is, the betther they like
him, as knowin' they can manage him all the aisier. So it was wid Finn an'
his little wife, for be hook an' be crook she rejuiced him in that
obejince that if she towld him for to go an' shtand on his head in the
corner, he'd do it wid the risk av his life, bekase he'd wanted to die an'
go to heaven as he heard the priest say there was no marryin' there, an'
though he didn't dare to hint it, he belaved in his sowl that the rayzon
was the wimmin didn't get that far.

[Illustration: Music: When I Was Single.]

"Afther they'd been living here about a year, Finn thought he'd fish a bit
an' so help along, considherin' he'd a big family an' none o' the childher
owld enough for to work. So he got a boat an' did purty well an' his wife
used to come acrass the hill to the shore to help him wid the catch. But
it was far up an' down agin an' she'd get tired wid climbin' the hill an'
jawing at Finn on the way.

"So wan day as they were comin' home, they passed a cabin an' there was
the man that lived there, that was only a ditcher, a workin' away on the
side av the hill down the path to the shpring wid a crowbar, movin' a big
shtone, an' the shweat rollin' in shtrames aff his face.

"'God save ye,' says Finn to him.

"'God save ye kindly,' says he to Finn.

"'It's a bizzy man ye are,' says Finn.

"'Thrue for ye,' says the ditcher. 'It's along o' the owld woman. "The way
to the shpring is too stape an' shtoney," says she to me, an' sure, I'm
afther makin' it aisey for her.'

"'Ye're the kind av a man to have,' says Missis Finn, shpakin' up. 'Sure
all wimmin isn't blessed like your wife,' says she, lookin' at Finn, who
let on to laugh when he wanted to shwear. They had some more discoorse,
thin Finn an' his wife wint on, but it put a big notion into her head. If
the bogthrotter, that was only a little ottommy, 'ud go to work like that
an' make an aisey path for his owld woman to the shpring, phat's the
rayzon Finn cudn't fall to an' dig a path through the mountains, so she
cud go to the say an' to the church on the shore widout breakin' her back
climbin' up an' then agin climbin' down. 'T was the biggest consate iver
in the head av her, an' she wasn't wan o' thim that 'ud let it cool aff
for the want o' talkin' about it, so she up an' towld it to Finn, an' got
afther him to do it. Finn wasn't aiger for to thry, bekase it was Satan's
own job, so he held out agin all her scholdin' an'