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Manners, J. Hartley, 1870-1928

"Peg O' My Heart"

Who are they I'd like to know that I
mustn't speak his name in their presence? I love me father and sure
it's easier to suffer for the want of food than the want of love!"
Suddenly she raised one hand above her head and in the manner and
tone of a public-speaker she astounded Jerry with the following
outburst:
"An' that's what the Irish are doin' all over the wurrld. They're
driven out of their own country by the English and become wandherers
on the face of the earth and nothin' they ever EARN'LL make up to
them for the separation from their homes and their loved ones!" She
finished the peroration on a high note and with a forced manner such
as she had frequently heard on the platform.
She smiled at the astonished Jerry and asked him:
"Do ye know what that is?"
"I haven't the least idea," he answered truthfully.
"That's out of one of me father's speeches. Me father makes grand
speeches. He makes them in the Cause of Ireland."
"Oh, really! In the Cause of Ireland, eh?" said Jerry.
"Yes. He's been strugglin' all his life to make Ireland free--to get
her Home Rule, ye know. But the English are so ignorant. They think
they know more than me father. If they'd do what me father tells
them sure there'd be no more throuble in Ireland at all.


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