often thought since of the splendid opportunity let slip by O'Connell
and the Repealers in neglecting to revive, as they could so easily have
then done, so strong a factor in nationality as the native tongue of our
people. My Aunt Nancy could speak the Northern Irish fluently, and, in
the course of her business, acquired the Connaught Irish and accent.

After a time Hughey Roney retired, and the house was carried on by his
daughter and her husband, John McArdle, a good, decent patriotic
Irishman, much respected by his Connaught neighbours, though he was from
the "Black North." It used to be a great treat to hear John McArdle, on
a Sunday night, reading the "Nation," which then cost sixpence, and was,
therefore, not so easily accessible, to an admiring audience, of whom I
was sometimes one, and his son, John Francis McArdle, another. This
younger McArdle, originally intended for the Church, became in after
life a brilliant journalist, and was for a time on the staff of the
"Nation," the teaching of which he had so early imbibed. The elder
McArdle was a big, imposing looking man, with a voice to match, who gave
the speeches of O'Connell and the other orators of Conciliation Hall
with such effect that the applause was always given exactly in the right
places, and with as much heartiness as if greeting the original
speakers.

After Father Mathew's visit, their trade fell away to such an extent
that John McArdle, determined to hold his ground--while still keeping
the public house open, though the business was all but gone--broke
another door into the street, and made his parlour into a grocery and
provision store. This enterprise on his part was only necessary for a
short time, as the abnormal enthusiasm in the cause of temperance which,
for the time being, had swept all before it, had subsided to such an
extent that McArdle, after a time, turned the room to its original