Willy Burke, or, The Irish orphan in America - Digital Repository ...

12 WILLY BLRKE; OR,
ye out of our mind nor our hearts. With God's help
we '11 never forget to offer up the Pather an' Avy night
an' mornin' for your welfare, an' when we're sayin' the
rosary in the chapel above, sure everybody 'ill keep yees
in mind. An' I pray God, Andy Burke and Biddy, an'
childre dear, that we may all meet again in the glory of
heaven !"
" The Lord's blessin' he about yees, wherever ye go!"
said another, with a choking voice ; " for sure its yerselves
that earned nothin' else, an' livin' or dead as ye
may be, while there 's one of us alive to offer up a prayer,
yees '11 have it from our hearts out. God bless ye,
childre, and make yees happy in this world and the world
to come. Ochone, it 's the black sight to many a one to
see yer backs turned, an' the ould walls left bare an' lonely,
-—an' God he sees that. Sure there 's many a creature '11
and when they 're passin' the house, they '11
miss ye sore ;
be offerin' up the prayer to God for them that used to have
the warm fireside and the good bit an' sup for them !"
The protracted parting was at last over, and the Burkes,
old and young, were fairly embarked ; the father and
mother were grave and sad, as their tearful gaze rested
on the swift-receding shores of that land now painfully
dear to their aching hearts, the young people gradually
losing sight of their sorrow in the novelty of everything
around. The sea, the coast, the lighthouses, the steamboat,
and the hundreds of strange faces it bore along over
the waters, had all and each the power of weaning their
young minds from thoughts of sadness, and it was only
when the violent motion of the boat began to sicken them,
that they could be prevailed upon to leave the deck and
go below.