as sober a man, barrin' he was a little bit
too partial to the glass, as you'd find in a
day's walk; an' there wasn't the likes of
him in the counthry round for nate labourin'
an' baan diggin'; and he was mighty handy
entirely for carpenther's work, and men
din' ould spudethrees, an' the likes i' that.
An' so he tuk up with bone-settin', as
was most nathural, for none of them could
come up to him in mendin' the leg iv a stool
or a table; an' sure, there never was a bone-
setter got so much custom-man an' child,
young an' ould--there never was such
breakin' and mendin' of bones known in
the memory of man. Well, Terry Neil--
for that was my father's name--began to
feel his heart growin' light, and his purse
heavy; an' he took a bit iv a farm in Squire
Phelim's ground, just undher the ould castle,
an' a pleasant little spot it was; an' day an'
mornin' poor crathurs not able to put a foot
to the ground, with broken arms and broken
legs, id be comin' ramblin' in from all quarters
to have their bones spliced up. Well,
yer honour, all this was as well as well could
be; but it was customary when Sir Phelim
id go anywhere out iv the country, for some
iv the tinants to sit up to watch in the ould
castle, just for a kind of compliment to the
ould family--an' a mighty unplisant compliment