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

THE IRISH ORPHAN IN AMERICA. 81
corner of that big chest within— Willy can get it for you
—an ' you '11 get a sovereign in it its the last o' the
money we brought from home, an' I always kept it for a
pinch—that '11 pay you for what rint I owe you—I think
it 's four dollars : isn't it ?"
" Sorra penny of it I '11 ever take, Mrs. Burke", cried
her generous landlady with characteristic vehemence ;
that sovereign will bury you dacently, an' I can do without
it. No, no, I 'm a poor woman ; but while God
spares my husband and son their health, I can get along
without the little penny you owed me. So I pray God
to cancel the debt, as I do from my heart".
Overpowered by the excess of her gratitude, the dying
woman could only grasp the friendly hand held out to
her, and raise her failing eyes to heaven, invoking a
blessing on her benefactress. She spoke not again for
several moments, during which the rattling in her throat
was fearfully increasing. Raising her feeble hand, she
made a sign for her children to approach. The priest
placed them all on their knees beside the bed, and by a
mighty effort the dying mother found voice to bless them.
u Be good children", she added, " be good men an'
women— an' ever an' always fear God more than men
listen to the voice of His Church—live an' die good Catholics—
an' we '11 meet again—in glory. There, don't
cry that way— it 's no use— but pray for me. God bless
ye all!" She signed to Father Fitzherbert to put the
crucifix in her right hand ; he did so, and, with a smile
of ineffable joy, the pure soul, purified by all manner of
earthly suffering well and cheerfully borne, passed away
— and the eyes were still upraised, and the lips in the act
of praising God, when lip and eye were fixed in death.
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