The week before Lent, or Shrove, is the great time in Clare. And, oh! what a study is here for the plenipotentiary, the attaché, or the financier. A young man, (suppose, for instance,) hears of the “great fortune” of some young lady in the neighborhood, or, what generally happens, he is waited on by one of his friends, (quite by accident) when a conversation to the following purport occurs:—
“Well, Jimmy, who do you think I’ve in my eye for you?”
“Why, then, how do I know, Corny?”
“What do you think of Judy Tucker?”
“Oh, that would be great, Corny! I hear she has a good stockin’ full?”
“Is it her? Two hundred pounds—no less; she’s no great beauty, but—”
“Oh, never heed, Corny. Do you think you could manage it?”
“Oh, let me alone.”
Corny then mentions it to his wife, and she takes an early opportunity to go over to Judy’s residence, where she (quite casually) mentions Jimmy Melish.
“Oh, but that’s the nice boy, Judy, agrah!”