Orange and Green eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 349 pages of information about Orange and Green.

Orange and Green eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 349 pages of information about Orange and Green.

They avoided the main roads running to Waterford and Dublin, as they would probably have fallen in with parties of troops journeying west, and might have been shot out of pure wantonness, besides being exposed to the risk of being asked awkward questions.  They slept at peasants’ houses, where they were everywhere hospitably received, as soon as their hosts assured themselves that they were Catholics.  Larry was the principal spokesman, for although Walter, like all the Catholic gentry, spoke the native language, he was not so fluent as his follower, to whom it came naturally, as, although the peasantry in the neighbourhood of Dublin were all able to speak English, they always conversed in Irish among themselves.  Larry gave out that he and his companion had been serving in the army, and had obtained leave to pay a visit to their native village, near Dublin, for the winter.

“I doubt whether you will find much of it standing,” one of their hosts said, “for I hear that county Wicklow, and all round Dublin, has been wasted by them foreign devils in Dublin.  The curse of Cromwell be upon them!  But we’ll be aven wid them yet.  They say next spring a big French army is coming, and they will set the Germans running so that they won’t stop till the last man gets on board ship, and ould Ireland is free from them, the murthering haythens.  But you must be careful, lads, and not let out to a sowl that ye have been wid the boys in the west, or it’s short work they would make of you.”

In every case they were asked questions about sons or relations with the army, and were often able to give news as to where the regiments to which they belonged were stationed, and of the part they had taken during the last year’s fighting.  News travelled slowly, and was circulated principally by means of travelling peddlers, who hawked their wares from village to village, and reported what was going on in the outside world.  Thus, although the peasants were aware of the general details of the fighting which had taken place, they knew nothing of the part which the various regiments had borne in it.  Reading and writing were rare accomplishments, and the post was altogether interrupted, so that many remained in suspense, from the beginning to the end of the war, as to the fate of those who had left them to take part in it.

The friends did not make long journeys, for Walter was unaccustomed to walk barefooted, and his feet at first were very sore and tender; but by the time they reached Dublin they had hardened, and he was able to stride along by the side of Larry, who, until he started with him for the war, had never had on a pair of shoes in his life.

As soon as they reached Dublin, they made their way to the quarters inhabited by the working classes.  There Walter purchased shoes, and made such alteration in their attire as to do away with their country aspect, and give them the appearance of two young fellows belonging to the town.  Having hired a room, and made these changes, they sallied out.

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Orange and Green from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.