 |
| THE IRISH FISHWOMAN. -The sketch of this interesting personage, her donkey and cart, and the pleasant rural surroundings, is true to life. Nothing seems more homelike and restful than a neat and cleanly Irish village, near the Dublin or Wicklow coast, on a fine day in summer, when the sun is cloudless and the sea breeze tempers the gentle heat of the flower-perfumed Irish atmosphere. The villagers can hear the drowsy hum of the bees as they "swarm" on the cottage roofs, and the soft note of the cuckoo, deep in the summer woods. At such a time in the day, along comes the buxom old fishwife, with a heart like an angel and a tongue like a fend, leading her donkey through the village street. "Have ye any fresh mackerel today?" inquires the good housewife. "Av course I have, an' what ud I be doin' wid scale fish?" answers and queries the piscatory peddler. "Give me half a dozen, thin," says the "vanithee," mildlly. "Half a dozen o'mackerel! Yerra, what d'ye take me for? Ye'll have a dozen or nothin, Mrs. Leary." "Well, a dozen be it, thin. Anything for a quiet life," responds the victim. The exchange is duly made and the fishwife leads on her animal and cart, crying out at intervals, "Fr-r-r-esh mack'ril! Fr-r-r-e-s-h m-a-c-k'ril!" until finally she disposes of all her load and returns home rejoicing. |
 |  |