An Irish Belle's Stratagem.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1695, 24 July 1875, Page 6 (Supplement)

An Irish Belle's Stratagem.

During a recent debate in the British House of Commons on the Irish Home-rule bill, Major O'Qorman related an incident to show that the reports of lawlessness in his country were without foundation. . ' A gentleman living in the county -of Westmeath,' Major O'Grorman said, ' and very fond of field sports, had a daughter who was very anxious not to live in the country. She found the country very stupid and dull, and repeatedly asked her father to remove to Dublin, where he had a house. He refused to do so, as he was very fond of his field sports and was much beloved by his neighbors. Soon afterward he received a threatening letter. A few days later he received another, but he thought little of either. Some days afterward there came another and not only that, but one in which his coffin was delineated. He then became alarmed, and sent for the stipendiary magistrate, the county drynurse. He attended at the gentleman's house, saw the letters, and placed himself in communication with that sink of iniquity, Dublin castle. Scores of detectives were sent down to the district, and domiciliary visits were paid to the houses of the poor people, who were most roughly treated by the stipendiary and his myrmidons. But nothing could be detected. Still these letters came pouring in. Nobody knew anything about them, howeverand the gentleman became seriously alarmed. He gave up his establishment in the country and removed into Lublin. Bis daughter was a very beautiful girl—just such a girl as could only be produced in his own Green Isle —a girl all blood, bone and beauty, and plenty of it. She was universally admired and had not been long in Dublin before proposals of marriage were made to her by a man who was fit for her. Ihe wedding came off, and after the breakfast, when the young lady came down to take her departure, she threw her arms round her father's neck and said to him, ' Go down to the country, father; nobody will touch a hair of your head. You are beloved by everybody around you Nobody wrote those letters but one person, and that was I. I found the country dull and wanted to go to Dublin, and, as it was fashionable, 1 thought I would adopt the ribbon scheme, and it completely succeeded. '