er, were, that he got the first of his
bad habits under Pat Mulligan and Norah--that he learned to steal by
secreting at home, butter and meal to paste up the master's eyes to
his bad conduct--and that his fondness for quarrelling arose from being
permitted to head a faction at school; a most ungrateful return for the
many acts of grace which the indulgence of Norah caused; to be issued in
his favor.

I was but a short time under Pat, when, after the general example, I
had my cudgel, which I used to carry regularly to a certain furze
bush within fifty perches of the "seminary," where I hid it till after
"dismiss.*"! I grant it does not look well in me to become I my own
panegyrist; but I can at least declare, that there were few among the
Gaseys able to, resist the prowess of this right arm, puny as it was at
the period in question. Our battles were obstinate and frequent; but as
the quarrels of the two families and their relations on each side, were
as bitter and pugnacious in fairs and markets as ours were in school, we
hit upon the plan of holding our Lilliputian engagements upon the same
days on which our fathers and brothers contested. According to this
plan, it very often happened that the corresponding parties were
successful, and as frequently, that whilst the Caseys were well drubbed
in the fair, their sons were victorious at school, and vice versa.

For my part, I was early trained in cudgelling, and before I reached my
fourteenth year, could pronounce as sage and accurate an opinion upon
the merits of a shillelagh, as it is called, or cudgel, as a veteran
of sixty could at first sight. Our plan of preparing them was this: we
sallied out to any place where there was an underwood of blackthorn or
oak, and, having surveyed the premises with the eye of a connoisseur, we
selected the straightest root-growing piece which we could find: for
if not root-growing we did not consider it worth cutting, knowing from
experience that a mere branch, how straight and fair soever it might
look, would be apt to snap in the twist and tug of war. Having cut it as
close to the root as possible, we then lopped off the branches, and
put it up the chimney to season. When seasoned, we took it down, and
wrapping it in brown paper, well steeped in hog's lard or oil, we buried
it in a horse dunghill, paying it a daily visit for the purpose of
making it straight by doubling back the bends or angles across the knee,
in a direction contrar