the mother would have liked to keep to herself, she felt herself obliged to yield to their wishes.

One evening the father coming into the kitchen found Betsy standing in front of the fire, gazing into it with a puzzled look on her face. When he reached her, she raised her eyes to his. "I thought Maggie was no scholar," she said.

"An' sure she isn't," Jer answered. "She wint to school like the rest of us, but whin they found she could learn nothin' my father and mother kept her at home. I hope none of our lads will take after her."

"If she is no scholar, where did she get all the stories, she tells the children ?"

"What sort of stories ?"

"Oh the quarest you ever heard! About flowers and fairies an' things like that. I heard the gib-gab in the room to-night when she was puttin' thim to bed, an' I stole up to the door an' listened till my heart stood in my mouth. There she tellin' thim that the flowers turned into fairies every night, an' the flagger is the queen of thim because she is so tall an' stately, an' all of the colour of gold, an' the noneens, an' buttercups an' cuckoo flowers are all her people, just as we are the Queen's. You never heard such stories, sure they couldn't be anywhere but in a book."

Jer stood open-mouthed in wonder.

"I always said there was something not right about Maggie," he remarked. ""Tis a quare thing for a girl to be sittin' out in a meadow of nights, an' a lot of flagger flowers standin' round her."

"An' she said 'twas grand to see thim dancin' whin the moon was shinin' on thim, an' the wind playin' a tune for thim," Betsy continued. "She promised little Pat to bring him out some night to see thim."

"That she never will "-the father's face grew red with anger" she'd want to have thim like herself."

If Maggie had been an observant person, she might have noticed that the children were kept as much as possible away from her after this, and a fear of going out after dark, especially of going to the river meadow, was instilled into them by both the father and the mother.

As soon as they were old and strong enough to walk to the school, the father insisted on their regular attendance there, while in the evenings he superintended their studies at home.

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"I won't have any of my children dunces," he said, with a significant glance towards Maggie, who however did not seem to take in its meaning. "They will be scholars, or else I'll know why." And this time his eyes rested on a huge whip, which hung over the fireplace, and the children trembled as they bent their heads, until they almost touched the books.

Jer was a tender and considerate man, and his boys and girls were deeply attached to him, but a fear was growing in him that some of his children would take after their aunt, and turn out awkward and dull, and this was causing him much uneasiness, and making him severe in all that related to their education. Such a misfortune should be prevented at any cost.

"Better," he repeated over and over again to his wife, "better even that they should die, than grow up to be a laughing-stock in the country."

Little Pat was a wilful child; besides being the eldest of the family, he was the brightest, and therefore he was much indulged, and without fear of punishment, he often disobeyed his father's commands.

One evening when school was over he came home by the fields, which he was forbidden to do while there was a flood in the river. The water was much higher than he had expected to find it, but having come so far he would not turn back, and he tried to cross the narrow plank on his hands and knees. He had got half way over when his clothes were caught by some bushes, which, brought down by the flood from a distance, had become entangled there, and in trying to get these free, he tumbled into the water. was a brave little lad, and though greatly frightened, he did not lose his presence of mind; he caught hold of the bushes and clung to them, screaming at the same time with all his might.

He

Maggie, who had been standing at the turf-rick, heard him. ""Tis Patsy! tis Patsy!" she whispered to herself, "I would know his voice in a hundred "-and she ran wildly down the hill. The moment he saw her, he cried out:

“Oh, hurry, Auntie Mago, hurry! I'm nearly drownded. Oh, I'll never come across again!

She crept along the plank, until she was close to him, but yet, she was not near enough to reach him, and she threw herself into the water, clutching the bushes with one hand, while with the other, she tried to drag him nearer; at last she succeeded in

getting him upon the plank, and when they both reached the meadow, she was nearly exhausted. Some men, who had been attracted by the child's screams, came up then, the father among them. He took the boy in his arms and carried him home, Maggie following wearily.

The evening was spent nursing him, and in the confusion and fright Maggie was forgotten. She did not give herself time to change her wet clothes, so anxious was she about the child who was her favourite nephew, so eager to be in sight of him. The next morning she was too ill to get up, and a week later they laid her beside her father and mother, under the shadow of the old Abbey.

A small boy forced his way through the mourners around the grave, and, stooping, laid a bunch of yellow iris upon the coffin.

"Auntie Mago loved the flowers," he said with tears in his grey eyes, "and nobody knew so much about them, and nobody could tell the stories that she could. Oh, she was so clever; there is no one at all like her now!"

The men and women looked at one another with surprise, and one of them murmured, "Well, it is all a matter to her now. God rest her soul! "

M. E. CONNOLLY.

NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.

1. Crescent College Review: An Annual School Magazine. Edited by the Pupils of Sacred Heart College, S.J., the Crescent, Limerick.

This is the newest and in many respects the most interesting of the very numerous college magazines which have sprung up within the last ten years or so in at least all English-speaking countries. We have not heard of any similar undertakings in French, Italian or German. That" annual "limitation in the title pleases us, for we should dread undesirable consequences from a more frequent appearance, especially in connection with a college circumstanced like the one which has sent forth this splendid Number One. It is hard to conceive how even once a year those who are responsible will be able to provide so sumptuous a banquet of art and literature. We do not envy the Editors of Number Two. Will they be able to sixpence sixteen admirably executed portraits of past distinguished pupils, five or six large groups of the present generation, excellent

give us for

pictures of various Limerick scenes, such as the O'Connell Statue, opposite the Sacred Heart College, Thomond Bridge, St. John's Hospital, &c., besides domestic scenes, church, class-rooms, and so forth, not to speak of the very beautiful full-page illustration reproducing exquisitely Bottoni's celebrated picture of St. Ignatius? The preceding enumeration does not nearly exhaust the Art division of the "Crescent Review" The literature is supplied by the youthful Editors and by Mr. Charles Doyle, M.A., Mr. Joseph Nunan, B.A., LL.B., Mr. Martin O'Brien, Mr. Francis Sheehan, and Surgeon A. X. Lavertine, R.N. whose "Notes from my Log Book" is one of the pleasantest items.

2. It is not usual to review a work a month or two before publication, especially when one has not seen it either in manuscript or in proofsheet. But we can safely recommend to our readers "The Life and Writings of James Clarence Mangan" by D. J. O'Donoghue, though it will not be published for some weeks. Mr. O'Donoghue's extraordinary industry and his minute and most accurate acquaintance with Irish bibliography of this century have been proved in his work, "The Poets of Ireland." He has devoted himself earnestly for a considerable time to the preparation of the first full account of that true poet and most interesting man, James Clarence Mangan. Everything extant about him in print or manuscript or in the memories of surviving friends, along with notices of many interesting men connected with 'him, will be given in this volume, which, though produced in large octavo and in the best library style, will be sent post-free for five shillings to those who subscribe before publication. Subscriptions may be sent to the Author, Drogheda Lodge, Finglas, Co. Dublin, or to Mr. T. G. O'Donoghue, 3 Bedford Road, Aston's Quay, Dublin.

3. In the Days of Good Queen Bess. (London: Burns and Oates.) The titlepage of this nicely produced volume goes on to describe it as "The Narrative of Sir Adrian Trafford, Knight, of Trafford Place in the County of Suffolk ;" and furthermore the work is stated to be "edited by Robert Haynes Cave, Rector of Blyborough, Lincolnshire.” We suppose this last to be the author's real name and that his book is an historical novel. It is well written and fairly good of its kind, but we confess that we have little taste for this kind of story which is neither history nor fiction; and in the present instance neither the epoch nor the plot nor the style has been very effective in overcoming our prejudice. It may succeed better with several classes of readers more interested in good Queen Bess and her times.

4. Messrs. Fallon and Co., 16 Lower Sackville Street, Dublin, have added to the School and College Series, edited by the Rev. T. A. Finlay, M.A., F.R.U.I., three School Readers with the price increas

ing in geometrical progression-a halfpenny, a penny, and twopence. They are beautifully illustrated and printed, and quite wonderful at the price. In the same series has appeared a School Edition of "Our Village" by Mary Russell Mitford, The Life of the author prefixed and the notes appended help the reader greatly to appreciate this quiet little classic, which we recommend even to adults who have no interest in Intermediate Examinations. It is too pleasant for a school-book.

5. Aesop's Fables in Verse. By John Nolan, O.D.C. (Dublin: Brown and Nolan). A particularly neat little quarto gives a large number of short and lively fables translated in a variety of metres. They are done with a great deal of spirit and cleverness, and Father Nolan has an easy knack of rhyming. But we think that the translation of a fable might be more of a work of art, capable of more elegance and greater fidelity to the original than Father Nolan seems to have aimed at.

6. The same publishers have issued in the form of a sixpenny pamphlet "Our Duties to Our Neighbour," by a Northern Priest. Even so unpretentious a work ought, one would think, to have sought an Imprimatur. It is full of solid and edifying matter, but many expressions might be improved here and there.

7. As very few new books have presented themselves this month, we will refer back to a book that is in the hands of the public for a considerable time. Some who revere the memory of Cardinal Newman have perhaps not yet learned to appreciate his "Meditations and Devotions" published after his death. The Cardinal's devoted riend and disciple, Father Neville, seems to us not to have arranged his materials in the most judicious manner. If he had begun with the Third Part, many readers would at once have been caught by the meditations about God, simple yet profound, while they are disappointed at the present arrangement which gives the book the appearance of another Mois de Marie. If such readers will take up the book again and read it meditatively from page 400 onward, they will, we think, see that it is worthy even of the name of John Henry Newman.

8. The Redemptoristines, whose beautiful Convent has given its name to St. Alphonsus Road in Drumcomdra, have now been established in Dublin for thirty five years, The first colony they have sent out have just planted themselves in Rectory Grove, Clapham, London. Inclosure was solemnly established in their new convent on the 25th July, 1897. The beautiful instruction given on the occasion by the Rev. T. E. Bridgett, C. SS. R. has been printed under the title of Prayer without Impediment." An appendix describes the history,

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