At the O'Dorney Petty Sessions on December 2nd, a case
of assault was tried, which brought out curiously the imagina- tive side of the Irish character, as well as its curiously loose and wandering conception of evidence. An old man named Dann, who kept a small shop in the village, summoned two young men, who appear to have been in the habit of playing him tricks, for assault. Here is his account of the affair to the Magistrate :—" Complainant said that between 6 and 7 -o'clock the other night, the two defendants came brawling -outside his window ; O'Brien was exciting Cennell to harm ; I was sitting near my fireside when I saw the two of them out- side my door ; well then, Sir, my hero (Connell) took a hop like a dancing master and struck the half door; my missal; and couple of children, who were inside, took a jump with the fright and mostly leapt into the fire ; only for the Almighty -God put the candle in my hand, and gave me the moonlight, I wouldn't know O'Brien ; Connell was standing by, and O'Brien caught him and wheeled him around and knocked him against the window; Oh, Kitty,' says I, 'go out and see is the window broken ; ' she went out and came between them ; I went putting up the shutters then, and Connell -came hopping like a lamp-lighter and struck me on the fore- head and knocked me across the floor." That touch as to -" the Almighty God putting the candle in my hand" and "lending" him the moonlight, is really very effective, and at -once recalls the verse in the eighteenth Psalm," For thou wilt light my candle; the Lord my God will enlighten my dark- ness." At the same time the use made of this providential candle, in recognising O'Brien and helping Kitty to see if the window was broken, was perhaps hardly worthy of the dignity of a divine interposition.
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