May they all perish be their own folly
before the world or their money comes to an end.
NAGLE
'Tis only the poor who knows how bad the rich are.
And only the rich that can be hard on the poor. Have
you a match, if you please?
DEVLIN (_handing a box_)
You'll find plenty in that.
NAGLE
All the comfort some of us have in this world is a
smoke, that's when we have the tobacco, of course.
DEVLIN
There'll be smokin' enough in the next world, they
say, but that's cold comfort to a man without the
fillin's of a pipe or a match to light it.
NAGLE
'Tis a great misfortune to be born at all.
DEVLIN
That's what I've often been thinkin'. And many's
the time I've cursed the day that my father met my
mother. (_Sadly_) 'Twould be better for us all in spite
of what the clergy say that we were all Protestants,
or else died before we came to the use of reason.
But things might be worse.
NAGLE
Trouble comes to us all, and 'tis a consolation to
know that the King must die as well as the beggar.
Think of me, and I after losin' my return ticket to
Carlow, and I must be there to-night even if I have
to walk every step of the way.
DEVLIN
And haven't you the price of your ticket?
NAGLE
The devil a penny at all have I, and unless I can sell
my watch to buy my ticket with, I'll lose my job, and
then my wife and family must go to the workhouse.
Pages:
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80