od, I
thanked him with tears in my eyes, for giving me such a treasure. 'Well,
come now,' says she, 'to the green;' so we went--and it's she that was
the girl, when she did go among them, that threw them all into the dark
for beauty and figure; as fair as a lily itself did she look--so tall
and illegant, that you wouldn't think she was a farmer's daughter at
all; so we left the priests dancing away, for we could do no good before
them.

"When we had danced an hour or so, them that the family had the
greatest regard for were brought in unknown to the rest, to drink tay.
Mary planted herself beside me, and would sit nowhere else; but the
friar got beside the bridesmaid, and I surely observed that many a time
she'd look over, likely to split, at Mary, and it's Mary herself that
gave her many's a wink, to come to the other side; but, you know, out of
manners, she was obliged to sit quietly, though among ourselves it's she
that was like a hen on a hot griddle, beside the ould chap. It was now
that the bride-cake was got. Ould Sonsy Mary marched over, and putting
the bride on her feet, got up on a chair and broke it over her head,
giving round a _fadge_* of it to every young person in the house, and
they again to their acquaintances: but, lo and behold you, who should
insist on getting a whang of it but the friar, which he rolled up in a
piece of paper, and put it in his pocket. 'I'll have good fun,' says
he, 'dividing this to-morrow among the colleens when I'm collecting my
oats--the sorra one of me but I'll make them give me the worth of it of
something, if it was only a fat hen or a square of bacon.'

* A liberal portion torn off a thick cake.

"After tay the ould folk got full of talk; the youngsters danced round
them; the friar sung like a thrush, and told many a droll story. The
tailor had got drunk a little too early, and had to be put to bed, but
he was now as fresh as ever, and able to dance a hornpipe, which he
did on a door. The Dorans and the Flanagans had got quite thick after
drubbing one another--Ned Doran began his courtship with Alley Flanagan
on that day, and they were married soon after, so that the two factions
joined, and never had another battle until the day of her berrial, when
they were at it as fresh as ever. Several of those that were at the
wedding were lying drunk about the ditches, or roaring, and swaggering,
and singing about the place. The night falling, those that were dancing
on the g