s militia;
though once in, every fellow loves it.

This intimation of an army suggests an anecdote of the past war-time.
The militia was being embodied, and several landlords who held
commissions were going under canvas with the corps at Gosport. One of
his tenants stopped a popular landlord on the road and asked:--

'What do you want to go to be shot at by them Boers for, sir?'

'To be sure, Tim, my tenants have the first right to shoot me, have they
not?' was the prompt reply.

The fellow roared with laughter at the retort, and after shaking hands,
wished him luck.

It was also characteristic of Irish proclivities for a soft-voiced woman
on the estate to say to Miss Leeson Marshall:--

'When the war broke out first we were all praying that the English might
be beaten out of South Africa. Then when Mr. Marshall went away to the
army, we thought we should not like his side to lose, so we changed our
prayers round by the blessing of God and His Saints.'

If any real impression has been given in these pages of the inconsistent
Irish character, the genuine character of this sentiment will be
comprehensible. It has been said that an Irishman will tell the truth
about everything except one thing--that, of course, is a horse. When not
engaged in shooting his landlord, the tenant is by no means disaffected
to him, whilst the female appurtenances, mindful of all the small doles
they obtain, are much more voluble in their cordial protestations.

Sometimes the women are enigmatical: one does not know if they are
acting out of kindness or from duplicity. For example, not so long ago a
girl came up to one of my daughters in the road and said to her:--

'For the love of God tell your mother to order your father's coffin for
he'll need it, the Saints preserve us.'

And with that she started away before there was time to reply.

Nothing came of it, of course: nothing ever has, of real importance.

Nothing, alas, also seems so often to be the verdict on life when
looking back. Mine, however, has been too full a one, not only with
griefs and trials but also with happiness and fun, for me to dismiss it
thus. There has been so much more to live through than to write about,
and yet, in these pages, has been told something which would have gone
for ever untold if I had not in old age become garrulous. Things
forgotten have been recalled to my mind and may prove suggestive to
other people who read them, and it is my hope, in con