charm that ever encompassed her was one of sorrow and tenderness.  Had she been volatile and mirthful, as children usually are, he would not have carried so far into his future life the love of her which he cherished.  Another reason why he still loved her strongly, was a consciousness that her death had been occasioned by distress and misery; for, as he said, when looking upon the scenes of her brief but melancholy existence—­“Avour-neen machree, I remimber to see you pickin’ the berries; but asthore—­asthore—­it wasn’t for play you did it.  It was to keep away the cuttin’ of hunger from your heart!  Of all our childhre every one said that you wor the M’Carthy—­never sayin’ much, but the heart in you ever full of goodness and affection.  God help me, I’m glad—­an’, now, that I’m comin’ near it—­loth to see her grave.”

He had now reached the verge of the graveyard.  Its fine old ruin stood there as usual, but not altogether without the symptoms of change.  Some persons had, for the purposes of building, thrown down one of its most picturesque walls.  Still its ruins clothed with ivy, its mullions moss-covered, its gothic arches and tracery, gray with age, were the same in appearance as he had ever seen them.

On entering this silent palace of Death, he reverently uncovered his head, blessed himself, and, with feelings deeply agitated, sought the grave of his beloved child.  He approached it; but a sudden transition from sorrow to indignation took place in his mind, even before he reached the spot on which she lay.  “Sacred Mother!” he exclaimed, “who has dared to bury in our ground?  Who has—­what villain has attimpted to come in upon the M’Carthys—­upon the M’Carthy Mores, of Tubber Derg?  Who could—­had I no friend to prev—­eh?  Sacred Mother, what’s this?  Father of heaven forgive me!  Forgive me, sweet Saviour, for this bad feelin’ I got into!  Who—­who—­could raise a head-stone over the darlin’ o’ my heart, widout one of us knowin’ it!  Who—­who could do it?  But let me see if I can make it out.  Oh, who could do this blessed thing, for the poor an’ the sorrowful?” He began, and with difficulty read as follows:—­

“Here lies the body of Alice M’Carthy, the beloved daughter of Owen and Kathleen M’Carthy, aged nine years.  She was descended from the M’Carthy Mores.

“Requiescat in pace.

“This head-stone was raised over her by widow Murray, and her son, James Murray, out of grateful respect for Owen and Kathleen M’Carthy, who never suffered the widow and orphan, or a distressed neighbor, to crave assistance from them in vain, until it pleased God to visit them with affliction.”

“Thanks to you, my Saviour!” said Owen, dropping on his knees over the grave,—­“thanks an’ praise be to your holy name, that in the middle of my poverty—­of all my poverty—­I was not forgotten! nor my darlin’ child let to lie widout honor in the grave of her family!  Make me worthy, blessed Heaven, of what is written down upon me here!  An’ if the departed spirit of her that honored the dust of my buried daughter is unhappy, oh, let her be relieved, an’ let this act be remimbered to her!  Bless her son, too, gracious Father, an’ all belonging to her on this earth! an’, if it be your holy will, let them never know distress, or poverty, or wickedness?”