"
"Thady, you're a wag," exclaimed the crestfallen pedagogue; "take the
lad to your own sate, and show him his task. How! is your sister's sore
throat, Thady?"
"Why, sir," replied the benevolent young wit, "she's betther than I am.
She can swallow more, sir."
"Not of larnin', Thady; there you've the widest gullet in the parish."
"My father's the richest man in it, Masther," replied Thady. "I think,
sir, my! gullet and his purse are much about the same size--wid you."
"Thady, you're first-rate at a reply;--but exceedingly deficient in the
retort courteous. Take the lad to your sate, I say, and see how far he
is advanced, and what he is fit for. I suppose, as you are so ginerous,
you will volunteer to tache him yourself."
"I'll do that wid pleasure, sir; but I'd like to know whether you intind
to tache him or not."
"An' I'd like to know, Thady, who's to pay me for it, if I do. A purty
return Michael Rooney made me for making him such a linguist as he is.
'You're a tyrant,' said he, when he grew up, 'and instead of expecting
me to thank you for your instructions, you ought to thank me for not
preparing you for the county hospital, as a memento of the cruelty
and brutality you made me feel, when I had the misfortune to be a poor
scholar! under you.' And so, because he became curate of the parish, he
showed me the outside of it."
"But will you tache this poor young boy, sir?"
"Let me know who's to guarantee his payments."
"I have money myself, sir, to pay you for two years," replied Jemmy.
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