundred years, and never yet, with all herlearning, could find two opposite meanings to one single text; neveronce contradicted herself. "

"You don't say the Catholics are allowed the use of the Bible, do you?or that there was any Bible in the world but the one Luther found in themonastery hid, in the year 1517?" said the elder, who did not well hear, as he was somewhat deaf. 

"Do you seriously believe that we Catholics have not leave to use theBible? I tell you we have, and always had, the unquestioned right to itsproper use. Even before the art of printing was discovered by aCatholic, and when books were scarce, a Bible, in large, plain writing, was chained to a stand or desk in each parish church in most countries, so that all who wished could read. I saw one of these stands, whichturned on a pivot, in an old Catholic church in Yorkshire, England, where it remains to this day. And as regards the absurdity that Lutherfound the only copy of the Bible extant in a monastery or university, that story is refuted by the fact that there were millions of Bibles, and countless editions of it, printed before Luther was born. Indeed, Ihave just read in this Protestant paper, here, that there is a Bible inCincinnati, printed in 1470; that is, nearly fifty years before Lutherbegan to revolt. "

"Why, Betsey Darcy, that jined our kirk at the late revivals, told us, public, in the meeting house, that the priests in Ireland would notallow any Catholic to read the Bible; and she said that was the firstone she ever saw which I handed to her, " said the pious elder. 

"Don't you believe her, elder, " said Murty, "for I saw that same girlhandle a true Protestant Bible in Ireland, when she attempted to fatherher illegitimate child on an honest man, but when she was, instead, convicted of perjury the most gross. She has had two other fatherlesschildren since she came to 'free America;' and now, after having beenrejected from the humblest society of Catholics on account of herimmoralities, she, of course, takes refuge among the impeccable saintsof Presbyterianism, where she ranks high in the scale of sanctity. "

"Sartin, " said the sheriff; "she is a hard one, I do believe. I saw herdrunk at the donation visit of dominie Grinoble, last winter. "

"Yes, " said Murty, "when you get such a convert as this unfortunatereprobate, you boast and write tracts to herald the conquest; but suchconversions as those of Spencer, Brownson, Wilberforce, Newman, LordsCamden, or Freeling, are as nothing in your eyes. You stuff your earswhen you hear of them, cautiously keep them out of hearing of your sonsand daughters, and these glorious conversions never appear in yourshabby, lying newspapers. I do really pity the blindness ofProtestants, " said he, rising and walking out of doors. 

Next day after these events, the funeral of uncle Jacob took place, andthese ministers, whom, while he lived, he could not endure, and whoheartily hated him, came, when he was dead, to offer their services overhis remains. If any thing was required to show the meanness andinconsistency of Protestantism and its teachers in this country, it isthe readiness with which they will officiate over the body of a mandead, over whose soul, while living, they could exert not the smallestinfluence. We have known several instances where Methodist andPresbyterian hirelings, in consideration of the fee of three or fivedollars paid them, preached long sermons, and opened the gates of _theirElysium_ to the souls of men who became converted from the sects towhich these hireling parsons belonged. Nay, in cases where the deceasedcommitted suicide by hanging or poisoning, we heard parsons officiate, and promise the friends, for certain, that the soul of the suicide wasin glory, because sometime ago he happened to get religion, or join theSons of Temperance, or conform to some other requirement of fanaticism. Thus, in the present case of uncle Jacob, Mr. Barker, the Methodist, andParson Grinoble, the Presbyterian, and Mr. Gulmore, another style ofPresbyterianism, all three vied to see who would _be hired_ to do thelast service to him whom, while alive, they all despised. Mr. Gulmore, however, had the best luck, and accordingly mounted the pulpit to passsentence on the departed soul of uncle Jacob. He descanted for aconsiderable time on the virtues of the deceased while young, told allhe knew of his religious experience, not forgetting the virtues of theentire family, and what they had done for religion by circulation oftracts, by subscription to Bible societies, by adopting and raising ofdestitute orphans, and other good deeds, all tending to the honor ofCalvinism. "The only instance of any thing like want of belief thathappened for a hundred years in the family, " said he, "was the seductionof our brother to the ranks of Popery. His faith was weak, my friends, "he continued; "but if he did not believe strongly, _we believed_, andour faith saved him. His soul is in glory, I have no doubt. The faith ofhis family and all our faith saved him. Glory be to the Lord. Amen. "

The conclusion of this discourse was applied to the warning of thefaithful against the influence of the Papists; the necessity andobligation incumbent on all to compel their Catholic servants to jointheir prayer and other meetings; and, above all, to take care that allPopish books and publications, should be excluded from their houses. "Weare fallen on dangerous times, my friends, " he said; "and if the friendsof the Bible and free religion do not combine their efforts against thecommon enemy, our institutions are doomed, and the glory of our countryis extinguished forever. "

The reader is not to imagine that Mr. Gulmore and men of his class areso brutally ignorant as some would imagine. When, therefore, we hearthem speak of our _institutions_ being in danger, they mean the_institutions_ of heresy and sectarianism; namely, parsons, and theirwives and children, and countless sects and contradictions increed--institutions that, sure enough, are in imminent danger, anddoomed to fall before the irresistible and unerring progress ofCatholicity. But will this divinely decreed result be injurious to theprogress or prosperity of the republic? On the contrary, there can neverbe a real union among the States till the minds of the people, north andsouth, are united in faith and sentiment. And by the annihilation ofsectarianism and its castes, the people will be freed from a veryburdensome tax now going to the support of a large and lazy body of men, women, and children, whose only object in existence seems to be to eatand consume, and who, besides, by their idleness and habits, keep up asystem of detraction, jealousy, and discord among otherwisewell-disposed citizens, that, like so many cancers, are eating into thevery vitals of the public morals. Let not the American citizen, therefore, bewail the certain decline and rapid decay of the_institutions_ of sectarianism, but rather pray for the dawn of thatglorious approaching day when, as we are but a one people and a unitednation, we may have but one religion, and a country that will know nosectional divisions. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

"HE AND HIS WHOLE HOUSE BELIEVED. "

Paul, now, though full of anxiety and care on account of his youngcharge, was comparatively well off. His good fortune removed him fromthe neighborhood of all that was low, fanatical, and cruel in New York, to the capital of Vermont. And he felt the change for the better, sensibly, in quitting the birthplace of "Millerism, " and going into acomparatively enlightened region. He thought there were, as he said, some gentlemen and ladies here in Vermont; but he could never see one ofeither species, properly so called, where he lately lived. The truthwas, Mr. Clarke, his present employer, was a well-bred, full-bloodedYankee; and though his notions of Catholicity were such as he gleanedfrom the rabid discourses of half-educated preachers, and a fewanti-Popery tracts which he read, his gentle and noble mind could notsanction for an instant any thing like persecution on account ofreligion. Hence, besides the favorable impression which the talents ofPaul made on him, he considered it time to show him some kindness, tocompensate for the ill treatment he underwent under the machinations ofParson Gulmore and Amanda Prying, and their clerical associates. 

"Paul, " said Mr. Clarke, on Saturday night, at supper, "I am glad youare beginning to like this part of the country. I will endeavor toconvince you that all America is not like your late home in York: allparsons are not like Mr. Gulmore, whose conduct in regard to yourletters I cannot sufficiently condemn; nor are all young ladies of thesame temper as Miss Amanda Prying. "

"I do not blame Amanda much, sir, " said the youth, fearing that he mightbe led to any thing bordering on detraction; "she was very kind to me inall things, except that she wanted to keep me from mass, and tried toforce my sister and myself to attend Mr. Gulmore's church. "

"That was very wrong of her, Paul. I do not think Miss Martha, here, will be so cruel as to require you to do any thing against your will;nor would she interfere with your letters to your friends, as I have nodoubt Amanda has interfered. Well, Martha, " said the good-naturedfather, looking with pride towards his eldest daughter, a bright girl ofsixteen, "are you going to force Paul with you to church; to compel him, whether he likes it or not, to eat flesh meat on days forbidden by hischurch? And will you forbid him to write to his uncle, who, I doubt not, is a very respectable gentleman in Ireland?"

"God forbid, father, that I should be guilty of half that. However, weshall be very glad if Paul comes to our meeting house, seeing we oftengo to hear the priest, Father O'C----, of the Catholic church. "

"I should be very sorry to disoblige any body, but especially one soamiable as yourself, miss, " said Paul; "but I do not think I canconscientiously go to any church except the Catholic church. "

Mr. And Mrs. Clarke smiled, and a significant glance passed between themat the gallantry of this speech. 

"Why, Paul, " said he, "I think you are a leetle too particular. It woulddo you no harm to hear our preacher, Mr. Holdforth; I do not see whatcan be wrong in it, no more than our going to hear the priest. "

"The only difference is, " said Paul, quickly, "that our religion andservice being right, and yours being wrong, you can attend our servicewithout scruple, but I could not attend yours without sin. It would be aloss of time, a bad way to spend the Sabbath, or Sunday; the sin ofcuriosity, or the danger of being an encourager of, or countenancing, afalse worship, unauthorized by God or his church. "

"Ah, Paul, " said the editor, "this is taking a high ground, and rather anew one to me; and besides, this is not very logical, for this is whatwe want to see. This is just the question in dispute between the RomanCatholic church and the Protestant; viz. , to which of the two belongstrue and lawful worship. "

"You are a lawyer, sir, " said Paul, "and you must know well the evidenceis all in favor of the Catholic church--being that founded by Christ, and ruled and guided by the apostles. For, go back to the very apostolicages, and you will find the rites and the ceremonies of the church, recorded in the writings of the ancient fathers, --as, for instance, inthe works of Tertullian, Ireneus, Ignatius, --to be the very same asthose now practised in the Catholic church in this country and all overthe world. "

"I confess, Paul, " said he, "that the external evidences are ratherfavorable to Catholicity; but we principally depend on internalevidence, or the feelings of our minds. "

"That, " said Paul, "is no evidence at all; for you have to do withexternal facts. Institutions, history, monuments, testimony of men, customs, and habits, are the only evidence you can bring to bear on thiscontroversy. How would you like to try a criminal by internalevidence--to tell a jury that you had 'internal evidence' of theinnocence or guilt of the man accused? How could you discover whether ornot Cæsar lived by the light of internal evidence? Is it by internalevidence you learn that such cities as Rome, Paris, or Constantinopleexist? No, sir; it is by _external_ evidence, which is altogether infavor of our church; and this is more valuable than all the internalevidence that ever existed in the minds of fanatics, from Simon Magus toJohn Wesley, or from the Gnostics to the spiritual rappers. "

"Husband, " said Mrs. Clarke, "I am afraid of your reputation in thisargument about religion. "

"Madam, it is not _reputation_ I seek, but truth; and if I can find itin the Catholic church, I shall embrace it myself, and all my family. "

"You may bid adieu to most of your subscribers, then, after you become aRoman Catholic, " said madam. 

"My dear wife, " said he, impressively, "you ought to know mesufficiently well to be convinced that not only the success of myjournal, but even the entire of my means, with my personal feelings, would be willingly sacrificed by me, in order to secure for myself, andfor you all, what is infinitely beyond all earthly or temporalconsiderations; namely, the salvation of our immortal souls. "

"I did not want to insinuate, my dear, for a moment, that you could beinfluenced by such a consideration as the success of your journal in amatter of such everlasting importance. I only dropped the remarkcasually and without reflection, " said madam. 

In order to explain more fully the seriousness of Mr. Clarke's desire tolearn more and more regarding the Catholic church, and to account forhis rather too easy concession to the arguments of Paul, we think itright to state that he had lately become a member of a literary andreligious society established in his native city, under thepresidentship of a minister of an Episcopal church. The object of thissociety, partly religious and partly literary, was to infuse a newspirit into the thinning ranks of Episcopalianism, by searching for, andbringing to light, in the popular form of lectures and dissertations, the evidences in favor of Protestantism, which, they supposed, were tobe found in the writings of the primitive or ante-Nicene sages of thechurch. We do not think it would be appropriate to class this societyunder the appellative "Puseyite, " for they had no direct connection orcommunication with that now rather celebrated school of schismatics, but undoubtedly the objects of both were analogous. Mr. Clarke'soccupation was so much confined to the business of his lawyer's office, and his time so much engrossed by the attention required of him as aneditor, that he had very little leisure to attend the regular meetingsof the society, of which he was elected an honorary member; and hence, while he was at home and at the table, the whole discourse was onreligion; for these were his only leisure hours. Paul he found not onlywell instructed in his religion, but capable of explaining verysatisfactorily to him various points connected with such an importantmatter as that on which his mind of late turned its attention, and onwhich he desired the fullest information. 

Great was the joy and consolation of Paul, after the dialogue givenabove; and long and fervent were his thanksgivings to God, for choosinghim so far to be the instrument in bringing his employer to theresolution of _examining_ Catholic doctrines. For who ever seriouslyexamined and did not find the truth? "No, " said Paul to himself, "neverdid any body examine into or compare the relative claims of the Catholicchurch and her countless opponents to be considered divine, that did notdecide in favor of the former. " And well knowing that Mr. Clarke was aman not to be turned aside from his resolution by any human motives orselfish considerations, Paul wisely concluded that "he and his wholehouse" would become reconciled to the church. And so they were. Mr. Clarke was the first member of the "Literary and Religious Society ofVermont" who became a convert. The next was the reverend president ofthe society; afterward one and another, till the entire society, consisting of some fifty members, submitted themselves to the sweet yokeof faith; and now there is a church, a resident priest, in that verylocality, and using the very meeting house where the ex-Episcopalianminister preached. Under God, all these conversions were owing to thetact, prudence, and other admirable virtues, as well as the thoroughCatholic education, of Paul. To this very day, Mr. Clarke, the Rev. Mr. Strongly, and many other members of the society acknowledge that it isto the circumstance of Paul's living in Mr. Clarke's family that he owedhis conversion, and that the secession of Mr. Clarke from their rankswas what principally hastened the conversion of the whole society. ThusGod frequently makes use of what appears to us very inadequate means tothe most glorious results. Thus are the weak and humble of his churchmade use of, like David, to subdue her enemies, and bring them under thesalutary sway of her dominion. And while this servant boy and that hiredgirl are acting the hypocrite in attending this master's meeting, orjoining his long prayers, or eating meat on Friday, in violation of theprecepts of the church, they are becoming stumbling blocks on his way tosalvation--resisting the design of God, who wishes all men to be saved, as well as ruining their own souls. "He that despiseth small thingsshall fall by little and little. "

While these events were the order of the day in Vermont, theproselytizers in York were not idle. Amanda now, since Paul had not onlyleft the house, but even went away from the neighborhood, thought she, and her coadjutors the parsons, would have little difficulty inconverting Bridget. But the latter now, besides having once a month anopportunity of hearing mass, --the new priest, Father Ugo, having made ita rule to visit the railroad laborers as often as he could, and beingpretty well grounded in the catechism, --in addition to these veryimportant aids to combat temptation, Bridget had also Murty O'Dwyer, whowas hired in the house, to take up the cudgels for her against Amandaand Parson Gulmore. 

"Prepare, Bridget, to come with me this evening to Sabbath school, " saidthe persevering Amanda. "I want to show them how well you can read, andalso I want them to admire these nice flowers of your hat, and yourpretty new dress, to see how smart you look. "

"Why, miss, if that be all you want, I can't go, for that would be asin. Vanity, you know, " said the little roguish girl, lookingsarcastically at Amanda. 

"I am the best judge of that, missy, " said the old maid. "Go on andprepare: you must come. You are getting very ugly since you got thehabit of seeing that old priest of late. "

"I beg your pardon, miss. It is not for the priest's advice I refusejoining your worship, but because God forbids it and the church. Beforethe priest ever came here, I refused, during more than two years, to goto Protestant meetings or Sunday schools, which cost me many a tear anda scolding; and the priest's advice has not made me more determined thanI was before never to put my foot inside your ugly meeting house orSunday schools. "

"If I asked you to go to the priest to pay him a quarter to pardon yoursins, you naughty Irish girl, you, " said Amanda, in a passion, "howreadily you would obey me, you naughty thing, you!"

"You're welcome to your joke, miss, " answered Bridget; "but if you arein earnest, I must say that it is not true that Father Ugo, or any otherpriest that ever lived, charged any money for hearing confession. Confession was ordained by Christ, our Lord; and those who do not go toconfession cannot lead a pure life of virtue, nor preserve the love ofGod in their souls. "

"Indeed, miss!" said Amanda, with a sneer. "I see the priest has beengiving you a lesson. As if none but Papists knew what purity or virtuewas--the low set of Irish that they are!"

"Our books of devotion say as much, " said Bridget; "and it stands toreason, for if Catholics who frequent confession have enough to do tokeep themselves undefiled, how much more difficult is it for those whodo not confess at all? Besides, by confession restitution is enforced, and whatever your neighbor loses by fraud is restored. "

"Is it not strange, then, that the Irish Papist who robbed your motherof the money does not think of restoring it? And you say he had thepriest's certificate of confession in his pocket?"

"That is not the fault of confession, miss. May be he would makerestitution yet, if God give him grace. "

"I have been listening to you, miss, this half hour, " interposed Murty, who now entered from the back kitchen where he was smoking, "and I amreally shocked to find you tamper so with the virtue of this innocentgirl. You first attempt to reach her pure soul through her vanity, bypraising her dress and accomplishments; and she nobly rejects thetemptation. Next you attempt to conquer her fortitude, by maligning andridiculing the most sacred institutions of her holy religion; and hereagain you fail. It is the strangest thing in the world, in my mind, thatyou should continually annoy that poor orphan, and stranger again, thather noble fortitude, her piety, her faith, fidelity, and other heroicvirtues have not converted you, and those who have been for yearswitness of them, to something like admiration of them. "

"But she is so obstinate, Murt, " said the old maid. 

"Yes, " said he, "and in that she is right. Yourself had an opportunityof information on all these subjects, and, I understand, discussed themat length with the priest in person. You ought to know better, then, than to repeat to this child a pure fable, that you dare not hint in thepresence of the priest; namely, that he levies a tax of two shillings orhalf a dollar on every penitent whose confession he hears. "

"That is generally believed, " said she, ashamed that her violent attackon Bridget had been overheard by one whose good opinion, of late, shewas rather anxious to secure, for a delicate reason that shan't bementioned here. 

"It is generally _talked_, but not _believed_, dear miss, unless by theidiots and children into whose minds it is continually dinned bymalicious persons, who know that their occupation would be gone if thetruth were known, and who struggle to shut out the light and knowledgeof Catholicity from the souls of their wretched hearers with the samecruelty that the tyrant shuts out the light of heaven from the dungeonof his captive. I thought this was a free country, " he continued; "but Ifind the most odious of tyrannies, domestic tyranny, and the tyranny ofopinion, established here. I, myself, have been its victim in no lessthan six instances. Yes, miss, I was turned out of employment, andcheated out of my wages, as I would not say my prayers with, or squaremy creed in accordance with, the notions of my eccentric and fanaticalemployers. "

"That was too bad, Murt, " said she, laughing. "Ha, ha, ha!"

"It was almost as bad as your own attempt to rob these orphan childrenof the faith of their fathers. For they were young, innocent, andhelpless; but for me, I am able to work, and can defy any tyrant yourcountry affords, " said he, in a passion. "There is not, I believe, " headded, "on earth, a more odious tyranny, except the landlord tyranny inIreland, than that of your sectarian Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Nothingarian tyranny in America. "

"You Irish should learn to correspond with the institutions of thecountry, and should not attempt to introduce Popery into this Protestantland. "

"Protestant land!" said Murty. "We never dream of this being aProtestant land when we land on its shores. We look on it as the land ofliberty, where no form of religion is dominant, and where all areequally protected. Protestant land! Why, this sounds odd in a worldfirst discovered and trod on by Catholics. This sounds bad in a republicestablished by the aid of Catholic arms, blood, and treasure, despite ofthe tyranny of Protestant England. This slang of Protestant land isintolerable in a people against whose liberties no Catholic sword wasever unsheathed, though the founder of the sect of which your friend Mr. Barker is preacher, John Wesley, offered George III. The services of hisforty thousand Methodists to put down the American rebellion. WhatAmerican, what republican, then, of spirit or intelligence, can for anhour profess himself a follower in religion of such a fanatic as Wesley, with this well-known fact staring him in the face? How noble the conductof Catholic France, or Catholic Ireland, when compared with ProtestantEngland or Protestant Germany, at the time of the revolution! The twoformer Catholic nations sent their men, ships, money, clothing, andprovisions, to aid your insurgent ancestors; Germany and England senttheir armed vessels, their cannon, and their hireling soldiery, to burnthe homesteads, desolate the fields, and murder the wives and childrenof your forefathers. "

"I am afraid, Murt, " she said, "you will convert me to your notions. "This was said with a tenderness that could not be mistaken. 

"I fear not, miss; you are too old for that, " said he, meaningly. 

"I am not so very old as you suppose. I am not so old as uncle Jacob, yet, " she said, perceiving that her meaning was understood by Murty;"and he became a Papist before he died. "

"God gave him the grace, and I pray that you may receive a like grace;but I suppose you allude to a different sort of conversion?" said he. 

The truth was, Amanda, having failed to secure the permanent regard ofany of her numerous admirers, was foolish enough, as most old maids are, to suppose that some green, young, inexperienced lover would be mostlikely to be caught in her net. Hence she had her mind fixed on Murty, whom she regarded, as he really was, a young man of talent, and whosedependent and menial condition she considered as calculated to balancethe disparity in their age, and as likely to insure her success. Thiswas why she felt so mortified at being detected by him in her lateattempt on the faith and resolution of Bridget, having, since herdesigns on Murty, promised to let the orphans have their own way, afterhaving attempted to convince him that she was quite indifferent on thesubject of religion, and "that she would be very glad to know more fromhim about the Catholic church. "

The detection of her insincerity in this instance, and of the falsityof her professions, put an end to all her further hopes regarding thegallant young Irishman, who could not tolerate a falsehood in any body, but especially in a lady, and who ever after avoided her society as muchas possible. His presence, however, in the house was a sure guaranty toBridget of full religious toleration, Amanda's fiery zeal for religionbeing succeeded by a flame of a somewhat different nature. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

"TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION. "

We devote this chapter of our narrative to the record of a very strangesuccession of circumstances, no less so, however, than true. They mayserve as an illustration of the wonderful and mysterious workings ofReligion on the soul, and, at the same time, afford an instance of theabsolute insufficiency of speculative belief or theoretic religion, without the every-day practice of her sublime and simple lessons. 

One morning, in the town of Sheffield, England, one John Cunningham, after confession and communion, called on the Catholic pastor of thattown, for the purpose of procuring a line of commendation, ortestimonial of character, that might be of use to him, as he thought, toget him employment in some part of the new world, to which he waspreparing to emigrate. The poor fellow then little dreamed that apriest's recommendatory paper, instead of a dollar bill, was the worstpossible substitute in certain parts of America; and, if of anyconceivable effect, was likely to prove an occasion to him of suchannoyances, on account of his faith, as we have described in thesepages. "The character, " however, he succeeded in procuring, and writtenin no niggard terms. If it offended in any thing, it was in being toofavorable to the bearer. It was by means of this paper, with therespectable name of Rev. Dr. H---- at its foot, that Cunninghamsucceeded in ingratiating himself into the confidence and favor of theO'Clerys during the voyage, as well as by his attention to Mr. ArthurO'Clery during his fatal sickness. The reverend gentleman whosesignature stood at the foot of the "character" was well known to theO'Clery family; and hence, undoubtedly, originated the intimacy, strengthened by his asserting falsely that he was a relative of thepriest, which subsequently enabled him to rob the poor widow and herorphans of their entire means. Accomplished villain as he was, Religionhad not yet lost her whole sway over his soul, and by way of punishinghimself, but in reality, making bad worse, the second day after hisliberation from arrest consequent on the theft, he listed in the UnitedStates army, and was hurried off forthwith to the field of battle, inFlorida. The gnawing worm of remorse still followed him on board ofship, and in barrack, and on the scorching plains of the south. He hadless dread of the sabre, or grape, or rifle of the enemy, than of thethought that he had robbed the poor widow, and availed himself of theconfidence of confession to elicit from his too confiding director thepaper that principally enabled him to do so. He had plundered an honestfamily of their all, and it was of no use to him. The injury done wasseverely felt by not only one, but several. The pleasure, comfort, orhappiness to him was nothing at all. Unhappy man, what was he to do? Hecould not help it now; the enemy was before him, and he could not turnhis back, and the money was lost forever. He feared death would deprivehim of the means of making restitution, for he had a presentiment hewould fall on this very day. First, that sin he committed in Liverpool, when, in an evil hour, yielding to the advice and example of wickedcompanions, he took to drink in order to smother the thought of it; anddrink caused him to rob the widow, and to shun further the thought ofthese crimes he enlisted in the army; but yet, here, in the very ranks, with drums beating, and music playing, amid the shouts of Indians anddin of battle, the sins were uppermost still in his mind. How horridmust be the feelings of poor Cunningham, with death staring him in theface, and yet he expected nothing but judgment after death! In vain didhe look around for the tall and venerable form of Father McEl----, tocast himself at his knees, and ask for advice, blessing, andforgiveness. He was nowhere now to be found. O misery unspeakable! Andbut yesterday, but this very morning, four hours ago, that father wentthrough the ranks, encouraging the men, and exciting them to contrition. Ah, yes! But yesterday Cunningham had got some drink, and, notperceiving the danger, refused to confess. But now, if he could see thepriest! "O God!" said he, "where is the priest?" Some of his comrades, who heard this exclamation expressed aloud, laughed; others taunted himon his evil conscience. However, down on his knees he fell, as ifunconscious of the presence of his comrades, and promised, if God sparedhim, on the first opportunity, that he would not only restore thestolen treasure, but, if necessary, travel the whole Union in search ofthose whom he robbed; and ask their forgiveness for the injury donethem. He had scarcely risen into the ranks of his comrades when thehostile fire opened on the plains of Tampa, and a bullet from the rifleof the enemy shattered his arm to pieces. A few hours decided thatwell-known victory of the Americans, and Cunningham had not long toremain on the field, exposed to the scorching sun, when he was conveyedto the hospital. Though the pain he felt in his arm was great, thatwhich rankled in his bosom was greater; and on his reaching thehospital, he called out for Father McEl----, before he would allow thesurgeon to inspect his arm. 

After the amputation of the limb he recovered, got his discharge, cameback to New York, and, in company with a respectable Catholic citizen, went out about seven miles east of Brooklyn, and there, at the foot of amaple tree, they dug out of the ground, three feet deep, the bag sureenough, containing every sovereign and note of the money stolen from thewidow O'Clery. They went with it right straight to the priest of St. Peter's Church, who, upon hearing the recital of the now penitent thief, promised that he should suffer no legal consequences, and insertedadvertisements in the papers to find out where the O'Clerys might be. 

This information was communicated to Paul by Mr. Clarke, and to Bridgetby Father Ugo, on the same day. 

This news, when made known, created the most intense excitement. Amandawas now very polite to Bridget, whom she marked out in her own mind as asuitable wife for her eldest brother Calvin. Paul was declared to be ayoung "likely gentleman, " of real genius. The two younger brothers, Patrick and Eugene, were lauded, flattered, and admired. In fine, thesudden change which took place in the relation in which they stood inthe house of bondage was such as to cause Murty to remark to Paul, --wholost no time in coming to pay for his brothers' and sister's board, although the term of servitude of Bridget was now almostexpired, --"Paul, I see that it is not our faith that is so much hated bythese goodly Christians as our poverty. "

"There may be some truth in that, " replied Paul. 

"Ever, " continued Murty, "since it appeared in our papers here that youhad your thousand pounds restored to you, all mouths are full of yourpraise. You were uncommon children, and it was cruel of the ministerGulmore to conspire against you. It was infamous in him, they now say, to have your letters 'burked' in the post office, as it appears fromAmanda, who has turned informer on the parson, because he did not marryher after his first wife's death. Before this ye were paupers, Irish, and Papists; now, you and your sister and brothers are noble and likelyyoung people. "

"O Murty, " said Paul, "I can see the hand of God in all this. Where Ihave lived for the last three years, several families, together with myfriend and former employer, Mr. Clarke, have been converted. The veryminister, Mr. Strongly, has embraced the true faith; and another parson, Rev. Mr. H----, I am sure, only waits instruction to enter the gate oflife within the true church. "

"Thank God!" said Murty O'Dwyer. "I thought these Yankees never could begood Catholics, they are so fond of money, trading, cheating, and legalswindling, such as assigning, and mortgaging, and the like. "

"O, bless you, Murty, all Yankees are not alike. There are no betterCatholics on earth than Americans, when they once get the faith. Mr. Clarke, and my friends in Vermont, who consider me as instrumental inbringing them to the true faith, have paid for my education in thecollege of G----, after they found that I was resolved to embrace theclerical state. "

"That was very generous of them, indeed, sir, " said Murty, assuming alittle less familiarity; "those here, in this neighborhood, cannot bemuch blamed for their bigotry; they know no better, imposed on for agesby such fellows as Miller, Scullion, Barker, Gulmore, Grinoble, Scaly, and the like. "

"But it is not so in the cities, Murty, " continued Paul; "and it willnot be so here long; for now railroads are building, light, andliberality, and, I trust, charity, are extending their influence. Wemust do our part, by being good, and virtuous, and prudent; try to gainthem by our good example, rather than by argumentative or angrydiscussion. 'They know not what they do' when they contemn, or attemptto stop the progress of, our faith. They are a naturally good andkind-hearted people; as witness how they assist the sick and givehospitality. Such virtues must ultimately gain for them the grace ofconversion. The greatest obstacle in their way is the low cunning of theunprincipled parsons, who, from being peddlers, and poor, shiftlessmechanics, without any proper discipline or preparation, take to theless laborious trade of preaching. Pray for them, Murty--pray for them. "

"I have a far stronger inclination to curse them, " said Murty. 

"Fie, fie, Murty; that is not Christian. "

"That I know, " said Murty; "but have you heard that I have been cheatedout of near two hundred dollars by my employer, and all through theinfluence of a villanous parson who got divorced from his wife, onaccount of a short answer I made him?"

"What was the answer, Murty? I suppose it must be droll. "

"One day, " said Murty, "this Parson Boorman dined where I worked for twoyears, and, to convert me from the error of my ways for observingabstinence on Friday, commenced saying, 'Don't you see, Murty, howfoolish and unreasonable you act? You eat butter and use milk that comefrom the cow, and you refuse to eat her flesh. It's all the same, myIrish friend, ' continued the dominie, pitying my ignorance. 'I have nogreat desire, Mr. Dominie, ' said I, 'now, for controversy, beingfatigued after my hard day's work; though it takes but little learningto refute your profound logic. If there is no difference betweendrinking milk and eating flesh, then you may as well eat your mother'sflesh, parson, as suck her breast; and as you, I expect, have done thelatter, therefore, dominie, you must be a cannibal. How do you likethis?' said I. 

"'O, ' said the dominie, 'the butter, you know, that comes from the cow, what do you say to that?' 'I say, parson, that there is anothersubstance besides butter that comes from the cow, and you would not liketo dine on it. ' At this the whole company laughed outright in his face, and from that time to this the dominie never ceased to persecute me. "

"That was a very queer way you took to silence the dominie, " said Paul;"but I presume, after that ludicrous answer, you met with very littlereligious controversy afterwards. "

"That's true, " said Murty; "but I have suffered the loss of my wagesthrough the unrelenting malice of the Presbyterian dominie. "

"Never mind, Murty; do good to those who hate you, bless those who curseyou, pray for those who persecute and calumniate you. For your kindnessto Bridget while I was away, I feel bound to give you some remuneration. Have courage, have courage, and think better of the Yankees. The moreyou know of them, the better you will like them. They have theirfaults, --as what nation has not?--but they have their virtues also. "

This conversation took place between Paul and Murty in the farm house ofMr. Clarke, where he had just arrived, as well to spend the vacation asto make arrangements regarding the future of his brothers and sister. Murty, upon hearing of his arrival, lost not a moment's time in goingacross lots from the Pryings' farm to that of Mr. Clarke, thinking hemight be the first to communicate to Paul the joyous intelligenceregarding the recovery of the lost money, and the pleasing change in theopinion of all regarding him and his brethren. 

Paul could not but feel grateful for the kindness of his friend Murty;but he was too well practised in Christian perfection to indulge in anything like excessive joy, and too well accustomed to refer every thingto God to claim any merit, or take any pleasure, in the flatteringeulogies of all his acquaintances, as repeated by Murty. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

WHAT HAPPENED TO LITTLE EUGENE O'CLERY. 

Fortune now began to smile on Paul O'Clery, and to make amends for thelong course of ill usage to which she had subjected himself and hiskindred. He had not only enjoyed the sympathy of friends, and histalents had not only gained him the good will and respect of hissuperiors and classfellows, but he now unexpectedly found himself inpossession of a handsome sum of money, the fruit of the honest industryof his parents. The true Catholic training which Paul received from hisvery infancy taught him the impropriety of immoderate joy or gladness, and the severe trials of the last few years had chastened his naturallyhilarious and pleasant mind to a temper of habitual calm and reservebordering on melancholy. It must be confessed, in this instance, however, that his spirit felt unusually buoyant and glad, as hereturned, under present circumstances, to the scene of his late trialsand humiliation. 

There are few persons born, however propitious the position of theirhoroscope, who have not, some time or other, to experience the feelingattendant on a transition from an inferior condition to one of morerespect and honor. It will not, therefore, be difficult to imagine whatwere the sentiments of our young hero on his return from the south, onthis occasion. He was a slave; he is now a freeman. He was a menial; heis now a gentleman. He was the subject on which the hypocrite and theimpostor sought to try the success of their well-taught deceptions; now, his virtues, his manners, and his success are in the mouths of all men;and those who plotted against his soul are ready to do homage to hisaccomplishments. When St. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, returned tothe house of his former master, who held him in slavery, --the gloriousprelate and saint to the hut of the slave, --what must have been thefeelings of his exalted and inspired soul? Not those of hatred, vanity, or earthly exultation, but those of charity, thanksgiving, and apostoliczeal, if not those of gratitude, to his pagan master. Kindred to thesewas the mental exultation of Paul O'Clery, on approaching the valley ofR---- Creek, the scene of the most meritorious part of his life, andstill the novitiate of those who were the most dear to him on earth. 

He determined not only to redeem his sister and brothers, by paying thecustomary sum for whatever clothing and board they had received, butresolved, as soon as possible, to have them placed in a suitableeducational establishment. Bridget was already free, and by rightentitled to something handsome in remuneration of the services she hadrendered in the family in which she was so long a menial; but Paul wasdetermined that she should not only refuse accepting what was to fall toher share, and what in justice she could claim, but said every thingshould be paid for--board, lodging, and even her "_common-school_"education. "This last item, " he said, "was not of the most choicedescription, --that is, the 'common-school' learning, --but such as it isI am unwilling to accept it gratuitously. " He had come to the sameconclusion regarding Patrick and Eugene. O, it was on account of theselatter children, principally, that Paul rejoiced and thanked God thatrestitution had been made of the stolen money; for he had a burden ofcare and anxiety on his mind on account of these two children. It was sodifficult a work, especially as himself could not be with them, to saveyoung boys like them from the contagious vice so prevalent in thiscountry; and, above all, so hard to preserve young boys in theatmosphere of your "common schools. " Bridget might be said to be safe, for she could remove to a better and more Christian neighborhood, orreturn to her friends in the old country; but Patrick, and, above all, Eugene, who were in the hands of utter strangers, how were they to besaved from the universal corruption, when deprived of the continualguardianship of their faithful brother? These were the considerations, and not the sole recovery of the money restored to him, that contributedto the increase of the joy, and gratitude, and thanksgiving in the heartof Paul that now pervaded it. Alas! that this joy and these pleasantanticipations of future prospects were of such short duration!

In order to understand the following statement of facts in relation tothe fate of poor Eugene O'Clery, it is necessary here to observe that, just after Paul had, by means of the support received from his convertfriends in Vermont, been enabled to enter college, a gentleman, whostated that he took a great interest in Paul, from what he learned fromthe Rev. Mr. Strongly about him, wrote him a long letter. 

The burden of the epistle was, that the writer was a minister, withviews not far removed from those of the Rev. Mr. Strongly, the convertto the Catholic church; that he had heard a good deal about Paul and histrials and success; that he lately visited at Mr. Reuben Prying's, wherehis two little brothers now remained; that he pitied them, butespecially the younger, for that they lacked the opportunity of a betterand more _Catholic_ education; that, in fine, he, Dr. Dilman, if Paulconsented, would take the younger, Eugene, with him into the city, wherehis education could be attended to, and where he, at least, might besaved from the influence of the barbarous mannerism and irreligioustaint of these country "common schools. " His reverence the doctorfurthermore added, that Mr. Prying had no objection to the arrangementhe proposed, and that he had conquered the repugnance that Mrs. Pryinghad to the separation of the brothers by the very flattering terms onwhich he offered _to do_ for the child. 

In a postscript of this letter, it was stated by this veracious_Christian minister_, as he signed himself, that he would send Paulquarterly or monthly bulletins of Eugene's progress in science andvirtue, and, above all, that his faith should not be tampered with inthe slightest. 

The effect of such an artful piece of diplomacy may be easilyconceived. The bait of the parson took, and Paul was for onceoverreached. The unsuspecting youth took this gentleman to be aclergyman of the same stamp with his friends Rev. Messrs. Strongly andH----. And the fact that Parson Dilman was acquainted with the formerhonorable men, was enough to throw Paul off his guard. The parson'stalk, too, about "_Catholic education_, " and the "barbarous" commonschools, served still to deceive, not only Paul, but even the professorsof the college to whom the epistle of Parson Dilman was submitted foradvice and direction. 

Paul was enthusiastic in the praise of his two reverend convert friendsin Vermont, (who were the only two Protestant parsons he intimately knewbefore or after conversion, ) and hence, when questioned by theprofessors about what he might know of his correspondent, he answeredthat he knew nothing; but the fact of his intimacy and acquaintance withthe ex-parsons Strongly and H----, his friends and patrons, was "a goodsign of his honesty and honor. " The shrewd Jesuit professors smiling atthe poor child's credulous and confiding disposition, told him that, ashe had such an opinion of the worth and honor of the fraternity ofdominies, he might commit his brother to the charge of one, andespecially as he stood in very great danger to his faith and moralswhere he was at present. His situation might be ameliorated, but couldnot be much worse; but the good fathers declined taking theresponsibility of giving a decision on the subject. 

"The letter promised what was fair and honorable, but there might bedeception, " said they. 

"Deception, reverend fathers!" said Paul. "I can't suspect any suchthing in one so intimate with my dearest and best friends, the convertedclergymen in Vermont. "

"Well, " said the sons of Ignatius, whose wise experience had taught themto have little faith in heretical parsons, "you can use your owndiscretion, my child. "

Paul, acting on the impulse of his own feelings, thinking it would be arash judgment in him to suspect evil design in one who professed himselffavorable to Catholicity, and, besides, was of the same sentiments inreligion, or nearly the same, with his convert friends in Vermont, immediately wrote in answer to Dr. Dilman, consenting to have Eugene gowith him. But there was to be no legal binding in the matter, and honorwas to be the only bond under which his younger brother was to be heldbound. 

The day now arrived for Eugene to part--alas! that it should beforever--from the society of his brother and sister. At first, someopposition was made by Patrick and Bridget; but when shown the letter oftheir brother Paul, they were reconciled to what they thought thetemporary separation. Eugene himself was calmed, and his sorrow turnedinto joy, by being told that he was going towards where Paul was, andthat, like enough, he would meet him on his way. 

"Can I see Paul there?" said he, drying the tears that stood in hiseyes. 

"Sartain you can. Don't you like that, Bob?" said Reuben, who was inthe plot with Dilman. 

"Well, I'll go, then, " said the child. "Good by, Bid; good by, Pat. Youstay there till Paul and I come to see ye. "

All the household of Reuben embraced Eugene, and made him some littlepresent, before he set out. An abundance of tears were shed by young andold, as the melancholy and thoughtful face of Eugene was seen by themfor the last time. 

Truth compels us to say a word or two in reference to the antecedents ofthis reverend doctor of Presbyterianism into whose _protection_ thisinnocent lamb was taken. Dr. Dilman was about sixty years old at thistime; and after having lived in some manner with his first wife for nearthirty years, had lately taken out a bill of divorce by law against the"old woman, " to make room for a young _religious lady_ in his reverendbed. During his long life, he had changed his creed no less than ninetimes. He was first an Episcopalian; but having been refused ordinationin that sect, on account of some peccadilloes of his youth, he joinedthe Methodists, from whom he received conversion and a call. Being a manof undoubted talent, and thinking the Methodists were too slow inpromoting him, he became a Baptist. His next hop was to theUniversalists, whom, because he found too penurious, he deserted for theCongregationalists, from whom he got a call to a southern pro-slaverychurch, where, after amassing considerable wealth in cash and "humanchattels, " he resigned his charge, came to the north again to recruithis sinking constitution, and, after trying two or three other minorsects, he settled down an old-school anti-slavery Presbyterian. Poorman! his star has gone down now, and his memory will soon be forgotten;but the anecdotes and tales that his extraordinary life illustrated willnot be forgotten for generations to come. The passage in his study, through which he used to admit his "Cressida" from a secret doorcommunicating with his "basement church, " is now shown as a specimen ofhis skill. The transformations and metamorphoses he used to undergo, like Jupiter of old, in order to pass unobserved to the retreats of his"Europas, " on the sides and on the summits of the classically-soundinghills of the city of his ministry, --all these things, and more, areknown to the poorest retailers of interesting stories and anecdotes. Ina word, he was as impure as Caligula, as cruel as Nero or Calvinhimself, and as violent as Luther or John Knox. 

Yet it is a melancholy fact in connection with, and illustrative of, thespirit of the Protestantisms of the United States, that for twenty yearsand more, with all this guilt, with all the crimes in the calendar onhis head, with the full knowledge of all his sins of impurity, hypocrisy, intolerance, and cruelty to his wife, this _reverendgentleman_ was the most popular, well-supported, and _respected_minister in the whole state in which he resided. He was a good preacher, an eloquent expounder of the word, a smart man; that was enough. Protestantism could not afford to lose him now, when she was so spare ofthe giants to which she owes her existence. 

This was the Rev. Dr. Dilman who took Eugene under his care about whomReuben Prying remarked, after he had left the house, that the doctor wasa "real smart man. " "Your church, Murty, " said he, "can't scare up sucha grand preacher as that. Did you hear that lecture he delivered lastwinter against Popery? He is an honor to our church, I can tell you. "

"Why so?" said Murty; "what has he done that you esteem him so high?"

"Nothin', but bein' so eloquent and talented, and able to address such afeeling prayer _to his hearers_. "

"Bless you, I know one much more talented than ever he will be, " saidMurty. 

"I guess not, Murty, " said he, shaking his head; "who is it?"

"Why, the devil, " said Murty, "beats him all to pieces. Your parson onlyopposes the pope, you say; whereas the devil opposes both the pope andthe Almighty. What is any of your ministers to great 'Ould Harry'? I betyou are beat now. Ha! ha! ha!" said the Irishman, laughing. 

"You are a curious feller, Murty, " said Mr. Prying. 

"Am I not right?" said Murty. "You praise your minister, _not_ becausehe is good, charitable, humane, chaste, or pious, (all which he possiblymay be, ) but solely because he is talented or endowed with genius. Well, then, I tell you this gains him no merit, for he received this gift fromGod. He may abuse it; and, at any rate, the devil, the very enemy ofGod, is endowed with more genius than he and all the Protestant parsonsliving put together. I think this is fair _arguing_, Mr. Prying, don'tyou?"

"Let's drop it, Murty, " said Mr. Prying, not liking to hear any more ofsuch "arguing, " particularly as the children were present, and seemedmuch to enjoy the home-spun comparison between the Dominie Dilman and"Old Harry. " This was the first time they were observed to laugh sincethe departure of poor Eugene. 

Meanwhile, poor Eugene arrived in the city of the parsonage of hisreverend protector, where he was received with apparent affection bythat gentleman's wife. During the first three days after his arrival, several of the "saints, " male and female, of the doctor's church, cameto see the new acquisition, as well as to congratulate the parson on thesuccess of his plan. The little orphan was flattered, caressed, andencouraged by the promise of nice clothes and other presents. And itwould be unnatural to expect that the innocent heart of a child of hisage, now between eight and nine years, could remain insensible to thecaresses and favors bestowed. The little lad felt quite content; nay, agradual sunshine began to spread over the calm melancholy of his angelicface. 

They first imposed on the child by telling him that his reverendprotector was the priest. He believed it for some time; but when, aftertwo weeks were elapsed, he was permitted to go to church, he wasperfectly surprised at "the quare way the priest said mass. " He saw nocandles lighted on the altar. He heard no little bell rung at variousparts of the service. He saw no persons "bless themselves" there, either. "I suppose, " said he to himself, "they would not tell a lie; butthat was a very strange mass I was at to-day. "

Friday came round soon after, and then little Eugene learned where hestood. Then he saw what hypocrites the self-styled priest, his wife, andall in his house were. He had perceived his reverence help himselfplentifully to fat meat; and Eugene was invited to eat it himself, butdeclined, saying, "I would be a Protestant if I eat meat on Friday; andI fear ye are all here Protestants. " A suppressed laugh was all that hisremark could elicit from these worthies whose gluttony gave him suchscandal. 

Eugene's eyes were further opened by some boys at school, who laughedheartily at his expense when he asked about the "strange mass" that hehad heard on Sunday. 

"What mass?" said they; "sure it is only the Popish priests that offermass, and it is a wicked thing to go to mass. "

The poor child, on seeing the snare laid for him, burst into tears andwept aloud, calling for his brother Paul by name, and crying, "O woe!woe! woe!"

The school madam was attracted by the lamentable cries of the lad, and, learning the cause of them, reprimanded the impudent boys, and tried toconsole him. Her attempts were, however, in vain. The child seeinghimself sold and betrayed, his candid soul fell back to its formermelancholy, and he drooped under the weight of the injustice of which hewas the victim. 

From that day forward he refused to attend either the night prayers ofthe "false priest, " or to go to any of his meetings, and to the hour ofhis death this resolution could never be shaken by all the wiles of hispersecutors. Several new arts and schemes were tried to vanquish hisresolution, but all to no purpose. He was alternately coaxed andthreatened, but all attempts either to flatter or force him provedineffectual. He was several times locked up in a dark room, which wasthe terror of a young nephew of the parson, who was in the house, butwhich had far less terror for this young confessor than the smiles ofhis false friends. He was heard by young Sam, who often went to the doorof the dread prison, chanting his favorite hymn, thus:--

 "Ave Maria! hear the prayer Of thy poor, helpless child; Beneath thy sweet, maternal care, Preserve me undefiled. "

And when spoken to through the keyhole, he answered that he was not abit afraid of "Spookes, " and that there was plenty of light for him tosay his prayers. Even the parson himself, in company with his wife, wentto listen at the door of where their prisoner was confined, and for amoment their hard hearts even were softened by the sweet, plaintivechant of the "Ave Maria. "

"Are you sorry for your disobedience, now, Eugene?" said the parson;"and will you attend prayers and meeting when you are told?"

"I can't promise to do what would displease God, and what my brotherPaul and the priest told me not to do, sir, " said the child. 

"Don't you know, Eugene, the priest is a wicked man, and the Lord willpunish you in a dark dungeon, darker than that room you are in, if youdo not do what I tell you?" added the persecuting parson. 

All this talk was lost on poor Eugene, who continued chanting his littlehymn, or repeating the "Hail Mary" and "Holy Mary, " for his father andmother's souls. In a word, after a series of whippings, confinements, and scoldings, after compelling him either to eat flesh on Friday, orfast all day without any other food, Parson Dilman, out of sheer shame, gave him up, and confessed himself vanquished by the Catholic child. Hedid not give him up for good, however, but, by way of making more sureof his victim, he sent him out into the country, to undergo thetreatment of a more zealous and perfect disciplinarian than himself. This pious Christian was no other than Shaw Gulvert, who was known to bea prodigy of sanctity, and had a world of zeal in reconciling obstinateheretics, or pagans, (as he called all but his own sect, ) to the truestandard of old Presbyterianism. He could boast of having most of theOld Testament by heart, making a prayer or "asking a blessing" of onehour's duration in the delivery; and by these virtues, and others heknew how to practise, every person who lived in his house, or camewithin the influence of his zeal, was sure "to get religion in no time. "'Tis true, he met some unlucky converts, and one or two very obstinatePapists whom he did not convert at all; but he soon despatched anddischarged these latter. And he was especially mortified at the conductof one Tipperary man, named Burk, who had the audacity to bring thepriest to say mass in a house which the latter rented from him. Thehouse has ever since been locked up, the pious Christian, Mr. ShawGulvert, preferring to let it rot and totter in ruin, rather than runthe risk of having a Catholic tenant, who, like Burk, would be wickedenough to allow the priest inside the threshold. 

This is the gentleman who is intrusted with the conversion of poorEugene O'Clery, the Irish emigrant orphan; and he set about the work inright earnest fashion. 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE SAME, CONTINUED. 

During the first two months, Eugene had comparatively but little to fearfrom the bigotry of his protector at Greenditch; but he was not indebtedfor this limited peace to the generosity of Mr. Shaw Gulvert. Indeed, that ignorant and cruel man dared not to execute his designs regardingthe little confessor of the cross, while his two hired men, namedDevlin, were in his house to enlighten his ignorance and reprimand hisaudacity. These two young men, brothers, were hired for a year byGulvert, under the impression that they were native born; but after thecontract between them was signed, and especially when Friday came on, Mr. Gulvert found he was _gulled_, and ran off to the parson, oneWaistcoat, to see what was to be done. The young men told him not to bealarmed if he thought their presence would endanger his peace of mind, or that any dangerous consequences were to be apprehended from two suchformidable soldiers of the Pope as they were; that he could easily getrid of them by paying them their year's wages, and they would goelsewhere to work; but that, while in his house, they insisted onperfect religious and mental independence. "And in future, " said they, "we expect to see cooked and on the table, on Fridays and fast days, such food as we can partake of without scruple of conscience, orviolating the rules of the Catholic religion, of which we are unworthymembers. "

"This is strange, " said Gulvert; "why did you not tell me ye belonged toRome, and were Irish?"

"Why did we not tell you? Because you did not ask us. And besides, boss, you hired us to work, and not to worship or believe according to yournotion. "

"I have never before kept a Papist to work for me, " said he, drawing aheavy sigh. 

"Well, boss, you can't know much about them, then. Perhaps you will beagreeably disappointed, and find that, if we do not join your very longprayers, we will _work_ as well as the most red-hot Presbyterian. "

"I am much in doubt about that, " said the boss. 

"Why so, boss? Can we not handle the plough, use the scythe, or thecradle as well as if we were of your school of heresy?"

"I allow; but the good book says that 'men don't gather grapes ofthorns, or figs of thistles;' so I am afraid my crops would not prosper, if religious men were not employed in my fields. "

"O, you need not be alarmed, boss. God makes his sun to shine on thegood and the bad; and though we Papists appear very wicked in your piousPresbyterian eyes, or in those of your amiable Methodist lady here, wewill guaranty your crops will be as good as those of your neighbors, otherwise we will ask no pay. Ain't this fair?"

"Yes; but the good book, you know. The Bible says so plainly, " answeredthe wife, "that men gather not grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. "

"Bless you, madam, " said the elder Devlin, "you are mistaken in themeaning of that text, which has a figurative sense, and has no referenceto corn, pumpkins, rye, or any other crop that your farm produces. "

She shook her head in dissent to this speech, and in a most sanctifiedtone said, "Our minister, Dr. Waistcoat, always applied that text to thePapists when advising us against employing Romanist hired help. "

"That only proved him a booby, madam, " said Devlin. "That text partlyalludes to the Presbyterian sect, and partly to the Methodist, to whichyou belong. "

"I would like to see how you can show that, " said she, affecting greatlearning in such interpretations. 

"As clear as mud, madam, " resumed Devlin. "The Presbyterian religion isthe 'thorn' tree on which no 'grapes' grow; for that sect reject theHoly Eucharist, containing the blood of Christ, of which the grape is afigure. It is full of thorns, for it persecutes and stings the head ofthe Savior in his representative the pope; and it produces no 'grape, 'no sacrament, no good works, no refreshing food or drink. Again: the'thistle, ' that produces no figs, is the Methodist religion; because, though it has plenty of stings and prickles to wound the hand thattouches it, the very ass that goes the road can bite off its head. Or, in other words, though ye Methodists are malicious enough, all yourmalice is harmless to the church, and a very fool can refute or cropthe most formidable of your arguments. "

This queer _private interpretation_ disconcerted the _learned_ boss andhis better half, and during the remainder of the service of the Devlinsthey did not hear much more about the religious interpretations of theseprofessors of two contradictory sectarian creeds. The Devlins showed, not only to the boss and his wife, that they knew more about the Biblethan themselves, but the minister, Mr. Waistcoat, was soon convinced, byconversation with them, that they were not to be duped. The consequencewas, that the persecution to which Eugene was subjected was arrested fora time; and it was not till after the Devlins were paid off that thisinnocent child was again subjected to a series of punishments and brutaltreatment without parallel in the records of modern persecution. 

Every Friday that the young confessor refused, after the example of holyEleazer, "to eat flesh, or go over to the life of the heathens, " (2 Mac. Vi. 24. ) he was compelled to go without food till the Sunday following. He was flogged with a "black snake, " till the blood flowed in rills, every time he refused going to meeting. He was compelled to stand outunder rain and storm, scorching sun and chilling frost, during the timethe family spent in prayer. Yes, tied with a thong to the pump by hislittle soft, white hands, the juvenile martyr had to bear the mercilessviolence of the elements, or consent to share in the blasphemous prayersof his persecutors! And, O God! worse than all, they robbed him of hisrosary, and of the little bunch of shamrocks which were the only legacyof his dying mother to him, and which his sister Bridget and he took somuch pains to keep alive in a small glass vase brought from Ireland. The"_Agnus Dei_" and "_Gospel_" which it is usual with Irish Catholicchildren to wear around the neck, were also forcibly stripped off hisperson and put into the stove. 

All his much-prized memorials were now gone--his beads, or rosary, withthe crucifix attached, to remind him of his Redeemer; his little vase ofshamrocks, to remind him of Ireland and St. Patrick; and his "Gospel ofSt. John, " and "Agnus Dei, " to recall to his mind his dignity andobligations as a believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and hisconfidence in the Lamb of God who took away his sins. These constitutedall the riches and treasure of Eugene, and of these he was plundered andstripped ere he was confined in the old deserted house that stood a fewrods away from the dwelling house, and where soon all the persecutionshe suffered were terminated. 

One evening in October, the team of Mr. Gulvert broke loose from thepost to which they were tied while he was at meeting, and, takingfright, rushed along at full speed on a narrow by-road by the river thatran through the village, till, coming in contact with the root of a treethat protruded from the road, the horses and wagon were precipitatedover a fall of some twenty feet into the channel of the river beneath. As the night was dark, and the road the animals took in their furiouscourse was not known, it was not till next morning that the fate of theteam was discovered, though not only Gulvert himself, but his hiredhelp, including his servant girl and wife even, were out all night onthe search for them. 

If the most unexpected calamity had visited these _enlightened_Christians--if two of their children, instead of two of their horses, had met with a sudden death, --their grief could not be more heartrendingor despairing than on this occasion. The whole family was in an uproar. There were wringing of hands, lamentable cries, and bewailings the mostbitter, of the death of the best team in the town of Greenditch. Thevery children, down to the youngest of six years old, joined their tearsto those of their parents and the adult members of the family. Not awink was slept, not a morsel of victuals cooked, nor even a fire kindledin Mr. Culvert's house that night, and it was more than a week beforethe pious Mrs. Gulvert could be consoled or prevailed on to show herselfdown stairs. She was either really sick, or affected sickness, so thatit was doubted whether or not she could survive the loss of her "darlingteam. " O, what a loss was there! "The team would fetch two hundreddollars between two brothers, and it was only last month the new wagoncost seventy or eighty dollars; and all now gone. "

"What a misfortune that I went out to hear that preacher at all on theSabbath!" said Gulvert. "Had I remained at home, or walked down tomeeting, I would be three hundred dollars richer to-day than I am now. "

"Pa, where were the two Paddies, Pete and Bill, that they did not mindthe team while you were in meeting?" said young Harry. 

"Hang the cusses, Harry! They wanted to hear the preacher, too, "answered the father. 

"If I were you, pa, " said little Libby, "I would keep the price of thehosses out of Pete and Bill's wages, the ugly fellows, that did not mindand keep the team from running away. "

"That would be but sarving 'em right, Lib, " said her mother, heaving asigh. 

"Yes, wife, " said Gulvert, "that I would gladly do; but you know theyare in my debt. I will be glad enough if they wait to work out the moneythat I have advanced them. "

"You didn't _advance_ them money, did you, Gulvert?" said his wife. 

"Yes, I did that, " said he, "by the advice of that old fool ParsonWaistcoat, who expected, as he succeeded in converting Pete and BillKurney, that he would also convert the rest of their friends, if theywere out here from Popish Ireland. "

"O Gulvert, " said his better half, sobbing again anew, "you will killme! I cannot live with you, that is the amount of it! How dare you, sir, lend money, or dispose, of my means, without first having consulted me!I lay my death at your door!" she added, in a sharp, angry tone. 

"Dear wife, don't blame me----"

"Away, old man!" she interrupted, "away, and leave me here to despair! Ifear I will never again leave this bed; and if I find myself able, Ishall never after spend a day in your house, but go back to my nativestate, and take out a bill of divorce against a man who knows nothingbut to spend and squander the means of his family. "

"O ma, " said Libby, "do go away from father, the ugly fool, and I willgo with you, won't I?"

"He ain't nothing else, sis, " said she, "but a poor ugly fool, ashiftless, good-for-nothing old man. O, me! O, me! I could easily haveknown that this would be the case, from the dreams I had for twonights. "

"I had a dream too, ma, " said sis, who, though only going in her eighthyear, was perfectly well versed in all the arcana of the science ofinterpretation. "I dreamed I saw you crying, ma, " continued Lib, "andthat there was blood on the stairs, and all way up garret, and thatShaw, my father, had spilt the blood all round. "

"That's just it, sis, " said her mother; "the blood signifies the deathof our 'darling team;' my crying is on account of them; and Shaw, thefool, your father, was the cause of all this trouble, and that is why heappeared to you to spill the blood. My dream was not so clear as yours, but I could have guessed that something was going to be the matter. "

Poor Gulvert was in great pain, in consequence, among other things, ofthe oft-repeated threat of his wife to separate from him; and, to givevent to his sorrowful reflections, he went up garret as quietly as hecould, and folding himself up in several heavy "comforters, " or paddedquilts, he forgot his grief by falling into a sound sleep. Meantime Peteand Bill Kurney, the two Irish converts of Parson Waistcoat, seeingthings in confusion, thought that now was the time for them to freethemselves forever from the hypocrisy, as well as bad board, of Mr. Culvert; and, to add to the grief of Mrs. Gulvert, next morning theywere not to be had. These knowing fellows, hearing of Gulvert'scharacter, put themselves in his way, and being questioned as to thenature of their doctrines, and finding them suitable to his taste, hehired them, and brought them home to work on his farm. They not onlybecame "converts" during the first week in his house, but went tomeeting regularly, where they were complimented on their highmindednessand independence in shaking off Popery, and got frequent chances to telltheir experience. Besides their hypocrisy, these were thoroughscoundrels; for they not only robbed their employer of the two hundreddollars which he had advanced them to bring out their parents from theold country, but in addition to this, and to the severity of thepunishments which their apostasy occasioned Eugene, these consummatemiscreants seduced the two sisters of Mr. Gulvert, one of them an oldmaid, whom they imposed upon by their lying representations and profanediscourses. Here was a little more of the natural fruit of Mr. Gulvert'sgreat zeal for his sect. His two hired men were gone, without havingserved one eighth of the two years they had agreed to work for the moneyadvanced to them; both his sisters, _pious things_, yielding totemptation, were in a fair road to disgrace; and, to cap the climax ofthe unfortunate man's guilt and remorse, Eugene O'Clery, neglected inhis prison in the old house, on the morning of All Saints' day, first ofNovember, was found dead on its damp floor! Yes, this spotless, innocent, and almost infant but heroic confessor of Christ, after acourse of worse than pagan persecution continued for more than twoyears, in the midst of legions of blessed spirits passed out of thisworld, to add to the joy and glory of heaven by his heroic virtues. O yemock philanthropists, ye lovers, on the lip, of freedom of conscience, where was your voice, where your sympathy, where your indignation, whereyour meetings, speeches, and resolutions, when this Catholic child, thisdestitute orphan, this noble son of Catholic Ireland, this spotlessconfessor and glorious martyr of Christ, was being sacrificed, like hisdivine Master, to the demon of cruel sectarianism? O, the blood of thisinnocent Abel, of this infant martyr, shed by the cruel Herod ofPresbyterianism, will cry to Heaven for vengeance on your heads, andbring a curse on your hypocrisy and dissimulation. 

The news of Eugene's death, communicated by the servant maid, created asudden fear, but very little sympathy, in the brutal family of Mr. Gulvert. Overwhelmed by the loss of their "darling team, " and confoundedby the loss of the money which the mock converts succeeded in cheatingthem of, they had neither tears nor sympathy to spare for such a trifleas the death of a "little Papist child. "

The servant girl, however, who was a Scotch lassie, called Jane McHardy, cried bitterly over the death of the "poor orphan laddie, " and, incompany with two neighboring workmen, or cotters, who _passed_ forProtestant Irishmen, watched around the corpse all night, and on theday of its interment in the pagan cemetery, situated in a barren cornerof Gulvert's farm, they lingered for a considerable time around thespot, to the scandal of the religious people who assembled to take alook at the "face of the dead, " and who began to suspect that those twopretended Protestants were Catholics in disguise. Their suspicions werewell founded, as their subsequent conduct proved; for the two cotters, on the Sunday following Eugene's death, went to the meeting house forthe last time, where they, in giving their experience, boldly professedthemselves Catholics, asked pardon of the people for having deceived andimposed on the public, inveighing, at the same time, against the systemof persecution and underhand proselytism that prevailed, and whichproduced the death of Eugene O'Clery. 

"Your ministers think they have great merit, " said the Irish cotters, whose names were Lee and Twohy, "when they succeed in causing a laxCatholic to trample on every precept of his religion and to perjurehimself; but as God is just, and as those who counsel to evil partake ofits guilt, and will have to suffer its punishment, so will all the sinsthat your minister's cruel advice led us to commit be laid to his chargebefore the just tribunal of Christ. "

After this speech, the two Irish Catholic cotters retired from themeeting, and ever since these two men have proved, by their repentance, zeal, humility, and perseverance, that, though they fell from theexternal practice of their faith, they did so influenced by the eviladvice and misrepresentations of persons who took advantage of theirinexperience and poverty to lead them astray. They were gradually, however, becoming reconciled to the hard life of hypocrisy and sin whichthey were induced to enter on, and might have forever continued in thereprobate path on which, in an evil hour, they walked, had not the cruelmartyrdom of the holy orphan child aroused them from their slumbers. Thus, as of old, does the "blood of martyrs become the seed of newChristians;" and thus is Erin, even in America, still true to herHeaven-appointed destiny--which is, that of being a missionary and amartyr in the new world as well as in the old. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

 "Considerate, et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus. " "Attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow. "

 LAM. JER. 

There was a complete suspension of the ordinary occupations on the farmof Gulvert for near ten days, owing to the trials with which his familywas visited. The wife was still confined to her room, and continuallythreatening her husband with the divorce, who, on his part, had no heartto conduct the necessary work of his farm, he felt so dispirited at theloss of his team and of the money out of which "his converts" hadtricked him. Add to this that there were very ugly rumors going theround of the neighborhood in reference to the ill usage the little Irishorphan met with. While he was living and in suffering, there was nobodyto sympathize with him or to say a word in his favor; but now, when thatsympathy could do him no good, according to the custom of modernphilanthropy, there was an abundance on hand, and the conduct of ShawGulvert, as the agent of Parson Waistcoat, was censured by a thousandtongues. This is characteristic of Protestant charity: when one is dyingof hunger, or forced to beg a crum of bread, she shuts her ears, andpoints to the prison or poorhouse, as the only proper retreat forwhoever is compelled to commit the _sin_ of mendicity; but no soonerdoes the victim of her own neglect or misdirected benevolence die, nosooner is he out of the reach of all human relief, than the heralds ofProtestant charity gather round his tomb, to proffer their assistance, aid, and liberality--like the Jews building the tombs of the prophetsput to death by their own malice. 

This was the case in the instance here related. Some were for having thebody of the martyred Eugene exhumed, to see if there were any marks ofviolence visible. Some proposed to raise a collection to have a monumentraised on his grave, and all unanimously condemned Gulvert's cruelty tothe "dear little child. " What principally turned the current and forceof public opinion against Gulvert was, that he was impudent enough to goand demand restitution of Parson Waistcoat, of the money that, onaccount of his recommendation, he advanced to the runaway converts. Andthe parson, to be revenged on Gulvert, on next meeting day called on thecongregation for their prayers, to save said Gulvert from the relapsinggulf into which he had fallen. The parson, enraged at being heldaccountable for the money lost by Gulvert, through his own "want ofgodliness, " as he termed it, and incensed on account of Gulvert'sdeclaration of deserting his church, held him up continually as a straysheep, and already, if not lost, far advanced on the broad way toperdition. In the midst of this excitement, the progress of publicfeeling against Gulvert was suddenly checked by the followingafflicting and sudden accidents. 

The wife of Gulvert, being a Boston lady, of course was altogether infavor of the Sons of Temperance; but, by some means or other, shehappened always to keep a little in the house for medicinal purposes. Itwas well known, among the well informed, that this lady, having been"jilted, " or, in other words, deceived, by a merchant in her nativecity, who promised to marry her, was subject to frequent melancholyattacks, and on these occasions especially did she make use of"medicinal brandy. " She suffered from one of these periodical attacksnow, and, consequently, the medicinal glass was always within her reach. On the small stand by her bed stood two tumblers, one containing themedicinal "eau de vie, " and the other was half full of vinegar. 

She ordered Jane, on this fatal day, to pour a little laudanum into thattumbler that contained the vinegar, to see if, by applying it to hertemples, it would not allay the terrible headache which she said hadtormented her. Instead of pouring the poison into the vinegar glass, where would the Scotch Abigail empty the cruet but into the tumbler withthe brandy in it? Her mistress soon after quaffed off the liquor intowhich the poisonous drug had been poured, and in an hour after she was alifeless corpse. This was not all; for, on the day of the funeral, youngHarry, Mr. Gulvert's son and heir, in order to show his devotion to hisbeloved parent's remains, was all the morning busy in collecting flowerswith which to deck the room where she was laid in state, and, attempting to reach a flower that grew out of the side of a deep, deserted well, in the lower end of the garden, the little fellow fell inand was drowned. "When the feet of them who buried" Mrs. Gulvert "wereat the door, " they found out the corpse of Harry was at the bottom ofthe well. It was a long time before any body could be induced to go intothat well, as well because it was very deep as on account of theprevalent report in the neighborhood that Gulvert's father had killed anegro and cast him into the well, with heavy weights attached to him. After several unsuccessful attempts to raise the body, they at lengthsucceeded, by the aid and undaunted courage of a young man who was justafter riding up to the crowd, and who, on learning the cause of such agathering, generously volunteered to go into the well, notwithstandingthe hints he received from some of the bystanders that the "nigger" wasat the bottom. In a few minutes Paul O'Clery was at the bottom of the"enchanted well, " and, amid shouts of "Bravo!" and "Well done!" almostinstantly returned, with the lifeless body of little Harry in his arms. But what's this that he finds tangled in the drowned child's hands? Itis surely the beads of his beloved mother, which she bequeathed as herdying legacy to his youngest brother Eugene. How did it get into thewell? He trembled visibly as it struck his mind that possibly Eugenemight have fallen in too. 

"Are you sure there is nobody else in?" said he to the bystanders. 

"No, there ain't nobody else in, " said Gulvert; "all we have left, now, are around here. "

"And how came this relic to get into the well?" said Paul. "I think Isaw this before. "

"That? O, that's a toy that a young Papist orphan which we had used tosay his prayers on. "

"And where is that orphan now? O, tell me, where is he? For God's saketell me, where is my beloved brother?" exclaimed Paul. 

"He is dead. "

"O, don't mock me, but tell me the truth. I assure you I am a brother ofthe orphan child, Eugene O'Clery. What has become of him?"

"We do not joke, my young gentleman, " said an aged man in the crowd. "Your brother, the orphan you allude to, died suddenly on the night ofthe first of this month, and was interred in yon mound on the second ofthe month. "

"O Lord! O Lord! grant me patience. O my brother! O Eugene! O belovedchild of our hearts! what has become of you? Did you die on your bed, ormeet with an accident? or how did these beads you loved so well comeinto this horrid, pestiferous well? O, woe is me! Why did I ever let youout of my sight? Why did I not remain in servitude and slavery, ratherthan let you into the care of the cruel, false-hearted stranger? Ovillanous deceiver! O infamous prevaricator! Parson Dilman, why did Ilisten to your seductive promises?"

The reader may imagine, for we cannot adequately describe, the burdenof woe and grief which took possession of the soul of Paul when he foundthat his darling brother, on whose account he suffered so much anxietyand came such a distance, was gone forever from his sight. And when helearned how he died; how, after countless tortures, by whippings, byhunger, and by confinement, the delicate martyr of Christ was allowed toperish on the damp floor of an old, deserted house; how he was deprivedof the memorials of his faith and country; how he was buried with aslittle ceremony, and as much indifference, as if he had been anirrational animal, --when he learned all these circumstances from the twoIrish cotters, Lee and Twohy, it took him to pray continually not toyield to feelings of hatred and revenge. 

A circumstance related to him, however, by the peasants, whosehospitality Paul consented to avail himself of for a few days, served toreconcile him to Eugene's fate, and to inspire him with the most exaltedsentiments of forgiveness and good will towards the murderers of hisbrother. Every night since Eugene's burial a bright column of light wasseen rising from his tomb, and terminating in the heavens above, wherethe column became gradually wider, till it became like a wide circle ofglory, similar to that which appears around the moon on a winter'snight, when the atmosphere is at the snowing temperature. In the centreof the circle appeared a beautiful cross of most perfect proportions, and so bright in the bright circle that it was perfectly dazzling, andthe sight could with difficulty be fixed on it for an instant. 

This phenomenon was seen by the two Irish cotters frequently, and allthe neighbors around had observed the lower part of the column, butconcluded that it was phosphorus, which, they said, from some cause orother, either the nature of the soil or from the bodies interred there, ascended to the clouds, attracted by some atmospheric body there. Paul, too, was blessed with this happy sight, but without indulging in thegratification of a too curious or protracted observation of this vision;and being fully convinced that it was no phosphoric combination ofnatural phenomena, concluded to take off the body of his belovedbrother, and have it interred, in a Christian manner, in the sameconsecrated tomb in which the remains of his father reposed. He was alsofortunate enough, by the payment of a liberal bonus, to succeed inraising the body of his mother, whose tomb he was able to find out, by ameasurement which, on the day of her interment, he had made, and fromcertain stones placed by him at the head of her coffin. 

Thus, by the piety of a son and a brother, were the three bodies ofthese members of this pious and renowned family united again after atemporary separation. "Lovely and comely in their life, even in deaththey were not divided. " In a Catholic cemetery, in the vicinity of NewYork, can now be seen a beautiful monument of Italian marble, with thenames, ages, and places of the nativity of Arthur O'Clery, and his wifeCecilia, and their son Eugene, inscribed in a neat cruciform slab in oneof the faces of the monument. In another slab are carved, in "boldrelief, " the little vase of shamrocks brought by the family fromIreland, together with the _Rosary and Cross_, suspended from the handof the virgin holding the child. On the third square of the tomb isconspicuous a figure of Erin, holding in her right hand a crucifix, andwith the left hand pointing it to her children, with the words, "_Solaspes nostra, ubi crux ibi patria_"--"This is our only hope; wherever thecross is honored, call that your country. "

After having seen to the proper execution of all things in reference tothe tomb of his family, Paul O'Clery, with a heavy heart, returned toacquaint his little brother Patrick and sister Bridget about the fate ofEugene. He did not forget, however, before quitting the lastresting-place of his parents and brother, to have the grave fenced roundwith a neat iron rail; and fixing all inside the fence in the form oftwo pretty flower beds, he, with his own hands, carefully planted theroots of the shamrocks which were brought from Ireland, and which heluckily found in Mr. Gulvert's kitchen garden, where they had beenthrown, after having been taken from Eugene. And to this very day theseshamrocks flourish--neither frost, nor cold, nor parching heat, norinclement seasons being able to retard their growth; as if their verdureand flourishing vegetation were supplied from the pure and genuineIrish clay to which the bodies of the three O'Clerys have been longsince reduced. 

Paul now saw his people reduced by more than one half. When they leftIreland, they were seven in number; now they were only three. He was toowell trained in Christian resignation, however, to repine at whatevidently appeared to him the dispensation of Heaven. After the exampleof holy Job, therefore, he praised the Lord, to whom, if he deprived himof his good parents, he was also indebted for being placed under thecare of such patterns of virtue. These several trials, and theconsequent distractions in which they involved him, made him moredisgusted than ever with the world; and his desire to consecrate himselfto God in the holy priesthood became stronger and stronger every day. The Almighty seemed to have some special mission in view for thisspotless child of St. Patrick, when his mercy had conducted him, likethe children in the fiery furnace, so early through such meritorioustrials and sufferings, as it requires the most faithful correspondencewith grace to endure, and it falls to the lot of a few to encounter. 

The end of all his difficulties and trials had now arrived. From thisday forward the breeze that bore him along in his ecclesiastical voyagebecame fairer and fairer, till, advancing from virtue to virtue, andhonor to honor, he became the glory of the church, and exercised suchinfluence on the destinies of his countrymen and of those committed tohis charge, that he might adopt the language of Joseph to his brethren:"God hath sent me before you into Egypt, that you may be preserved onthe earth, and have _food to live_. " (Gen. Xlv. 7. ) But this isanticipating what naturally should have its place at the conclusion ofour narrative. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE DESERTED HOME OF THE ORPHANS. 

"Now, " said Murty O'Dwyer, one Sunday evening, as all the members of thePrying family were seated around the tea table, "will any body doubt theusefulness of confession? The very robber who, while under the influenceof drink and evil advice, plundered the widow O'Clery and her orphans oftheir money, has returned from the scorching plains of the south, inobedience to the advice of the priest to whom he confessed, to makerestitution; and he has made it. "

"It beats all I ever heard, " said Mr. Prying. 

"That is only an ordinary occurrence with Catholics, " rejoined Murty. "Thousands of dollars, and I might say millions of money, are yearlyrestored to those to whom it belongs, through the influence of thisdivine institution. "

"I wonder what has Paul done with the rest of the money, after payingfor the board of himself and his sister and brothers?" said Calvin. 

"He has given me two hundred of it, " said Murty, "to compensate me forwhat I lost on account of the malice of Dominie Boorman, thePresbyterian, because I could not believe according to his cruel code ofirreligion. He paid one hundred dollars for masses for the soul of poorCunningham, who died of fever and ague one week after his having madethe restitution. Two thousand, I believe, Paul paid into the conventwhere his sister Bridget has gone to become a nun. And the rest, Ibelieve, he spent in raising an elegant monument over his parents andbeloved Eugene's remains. O, yes, I forgot; he paid five hundred dollarstowards the new Catholic church, S. A. , where his convert friendsreside. "

"It is to me the strangest thing on earth, " said old Mrs. Prying, "howliberal these Catholics are in paying to the support of their religion. Where on earth do they get the means to put up such costly buildings asthey have erected in scores, within my own knowledge, these past fiveyears?"

"So far from this being strange, " said Murty, "madam, it is the mostnatural thing in the world. We know the Catholic religion is true. Weknow it has God for its Author, and that through its teachings all menmust be saved that will be saved. Knowing this, we understand the meritof supporting such an institution. What is the whole world to a man ifhe lose his soul? and how can a man save his soul, if true religion bewanting?"

"Ah, what a noble critter that Bridget O'Clery was!" said Calvin, changing the subject to her whose image stood uppermost in his mind, "What a pity, " he continued, "that she should ever become a nun! Do nunsever get married, Murty?"

"Don't you know so much yet, Calvin? Certainly, they never do getmarried. They vow to consecrate their hearts forever to God. In fact, they anticipate, here in this life, what all the blessed do in the nextlife--to live in God, and for God. I think the life of a holy nun, " saidMurty, kindling into enthusiasm, "is superior to that of an angel, andthe merit far greater. "

Here it is as well to state that Calvin Prying, of late years, lost allthat zeal for stiff Presbyterianism that possessed him in his youngerdays, --an ordinary occurrence with American Protestant young men, --andthat, instead of his former zeal, he now had the utmost indifference, ifnot contempt, for the teachers of the hard creed of his cruel namesakeof Geneva. He had a heart, too; and though a phlegmatic and a rude one, it could not remain insensible to the chaste charms and virtuous beautyof Bridget O'Clery. For years this feeling was growing on him--theexhortations, and lectures, and advices of little Parson Gulmore to thecontrary notwithstanding. In a word, though she was "Irish" and apauper, in the slang of parsons and officials, and though the vulgarlittle dominie was continually ridiculing the Irish and the Catholics, Calvin saw that Bridget was beautiful in countenance, and light as ahumming bird in heart--circumstances which insensibly made an impressionon the rude material of which his own was made, creating there a feelingof love bordering on admiration and distant esteem. No sooner, however, did it reach his ears that the money was restored to the orphans, and hewas told that Bridget was likely to have a portion of some thousands ofdollars, than his former esteem and admiration, as if by magic art, wasturned into love. And now, who dare say word against her? and how low, contemptible, and wicked the counsels of Parson Gulmore, who attemptedto prejudice him against such a treasure, such a model of every virtue, such an angel, as she "always appeared to him to be"! He would havecheerfully "accepted the hand" of the poor "Irish" orphan when that handhad some thousands of gold dollars in its beauteous grasp. The Yankee isnot remarkable for having an eye for the beautiful in nature or art; butwhen _dimes_ and _dollars_ are in prospective, none is more penetratingor sharpsighted than he. Beautiful paintings, cathedrals, the noblestcreations of the chisel, the most enchanting landscapes have just asmuch attraction for his genius as they can be made available "for makingmoney, " and no more. It was from the same principle that Calvin Prying'slove for Bridget O'Clery originated. Hence he was highly enraged at theidea of her going into a convent, and had a strong notion in his head tocall a "public mass meeting, " and pass resolutions against theconstitutionality of allowing young ladies of respectable fortunes toenter convents. Indeed, he so far succeeded in creating an excitement inhis favor about deterring Bridget from entering the convent, as to get, by the payment of a small sum, one of the daily papers of the city towrite an article in his favor, entitled "_Abduction_!" During a fewdays, the editor of the same filthy sheet repeated his scurrilousattacks on Catholicity, not forgetting to squirt a good deal of his dirton the Rev. Dr. Ugo, whom he blamed for encouraging the girl'svocation, and thus depriving the _hungry_ Presbyterian Calvin of a fairwife and a handsome fortune. 

There was no great tumult created, however. Election was approaching, and that absorbed all the excitable matter of the people, in spite ofthe newspapers. The disputes and defences of the faith which MurtyO'Dwyer had to maintain since the departure of the young, "beautifulIrish girl, " as Bridget was called, were many and critical; but an eventnow happened, that fanned the latent but active anti-Catholic fire intoa furious flame. 

One evening, at supper, after the news arrived at R---- Valley that PaulO'Clery was not only a priest, but stationed in the second city then inthe Union, Amanda, casting her malicious eye at her youngest sisterMary, on whose calm cheek she saw, and seemed to envy, the innocentblush that started there, on having heard the paragraph alluding to Paulread and commented on, thus addressed her:--

"Ah, Mary, what do you say, now, to Paul, who is forever estranged fromyou? for he is not only a priest, but a missionary among the 'Irish, 'and, of course, can never care about you again. "

"I am glad to hear he is a priest, " said Mary, in a gentle voice; "for Ibelieve he will be more happy so than in any other situation in life. Iam sure I wish him happy, for he was ever good and amiable. "

"But yet, " rejoined the old maid, "he never made you any return for allyour fondness for him. He never writes you any loving letters, norcares whether you are living or dead, or else he would write, or sendyou some tokens of friendship. "

"You know a little too much, Amanda, " said Mary. "I never asked him towrite; and I know he loves me so far as to pray for me, and that's allhe ever pretended to; and as for presents, I do not covet them, as Ihave got this beautiful one, a miniature of the mother of God, set ingold, which Paul presented to me when here last. See it here, " she said, drawing it from her bosom. "I would not give this for all the presentsin New York. "

"Idolatry! idolatry!" cried out Amanda. "Idolatry!" cried out Calvin andthe rest of the family. "Idolatry! yes, as the Lord liveth, " groaned ahollow, dramatic voice, as he entered by the woodshed way to the diningroom. It was that of Rev. Mr. Gulmore, who after a long absence, hearingthe Romanizing tendencies that threatened to desolate this once stanchPresbyterian family, came, he said, "with his sickle, " to cut down thecockles, and "weed out this once fertile but now overgrown garden. "

"What is this I have been hearing?" thundered the little thick man, stamping on the floor. "Is it possible that my senses deceive me? orhave I heard and seen the daughter of my friend, my Orthodox--onceOrthodox--friend, draw forth her idolatrous bawble from her Americanbosom, and defend its use and veneration with her tongue? Is this true?Tell me! Speak!"

There was a short pause after this short declamation, delivered in themost passionate form. At length, Mr. Prying, senior, coolly answered, "Yes, Mr. Gulmore, I 'spect Mary is lost to your church, and inclined tothe Catholic system. "

"O Lord, forbid it!" cried the little thick man in white choker. "Itcannot be; we cannot allow it. I shall storm heaven with prayers. Ishall do violence to the Lord. I shall catch hold of him, and not lethim go till he give back this lamb to my bosom. "

Such were only _some_ of the expressions, blasphemously familiar, whichthis clerical mountebank made use of during a full half hour, that healmost electrified the whole company by his half-mad gesticulations anddiscourses. At length, when his legs began to fail, he got on his knees, or rather on his _heels_--a posture the Irish call "on his _grugg_. " Heprayed, and roared, and screamed, and he cried, as it were, sheddingtears, to the alarm of the oldest members of the family, who feared hemight burst a blood vessel, as he was a short-necked, plethoric, chunkof a man; and to the infinite amusement of Murty O'Dwyer and the youngermembers of the family, who, from the violence of the laughter thatseized them, were in danger of meeting that fate from which the formerwanted to save the parson. 

This levity on the part of the youngsters did not escape the notice ofhis _weeping_ reverence; and he no sooner recovered himself than headministered a sharp reprimand to all concerned, but especially toMurty. 

"I pity men of your country, " said he, addressing Murty, --who, it mustbe recollected, had made very great improvement in his education sincewe first introduced him to our readers, --"I pity men of your country, onaccount of the ignorance in which they are kept by the soul-destroyingsystem of Popery that binds them down. "

"Indeed, Mr. Gulmore, " said Murty, "I am sorry you don't take some othermeans, besides those not very enlightened prayers you have volunteeredto favor us with, to dispel and instruct our ignorance. "

"Why, thou Papist boor, durst thou deny the power of prayer?"

"No, sir. I have great faith in prayer, especially the prayer of a 'justman;' but God forbid that I should regard your eccentric, indeed, Imight say blasphemous, effusions as prayer! You talk of the 'ignorance'of my countrymen! Ah, sir, I have no hesitation in saying the mostignorant among them would be ashamed of such silly-acting and disgustingcant as you have just now delivered. "

"I blame you not, " deluded Papist; "you have not felt the 'power ofprayer, ' brought up in all the ignorance and idolatry of the 'scarletlady. ' But it is not for you I prayed or wrestled with the Lord, but formy beloved dove, this innocent victim of your idolatry and the hellisharts of your church. Do you not feel the change of heart, Mary, mylove?" he said, approaching near to the girl. "Tell me, have I gainedthee? Has the Lord heard my groanings, and sighs, and petitions for thyrestoration to the creed of our Protestant fathers? Do, Mary dear, tellme the feelings of thy heart! Do, love, comfort me by the assurancethat I have gained thee!"

"Mr. Gulmore, " answered the good child, "I thought you had long sinceceased visiting us, and we hoped never again to be annoyed by yourministrations. Your conduct in combining with my step-sister here, inconjunction with the late postmaster of S----, to prevent Paul fromholding correspondence, has disgusted, not only me, but even father, beyond the limits of reconciliation; and whatever I may think of yourreligion, be assured I have no two opinions about yourself. "

"O, she is lost, I greatly fear! Fallen is an angel from heaven! Save, save, O Lord!" cried the parson, as Mary Prying rose up from her seatand left the room. 

The foregoing rebuke of the spirited girl brought this craven-hearteddominie at once to his senses, and during the remainder of the eveninghe was more rational in conduct and discourse, seeing that Mary was thedarling of her father, who would allow the parson to make no reflectionson the motives that actuated her in the steps she was about to take. 

"I am afraid, parson, " said Murty, breaking the embarrassing silencethat continued for a few minutes, "I am afraid the lady has eluded theforceful grasp of your powerful prayer. I guess she will become a nun, too, notwithstanding your great efforts to make her sing

 "But I won't be a nun; I can't be a nun; I'm so fond of pleasure that I can't be a nun. "

"I greatly fear, yer riverince, " said he, affecting the broadest Irishbrogue, "y'ill have to phray a great deal yet afore you convart her fromher resolution. "

"We must submit to the decree of the Lord in all that he has plannedfrom the beginning of the world, Murty, " said the parson, resignedly. 

"Think the Lord has decreed Mary for the nunnery, reverend and learnedsir?" said Murty, affecting great politeness. 

"Not exactly, Murty; but the Lord, by his inscrutable decree before thecreation, has passed sentence on all accountable beings: some he hasdelivered over to irremediable wrath, and others he has predestined toglory and bliss eternal; and no efforts of men can reverse theseirrevocable decrees. "

"O, dreadful!" said Murty. "I always heard that God willed all men to besaved; that it was in every man's power to avoid evil, and do good; thatthe giving of the commandments supposed the perfect liberty of men; andthat, supposing the grace of God, all men had the means of salvationwithin their reach. If your system were true, all efforts of man to savehimself would be useless, and all your pulpits and sermons would beworse than useless; for they would be a gross imposition, and a loss oftime. "

"There is where you are in error, Murty, " said the parson. "Churches, pulpits, Bibles, and ministers are the machinery the Lord makes use ofto secure the perseverance of the elect. "

"That talk appears to me silly, " rejoined Murty. "The elect are to besaved, or they are not; if they are to be saved by the decree of God, then there is no use of you and your machinery; if they can lose their'election, ' and become reprobate, then your theory is contradictory, absurd, and grossly perversive of the gospel. Take your choice of thehorns of the dilemma. "

The parson here entered into a very unintelligible explanation of asubject which constitutes, in defiance of common sense and of theplainest teaching of the gospel, the leading dogma of Presbyterianism;namely, foreordination, or the eternal decree of every man's election orreprobation, irrespective of free will, good works, or even theall-saving merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

"How contradictory the tenets of sectarianism!" said Murty. "You, thataccuse Catholicity of teaching absurd and incredible doctrines, areyourselves enslaved by the most incredible and contradictory creeds. Itis the same in every sect. Take the Methodists, and they are the verycontrary of what their name signifies. Instead of following any _method_in their mad orgies, they would seem to be, _intellectually_, thesuccessors of the ancient bacchanalians. They would carry man back tohis primitive _woods_, and, by the medium of plenty of 'straw, ' wouldannihilate the distinctions between the sexes, by introducing apromiscuous intercourse, and legalizing, by custom, the most indecentpractices. "

"You have been at a camp meeting then, I see, " said the parson, gladthat attention was turned from his own sect to one that was a rival ofit. 

"Yes, sir, I have, I regret to be obliged to confess, " said Murty; "andI must say that the Methodists, by their conduct there, showedthemselves more ingenious in inventing the means of election than thoseof the church of Calvin. "

"How so, Murty? In what do they exceed the Presbyterians?"

"Why, in this, that they have beat you hollow in securing salvation. Youmake use of churches, pulpits, parsons, Bibles, and anti-Popery lecturesto secure the election for the brethren; but the Methodists secure thesame gift by means of some 'straw. ' At the camp meeting held last yearat M----ville, of which the Irish laborer who spent a night there said, 'that there were more _souls made there_ than convarted, '--at thatmeeting, where there were twenty thousand persons present, I heard apreacher cry out, 'More straw! more straw! Fifty souls lost for the wantof straw!' Now, " continued Murty, "this is what I call progress, to makeas much out of a good bed of straw as you do out of all your churchmachinery for saving souls. "

"Ha! ha! ha!" said the parson, turning to Mrs. Prying. "He is right; Isaw and heard them myself at such absurdities. "

"Then, " said Murty, "you or any other Americans who are aware of suchgross impositions on the credulity of your people, and of their grossignorance, should be the last persons on earth to reproach the Irish orany other people with ignorance, superstition, credulity, or fanaticism. Good night, parson, and every time you are tempted to reproach anIrishman with ignorance, think of 'More straw! more straw! Fifty soulslost for the want of straw!' and that this sermon was preached inenlightened America of Bibles!"

After the departure of Murty from the room, Gulmore, to make amends forhis senseless conduct in his attempts to convert Mary Prying, becamevery complaisant, and, for the want of a better subject, resumed thesubject of the extravagances of the Methodists where Murty left off. Heknew, also, that old Mrs. Prying had an antipathy to that sect. 

"The Irishman is an amusing fellow, I perceive, " commenced he; "he isnot far wrong in his description of the Methodists, I can tell you. "

"I never could bear that denomination, " said Mrs. Prying, "especiallysince the time that Morefat carried on over in Vermont; and I am stillmore displeased since that Minister Barker seduced Amanda to hismeeting, together with others of our regular members. "

"They are a horrid set!" said the dominie. "Did you not hear of thedonation party at brother Funny's, last new year's?"

"No. Do you mean the talk about Miss Talebearer?"

"Worse than that, although nothing secret. Nothing that the whole townhas not heard. You know Mr. Funny was rather poor, having been but a fewmonths on the 'circuit;' and so Mrs. Plumpcheek, wife to AaronPlumpcheek, while he was off in Virginia, went to the party, and thereoffered to kiss every man that would pay her a dollar for the proceedsof the donation! The consequence was, that she realized seventy-fivedollars in hard cash, though most of the boys paid her but twoshillings. And thus poor Brother Funny made a handsome sum by the _freecharms_ of Mrs. Plumpcheek! Ever since her husband is made jealous, andI think he has reason. "

Sectarians, you who are so loud in your pretended zeal for education andmorals, you who talk so much and loudly about the corruption of Poperyat home and abroad, why do you not cast the beam out of your own impureeyes, and then you may see in your own land of plenty, carried on underthe _sanction of what you call religion_, scenes such as the annals ofpaganism can scarcely parallel. 

We can prove the facts related above by Parson Gulmore to be literallytrue, and to have happened annually for years under the sanction of_religious_ ministers, and exposed to the cognizance of fathers andmothers accompanied by their _daughters_ and _sons_. 

We publish these things reluctantly, on account of our readers; but wemust tell the truth, though it be piecemeal and in fractional parts, rather than in the full view of its naked reality. 

Is it not time to say to these hypocritical sects, "Physicians, healyourselves"? Look into the conduct and constitutions of your own bodiesere you turn censors on others. The corruptions and deformities of yourown bodies will take all your zeal, all your energy, and all yourlives, to correct, purify, and eradicate, leaving the Catholic church toreform whatever abuses may have crept into the lives or morals of herchildren by the ordinary resources, which are ample, and always withinher reach. 

Really, the hypocrisy, audacity, and malice of the Pharisees of old, inpersecuting Jesus Christ in the flesh, were not equalled, in degree orintensity, to the malice and hypocrisy of sectarians, under everyProtestant title, in their unrelenting hatred of the same divine Personin his mystical body here on earth!

'Tis all nonsense to reproach _Catholics_ with conduct similar, or asgross, as these instances of immorality which we justly charge on theProtestant sects. Catholics, as individuals, may be, and have been, guilty of grave crimes and scandalous immoralities; but does the churchcountenance or connive at their conduct? No; we say, emphatically, No. On the contrary, she condemns vice in every shape, and denounces, likeanother Baptist in the wilderness, the wrath of Heaven on the workers ofiniquity. Is there one of her precepts, counsels, or rules, that guardsnot against sin and its occasions? According to the accusations of herenemies themselves, who reproach her, with too much severity, ofimposing too many restrictions on the passions, is she not continuallypreaching up to her followers the necessity of self-denial, humility, purity, charity, prayer, fastings, watchings, and, above all, OFSHUNNING THE OCCASIONS OF SIN? Hence, in the whole volume of herhistory for eighteen centuries and better, we read not of one _campmeeting_ sanctioned by her, nor that she ever authorized her ministersto _feel "for the change of heart_" in young ladies, to proclaim the useof "more straw" for the conversion of both sexes, or to raise funds bythe abominable practices of the "donation parties" for the support ofher institutions. And mind, these scandals the sectarian churchessanction and carry on under the sun of heaven, by day as well as bynight, exposed to the jeers and ridicule of one another, and to thecondemnation of the Catholic church. When they are such in "thegreenwood, what would they be not in the dry"? If, like the Catholicchurch, they had the world to themselves for "a thousand years andmore, " what abominations would their spurious churches have not onlytolerated, but have instituted and approved? If they have producedMormons, Transcendentalists, Universalists, and spiritual rappers, inthe nineteenth century, what monsters would they not have produced inthe ninth?

In the "dark ages, " the Catholic church saved the world, preservedliterature, civilized real barbarians, and, above all, practised, aswell as preached, a PURE MORALITY. The Protestant sects in thisenlightened age, by their novelties, by their dissensions, and, aboveall, by the low standard of morals which they inculcate, threaten tothrow the world back again to the dark chaos from which Catholicity hasdrawn it, and to substitute for the glory of Christianity the miserablephilosophism and superstition of the degenerate days of paganism. 

In proof of these statements, we refer any candid mind to the"spiritual rappers, " "women's rights, " "Mormonism, " "gold hunting, andother manias, " which, within the last few years, have sprung from thesectarian systems and their teaching, and from no other source. 

We are horrified at the morals and tenets of the Gnostic sects, theManicheans, the Albigenses, and other defunct heresies of old; but wedoubt if any thing more impious, immoral, or absurd happened under theauspices of these by-gone sects than the blasphemies, delusions, andcorruptions carried on under the cloak of your "camp meetings, ""revivals, " "mediums, " "spiritual wife system, " and other modern_reproductions_ of the Protestant Christian churches, falsely so called. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

IN WHICH THE SCENE OF OUR TALE IS CHANGED. 

The events recorded in the foregoing chapters, as you are aware, goodreader, happened principally among the poor and humble of life; and thiswas in accordance with the scope of our narrative, having no higherambition than to chronicle the lowly annals of that numerous class ofthe community. _Nunc paulo majora. _ Now we must introduce you into highlife. We turn our eyes to one of those grand mansions of the rich, --oneof those palaces of the "upper ten, "--where few of the humble areprivileged to enter, much less to be introduced or admitted on terms offamiliarity. It is our privilege to introduce you, friend of theblistered hand and dusty coat, but of the honest heart, into that palaceof the merchant prince of the second city in the Union, in order thatyou may see and judge for yourselves whether or not more happinessdwells there than in your homely residence. See the imposing structure, with the neatly-mowed lawn in front. Observe the taste and artisticskill with which the walks, the little hedges, and the shrubberies arelaid out. You can yet get but an imperfect view of the proud edificeitself, which seems as if a monarch, that looks down with dignity andauthority on the countless array of ordinary buildings that extend asfar as the eye can reach on every side. The gates, as you enter theenclosure, are of massive iron, painted green, and, by the help ofmachinery, yield to the gentlest pressure of the hand, as if some spiritof the ancient fabled Olympus kept guard at their hinges. It is acomplete "_rus in urbi_, " inside the outer wall. Here the luxuriantgrape vine creeps along in graceful festoons, groaning under thepressure of her full paps; there the lofty and beauteous palm spreadshis cooling and protecting branches. 

On one side see the fruitful lemon and orange trees, bending under theweight of their golden and emerald productions; on the other thefragrant apple, the sweet pear, and mellow peach borrow support from thestrong granite wall to bring their burdens to maturity. Behold there twofountains casting their crystal and refreshing contents aloft, as ifmaking restitution to the thirsting atmosphere for what they stole fromhim under ground. The water falls back again, however, and is receivedby the marble basin at the base, to form a neat pond, where gold andsilver fish sport and gambol. A little at a distance, to the rear, thefragrance of honey and the busy hum of the bee are perceived by yourgrateful senses. The place looks like an earthly paradise; every thingthere seems to laugh without restraint, from the creeping rose fastenedto the hedge to the tall, princely-looking mountain ash, with itsbunches of red berries. 

The only one living thing that seemed pensive and sad there was alovely, delicate fawn, which rested, with her head drooping, at the footof a rose bush, on the summit of the little green mound which was thecentre of this delightful spot. Perhaps the lovely creature is afterbeing weaned from the udder of its affectionate dam; or, perhaps, shegrieves for the absence of some favorite in the palace of whom she isthe pet. But that the creature grieves is evident, for you could see thetwo moist tracks furrowed on the smooth face, from the tears that haveflowed there. 

But the inside of the "great house, " who can describe it? From theground floor to the uppermost attic, the rooms presented that waste offurniture, in the shape of sofas, ottomans, easy chairs, couches, carpets, tapestries, curtains, paintings, pier glasses, plate, and athousand other articles contributive of ease and luxury, which the mostextravagant expenditure could procure or vanity suggest. In truth, theinterior was the exact counterpart of the exterior, in the artisticarrangement and splendor of every thing. To the eye of an observer, onan ordinary occasion, every thing appeared gorgeous in the extreme; buton the occasion we describe, when preparation was making for a grandreception, all was joy, mirth, luxury, and happiness. Servants of everycolor and hue were seen moving through the labyrinths of the saloons andchambers of this great palace, uncovering the long-concealed splendorsof valuable articles, and arranging every thing for the mostadvantageous show. 

And

 "Now through the palace chambers moving lights And busy shapes proclaim the toilet's rites; From room to room the ready handmaids hie, Some skilled to wreathe the headdress tastefully, Or hang the veil, in negligence of shade, O'er the warm blushes of the youthful maid. "

Splendid services of gold and silver plate met the eye in everydirection, on their way to the grand dining room; while, from theremotest part of the building, the sense of smelling was simultaneouslyassailed by several currents of delightful culinary exhalations, which, like the winds in the cave of Æolus, struggled for egress from theirconfined birthplace. 

This is one of those occasions on which the Dives of this sumptuouspalace, Mr. Goldrich, intends to celebrate his birthday; and as he can'ttell where he was born, nor can he show any genuine images of hisancestry, (except that he came down a scion from the great "Anglo-Saxonrace, ") he is determined to make amends for this calamity he could nothelp, and the want of taste in his father, whoever he was, by spendingan ordinary fortune in the present celebration, and thus combine thesplendors of all the possible past anniversaries of his birth in onegrand, unrivalled celebration to-day. 

 "And here, at once, the glittering saloon Bursts on the sight, boundless and bright as noon. "

The select music of splendid bands now announced the movements ofguests towards the grand banquet room. In pairs they enter, andsingular; the short procession is now at an end, and the places arefilled up with the scanty number of twoscore guests, male and female. 

You would have supposed, from the preparation, that the inhabitants ofthe entire city were invited; but no, the exact number was forty, besides the members of the rich man's family. And this happened not byaccident, or because of the penury or avarice of Mr. Goldrich, butbecause in the whole city there were no more than twenty families whoranked in the sphere of the "upper ten" in which "mine host" moved. These shining figures, that you can scarcely look at without risk toyour eyes from their jewelry, are the ladies who leave us in doubt whichthey love most to exhibit--their charms, or the richness of theirornaments. Among that bright array of female beauty there is missed thefair form of one who was, heretofore, an ordinary occupant of anhonorable place at the family table. It was the chair of therosy-cheeked Alia that was unoccupied at this splendid circle. Thepresiding queen of the feast, Madam Goldrich, apologized for the absenceof "poor Alia, " by representing her indisposed; and at the announcementof this dispiriting intelligence, disappointment marked the countenancesof the guests, for Alia was the brightest star that shone in thatbrilliant galaxy of fashion. 

Being the oldest among the children of Mr. Goldrich, Alia possessed allthat graceful and dignified superiority over those whom she regarded asher younger sisters, which are the acknowledged privileges of age inevery well-regulated family, and which her superior talent seemednaturally to enforce. 

Years rolled on, and the dear child lived in blissful ignorance of herorigin and desolate condition, till the jealousy of her younger sistersexcited her suspicions, and she began to mistrust the genuineness, asshe felt the coldness, of that parental affection which the pretendedauthors of her existence so long counterfeited. During many months, ifnot years, these suspicions preyed on the poor girl's mind; and thoughshe never dared to mention them to any save old Judy, the negro woman, she felt satisfied that her sisters and herself could not belong to thesame stock or the same race. The transparent delicacy of her complexion, the rosy tint on her cheek, unrivalled by the costly paint of hersisters, the shining blackness of her splendid hair, --all thesecircumstances pointed her out and proclaimed her as of a different raceto those whom she hitherto regarded as her kindred. Long had she musedon the cause of this disparity, and much had she suffered, in the depthof her soul, from the representations and suggestions of her activeimagination in reference to her origin, and many were the tears shed byher while oppressed with these doubts. But the events of this day, addedto the late insolent conduct of her sisters, which provoked thereprimand of her peevish mother guardian, who told her to curb her"Irish temper, "--these cleared up all her doubts; and, filled with amelancholy joy at a revelation she owed to the jealousy and vanity of aproud mother and her daughters, Alia retired to her room to give vent toher feelings in sobs and tears. 

"Thank God, " she cried, "I know what I am, or ought to be. Thank God Iam Irish, too, for I often wished I belonged to that much-abused andpersecuted people. But O, where shall I find my parents? or how came mylot to be cast in this proud palace, which, alas! I too long regarded asmy home? O, who, who will restore this poor 'exile of Erin, ' to the homeof her unknown parents? How gladly would I exchange all the splendor ofthis place for the homeliest cot in that land of the shamrock and thecross; ay, the poorest 'cabin, fast by the wild-wood, ' in the land ofSt. Patrick, and my unknown ancestors. "

Such were the soliloquies of poor, despised Alia, in her room on thethird floor, where old aunt Judy, the negro, having missed her favoritefrom the grand company, after having sought her in vain in the lowersaloons of the house, just entered her room. 

"Dere, now, Miss Ali', am poor aunt Judy half kilt from sarching for youall over. What make you be here, and all the gran' gem'men asking foryou?"

"Ah, aunt Judy, why have you all along denied of me all knowledge of myextraction, parentage, and race? Did you not know that I was Irish? andyet you always denied that I was, though I have suspected I was, and youmust have known it, having lived so long in the family. This is not whatI expected from you, aunt Judy, " she said, casting a look of gentlereproach at the old negro. 

"O, dear, miss--O, dear, " cried the poor affectionate creature, burstinginto tears; "don't blame dis ole nigger, but massa and missus, and MissSillerman, sister to the missus who died last year. They forbid auntJude to tell who rosy-faced Ali' was. I was bound to swear not to tell. If they knowed I did hab a _parle_ vit you on de subject, they wouldturn poor ole Jude out de door to die in the poor _maison_. "

This poor negro woman was a native of St. Domingo, and, at the time ofthe revolution there, came to New Orleans, in care of a child belongingto one of the white planters who was murdered--which child, by the way, has since become a pious and eminent clergyman. By some accident orother she fell in with the Goldriches, in their commercial visits to NewOrleans, and, though brought up a Catholic, the poor thing forgot allpractice of her religion, and this accounts for her evasions and denialsto the repeated questions of Alia regarding her parentage and birth. 

"'Pon my fait, miss, " she ever said, "I know nothing about you, 'ceptthat you are the rose-cheeked Ali', the _fleur de lis_ of the flock. "

Promises, and flattering presents, and all other persuasive arts of Aliato get the secret out of Judy proved useless. She had promised to keepit, and no human authority, she thought, could ever cause her to violatethat promise. Although Judy had, through fear of displeasing herpatrons, given up all public practice of her religion, she neverthelessnever denied that she was a "Catholique, " and never omitted to recitefull five decades of the beads after going to bed. She declared shecould not fall asleep till she complied with this rather lazy effort ofprayer. Besides these rather faint evidences of her faith, she oftentold her loved Ali' that she intended calling in the priest at the hourof her death; and she confided to the honor of the young lady thissecret desire of hers, and elicited many promises from her Ali' to sendfor his reverence when she would perceive her end approach. "This israther a singular notion of yours, " Alia used to say. "If you are aCatholic, and believe your faith the best, or the only true one, why doyou not practise its teachings, and fulfil all the requirements of yourchurch? I am sure neither father nor mother would blame you. "

"O miss, I feard, I feard, " the poor, timid soul would answer. "But tinkof vat I tol' you; when I go to die, send for the _bon_ priest, who knowhow to do the '_parle Française_, ' and I pray for you when I go toheaven. "

"I shall do that for you, poor aunt Judy, or even attend you now, whileyou are in health, to the Catholic church, where you can go to thesacraments, and become a member again of that church which you have solong neglected, but which yet seems still to retain a strong hold ofyour affections and heart. Won't this be the best course, aunt Judy? Iwill attend you to the church of that zealous young Irish priest whom Isee so often hurrying along here to his sick calls up town; and as Isuspect I am 'Irish' myself, I hope he will not be displeased at mycall. "

"O, you no Irish, miss, at all, but good Yankee. But tish better not gofor de priest till he come to me when I go to die. Now I have religionhere in _mon coeur_; ven I die, I profess her open. "

"Well, Judy, act as you wish; but it appears to me your conduct issingular. I shall do my part, however; and if there is a priest to behad in the city when you take to your death bed, you must have him toattend you. "

It was by such communings and conversations as the foregoing, during theleisure hours of aunt Judy and her loved Ali', that mutual confidenceand disinterested friendship grew into maturity between them--thechildish and helpless simplicity of the one, and kind and good-naturedcondescension of the other, producing the like effects in the hearts ofboth respectively--that is, disinterested friendship. Yet strong as thisfriendship was, and enthusiastic as was the love of Judy for her"rosy-cheeked" favorite, they were not sufficient to cause her to revealthe secret of her birth and adoption, even at this hour of Alia'sdeepest grief and affliction. 

There were two causes for this her unaccountable silence. Firstly, shehad promised not to mention the slightest circumstance connected withthe adopted child, and she feared punishment from the anger of her proudmassa, whose disgrace might be the consequence. And again, having beenin the habit of hearing all sorts of reflections on the "Irish, " whomsome mad abolitionists would gladly enslave in place of the blacks, poorJudy thought to save Alia from the mortification of finding herself"Irish, " by her equivocation and falsehood. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

SHOWS HOW THE CROSS AND SHAMROCK WERE PERMANENTLY UNITED AFTER A LONGSEPARATION. 

Paul O'Clery had been appointed pastor of one of the principal churchesin the second city in the Union, as we have before mentioned, andalready the evidences of the "care of souls" with which he was chargedfor several years began to manifest themselves on his placid brow. Hiswas a life of unceasing activity. The visitations of the sick, the callsof charity, the hearing of confessions, together with the instruction ofyouth and the preaching of God's word, --these, the ordinary lot ofpastors, constituted but a share, and not the largest one, of hisonerous duties. Ever mindful of his own destitute condition while anorphan deprived of both parents, all the orphans of thethickly-inhabited district that constituted his mission became objectsof his special care. And at a time when such an institution as aCatholic orphanage was regarded as visionary, or the ephemeral creationof a too ardent zeal, this good pastor succeeded in founding andsupporting an asylum which has since become of incalculable value, notonly to the Catholics as a body, but to the inhabitants of the wholecity and state. A house of refuge for repentant Magdalens, placed underthe care of the Sisters of Mercy, commanded his next care. In a word, the founding of schools, hospitals, confraternities, guilds, and otherpious institutions exercised all of his time that was not devoted tohis strictly ecclesiastical duties; so that his sister Bridget, known inreligion as Sister St. John of the Cross, complained a good deal of hiswant of charity in not having visited her but once in seven years. "Admajorem Dei gloriam, "--"To the greater glory of God, "--was this piousLevite's motto; and he was dead to all the ties of flesh and blood, andheedless of all calls save those of charity to his God and his neighbor. 

In the pulpit, the spontaneous eloquence of his heart chained theattention of his hearers; and his discourses, though rather inclined toasceticism than controversial, went to the hearts, and convinced theunderstandings, of unbelievers of the divinity of the doctrine hepreached. No class of his fellow-creatures was excluded from theinfluence of his boundless zeal. Protestants--to whom he was very mild, on account of his knowledge of the ignorant prejudices in which they arebound by the malice of their teachers--heard him, and became converts tothe church of God. Even the neglected negro race claimed and received afull measure of his zeal. He established a school for the children ofthese neglected sons of Africa, and never lost an opportunity ofvisiting them at the death bed or in the hour of serious sickness. 

It was on occasion of one of these visits that God rewarded his priest, even in this world, by the joyous disclosure which we here record, andwhich, next to his grace of vocation to the priesthood, of all themanifestations of God's mercy to him, claimed his sincerest gratitudeand thanksgiving. After the end of the grand "birthday banquet, " whichlasted for a day and two nights, Alia's position at the palace becamemore disagreeable than ever. The young girls frowned on her and shunnedher society, and Madame Goldrich, after she had got over the fatigue ofthe party, read her a smart lesson on her "ill manners and Irishtemper, " because she dared to absent herself, to the disappointment ofthe guests, from a table at which she was denied her proper and usualplace. "Alia, this conduct of yours must be reformed, and that quick, oryour separation from this family, to which you do not belong, must soontake place. I ain't goin' to let you take precedence of my children nolonger. "

To this vulgar speech of the "princess, our hostess, " as she wasflatteringly toasted by a John Bull guest who was there, Alia answerednot a word, but, having retired to her room, fell on her knees andprayed long and fervently to the God of her fathers to assist her by hisinspirations, and direct her to the best, in her present perplexity. Having unburdened her bosom of a load of grief by a copious effusion oftears, and felt in her spirit that calm resignation which a sense of itsown forlorn condition and a total reliance on God are calculated toinspire even in the unregenerate and imperfect soul, Alia now proceededto the chamber of old Judy, whose expected illness had at last arrived, having been ill now for three days. On perceiving her entrance into theroom, the old negress appealed to her in most supplicating terms tofulfil her promise to send for "de priest, for now de hour am come. OAli', angel, dear, " she cried, "do not let me die without the 'bonDieu, ' or I lost foreber. O, haste! O, haste!"

Alia lost no time, but, taking pen and paper, wrote as follows to thebishop of the diocese:--

"The Right Rev. Catholic bishop is respectfully informed that there is anegro woman lying dangerously ill at Mr. Goldrich's, who, being aCatholic, desires the last rites of that church. Being a native of St. Domingo, the French is her vernacular tongue; for which cause it will bedesirable, if possible, to send, a clergyman who can speak thatlanguage. "

A young negro lad was the bearer of this despatch, and he returned inless than an hour, attended by Rev. Paul O'Clery, whom the bishop sentto answer this urgent call, all those of the episcopal residence havingbeen out since early morning attending on the sick in their respectivelocalities. In order to avoid any further cause of displeasure to Mrs. Goldrich, Alia had given the negro lad instructions to bring the priestin through a private door that communicated with the garden, rather thanattract attention by entering the hall door. She had a full view of thecountenance of the young priest, through the window, while he wascrossing that part of the garden that lay next the houses of the city, and, strange! her heart throbbed, and an indescribable sensation passedover her frame. 

"How happy, " she thought, "must be the sister of such a gentleman asthat! how different her lot from mine!"

The priest entered, and was received with a very polite bow by Alia, which was returned profoundly. Declining to take a seat, on account ofhis many other urgent calls, he was escorted to old Judy's chamber byhis fair guide, who, on the way thither, explained to him what sort of aperson she was, and how odd in her notions about religion. Havingconducted him to her bedside, she made a polite bow, and retired, askingif her services were further needed. 

The priest answered, "No; that he believed all the requirements for thisholy but melancholy service were prepared, and that he supposed he hadto thank her for the nice arrangements he observed. "

"Yes, mon pere, " said old Judy, in half French, half English, "there isthe '_chandel_, ' the '_eau-benite_, ' the '_la croix_, ' and the rest, that I keep many year for my deathday. "

It was only when she retired from the chamber that the priest caught afull view of the fair Alia; and now

 "A strange emotion worked within him, more Than mere compassion ever worked before. "

He saw in this interesting stranger the strongest resemblance to his ownsister Bridget. There were the same raven hair, the same candid andlarge eyes, the same broad and well-set teeth so peculiar to theO'Clerys, and the same form almost to a line. The groans and urgent callof his penitent Judy, however, soon recalled his mind from its reveries, and he banished all thoughts of Alia, as temptations, or, at least, speculations, which it was for the present useless to entertain. He puton his stole, and after a short aspiration for light and grace todischarge his duty to the sick woman, was just in the act of repeatingthe prayer, "_Dominus sit in corde tuo et in labiis_, "--"May the Lord bein your heart and lips, "--when the creature, raising herself up in herbed, prevented him, saying, "Mon pere, I vant, before I begin theconfession, to tell you a secret that burden my mind long time. "

She then proceeded to tell how that young lady he had just seen had beenadopted, or rather kidnapped, by the family she now lived with; how hername was changed from Aloysia to Alia; how this scheme was planned andcarried out by Miss Sillerman, Mrs. Goldrich's sister, who died not longsince; how, till of late, she was brought up as one of the family; howcarefully she was instructed in all the ways of the Presbyterians; and, above all, how they endeavored to conceal her family name, for fear ofbeing claimed by her friends. "But, mon pere, " said she, incontinuation, "though I forget the family name of this young, lublylady, I have an article here (loosing an old-fashioned workbag) whichmay tell her family name. "

With that she handed Father Paul a neat ruby necklace, with a ratherheavy gold clasp, on which were carved deeply a cross, interwoven withshamrocks, with these words, in italics, "_The O'C---- Arms_. " This wasenough for Paul O'Clery; he had no doubt of having seen and conversedwith his own dear, long-lost sister, a few moments before. He sunk downon his knees, buried his face in his hands, and tried as well as hecould to suppress the emotions that pervaded his bosom. After havingprepared old Judy for heaven, --having first prevailed on her to makethese disclosures in presence of witnesses, on condition that thecircumstances of her revelation should not be published till after herdeath, --the priest retired from that palace, promising to call again, accompanied with another gentleman, in the afternoon. Lest his feelingsshould betray him, he retired from the house with as little delay as wasconsistent with politeness; and he trembled all over as he a second timereturned the greeting of his dear Aloysia, as she conducted him to thedoor. 

With as little delay as possible, he sought the office of his legaladviser, and, accompanied by a judge of the Supreme Court of eminentcharacter, and the legal adviser, and a third, all Protestant gentlemen, he sought the sick chamber of the old negress again, and there herdeposition, and a confirmation of her previous account of Alia'sbringing up and captivity, were obtained. They had scarcely concludedher testimony, when poor Judy bid farewell to the world and its crosses, and the priest had the satisfaction of bidding God speed to her soul inits passage to eternity, having read for her the last benediction asecond time. 

The presence of so many strangers in the house naturally created somesurprise among the inmates, and shortly the death chamber of Judy wasfilled with the members of the family, of both sexes. 

An explanation of this unusual and unauthorized proceeding was demandedby Mrs. Goldrich, which the eminent judge consented to give, provided an_adjournment_ to a more appropriate court was agreed to. 

His honor was in the act of unravelling the mysterious butwell-connected development of old Judy--a work of supererogation on hispart, as far as madam was concerned--when the fair-faced Alia herselfmade her appearance; and her reverend brother Paul, no longer able tocheck his feelings, sprang forward, and, seizing her white hand, kissedit, saying, "My dearest sister Aloysia, welcome to the embrace of yourbrother! 'You were lost, and I have found you; you were dead, and areagain come to life! Rejoice, and be glad. '"

This was too much happiness for Alia to bear up against withoutmomentarily yielding to the shock, and she sank, as if lifeless, on acouch. She was soon restored, however, and surrounded by the seeminglyaffectionate caresses of her envious _mother_ and jealous sisters. Shehad to hear all their arguments to persuade her to prefer her presentsplendid misery to the equivocal boon of having found out a poor, destitute brother, though it was not yet clear whether she could callhim by that name. Appearances were deceitful. 

Father Paul listened meekly to the smooth discourses and flatteringpromises of the rich lady and her children, not doubting, if she were anO'Clery, which side she would choose. 

"You are young, my dear Aloysia, but yet at or near the age of matureunderstanding; and I know a brother cannot command you as a parent couldin this 'free country. ' You have your choice--the traditional glory ofthe old family of O'Clery, two brothers, and a sister as fair asyourself, together with the old faith of St. Patrick, --the gloriousCROSS and the immortal SHAMROCK, --all these balanced against this grandpalace, probably great earthly comforts, and a religion that 'is not fitfor a gentleman. ' Have your choice; choose boldly, and at once, and freeyour brother from suspense. "

"Are you my brother?" she said, wildly, "or do I dream? Have I a brotheron earth, and one so worthy as thou? O, I have no second choice, " shecried, falling at his feet, and wetting them with her tears. 

 "Plant this Cross in my bosom, And this Shamrock in my hair; And these are the only ornaments I ever again shall wear. "

The spirited girl prepared immediately to quit the splendid palace, andshe came to the resolution of taking nothing with her, either of dress, or trinkets, or jewelry. "Naked and bare I came into this family, andwith one single dress shall I leave it, " said she, "feeling sufficientlyenriched in what I have this day found--a brother, with the Cross andShamrock of the O'Clerys. O, what complete changes! Instead of Alia, Iam Aloysia; instead of Goldrich, I am O'Clery. "

Paul did not think it prudent to allow his sister to quit the house ofher rich patrons so quickly, especially as Mr. Goldrich was from home, and till the public should be satisfied, and all doubts about heridentity resolved. There was some opposition made by the parsons, one ofwhom, a Mr. Cashman, was long fishing for the fair hand of Aloysia; butthis little dust raised by the "white necks" was soon hushed, when therecord of the baptism of Miss O'Clery was produced, and when the book ofheraldry was consulted to verify the armorial bearings of the O'Clerys, which were, as we said, carved on the clasp of her necklace; and, aboveall, when, on the left-hand ring finger of the young lady, the sameimpression of a ring appeared which several persons testified havingseen on it when an infant. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

CONCLUSION. 

During the _dénouement_ of the events recorded in the preceding chapter, and the discussion of them by the various _religious_ newspapers, --eachof which, like a well-trained spaniel, tried to bark so as to secure theapprobation of those from whom it derived its food, --Father O'Clerycontinued in the discharge of his ordinary duties as if nothing strangehad happened. He addressed one letter on the subject to the leadingsecular journals of the city, showing, by the most convincing chain ofevidence, the identity of the lady passing so long for a daughter of Mr. Goldrich with his own younger and long-lost sister, and satisfying allbut fanatics and bigots of his prudence, and the propriety of the stepstaken by him for her recovery. 

Mr. Goldrich, in the mean time, returned home, and though he could notbut feel astonished at the developments which took place in his absencerespecting his adopted daughter, he was too shrewd and too keen a man ofbusiness to make himself a tool in the hands of bigoted parsons, or todeny the validity of the evidence proving her to be no other thanAloysia O'Clery. This was enough. What now was become of all thetalking, writing, swearing, and preaching of the dominies? To whatpurpose was this big talk, loud exclamations, puzzling interrogatories, and flaming articles of the Babylonian press? For a whole month nothingwas published by the editors but "leaders, " "articles, " "paragraphs, ""communications, " "reports, " "speeches, " "lectures, " "sermons, " "massmeetings, " "resolutions, " "protests, " and "letters of correspondents, "regarding this "Popish plot, " "this Romanist aggression, " "this priestlyinsolence, " and a thousand other names, threats, and unflatteringepithets against persons and institutions, whose only connection withthe case of Miss O'Clery was, that they belonged to the Catholic church, or dared to speak the truth, or claim their rights. Now thehundred-headed Cerberus of the press is silenced, and skulks into itsdark lair, beaten and silenced, but not ashamed of the filthy dribblingsof its lying tongue. Now all the talk, articles, and "leaders" go fornothing, since Mr. Goldrich acknowledges "the priest is right; she ishis sister. " But did not that clamorous press, that bellowed andhallooed on the rabble to rob, murder, and destroy, --did it not recallits words, apologize for its naughty language, and retract every chargegroundlessly made? Like a convicted felon, did it cry _peccavi_--I havesinned, been misled, or misinformed? No; not a sign of repentance hasbeen manifested, not an apology made, not a word of retraction utteredby these self-styled philosophers of the press, who think they areresponsible to no law, human or divine, and who say they have a world toredeem, and nations and peoples to regenerate. We have read countlessfolios of calumnies, misrepresentations, and black libels on every thingsacred and venerable on earth, by the American press, during severalyears that we have read newspapers; but we never yet found one editor toretract, apologize, or mend his manners and language, except whencompelled by the cudgel or by the law. What an anomaly does theobservation of the conduct of the world present to us! They refuse "tohear the church, " or be guided by the teaching of men who have spenttheir lives in preparing and qualifying themselves for the office ofpublic teaching; and they submit themselves blindly and without controlto the guidance of men whom they know not, who have not always the bestmoral characters, and whose training, in most instances, does any thingbut qualify them for the dangerous office they fill. 

The instance which is here given of the almost unanimous hostility ofthe press to the cause of justice, truth, and honor, illustrates what wesay; and the obvious conclusion is, that the "fourth estate" itselfneeds reclaiming--the great modern reformer needs reformation. 

Soon after Mr. Goldrich's return home, he called on Father Paul O'Clery, and, with a great deal of good nature, congratulated him on his veryprovidential discovery of his sister, "my dear adopted child. And now, reverend sir, " said he, affectionately, "I beg to tender you thehospitalities of our house. As your sister has been for so many yearsone of the family, --and not the least loved one, I assure you, --I hope Imay, without impropriety, by right of relationship by adoption, claimyou as a member also. "

Father Paul answered by assuring him he appreciated his kindness; thathe acknowledged the honorable connection in full; and that, though thisvery affectionate advance had not taken place, Mr. Goldrich would everbe regarded by him with feelings of veneration and love, on account ofhis affectionate kindness to his sister, in giving her such a superioreducation, and treating her on terms of equality with his own children. The highminded and liberal gentleman, after having shed tears at theidea of losing his dear adopted girl, departed, having previouslyextorted a promise from Father Paul to attend a great party in honor ofAloysia, at the palace, on the evening of the next day. 

In the mean time, Aloysia's room was besieged with crowds of anxiousvisitors and voluntary condolers on her resolution of renouncing wealth, pleasure, and Protestantism, for poverty, Popery, and penance. Richmerchants came, offering to settle annuities on her for life; richwidows came, with their tracts and Bibles in one hand, and their realestate deeds and scrip in the other, hoping to conquer her resolution;and eloquent parsons, with their "sweet speeches and flatteringdiscourses, " were chasing one another, like clouds driven by the winds, to and from the well-furnished boudoir, all charged with the sameapostolic office of saving a soul, a beautiful, interesting one, fromfalling into that world-wide "net" of Popery with which St. Peter andhis successors have never ceased to "catch men, " since the days of JesusChrist. All the discourses, prayers, entreaties, threats, crocodiletears, flatteries, misrepresentations, legacies, settlements, and otherseductive allurements have miscarried, this time. A Catholic Aloysia wasbaptized, and a Catholic she is resolved to live and die, with God'sgrace. 

The "big dinner" was prepared at the rich man's house, where Father Paulthrough courtesy attended, and where he was obliged to defend, in aspeech of some length, the violent assault of that Parson Cashman, whowe told was fishing for the hand of Aloysia, but who now, because sherejected him with scorn, had the bad taste to insult the whole companyby his _champagne_-inspired attack on Ireland, her creed, and herchildren. 

Paul completely refuted his charge of ignorance of the Irish, bycontrasting their religious knowledge with that of the English andAmericans; in the former one of which countries there are seven or eightmillions of pagans, and in the later so many thousands who follow suchimpostors as Miller, Smith, spiritual rappers, Transcendentalists, Fourierites, and other impostors notorious for their crimes. 

"The reverend gentleman forgets, " said he, "that Ireland was once, andfor ages, the most enlightened country on earth, and deserved to becalled "the Island of Saints;" and that whatever of ignorance, poverty, and crime--which, thank God, is little--she is afflicted with, wasinherited by her from the curse introduced into her by the upas tree ofProtestantism. Ah, sir, the eulogy of England comes with a bad gracefrom the lips of a son of America, which she oppressed, and which, butfor Catholic arms, might be now, instead of a great republic, abadly-ruled province of Protestant England. Study history, sir; studyhistory; and you will soon think better of Ireland and Catholicity, andless of England and her persecuting Protestantism. " And with that heretired. 

The remaining part of our tale is soon told. Paul O'Clery, from being agood priest, became, in addition, a great man; his virtues, learning, and genius soon attracted the notice of the princes of God's church. Hewas consecrated bishop, "_in partibus infidelium_, " and he is now apillar of God's church, and an ornament in his sanctuary, as archbishopin one of the great cities of British India, in Asia. Behold, my youngreaders, how the church opens the gates of her treasures, and encouragesthe promotion of the humblest of her children. Virtue and genius are theonly titles to nobility which she regards. Every office in her gift (andshe has stations too high for angels) is open to the humblest aspirantto perfection. How many scores of young men might be now shining lampsin God's sanctuary, instead of being degraded to the level of thedrudges of the earth and the slaves of the world, if they only resistedthe glittering bait of temptation at first, and took as their model PaulO'Clery, the orphan boy!

What became of Aloysia, do you wish to know? She joined her sisterBridget in the nunnery, and after atoning by her tears and repentancefor the _material_ heresy of her youth, she lately fell a victim tofever, contracted by her in caring for the poor negro slaves of NewOrleans. She preferred to die a saint than live a princess. 

Eugene, as you already know, died a martyr for his faith, having beenpersecuted to death by Parson Dilman and Mr. Shaw Gulvert of evilmemory. 

Patrick returned to Ireland, where he has lately purchased an estateunder the encumbered estates law--the very same estate on which hisfather lived under Lord Mandemon. 

You recollect Van Stingey, the first persecutor of the orphan family, was blown up by powder, and perished miserably. Amanda Prying met a fatelittle better. Having been in the habit of imbibing strong drafts ofchloroform, for purposes of intoxication, she was found dead in bed oneDecember morning, after having imbibed too strong a dose. 

The youngest child of Reuben Prying met with his death in this way:Willy, the youngest but one, hearing that somebody was to be hanged, asked his pa how the operation was performed. The father, of course, believing that "knowledge was power, " taught the child how to act thehangman, and the lesson was not taught in vain; for, the next day, Willy, experimenting on the "knowledge" communicated, hanged his youngerbrother, Lory, dead. Thus perished the darling son of him who combinedwith the parson to kill Eugene O'Clery. 

I forgot to say that Mary Prying, the innocent, good girl, and theadmirer of Paul, became a convert, and is now a nun, called Sister MaryMagdalen. 

But what of the Parsons Grinoble, Gulmore, Barker, Scullion, and theothers, who had a hand in robbing the orphans of their faith? They areall alive yet, and, according to their limited capacities, doing all theharm it is possible for them to do, in propagating error anddisseminating discord. And your friend Dr. Ugo, who was instrumental insaving the orphans, is yet living, and battling for the faith, neveromitting to inculcate fidelity to the CROSS and attachment tothe SHAMROCK on all his beloved parishioners and hearers. Amen!