Citation
A True story of long ago

Material Information

Title:
A True story of long ago
Series Title:
"Little Dot" series
Creator:
Lyster, Annette ( Author, Primary )
Religious Tract Society (Great Britain) ( Publisher )
Pardon and Sons ( Printer )
Place of Publication:
London
Publisher:
Religious Tract Society
Manufacturer:
Pardon & Sons
Publication Date:
Language:
English
Physical Description:
64, [16] p., [1] leaf of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 16 cm.

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Christian life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Grandmothers -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Domestics -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Soldiers -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Death -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Loyalty -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
History -- Juvenile fiction -- Ireland -- Rebellion of 1798 ( lcsh )
Publishers' catalogues -- 1894 ( rbgenr )
Baldwin -- 1894
Genre:
Publishers' catalogues ( rbgenr )
novel ( marcgt )
Spatial Coverage:
England -- London
Target Audience:
juvenile ( marctarget )

Notes

General Note:
Date of publication from inscription.
General Note:
Frontispiece printed in colors.
General Note:
Publisher's catalogue follows text and on endpapers.
Statement of Responsibility:
by Annette Lyster.

Record Information

Source Institution:
University of Florida
Holding Location:
University of Florida
Rights Management:
This item is presumed to be in the public domain. The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not claim any copyright interest in this item. Users of this work have responsibility for determining copyright status prior to reusing, publishing or reproducing this item for purposes other than what is allowed by fair use or other copyright exemptions. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions may require permission of the copyright holder. The Smathers Libraries would like to learn more about this item and invite individuals or organizations to contact The Department of Special and Area Studies Collections (special@uflib.ufl.edu) with any additional information they can provide.
Resource Identifier:
026855556 ( ALEPH )
ALH3832 ( NOTIS )
222013572 ( OCLC )

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SERIES

each with a

COLOUR Esp
FRONTISPIECE

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The Bodk of Books
Springfield Stores,
Little Dot
John Thomson's Nurseru.
| Two Way
Ethel R {ipon
En 1e Cone
anny Ashiey.
a Gamekeepers Daughter.
Fred Kenny
Old Humphreys Study Table. *
Jenny's Waterproof
The Holy Well
The Travelling Sixpence.
The Three Flowers.
Lost and Rescued.
Lightbearers & Beacons.
Little Lottie.
Tne Dog of St. Bernard
isaac Gould, the Waggoner. ay
Unele Ruperts StoriesforBoys ie
Ureaming and Dorma P
Many Ways of being Useful
Rachel Rivers
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s a ith
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.
56. PATERNOSTER Row, LONDON.





“NO, YOU CAN'T. PULL HIM FROM ME!”





Little Dot Series.







A TRUE STORY.
OF LONG AGO.

BY

ANNETTE LYSTER,

Author o ; e
“ Warry's Perpiexiry,” “ANNIE Brycr,” “ Kart Krar?’s.”
_LirrLte MAIpEns, 2

”

ETC.



THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY:
56, PATERNOSTER Row; 65, St. ‘PAUL’s CHURCHYARD 3
AND 164, PICCADILLY.











A TRUE STORY OF LONG AGO.

CHAPTER I.

“ GRANDMAMMA.”




“\@\ Hatt I tell you a story of
7) IS. ©) things that happened long
ago—a true story? It was
all long before I was born ;
nay, for that matter, my
father and mother were not
born at that time. Perhaps you may here
remark that, these things being so, I have

no way of knowing that what I tell you
is true; but in- this you would be very
much mistaken, for I heard of these events



4 A True Story of Long Ago.

from those who remembered them only too
well,—from those who had lived through the
troublous times of which they spoke, and
were by no means likely to forget anything
that happened then.

It was chiefly from my grandmother that I
learned the few facts that could be told to a
young child, concerning her adventures and the
adventures of her children and neighbours, in
the great Irish rebellion of ’98. My dear,
dear old grannie! She had been a beauty in
her youth, and as I remember her, she was
such a sweet-looking old lady. She was a
little woman, plump and round-about, with
brown eyes, in which there was a curious
expression of kindness: and fear. She had
broken her leg when no longer a young woman,
and she walked with a stick—a stick with a
crutch handle of ivory, a gift from an old
friend. The pit, pat, of that stick along the
matted passages of our house is one of my
earliest memories, and I have the stick now in
my own possession. I can tell you, I would
not change it for almost anything you could
offer me. It was not the fashion in those
days for old ladies to show their white hair; so,
although grandmamma had plenty, silver white,



“— Grandmamma.” 5

and very pretty, as silver white hair always is,
she wore a brown front, dressed in large soft
curls, or, rather, rolls, on either side of her
forehead—a front which I should think never
took any one in, or could even be accused of
trying to do so. Her own hair she kept coiled —
up, out of sight; and she wore a cap that
was a cap, tied under her chin, and frilled
all round her nice old face with a deep
border of lace. It was also warmly lined with
dark brown silk.

This dear old lady had many ways of
pleasing and teaching me, her graceless grand-
child. She used to have me in her room
every morning while she dressed, and make
me say hymns for her. ‘I praise the goodness
and the grace,’ was the beginning of one of
them, and to this day the words bring back to:
me the dear old lady in her grey dressing-
gown, brushing her long white hair. It was
then I discovered that her hair was white,
and that the brown curls were not the natural
growth of her own head. She often got me
to read the Bible for her, too, and I liked
this, when she did not make me go on too
long—I mean too long according to my
own notions. And she also told me stories,



6 A True Story of Long Ago.

which I liked best of all. How lucky I
thought myself when I could get her to
begin about old times.

I do not know, looking back now, whether I
actually believed, or, rather, quite realised, that
this gentle-looking old lady had actually lived
through the scenes she spoke of, and that the
“ Miss Catty”’ of her stories was my beautiful
aunt, who sat at her embroidery frame count-
ing her stitches so quietly. I suppose I
believed without thinking much about it, as
children do, for I do not remember feeling at
all frightened or afraid that such thifigs could
ever occur again, though I was a dreadful
little coward, full of silly frights and fears
about things that never happened, and, I may
say, never could happen ; for you know it was
not likely that’ a wolf would ever really come
trotting slowly along a dark passage which lay
outside the room in which I slept; nor did the
earthquake I felt beginning so often ever
arrive, however dark the night. I have lived
to know that some things, which I feared so
much that I did not dare to draw a long
breath as I lay in my snug bed, were not
really to be feared at all; and that the
things I listened to as amusing stories, with-



“© Grandmammna.” 7

out a thought of alarm, might very easily
happen again, and not prove amusing in the

least.
And it seems to me that some of these

anecdotes are worth recording for the benefit
of the little ones of to-day. ,

There was another dear old woman in my
childhood’s home, who could have told me many
a thrilling story of the rebellion, but she never
did. Her name was Peggy Devereux. When
my grandmother was about sixteen, she lost
her mother, and there were a great many
brothers and sisters, of whom she was tho
eldest. Her father placed the housekeeping in
her hands, and desired her to choose a girl
from among his tenant’s daughters to be her
own personal attendant, and to help her in the
task of sewing for the younger children. Miss
Kitty, as she was called in those days, chose
Peggy Devereux, and events proved that she
had made a good choice. Peggy was a year
younger than her mistress, and from that time
until they were both very old they were never
parted. Then Peggy died, and her old mis-
tress did not stay with us long after the death
of her faithful servant and friend.

In appearance, Peggy, as I remember her,



8 A True Story of Long Ago.

was a curious little double of her mistress. She
was about the same height, but much slighter.
She also wore a brown front—I rather think
she inherited the old one when her mistress got
anew one.. She wore a cap with full borders
of plain net, lined with brown silk, and tied
under her chin, just like the one worn by
dear grandmamma.

Many a story did she tell me about my
father, and my many aunts and uncles, every
one of whom she loved as if they were her own
children; but she never spoke of the rebellion
times. She-could not—she was a very timid
woman, and never got over her fright; and
there was another reason. One of those who
were “the children” in that time, was dead ;
and of him Peggy never could speak. All her
nurslings had been dear to her, but this boy the
dearest of all.

But it is time now to begin my ‘story
regularly.

“Miss Kitty” married young, and very hap-
pily. Her husband was a barrister, but, like
many loyal Irish gentlemen of those days,
he was also a soldier, after a fashion. He
belonged to a Yeomanry Cavalry regiment,
which wore a light blue uniform, and which I



“ Grandmamma.” 9

believe did good service when the time of need
came.

Mr. and Mrs. Leslie, as I shall call them,
lived in-a pretty country place within a few
miles of the seaport town of Wexford; that
is, they lived there in summer, for they
always spent the winter months in Wexford,
as was the habit of those times. When Mr.
Leslie went on circuit, he rode his own horse
the whole way, carrying everything he was
likely to want in a knapsack, and riding well
armed with sword and pistols, the latter kept
loaded and ready. Nor did he travel alone—
the country was in too disturbed a state for
that to be safe. All the lawyers of the circuit
travelled together, and merry times they had,
riding along the familiar roads, and sometimes
stopping for the night at some hospitable house
where their coming was looked forward to as
one of the pleasant events of the year. Mr.
Leslie was ‘certain to be well received, for he
‘was one of the most delightful companions in
the world, and could sing a song or tell a story
nearly as well as his friend, Tommy Moore,
the poet.

Yet, however pleasant his journey might
be, he was always glad to find himself again



10 A True Story of Long Ago.

jogging along the hilly roads of Wexford, and
drawing nearer at every step to his dear little
home, his dear little wife, and his dear little
children. . There were several children, but, at
the time of which I am about to tell you, some
of them had been sent to Dublin, where they
were staying with old Mr. and Mrs. Leslie,
their grandparents. There were two at home
—John, a sturdy boy of five or six, and little
Catty, aged three.





11

CHAPTER I.
THE WARNING.

pr ever you see a picture by”
Sir. Thomas Lawrence, called
“The Gipsy “Maiden” —a
lovely little girl, but I fear
not a very good one, as she
is represented in the act of
stealing some fat hens off a
perch—you will then know
what Miss Catty was like,
for when she was twelve or

thirteen she might have sat for
that picture, with the dark beautiful face and
the flashing black eyes.

Mr. and Mrs. Leslie were well off in those
days, and-had a good many servants in their
employment—among them a man called Tom
Kelly, who had a twin brother, so like him,
that, as Tom observed, he was not very sure
himself whether he was Tom or Jem. This
brother was also in service in a distant part of





12 A True Story of Long Ago.

the country, and his master was a Mr. Harvey,
who afterwards became only too famous as one
of the rebel leaders. Both the Kellys called
themselves their master’s coachman, but Tom,
at least, did a great deal of work to which a
real dignified coachman would seriously object.
On the rare occasions when the carriage—a
large heavy open vehicle of I know not what
class, which held four inside, two on the
“ dickey,” and two on a seat at the back which
could be removed at -pleasure,—when this
carriage was brought out, Tom Kelly certainly
put on a coachman’s coat with many capes,
and drove his mistress carefully and well,
though his horses were at least as well used to
the plough as to the shafts. But Tom was.
also the gardener, and Tom looked after the
cows, and Tom fed the pigs; and when the
family went into Wexford for the winter, Tom
took care of the house in the country.

Well, in the year 1797, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie
had moved into town, and were enjoying the
cheery social life which has so completely
deserted our country towns nowadays, when,
one day in the month of November, they were
surprised by an unexpected visit from Tom
Kelly. _You must know that all over Ireland



The Warning. 13

there was a terrible amount of discontent and
disloyalty; but until now this particular county
had been believed to be quite free from these
feelings. Tom Kelly gave out that he had
come to get directions about some pigs that were
not fattening as wellas they ought ; but he took
a private opportunity to urge his master, very
earnestly, “to take the misthress an’ the
childher and go to Dublin, if not to England.”

He refused to give his reasons for this
advice; but declared that if it became known
that he had warned his master, his life would
not be worth a straw. Several other families
received similar warnings, and a good many
made their escape to Dublin during the rest of
the winter. I think, but am not quite certain,
that it was at this time that some of the little
Leslies were sent away, and that John and
Catty were ill, and could notgo. A great
many laughed at the warnings, and remained
quietly at home.

Presently the common people found out that
reports were believed about them, and they
declared themselves quite shocked — nothing,
they said, was farther from their thoughts
than rebellion, and they even came forward in
great numbers, of their own accord, to take the



14° A True Story of Long Ago.

oath of allegiance, that is, to swear solemnly
that they were loyal subjects to the king.
They flocked into Wexford to take this oath,
and it so happened that a young gentleman,
whom the ‘Leslies knew well, was standing by,
listening and watching, as the proper officers ad-
ministered the oath to one man after another.
Something in their faces struck this youth as
being very comical, and he burst out laughing.
Those of the people who were near turned and
looked at him, and somehow, that look—sullen,
anxious, and suspicious—made all who saw it
feel very sure that the oath these men were
taking would bind them only until they chose
to break it. And that poor, gay, idle lad paid
dear for his laugh.

The winter passed quietly, however. Mr.
Leslie put off his return to his country house,
and still had some thoughts of taking the
rest of his family to Dublin; but he went on
putting it off from day to day, everything
seemed to be so much as usual. Lent came
and passed without anything unusual. Laster
was over; and Whitsunday arrived.

Very early on that; memorable Whitsunday,
a gentleman, who lived within a few miles of
the town, arrived in haste, to warn the officers



The Warning. 15

commanding the soldiers that there was mis-
chief going on. His house had been surrounded
during the night by an armed mob; his guns
and pistols had been taken away, and also a
great lot of fire-arms which had been kept
there ever since the Government had disarmed
the people. Also, he said that all night long
great signal fires had been blazing on all the
hills within sight. Then came others, from —
other parts of the country, with the same
story; and others again who said that the
people were all flocking to Oulart, a village a ©
few miles off; and also to Kilthomas Hill, a
place much farther away. There could be no
doubt that the dreaded rebellion had begun
at last, and that the rebels had cut off all
retreat to Dublin.

The soldiers made very light of it all! No
one was to be frightened; no one should be
hurt or injured. They would just march out
to Oulart, and make an example of the traitors
who were gathering there. The garrison of
Enniscorthy would give a good account of
those at Kilthomas Hill; and then this won-
derful rebellion would never be heard of again.

So out they marched in the early morning,
and in due time the bell rang for church,



6 A True Story of Long Ago.

and to church all the ladies went. As to the
gentlemen, some had ridden out after the
troops, some had gone to their country houses
to see what they could save, and those
belonging to the Yeomanry were busy getting
their men together, and preparing to march if
called upon.

The service began at twelve o’clock, and it
was about half-past one when the rector left
the reading-desk and retired to the vestry-
room, to put on the black gown in which
clergymen of that day always preached. Mrs.
Leslie, sitting alone in her big square pew,
observed that a man came hastily into the
church, and went straight to the vestry-room.
She felt frightened—she hardly knew why.
But in a few minutes the vestry door opened
again, and the rector came out, still in his
white surplice. As he walked slowly along,
every one saw that he was very pale. He
came and stood before the congregation,
and said—

“My friends, there is evil news. It is
feared that the rebels have outnumbered and
overcome our troops, and if this is truly the
case they may march into Wexford before
night. Any of you who have children at home,



The Warning. 17

or who feel that you cannot so command your-
selves as to profit by partaking of the Holy
Communion, I think will do well to leave the
church now. I will preach no sermon to-day ;
but I will stay and give the sacrament to all
who remain for it.”

And was not that a sermon in itself? or
the rector was well known to be a timid man
by nature, and yet God helped him to be a
hero on that terrible Whitsunday. A few
remained, and he kept his word, and went
through the service just as usual. I think you
will be glad to hear that this good old man
was saved from the fate which overtook so
many clergymen just then, by the gratitude
of some poor people to whom he had been
kind when they were prisoners in Wexford
jail.

But in thus admiring this good man, do not
let us forget what he would have been the
first to acknowledge—that his strength and
courage were not his own, but given him by
God. Nothing but faith in God could have
carried the rector of Wexford through that
terrible day.

I used to wish, long ago, that my dear
grandmamma had been one of the few brave

1



18 A True Story of Long Ago.

women who stayed in church; but she always
declared that she was on her way home before
she knew what she was doing.

Late in the evening, the officer in command,
who had marched out that morning at the
head of a right gallant little army, came back,
sore wounded; and with him came one poor
soldier. Two more crept back during the
night. The rest were all dead—officers and
men; these alone escaped.

But another body of soldiers had been more
fortunate, and had driven the rebels away from
Kalthomas Hill. This was the reason that
those at Oulart did not at once march into
Wexford. The Yeomanry Cavalry got orders
to join the troops at Enniscorthy, and many
of the officers determined to send their wives
and families over to Wales, as it was impossible
to take them with them. The harbour was full
of small merchant vessels, and one can almost
see the coast of Wales in clear weather; so this
seemed to be a good plan. The captains of
the ships required a heavy payment, but that
was to be expected. Money was hastily
collected, valuables packed up, and then the
poor ladies and their little ones were put on
board, and the husbands and fathers stood on



The Warning. 19

the quay and watched them sail out of the
harbour. What a load was taken off their
minds when the last straggler of the little fleet
was safe over the bar, and the white sails
grew small and smaller in the distance. But,
oh! what a sad parting it was! and many of
those who parted there never met again in this
world.

Mrs. Leslie and her two children were on
board a tiny coal vessel, belonging to Wex-
ford, and with them was the faithful Peggy
Devereux, who would not be left behind.

Poor Peggy was a Roman Catholic, and
remained one all her life; yet in this time of
eruel anxiety she and her dear mistress prayed
together for those they loved so well, and for
their own deliverance from danger. Indeed,
all through the short but trying voyage, the
voice of prayer went up from that stifling
little cabin, and it may have been then and
there that my dear grandmother learned the
comfort there is in casting all our care on
God, “for He careth for thee.”

It is Thy hand, my God;
My sorrow comes from Thee ;

I bow beneath Thy chastening rod,
’Tis love that bruises me.



20 A True Story of Long Ago.

My God, Thy name is Love;
A Father’s hand is Thine;
With tearful eyes I look above,
And cry,—Thy will be done!

Jesus for me hath died;
Thy Son Thou didst not spare ;
His piercéd hands, His bleeding side,
Thy love for me declare.
Here my poor heart can rest;
My God, it cleaves to Thee;
Thy will is love, Thine end is blest,
All work for good to me.

When the voyage came to its terrible end,
and she found herself cast forth, defenceless
among cruel enemies, she may for a while have
thought that her prayers were unheard; she
soon knew that it was not so, and all her life
long she never ceased to return thanks for the
way in which she and those dear to her were
cared for and kept from the fate which seemed
so certain.





CHAPTER ITI.
A Prritous Voyacr.

2unBy ought to have been
reached at the outside in
two days—that is, if the
sailors had ever really in-
tended to take them there.
It was very wretched in the
grimy, stuffy little cabin.
Mrs. Leslie and Peggy
were very sick, and Miss
Catty just sick enough to
be sleepy ; but John, a fine
sturdy little fellow, was not
sick at all, and wanted to be on deck all day.
Peggy wished to keep him quiet, for the two
or three sailors seemed rough and surly, and
She feared them, though she was very far
from believing that they meant any harm.

_ Whenever poor Peggy, worn out with sea-
sickness, fell into an uneasy doze, John was off;
and many a time she had to drag herself on





22 A True Story of Long Ago.

deck and bring him back to the cabin. One
horrible night had passed, and they were
beginning to hope that soon they might be
released from their misery, when Peggy per-
ceived that Master John was again a truant.
She was really too ill to go for him at once, so
he was much longer on deck than he had
been before; but at last she found herself able
to go after him.

Every other time she had found the boy
alone; the men seemed to avoid him. This
time, on the contrary, the whole crew, which
consisted of two men, the master, or captain,
and a boy, had gathered round the child ;. and
it seemed to Peggy that he was either angry or
frightened, and that the men looked strangely
at him.

It never was made very clear how this affair
began. Perhaps the child overheard some
remark which showed him that the ship was
on her way back to Wexford; but he was
almost too young to understand what that
meant. Or perhaps he was in their way, and
they had ordered him back to the cabin;
in-which case he was pretty sure to give a
saucy answer. But it never was known for
certain how it happened,—but as Peggy



A Perilous Voyage. 23

stopped in a fright to listen, she heard one of
the men say—

“Aw who are you, my young cock, that
crows so fine?”

“My name is John Leslie,” answered the
little fellow, boldly, “and my father is Jack
Leslie, of the Blues, and they’ve gone to kill
all the wicked rebels.”

The men raised a mocking laugh—and yet
it sounded angry, too. The captain told the
child that “by that time the Blues were sing-
ing a very different tune! they knew what the
people were made of now!” and one of the
men seized him roughly by the collar, and
shook him, saying—

“So you’re Jack Leslie’s son, are ye? I’ve
a good mind to pitch ye overboard, for a meal
for the fishes! D’ye hear me?”

“Tm not a bit afraid of you,” said the boy,
looking wp at him.

“A vale hard, black Protestant!” said the
man; “over ye go, for ’t would be a pity to
give ye even a chance of escape.”

He took hold of the boy—Peggy believed
then, and believed to her dying day, that he
‘was really going to fling him into the sea. |
She darted forward and locked her arms fast



24 A True Story of Long Ago.

round the child before the sailors were aware
of her presence.

“Now,” she said, desperately, “if you throw
him over, you must throw me, too—a disgrace
to you, for I’m one of you! one of yourselves.
I’m Irish, and a Catholic. I’m the daughter
of old Devereux, of Silver Farm. No, you
can’t pull him from.me! If you murder the
innocent child, you must murder me too, that’s
your own flesh and blood.”

She clung to the boy with all her might.
The sailor tried, but not very heartily, to drag
him away; and the captain said, in a surly

‘ tone—

“Tt’s no great matter ; he’ll meet with those
that won’t mind you, Peggy Devereux. ‘Take
him to the cabin, an’ keep him there, since
yow’re so mighty fond of him-”

Peggy lost no time, you may be sure, in
dragging Master John into the stuffy little
cabin, where she scolded him well under her
breath, and even cuffed him when he failed to
appear penitent. She said she wished in her
heart he was as sea-sick as the rest of them,
and then he’d be glad to stay quict. But as it
was, the boy seemed content to be quiet now
—he made no more stolen expeditions on deck.



AL Perilous Voyage. 20

Mrs. Leslie had been lying in a kind of
sleep while this took place, but when she
heard Peggy speaking so earnestly, she woke
up. é
“What is the matter?” she said. “ What
has Jchn been about?” .

“He goes on deck, ma’am, and it is not safe
for him; them men are rude and surly,”
Peggy answered, giving John a look which
warned him not to tell his mother about his
adventure.

“John,” Mrs. Leslie said, “you must not
give Peggy unnecessary trouble. ‘I am too
sick to get up and help her; so you must try
to be very good.”

“So he will, ma’am,” said Peggy, kissing
her darling. “ An’ now, ma’am, go on prayiw’
whenever ye can, for I think your prayers
were his safeguards this very day. A’
surely, God only can bring us safe through
such times as these.” But Peggy did not tell
her mistress what had happened till after-
wards; nor did she mention her horrible
suspicion that the sailors were playing them
false.

But in a few hours more the little vessel
ceased to toss and plunge, and they knew that



26 A True Story of Long Ago.

they were in some harbour. Mrs. Leslie felt
better, and getting up, helped Peggy to collect
their belongings and dress the two children
neatly. Then they went on deck—and you
may fancy their- dismay when they found
themselves nearly alongside of the familiar
quay of Wexford. Nor was that all. Strange
figures were hurrying to and fro, armed with
guns or long pikes—wild-looking figures with
green scarves. It was plain that the rebels
were in possession of the town.

There was no use in reproaching the sailors,
who stood there grinning, well pleased at their
performance. Yet seldom, surely, has a more
cruel and treacherous thing been done. There
were many other vessels at the quay, and Mrs.
Leslie saw that they were all landing their
passengers. As soon as the ship was near
enough, a plank was shoved out, the other end
of which reached the quay.

“You can go ashore now,” said the captain,
rudely. Mrs. Leslie did not even look at
him. She lifted her little Catty in her arms,
Peggy followed with the boy, and in silence
they crossed the plank to the quay.

No sooner had they set foot on the firm land,
than a man who was standing ‘among a number



A Perilous Voyage. 27

of others, all alike adorned with green ribbons
and cockades, and armed with murderous-
looking pikes, left the group, and came
towards them.

“Thisfamily,” said he, “is under Mr. Harvey’s
protection ;” and as he spoke, he made a hasty
sign to Peggy, who was just going to scream.
Mrs. Leslie looked up, and saw that it was
Tom Kelly. He took the little girl from her,
and said aloud—

“Yow’re tocome with me. Ihave my orders
about you.” Then, in a low voice: “ Hould
on to me, ma’am, and look nayther to the right
hand nor the left, but keep your eyes on Miss
Catty and step out. Ill guide you. Peggy, .
whisht! not a word out of you. I£ you love
your life, walk quick, and don’t lose the child.”

Mis. Leslie obeyed him to the letter; she
held on by his arm, and kept her eyes fixed on
the little one, who fortunately was frightened
enough to be very quiet. Tom hurried the
little party away from the quay; he did not
even delay long enough to go on board to
bring off anything they had left there. For-
tunately Mrs. Leslie had put her money and
such other articles of value as she had with -
her into her pockets. A lady’s pockets in those



28 A True Story of Long Ago.

days could hold a good deal. Peggy kept up
with them, dragging her charge along, but she
could not keep her eyes from wandering, and
she saw things that haunted her dreams as
long as she lived. Close to the edge of the
quay, just where they landed, lay the dead body
of the poor lad who had laughed at the solemn
farce of the “taking the oath” months ago.
That careless laugh had cost him his young life.

Tom hurried on, and they were soon away
from the quay, and the main streets, and in
the quieter part of the town where the good
houses were. He led them to the house in
which they had lived all the winter, and they
reached it in safety. But there had been
rough visitors there since they left it. Much
of their furniture had been carried off, and the
rest was all broken and destroyed. A picture
of Mrs. Leslie’s grandmother, who had been a
‘beauty in her day, had been fired at, and the
holes made by the bullets are visible to this
day.

The forlorn party darted in when Tom
succeeded in turning the key, and this scene
of ruin met their eyes. The children shouted ;
Mrs. Leslie sank down on the stairs and
began to cry.



A Perilous Voyage. 29

“ Whisht, ma’am! don’t do that, alannah!
ye’re better off this minute than some! Sure
most of the poor ladies an’ childher are locked up
in the court house, and what will become of them,
I can’t tell ye. See here, now,” producing a
sheet of paper, “this saves ye. Shure yester-
day I went to the jail, where they’d put Mr.
Harvey and Mr. Colclough and another gentle-
man, I don’t know his name, just to keep ’em out
of mischief, like. An’ I got in easy, for they
took me for Jem, an’ I saw Mr. Harvey, very
comfortable, playing cards, he was, an’ he
took me for Jem too, till I said, “Mr. Harvey,
give me the scratch of your pen to save my
mistress an’ the little ones, for I do hear that
the ship means to bring ’em back here, an’ the
boys will be here by to-morrow. So he wrote
it; and not very long after he was out of jail,
and gineral of the Irish army, not a less!”

“What! Mr. Harvey, your brother’s mas-
ter! Oh, Tom, surely that’s impossible !’”.

“Tt’s true, for all that, ma’am, he’s the
gineral; but it’s little the boys mind him,
I’m thinking. Now, ma’am, I’ve got some
bread here, an’ milk, an’ you just get some
food an’ then some sleep, for it won’t do to stay
here more than this night if we can help it.”



30 A True Story of Long Ago.

Ido not know where Tom then hoped to
hide his poor mistress, but when the next day
came he told her that it would be impossible
to get her secretly out of the town. For
some time they were obliged to remain in
their once comfortable home, keeping in the
back rooms, and not daring to light a candle
(if indeed they had one) lest the light should
betray them.

The only thing that Mrs. Leslie could do
to help the poor children through the weary
hours was to tell them stories; and her heart
was so heavy, that of all her store of fairy tales
and little made-up stories she could remember
none. But she had a small Bible in her pocket,
and out of this she half-told, half-read many a
lovely story to the poor little creatures, too
young even to understand why she was so
frightened. These readings pleased the children,
but to the reader they brought new strength
every day. The words had long been familiar,
but now they seemed to live. One day she was
reading the history of Joseph, and when she
paused at the end of the chapter which tells
how his brethren threw him into the pit, John
said—

“T think it was like the pit in the cabin of



A Perilous Voyage. bl

that ship, mother. But if Reuben loved Joseph
and wished to save him, why didn’t he do as
Peggy did for me when the wicked sailors were
going to throw me into the seaP Peggy.
put her arms round me, and said, ‘Then you
must throw me in too;’ and then they let me
go.”

“What do you mean? Peggy, what is the
child talking of ? ”

Peggy told the story; she had no idea that
she had done anything wonderful; but you
can imagine what the mother thought of it.
That evening, when the children were asleep,
the two women sat talking in whispers together,
and Mrs. Leslie said—

“Peggy, I somehow feel swe the children
will be saved. That was a great deliverance on
board the ship. I never can tell you what I
feel, Peggy,—my brave, good Pegey! But
God sent you just at the right moment; and so
I feel as if He will bring the poor children safe
out of this place. I don’t care so much about
myself, if they were safe, though I am a great
coward. I am not brave like you.”

“Not brave!” Peggy said. “Why, dear
heart, when I listen to you telling those things
to the children, so quiet and calm, I think to



82 A True Story of Long Ago.

myself, ‘How can she do it, when she knows
that any moment we may be found, and——’ ”

“Every time I feel like that,” Mrs. Leslie
said, simply, “I just lift wp my heart, and say,
‘Lord, give me strength to do my duty to-day,’
and then I think only of what has to be done.
The end of it allis in His hands. Isn’t that a
comfort, Peggy? Not in the hands of these
wretched people; but in God’s hands. Oh, I do
pray that He will save my Johnnie and little
Catty !”





38 ©

CHAPTER LY.
An Anxious PArrina.

Be EARFUL things happened in
Wexford during this time; but
the poor prisoners, for prisoners
they were obliged to make
themselves, knew nothing of
what was going on. Tom
Kelly came occasionally, and
brought them such supplies of
food as he could buy without
exciting suspicion. How he
contrived to keep in favour
with the rebels, perhaps one
had better not inquire too closely. Poor
ignorant Tom! He was only just one of the
people—only he really loved his mistress and
the pretty children who used to play with him
in the garden and on the lawn of their country
home. However he managed, he seems to
have escaped suspicion; and very likely his
brother’s position as servant to a rebel leader
was very useful to him, though, if so, it was
C





34 A True Story of Long Ago.

without Jem Kelly’s consent, for he was a
very bitter rebel, and would by no means have
spared the lives of Jack Leslie’s wife and
son.

Day followed day—it was a time of un-
speakable misery to Mrs. Leslie and poor
Peggy; scarcely less so to the children, who
were hardly allowed to move, lest passers-by
should hear or see them. At last, on the
1°th of June, Tom Kelly appeared at a very
carly hour in the morning, and asked his
mistress to speak to him alone.

“Ma’am,” said he, “you're not safe here .
another hour. Every hole an’ corner will be
searched for Protestants to-morrow, if not to-
day. The protection from Mr. Harvey won’t
serve us now; the boys wouldn’t mind it a
bit. They say he’s a traitor to the cause, an’ I
wouldn’t give a brass farthin’ for his life—he’s
a kind of prisoner, Jem said, in the big camp
on Vinegar Hill. I never did lay much store by
his bit of writing after the very first. An’
now you see, the boys have been beaten
at New Ross and at Enniscorthy, and we
hear the camp is to be attacked to-morrow.
An’ there’ll be wild work here! The army
soldiers won’t find many to welcome them



An Anzious Parting. 35

when they marches in. But I have a plan for
getting yez out of it if you'll be led by me.”

Poor soul! what else could she do? There
was no help, on earth, for her and hers, but in
this poor servant. But her heart sank when
she heard his plan, for she must be parted from
her children; and she at first refused to hear
of it, until he convinced her that it was far
safer for the little ones than for her.

“Yes,” she said, at last. “I——I will give
them up, then. If I were with them, you
think it would add to their danger. I don’t
quite understand; but I think God will keep
the children safe. And my poor Peggy—yes,
they’ll be safer without me. Now tell me
what you want me to do.”

Before I tell you Tom Kelly’s plan, I must
explain who the person was to whom he
wished to take them, and how it happened
that he was in a position to shelter them.

Mr. O'Reilly was descended from one of the
old, old Irish clans, or families. By birth he
was an Irishman indeed. He had married an
aunt of Mr. Leslie, and had a large family ;
but he had sent them all to Dublin when the
troubles began. Brave to recklessness, and
trusting to his name to be his safeguard, he



36 A True Story of Long Ago.

remained at Elderford House. I believe he was
the only country gentleman in the county who
- still lived in his country house. Many of
them were in the Wexford jail, others had
already perished, and some had escaped. But
Mr. O’Reilly always said that no one would
hurt him, and he hoped to be able to help
others who bore less popular names; so there
he stayed, with ‘no one else in the house except
his foster-sister and her daughters. Every
second day or so he was visited by parties
from the rebel camp, who tried to frighten him
into joining them, or at least, into professing
himself a Roman Catholic; but the brave old
gentleman talked and joked, and made them
laugh, but never consented to obey their
wishes. If Mrs. Leslie and her children could
cnly reach Elderford House, Mr. O’Reilly would
be able to protect them—more. particularly if
the rebel camp on the hill above Enniscorthy
was destroyed the next day.

Tom informed his mistress that a “cousin of
his own” had come down the river in his
“cot ’—a large flat-bottomed boat much used
on. that river—and that he was about to return
to his home that very day. Je had promised,
if well paid, to take the children and Peggy



An Anwious Parting. 37

Devereux, and land them safe on the lawn of
lilderford House, which fortunately lay close
to the river. But he utterly refused to take
Mrs. Leslie, declaring that if she were found
under his protection it would be certain death,
and that to take the children was risk enough.
He even counselled Tom to be content with
saving the children, and to leave their mother
to her fate; and Tom, fearing that ho might
betray his mistress, had pretended to agree to
this. But he said, that as soon as he had seen
the children and Peggy safely off, he would
bring a carriage to the corner of the strect,
and his mistress must slip out and come to
him.

‘‘ Ma’am,” said he, “ the little ones an’ Peggy
will be safe enough, you may trust me. The
rale danger is to you. I’ll have to put a bould
face on it, and drive you over the bridge; if we
were once safe on the other side, we might make
out to get to Elderford House. No one will
know you; shure, I wouldn’t know you myself,
hardly. It’s a poor chance, ma’am; but I
think the children will be safe.” -

The poor little woman was no great heroine,
and it did not strike her at the time that the -
risk was as great for him as for her. She got



38 A True Story of Long Ago.

the children dressed, making them look as like
children who might belong to Tom and Peggy
as she could, and their clothes were ragged and
shabby enough for anything. She kissed them,
she did not dare to cry over them lest she
should frighten them. She took John on her
knee, and spoke to him in a voice almost choked
by the tears to which she would not give way.

“My boy,” she said, “ you must be good and
obedient to Peggy to-day, and very quiet and
silent. Your own life, and Peggy’s, and poor
little Catty’s depend upon this. You will be
my brave good boy. And Johnnie, dear, if
you never see poor mother again, remember she
is safe in heaven, waiting and watching for
you. And tell your father, that—now listen,
John, and say exactly what I tell you—tell
father that I knew my danger, but I knew,
too, that ‘my life is hid with Christ my
Saviour.” Say that now, John, that I may be
sure you know it.”
- John repeated the words—two or three times
over she made him say them. She knew that
they were above his comprehension; but she
did not wish to agitate him, so she did not
explain.

Then she put her little Catty into Peggy’s



An Anvious Parting. 39

arms, and the two women clung to each other for
a few moments—not speaking—what could they
say ? Then, in the lovely light of the summer
dawning, the little party left the house, and
made their way down to the river side, where
the boat was to wait for them.

There were but few people stirring, and Tom
exchanged greetings with some of them. One
asked what he was doing, and he said he was
going to send his wife and children home to
his own place, for they were “ only in his
way here.”

At last they reached the river, and found
Larry Donovan, the owner of the cot, waiting
for them. He was alone in the boat, having .
left the quay while his “boy” was away,
because he did not feel inclined to share the
reward with him, or perhaps did not trust
him.

He had chosen a quiet place in which to meet
them, just under the wall of a garden, so that
no one saw Peggy and the two children get
into the boat, where Larry hid them skilfully
with a couple of big baskets, or creels, and
some ragged sacks. Then he pushed off without
delay. There was a nice breeze, and he hoisted
his big brown sail, also using his long pole to



‘40 A True Story of Long Ago.

push his boat along. Tom Kelly watched until
she was fairly in mid-stream, with her head
turned up the river, and then, with a sigh of
relief, he walked back into the town.

But I may as well tell you of the children’s
voyage before I go back to their mother. |

It was hot and stuffy under the dirty sacks,
and the creels smelt strong of fish, but John
had learned to keep quiet, and the fresh morn-
ing air had sent Miss Catty off into a sound
sleep, from which the fishy smell failed to
rouse her. Peggy considered this a great
piece of good luck, and taking off her shawl,
she doubled it carefully and laid the little one
upon it, thinking that she would sleep longer
if not kept too warm in her arms. Then she
contrived a little peep-hole in the sacks for
John, whose delight at seeing the green fields
again was very great. By this time the town
was left well behind them, though they could
still see it, and the long, long bridge over
which the children’s mother must pass, if they
were ever to see her again. Peggy saw that
there were parties of men on the bridge, and
she caught the gleam of pikes. She had been
given no choice in the matter, yet now her
heart smote her for having left her mistress to



An Anxious Parting. - 41

face this terrible danger alone; but at least
she could pray for her, and very fervent were
the prayers that went up from that strange
hiding-place, and no doubt were heard quite as
well as if poor Peggy had been praying in a
grand cathedral.

In the day of thy distress,
May Jehovah hear thee!
In the hour when dangers press,
Jacob’s God be near thee:
Send thee, from His holy place,
Timely aid or strengthening grace!

May thy prayers and offerings rise,
By thy God recorded!

Thine oblations reach the skies,
Graciously rewarded !

Granted be thy heart’s request ;

All thy purposes be blest!

Thy success our hearts shall cheer:
We, with exultation,

In Jehovah’s name will rear
Trophies of salvation.

Go beneath His guardian care,

And the Lord fulfil thy prayer!



42

CHAPTER V.

Tun CHr.pREN’s VOYAGE.

‘lie tide was in their
favour, and the lovely
sloping green banks
seemed to John to be
running away from
him, so fast did the
boat go. They soon
rounded a low point,
and lost sight of the town
altogether. Presently the river
eee Ps suddenly narrowed, and high
ee yy roe ‘ks took the place of the smiling banks
—rocks on both sides—and John knew that
they had reached the place where there was a
ferry boat, and where an old ruined tower still
stood, which had been built by Earl Strongbow
to guard the ferry. Once, papa had taken
him and an elder sister into that tower. What
a lovely scramble they had up the broken stone
stairs! and John wondered where papa was






The Children’s Voyage. 43

now, and would they ever live all together
again, and not be afraid of the rebels ?

“Peggy!” he whispered, softly, “do you
think we shall ever be happy again ?”

“Oh, Master John, don’t speak to me! I
can’t bring my mind to listen to you.”

“ Are we in very great danger, Peggy?” he
asked, thoughtfully.

“Child,” she said, “as long as your mother
lives to pray for you, I don’t see but you must
be safe. But she’s in terrible danger this
moment. Oh, Master John, keep saying every
moment, ‘ Lord God, take care of my mother.’
He’s sure to hear you—an innocent child like
you.”

Here Donovan paused for a moment in his
poling, and said, in a gruff whisper—

“You'd better hould yer tongues, we're very
near the shore.”

The boat had reached the narrowest part of
the place where the river is hemmed in between
rocks. There is a bridge there now; but then,
there was no bridge, and the ferry boat was
no longer working. John was just trying to
turn his head very gently to whisper a word to
Peggy, when a sudden call in a strange rough
voice made his heart leap with fear.



44 A True Story of Long Ago.

To keep out of the current, which is very
strong in this narrow place, Larry Donovan
had drawn in quite close to the bank; and
from the little landing place, built for the
convenience of the ferry boat, a man sud-
denly shouted—

“‘Who’s that in the boat?”

Donovan looked up, and saw that there were
several men, some carrying guns, sitting or
standing on the landing place—the wall had
hidden them until now. He went on shoving
his pele into the soft mud, and walking in a
leisurely way down the boat, thus pushing
her along—nay, he even contrived to shove
out as far as he dared,—for if he got into the
strength of the current, his sail would hardly
help him on, and the tide, of course, did not
help him so far up the river.

“ Tt’s me,” he answered, “ Larry Donovan.
An’ who are you that wants to know?”

“Can you give the sign?” asked the man on
shore, suspiciously. Larry satisfied him on
that head.

“What have you there under the sacks?”
was the next question.

“Don’t you see,” said Larry, hurriedly,
“it’s the creels? ”



The Chiidraws Voyage. 45

But the man’s suspicions were roused.

“Stand clear!” said he, raising his gun to
his shoulder. “Tl just put a bullet into your
ould baskets, and see will I get a lep out of
them.”

Larry looked at the heap of sacks. He
felt sorry in his heart for the pretty children
and the young woman, but sorrier for himself,
for it was only too certain that the next bullet
would be sent into him!

But now a wonderful thing happened.
Little Catty had just been roused up from her
sweet sleep by the sudden noise, and now,
before poor terrified Peggy perceived that she
was moving, she jumped up, pushed aside the
grimy sacks, and trotted out into the bow of
the boat. A lovely little thing she was, and
she put her tiny hands together, and oried out,
in her clear baby voice—

“Good rebels! don’t shoot Miss Catty!”’

The man with the gun hesitated, and another
man stretched out his hand, and thrust the
gun aside, saying—

“Let the brat go. Where’s the use of doing
this?”

Larry had not been idle while this was going
on, and ina moment more the boat was through



A) A True Story of Long Ago.

the narrow pass, and the rocks hid her from
the party on the landing place.

Miss Catty was hastily caught by Peggy,
who kissed and cuffed her, not knowing exactly
what she was doing ; ; but the child had saved
the lives of all in the boat by her innocent
baby fearlessness.

“Oh, my little darling!” cried poor Peggy,
se thought ye were lost. I thought we were
ail ruined. But sure it was God Himself
‘put it into your heart to do it, just to show us
that it’s His doing, an’ no wisdom of ours.
Did ye ever see the like o’ that, Larry? ”

“ Be quiet,” said Larry, ‘or some one else
will hear ye, an’ we needn’t expect two
miracles in one day!”

This was their only adventure. The day was
still bright and warm when Larry Donovan
landed them on the steep green lawn of Hlder-
ford House. He would not land himself, but
went his way quickly. Peggy, more dead than
alive, dragged the children up the slope, and in
a few minutes they had reached the hall door,
and there stood Mr. O’Reilly, who hardly
knew them at first. But he took them in,
even before he knew who they were, and John
asked—



The Children’s Voyage. 47

“Ts mamma come?”

No, mamma had not come, and the kind
souls who presently undressed the weary chil-
dren and put them to bed, after giving them a
better meal than they had enjoyed for some
time, thought sadly enough that most likely
the little creatures were motherless now; for
that Mrs. Leslie should get out of Wexford
alive, seemed a thing impossible. Peggy,
poor distracted soul, would not leave the hall
door—she stood there watching as the summer
twilight faded into the greyness of a June
night. c

‘We may now go back to the ill-fated town
and see how Tom Kelly succeeded in his bold
enterprise.

His preparations took some time. THe had
first to look for some kind of carriage, and at
last succeeded in getting an old post-chaise.
Also he procured two horses, sorry beasts
enough, for the rebels had taken all the good
ones. Then he went to a house where his
brother slept when in Wexford, and put on
an old livery coat, the Harvey livery, and,
arrayed in this, he boldly drove to the corner
of the street where his mistress was to join
him. She came at once, but what the long



48 A Truc Story of Long Ago.

hours in the wrecked house, all alone, had been,
no one could tell.

“Get in, ma’am, and don’t spake a word
if ye can help it—lave all to me. | There’s
little fear any one will know ye,” he added,
with a pitying look at her white, tear-stained,
terrified. face. ‘ The children are near Hlder-
ford by this; they went off beautiful.”

Between thankfulness for this news, and
trying to pray that the children might reach
Hlderford in safety, Mrs. Leslie was not much
frightened at first. It was not until afterwards
that she remembered the rest of T'om’s speech ;
she did not take it in at the time.

They drove along part of the main street,
and several men looked at the turn-out, but
did not stop it. Tom turned down a narrow
street leading to the quay, and in a few
moments the hollow sound told Mrs. Leslie
that she was on the bridge.

It was a very Jong bridge, and Tom did not
dare to seem in a hurry. At the far end he
saw a party of men, some carrying guns and
some armed with pikes. He drove on at a
tolerable pace, till when he reached these men
he was roughly ordered to “stop.”

“ An’ what will I stop for?” said Tom.



The Children’s Voyage. 49

“Don’t ye know me well? Shure I used to
be coachman to Harvey, that’s a prisoner in
the camp beyond. But you know I’m a better
patriot than ever he was.”

“Jem Kelly, is it. Oh, ay—a dacent boy.
An’ who have ye in here ?”

Tom was in a fix; he felt that their lives
were in the greatest jeopardy, as he replied,,
“Well, it’s his sister, then, and she’s heard
how he’s ill, an’ she’s going to him. Much
use “twill be! but she’s just set on it.”

“Going to the camp! fine lady “ll find it. Well, she’ll be well
looked after there, an’ yow’re paid, I do sup-
pose, to take her there. So we won’t meddle.
I would never be surprised if she found that
the boys had been giving Harvey a pill—a
lead pill, ye know—for he’s little better than
aspy an’ a traitor. Look here, young woman,
what’s your Christian name?” and the man
thrust his head in through the chaise window.

There was no answer—the terrified little
woman had fainted.

“You've frightened the life out of her wid
your pike,” said Tom, coolly. “ Well, she
has plenty of time to come to! for it’s a good
long way, an’ I’ve a very poor pair of bastes

D



50 A True Story of Long Ago.

to do it with. Good-bye, boys, I'll be back
in time for the fun here to-morrow.”

This remark made all the ruffians laugh,
and the rickety chaise moved on.

They had eleven long Irish miles to go, and
more than once they were stopped and ques-
tioned. But Tom succeeded in deluding the
questioners, and as to his poor mistress, she
had by this time so completely lost her head
that she only stared and cried when spoken
to. Many of those who stopped the chaise
to have a few words with Tom must have
known Mrs. Leslie by sight; but not one of
them recognised her. ‘They remembered a
round-faced, rosy, smiling young creature—
they saw a white, drawn, frightened face, with
a look of fear in the sweet brown eyes that
never left them in all the peaceful yenrs to
come.





CHAPTER VI.
Tur RevunireD Faminy.

dl ene 4 T was late at night when the
< chaise drove slowly up the
avenue of Elderford House,
and Tom lifted his mistress
out, more dead than alive.
All hope of her arrival had
been given up, and the door
was shut. Tom thumped
upon it with his whip, and
then said— .

“ You're safe now, ma’am,
or as safe as I can make ye; an’ good-bye,
mv’am. Keep a good thought for Tom Kelly;
yowve no call to hate me, anyhow.”

“Stay, Tom, I want

“No, ma’am. I hear the people inside now,
So you’re all right. I daren’t stay.”

And he mounted his driving seat again and
drove away.

The door opened, and Mr. O'Reilly ap-
peared with a light in his hand.





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52 al True Story of Long Ago.

“Why, Kitty Leslie, is it you? My poor
child, how did you get here? Come in.”

“The children?” she said, with a gasp. But
when he had answered her, he saw that she did
not understand him. She looked at him, and
said again—

“The children? (‘The children?”

The old gentleman took her by the hand.

“Come along, Kitty. Seeing’s believing,
they say.”

He led her to a pleasant room upstairs,
where she saw two little beds, and two flushed
and bonny faces pressed down on soft pillows
—the little ones were fast asleep.

I never was told what their mother did then.
I do not think she knew herself. Poor Peggy,
who was kneeling in a corner trying to pray,
but falling asleep from very weariness, woke
up to find her mistress by her side; and
together they gave thanks for their wonder-
ful deliverance.

The next day was one long remembered
in that part of the country. The rebel camp
was attacked early in the morning by the
king’s troops, and carried without much loss of
life—to the soldiers, I mean, for many rebels
were killed. Mr. Harvey was taken prisoner ;



The Reunited Family. 53

he only exchanged one captivity for another.
They could hear the firing at Elderford House,
and a few wounded soldiers were brought there
in the evening, who told them that the camp
was destroyed, and all that part of the country in
the hands of the soldiers. But the news did not
reach Wexford in time to save the unfortunate
gentlemen who had been kept there as prisoners;
they were nearly all murdered. Had Mrs.
Leslie been still in the town, her fate would
have been a terrible one.

But now she and her two children were
tolerably safe, for though the country was still
in a dreadfully disturbed state, it was now
more on the other side of the town, in a wild,
rocky, hilly district, to which the rebels retreat
when they fled from Wexford. Here they kept
together for a short time, but were hunted
down like wild beasts, and most of them came
to dreadful ends. It is not wonderful that but
little mercy was shown to these men, who had
been the cruel murderers of so many unarmed
and defenceless people; but a great many of
the less guilty rebels returned to their homes
after hiding for a time, and no notice was taken
of them.

. All this time the little party at E!derford



54 A True Story of Long Ago. .

House went through a good deal of privation.
It was hardly safe to venture far from home to
make purchases, and everything eatable on the
place had been eaten up by this time. Food
was very dear, too, and money. scarce. Mrs.
Leslie. had some money left, but unfortu-
nately it was all in the one-pound notes of the
Wexford bank, and as the bank had been burned
and the manager and clerks had disappeared,
no one would take these notes in payment
for anything. This misfortune made such an
impression on Peggy that always, after things
had returned to their usual state, she begged to
have her wages paid in gold, and every sove-
‘reign that she could save she stored up in her
box, tied up in little bags, ready to pop into
her pocket and be carried off, should the rebels
rise again. —
But the hardest thing Mrs. Leslie had to
bear was, that she heard nothing of her husband.
It was known that the Yeomanry Cavalry of
Wexford had done good service; but it was not
known for certain where the regiment was, and
it was believed that several officers had fallen
in various fights; but no one knew who these
officers were. No letter came, nor even &
message; nor had she any means of sending &



The Reunited Family. 55

message even to let her husband know that she
was still in Ireland.

So you see her troubles were by no means
over; but by this time she had learned to trust
so entirely in her heavenly Father, that she
was wonderfully calm and hopeful. She
believed heartily that her prayers for her
children had been heard and answered, and
so she prayed for her husband’s safety with
hope and confidence. Only once did she lose
heart, and then only for a short time.

One day, she observed that the kind old
housekeeper and her daughters were full of
some piece of news which they did not wish
to tell her. She saw that they watched her
with pitying eyes, and that they petted the
children even more than usual. At last she
felt so sure that they had heard bad tidings of
her husband, that she begged them to tell her
the truth; but they put her off with many idle
words, meant to be reassuring. She was even
more alarmed by this. Mr. O’Reilly was away,
having gone to a place at some distance where
some troops°“were encamped. Indeed, he had
gone in the hope of finding out whether the
report that had reached him was true or false,
but this she did not guess.



56 A True Story of Long Ago.

Now this report had reached Elderford thus.
There was a silly lad—boy, as he was called,
though he was a well-grown fellow of about
twenty—who had always hadthe greatest ambi-
tion to belong to the Yeoman Horse. But the
poor creature was too silly to be trusted with
firearms, or even with the care of a horse; still,
he was allowed to haunt the places where the
corps met for exercise, and he always talked of
himself as belonging to “the Blues.” It was
known that he was with the regiment when it
left Wexford after the ships had sailed with
the ladies and children: But he had now made
his appearance at Elderford House in a very '
ragged and half-starved state; - and having
been fed and kindly treated, he revived
sufficiently to begin to brag of his exploits
during the “ fightin’.’ They gathered with
some difficulty that he had deserted the Blues,
and had been in the rebel army with his
brothers, and he talked as if he had seen a
good deal of fighting. But if they tried to
question him, he either really forgot, or pre-
tended to forget, much that they wanted to
know. The women laughed at him, and one
of them said to Mr. O’Reilly—

“ Where’s the use, sir, of questioning silly



The Reunited Fanity. 57

Pat? Shure the poor natural knows nothing
about it.”

Pat looked very angry, and presently re-
-marked—

“Silly Pat killed Captain Jack Leslie. Poor
Pat—he’s a natural—but he killed Captain
Jack!”

Seeing that they looked startled, he laughed
‘noisily, and then sat beaming on them as if
he had given them quite a pleasant bit of
news.

“T don’t believe it,” said Mr. O’Reilly; “he
couldn’t do it. My nephew knows how to
make his hand keep his head.”

A look of malign delight came into the poor
fool’s usually vacant face, and he opened a
little bundle which he was carrying on a stick.
Among other small articles, evidently stolen,
there was a soiled and crushed blue jacket,
with remains of silver lace upon it.

“Jack Leslie’s jacket!” said he, proudly.

The women, who had been giving Pat some
of the food they could so ill spare, were so
enraged at his ingratitude (for every one knew
that Mr. Leslie had been particularly good to
Pat), that they drove him out of the house.
He came back the next day, and they had a



58 A True Story of Long Ago.

good deal of trouble in keeping him out of
Mis. Leslie’s way.

At last Peggy Devereux found out what had
happened, and she insisted upon telling her
mistress.

“Where's the use of keeping it back ?” she
said; “and besides, she knows already that
you've heard something. I won’t keep this
from her; she has the right to know.”

So she went to her mistress, and, as gently
as she could, told her what had been heard.

At first, Mrs. Leslie was in a terrible state
of grief; but after a time she became more
calm, and seemed to be thinking deeply. .

“ Peggy,” she asked, “is Pat here now?”

“ Yes is he, ma’am. Do what they will, they
can’t make him keep away.”

“T must see him,” said the poor little
woman; and she got up and went quickly
down to the big kitchen. Here she found
Pat clamouring for food which no one was
disposed to give him. Mrs. Leslie walked
straight up to Pat, and said—

“Show me that jacket!”

Pat grinned, but madg no objection. He
untied his unpleasant-looking bundle, and
produced the jacket.



The Reunited Family. 59

“Poor Pat, the natural—silly poor Pat
—killed Captain Jack Leslie, an’ tuk his
jacket.”

Mrs. Leslie took the once gay jacket in her
hands, and turned it about eagerly, Suddenly
she sat down and began to ery. “Oh!” she
said, “God is very merciful! Peggy, it’s not
true; it’s allalie! Pat, listento me. I gave
youthat jacket myself, ayear ago. YouknowI
did. Iremember all about it. It did not fit
Mr. Leslie, and was old and worn. I mended
it up, and left .a bit of the lace to please you.
Here are my stitches in it still, and I gave it to
you last summer. You know I did, Pat.”

Pat burst into a loud, silly laugh; per-
haps he did remember, but hé would not say
so. He lived to be quite an old man, but he
always told the same story, that he “had
killed Captain Jack Leslie an’ tuk his jacket.”
But Mrs. Leslie had no doubt that the whole
story was an invention, so she still hoped to see
her husband alive and well.

Now all this time her husband was under
the impression that she and the two children
were safe in England, where they had friends,
He was not much alarmed at getting no
letters, because the difficulty of sending them



60 Al True Story of Long Ago.

was very great; he hardly ever heard even
from his father and mother in Dublin. He
had seen plenty of fighting, and was one of the
half-dozen gallant riders who galloped into the
town of Wexford to find out if it was true that the
rebels had really left it. Ah! what scenes they
saw there, and what fearful things they heard
when the few loyal people who had survived
the time of the rebels’ possession of the town
ventured to show themselves, and to welcome
their deliverers! It was then that Mr. Leslie
heard that his wife and children had been
brought back to Wexford; but no one knew
what had become of them afterwards, and
you may picture to yourself how he felt when
he heard all this.

I do not know how long he was kept in this
state of misery, nor how he at last heard that
his dear ones were safe at Elderford House
with his uncle. But he did hear it, and,
having asked a stout friend of his, one of the
“Blues,” to go with him, for it was not safe to
ride alone, he set out for Elderford House, and
reached it in the cool twilight of an August
evening.

“Stephen,” said he to his companion, “ if
my poor little wife has heard nothing of me



The Reunited Family. 61

all this time, I know the state she is in, poor
soul. I don’t want to take her by surprise.
You go on, and see her first; tell her I’m
alive and well, and prepare her for my
appearance.”

Stephen Carr, a big, stout, elderly man,
had been a farmer in the neighbourhood of
Mrs. Leslie’s old house before she married. He
was more than willing to do anything for
“Miss Kitty,” so he stirred up the spirit of his
tired horse, and thundered along the avenue of
Elderford House at a great pace. He thumped
with his whip at the hall door—the knocker
had been taken long ago to make bullets.
The door opened soon, and a woman peeped
cautiously out, but then she flung the door
wide open, exclaiming—

“Why, Mr. Carr, is this you?”

“And the same to you, Peggy Devereux,”
said the rider. “So it’s true that your
mistress is here? J want to see her. I’ve
news for her.”

“Good news, I know by your face!” cried
Peggy ; “and goodness knows ’tis time good
news came. I dou’t know how she’s alive at
all. But here she is, an’ the children.”

She opened the door of a small parlour, and



62 A True Story of Long Ago.

Stephen Carr gazed with unbelieving eyes at
the pale, frightened-looking little woman whom
he had last seen as a bride, and who caught
her two children in her arms when she first saw
him.

“Miss Kitty—Mrs. Leslie, I mean—sure
you knowme, my dear? Don’t look so scared ;
you’ve no need.”

“Oh, Mr. Carr! Yes, I know you now;
But I was so startled. Oh, Stephen Carr, is
my husband alive?”

“Indeed he is, and well too. Well, what a
way he was in when we got into Wexford, and
he heard that those vagabonds brought you
all back to be Well now, Miss Kitty, it’s a
blessing to see some one that managed to escape
with life. And this is your son—and a little
girl! My stars, what a pair of eyes! What
are you crying for, Miss Kitty, my dear?
Don’t you believe me when I tell you that
himself’s alive and well, and in great credit
too, for he—well, he’d like to tell all that
himself.”

“Ah—but when? I sha’n’t see him for
months, perhaps. What do you mean?” she
added, quickly; “do you think he may be here

soon ?”





The Reunited Family. 63

* Well, now, I saw him quite lately,” said
the old man, quietly.

The colour rushed into her face—her eyes
brightened.

“Was it—to-day—you saw him?” she
asked.

“ Well—it was, then.”

Mrs. Leslie sprang to her feet and rushed
up to him.

“ He’s here!” she cried.

Old Stephen lifted her in his arms, for she
could not stand; John and Catty, who were
looking on in great amazement, always main-
tained that he kissed her—he had done so
many a time when she was no taller than
Catty was then. He carried her out of the
room, and out through the hall door, and put
her into her husband’s arms, saying—

“There now, honey, you have him safe!”

Well—her troubles were over, or, at least,
the worst of them. But it was many a long
day before the country was a pleasant place to
live in again; and though she lived to be an
old; old woman, she was never quite the same
again. I can remember how nervous she used
to get when told of disturbances here and
there, such as, alas! poor Ireland is seldom



64 A True Story of Long Ago.

free from. She told me part of these events,
and part I heard from others. But there is one
thing that I fancy you will wish to know, but
which no one ever told me. I do not know
what became of Tom Kelly; and perhaps it is
better not to know.

It was from these stories that I learned
that God’s hand is ever ready to protect His
children, and His ear.open to their cry. I
hope that all who read them now will try to
learn the lesson they teach, for in the trials
and troubles that are sure to come upon us
some time or other, there is no help, no safety,
no hope, but in the Almighty Father in whom
this timid woman learned to trust in her sore
necd.



Pardon & Sons, Printers, Wine Ofice Court, Ileet Strect, London.










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Story of a Yellow Rose. Told
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THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.
56. PATERNOSTER Row, LONDON.


“NO, YOU CAN'T. PULL HIM FROM ME!”


Little Dot Series.







A TRUE STORY.
OF LONG AGO.

BY

ANNETTE LYSTER,

Author o ; e
“ Warry's Perpiexiry,” “ANNIE Brycr,” “ Kart Krar?’s.”
_LirrLte MAIpEns, 2

”

ETC.



THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY:
56, PATERNOSTER Row; 65, St. ‘PAUL’s CHURCHYARD 3
AND 164, PICCADILLY.





A TRUE STORY OF LONG AGO.

CHAPTER I.

“ GRANDMAMMA.”




“\@\ Hatt I tell you a story of
7) IS. ©) things that happened long
ago—a true story? It was
all long before I was born ;
nay, for that matter, my
father and mother were not
born at that time. Perhaps you may here
remark that, these things being so, I have

no way of knowing that what I tell you
is true; but in- this you would be very
much mistaken, for I heard of these events
4 A True Story of Long Ago.

from those who remembered them only too
well,—from those who had lived through the
troublous times of which they spoke, and
were by no means likely to forget anything
that happened then.

It was chiefly from my grandmother that I
learned the few facts that could be told to a
young child, concerning her adventures and the
adventures of her children and neighbours, in
the great Irish rebellion of ’98. My dear,
dear old grannie! She had been a beauty in
her youth, and as I remember her, she was
such a sweet-looking old lady. She was a
little woman, plump and round-about, with
brown eyes, in which there was a curious
expression of kindness: and fear. She had
broken her leg when no longer a young woman,
and she walked with a stick—a stick with a
crutch handle of ivory, a gift from an old
friend. The pit, pat, of that stick along the
matted passages of our house is one of my
earliest memories, and I have the stick now in
my own possession. I can tell you, I would
not change it for almost anything you could
offer me. It was not the fashion in those
days for old ladies to show their white hair; so,
although grandmamma had plenty, silver white,
“— Grandmamma.” 5

and very pretty, as silver white hair always is,
she wore a brown front, dressed in large soft
curls, or, rather, rolls, on either side of her
forehead—a front which I should think never
took any one in, or could even be accused of
trying to do so. Her own hair she kept coiled —
up, out of sight; and she wore a cap that
was a cap, tied under her chin, and frilled
all round her nice old face with a deep
border of lace. It was also warmly lined with
dark brown silk.

This dear old lady had many ways of
pleasing and teaching me, her graceless grand-
child. She used to have me in her room
every morning while she dressed, and make
me say hymns for her. ‘I praise the goodness
and the grace,’ was the beginning of one of
them, and to this day the words bring back to:
me the dear old lady in her grey dressing-
gown, brushing her long white hair. It was
then I discovered that her hair was white,
and that the brown curls were not the natural
growth of her own head. She often got me
to read the Bible for her, too, and I liked
this, when she did not make me go on too
long—I mean too long according to my
own notions. And she also told me stories,
6 A True Story of Long Ago.

which I liked best of all. How lucky I
thought myself when I could get her to
begin about old times.

I do not know, looking back now, whether I
actually believed, or, rather, quite realised, that
this gentle-looking old lady had actually lived
through the scenes she spoke of, and that the
“ Miss Catty”’ of her stories was my beautiful
aunt, who sat at her embroidery frame count-
ing her stitches so quietly. I suppose I
believed without thinking much about it, as
children do, for I do not remember feeling at
all frightened or afraid that such thifigs could
ever occur again, though I was a dreadful
little coward, full of silly frights and fears
about things that never happened, and, I may
say, never could happen ; for you know it was
not likely that’ a wolf would ever really come
trotting slowly along a dark passage which lay
outside the room in which I slept; nor did the
earthquake I felt beginning so often ever
arrive, however dark the night. I have lived
to know that some things, which I feared so
much that I did not dare to draw a long
breath as I lay in my snug bed, were not
really to be feared at all; and that the
things I listened to as amusing stories, with-
“© Grandmammna.” 7

out a thought of alarm, might very easily
happen again, and not prove amusing in the

least.
And it seems to me that some of these

anecdotes are worth recording for the benefit
of the little ones of to-day. ,

There was another dear old woman in my
childhood’s home, who could have told me many
a thrilling story of the rebellion, but she never
did. Her name was Peggy Devereux. When
my grandmother was about sixteen, she lost
her mother, and there were a great many
brothers and sisters, of whom she was tho
eldest. Her father placed the housekeeping in
her hands, and desired her to choose a girl
from among his tenant’s daughters to be her
own personal attendant, and to help her in the
task of sewing for the younger children. Miss
Kitty, as she was called in those days, chose
Peggy Devereux, and events proved that she
had made a good choice. Peggy was a year
younger than her mistress, and from that time
until they were both very old they were never
parted. Then Peggy died, and her old mis-
tress did not stay with us long after the death
of her faithful servant and friend.

In appearance, Peggy, as I remember her,
8 A True Story of Long Ago.

was a curious little double of her mistress. She
was about the same height, but much slighter.
She also wore a brown front—I rather think
she inherited the old one when her mistress got
anew one.. She wore a cap with full borders
of plain net, lined with brown silk, and tied
under her chin, just like the one worn by
dear grandmamma.

Many a story did she tell me about my
father, and my many aunts and uncles, every
one of whom she loved as if they were her own
children; but she never spoke of the rebellion
times. She-could not—she was a very timid
woman, and never got over her fright; and
there was another reason. One of those who
were “the children” in that time, was dead ;
and of him Peggy never could speak. All her
nurslings had been dear to her, but this boy the
dearest of all.

But it is time now to begin my ‘story
regularly.

“Miss Kitty” married young, and very hap-
pily. Her husband was a barrister, but, like
many loyal Irish gentlemen of those days,
he was also a soldier, after a fashion. He
belonged to a Yeomanry Cavalry regiment,
which wore a light blue uniform, and which I
“ Grandmamma.” 9

believe did good service when the time of need
came.

Mr. and Mrs. Leslie, as I shall call them,
lived in-a pretty country place within a few
miles of the seaport town of Wexford; that
is, they lived there in summer, for they
always spent the winter months in Wexford,
as was the habit of those times. When Mr.
Leslie went on circuit, he rode his own horse
the whole way, carrying everything he was
likely to want in a knapsack, and riding well
armed with sword and pistols, the latter kept
loaded and ready. Nor did he travel alone—
the country was in too disturbed a state for
that to be safe. All the lawyers of the circuit
travelled together, and merry times they had,
riding along the familiar roads, and sometimes
stopping for the night at some hospitable house
where their coming was looked forward to as
one of the pleasant events of the year. Mr.
Leslie was ‘certain to be well received, for he
‘was one of the most delightful companions in
the world, and could sing a song or tell a story
nearly as well as his friend, Tommy Moore,
the poet.

Yet, however pleasant his journey might
be, he was always glad to find himself again
10 A True Story of Long Ago.

jogging along the hilly roads of Wexford, and
drawing nearer at every step to his dear little
home, his dear little wife, and his dear little
children. . There were several children, but, at
the time of which I am about to tell you, some
of them had been sent to Dublin, where they
were staying with old Mr. and Mrs. Leslie,
their grandparents. There were two at home
—John, a sturdy boy of five or six, and little
Catty, aged three.


11

CHAPTER I.
THE WARNING.

pr ever you see a picture by”
Sir. Thomas Lawrence, called
“The Gipsy “Maiden” —a
lovely little girl, but I fear
not a very good one, as she
is represented in the act of
stealing some fat hens off a
perch—you will then know
what Miss Catty was like,
for when she was twelve or

thirteen she might have sat for
that picture, with the dark beautiful face and
the flashing black eyes.

Mr. and Mrs. Leslie were well off in those
days, and-had a good many servants in their
employment—among them a man called Tom
Kelly, who had a twin brother, so like him,
that, as Tom observed, he was not very sure
himself whether he was Tom or Jem. This
brother was also in service in a distant part of


12 A True Story of Long Ago.

the country, and his master was a Mr. Harvey,
who afterwards became only too famous as one
of the rebel leaders. Both the Kellys called
themselves their master’s coachman, but Tom,
at least, did a great deal of work to which a
real dignified coachman would seriously object.
On the rare occasions when the carriage—a
large heavy open vehicle of I know not what
class, which held four inside, two on the
“ dickey,” and two on a seat at the back which
could be removed at -pleasure,—when this
carriage was brought out, Tom Kelly certainly
put on a coachman’s coat with many capes,
and drove his mistress carefully and well,
though his horses were at least as well used to
the plough as to the shafts. But Tom was.
also the gardener, and Tom looked after the
cows, and Tom fed the pigs; and when the
family went into Wexford for the winter, Tom
took care of the house in the country.

Well, in the year 1797, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie
had moved into town, and were enjoying the
cheery social life which has so completely
deserted our country towns nowadays, when,
one day in the month of November, they were
surprised by an unexpected visit from Tom
Kelly. _You must know that all over Ireland
The Warning. 13

there was a terrible amount of discontent and
disloyalty; but until now this particular county
had been believed to be quite free from these
feelings. Tom Kelly gave out that he had
come to get directions about some pigs that were
not fattening as wellas they ought ; but he took
a private opportunity to urge his master, very
earnestly, “to take the misthress an’ the
childher and go to Dublin, if not to England.”

He refused to give his reasons for this
advice; but declared that if it became known
that he had warned his master, his life would
not be worth a straw. Several other families
received similar warnings, and a good many
made their escape to Dublin during the rest of
the winter. I think, but am not quite certain,
that it was at this time that some of the little
Leslies were sent away, and that John and
Catty were ill, and could notgo. A great
many laughed at the warnings, and remained
quietly at home.

Presently the common people found out that
reports were believed about them, and they
declared themselves quite shocked — nothing,
they said, was farther from their thoughts
than rebellion, and they even came forward in
great numbers, of their own accord, to take the
14° A True Story of Long Ago.

oath of allegiance, that is, to swear solemnly
that they were loyal subjects to the king.
They flocked into Wexford to take this oath,
and it so happened that a young gentleman,
whom the ‘Leslies knew well, was standing by,
listening and watching, as the proper officers ad-
ministered the oath to one man after another.
Something in their faces struck this youth as
being very comical, and he burst out laughing.
Those of the people who were near turned and
looked at him, and somehow, that look—sullen,
anxious, and suspicious—made all who saw it
feel very sure that the oath these men were
taking would bind them only until they chose
to break it. And that poor, gay, idle lad paid
dear for his laugh.

The winter passed quietly, however. Mr.
Leslie put off his return to his country house,
and still had some thoughts of taking the
rest of his family to Dublin; but he went on
putting it off from day to day, everything
seemed to be so much as usual. Lent came
and passed without anything unusual. Laster
was over; and Whitsunday arrived.

Very early on that; memorable Whitsunday,
a gentleman, who lived within a few miles of
the town, arrived in haste, to warn the officers
The Warning. 15

commanding the soldiers that there was mis-
chief going on. His house had been surrounded
during the night by an armed mob; his guns
and pistols had been taken away, and also a
great lot of fire-arms which had been kept
there ever since the Government had disarmed
the people. Also, he said that all night long
great signal fires had been blazing on all the
hills within sight. Then came others, from —
other parts of the country, with the same
story; and others again who said that the
people were all flocking to Oulart, a village a ©
few miles off; and also to Kilthomas Hill, a
place much farther away. There could be no
doubt that the dreaded rebellion had begun
at last, and that the rebels had cut off all
retreat to Dublin.

The soldiers made very light of it all! No
one was to be frightened; no one should be
hurt or injured. They would just march out
to Oulart, and make an example of the traitors
who were gathering there. The garrison of
Enniscorthy would give a good account of
those at Kilthomas Hill; and then this won-
derful rebellion would never be heard of again.

So out they marched in the early morning,
and in due time the bell rang for church,
6 A True Story of Long Ago.

and to church all the ladies went. As to the
gentlemen, some had ridden out after the
troops, some had gone to their country houses
to see what they could save, and those
belonging to the Yeomanry were busy getting
their men together, and preparing to march if
called upon.

The service began at twelve o’clock, and it
was about half-past one when the rector left
the reading-desk and retired to the vestry-
room, to put on the black gown in which
clergymen of that day always preached. Mrs.
Leslie, sitting alone in her big square pew,
observed that a man came hastily into the
church, and went straight to the vestry-room.
She felt frightened—she hardly knew why.
But in a few minutes the vestry door opened
again, and the rector came out, still in his
white surplice. As he walked slowly along,
every one saw that he was very pale. He
came and stood before the congregation,
and said—

“My friends, there is evil news. It is
feared that the rebels have outnumbered and
overcome our troops, and if this is truly the
case they may march into Wexford before
night. Any of you who have children at home,
The Warning. 17

or who feel that you cannot so command your-
selves as to profit by partaking of the Holy
Communion, I think will do well to leave the
church now. I will preach no sermon to-day ;
but I will stay and give the sacrament to all
who remain for it.”

And was not that a sermon in itself? or
the rector was well known to be a timid man
by nature, and yet God helped him to be a
hero on that terrible Whitsunday. A few
remained, and he kept his word, and went
through the service just as usual. I think you
will be glad to hear that this good old man
was saved from the fate which overtook so
many clergymen just then, by the gratitude
of some poor people to whom he had been
kind when they were prisoners in Wexford
jail.

But in thus admiring this good man, do not
let us forget what he would have been the
first to acknowledge—that his strength and
courage were not his own, but given him by
God. Nothing but faith in God could have
carried the rector of Wexford through that
terrible day.

I used to wish, long ago, that my dear
grandmamma had been one of the few brave

1
18 A True Story of Long Ago.

women who stayed in church; but she always
declared that she was on her way home before
she knew what she was doing.

Late in the evening, the officer in command,
who had marched out that morning at the
head of a right gallant little army, came back,
sore wounded; and with him came one poor
soldier. Two more crept back during the
night. The rest were all dead—officers and
men; these alone escaped.

But another body of soldiers had been more
fortunate, and had driven the rebels away from
Kalthomas Hill. This was the reason that
those at Oulart did not at once march into
Wexford. The Yeomanry Cavalry got orders
to join the troops at Enniscorthy, and many
of the officers determined to send their wives
and families over to Wales, as it was impossible
to take them with them. The harbour was full
of small merchant vessels, and one can almost
see the coast of Wales in clear weather; so this
seemed to be a good plan. The captains of
the ships required a heavy payment, but that
was to be expected. Money was hastily
collected, valuables packed up, and then the
poor ladies and their little ones were put on
board, and the husbands and fathers stood on
The Warning. 19

the quay and watched them sail out of the
harbour. What a load was taken off their
minds when the last straggler of the little fleet
was safe over the bar, and the white sails
grew small and smaller in the distance. But,
oh! what a sad parting it was! and many of
those who parted there never met again in this
world.

Mrs. Leslie and her two children were on
board a tiny coal vessel, belonging to Wex-
ford, and with them was the faithful Peggy
Devereux, who would not be left behind.

Poor Peggy was a Roman Catholic, and
remained one all her life; yet in this time of
eruel anxiety she and her dear mistress prayed
together for those they loved so well, and for
their own deliverance from danger. Indeed,
all through the short but trying voyage, the
voice of prayer went up from that stifling
little cabin, and it may have been then and
there that my dear grandmother learned the
comfort there is in casting all our care on
God, “for He careth for thee.”

It is Thy hand, my God;
My sorrow comes from Thee ;

I bow beneath Thy chastening rod,
’Tis love that bruises me.
20 A True Story of Long Ago.

My God, Thy name is Love;
A Father’s hand is Thine;
With tearful eyes I look above,
And cry,—Thy will be done!

Jesus for me hath died;
Thy Son Thou didst not spare ;
His piercéd hands, His bleeding side,
Thy love for me declare.
Here my poor heart can rest;
My God, it cleaves to Thee;
Thy will is love, Thine end is blest,
All work for good to me.

When the voyage came to its terrible end,
and she found herself cast forth, defenceless
among cruel enemies, she may for a while have
thought that her prayers were unheard; she
soon knew that it was not so, and all her life
long she never ceased to return thanks for the
way in which she and those dear to her were
cared for and kept from the fate which seemed
so certain.


CHAPTER ITI.
A Prritous Voyacr.

2unBy ought to have been
reached at the outside in
two days—that is, if the
sailors had ever really in-
tended to take them there.
It was very wretched in the
grimy, stuffy little cabin.
Mrs. Leslie and Peggy
were very sick, and Miss
Catty just sick enough to
be sleepy ; but John, a fine
sturdy little fellow, was not
sick at all, and wanted to be on deck all day.
Peggy wished to keep him quiet, for the two
or three sailors seemed rough and surly, and
She feared them, though she was very far
from believing that they meant any harm.

_ Whenever poor Peggy, worn out with sea-
sickness, fell into an uneasy doze, John was off;
and many a time she had to drag herself on


22 A True Story of Long Ago.

deck and bring him back to the cabin. One
horrible night had passed, and they were
beginning to hope that soon they might be
released from their misery, when Peggy per-
ceived that Master John was again a truant.
She was really too ill to go for him at once, so
he was much longer on deck than he had
been before; but at last she found herself able
to go after him.

Every other time she had found the boy
alone; the men seemed to avoid him. This
time, on the contrary, the whole crew, which
consisted of two men, the master, or captain,
and a boy, had gathered round the child ;. and
it seemed to Peggy that he was either angry or
frightened, and that the men looked strangely
at him.

It never was made very clear how this affair
began. Perhaps the child overheard some
remark which showed him that the ship was
on her way back to Wexford; but he was
almost too young to understand what that
meant. Or perhaps he was in their way, and
they had ordered him back to the cabin;
in-which case he was pretty sure to give a
saucy answer. But it never was known for
certain how it happened,—but as Peggy
A Perilous Voyage. 23

stopped in a fright to listen, she heard one of
the men say—

“Aw who are you, my young cock, that
crows so fine?”

“My name is John Leslie,” answered the
little fellow, boldly, “and my father is Jack
Leslie, of the Blues, and they’ve gone to kill
all the wicked rebels.”

The men raised a mocking laugh—and yet
it sounded angry, too. The captain told the
child that “by that time the Blues were sing-
ing a very different tune! they knew what the
people were made of now!” and one of the
men seized him roughly by the collar, and
shook him, saying—

“So you’re Jack Leslie’s son, are ye? I’ve
a good mind to pitch ye overboard, for a meal
for the fishes! D’ye hear me?”

“Tm not a bit afraid of you,” said the boy,
looking wp at him.

“A vale hard, black Protestant!” said the
man; “over ye go, for ’t would be a pity to
give ye even a chance of escape.”

He took hold of the boy—Peggy believed
then, and believed to her dying day, that he
‘was really going to fling him into the sea. |
She darted forward and locked her arms fast
24 A True Story of Long Ago.

round the child before the sailors were aware
of her presence.

“Now,” she said, desperately, “if you throw
him over, you must throw me, too—a disgrace
to you, for I’m one of you! one of yourselves.
I’m Irish, and a Catholic. I’m the daughter
of old Devereux, of Silver Farm. No, you
can’t pull him from.me! If you murder the
innocent child, you must murder me too, that’s
your own flesh and blood.”

She clung to the boy with all her might.
The sailor tried, but not very heartily, to drag
him away; and the captain said, in a surly

‘ tone—

“Tt’s no great matter ; he’ll meet with those
that won’t mind you, Peggy Devereux. ‘Take
him to the cabin, an’ keep him there, since
yow’re so mighty fond of him-”

Peggy lost no time, you may be sure, in
dragging Master John into the stuffy little
cabin, where she scolded him well under her
breath, and even cuffed him when he failed to
appear penitent. She said she wished in her
heart he was as sea-sick as the rest of them,
and then he’d be glad to stay quict. But as it
was, the boy seemed content to be quiet now
—he made no more stolen expeditions on deck.
AL Perilous Voyage. 20

Mrs. Leslie had been lying in a kind of
sleep while this took place, but when she
heard Peggy speaking so earnestly, she woke
up. é
“What is the matter?” she said. “ What
has Jchn been about?” .

“He goes on deck, ma’am, and it is not safe
for him; them men are rude and surly,”
Peggy answered, giving John a look which
warned him not to tell his mother about his
adventure.

“John,” Mrs. Leslie said, “you must not
give Peggy unnecessary trouble. ‘I am too
sick to get up and help her; so you must try
to be very good.”

“So he will, ma’am,” said Peggy, kissing
her darling. “ An’ now, ma’am, go on prayiw’
whenever ye can, for I think your prayers
were his safeguards this very day. A’
surely, God only can bring us safe through
such times as these.” But Peggy did not tell
her mistress what had happened till after-
wards; nor did she mention her horrible
suspicion that the sailors were playing them
false.

But in a few hours more the little vessel
ceased to toss and plunge, and they knew that
26 A True Story of Long Ago.

they were in some harbour. Mrs. Leslie felt
better, and getting up, helped Peggy to collect
their belongings and dress the two children
neatly. Then they went on deck—and you
may fancy their- dismay when they found
themselves nearly alongside of the familiar
quay of Wexford. Nor was that all. Strange
figures were hurrying to and fro, armed with
guns or long pikes—wild-looking figures with
green scarves. It was plain that the rebels
were in possession of the town.

There was no use in reproaching the sailors,
who stood there grinning, well pleased at their
performance. Yet seldom, surely, has a more
cruel and treacherous thing been done. There
were many other vessels at the quay, and Mrs.
Leslie saw that they were all landing their
passengers. As soon as the ship was near
enough, a plank was shoved out, the other end
of which reached the quay.

“You can go ashore now,” said the captain,
rudely. Mrs. Leslie did not even look at
him. She lifted her little Catty in her arms,
Peggy followed with the boy, and in silence
they crossed the plank to the quay.

No sooner had they set foot on the firm land,
than a man who was standing ‘among a number
A Perilous Voyage. 27

of others, all alike adorned with green ribbons
and cockades, and armed with murderous-
looking pikes, left the group, and came
towards them.

“Thisfamily,” said he, “is under Mr. Harvey’s
protection ;” and as he spoke, he made a hasty
sign to Peggy, who was just going to scream.
Mrs. Leslie looked up, and saw that it was
Tom Kelly. He took the little girl from her,
and said aloud—

“Yow’re tocome with me. Ihave my orders
about you.” Then, in a low voice: “ Hould
on to me, ma’am, and look nayther to the right
hand nor the left, but keep your eyes on Miss
Catty and step out. Ill guide you. Peggy, .
whisht! not a word out of you. I£ you love
your life, walk quick, and don’t lose the child.”

Mis. Leslie obeyed him to the letter; she
held on by his arm, and kept her eyes fixed on
the little one, who fortunately was frightened
enough to be very quiet. Tom hurried the
little party away from the quay; he did not
even delay long enough to go on board to
bring off anything they had left there. For-
tunately Mrs. Leslie had put her money and
such other articles of value as she had with -
her into her pockets. A lady’s pockets in those
28 A True Story of Long Ago.

days could hold a good deal. Peggy kept up
with them, dragging her charge along, but she
could not keep her eyes from wandering, and
she saw things that haunted her dreams as
long as she lived. Close to the edge of the
quay, just where they landed, lay the dead body
of the poor lad who had laughed at the solemn
farce of the “taking the oath” months ago.
That careless laugh had cost him his young life.

Tom hurried on, and they were soon away
from the quay, and the main streets, and in
the quieter part of the town where the good
houses were. He led them to the house in
which they had lived all the winter, and they
reached it in safety. But there had been
rough visitors there since they left it. Much
of their furniture had been carried off, and the
rest was all broken and destroyed. A picture
of Mrs. Leslie’s grandmother, who had been a
‘beauty in her day, had been fired at, and the
holes made by the bullets are visible to this
day.

The forlorn party darted in when Tom
succeeded in turning the key, and this scene
of ruin met their eyes. The children shouted ;
Mrs. Leslie sank down on the stairs and
began to cry.
A Perilous Voyage. 29

“ Whisht, ma’am! don’t do that, alannah!
ye’re better off this minute than some! Sure
most of the poor ladies an’ childher are locked up
in the court house, and what will become of them,
I can’t tell ye. See here, now,” producing a
sheet of paper, “this saves ye. Shure yester-
day I went to the jail, where they’d put Mr.
Harvey and Mr. Colclough and another gentle-
man, I don’t know his name, just to keep ’em out
of mischief, like. An’ I got in easy, for they
took me for Jem, an’ I saw Mr. Harvey, very
comfortable, playing cards, he was, an’ he
took me for Jem too, till I said, “Mr. Harvey,
give me the scratch of your pen to save my
mistress an’ the little ones, for I do hear that
the ship means to bring ’em back here, an’ the
boys will be here by to-morrow. So he wrote
it; and not very long after he was out of jail,
and gineral of the Irish army, not a less!”

“What! Mr. Harvey, your brother’s mas-
ter! Oh, Tom, surely that’s impossible !’”.

“Tt’s true, for all that, ma’am, he’s the
gineral; but it’s little the boys mind him,
I’m thinking. Now, ma’am, I’ve got some
bread here, an’ milk, an’ you just get some
food an’ then some sleep, for it won’t do to stay
here more than this night if we can help it.”
30 A True Story of Long Ago.

Ido not know where Tom then hoped to
hide his poor mistress, but when the next day
came he told her that it would be impossible
to get her secretly out of the town. For
some time they were obliged to remain in
their once comfortable home, keeping in the
back rooms, and not daring to light a candle
(if indeed they had one) lest the light should
betray them.

The only thing that Mrs. Leslie could do
to help the poor children through the weary
hours was to tell them stories; and her heart
was so heavy, that of all her store of fairy tales
and little made-up stories she could remember
none. But she had a small Bible in her pocket,
and out of this she half-told, half-read many a
lovely story to the poor little creatures, too
young even to understand why she was so
frightened. These readings pleased the children,
but to the reader they brought new strength
every day. The words had long been familiar,
but now they seemed to live. One day she was
reading the history of Joseph, and when she
paused at the end of the chapter which tells
how his brethren threw him into the pit, John
said—

“T think it was like the pit in the cabin of
A Perilous Voyage. bl

that ship, mother. But if Reuben loved Joseph
and wished to save him, why didn’t he do as
Peggy did for me when the wicked sailors were
going to throw me into the seaP Peggy.
put her arms round me, and said, ‘Then you
must throw me in too;’ and then they let me
go.”

“What do you mean? Peggy, what is the
child talking of ? ”

Peggy told the story; she had no idea that
she had done anything wonderful; but you
can imagine what the mother thought of it.
That evening, when the children were asleep,
the two women sat talking in whispers together,
and Mrs. Leslie said—

“Peggy, I somehow feel swe the children
will be saved. That was a great deliverance on
board the ship. I never can tell you what I
feel, Peggy,—my brave, good Pegey! But
God sent you just at the right moment; and so
I feel as if He will bring the poor children safe
out of this place. I don’t care so much about
myself, if they were safe, though I am a great
coward. I am not brave like you.”

“Not brave!” Peggy said. “Why, dear
heart, when I listen to you telling those things
to the children, so quiet and calm, I think to
82 A True Story of Long Ago.

myself, ‘How can she do it, when she knows
that any moment we may be found, and——’ ”

“Every time I feel like that,” Mrs. Leslie
said, simply, “I just lift wp my heart, and say,
‘Lord, give me strength to do my duty to-day,’
and then I think only of what has to be done.
The end of it allis in His hands. Isn’t that a
comfort, Peggy? Not in the hands of these
wretched people; but in God’s hands. Oh, I do
pray that He will save my Johnnie and little
Catty !”


38 ©

CHAPTER LY.
An Anxious PArrina.

Be EARFUL things happened in
Wexford during this time; but
the poor prisoners, for prisoners
they were obliged to make
themselves, knew nothing of
what was going on. Tom
Kelly came occasionally, and
brought them such supplies of
food as he could buy without
exciting suspicion. How he
contrived to keep in favour
with the rebels, perhaps one
had better not inquire too closely. Poor
ignorant Tom! He was only just one of the
people—only he really loved his mistress and
the pretty children who used to play with him
in the garden and on the lawn of their country
home. However he managed, he seems to
have escaped suspicion; and very likely his
brother’s position as servant to a rebel leader
was very useful to him, though, if so, it was
C


34 A True Story of Long Ago.

without Jem Kelly’s consent, for he was a
very bitter rebel, and would by no means have
spared the lives of Jack Leslie’s wife and
son.

Day followed day—it was a time of un-
speakable misery to Mrs. Leslie and poor
Peggy; scarcely less so to the children, who
were hardly allowed to move, lest passers-by
should hear or see them. At last, on the
1°th of June, Tom Kelly appeared at a very
carly hour in the morning, and asked his
mistress to speak to him alone.

“Ma’am,” said he, “you're not safe here .
another hour. Every hole an’ corner will be
searched for Protestants to-morrow, if not to-
day. The protection from Mr. Harvey won’t
serve us now; the boys wouldn’t mind it a
bit. They say he’s a traitor to the cause, an’ I
wouldn’t give a brass farthin’ for his life—he’s
a kind of prisoner, Jem said, in the big camp
on Vinegar Hill. I never did lay much store by
his bit of writing after the very first. An’
now you see, the boys have been beaten
at New Ross and at Enniscorthy, and we
hear the camp is to be attacked to-morrow.
An’ there’ll be wild work here! The army
soldiers won’t find many to welcome them
An Anzious Parting. 35

when they marches in. But I have a plan for
getting yez out of it if you'll be led by me.”

Poor soul! what else could she do? There
was no help, on earth, for her and hers, but in
this poor servant. But her heart sank when
she heard his plan, for she must be parted from
her children; and she at first refused to hear
of it, until he convinced her that it was far
safer for the little ones than for her.

“Yes,” she said, at last. “I——I will give
them up, then. If I were with them, you
think it would add to their danger. I don’t
quite understand; but I think God will keep
the children safe. And my poor Peggy—yes,
they’ll be safer without me. Now tell me
what you want me to do.”

Before I tell you Tom Kelly’s plan, I must
explain who the person was to whom he
wished to take them, and how it happened
that he was in a position to shelter them.

Mr. O'Reilly was descended from one of the
old, old Irish clans, or families. By birth he
was an Irishman indeed. He had married an
aunt of Mr. Leslie, and had a large family ;
but he had sent them all to Dublin when the
troubles began. Brave to recklessness, and
trusting to his name to be his safeguard, he
36 A True Story of Long Ago.

remained at Elderford House. I believe he was
the only country gentleman in the county who
- still lived in his country house. Many of
them were in the Wexford jail, others had
already perished, and some had escaped. But
Mr. O’Reilly always said that no one would
hurt him, and he hoped to be able to help
others who bore less popular names; so there
he stayed, with ‘no one else in the house except
his foster-sister and her daughters. Every
second day or so he was visited by parties
from the rebel camp, who tried to frighten him
into joining them, or at least, into professing
himself a Roman Catholic; but the brave old
gentleman talked and joked, and made them
laugh, but never consented to obey their
wishes. If Mrs. Leslie and her children could
cnly reach Elderford House, Mr. O’Reilly would
be able to protect them—more. particularly if
the rebel camp on the hill above Enniscorthy
was destroyed the next day.

Tom informed his mistress that a “cousin of
his own” had come down the river in his
“cot ’—a large flat-bottomed boat much used
on. that river—and that he was about to return
to his home that very day. Je had promised,
if well paid, to take the children and Peggy
An Anwious Parting. 37

Devereux, and land them safe on the lawn of
lilderford House, which fortunately lay close
to the river. But he utterly refused to take
Mrs. Leslie, declaring that if she were found
under his protection it would be certain death,
and that to take the children was risk enough.
He even counselled Tom to be content with
saving the children, and to leave their mother
to her fate; and Tom, fearing that ho might
betray his mistress, had pretended to agree to
this. But he said, that as soon as he had seen
the children and Peggy safely off, he would
bring a carriage to the corner of the strect,
and his mistress must slip out and come to
him.

‘‘ Ma’am,” said he, “ the little ones an’ Peggy
will be safe enough, you may trust me. The
rale danger is to you. I’ll have to put a bould
face on it, and drive you over the bridge; if we
were once safe on the other side, we might make
out to get to Elderford House. No one will
know you; shure, I wouldn’t know you myself,
hardly. It’s a poor chance, ma’am; but I
think the children will be safe.” -

The poor little woman was no great heroine,
and it did not strike her at the time that the -
risk was as great for him as for her. She got
38 A True Story of Long Ago.

the children dressed, making them look as like
children who might belong to Tom and Peggy
as she could, and their clothes were ragged and
shabby enough for anything. She kissed them,
she did not dare to cry over them lest she
should frighten them. She took John on her
knee, and spoke to him in a voice almost choked
by the tears to which she would not give way.

“My boy,” she said, “ you must be good and
obedient to Peggy to-day, and very quiet and
silent. Your own life, and Peggy’s, and poor
little Catty’s depend upon this. You will be
my brave good boy. And Johnnie, dear, if
you never see poor mother again, remember she
is safe in heaven, waiting and watching for
you. And tell your father, that—now listen,
John, and say exactly what I tell you—tell
father that I knew my danger, but I knew,
too, that ‘my life is hid with Christ my
Saviour.” Say that now, John, that I may be
sure you know it.”
- John repeated the words—two or three times
over she made him say them. She knew that
they were above his comprehension; but she
did not wish to agitate him, so she did not
explain.

Then she put her little Catty into Peggy’s
An Anvious Parting. 39

arms, and the two women clung to each other for
a few moments—not speaking—what could they
say ? Then, in the lovely light of the summer
dawning, the little party left the house, and
made their way down to the river side, where
the boat was to wait for them.

There were but few people stirring, and Tom
exchanged greetings with some of them. One
asked what he was doing, and he said he was
going to send his wife and children home to
his own place, for they were “ only in his
way here.”

At last they reached the river, and found
Larry Donovan, the owner of the cot, waiting
for them. He was alone in the boat, having .
left the quay while his “boy” was away,
because he did not feel inclined to share the
reward with him, or perhaps did not trust
him.

He had chosen a quiet place in which to meet
them, just under the wall of a garden, so that
no one saw Peggy and the two children get
into the boat, where Larry hid them skilfully
with a couple of big baskets, or creels, and
some ragged sacks. Then he pushed off without
delay. There was a nice breeze, and he hoisted
his big brown sail, also using his long pole to
‘40 A True Story of Long Ago.

push his boat along. Tom Kelly watched until
she was fairly in mid-stream, with her head
turned up the river, and then, with a sigh of
relief, he walked back into the town.

But I may as well tell you of the children’s
voyage before I go back to their mother. |

It was hot and stuffy under the dirty sacks,
and the creels smelt strong of fish, but John
had learned to keep quiet, and the fresh morn-
ing air had sent Miss Catty off into a sound
sleep, from which the fishy smell failed to
rouse her. Peggy considered this a great
piece of good luck, and taking off her shawl,
she doubled it carefully and laid the little one
upon it, thinking that she would sleep longer
if not kept too warm in her arms. Then she
contrived a little peep-hole in the sacks for
John, whose delight at seeing the green fields
again was very great. By this time the town
was left well behind them, though they could
still see it, and the long, long bridge over
which the children’s mother must pass, if they
were ever to see her again. Peggy saw that
there were parties of men on the bridge, and
she caught the gleam of pikes. She had been
given no choice in the matter, yet now her
heart smote her for having left her mistress to
An Anxious Parting. - 41

face this terrible danger alone; but at least
she could pray for her, and very fervent were
the prayers that went up from that strange
hiding-place, and no doubt were heard quite as
well as if poor Peggy had been praying in a
grand cathedral.

In the day of thy distress,
May Jehovah hear thee!
In the hour when dangers press,
Jacob’s God be near thee:
Send thee, from His holy place,
Timely aid or strengthening grace!

May thy prayers and offerings rise,
By thy God recorded!

Thine oblations reach the skies,
Graciously rewarded !

Granted be thy heart’s request ;

All thy purposes be blest!

Thy success our hearts shall cheer:
We, with exultation,

In Jehovah’s name will rear
Trophies of salvation.

Go beneath His guardian care,

And the Lord fulfil thy prayer!
42

CHAPTER V.

Tun CHr.pREN’s VOYAGE.

‘lie tide was in their
favour, and the lovely
sloping green banks
seemed to John to be
running away from
him, so fast did the
boat go. They soon
rounded a low point,
and lost sight of the town
altogether. Presently the river
eee Ps suddenly narrowed, and high
ee yy roe ‘ks took the place of the smiling banks
—rocks on both sides—and John knew that
they had reached the place where there was a
ferry boat, and where an old ruined tower still
stood, which had been built by Earl Strongbow
to guard the ferry. Once, papa had taken
him and an elder sister into that tower. What
a lovely scramble they had up the broken stone
stairs! and John wondered where papa was



The Children’s Voyage. 43

now, and would they ever live all together
again, and not be afraid of the rebels ?

“Peggy!” he whispered, softly, “do you
think we shall ever be happy again ?”

“Oh, Master John, don’t speak to me! I
can’t bring my mind to listen to you.”

“ Are we in very great danger, Peggy?” he
asked, thoughtfully.

“Child,” she said, “as long as your mother
lives to pray for you, I don’t see but you must
be safe. But she’s in terrible danger this
moment. Oh, Master John, keep saying every
moment, ‘ Lord God, take care of my mother.’
He’s sure to hear you—an innocent child like
you.”

Here Donovan paused for a moment in his
poling, and said, in a gruff whisper—

“You'd better hould yer tongues, we're very
near the shore.”

The boat had reached the narrowest part of
the place where the river is hemmed in between
rocks. There is a bridge there now; but then,
there was no bridge, and the ferry boat was
no longer working. John was just trying to
turn his head very gently to whisper a word to
Peggy, when a sudden call in a strange rough
voice made his heart leap with fear.
44 A True Story of Long Ago.

To keep out of the current, which is very
strong in this narrow place, Larry Donovan
had drawn in quite close to the bank; and
from the little landing place, built for the
convenience of the ferry boat, a man sud-
denly shouted—

“‘Who’s that in the boat?”

Donovan looked up, and saw that there were
several men, some carrying guns, sitting or
standing on the landing place—the wall had
hidden them until now. He went on shoving
his pele into the soft mud, and walking in a
leisurely way down the boat, thus pushing
her along—nay, he even contrived to shove
out as far as he dared,—for if he got into the
strength of the current, his sail would hardly
help him on, and the tide, of course, did not
help him so far up the river.

“ Tt’s me,” he answered, “ Larry Donovan.
An’ who are you that wants to know?”

“Can you give the sign?” asked the man on
shore, suspiciously. Larry satisfied him on
that head.

“What have you there under the sacks?”
was the next question.

“Don’t you see,” said Larry, hurriedly,
“it’s the creels? ”
The Chiidraws Voyage. 45

But the man’s suspicions were roused.

“Stand clear!” said he, raising his gun to
his shoulder. “Tl just put a bullet into your
ould baskets, and see will I get a lep out of
them.”

Larry looked at the heap of sacks. He
felt sorry in his heart for the pretty children
and the young woman, but sorrier for himself,
for it was only too certain that the next bullet
would be sent into him!

But now a wonderful thing happened.
Little Catty had just been roused up from her
sweet sleep by the sudden noise, and now,
before poor terrified Peggy perceived that she
was moving, she jumped up, pushed aside the
grimy sacks, and trotted out into the bow of
the boat. A lovely little thing she was, and
she put her tiny hands together, and oried out,
in her clear baby voice—

“Good rebels! don’t shoot Miss Catty!”’

The man with the gun hesitated, and another
man stretched out his hand, and thrust the
gun aside, saying—

“Let the brat go. Where’s the use of doing
this?”

Larry had not been idle while this was going
on, and ina moment more the boat was through
A) A True Story of Long Ago.

the narrow pass, and the rocks hid her from
the party on the landing place.

Miss Catty was hastily caught by Peggy,
who kissed and cuffed her, not knowing exactly
what she was doing ; ; but the child had saved
the lives of all in the boat by her innocent
baby fearlessness.

“Oh, my little darling!” cried poor Peggy,
se thought ye were lost. I thought we were
ail ruined. But sure it was God Himself
‘put it into your heart to do it, just to show us
that it’s His doing, an’ no wisdom of ours.
Did ye ever see the like o’ that, Larry? ”

“ Be quiet,” said Larry, ‘or some one else
will hear ye, an’ we needn’t expect two
miracles in one day!”

This was their only adventure. The day was
still bright and warm when Larry Donovan
landed them on the steep green lawn of Hlder-
ford House. He would not land himself, but
went his way quickly. Peggy, more dead than
alive, dragged the children up the slope, and in
a few minutes they had reached the hall door,
and there stood Mr. O’Reilly, who hardly
knew them at first. But he took them in,
even before he knew who they were, and John
asked—
The Children’s Voyage. 47

“Ts mamma come?”

No, mamma had not come, and the kind
souls who presently undressed the weary chil-
dren and put them to bed, after giving them a
better meal than they had enjoyed for some
time, thought sadly enough that most likely
the little creatures were motherless now; for
that Mrs. Leslie should get out of Wexford
alive, seemed a thing impossible. Peggy,
poor distracted soul, would not leave the hall
door—she stood there watching as the summer
twilight faded into the greyness of a June
night. c

‘We may now go back to the ill-fated town
and see how Tom Kelly succeeded in his bold
enterprise.

His preparations took some time. THe had
first to look for some kind of carriage, and at
last succeeded in getting an old post-chaise.
Also he procured two horses, sorry beasts
enough, for the rebels had taken all the good
ones. Then he went to a house where his
brother slept when in Wexford, and put on
an old livery coat, the Harvey livery, and,
arrayed in this, he boldly drove to the corner
of the street where his mistress was to join
him. She came at once, but what the long
48 A Truc Story of Long Ago.

hours in the wrecked house, all alone, had been,
no one could tell.

“Get in, ma’am, and don’t spake a word
if ye can help it—lave all to me. | There’s
little fear any one will know ye,” he added,
with a pitying look at her white, tear-stained,
terrified. face. ‘ The children are near Hlder-
ford by this; they went off beautiful.”

Between thankfulness for this news, and
trying to pray that the children might reach
Hlderford in safety, Mrs. Leslie was not much
frightened at first. It was not until afterwards
that she remembered the rest of T'om’s speech ;
she did not take it in at the time.

They drove along part of the main street,
and several men looked at the turn-out, but
did not stop it. Tom turned down a narrow
street leading to the quay, and in a few
moments the hollow sound told Mrs. Leslie
that she was on the bridge.

It was a very Jong bridge, and Tom did not
dare to seem in a hurry. At the far end he
saw a party of men, some carrying guns and
some armed with pikes. He drove on at a
tolerable pace, till when he reached these men
he was roughly ordered to “stop.”

“ An’ what will I stop for?” said Tom.
The Children’s Voyage. 49

“Don’t ye know me well? Shure I used to
be coachman to Harvey, that’s a prisoner in
the camp beyond. But you know I’m a better
patriot than ever he was.”

“Jem Kelly, is it. Oh, ay—a dacent boy.
An’ who have ye in here ?”

Tom was in a fix; he felt that their lives
were in the greatest jeopardy, as he replied,,
“Well, it’s his sister, then, and she’s heard
how he’s ill, an’ she’s going to him. Much
use “twill be! but she’s just set on it.”

“Going to the camp! fine lady “ll find it. Well, she’ll be well
looked after there, an’ yow’re paid, I do sup-
pose, to take her there. So we won’t meddle.
I would never be surprised if she found that
the boys had been giving Harvey a pill—a
lead pill, ye know—for he’s little better than
aspy an’ a traitor. Look here, young woman,
what’s your Christian name?” and the man
thrust his head in through the chaise window.

There was no answer—the terrified little
woman had fainted.

“You've frightened the life out of her wid
your pike,” said Tom, coolly. “ Well, she
has plenty of time to come to! for it’s a good
long way, an’ I’ve a very poor pair of bastes

D
50 A True Story of Long Ago.

to do it with. Good-bye, boys, I'll be back
in time for the fun here to-morrow.”

This remark made all the ruffians laugh,
and the rickety chaise moved on.

They had eleven long Irish miles to go, and
more than once they were stopped and ques-
tioned. But Tom succeeded in deluding the
questioners, and as to his poor mistress, she
had by this time so completely lost her head
that she only stared and cried when spoken
to. Many of those who stopped the chaise
to have a few words with Tom must have
known Mrs. Leslie by sight; but not one of
them recognised her. ‘They remembered a
round-faced, rosy, smiling young creature—
they saw a white, drawn, frightened face, with
a look of fear in the sweet brown eyes that
never left them in all the peaceful yenrs to
come.


CHAPTER VI.
Tur RevunireD Faminy.

dl ene 4 T was late at night when the
< chaise drove slowly up the
avenue of Elderford House,
and Tom lifted his mistress
out, more dead than alive.
All hope of her arrival had
been given up, and the door
was shut. Tom thumped
upon it with his whip, and
then said— .

“ You're safe now, ma’am,
or as safe as I can make ye; an’ good-bye,
mv’am. Keep a good thought for Tom Kelly;
yowve no call to hate me, anyhow.”

“Stay, Tom, I want

“No, ma’am. I hear the people inside now,
So you’re all right. I daren’t stay.”

And he mounted his driving seat again and
drove away.

The door opened, and Mr. O'Reilly ap-
peared with a light in his hand.





WW Sale


52 al True Story of Long Ago.

“Why, Kitty Leslie, is it you? My poor
child, how did you get here? Come in.”

“The children?” she said, with a gasp. But
when he had answered her, he saw that she did
not understand him. She looked at him, and
said again—

“The children? (‘The children?”

The old gentleman took her by the hand.

“Come along, Kitty. Seeing’s believing,
they say.”

He led her to a pleasant room upstairs,
where she saw two little beds, and two flushed
and bonny faces pressed down on soft pillows
—the little ones were fast asleep.

I never was told what their mother did then.
I do not think she knew herself. Poor Peggy,
who was kneeling in a corner trying to pray,
but falling asleep from very weariness, woke
up to find her mistress by her side; and
together they gave thanks for their wonder-
ful deliverance.

The next day was one long remembered
in that part of the country. The rebel camp
was attacked early in the morning by the
king’s troops, and carried without much loss of
life—to the soldiers, I mean, for many rebels
were killed. Mr. Harvey was taken prisoner ;
The Reunited Family. 53

he only exchanged one captivity for another.
They could hear the firing at Elderford House,
and a few wounded soldiers were brought there
in the evening, who told them that the camp
was destroyed, and all that part of the country in
the hands of the soldiers. But the news did not
reach Wexford in time to save the unfortunate
gentlemen who had been kept there as prisoners;
they were nearly all murdered. Had Mrs.
Leslie been still in the town, her fate would
have been a terrible one.

But now she and her two children were
tolerably safe, for though the country was still
in a dreadfully disturbed state, it was now
more on the other side of the town, in a wild,
rocky, hilly district, to which the rebels retreat
when they fled from Wexford. Here they kept
together for a short time, but were hunted
down like wild beasts, and most of them came
to dreadful ends. It is not wonderful that but
little mercy was shown to these men, who had
been the cruel murderers of so many unarmed
and defenceless people; but a great many of
the less guilty rebels returned to their homes
after hiding for a time, and no notice was taken
of them.

. All this time the little party at E!derford
54 A True Story of Long Ago. .

House went through a good deal of privation.
It was hardly safe to venture far from home to
make purchases, and everything eatable on the
place had been eaten up by this time. Food
was very dear, too, and money. scarce. Mrs.
Leslie. had some money left, but unfortu-
nately it was all in the one-pound notes of the
Wexford bank, and as the bank had been burned
and the manager and clerks had disappeared,
no one would take these notes in payment
for anything. This misfortune made such an
impression on Peggy that always, after things
had returned to their usual state, she begged to
have her wages paid in gold, and every sove-
‘reign that she could save she stored up in her
box, tied up in little bags, ready to pop into
her pocket and be carried off, should the rebels
rise again. —
But the hardest thing Mrs. Leslie had to
bear was, that she heard nothing of her husband.
It was known that the Yeomanry Cavalry of
Wexford had done good service; but it was not
known for certain where the regiment was, and
it was believed that several officers had fallen
in various fights; but no one knew who these
officers were. No letter came, nor even &
message; nor had she any means of sending &
The Reunited Family. 55

message even to let her husband know that she
was still in Ireland.

So you see her troubles were by no means
over; but by this time she had learned to trust
so entirely in her heavenly Father, that she
was wonderfully calm and hopeful. She
believed heartily that her prayers for her
children had been heard and answered, and
so she prayed for her husband’s safety with
hope and confidence. Only once did she lose
heart, and then only for a short time.

One day, she observed that the kind old
housekeeper and her daughters were full of
some piece of news which they did not wish
to tell her. She saw that they watched her
with pitying eyes, and that they petted the
children even more than usual. At last she
felt so sure that they had heard bad tidings of
her husband, that she begged them to tell her
the truth; but they put her off with many idle
words, meant to be reassuring. She was even
more alarmed by this. Mr. O’Reilly was away,
having gone to a place at some distance where
some troops°“were encamped. Indeed, he had
gone in the hope of finding out whether the
report that had reached him was true or false,
but this she did not guess.
56 A True Story of Long Ago.

Now this report had reached Elderford thus.
There was a silly lad—boy, as he was called,
though he was a well-grown fellow of about
twenty—who had always hadthe greatest ambi-
tion to belong to the Yeoman Horse. But the
poor creature was too silly to be trusted with
firearms, or even with the care of a horse; still,
he was allowed to haunt the places where the
corps met for exercise, and he always talked of
himself as belonging to “the Blues.” It was
known that he was with the regiment when it
left Wexford after the ships had sailed with
the ladies and children: But he had now made
his appearance at Elderford House in a very '
ragged and half-starved state; - and having
been fed and kindly treated, he revived
sufficiently to begin to brag of his exploits
during the “ fightin’.’ They gathered with
some difficulty that he had deserted the Blues,
and had been in the rebel army with his
brothers, and he talked as if he had seen a
good deal of fighting. But if they tried to
question him, he either really forgot, or pre-
tended to forget, much that they wanted to
know. The women laughed at him, and one
of them said to Mr. O’Reilly—

“ Where’s the use, sir, of questioning silly
The Reunited Fanity. 57

Pat? Shure the poor natural knows nothing
about it.”

Pat looked very angry, and presently re-
-marked—

“Silly Pat killed Captain Jack Leslie. Poor
Pat—he’s a natural—but he killed Captain
Jack!”

Seeing that they looked startled, he laughed
‘noisily, and then sat beaming on them as if
he had given them quite a pleasant bit of
news.

“T don’t believe it,” said Mr. O’Reilly; “he
couldn’t do it. My nephew knows how to
make his hand keep his head.”

A look of malign delight came into the poor
fool’s usually vacant face, and he opened a
little bundle which he was carrying on a stick.
Among other small articles, evidently stolen,
there was a soiled and crushed blue jacket,
with remains of silver lace upon it.

“Jack Leslie’s jacket!” said he, proudly.

The women, who had been giving Pat some
of the food they could so ill spare, were so
enraged at his ingratitude (for every one knew
that Mr. Leslie had been particularly good to
Pat), that they drove him out of the house.
He came back the next day, and they had a
58 A True Story of Long Ago.

good deal of trouble in keeping him out of
Mis. Leslie’s way.

At last Peggy Devereux found out what had
happened, and she insisted upon telling her
mistress.

“Where's the use of keeping it back ?” she
said; “and besides, she knows already that
you've heard something. I won’t keep this
from her; she has the right to know.”

So she went to her mistress, and, as gently
as she could, told her what had been heard.

At first, Mrs. Leslie was in a terrible state
of grief; but after a time she became more
calm, and seemed to be thinking deeply. .

“ Peggy,” she asked, “is Pat here now?”

“ Yes is he, ma’am. Do what they will, they
can’t make him keep away.”

“T must see him,” said the poor little
woman; and she got up and went quickly
down to the big kitchen. Here she found
Pat clamouring for food which no one was
disposed to give him. Mrs. Leslie walked
straight up to Pat, and said—

“Show me that jacket!”

Pat grinned, but madg no objection. He
untied his unpleasant-looking bundle, and
produced the jacket.
The Reunited Family. 59

“Poor Pat, the natural—silly poor Pat
—killed Captain Jack Leslie, an’ tuk his
jacket.”

Mrs. Leslie took the once gay jacket in her
hands, and turned it about eagerly, Suddenly
she sat down and began to ery. “Oh!” she
said, “God is very merciful! Peggy, it’s not
true; it’s allalie! Pat, listento me. I gave
youthat jacket myself, ayear ago. YouknowI
did. Iremember all about it. It did not fit
Mr. Leslie, and was old and worn. I mended
it up, and left .a bit of the lace to please you.
Here are my stitches in it still, and I gave it to
you last summer. You know I did, Pat.”

Pat burst into a loud, silly laugh; per-
haps he did remember, but hé would not say
so. He lived to be quite an old man, but he
always told the same story, that he “had
killed Captain Jack Leslie an’ tuk his jacket.”
But Mrs. Leslie had no doubt that the whole
story was an invention, so she still hoped to see
her husband alive and well.

Now all this time her husband was under
the impression that she and the two children
were safe in England, where they had friends,
He was not much alarmed at getting no
letters, because the difficulty of sending them
60 Al True Story of Long Ago.

was very great; he hardly ever heard even
from his father and mother in Dublin. He
had seen plenty of fighting, and was one of the
half-dozen gallant riders who galloped into the
town of Wexford to find out if it was true that the
rebels had really left it. Ah! what scenes they
saw there, and what fearful things they heard
when the few loyal people who had survived
the time of the rebels’ possession of the town
ventured to show themselves, and to welcome
their deliverers! It was then that Mr. Leslie
heard that his wife and children had been
brought back to Wexford; but no one knew
what had become of them afterwards, and
you may picture to yourself how he felt when
he heard all this.

I do not know how long he was kept in this
state of misery, nor how he at last heard that
his dear ones were safe at Elderford House
with his uncle. But he did hear it, and,
having asked a stout friend of his, one of the
“Blues,” to go with him, for it was not safe to
ride alone, he set out for Elderford House, and
reached it in the cool twilight of an August
evening.

“Stephen,” said he to his companion, “ if
my poor little wife has heard nothing of me
The Reunited Family. 61

all this time, I know the state she is in, poor
soul. I don’t want to take her by surprise.
You go on, and see her first; tell her I’m
alive and well, and prepare her for my
appearance.”

Stephen Carr, a big, stout, elderly man,
had been a farmer in the neighbourhood of
Mrs. Leslie’s old house before she married. He
was more than willing to do anything for
“Miss Kitty,” so he stirred up the spirit of his
tired horse, and thundered along the avenue of
Elderford House at a great pace. He thumped
with his whip at the hall door—the knocker
had been taken long ago to make bullets.
The door opened soon, and a woman peeped
cautiously out, but then she flung the door
wide open, exclaiming—

“Why, Mr. Carr, is this you?”

“And the same to you, Peggy Devereux,”
said the rider. “So it’s true that your
mistress is here? J want to see her. I’ve
news for her.”

“Good news, I know by your face!” cried
Peggy ; “and goodness knows ’tis time good
news came. I dou’t know how she’s alive at
all. But here she is, an’ the children.”

She opened the door of a small parlour, and
62 A True Story of Long Ago.

Stephen Carr gazed with unbelieving eyes at
the pale, frightened-looking little woman whom
he had last seen as a bride, and who caught
her two children in her arms when she first saw
him.

“Miss Kitty—Mrs. Leslie, I mean—sure
you knowme, my dear? Don’t look so scared ;
you’ve no need.”

“Oh, Mr. Carr! Yes, I know you now;
But I was so startled. Oh, Stephen Carr, is
my husband alive?”

“Indeed he is, and well too. Well, what a
way he was in when we got into Wexford, and
he heard that those vagabonds brought you
all back to be Well now, Miss Kitty, it’s a
blessing to see some one that managed to escape
with life. And this is your son—and a little
girl! My stars, what a pair of eyes! What
are you crying for, Miss Kitty, my dear?
Don’t you believe me when I tell you that
himself’s alive and well, and in great credit
too, for he—well, he’d like to tell all that
himself.”

“Ah—but when? I sha’n’t see him for
months, perhaps. What do you mean?” she
added, quickly; “do you think he may be here

soon ?”


The Reunited Family. 63

* Well, now, I saw him quite lately,” said
the old man, quietly.

The colour rushed into her face—her eyes
brightened.

“Was it—to-day—you saw him?” she
asked.

“ Well—it was, then.”

Mrs. Leslie sprang to her feet and rushed
up to him.

“ He’s here!” she cried.

Old Stephen lifted her in his arms, for she
could not stand; John and Catty, who were
looking on in great amazement, always main-
tained that he kissed her—he had done so
many a time when she was no taller than
Catty was then. He carried her out of the
room, and out through the hall door, and put
her into her husband’s arms, saying—

“There now, honey, you have him safe!”

Well—her troubles were over, or, at least,
the worst of them. But it was many a long
day before the country was a pleasant place to
live in again; and though she lived to be an
old; old woman, she was never quite the same
again. I can remember how nervous she used
to get when told of disturbances here and
there, such as, alas! poor Ireland is seldom
64 A True Story of Long Ago.

free from. She told me part of these events,
and part I heard from others. But there is one
thing that I fancy you will wish to know, but
which no one ever told me. I do not know
what became of Tom Kelly; and perhaps it is
better not to know.

It was from these stories that I learned
that God’s hand is ever ready to protect His
children, and His ear.open to their cry. I
hope that all who read them now will try to
learn the lesson they teach, for in the trials
and troubles that are sure to come upon us
some time or other, there is no help, no safety,
no hope, but in the Almighty Father in whom
this timid woman learned to trust in her sore
necd.



Pardon & Sons, Printers, Wine Ofice Court, Ileet Strect, London.







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45 Aunt Milly's Diamonds, and
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49 Adopted Son, and other Stories

50 Till the Sugar Melts. By M.
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51 Story of a Geranium; or, The
Queen of Morocco.

52 The Flying Postman, and other
Stories.

53 The Money in the Milk.

54 Cowslip Ball, and other Stories.

55 Little Model, and other Stories.

56 Mary Sefton. By the Author
of ‘The Two Roses.”

57 Tales from over the Sea.

58 Lisetta and the Brigands; or,
Saved by a Mule.

59 Bessie Graham.

60 In his Father's Arms.
side Story.

61 Cosmo and his Marmoset.

62 Talks with Uncle Morris.

63 The Patched Frock

64 Herbert and_his Sister; or,
Not in One Shoe.

65 Lucy Miller’s Good Work.

66 Little Andy’s Legacy.

67 How the Gold Medal was Won,
and ‘The Young Drovers.

68 Master Charles's Chair, and
How it was Filled.

69 Little Kittiwake ; The
Story of a Lifeboat.

70 Squire Bentley’s ‘I'reat.

71 Jessie's Visit to the Sunny Bank

72 Amy’s Secret. By Lucy ByEr-
LEY.

94 73 The Children in the Valley.






















A Sea-





















or,














SERIES—continued.
=

41 Steenie Alloway's Adventures,
42 Angel's Christmas. By Mrs. Watton.
43 Cottage Life ; its Lights and Shadows.





74 Florence and her Friends.

75 The Two Roses.

76 Little Tenpenny ; What she

did, and How she did it.

77 Six China Teacups.

78 His Own Enemy.

79 Three Firm Friends.

80 Empty Jam-pot. By the Author

of “ Lost and Rescued,”’ etc.

81 Patty and Brownie; or, The

Lord will Provide.

82 ‘Two Weeks with the Greys.
A. Story of American Home
Life.

A Tale of Three Weeks. By
EGLANTON THORNE.

My Brother and I.

The Blessed Palm.

Hubert’s Temptation. A Story
from Real Life.

Pretty Miss Violet.

The Queen’s Oak.

Story of a Yellow Rose. Told
by Itself. By Jesse Pace.

90 The Blacksmith’s Daughter ;

or, The Little Comforter.

91 Daisy's Trust. By E.S. Pratt

92 The Runaways.

93 Jack Silverleigh’s Temptation.

94 May Lynwood. A ‘Tale of

School Life.

95 Tom’s Bennie. By M.E. Ropes

96 The Captain of the Schocl.

97 Miss Pris.

98 The Story he was Told.

99 Gerty’s Triumph.

100 The Missing Jug.

101 Granny's Darling.

102 Grateful Peter’s New Year’s

Gift.

103 A True Story of Long Ago.
104 The Little Midshipman, and

other Stories.

105 How Arthur Found out the

Secret.

83

84
85
86

87
88
89





wy






Bible Pictures for our Pets

Part I. OLrp TESTAMENT PICTURES.
Part II. NEw TESTAMENT PICTURES.
With large Illustrations drawn by SELOUS, STANILAND,

Wess, Watson, Harrison WEIR, DOWNARD, Doré,
and other well-known artists.

Quarto. Each Part complete in itself. In ornamental boards,
with cloth backs. 2s. each Part. Complete in One Volume,
4s, handsomely bound, with medallion on side, gilt edges. xe



a
reVIGTURE BOOKS

For Little Children.

The Sweet Story of Old. A’
Sunday Book for’the Little Ones. !
By Hesua Srrerron, author of |
“Jessica’s First Prayer,” “ Bede's |
Charity,” etc. With Twelve Col- '
oured Pictures. 3s. 6d.cloth boards,
coloured edges.

My Own Picture Book.
First and Second Series. Each
Part complete in itself, 2s. 6d. in
coloured boards; or, in one hand- |
some Volume, gilt edges. 4s. i

y Watts’s Divine and Moral .
New Edition. With many fine Coloured Illustrations. ©



Songs.
2s. 6d. cloth boards.

My Holiday Picture-Book. Comprising : Holiday-time |

in the Country—Contented Johnnie—The Children of the Bible—
The Busy Farm ; or, a Visit to our Country Friends—Amy’s Birthday
Preseut--The Bible Picture Alphabet. “With Coloured Pictures,

2s. 6d. cloth.
My Coloured Picture Story-Book, With Twenty-four

full-coloured page Pictures and Forty Vignettes. Comprising: Our
Pretty Village—Little Antoine and the Bear—Rosa, the Little .
Cousin from India—The Blackbird’s Nest. 4s. handsomely bound

in cloth boards, full gilt. ;
Bible Stories and Pictures. With Twenty-four Col-

oured page Pictures and Forty Vignettes. With simple letterpress
in large type. 4s. handsomely bound, cloth gilt.

Harrison Weir's Pictures of Birds and other Family
Pets. With Twenty-four large Coloured Pictures. 5s. handsomely
bound, with side in Gold and Colours.

Storyland. By Srpnry GREY. With Thirty-two Illus-
trations by Robert Barnes. Engraved and Printed in Colour by
Epmunp Evans. 6s. handsomely bound in coloured paper boards.

Little Dot and Her Friends. With Twenty-four Col-

oured Pictures and Forty Vignettes. 4s. cloth boards, gilt.

Pictures for our Pets. 1.-—Home and Country Scenes,
etc. II.—Birds, Beasts, Fishes, etc. Profusely Illustrated. 4to.

Second Edition. Each Part is complete in itself, in fancy coloured
boards, 2s.; or together, handsomely bound in cloth, gilt edges, 45-6


had

“wall ustaatep x Boons*K

STRETTON

Author of
* Jessica’s First Prayer.”

>».



The whole of the books forming this
most popular Library are now re-issued in a

new and greatly improved style. New type
and new Tllustrations, with specially attractive binding, will make these
books more than ever suitable for prizes, birthday gifts, etc.

The Children of Cloverley. Illus- The King’s Servants. 1s, 6a. ciotn.
trated. 2s. cloth. Lost Gip. Illus. Is. 6d. cloth.

Little Meg’s Children. Illustrated. Max Kromer. A Story of the
1s. 6d. cloth. Siege of Strasburg. 1s. 6d. cl.

Alone in London. Illustrated. | Michel Lorio’s Cross. Illus 6d.
1s, 6d. cloth. No Place like Home. Illus. 1s. cl.

Bede's Charity. Illustrated. Pilgrim Street. A Story of Man-
2s. 6d. cloth. I

Carola, Illustrated. 3s. 6d. cloth.
Cassy. Illustrated. Is. 6d. cloth.

Cobwebs and Cables. Illustrated.
5s. cloth, gilt.

The Crew of the Dolphin. Illus-
trated. Is. Gd. cloth.

Enoch Roden’s Training. Illus-
trated. 2s. cloth.

Fern’s Hollow. Illus. 2s. cloth.

Fishers of Derby Haven. Illus-
trated. 2s, cloth.

Friends till Death. 9d. cloth.

Jessica’s First Prayer. Illus-

trated. Is. cloth.
Sam Franklin’s Savings Bank.
ne 6d. cloth.





chester Life. 2s. cloth. ‘
The Storm of Life. Illus. 1s.6d. cl.
A Thorny Path. Illus. 2s. cloth.
Under the Old Roof. Illustrated.
1s. cloth.

A Night and a Day. 9d. cloth.
A_ Miserable Christmas and a
Happy New Year. 9d. cloth.
The Worth of a Baby. 6d. cloth.

Left Alone. 6d. cloth.

The Christmas Child. 6d. cloth.

Only a Dog. 6d. cloth.

How Apple-Tree Court was Won.
6d. cloth.

The Sweet Story of Old. Col-
oured Pictures. 3s. 6d. cloth.






ILLUSTRATED BOOKS BY

Mas. 0. K. WATSON.
IN

in a Angel's Christmas.
ror

16mo. 6d. cloth.
Re! \
SS Bs

NY

i

Christie's Old Organ ;
or, Home, Sweet
Home. ls. cloth.

Launch the Lifeboat.
With 44Coloured Pic-
tures or Vignettes.
4to. 3s. col. cover.

| Little Dot. Coloured
Frontispiece. 6d. cl.

Little Faith; or, the
Child of the Toy-stall.
1s. cloth.

Nobody Loves Me.
1s. cloth.

Olive's Story; or, Life
at Ravenscliffe. 2s.6d.
cloth, gilt edges.

A Peep Behind the
Scenes. Imp. 16mo.
8s. 6d. cloth, gilt
edges

Poppie’s Presents.
Crown 8vo. Is. cloth.

Saved at Sea. A Light-
house Story. 1s.cloth.

Shadows. Scenes in the
Life of an Old Arm-
Chair. Imp. 16mo.
4s. cloth, gilt edges.

Taken or Left. Crown
8vo. 1s. cloth.

Was I Right? 3s. 6d.
cloth, gilt edges.

Our Gracious Queen:
Pictures and Stories
from Her Majesty’s
Life. With many En-
gravings. New and
Revised Edition. 1s.

Reduced from “‘Curistiz's OLD OrGan.” cloth boards.
es x¢|








ae

1/6 BOOKS w LARGE TYPE

FOR YOUNG READERS,

Each in very large type with Engravings. Small 4to. xs. 6d. Cloth
boards, gilt edges.

Stories of Bible Children. A Sunday Book for very
Little Children. By Mrs. E. M. Waterworth, author of “ Walking
with Jesus,” etc. In very large type. With Illustrations.

Listening to Jesus. A Sunday Book for the Little
Ones. By E. M. Waterworth, author of ‘Sunday Afternoons at
Rose Cottage.” With Illustrations by W. S. Stacy.

Sunday Afternoons at Rose Cottage. Bible Talks
with Mamma. By Mrs. Waterworth, author of “ Blessings for the
Little Ones,” etc. In very large.type. With Illustrations.

Blessings for the Little Ones.

Walking with Jesus. A Sunday Book for Children.
The Three Brave Princes, and other Bible Stories.
The Beautiful House and its Seven Pillars. By

Frances M. Savill.

Readings with the Little Ones. By Agnes Giberne.
The Children’s King, and other Readings for the Young.

ONE SHILLING EACH.

Picture Stories for Children. With a picture on every
opening, and with letterpress in large type. Crown 8vo. 15s.
attractively bound in cloth boards.

Picture Book for Children, With a picture on every
opening, and with letterpress in large type, well printed. Crown 8vo.
1S. attractively bound in cloth.

SIXPENCE EACH.

THE ROYAL PICTURE BOOKS.

The First of a New Series of Picture Books for very Little Children. A
Picture on every page; the Letterpress in very large type, and in
words of one and two syllables. Engravings by the best Artists.
Imperial 16mo. 6d. each in cloth.

1.—Our Queen, and other Pictures.
2.—Charlie and his Pet, and other Pictures.
8.—Little Kittens, and other Pictures.
4.—Mamma’s Darling, and other Pictures.

3




-FOURPENNY.
BOOKS

IN CLOTH BOARDS.

Each with Illustra-
tion. Well printed,
and tastefully bound
wm cloth boards, and
blocked with colowred

inks. 4d. each.








<>

































1, Short and Sweet. 18. Lily’s Adventure.
2. I Never Thought of it. 19. Made on Purpose. A Story of
3. Father's Joy, and other Series. Rus-ian Life. By Salem
4. A Sprig of Polly. Hall.
5. Barbara’s Revenge. 20. The White Rosebud, and the
6. Shrimp. Birthday Present.
7. Edith’s Second Thought, and | 21. Carl’s Secret.
other Stories. 22. Made a Man of.
8. Jack and Shag. 23. Winnie's Golden Key; or,
9. LhePrincess in the Castle,and The Right of Way. By J.
other Stories. With many Saxby.
Engravings. 24. Trapped on the Rocks; or,
10. Andy and his Book; or, the Only a Word.
Orphan Friends. 25. Susie Wood’s Charge. By
11. Jessie’s Roses, and other Mary E. Ropes.
Stories. 26. Fisherman Niels. By Mrs. G.
12. The Village Shoemaker. Gladstone.
13. ‘he Message of the Bells, and 27. Katy's Resolution. By Jennie
other Stories. Perrett.
14. The Lily of the Valley, and 28. Watchman Halfdan, and his
other Stories. Little Granddaughter. By
15. Tony the Tramp ; or, Good for Mrs. George Gladstone.
Nothing. By Mary E. Ropes. 29. In Golden London; or, Raised
16. Made Clear at Last; or, The from the Dead. By Mary E.
Story of a Ten-Pound Note. Ropes.
By Mary E. Ropes, Author | 30. Sprats Alive Oh! By Harriette
of “Tony the Tramp,” etc. E. Burch, Author of ‘‘ Wind
17. Chrissy’s Glad News; or, A and Wave fulfilling His
Little Child shall lead them. Word,”’ etc.
of


HEAP BOOKS

School Rewards, etc.

a —%*——
Threepenny Reward Books.

A Series of %Amo. Books for the Young. With Covers printed,
back and front, in Colours, on silver ground. Each book in clear type,
with a Frontispiece Engraving.



1 Phil Harvey’s Fortune. 13 Trixie and Her Cousin.
2 His Little Hetty. 14 Kitty’s Concertina.

3 Jock the Shrimper. 15 In Father's Place.

4 My Master's Business. [Found | 16 Hilda and Her Pet.

5 How Charlie was Lost and | 17 The Way to Win.

6 Bessie Morton’s Legacy. 18 The Story of Nika.

7 Johan's Christmas Eve. 19 Addie’s Children.

8 Johnny’s Dream. 20 How Tom Gained the Victory.
9 Old Bagnall’s Ricks. 21 Gaspard’s Promise.
10 Widow Martin's Son. 22 Lucy of the Hall.
11 The Soldier's Legacy. 23 The Oatcake Man.

12 The Flat Iron. 24 Squat and his Friends.



Twopenny Reward Books.

Each containing 48 pages of clearly printed Letter-bress, in simple
language for Children. With numerous Engravings, and in attractive
coloured Covers. 2d. each.

1 Children’s Stories. 13 The Round Robin.
2 Little Stories. | 14 Elsie in the Snow.
3 Pretty Stories. 15 Mabel's Mistake.
4 Pretty Stories. 16 The Jackdaw’s Christmas Tree
5 A Mother's Stories. 17 Angel Rosie.
6 A Sister's Stories. 18 Faithful Andrew.
7 A Friend's Stories. 19 Tim's Little Garden. ~
8 Pleasant Stories. 20 Between Sickle and Scythe.
9 Simple Stories. 2L Freddie’s New Home.
10 True Stories. 22 Kit and his Violin.
11 Useful Stories. 23 Flip, Mish, and Another.
12 Farewell Stories. 24 Jenny Wren’s Mite.

Aunt Mary's Packet of BS Aunt Mary's Pretty Pages
Picture Stories me for Little People.
Each Packet contains Twelve Books with Glazed Covers, in Gold. Fu’l
of Pictures. Crown 8vo. Is. the Packet.

New Penny Story-Books.

A New Series of Twelve attractively got-up Reward Books, each com-

abrising 32 pages, with Cover in Colours, and Illustration. 1s. the Packet yy
= 9








ise



So OND

10.

ll.
12.
13
14.

15.

16.
17.

18.
19,

22.
23.
24,
25,
26,
27,
28,
29,

30.
32,
33.

34,
35.

. Miss Grey's Text ;

IN iW

SERIES.

Coloured Frontispiece and Wood Engravings.
yeaa bound with Medallion on side.

Bessie Mason’s Victories.

+ Dame Buckle and her Pet

Johnny.

. Tiger Jack. By Mrs. Prosser.
. Alice Benson’s Trials.
+ Charlie Scott ;

There’s

or,
‘Time Enough. .

. The Peacock Butterfly.
. Where a Penny went to.
. The Young Folks of Hazel--

brook.

and How
it was Learned.

Basil; or, Honesty and In-
dustry.

Ben Prolt’ s Good Name.

Lisa Baillie’s Journal.
Northcliffe Boys.

The Little Orange Sellers.
Georgie's Prayer.

Saddie’s Service.

Nils’ Revenge. Tale of Swe-
dish Life.

Harry Blake’s Trouble.
Cousin Jack’s Adventures.

ce Hungering and Thirsting.
1.

The China Cup; or, Ellen’s
Trial.

How Tilly found a Friend.
Charity’s Birthday Text.

The Rescue.

Little Nellie’s Days in India.
The Young Hop-Pickers.
Motherless Bairns.

George Wayland.

The Cinnamon Island and its
Captives.

Caleb Gaye’s Success.

. Dark Days of December.

The Big House and the Little
House ; or, The Two Dreams.
Tim and his Friends. .

Ned the Barge-boy. ~ *
Ragged Robin. By Mary E.
Ropes.



36.
37.
38.
39.

40.
41,
42,

43.
44,

45.
46,
47,
48.
49.

50.

51.

52.



The Gable House.

The Dangerous Guest. A
Story of 1745. By Frances
Browne.

Fruits of Bible Lands. By
Mary K. Martin.

May’s Cousin. By Author of
“Reuben Touchett’s Grand-
daughter. ’

Billy the Acorn Gatherer. By
Florence KE. Burch.

The Banished Family, and the
Bohemian Confessor.

The Golden Street; or, The
Fisherman’s Orphans. By
Sidney Grey.

The First of the African Dia-

monds. By Frances Browne.
The Royal Banner; or,
Dragged in the Dust. By

Emma S. Pratt.

Brave Archie. By Author of
“‘ Stories of Life in Italy,” etc.
There’s a Friend for Little
Children. ByCharlotteMason.
Michael the Young Miner.
A Hungarian Story.
Bob’s ‘Trials and Tests. By
Mary E. Ropes.

Tim Peglar’s Secret ; or, The

Wonderful Egg. By Miss
Tandy.

Under the Snow. By the
Author of ‘Heroes and

Famous Men of Old.”

The Lost Baby. A Story of
the Floods. By Emma Leslie,
Author of Out of the Mouth
of the Lion.” etc.

Squirrel ; or, Back froma Far
Country. By Florence E.
Burch, Author of ‘How
Tilly found a Friend,” etc.

53. Rescued from the Burning

Ship. ue


” AN TLUSTRATED MAGAZINE for
Little Bovs and Girls.

OLIPPLLPL IIL PIII DAN

Od LEK DOYS.
PENNY
MONTHLY.

RRRRRR RRR nnn nnn nnn






“Parents in search of a Mon-
thly Magazine for infants will
not find a better than ‘Our Little
Dots.’ —£nglish Churchman.

“Just what children will
like."—Church Sunday School





Hl il } { Magazine.
(I ee “Good pictures and reading.”
He ats if Spectator.



roe “ Delightful.”"—Zcclesiastical
Sra ee iis aur anna ee a Gazette.

A valuable little magazine, which is just the thing for the small folk
of the family—full of engravings, little tales in large type and small words,
the ‘ Little Dots’ could wish for nothing better.”—Somerset County
Herald.

OUR LITTLE DOTS’

AININU AL. F







The Yearly Volume of

“Our. Lirrre Dore.”

Full of Pretty Pictures and Little Stories
in Large Type. Is. 6d. attractive col-
oured boards; 2s. neat cloth; 2s. 6d.
handsome cloth gilt.








it

i

From “Our Littte Dots.


wenn

la





Sy,

|" ONE PENNY MONTHLY. *

M JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR.

{wa pretty little illustrated periodical,

especially noticeable for the editor's
sensible practice of giving children credit for
! being able to understand something better than
mere jingles and childish things."—T7he Daily
News.

“A perfect treasury of interesting articles and
’ poetical pieces.” — Bookseller.



“As charming as_ ever.’—LZcclesiastical
Gazette

CHILD'S COMPANION

Juvenile Instructor Annual.

Contains a New Story in Twelve Chap- °
ters. By Mrs. O. I. Walton, author of
“‘Christie’s Old Organ,” ‘‘ A Peep Behind
the, Scenes,” etc. It is full of pretty
Pictures and interesting reading for young folks, with a
Coloured Frontispiece, 15. 6d. attractive coloured boards :
2s. neat cloth ; 2s. 6d. handsome cloth, full gilt. x









LONDON: KNIGHT, PRINTER, MIDDLE STREET, ALDERSCATE, E.O,
,

“SIXPENCE EACH.

yo

ZaN |

® | Till the Sugar Melts
| The Story of a Geranium
i The Flying Postnian
The Money in the Milk
The Cowslip Ball
| The Little Model

( YQ Mecy Sefton

MS Tales from over the Sea
Lisetta & the Brigands.

A Bessie Graham

"Nin his FathersArms

i Cosmo & his Marmosel

| Talks with Uncie Morris








Herbert & his Sister
tgs LUCY Millers Sood Work
j Little Andys Legacy
How the Gold Medal was Won,
& The Young Drovers
*:| Master Charles's Chair.
(Lith le Kittiwake
# Squire Bent rey’ Trea
Jessi res Visit to the Sunn
Be anus secret
The Children inthe Valley




&

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.
56. PATERNOSTER ROW, LONOON.
ov N

2 Re \\1 [ L E dD oy

each with a

v GOLOURED
Ca), FRONTISPIECE
ip MAC AND

Woop
ENGRAVINGS.