Stories and Sketches | Page 4

sitting up in bed, sound asleep, at the hour of
midnight, and singing, with a loud voice and very earnest manner, to an
audience who were unable to understand one word of the song. At the
close of the last verse he lay quietly down, all unconscious of the
Musical Entertainment he had given. The next morning some of the
family began teasing him about the song he had sung in his sleep. He
was loth to believe them, and as usual, enquired of me if they were
telling him the truth. "I'll believe whatever you say," said he, "for its
you that niver toult me a lie yet." "You may believe them this time,"
said I, "for you certainly did sing a song. The air was very fine, and I
have no doubt the words were equally so, if we could only have
understood them."
"Well thin," replied he, "but I niver heard more than that; and if I raaly
did sing, I may as well tell yee's how it happint. I dramed, ye see, that I
was at a ball in Ireland, an' I thought that about twelve o'clock we got
tired wid dancin and sated ourselves on the binches which were ranged
round the walls uv the room, and ache one was to sing a song in their
turn, an' its I that thought my turn had come for sure." "Well Terry,"
said I, "you hit upon the time exact at any rate, for it was just twelve
o'clock when you favoured us with the song."
Soon after this time I left the neighborhood, and removed to some
distance. Terry remained for considerable time with the same family;
after a time I learned that he had obtained employment in a distant
village. The next tidings I heard of him was that he had been implicated
in a petty robbery, and had run away. His impulsive disposition
rendered him very easy of persuasion, for either good or evil; and he

seldom paused to consider the consequences of any act. From what I
could learn of the matter it seemed he had been enticed into the affair
by some designing fellows, who judged that, owing to his simplicity, he
would be well adapted to carry out their wicked plans; and, when
suspicion was excited, they managed in some way to throw all the
blame upon Terry, who, fearing an arrest, fled no one knew whither.
Many years have passed since I saw or heard of Terry Dolan, but often,
as memory recalls past scenes and those who participated in them, I
think of him, and wonder if he is yet among the living, and, if so, in
what quarter of the world he has fixed his abode.

THE FAITHFUL WIFE.
It was a mild and beautiful evening in the early autumn. Mrs. Harland
is alone in her home; she is seated by a table upon which burns a
shaded lamp, and is busily occupied with her needle. She has been five
years a wife; her countenance is still youthful, and might be termed
beautiful, but for the look of care and anxiety so plainly depicted
thereon. She had once been happy, but with her now happiness is but a
memory of the past. When quite young she had been united in marriage
to William Harland, and with him removed to the City of R., where
they have since resided. He was employed as bookkeeper in a large
mercantile house, and his salary was sufficient to afford them a
comfortable support,--whence then the change that has thus blighted
their bright prospects, and clouded the brow of that fair young wife
with care? It is an unpleasant truth, but it must be told. Her husband has
become addicted to the use of strong drink, not an occasional tippler,
but a confirmed and habitual drunkard. His natural disposition was gay
and social, and he began by taking an occasional glass with his
friends--more for sociability than for any love of the beverage. His wife
often admonished him of the danger of tampering with the deadly vice
of intemperance, but he only laughed at what he termed her idle fears.
Well had it been for them both had the fears of his wife proved
groundless! It is needless for me to follow him in his downward path,
till we find him reduced to the level of the common drunkard. Some
three months previous to the time when our story opens his employers

were forced to dismiss him, as they could no longer employ him with
any degree of safety to their business. It was fortunate for Mrs. Harland
that the dwelling they occupied belonged to her in her own right--it had
been given her by her father at the period of her marriage--so that