wid
all the might that was in him. Av a week day you'd see him in the field or
on the shore from sun to sun as busy as a hen wid a dozen chicks; an' av a
fair-day or av a Sunday, there he'd be, palatherin' at the girls, an'
dancin' jigs that he done wid extrame nateness, or havin' a bout wid a
shtick on some other felly's head, an' indade, at that he was so clever
that it was a delight for to see him, for he'd crack a giont's shkull that
was as hard as a pot wid wan blow an' all the pleasure in life. So he got
to be four or five an' twinty an' not his betther in the County Antrim.

"Wan fine day, his father, Bryan O'Goolighan, that was as big a giont as
himself, says to him, says he, 'Finn, me Laddybuck, I'm thinkin' ye'll
want to be gettin' marr'd.'

"'Not me,' says Finn.

"'An' why not?' says his father.

"'I've no consate av it,' says Finn.

"'Ye'd be the betther av it,' says his father.

"'Faix, I'm not sure o' that,' says Finn; 'gettin' marr'd is like turnin'
a corner, ye don't know phat ye're goin' to see,' says he.

"'Thrue for ye,' says owld Bryan, for he'd had axpayrience himself, 'but
if ye'd a purty woman to make the stirabout for ye av a mornin' wid her
own white hands, an' to watch out o' the dure for ye in the avenin,' an'
put on a sod o' turf whin she sees ye comin', ye'd be a betther man,' says
he.

"'Bedad, it's not aisey for to conthravene that same,' says Finn, 'barrin'
I mightn't git wan like that. Wimmin is like angels,' says he. 'There's
two kinds av 'em, an' the wan that shmiles like a dhrame o' heaven afore
she's marr'd, is the wan that gits to be a tarin' divil afther her
market's made an' she's got a husband.'

"Ye see Finn was a mighty smart young felly, if he was a giont, but his
father didn't give up hope av gettin' him marr'd, for owld folks that's
been through a dale o' throuble that-a-way always thries to get the young
wans into the same thrap, beways, says they, av taichin' thim to larn
something. But Bryan was a wise owld giont, an' knewn, as the Bible says,
there's time enough for all things. So he quit him, an' that night he
spake wid the owld woman an' left it wid her, as knowin' that whin it's a
matther o' marryin', a woman is more knowledgable an' can do more to bring
on that sort o' mis'ry in wan day than a man can in all the years God
gives him.

"Now, in ordher that ye see the pint, I'm undher the need-cessity av
axplainin' to yer Anner that Finn didn't be no manes h