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Alignment-Lab-AI
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GutenDialogue

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5.07k
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "landlords and tenants is the hamlet of Millstreet, situate on the line of railway between this place and Mallow, once a kind of Irish Tunbridge Wells, and famous for the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rakes of Mallow, whose virtues are immortalised in verse. When Mallow was the farthest south-western outpost of civilization it is possible that the" }, { "from": "human", "value": "who converged upon that pretty spot from the surrounding country" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "" }, { "from": "human", "value": "and" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ould Ireland" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "S's, as they say here, and only require a little surplus on the average rainfall to overflow the more valuable land. And it is astonishing how quickly good land left untilled reverts to its primeval condition, or, in the expressive language of the country," } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "made up of fenugreek seed and other condiments, are, if not unknown, quite unused by all but a few gentlemen farmers, of whom I shall in another letter have more to say. The old-fashioned notion was to rear cattle, turn them loose on the mountain, and sell them to be finished in the Meaths or elsewhere. On the Millstreet farm, however, root-crops are largely used for feeding, and the beasts are kept more under cover than is common here. All this means, of course, large outlay, and the farmer has expended not less than six thousand pounds in building, and in draining and liming four hundred acres of the eight hundred he occupies. He was, like Canon Griffin, one of the first to recognise the necessity for changing the potato seed, and imported" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "Three F's," } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "is on the increase. All who can conveniently leave county Kerry are doing so. If I go for a drive with one of those proscribed by the grogshop-keepers of Castleisland the muzzle of a double-barrelled carbine peeps ominously from the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "of the car. Meanwhile all enterprise and development of the country is arrested. The North Kerry Railway, connecting this town with Limerick, will, I believe, be opened next week," } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "but" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Lord Kenmare, who is a downright resident Irish landlord, _s'il en fust oncques_, confessedly leaves Ireland with great regret, and bade his people" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Good-bye, for a long time with no feigned grief. But he finds the country uninhabitable, while indignation meetings are held almost at his gates, and the very labourers whom he has done so much to employ make common cause with the farmers against him in paying no rent. The improvements going on here for some time past are stopped, and about 200l. a week of wages lost to the neighbourhood. The causes which led to Lord Kenmare's departure have but recently sprung into existence. The _jacquerie_ only reached Kerry the other day, and already the county is revolutionised. Thanks to The O'Donoghue and other Land Leaguers, Kerry is now in as unsettled a condition as Mayo, Galway, Clare, and Limerick. The flame was long in reaching this remote region; but when it came it fell among inflammable stuff, as will be gathered from the almost ridiculous circumstance of farmers and labourers combining together against a supposed common enemy. Farmers who a fortnight ago talked scornfully of those who" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "have, to my certain knowledge, subscribed to the Land League within the last few days, and I am informed that those who have hitherto held out will be members before another week is gone. It is true that additional allurements are held out to them. The three" }, { "from": "human", "value": "F's no longer satisfy the more advanced spirits who emulate Mr. Parnell's magnificent vagueness, and declare it quite impossible that any measure likely to pass the Houses of Parliament as at present constituted will satisfy the people of Ireland. Meanwhile terrorism is upheld as a legitimate weapon of reform. If it were possible to be surprised at anything taking place in Ireland at the present moment, I should have been surprised at a farmer to whom I was talking a couple of days ago, and who farms between two and three hundred acres under an" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "landlord. The farmer, who was evidently a local luminary on the land question, is only a recent convert to Land League principles; but he was nevertheless prepared to defend the cowardly kind of general strike against an individual, known as" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotting. He also talked a great deal about fair rents and the compulsion that farmers are under to pay anything that their landlords choose to ask. Yet this very man was, not long since, offered the profitable farm he now occupies in the place of smaller and less convenient holdings. Asked by his landlord what he thought he ought to pay, he offered two and a half times Griffith's valuation, and on the landlord asking him three times that rate, agreed with him to" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "And, I am asked on all sides," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "of my friend gleam with triumph." }, { "from": "human", "value": "A second Daniel, he almost shouted;" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "No one knew from year to year which farm he had to till, and they used to divide every field and divide the crops every year." } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "There is not as much as the grass of a goat." } ]
19160
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Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "Quite, quite down." } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "or rather its monetary result, but held the land and were" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotting. This is, it seems, the great constitutional weapon on which neither horse, foot, nor artillery can be brought to bear. Those who will not join the _Jacquerie_, and aid and abet those Irish analogues of Jacques Bonhomme, Mike and Thady and Tim, in their resistance to" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "shall be" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted ; and all those who refuse to join in" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotting" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted, a doom which signifies simply that the victim must surrender or leave the country. It means that nobody will buy or sell with any member of the family which is declared" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "; that the farmer may drive his cattle and pigs to market, but will not find a purchaser; that he may reap his grain and pull his potatoes, but that not a soul in the country will buy them for fear of being" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted himself. It means that the baker will refuse him bread, and the butcher meat; that no draper who knows his wife by sight will sell her as much as a ribbon; that not a creature will buy her butter and eggs, chickens and turkeys, geese and ducks; that she will be unable to buy any article of food or luxury for her children, and that they will be" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotting is spreading rapidly, as my informant, who is heartily in favour of it, declares it is" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It is impossible to compel any community to have dealings with a person whom they dislike, and the anti-landlord party are determined to carry their point without, as appears on the notices served on farmers," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Isolation" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "BOYCOTTING" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotting since its invention. Early attempts in any artistic direction are apt to be crude, and when" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotting was first practised at Lough Mask it put on the guise of a general strike of the country side against an individual, but its effect was purely local. Since that time great progress has been made in shaping and finishing what one of my informants defined as" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "At this moment the arm of the skilful" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotter is long. It can stop the sale of the original victim's potatoes in a northern town; it can keep Mr. Stacpoole from getting rid of his horses in Limerick; and can actually prevent Mr. Bence Jones from sending his cattle from Cork to England. The latter gentleman is isolated on his estate at Lisselan, a place near Ballinascarthy, between Bandon and Clonakilty, in this county, but his isolation has not yet gone, in some respects, to the same brutal length as that of Mr. Boycott. He is still permitted to receive and to despatch his letters; and car-drivers have, perhaps by some oversight of the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotters, not yet been warned to avoid his house as if it were a lazaretto, and to refuse to carry his visitors within miles of his door. Perhaps he is considered by the mysterious persons who alone exercise authority in Ireland just now as only a" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "than they are of them. The household of Lisselan consists for the time being of the Messrs. Bence Jones, father and son. Miss Bence Jones, their English house servants, two labourers--whereof one is English and the other Irish--Mr. Law, the Scotch bailiff, and an Irish housemaid, who has remained faithful, and helps Miss Bence Jones to milk the cows and to attend to the dairy. The road is slippery on the high ground hard by, and it is debated at Lisselan House whether the farrier of the Dragoon Guards shall not be asked to" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "son and daughter, who have been up since the dawn feeding and penning cattle and sheep, and milking the cows. Since Monday the strike among the Irish employed on the house and the farm has, with the exceptions already mentioned, been rigidly maintained. The men, about forty in number, were" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "; but the fine shorthorned bull seems none the worse, and the pigs have taken kindly to the new and disorderly condition of affairs. But things are not brought to a deadlock yet. Of the animals" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotted" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "but this dictum is hardly confirmed in the case of Mr. Bence Jones's assailants, who number among them a minister of religion, as well as the irrepressible grogshop-keeper. I am informed that last Sunday the mutinous labourers--or, perhaps, it would be more correct to say the labourers who have been coerced by threats into mutiny--were addressed in the vestry by Father Mulcahy, and that either he or some other person assured them that they would receive their wages as if they were still employed. However this may be, the unfortunate families, about thirty in number, who have struck at the bidding of the anti-landlord party, are making a sorry bargain; for many of the men are getting on in years, and will have to seek work and house-room elsewhere when they are turned out of their cottages to make room for the strange hands who are coming to do the work they refuse to do. The neat little dwellings of stone and slate that I observed to-day on the Lisselan estate are not let to the labourers, but are, with as much potato land as they can manure, thrown in with their wages, 11s. per week. They must now make way for people who will work, and are not afraid of" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Rory of the Hills." } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "to nearly double Griffith's valuation? Was it just to increase the rent because his father and mother were dead? All these questions occurred to the tenant, beyond any matter of improvements and so forth. The landlord's position is quite intelligible. The value of farm produce had risen so greatly since the original rent was levied, and the farmer had prospered so well of late years, that the holding was demonstrably worth more rent than had been paid. On the other hand, the tenant held that the farm had done well by his people, because they had done well by it, and that to" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "because his family had behaved honestly and industriously was a monstrous exercise of arbitrary power. The upshot of the whole matter was a refusal on the part of the whole tenantry to pay the last" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "who arranges such matters had proposed two girls to him, one of whom had one cow and the other two cows" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now, the" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boy liked the girl with one cow far better than her rival who had two, but the magnitude of the sacrifice he wished to make sat heavy on his soul. He consulted a patriarch renowned for his wisdom, and laid great stress upon his love for the girl with one cow. The oracle spake as follows:" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Take the gyurl wid the two cows. There isn't the difference of a cow, begorra, betune any two women in the wor-r-ld. By similar reasoning a superannuated dairymaid with a grogshop is a very different person to the" }, { "from": "human", "value": "--sovereign lady of her presence, but of no groggery beside. Consequently the woman got married and died, and her husband having proved objectionable was evicted and the grogshop extinguished. This was another grievance against Mr. Bence Jones, who is known to oppose the indiscriminate licensing which takes place in many parts of Ireland. I believe that in the neighbouring townlet of Clonakilty there are no less than forty-two whisky shops, a proportion to make Lord Aberdare's hair to stand on end. Furthermore it seems that after bearing with Mr. Bence Jones for nearly forty years the people have dubbed him" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "and" }, { "from": "human", "value": "epithets certain to be applied to any Englishman who tries to do his own work in his own way in Ireland. Any insistance on anything being done in the master's way instead of the man's is" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Any curt command is" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "; but it is far otherwise with their wives and daughters. As the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "and the" }, { "from": "human", "value": "prepare to depart, and guns are being put on the car, together with the rugs and macintoshes, the matron's cheek grows pale, and her lips quiver as she bids farewell to the beloved ones, whom she may never see" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "at the Ennis Railway Station, and that if the purchaser would send somebody else's carts for it late at night or very early in the morning, he would probably get it home safely. It may be imagined that Mr. Stacpoole declined to receive oilcake as if it were" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotting is advancing from the proportions of a mere local strike to those of an almost national combination against any person who has incurred the resentment of the popular party. It is noteworthy that strict adherence to the" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "but the facts adduced can hardly be passed over in silence. For the present, creditors have only two courses to pursue--to accept Griffith's valuation where they can get it, or to do nothing, await the action of Parliament, and go without money for their Christmas bills." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Weak holders, as they are called in the commercial world, must take what they can get, and stronger capitalists may wait for better times; for it is impossible to put the existing laws for the recovery of debt into effect. Evictions are out of the question. Neither Dublin writs nor" }, { "from": "human", "value": "can be served, except in a large town or its immediate neighbourhood, and seizure of goods for a common debt in country places is quite out of the question. The principal process-server in the town of Tipperary has retired from service, and addressed himself to" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "J.J." } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "was systematically ignored. It is curious to hear that two eminent patriots of the period, Daniel O'Connell and the Knight of Kerry, were both middlemen, and in the case of Cahirciveen had one of the Blennerhassets as a co-middleman under Trinity College, and that the compact was only finally annulled by the resolution of the latter to have no more to do with it. The great" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Liberator" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "for an unmistakable" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "well built and comfortably lined, was the vehicle supplied to me as a" }, { "from": "human", "value": "with a pair of excellent horses, by Spillane, the sometime guide and present postingmaster of Killarney. The postchaise assumes many forms in Ireland, but only once have I met the original _coupé_ holding only two persons. It is a long drive to the ferry at the extremity of the peninsula between the bays of Kenmare and Dingle. Beyond, the Island of Valentia lies like a breakwater against the Atlantic, and the scene at nightfall is strange enough, with flashing lanterns, shouting ferrymen, and plashing oars. The ferryman is far from considering Valentia Harbour as a drawback to the island, and, like a fine old discontented retainer as he is, complains bitterly of the attempt made years ago by the late Knight of Kerry to establish a steam ferry. But ferrymen are always stern sticklers for vested rights. Doubtless Charon claimed heavy compensation when the Styx Ferry was disestablished. Apart from the ferryman, however, the Valentians are by no means enamoured of their insular position." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That ould blackgyard of a ferry" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Paris," } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "Paris. A drifting rain obscured the Skelligs, and drove me to take shelter in a" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Parisian" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "Liberator," } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "with the run of the mountain," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ould Dan that all visitors, and especially Irishmen, are most anxious to see, is in the oblong mahogany box lying on the tall desk at which he was wont to stand and write. It is that article of furniture without which no Irish gentleman's equipment was more complete than his house without an avenue." }, { "from": "human", "value": "My pistols which I shot Captain Marker, as poor Rawdon Crawley put it. There reposes peacefully enough now by the side of its companion, the weapon with which the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Liberator" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "If you should ever have occasion to use these pistols you will find them very good ones; they have already killed ten men. The first and only time" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Ould Dan" }, { "from": "human", "value": "White Strand," } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "be found. How the pretty little black cattle cling like flies to those dizzy windy heights is marvellous; but there they are, night and day, for months at a stretch, giving no trouble to anybody, growing into condition ready for" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "on richer pasture, and giving life and beauty to a scene which would, without them, be but grandly desolate. The little Kerries are greatly prized as" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "landlords as stating their case perfectly. Mr. Bland, whose domain lies on the north side of the embouchure of the Kenmare River, owns about thirty-eight square miles of territory, and is one of the most popular men in Kerry. Extraordinary stories are told of him." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Know 'um, begorra, answered a native to my query," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Don't I know 'um; and it is he that's the good man, your honour, and every man and baste will do anything for 'um, and he has got tame lobsthers that sit up to be fed, and a tame salmon that follows 'um about like a dog." } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "when few of the people could speak English, none could read or write, all spun their wool and made their bread at home, and none dreamed of opposing" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "turns out to have had some foundation in fact. There is a fine pool of salt water at Derryquin (Ang." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Oakslope" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "and now buys his tiny young oysters by the ten thousand at the Isle of Rhé, and puts them down in long perforated boxes on his oyster beds. When they are between three and four years old he consigns them to a correspondent at Ballyvaughan, who puts them in, I believe, deep-sea oyster beds for a while and converts them into the famous Burren oysters, which, like the Marenne oysters, are generally preferred by Englishmen to" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Natives, while the" }, { "from": "human", "value": "apiece; men and women at least speak English, and children go to school. The barbarous state of the country and inhabitants forty years ago may be gathered from the following anecdote. Two gentlemen were out shooting on the mountain and were driven by a" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Kerry shower --which is as much like a cataract as anything I know of--into a peasant's cabin. The man received them with all the dignity and self-possession peculiar to the best of his class, and when the storm cleared off invited them to eat with him on their return from the hillside. When they came back, expecting only potatoes and butter, they were astounded to see their host take several pieces of some kind of meat out of the pot and place them on the table, for there were no plates before them. It turned out that the mysterious meat was that of a newly-born calf whose dam was yet lying helpless in a corner of the cabin. The man was quite unconscious that there was anything objectionable in the dreadful food, and offered it to" }, { "from": "human", "value": "with perfect grace, and without the slightest pang at the costliness of the banquet. He had given the best and only meat he had to his guests. Like the Italian gentleman with his falcon, or rather the Arab sheik with his horse, who, my friend Mr. Browning tells me, is the original of Boccaccio's mamby-pamby story, the Kerry mountaineer had fulfilled the rites of hospitality at whatever cost. For long after the date of the grim repast just recorded, in fact, even till to-day, the peasants on the Derryquin estate have been accustomed to refer their almost innumerable wrangles and squabbles to the decision of" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "who might be figured as a kind of Hibernian St. Louis, sitting under a tree, and adjudicating between his subjects. Sometimes it was not very easy to arrive at a decision. Not very long ago a man came with a complaint that his once-intended son-in-law had behaved shabbily and fraudulently. It appeared that the father of the girl had agreed with the" }, { "from": "human", "value": "that a cow should be killed" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "that the father should provide the cow for the happy day, and that the cost of the animal should be shared between them. The cow had been killed, and the bride had been dressed, but the Kerry" }, { "from": "human", "value": "had not been forthcoming, that mercenary youth having married out of hand another girl with four more cows to her fortune than the one he was engaged to. Hereat the outraged parent demanded, not that he should pay damages for breach of promise, but his share of the cost of the cow." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And, said the masther," }, { "from": "human", "value": "" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Divil a throw, your honour, was the reply;" }, { "from": "human", "value": "This was a knotty case, but his" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "with mountain run attached, at a rent of 35l., while another who has 1,493 acres is only charged 26l. for" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "with proportionate mountain. Even on holdings of this size, as well as on others of less value, such as 250 acres at a rent of 13l. 15s., Mr. Bland has experienced great difficulty in inducing the tenants to bear any share of the cost of building and other improvements. Of course there are tenants and tenants at Derryquin, as elsewhere, but the general feeling has undoubtedly been averse to paying an extra percentage for improvements. Mr. Bland has done what he could, but has rarely found anybody inclined to pay more than 2 per cent., and one irreconcilable actually refused to pay 1l. a year extra to have a 70l. house built for him. The" }, { "from": "human", "value": "appears to take a view of the subject which might have been with great advantage more widely distributed among Irish proprietors of the improving sort. It is not extravagant to ask a farmer with the nominal grass of twenty cows, and a mountain run on which he grazes twice as many bullocks, to pay 5 per cent. on 80l. or 100l. as the rent of a good and substantial house; but it is preposterous to ask the holder of a ten-acre lot to do likewise. Such peasants should, as I observed in one of my early letters, not be called farmers at all. Their condition is about equal to that of the English farm labourer. When the landlord can afford to build better cottages for them than they now have, he should certainly not expect more than 1, or at best 2 per cent. for his outlay, and carry the balance to his profit and loss account, after the manner of English landowners of the best class. The Derryquin houses or cottages are very well built and excellently planned; they are also very pretty with their whitewashed walls, red tile roofs, and doors painted red to match. These patches of bright colour give extraordinary cheerfulness to a landscape otherwise of green, brown, and grey, looking cold enough under a weeping sky. The walls are of stone," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "after the Irish fashion with mortar or concrete, and slate roofs have now given place to red tiles in fancy patterns. Inside they are divided into two rooms on the ground floor, paved with concrete, and two sleeping rooms above, in order, if possible, to keep the people from huddling together at night. It is a fact, impossible as it may appear, that when the pretty and tasteful lodge at the gate of Derryquin was first built, the occupants, four in number, all slept together in one room rather than be separated at night, and were only induced to occupy the apartments built to prevent this habit by the threat of eviction. I might have doubted this amazing story had I not seen the condition of a cottage rebuilt recently on an old foundation at a cost of 60l., for which a rent of 1l. is charged. The tenant fought hard against the innovation, and yielded to the imposition of 1l. a year, and a clean new house, only under fear of being turned off the estate. He and his have only been in the new building for a few weeks, but they have made wild work of it already. In the room to the left of the door a" }, { "from": "human", "value": "or half-grown pig of the size called a" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "in the State of Georgia, was disporting himself by looking on at a girl spinning wool, a" }, { "from": "human", "value": "doing nothing, and two dirty youngsters wallowing on the floor. In the other brand new room, not long since left sweet and tidy by the builders, were piled an immense heap of turf and a great store of potatoes, over against which stood a bedstead and a pair of boots. There was nothing else in the room, not the slightest fragment of table or chair, not a sign of water or washing utensils; in the room above were also bedsteads, without anything that could be called bedding, and no other stick of furniture. Before the front door was a rough stone causeway, already ankle-deep in filth. Close up to the rear of the house was a dung-heap of portentous size and savour. Evidently this was a case of taking the horse to the water and being unable to make him drink, for the people thrust into a clean house were obviously doing their best to bring it into harmony with their own views. I heard also of a remarkable case of subdivision on the part of some labourers on Mr. Bland's estate, higher up on the mountain. A couple or three years ago two" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "received permission to occupy a cabin on a little patch of land. This spot has since grown into a colony. The" } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "Big Ridge ) is the theatre of even more extensive improvements than those of Derryquin. Mr. Mahony has 29,163 acres in Kerry, valued by Griffith at 3,071l. In his pamphlet he states:--" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "In the year 1851 I came into possession of my estate. Old rentals in my possession show that for many years previous to that date there had been allowances made to tenants at the rate of about 1,000l. per annum. Yet when I took up the estate there was not one drain made by a tenant, not one slated house, not a perch of road, not a yard of sub-soiled land. I then adopted the system of making all improvements myself, charging interest of the outlay upon the occupier according to the circumstances and increased value of the farm. The result has been that in five-and-twenty years I have built about eighty houses and offices slated or tiled, made twenty-eight miles of road, built nine bridges, made twenty-three miles of fences, thoroughly drained about five hundred acres, planted one hundred and fifty acres of waste land, and proportionately improved the condition and circumstances of the people." } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "is an avenue, and, as a native bard declares," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "He may be briefly described as in morals correct, disposition kindly, manners excellent, customs filthy. It is, however, despite his hopefulness, difficult to find any trace of that gaiety for which he was formerly famous, whether justly or not. His amusements outside the calm of Derrynane, Derryquin, and Dromore, appear to be cattle fairs, whisky, and sedition. At times he is unconsciously humorous, as in the story of the Duchess of Marlborough's Indian meal distributed for the relief of the poor during the hard time of last winter. A gentleman, who ought to know better, was buying some potheen, or illicit whisky, of the maker." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Now, Pat, said he," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I hope this lot is better than the last." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And, your honour, was the reply," } ]
19160
Unknown Title
Unknown Author
[ { "from": "human", "value": "BOYCOTTED" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "perfumed with sage and onions, and carrying huge bowls of apple-sauce in their mouths. As the pigs cried," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Come and eat me," } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "on the watch--scowling ruffians by the same token--had gone in quest of tea or more potent refreshment, and has slipped from the avenue which runs past the house instead of up to it, by the lodge gate and up to the door in that spirit-like fashion peculiar to this part of Ireland. When they wish to do so, the people appear to spring out of the ground. Two minutes before the monotony of existence is broken by a fight there will not be a soul to be seen, but no sooner is it discovered that some unlucky wight is in present receipt of a" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "than hundreds appear on the spot, and struggle for a" }, { "from": "human", "value": "like the lame piper who howled for the same at the" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted also. Moreover, we have a cook and housemaid with us, and two members of the Royal Constabulary. We have busy times, too. So far as turkeys, geese, chickens, and eggs, butter and bacon are concerned, we have enough and to spare within protecting range of rifle and revolver, but for fresh beef and mutton and flour we must depend upon Cork. Now the mysterious agent in Cork who sends us the supplies cannot get them carried nearer to the house than the railway station at Kilmallock, the interesting little town at which one of the county members keeps the inn and" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "whose guest I am. Her brother and one of her cousins went down on the car to meet her, armed as usual, for although they would be comparatively safe with a lady on the car, they ran considerable risk until she was actually on board. The train came, but not the young lady, and as it was broad daylight her well-armed escort came back again. Towards the hour for the arrival of the evening train there was more anxiety. It was dark, but it was absolutely necessary to go down to Kilmallock again, on the off chance that she might have come later than was expected, and had forgotten to telegraph. If she had arrived and nobody had been there to meet her, the consequences would have been awkward. She would not, it is true, have been exposed to the slightest insult, for except in the case of Miss Gardiner, of Farmhill, I believe Irishmen have never forgotten their natural gallantry so much as to insult, much less shoot at and wound, a lady. There would, therefore, have been no fear of violence; but it is very doubtful whether anybody would have removed her trunks from the spot on which they had been laid down. Most assuredly no cardriver would have dared to drive her home, and I question if any house in Kilmallock would have afforded her shelter. However, she did not come by the train after all, and the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "and the writer, who among them made short work of a plump turkey and a vigorous inroad on a round of beef, besides disposing of soups, sweets, and sherry--not a bad _menu_ under" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotting rules--we, after seeing that the front door was properly barred, bolted, and chained, and the iron-linked shutters, relics of the Fenian time, made equally secure, adjourned to the kitchen for a smoke, a common practice in this part of Ireland. The kitchen, with its red-tiled floor, is a capital smoking room, warm and cosy, and while tobacco is leisurely puffed, and that eternal subject," } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotting" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotting brigade. At seven o'clock any quantity of cargo might be" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "into the beleaguered citadel; but so for that matter can anything one likes be done at noon, under sufficient escort. When nothing is to be carried there is not the slightest occasion for escort in Kilfinane itself, although the attitude of the people is hostile in the extreme. Going for a stroll with the nephew of the absent" }, { "from": "human", "value": "have been held to denounce me for speaking the truth and believing my own eyes, and I consider myself quite safe while in the company of many landlords. But agents are another matter. There is while with them always the off chance of something untoward turning up, and it is, perhaps, as well to be prepared for emergencies. Personally I must confess that I am favourably disposed towards the much vilified agents. They are in many respects the most manly men in Ireland. Nearly always well-bred, they excite sympathy by the position they hold between the upper and nether millstone of landlord and tenant. Perhaps they have made a good thing of it, but if so they have earned it, for their position always reminds one of that assigned by Lord Macaulay to the officers of the East India Company, such as Olive and Warren Hastings. To these founders of our Eastern Empire" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "John Company said," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Respect treaties; keep faith with native rulers; do not oppress the people; but send us money." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Don't hurt my tenants; don't make my name to stink in the land; above all, let there be no evictions among my people; but send me a couple of thousand pounds before Monday, or remit me at least one thousand to Nice some time next week.--Yours, The O'Martingale." } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted, and was obliged to take up his quarters in his uncle's house. Not a blacksmith could be found to shoe his horse, and not a living creature to cook his food; so a forge belonging to the mounted division of the Royal Irish Constabulary was sent down for the horse, and the master of that interesting animal went up to the big house to eat and sleep, and the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotters were, so far, brought to nought. But the good folk of Kilfinane eye us terribly askant, or, to be more literally exact, do not eye us at all; at least, their eyes betray" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Had I driven in from Charleville alone I might have gossipped with all the idlers of the village, but now that I am walking with a" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotted" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Salmon Arms, or" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Rose, or whatever its name may be. Thus we stride down the street of Kilfinane in lonely grandeur till we come to the schoolmaster's house, to be presently converted with the schools into a barrack. Schoolmaster and wife are being temporarily evicted to make room for the military, in whose behalf a quantity of work is being done, not surely by the" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotters, who have already determined to" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycott" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Whether he esteems his" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I do not know; but at any rate, he looks hearty and healthy enough upon it, and is mightily cheerful withal. He has finished off one tough job, for it was Mr. Fraser who was left at Pallas on the great day when horse, foot, and artillery smote the combined" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Three and four year olds, or, rather, would have smitten them if they had been so misguided as to show fight. I have already recorded how the Palladians on that memorable occasion displayed a keen appreciation of the better part of valour, and I also marked my surprise that after it had taken" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "and" }, { "from": "human", "value": "to boot, to bring the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "of a police hut from the railway station, where they lay" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted," } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "--save the mark!--of this rich part of the country, the life of the male kind is of the laziest imaginable. Employing girls to milk the cows and make the butter, the farmer appears to me to do nothing whatever except go to market and drink himself into a disaffected, discontented condition. He is rarely visible before ten or eleven o'clock in the morning, except on market days, and he appears to smoke and dawdle most of his time away. Just now he broods over his wrongs, and declares he" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "whatever that may signify. He says he is enormously over-rented. Perhaps he is; but I cannot forget that it is not many years since he and his neighbours in the adjacent county of Tipperary boasted that they had brought about an equitable adjustment of values by an ingenious process invented by themselves--that of" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Have they gone up since under maleficent Saxon coercion? Verily, I do not know; for the faith I put in estimates and valuations, not excepting" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The Book of Griffith," } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted establishment at dinner time; while the imposing presence of Thomas Atkins should overawe the village mutineers, and bring grist to the proprietor of the Couleur de Rose Hotel. As evening gathers in we sit down drowsily to listen to the loud ticking of the clock and drink a glass of sherry to the health of" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "within her Majesty's" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Soothed by sherry, incipient sleep, and the subtle influence of the season, the little garrison of Spa-hill gradually waxes benevolent, until one of its number actually suggests that a fat goose should be sent to the proximate cause of all its woes, Father Sheehy. Even as a big loaf of bread was once thrown into an enemy's camp, at one moment this spirited proposition is nearly carried, but it breaks down before the remark that the coachman, gardener, and two bailiffs are" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotted," } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "after eviction. After paying up everything, including the additional" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "incurred, less the proceeds of the farm, he re-enters on possession at any time within the margin of six months. Thus another" }, { "from": "human", "value": "fell due in November, and Murphy was still unprovided with funds. He did, however, very well without them; for the Land League, having become strong in the meanwhile in county Limerick, the caretaker was frightened away from the farm and Murphy reinstated. Mr. Uniacke Townsend requested him to give up possession, and was refused, and it then became known that Murphy might expect imprisonment or fine for trespass. Thereat a meeting was held, and Mr. Townsend solemnly adjudged worthy of" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I am not aware of the sanguinary deeds of the Cootes in the past; all I know of them is that the present incumbent is a very old man, of somewhat clerical exterior, who, like" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A fine old Irish gentleman, one of the olden time," } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "but Mrs. Townsend, who, like the lady to whom I referred in a previous letter, has borne up nobly under her severe trial, was so scared at the thought of her husband's coming among a population banded together against him that she set off on Saturday and joined him, as the only way of averting some terrible disaster; for there is little doubt that the law will be put in force against Murphy now that his six months for" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "have expired; and nobody can tell what will happen at Lisheen any more than at Ennistymon if writs are issued against the tenants on the Macnamara estate, or on Mr. Stacpoole's property, if he perseveres in his resolution to" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Dublin writ" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted, to wit Mr. T. Sanders, of Sanders Park, Charleville, county Cork, just over the border from county Limerick; the Mr. Sanders, in fact, whom I saw the Palladians roaring and yelling at on the occasion of my first visit to the classic battlefield of the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "On that occasion he had been vainly trying to get in rents for the charitable bequest known as Erasmus Smith's Schools, and Pallas was full of noisy and more or less drunken Palladians, who dealt with Mr. Sanders in such wise that the police were obliged to see him into a railway carriage, and stand by the door till the train moved on. I would fain have called upon Mr. Sanders as I drove to Charleville, but the civil and obliging landlord of Lincoln's Hotel at that place, who supplied me with an excellent carriage and horses, politely apologised for his inability to drive me thither. He could not possibly enter Sanders Park, nor would any of his men go near that abhorred spot. No orders concerning Spa-hill had been issued by the" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Real Government in the absence of the hated head of the house, and I might be driven there and welcome; but Sanders Park was another matter. I might walk out of the town, and across the park if I liked, and my informant would ensure that I went and returned in safety, as for that matter I knew very well; but not being fond of walking against time through the mud, I preferred going whither I could be driven in comfort. Moreover, the novelty of the thing is wearing off, and" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotting" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycottee, if he have only two or three servants to stand firm, can practically bring the Boycotters to their wits' end. The railway companies being, I take it, common carriers, dare not refuse, like the cowardly shippers of Cork, to take the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycottee's beef and plum pudding, wine and whisky, to the most convenient railway station, whence he, if well-armed and provided with an escort of constabulary, can bring in his supplies under the very nose of the infuriated peasants who stand scowling around the station gate and roar and" }, { "from": "human", "value": "their disgust at being foiled. There is not the slightest fear of the" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotters running their heads against Winchester rifles and army revolvers, and the convoy need apprehend nothing hotter or harder than curses and groans, which," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Good bye, and" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Safe home" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "and steeple-crowned hat with a stiff air, and also carried lethal weapons. His prim wife and daughters bare Bibles, and his serving men, muskets." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Like a servant of the Lord, With his Bible and his sword," } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "purposes that the stranger who ventures within the gates of Maryfort is in any danger so long as he remains within them, or that any weightier missiles than groans and hisses are launched at him as he goes to and from the house under" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "as to his shoes at Ennis; and drove over the frost-bound road to Colonel O'Callaghan's house yesterday afternoon. It was a long drive to the most severely" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Boycotted" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "individuals. A hundred and twenty persons in Ireland are now receiving" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "amounting to the constant attendance of never less than two constables, frequently to the residence of four or more on the premises or the property. At least eight hundred persons are being" }, { "from": "human", "value": "so that it is no exaggeration to state that twelve or thirteen hundred men are detached from the regular force on particular duty of the most harassing and vexatious kind. Wherever the person under protection chooses to go, at whatever hour, or in whatever weather, his" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "must accompany him; for their orders are" }, { "from": "human", "value": "outside of his own door. This is a troublesome duty, sometimes greatly aggravated by the conduct of the protected persons, who take sudden fits and starts, and fly hither and thither in the oddest kind of way. The constables get no rest; they are perpetually harassed and exposed, and they are quite superior to the consolation of a" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Long live Parnell. Presently we came to Lismeehan gates, opened after a good steady look at us by an ancient retainer, in a grey frieze coat. I was told civilly enough that" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "was at home. Beyond a pretty park, full of well-bred cattle, lay the" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted house, tall and grey and grim, in the waning light. There was no sign of life in it. Under a handsome portico was the grand entrance, bolted and barred up, with shutters closed. There was nothing for it but to tug vigorously at the bell. Nobody came to the door, but around each corner of the house stepped an armed constable. A moment later a narrow slip of the shutter was moved, and we became aware first of a fur cap and then of a youthful face, which ultimately proved to be that of Colonel O'Callaghan's eldest son, home for the holidays from a great English school, and undergoing the" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted" } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Boycotted," } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "And begorra, said one informant," } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "They should be studied by every one who desires to understand the existing crisis in Ireland." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Russell has undoubtedly done his best by careful observation to arrive at the prevalent evils and their causes, and he has honestly and sincerely propounded his remedial scheme. His work is worthy of careful perusal." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mr. Bence Jones has written an interesting and instructive book, but not the least enlightening part of it is the preface. This is dated the 12th of December, 1880. He had just been threatened with 'Boycotting,' which he now undergoes." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Mr. Bence Jones, every one must own, has a fair claim to be heard, and no one can be in a position properly to discuss Irish affairs till he has read his really valuable book." } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "To all who, either as legislators or publicists, are called on to take part in the present controversy, the book will prove invaluable. The relation of the work to the discussions which now occupy so much attention, is well expressed ... It would be difficult to find any series of legislative problems stated with greater clearness, sequence, and precision. We can recommend this little book to all who speak, write, or seriously think upon this question, in or out of Parliament." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This book cannot fail to do good ... Mr. Richey writes throughout fairly, and in no partisan or controversial spirit, and his book is a contribution of great value to the discussion in which we now find ourselves involved." } ]
19160
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Ireland and Her Churches," } ]
730789
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Hush, she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I will not listen to such blasphemy." } ]
272251
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Nevermore" } ]
256163
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "You little rascal, what are you doing in those 'secesh' clothes?" } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "SHE WRENCHED THE WHIP FROM ALEC'S HAND." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "SHE WRENCHED THE WHIP FROM ALEC'S HAND" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "BLUE BONNET TOOK THE MIRROR AND LOOKED AT HERSELF FROM ALL ANGLES" }, { "from": "human", "value": "THE GHOST IN THE CENTRE OF THE GROUP ROSE" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "GABRIEL LOOKED UP IN DISDAIN" }, { "from": "human", "value": "SHE WAS HOLDING ON TO UNCLE CLIFF'S COAT LAPELS" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "SHE WAS OONAH, THE BEWITCHING LITTLE IRISH MAIDEN" } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Grandmother! she said excitedly," } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "I think we have plenty of time, Blue Bonnet, she said, smiling into the girl's eager face." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But perhaps we would better freshen up a bit. You are sure we are on time?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Yes, I asked the conductor when I went back to see Solomon at the last station. Four-twenty sharp, at Woodford, he told Solomon, and Solomon licked his hand with joy. Poor doggie! I don't believe he appreciates the value of travel, even if he has seen Texas and New York and Boston. He loathes the baggage-car, though I must say the men all along the way have been perfectly splendid to him. But then, any one would fall in love with Solomon, he's such a dear." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "I'm so glad we're arriving in the afternoon, Blue Bonnet said, as she gathered up magazines and various other articles that littered the section." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There's something so flat about getting anywhere in the morning--nothing to do but sit round waiting for trunks that have been delayed, and wander about the house. I wonder if Aunt Lucinda told the girls we were coming?" } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Well, at last! Blue Bonnet exclaimed, as the train began to slacken speed and the familiar" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Next stop Woodford echoed through the car." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Here we are, Grandmother, home again!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Doesn't look as exciting as it did when Uncle Cliff and I arrived in the Wanderer, does it?" } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "He's perfectly wild to see you, Aunt Lucinda," } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "My, but it seems nice to get home," } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Come, Blue Bonnet, Miss Clyde said, entering the room followed by Delia with a brass kettle of steaming water," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "All right, Aunt Lucinda, I sha'n't be a minute, I'm quite famished," } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "I fear you will find Blue Bonnet a bit spoiled, Lucinda, Mrs. Clyde said with some hesitancy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But we must not be too severe with her. The girls have led a wild, carefree existence all summer. I have done my best to look after them carefully, but I found seven rather a handful." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "I think, if you don't mind, Grandmother, I'll run over and see the General a minute. I promised Alec to look after him," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That would be very nice, Blue Bonnet, Mrs. Clyde answered with a nod and a smile." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The General is going to miss Alec very much this winter." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "You can't think what a trump she's been, Aunt Lucinda, Blue Bonnet said, straightening the bow at her grandmother's neck." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "A regular brick! Why, she's had all the girls at her feet this blessed summer." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It would have been more to the point if I had had them in hand, her grandmother replied; making haste to add, as she met Blue Bonnet's puzzled eyes," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I am afraid we are going to have to begin all over again with Blue Bonnet, she said with some concern." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She seems so hoydenish. I noticed it immediately." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It is a good deal the exuberance of youth, Lucinda. Surplus energy has to be worked off somehow. We must be patient with her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I have been thinking, Miss Clyde replied," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I shall miss the dear child so, she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I wish we might keep her with us a bit longer. Boarding-school will be the beginning of a long break, I fear." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It is because of the association that I particularly wish her to enter Miss North's school. She will meet refined girls from some of our old New England families, and the influence cannot fail to be helpful. I hope she will not be tempted to tell them that her grandmother is a brick," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Girls are much the same the world over, her mother answered with the wisdom of experience." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Blue Bonnet is very like her mother. She was a great romp, but she passed the hoydenish period in safety, so will Blue Bonnet; never fear." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She must be taught order and system; and a little domestic science under Katie might not come amiss, since she will some day be at the head of a household, Miss Clyde went on, and her mother signified approval." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then there is mending and darning. On the whole, I think the next three months might be made very profitable to Blue Bonnet right here at home. I am not at all sure but that too much emphasis is given to the cultural side of education, and too little to the domestic these days. A girl to be well educated should be well rounded." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "How would you like to continue your vacation for three months longer, Blue Bonnet, to stay on here with Grandmother and me until after the holidays?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And have no studies at all? Blue Bonnet interrupted, her eyes widening with surprise." }, { "from": "human", "value": "What a lark!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, there would be duties, Miss Clyde admitted." }, { "from": "human", "value": "One could not be altogether idle and keep happy." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We should like you to be our dear home girl for a while longer, Blue Bonnet, Mrs. Clyde said gently." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It is going to be very hard to give you up." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But I shall be at home for the week-ends." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We hope so, dear, if it does not interfere too much with your studies. Sometimes there is distraction in change of scene and habit. When you enter Miss North's school, you will be under her supervision, not ours--subject to her approval." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Shall I? Oh, dear, I do so hate being supervised. I mean by strangers, Grandmother. Will she be terribly strict, and--interfering?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Not any more than will be for your interest and welfare." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, I reckon it will be all right. I want to do what you think best for me." }, { "from": "human", "value": "And I could see a lot of the girls, even if they are in school. Perhaps the Club could meet oftener." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Let us have a little music, dear, before we retire. It will seem good to hear you play again," } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "I hope our little girl is not going to be homesick, she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There will be much to do in the next three months--much that is pleasant. Some day soon you and I will run up to Boston and have a look at Miss North's school and find out something about its requirements. We shall have a good deal of shopping to do, too. Suitable frocks play as important a part at boarding-school as elsewhere." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Aunt Lucinda is a good deal of a dear, she said to herself, as she perched on the window-seat in her bedroom and looked out into the moonlight." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She wants me to be happy. I suppose she doesn't always understand me, any more than I do her. I reckon we'll have to sort of take each other on faith." }, { "from": "human", "value": "As long as this is Saturday, would you mind, Grandmother, if I had the girls in this afternoon?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Not at all, dear. They will be so busy in school during the week. I will see what Katie has planned for to-day, and, if she can manage it, you might ask them to lunch." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, you're such a duck, Grandmother, Blue Bonnet assured her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'll 'phone them right up," }, { "from": "human", "value": "I'll just run down to the barn and give Chula a lump of sugar and feed Solomon the first thing," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Have you made your room tidy?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, dear, history repeats itself, doesn't it, Aunt Lucinda?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I haven't made my bed yet, Aunt Lucinda, if that's what you mean. I hate making it up warm--it's not sanitary, is it? You've said so yourself, often." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I fancy two hours of this autumn air will have restored its freshness, she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Have you finished your unpacking?" } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Ooh-hoo, Ooh-hoo!" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I suppose I'm loads too early, but I could hardly wait to see you, Blue Bonnet, was her cheery greeting." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We've all been pining away for you. New York must have been fascinating to have kept you so long." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You've missed a heap at school. I suppose you can catch up, but you'll have to dig in, I can tell you. The Czar --Kitty's name for Mr. Hunt--" } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Latin's a perfect fright and--oh, Blue Bonnet, what, do you think? Miss Rankin's engaged! Yes, she is, honest, truly. She's got a ring, a beauty! She wore it turned in the first two weeks, but now she's picked up courage and turned it round so everybody can see it. She's going to quit after Christmas. They're going to live in Boston. He's a lawyer--Sarah Blake's father knows him, and says he's right nice." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Why shouldn't he be nice? she inquired a bit sharply." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Miss Rankin's nice herself." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "It's Uncle Cliff--he did it, Blue Bonnet managed to say when she could extricate herself." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That is, he suggested it--gave me the money--and I had them made at Tiffany's." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Let's go up-stairs in the clubroom and organize a Sorority. W. A. S. looks kind of Greeky in a monogram. We can have rings instead of pins for our insignia." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "We've got to elect officers, she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Amanda hasn't been elected. I move that Blue Bonnet Ashe be our chairman." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I thank you all for this very great honor, she began, clearing her throat in the most professional manner. She had once attended a woman's club with Miss Clyde in Boston." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "But owing to my absence from the city the coming winter I--" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I shall be leaving you about the first of January--" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "What for? Where to? For how long?" } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "I neglected to state, she said," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Well, I like that! Kitty exclaimed with some feeling." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I suppose the rest of us have neither." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Now, don't get stuffy, Kitty. You know I'm never personal. I meant no reflection on anybody." }, { "from": "human", "value": "We can't organize a Sorority, anyhow, Kitty objected." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They only have them in colleges and high schools." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I guess we can have one of our own if we want to, Amanda broke in." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "We can originate one, can't we? Everything has to have a beginning, doesn't it?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, I suppose you can call it what you like," } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "The girls seem sorry to have me go away this winter, she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "And, oh, Grandmother, you should have heard them wail when I told them." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I hate to leave them, too, she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "They're such fun." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I want you to be happy, dear, but it can't all be fun. Aunt Lucinda has a plan for you, which I think we will begin with Monday. You are entering your seventeenth year, now, Blue Bonnet, and there are duties and responsibilities which you can no longer evade." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I suppose there are, Grandmother, she said," } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Just the very day to go through the linen closet, she said to Blue Bonnet as they rose from the table." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I think we will begin there this morning." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "It seems almost like a sanctuary, here, she said at last, leaning against the window and watching the proceedings with interest." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It's so beautifully clean, and I adore that lavender smell. Where does it come from?" } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, I love it, she said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I must get some and send it to Benita. Benita is very particular about our beds. She says my mother was." }, { "from": "human", "value": "She could not have been a Clyde and escaped that, my dear. It is a passion with all of us--linen and fine china." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "When I have a home I shall have a linen closet just like this," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Then you cannot begin too soon to learn how to take care of it. Few things require closer supervision than a linen closet, in any home. You must learn to mend; not ordinary mending, but fine darning." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "I never could do it, Aunt Lucinda. Never, in a thousand years. I know I couldn't. I hate sewing." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then I fear you could never have a linen closet like this, Blue Bonnet. Mending represents but a small part of the detail and system necessary to good housekeeping." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But, maybe, perhaps I could hire some one. Couldn't I, don't you think?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You certainly could not instruct servants if you did not know how to work, yourself. That would be quite impossible. Could your teachers have imparted their knowledge to you if they, themselves, had not been students?" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I shall employ a trained housekeeper," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Then you will miss the joy that comes through laboring with your own hands--the joy of accomplishment, Blue Bonnet. I hope you will change your mind." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Delia has overlooked these in my absence, she said, almost apologetically." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Linen should always be mended carefully before it is put away." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Bring up a small chair, Blue Bonnet. One without arms will be best." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Go up and get your work-basket, Blue Bonnet." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It is growing thin in places, she said, laying it on Blue Bonnet's knee," } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "I think you have done very well for the first time, Blue Bonnet. Next time it will come easier. You would better rest now, and perhaps Grandmother will read to us until lunch time." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Yes, Mrs. Clyde said," }, { "from": "human", "value": "I will indeed. What shall it be, Blue Bonnet?" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I know, Grandmother. Thoreau! I read something of his this summer on the ranch, and I liked it." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Men and Books." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Perhaps you would like to know something of Thoreau's life, Blue Bonnet. Mr. Stevenson gives a fair glimpse of him. At least he does not spare his eccentricities. We view him from all quarters." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Mark the place, Grandmother, she said, as they went into the dining-room." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I want to hear it all. I don't think I should have liked Thoreau personally, but there certainly is a nice streak in him--the way he loved animals and nature--isn't there?" } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Blue Bonnet is a gregarious soul, Miss Clyde said, turning away from the window." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "She loves companionship. She likes to move in flocks." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Most girls do, Lucinda. I often wondered how her mother ever endured the loneliness of a Texas ranch, with her disposition. She seemed to find room in her heart for all the world. But it is not a bad trait, Mrs. Clyde added." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "It is a part of the impulsive temperament." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Grandmother! she would call, dashing up the side drive and halting Chula at the door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Grandmother, come and look at us!" } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Take all the flowers in, Blue Bonnet would call to Delia." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "This week will see the very last of them. The man at the Dalton farm says there is sure to be frost most any night." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "Oh, Aunt Lucinda, it's quite expensive, isn't it? A thousand two hundred dollars a year; and that doesn't include--let's see--'use of piano, seat in church, laundry, doctor's bills, music lessons, fencing and riding'--but then I wouldn't have to have all the extras. I could cut out the fencing and riding, of course, and the seat in church--" }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Elizabeth!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "I beg your pardon, Aunt Lucinda. I didn't think. Please excuse me." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Certainly, Blue Bonnet. But remember that it is very bad taste to be irreverent." }, { "from": "human", "value": "It seems just the place for you, Blue Bonnet, Miss Clyde said." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "The location on Commonwealth Avenue is ideal. It is within walking distance of most of the places where you will want to go. This is a great advantage." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Aunt Lucinda, she said after a moment," } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "There's all that money coming to me that my father left, she went on," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I daresay for that very reason she could not well be spared." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "I'm going to write to Uncle Cliff about it this very minute, she said, moving toward the door." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I know he'll think it is a perfectly splendid idea." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Would it not be better to wait until we have visited the school? her aunt inquired tactfully." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "There might not be room for Carita. The number of pupils is limited, you know. Suppose you wait until Uncle Cliff comes at Christmas. You could consult him then. It would be very unwise to get Carita's hopes up and then disappoint her." }, { "from": "human", "value": "But I shall ask him the minute he comes, she assured her aunt as she left the room, taking the catalogue with her." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "Just the very minute! I know what he'll say, too, Aunt Lucinda. He'll say that happiness is the best interest one can get out of an investment. I've heard him, no end of times!" }, { "from": "human", "value": "It's a sort of reward of merit for working so hard all these mornings," } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "For ever more, why didn't you wear your old clothes, Blue Bonnet? Kitty Clark inquired." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That sweater will be pot black before you go a mile, and you'll be as freckled as a turkey egg without some shade for your face." }, { "from": "human", "value": "The sweater will wash, thank you, that's why I wore it, and I'm not the freckly kind." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You are fortunate, she said." }, { "from": "human", "value": "I am." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "That's the penalty you pay for having such a peach of a complexion," }, { "from": "human", "value": "Wait, Blue Bonnet shouted, jumping off quickly," }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I almost forgot I want a picture of you." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "How stupid, she panted." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I might have known that gate would fly open. I guess I'm not hurt any." } ]
23916
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[ { "from": "human", "value": "It's a good thing the roads are a bit soft, Blue Bonnet assured her, when she could get her breath." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "You're something of a sight with all that mud on you, but it broke your fall." }, { "from": "human", "value": "Praise be! Debby murmured, struggling to remove some of the dirt that insisted upon clinging to her skirts." }, { "from": "gpt", "value": "I'll take mud to a broken limb, any day." } ]