“He did, Bridget, he did,” replied John Burke. “An' yez have the particulars av a foine woman about yez, yerself, Bridget!”
“Troth! an' I have,” said Madame Burke, giving full consent to this view of her merits. “But, John, phwat a rapscallion yer uncle they transhpoorted must av been, to bate the loife out o' poor Humpy Pete, the cripple-fiddler, that toime at the Fair!”
For the second time the strap fell, and the shrieks of Madame Burke filled the neighbourhood. P. Sarsfield O'Toole, still on his porch, sat unmoved, and bestowed no interest on the doings of the Burkes. As the strap was plied and the yells of the victim uplifted, P. Sarsfield O'Toole repeated the proverb which stands at the head of this story.
WAGON MOUND SAL
(Wolfville)
It was Wagon Mound Sal—she got the prefix later and was plain “Sal” at the time—who took up laundry-labours when Benson Annie became a wife. And this tells of the wooing and wedding of Riley Bent with Sallie of Wagon Mound.
Wagon Mound Sal prevailed, as stated, the mistress of a laundry. And it was there Riley Bent first beheld her, as she was putting a tubful of the blue woollen shirts affected by the males of her region through a second suds. On this occasion Riley's appearance was due to a misunderstanding. He was foggy with drink, and looked in on a theory that the place was a store which made a specialty of the sale of shirts.
“What for a j'int is this?” asked Riley as he entered.