, too, for fraid hearin' wouldn't
do. You think there's no places in the world but your own, I b'lieve.
Faix, indeed! it's well come up wid us, to be randied about wid no less
a switch than a churnstaff!"

"Is it givin' back talk, you are? Bad end to me, if you look crucked but
I'll lave you a mark to remimber me by. What woman 'ud put up wid you
but myself, you shkamin flipe? It wasn't to give me your bad tongue I
hired you, but to do your business; and be the crass above us, if you
turn your tongue on me agin, I'll give you the weight o' the churnstaff.
Is it bekase they're poor people that it plased God to bring to this,
that you turn up your nose at doin' anything to sarve them? There's not
wather enough there, I say--put in more what signifies all the stirabout
that 'ud make? Put plinty in: it's betther always to have too much than
too little. Faix, I tell you, you'll want a male's meat an' a night's
lodgin' afore you die, if you don't mend your manners."

"Och, musha, the poor girl is doin' her best," observed Kathleen; "an'
I'm sure she wouldn't be guilty of usin' pride to the likes of us, or to
any one that the Lord has laid his hand upon."

"She had betther not, while I'm to the fore," said her mistress. "What
is she herself? Sure if it was a sin to be poor, God help the world. No;
it's neither a sin nor a shame."

"Thanks be to God, no," said Owen: "it's neither the one nor the other.
So long as we keep a fair name, an' a clear conscience, we can't ever
say that our case is hard."

After some further conversation, a comfortable breakfast was prepared
for them, of which they partook with an appetite sharpened by their long
abstinence from food. Their stay here was particularly fortunate, for as
they were certain of a cordial welcome, and an abundance of that which
they much wanted--wholesome food--the pressure of immediate distress
was removed. They had time to think more accurately upon the little
preparations for misery which were necessary, and, as the day's leisure
was at their disposal, Kathleen's needle and scissors were industriously
plied in mending the tattered clothes of her husband and her children,
in order to meet the inclemency of the weather.

On the following morning, after another abundant breakfast, and
substantial marks of kindness from their entertainers, they prepared
to resume their new and melancholy mode of life. As they were about to
depart, the farmer's wife addressed them in the