the hated head of the house, and I might be driven
there and welcome; but Sanders Park was another matter. I might walk
out of the town, and across the park if I liked, and my informant
would ensure that I went and returned in safety, as for that matter I
knew very well; but not being fond of walking against time through the
mud, I preferred going whither I could be driven in comfort. Moreover,
the novelty of the thing is wearing off, and "Boycotting" is now only
interesting when ingeniously evaded or boldly defied.

So long as a railway station is near him, the "Boycottee," if he have
only two or three servants to stand firm, can practically bring the
Boycotters to their wits' end. The railway companies being, I take it,
common carriers, dare not refuse, like the cowardly shippers of Cork,
to take the "Boycottee's" beef and plum pudding, wine and whisky, to
the most convenient railway station, whence he, if well-armed and
provided with an escort of constabulary, can bring in his supplies
under the very nose of the infuriated peasants who stand scowling
around the station gate and roar and "boo" their disgust at being
foiled. There is not the slightest fear of the "Boycotters" running
their heads against Winchester rifles and army revolvers, and the
convoy need apprehend nothing hotter or harder than curses and groans,
which, "like the idle wind, hurt not the mariner ashore."

This last quotation had the misfortune to displease one of my young
hosts, who opined that he thought, on the contrary, we were all at
sea in Ireland just now, and breakers were ahead. Perhaps he is over
much of an alarmist, but his present situation is hardly calculated to
inspire confidence in anything but conical bullets and cold steel. As
we stand together on the doorstep, he remarks that it will be long
before Christmas _a la_ Boycott is forgotten in Ireland, and then he
wishes me the compliments of the season. "Good bye," and "Safe
home"--hateful valediction! I wish him and his a happier new year than
the old one has been; but it would be a sorry jest to wish a merry
Christmas to one whose greatest happiness and consolation are that at
this time of gathered kindred, at the feast which comes but once a
year for the re-knitting of the ties of domestic affection, the kindly
voice of the house-mother is not heard beneath her own roof tree; that
the chair of the house-father stands empty at the Christmas board.

XVIII.

CHRISTMAS IN CO