The Project Gutenberg EBook of Irish Ned, by Samuel Fea

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Title: Irish Ned
The Winnipeg Newsy

Author: Samuel Fea

Release Date: January 15, 2008 [EBook #24309]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: IRISH NED]

IRISH NED

THE WINNIPEG NEWSY

By

THE REV. SAMUEL FEA, M.A., Ph.D.
Rector of St. Peter's, Winnipeg

TORONTO
WILLIAM BRIGGS
1910

Copyright, Canada, 1910, by SAMUEL FEA.

TO

My Mother

TO WHOSE
LOVE I OWE SO
MUCH

IRISH NED

THE WINNIPEG NEWSY.

CHAPTER I.

"Free Press! T'bune! Telegram! Papers, sir? Three for a nickel! Press,
T'bune and Telegr-r-r-ra-m-m-m-m!"

It was a hot afternoon in August, at the corner of Portage Avenue and
Main Street, the busiest thoroughfare in the busy city of Winnipeg, now
at its busiest and noisiest; but above the noise and din of traffic
rose shrill and clear the persistent cry of "Press, T'bune and
Telegram!"

The speaker, or rather the shrieker, was a boy not more than nine years
old, and was at the first glance just an ordinary boy, except that he
was small for his apparent age. His clothes were patched in places, and
his boots were worn considerably, and the uppers were just beginning to
gape at the crack across the top; but the clothes were neat and clean,
and his boots were brushed. His hair was of the straw-coloured variety,
with a tendency to red, but it was not tousled or unkempt, but neatly
combed; while his little cap was not on straight but pushed back
carelessly, just showing a pair of clear but dark-blue Irish eyes and a
broad, low forehead.

His neatness compelled a second glance, and the second look at him
proved interesting. The boy's face was bright, cheerful and attractive,
for with all the innocence written upon it there was also the knowledge
of good and evil, together with the shrewdness born of an early
exp