if she was made av goold. Begob, she's too big. I want
no hogs'ead av a girl like her,' says he. 'If I'm to be marr'd, I want a
little woman. They're betther o' their size, an' it don't take so much to
buy gowns for thim, naither do they ate so much,' says he.

"'A-a-ah, baithershin,' says his mother to him; 'phat d'ye mane be talkin'
that-a-way, an' me workin' me fingers to the bone clanin' the house for
ye, an' relavin' ye av all the coortin' so as ye'd not be bothered in the
laste wid it.'

"'Shmall thanks to ye,' says Finn, 'sure isn't the coortin' the best share
o' the job?'

[Illustration: "AN' WHO ARE YOU, ME DEAR?" SAYS FINN, LOOKIN' UP.]

"AN' WHO ARE YOU, ME DEAR?" SAYS FINN, LOOKIN' UP.

"'Don't ye mane to marry her?' says his mother.

"'Divil a toe will I go wid her,' says Finn.

"'Out, ye onmannerly young blaggard, I'd tell ye to go to the divil, but
ye're on the way fast enough, an' bad luck to the fut I'll shtir to halt
ye. Only I'm sorry for Burthey,' says she, 'wid her new gown made. When
her brother comes back, begob 'tis he that'll be the death av ye immejitly
afther he dhrops his two eyes on ye.'

"'Aisey now,' says Finn, 'if he opens his big mouth at me, I'll make him
wondher why he wasn't born deef an' dumb,' says he, an' so he would, for
all that he was so paceable.

"Afther that, phat was his mother to do but lave aff an' go to bed, that
she done, givin' Finn all the talk in her head an' a million curses
besides, for she was mightily vexed at bein' bate that way an' was in a
divil av a timper along o' the house-clanin', that always puts wimmin into
a shtate av mind.

"So the next day the news was towld, an' Finn got to be a holy show for
the nabers, bekase av not marryin' Burthey an' wantin' the barmaid. They
were afeared to say annything to himself about it, for he'd an arm on him
the thick o' yer waist, an' no wan wanted to see how well he cud use it,
but they'd whisper afther him, an' whin he wint along the road, they'd
pint afther him, an' by an' by a giont like himself, an uncle av him,
towld him he'd betther lave the counthry, an' so he thought he'd do an'
made ready for to shtart.

"But poor Burthey pined wid shame an' grief at the loss av him, for she
loved him wid all the heart she had, an' that was purty big. So she fell
aff her weight, till from the size av a hogs'ead she got no bigger round
than a barrel an' was like to die. But all the time she kept on h