place between
them; and the fact of the peasantry flocking to the herd's house to
satisfy themselves as to the truth of the rumor, is yet well remembered
in the parish. It, was also affirmed, that as the funeral of M'Kenna
passed to the churchyard, a hare crossed it, which some one present
struck on the side with a stone. The hare, says the tradition, was not
injured, but the sound of the stroke resembled that produced on striking
an empty barrel.

We have nearly wound up our story, in which we have feebly endeavored to
illustrate scenes that were, some time ago, not unusual in Irish life.
There is little more to be added, except that Mike Reillaghan almost
miraculously recovered; that he and Peggy Gartland were happily married,
and that Darby More lost his character as a dreamer in that parish,
Mike, with whom, however, he still continued a favorite, used frequently
to allude to the speaking crucifix, the dream aforesaid, and his bit
of fiction, in assuring his mother that he had dissuaded him against
"tracing" on that eventful day.

"Well, avourneen," Darby would exclaim, "the holiest of us has our
failins; but, in throth, the truth of it is, that myself didn't know
what I was sayin', I was so _through other_ (* agitated); for I renumber
that I was badly afflicted with this thief of a configuration inwardly
at the time. That, you see, and your own throubles, put my mind
ashanghran for 'a start. But, upon my sanctity,--an' sure that's a
great oath wid me--only for the Holy Carol you bought from me the night
before, an' above all touchin' you wid the blessed Cruciwhix, you'd
never a' got over the same accident. Oh, you may smile an' shake your
head, but it's thruth whether or not! Glory be to God!"

The priest of the parish, on ascertaining correctly the incidents
mentioned in this sketch, determined to deprive the people of at least
one pretext for their follies. He represented the abuses connected with
such a ceremony to the bishop; and from that night to the present
time, the inhabitants of Kilnaheery never had, in their own parish, an
opportunity of hearing a Midnight Mass.

THE DONAGH; OR, THE HORSE STEALERS.

Carnmore, one of those small villages that are to be found in the
outskirts of many parishes in Ireland, whose distinct boundaries are
lost in the contiguous mountain-wastes, was situated at the foot of a
deep gorge or pass, overhung by two bleak hills, from the naked sides of
which the sto