Age, sorrow, and eloquence pleaded in vain, for they were wasted on
the rocks of rocks, a strong will and a vulgar soul. But indeed the
whole thing was like epic poetry wrestling with the _Limerick
Chronicle_ or _Tuam Gazette_.

I am almost ashamed to give the respectable western brute's answer.

"What! you quote Scripture, eh? I thought you did not believe in that.
Hear t'other side. Abraham and Lot couldn't live in the same place,
because they both kept sheep, and we can't, because we fleece 'em. So
Abraham gave Lot warning as I give it you. And as for dying on my
premises, if you like to hang yourself before next Lady-day, I give
you leave, but after Lady-day no more Jewish dogs shall die in my
house nor be buried for manure in my garden."

Black lightning poured from the old Jew's eyes, and his pent-up wrath
burst out like lava from an angry mountain.

"Irreverent cur! do you rail on the afflicted of Heaven? The Founder
of your creed would abhor you, for He, they say, was pitiful. I spit
upon ye, and I curse ye. Be accursed!" And flinging up his hands, like
St. Paul at Lystra, he rose to double his height and towered at his
insulter with a sudden Eastern fury that for a moment shook even the
iron Meadows. "Be accursed!" he yelled again. "Whatever is the secret
wish of your black heart Heaven look on my gray hairs that you have
insulted, and wither that wish. Ah, ah!" he screamed, "you wince. All
men have secret wishes--Heaven fight against yours. May all the good
luck you have be wormwood for want of that--that---that--that. May
you be near it, close to it, upon it, pant for it, and lose it; may it
sport, and smile, and laugh, and play with you till Gehenna burns your