SOME IRISH . STORIES.
[To. THE Beason or THE " Sascrarott."3 Sna,—I have a free evening and some stories to tell, and so you are going to have them inflicted on you. One incident came to we from a friend who hears about such things, and although he did not see it himself, he believes in it; to any one who knows Ireland it is, at any rate, entirely credible. You may remember that when the round-up of the Sinn Feiners took place a detach- ment of them were to be sent off from the Wexford district, when the- populace invaded the railway station, kicked up a shindy, and broke tbe couplings of the train, and preVented the deporta- tion until a " special " was sent down with the military to restore order. The sequel was new to me. There is only a single line below Bray, and when the " special " arrived it had to be shunted until the up and down mail trains were cleared. The military were thus left nearly seven hours in Wexford with nothing to do, and they naturally went down into the town, where their prisoners proceeded to introduce them -to their friends, liquor was produced, friendliness and conviviality reigned, and the evening terminated with an impromptu dance on the station platform, after which some of the less strong-headed soldiers might have been seen being helped into the train by their prisoners with whom, in all good comradeship, they eventually arrived in Dublin.
Now I must tell you of the Dublin merchant whom I rang up on the telephone and asked if he could see me the following day. "Glory be to God, do you never say your prayers? " was the answer that fell upon my astonished ears. I said I did—some- times, and ventured mildly to inquire why the question was put. " Don't you know to-morrow's the Curragh races ? " And yet people tell me there is some prospect of war in Central Europe.
I was told a Babu yarn recently which is probably an antique; if so, forgive-me. A visitor was being shown over a gaol in Cal- cutta, and noticing one particularly sullen-looking convict in a tell by himself, asked what was he there for. " That man, Sahib," said the guide, "is going to be hanged to-morrow for a murder; and he is innocent; and that makes him very peevish."—
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