ly he set before Ould Michael the
warfare appointed unto men against the world, the flesh and the Devil;
and then, with a quick turn, he said:

"An' He is calling to all true men, 'Follow me!'"

"An' wud He have the like av me?" asked Ould Michael, doubtfully.

"Ay, that He would and set you some fightin'."

"Then," said Ould Michael, "I'm wid Him." And no soldier in that warfare
ever donned the uniform with simpler faith or wore it with truer heart
than did Ould Michael.

Meantime I had, through political friends, set things in motion at
Ottawa for the reinstating of Ould Michael in his position as postmaster
at Grand Bend, and this, backed up by a petition, which through
McFarquhar's efforts bore the name of every old-timer in the valleys,
brought about the desired end. So one bright day, when Ould Michael was
sunning himself on his porch, the stage drove up to his door and, as in
the old days, dropped the mail-bag. Ould Michael stood up and, waving
his hand to the driver, said:

"Shure, ye've made a mistake; an' I'm not blamin' ye."

"Not much," said the driver. "I always bring my mail to the postmaster."

"Hurrah!" I sung out. "God save the Queen!"

The little crowd that had gathered round took up my cheer.

"What do ye mean, byes?" said Ould Michael, weakly.

"It means," said McFarquhar, "that if you have the strength you must
look after your mail as the postmaster should."

There was a joyous five minutes of congratulation; then the precession
formed as before and, led by Ould Michael, marched into the old cabin.
With trembling fingers Ould Michael cut the strings and selected his
letter--

"But there'll be no more celebration, byes," he said, nor was there.

[Transcriber's Notes:

Standardized punctuation.
Left one instance of clasp-knife and one of clasp knife.
Page 10: Changed tell to tall.
Page 29: Changed extarordinary to extraordinary.]

End of Project Gutenberg's Michael McGrath, Postmaster, by Ralph Connor

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