nt
last night, and Himself was out seein' him off at the staymer, all
through the pourin' rain, the way he's not able to shtir hand or fut. I
was just down to Gallagher's gettin' him some medicine."

"Ah, now! 'tis too bad that Himself is sick. Will I help yez with the
bottles, Mrs. Ryan?"

"Thank yez, Ma'am, it's too kind ye are."

"And ye tell me y'r son is away agin, and him only just back! 'Tis a
tarrible warr, an' there's a powerful lot av fine young fellows that'll
be missing when they come back to Dublin agin."

"Ah! ye may well say that, Mrs. Flanagan. There's more than a million
gone out of this disthrict alone, and there's Irishmen fightin' in all
the himispheres of th' worrld. They tell me that the Irish bees in such
numbers that the inimy got fair desprit an' rethreated into Siberia to
get away from thim, till they met more av us comin' along from th' other
ind of the worrld."

"Glory be! But isn't that wandherful?"

"Ay, 'twas the Tinth Division, so it was, the brave boys comin' back
afther fightin' the Turks, bad luck to them f'r haythens! F'r didn't
Lord KITCHENER himself go out to see thim at the Dardnells, and ses he,
'What's the use of wastin' brave throops here? We'll lave the English to
clane up the threnches,' and on that they packs the Irish off and
marches thim thousands of miles intil Siberia. Ah! 'twas the dhrop thim
Germins got when they came shtrugglin' along wan day and run up aginst
the ould Tinth agin. There was tarrible slaughter that day, and the
inimy bruk in great disorther, and is now trying to escape down the
Sewers into the Canal."

"Well now, Mrs. Ryan, that's grand news ye do be tellin'. 'Tis fair
wandherful how well up in it y' are. But will ye tell me now what would
the English be doin' all this time? Surely ye don't mane to say that the
whole av th' Army bees Irish?"

"Not at all, Mrs. Flanagan, not at all. But the _fightin'_ rigimints is
mostly Irish. Ye see, th' Army has to be fed, and the threnches has to
be claned and drained, and so on, and the English does the cookin' and
clanin' for the Irish. But anny fightin' that's done is done bo th'
Irish rigimints, as is well known to be the best fighters in the
worrld."

"But will ye tell me now, what's this I hear about making the English go
into the Army be description?"

"Is ut _con_scription ye mane? Shure, 'tis like this. Furst of all there
was inlistment be groups. Himself tould me all about it. Over there,
ther