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MY LADY OF THE
CHIMNEY CORNER


BY
ALEXANDER IRVINE




AUTHOR OF "FROM THE BOTTOM UP," ETC.


NEW YORK
THE CENTURY CO.
1914




Copyright, 1913, by
THE CENTURY CO.
_Published, August, 1913_




TO
LADY GREGORY
AND
THE PLAYERS OF THE ABBEY THEATRE
DUBLIN




FOREWORD


This book is the torn manuscript of the most beautiful life I ever knew.
I have merely pieced and patched it together, and have not even changed
or disguised the names of the little group of neighbors who lived with
us, at "the bottom of the world."                                  A. I.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER                                    PAGE

   I LOVE IS ENOUGH                           3

  II THE WOLF AND THE CARPENTER              21

 III REHEARSING FOR THE SHOW                 38

  IV SUNDAY IN POGUE'S ENTRY                 63

   V HIS ARM IS NOT SHORTENED                85

  VI THE APOTHEOSIS OF HUGHIE THORNTON      110

 VII IN THE GLOW OF A PEAT FIRE             133

VIII THE WIND BLOWETH WHERE IT LISTETH      153

  IX "BEYOND TH' MEADOWS AN' TH' CLOUDS"    171

   X THE EMPTY CORNER                       198




MY LADY OF THE CHIMNEY-CORNER

A STORY OF LOVE AND POVERTY IN
IRISH PEASANT LIFE




CHAPTER I

LOVE IS ENOUGH


"Anna's purty, an' she's good as well as purty, but th' beauty an'
goodness that's hers is short lived, I'm thinkin'," said old Bridget
McGrady to her neighbor Mrs. Tierney, as Mrs. Gilmore passed the door,
leading her five-year-old girl, Anna, by the hand. The old women were
sitting on the doorstep as the worshipers came down the lane from early
mass on a summer morning.

"Thrue for you, Bridget, for th' do say that th' Virgin takes all sich
childther before they're ten."

"Musha, but Mrs. Gilmore'll take on terrible," continued Mrs. Tierney,
"but th' will of God must be done."

Anna was dressed in a dainty pink dress. A wide blue ribbon kept her
wealth of jet black hair in order as it hung down her back and the
squeaking of her little shoes drew attention to the fact that they were
new and in the fashion.

"It's a mortal pity she's a girl," said Bridget, "bekase she might hev
been an althar boy before she goes."

"Aye, but if she was a bhoy shure there's no tellin' what divilmint
she'd get into; so maybe it's just as well."

The Gilmores lived on a small farm near Crumlin in County Antrim. They
were not considered "well to do," neither were they poor. They worked
hard and by dint of economy managed to keep their children at school.
Anna was a favorite child. Her quiet demeanor and gentle disposition
drew to her many considerations denied the rest of the family. She was a
favorite in the community. By the old women she was considered "too good
to live"; she took "kindly" to the house of God. Her teacher said, "Anna
has a great head for learning." This expression, oft repeated, gave the
Gilmores an ambition to prepare Anna for teaching. Despite the schedule
arranged for her she was confirmed in the parish chapel at the age of
ten. At fifteen she had exhausted the educational facilities of the
community and set her heart on institutions of higher learning in the
larger cities. While her parents were figuring that way the boys of the
parish were figuring in a different direction. Before Anna was seventeen
there was scarcely a boy living within miles who had not at one time or
another lingered around the gate of the Gilmore garden. Mrs. Gilmore
watched Anna carefully. She warned her against the danger of an
alliance with a boy of a lower station. The girl was devoted to the
Church. She knew her Book of Devotions as few of the older people knew
it, and before she was twelve she had read the Lives of the Saints. None
of these things made her an ascetic. She could laugh heartily and had a
keen sense of humor.

The old women revised their prophecies. They now spoke of her "takin'
th' veil." Some said she would make "a gey good schoolmisthress," for
she was fond of children.

While waiting the completion of arrangements to continue her schooling,
she helped her mother with the household work. She spent a good deal of
her time, too, in helping the old and disabled of the village. She
carried water to them from the village well and tidied up their cottages
at