Far, too, could the rich voice of Owen M'Carthy be heard along the hills
and meadows, as, with a little chubby urchin at his knee, and another in
his arms, he sat on a bench beside his own door, singing the "Trouglia".
in his native Irish; whilst Kathleen his wife, with her two maids, each
crooning a low song, sat before the door milking the cows, whose sweet
breath mingled its perfume with the warm breeze of evening.
Owen M'Carthy was descended from a long-line of honest ancestors,
whose names had never, within the memory of man, been tarnished by
the commission of a mean or disreputable action. They were always a
kind-hearted family, but stern and proud in the common intercourse of
life. They believed; themselves to be, and probably were, a branch of
the MacCarthy More stock; and, although only the possessors of a small
farm, it was singular to observe the effect which this conviction
produced upon their bearing and manners. To it might, perhaps,
be attributed the high and stoical integrity for which they were
remarkable. This severity, however, was no proof that they wanted
feeling, or were insensible to the misery and sorrows of others: in
all the little cares and perplexities that chequered the peaceful
neighborhood in which they lived, they were ever the first to console,
or, if necessary, to support a distressed neighbor with the means which
God had placed in their possession; for, being industrious, they were
seldom poor.
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