gain popularity; and when he had "got religion," then the teachers of
the stuff which they call by that noble name, to keep it respectable,
procured him this office as a reward for his hypocrisy.

This was the official who startled the inmates of our house of mourning
about five o'clock in the morning, when, thrusting his head inside the
door, he cried out, "A corpse there, eh?"

"The Lord save us! Who are you, or what brings you here this hour o'
night?" said old granny Doherty, suspecting him as "nothing good."

"Like you Irish, allers asking questions," said he, discharging a mass
of tobacco almost in her face. "I am the poormaster; and, having
received a report that there was a dead pauper here, thought I would
have it put out of the way early, before the folks would get up."

"You are a very polite gintleman, God bless you. I hope she won't be
buried so soon. This is not the custom in any Christian country. After
to-morrow will be soon enough. You need not be in a hurry. We expect the
priest here to see to the children, as he has already left some help,
God bless him."

"She must be enterred this morning, having died with the ship fever, I
suppose. The citizens expect me to do my _dooty_; and that I will do, if
the Lord spares me."

"The dickens a ship fever nor no other fever she had; but the poor
woman's heart broke, seeing what she had come to in a strange country,"
said Mrs. Doherty, pityingly.