The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 38, 17 September 1903, Page 23

The Storyteller

QLORIANNA M'GINNIS

' Andy,' said Julia Reilly to her brother-in-law, Andrew M'Ginnis, as ihe clirisLennig pculy uiaiched up the street, ' Andy, don't raise a row before the priest about, the name.' Andy looked defiance and disgust, but maintained silence, a silence so ominous that the wily Julia was inspired to change the base of her appeal. Andy, dear,' she asked persuasively, ' wasn't Nora always a good wife to you ? ' ' The divil a betther, Julia,' he agreed heartily, thrown off his guard for a moment by a wave of tender feeling towards the mother of the pink and white bundle they were taking to the church. ' Sure then you wouldn't want to break her heart. An' she says to me comin' out, she says, "If Andy won't let me call the darlin' Glorianna it'll break me heart." An' st^ cried that hard ! God forgive me ! ' she ejaculated to herself. ' She cried ! ' exclaimed Andy, repenting his bitter opposition ' Well, I never made her cry before, an 1 I won't do ft now. You can give the middle name Glonanna—oh, but it's disgraceful ! An' I'll give the first name Honora. But it's against me principles, Julia, an' I'll always call the child Nora. It was good enough for me own mother an' for her mother, an' it'll be good enough for me child. Ye can call her anything you want, but I never will.' Further discussion was prevented by their arrival at the parochial house It was well for Andy's principles that the slippery-tongued Julia did not have more time to work upon his softened mood. She might have persuaded him to repudiate the name of Honora altogether. He had accepted Glorianna though with a feeling of guilt, and now as he sat in the office, waiting the coming of Father Doyle, his heart reproached him with a thousand reasons against sanctioning the assumption of such a name. The entrance of the priest at this critical moment drove from his mind all method of argumentation, and cast an indefinable fear upon him. What would he say to such a name ? Ah, there he was asking the question. ' What name are you going to give her, Andy ? ' ' Yes, Father,' Andy stammered, his heart beating wildly as he strove to defer the humiliating moment ' What name? I asked,' kindly ventured the amused priest again. • Oh, the name ' Yes, Father, Ilonora, after me— father — mother — I mane.' The priest wrote it down. Julia gave the excited Andy a nudge. Sure enough he had forgotten the second name ' ' That's the first name, Father. An' me wife wants a second one ' ' Well, what is it ? ' asked the priest, looking up. The look disconcerted Andy. His lips seemed to struggle with something, and then he blurted out ' Honora Glorianna.' Father Doyle almost dropped his pen, and a faint smile showed upon his face— a smile that Andy felt was levelled at him for his folly in calling the child such an outlandish name. 'It isn't me, Father Doyle,' he protested, is selfexcuse. ' It's them women. They would have it, an' pushed me to give it. I don't blame you if you rayfuse to take it.' Father Doyle continued to smile, but wrote down the name, though in his heart he agiecd with common sense Andy. So the child was baptised, and her father drew a sigh of relief as the door closed behind them ' I knew you'd make a fool of me,' he said bitterly. 'To bring me before the priest an 1 cover me with confusion and disgrace. But yell cany it no fuither. I'll never call the child any thin' but Nora, nor will the rest of ye, if I'm to be master in me own house ' And Andy kept his word heroically, as we shall see later on. * Ilonora Glorianna grew as all youngsters grow For little Nora, as he called her, Andy had planned a futuic of unalloyed bliss He had already picked out the place in the parlor where, in the near future the child would be drumming scales on a fine big square piano that he had in his mind's eye. With this end in view he had applied himself more than ever to his daily toil, for the advent of the first child had taught him the great lesson of providing for the future of the charge that he in his true child-like faith believed God had entrusted to him More than ever was he a home man, delighting in the

company of his wife and child and refraining from the crowd that was happiest over the bottle. So it was that when Andy's Norie could look back on two sisters and as many brothers, all of them with names in no way approaching the style of Glorianna, her father's perseverance and shrewd ability had placed him in panneiship with O'Malley, the contractor, and on the high road to prosperity. It was no surprise to Andy himself. He had promised it to himself and he had kept Ins pioinise. It was not the only promise he had kept, for as you passed by his still unpretentious house you might heai the t>ound of the piano at which the prodigy of a None was doing her best to try the patience yl her neighbors. But Norie was really a smart child, and her success in school, as in music, would have delighted the heart of a father less doting than Andy. It was the essence of happiness to him to sit on the piazza while Norie within wrestled with a popular song or two-step. When anyone passed the house and looked towards it at the sound of the music Andy's bosom swelled with pride as much as to say, ' That's the daughter of Andy McGimus ' But Andy's adoration for Norie was not a little due to the fact that she was the child of his victory, after what was once his miserable defeat. There was never a mention now of Glorianna. For upwards of two years the women-folks had endeavored to use exclusively the name of their own choice, but Andy was not balked by their persistency. He was fully as persistent. He had set out to win the day for Nora as against Glorianna, and he would succeed in the effort or die. And he had succeeded. He had tried everything in his power to make the name ridiculous— in which effort he was nobly seconded by all the boys in the town. With the abundance of ridicule and the counter efforts of Andy in calling the little girl Norie whenever he had a chance, even in times unnecessarily, Glorianna soon lapsed from popularity and finally became a bit of ancient history, and when Honora Glorianna was conducted to school for the lirst time her name was entered on the books as plain Norie McGinnis, with not even an initial letter to mark the ruin of the glory that had been So it continued during the child's preparatory studies, a name as unpretentious as the sweet-faced little girl who answered to it ; and even when she entered the high school she was still Norie McGinnis, the girl that sang like a nightingale and played the piano like Paderewski But at this very time began the evolution of None

K\eiy thing that Andy had touched became on the instant gold lie had built a new house, one of the finest m the town, and ton times better, he boasted, than the O'Brien mansion This fact alone would have turned a more settled head than Andy's. But not so with him. He was still unprctentions Andy, respected on all sides for his honesty, and above all for his democratic manner-, despite his money. Mrs Andy, however, was more prone to social aspirations, and felt in duty bound to pieserve the honor of the noble family name by the assumption of airs quite at variance with her meagre education Andy noticed this shortly after he had moved into his new palace. He had been contented where he was, but Mrs. Andy had nagged at him till in sheer desperation, and to have peace at home, he followed out her f-\ery desire in building an tip-to date mansion of which she was extremely pioud and he supremely ashamed, except for the fact" before stated, that it beat the residence of the O'Brien's. <.. He did not feel at home there. It seemed to him to he beyond his element, even though he could afford it, and abo\'e all he feared the evil influence it might have m the education of his children, and its tendency to make them consider themselves of a superior mould and thus assume airs which, to Andy, were detestable in an extreme degree The idol of his heart, None, he trusted, would keep her simplicity in the new house, although he had his fears, seeing the added airs of his wife when she came into the place of her ambition. ' Don't be having the people laughin' at you,' he said to her ' Sure e\erybody knows you were poor Nora Reilly when I married you, without a cent no more nor moseif. Don't be givin' bad example to None and the childer I'll not be bringing them up Yankee dudes, nor spoits Now mind that, Nora, an' quit your nonsense.' Noia was impatient at these obstacles to her social ad\aneemcnt The point she aimed at was very high, so high that she almost became dizzy as she yearningly looked to it It woise might come to worst she was not averse to being content with the social superiority of Newport, though, to tell the truth, she did not shudder a bit at the possibility of being transplanted to foreign soil and in close proximity to the throne. The newspapers had done this. Mrs. Andy had read j-o much about the fads of the wealthy, their social ways and aspirations, and she had come to think that here alone was hiippmess and here alone the great destiny -"I ihe Mediums family To Norie she had confided her heart's desire and though the more sensible daughter bad smiled at the career marked out for her, she, nevertheless, was

?™J mm m g dreams hardly le ss startling than -.hose of her fond mamma. It was not surprising that ;-/hen Mrs £v? + reaC i ed th i S Stage of deliriu m, her thoughts should reveit with such a pang of regret to the ill-fated clay when she stopped called her child by the glorious name of Glorianna Why, she reproached l-eiself, had she ever relinquished that name ? How suitable it would be now when the McGinnisses had advanced to such a state of social superiority ! Honora, Nora, Norie none of those would look stylish in fine society. True McGinnis was rather common and Irishy, but after a while she would remedy thait. A little hyphen with the aid of her maiden name would make good style out of the plainness and Reilly-McGinnis would be as aristocratic as any hyphenated combine in America. This scheme was also confided to winsome Norie, with the result that next day—it was Norie's last year in the high school— the subscription to one of Norie's letters was tremblingly autographed Honora Glorianna. A week later with all the conviction accruing from mamma's persuasiveness Honora had dwindled down to a mere initial, and by its side in courageous attitude stood Glorianna. It was a rapid transformation, of course, but then it was only a month to graduation, and if anything was to be done it had to be done quickly, or a golden opportunity was gone forever. Honora Glorianna, however, was not satisfied with signing herself in this sweet romantic manner. Her dear girl friends, who, needless to say, were legion, and much to Andy's disgust, nearly all 'high-toned Yanks, 5 were persuaded to address her in fond familiarity as Glory. This, be it said was all foreign ground, never within the democratic companionship of Papa McGinnis That would be the end of it, if he ever heard of it, and Glorianna knew it. With her brothers, who were as democratic as Andy, and her sisters, who were not yet old enough to acquire the airs of a princess, Glorianna was abridged to Nance or Nancy, sometimes much to her discomfiture, though when her father was present she seemed to delight in such truly common names. So went the struggle for style till the great night of graduation. It was a proud night for Andy. Norie was going to sing a French song— she was the only soloist in her class, a fact which delighted Andy still more. After that she was going to read an essay on ' The Nebulous Phenomena.' It was a very nebulous subject to Andy. He knew much more about laying bricks and making money, but he bobbed his head very knowingly when Norie made known to him the title of the work she had laboriously compiled from some of the standard encyclopedias. He was gratified to think that a daughter of his knew so much about things that he never heard of, and he pictured to himself the great sensalion she would make with a French song and that essay. The whole town would be at her feet and raving about her ! He could hardly be blamed for feeling quite elated as he proudly marched down the aisle of the Town Hall, with Mrs. Andy by his side. They were somewhat late, but she had caused delay on the plan that the distinguished are never on time, and, moreover, she was wearing a glorious creation made especially for this night at such an expense that everyone must see it. Of course only a late arrival could accomplish this. They were seated just as the piano struck up a march to accompany the graduates to the stage, and Andy, with a contented smile on his face, turned around to get a glimpse of the fair procession, and especially Norie. But a reprimand from his very correct consort re-direct-ed his face to the front. Ah, there she was leading off the march with the Mayor's son ! She was handsome, the handsomest there, Andy knew, and this was a joy to his heart. The programme began, but he paid little attention to the speakers. The heavy essay which a fair girl was sending forth as a message to the world on the subject, ' Time is Money,' seemed very puerile to lam. What did she know about the Nebulous Phenomena? What did she know about French songs ? Wait till Nora stood up with a voice like a thrush's, and that girl with the essay on ' Time is Money ' would be sorry that she ever graduated. ' She is going to sing now,' whispered Mrs. Andy, and Andy craned his neck to see how she looked on the stage. ' The next number on our programme,' announced the master of ceremonies, ' is a French song by Miss N. Glorianna McGinnis.' Andy's face assumed a look of surprise, then indignation, then anger. ' What did he call her ? ' he said to Mrs-. Andy. 'N. Glorianna. It's that way on the programme.' ' It's all your fault, woman. Let me out of this.' 'Be quiet. Where are you going ? Listen to her She's singing.' ' I don't give a damn,' said Andy. ' She's disgraced me. Letime out, I say.' ' All eyes were turned upon Andy, for he had taken no pains to moderate his expression of wrath. Mrs. Andy heard the subdued laughter about her, and her face

was flushed with shame. But that did not subdue her husband. He took his hat and started for the door, while Mrs. Andy became deeply interested in the programme upside down to the accompaniment of a French song of the unflinching Glorianna v* 77 + K W ! nt v home "^mediately. He felt disgraced. He felt that he was beaten. He had killed that name once, and here it was cropping up again with new vigor, and with not even a mention of the name which his mother had always borne with never an attempt to smother it with high-falutin titles. ' N. Glorianna,' he muttered, angrily. ' N.G., that's what it is, an' they're all N.G. It's too many airs they're gettin'. But this is the end. I'll show them that Andy McGinnis is boss, an' that he'll have no upstarts in his house.'

While he waited for the return of the women, his anger increased in proportion, and he flashed indignant glances at them as they entered the house with enough flowers in their aims to stock a good-sized greenhouse. They had trembled all the way home in fear of papa's indignation, but they were hurt most by the fact that his rude behavior before such a crowd would be the talk of the town and bring eternal opprobrium upon them. * *

Aren't they lovely ? ' said the sweet girl graduate, holding out a bunch of roses by way of an attempt to •soften his wrath, ' No, they ain't,' said he, tartly, • they're glorious, gloriannerous. So you did the dirty work on your old man, did you ? An' now the old man'll work it back on you. You pack up- as soon as you like. Yell move back to the old house. I'm goin 1 to sell this place:' ' Andy ! ' ' Papa ! '

But the imploring voice smote upon a hardened ear. ' Papa ! ' he sneered. ' Call your old man father. I gave ye all ye wanted, an' now ye repay me by bein' upstarts. Pretty soon yell be changin' the name of M'Ginnis. Ye're ashamed of me now because I'm an ignorant Irishman, but I'll give ye cause to be ashamed of me. Gwan now, no more talk. Yell pick me up in the mornin . Gwan now, I say.' The two women retreated, but not in joy. There was a heavy weight upon their hearts. Oh, the awfulness of it ! What would people say ? Go back to the old cottage and leave this fine palace ? Ah, death was better a thousand times. Glorianna felt bad, but her mamma felt a thousand times worse. Her dreams of the social whirl were, alas, in vain. Neither slept much that night, and Andy knew it. He was happy in the thought that he was bringing home a lesson to them, and he remained implacable. Early in the morning he rapped on the door of Miss Glorianna's room. She called it her boudoir. ' Get up with you. The movin' waggon's outside.' ' Yes, father.' There were tears in her voice, but apparently Andy did not notice soich a trifle. She looked out the window to see if the horrible dream were true, and sure enough the moving van was patiently awaiting operations ! Oh, misery and degradation ! Why had she been so foolish ! She heard her father turning to the stairs. It was all lost. He was getting his revenge. ' Father, 1 she called out in desperation, ( come here.' Andy heard the voice and turned back. ' What is it ? ' he asked sharply. ' Come in.' The indignant papa, the iron ruler, entered and was immediately assailed with feminine argument. The face ol the sweet girl graduate of last night was now tearstained and pained in expression. In his heart Andy was sorry for her, but still unrelenting. She threw herself at his feet, and, grasping his hands, poured out a torrent of invocation. She would never do it again, no, never, never ! She would do this, she would do that. The promises came so fast Andy lost count of them. Like an immovable judge he stood. ' Will you promise never to use that name again ? ' ' Yes, oh, yes.' Interspersed with sobs. ' Will you promise to leave off yer high-toned airs ? ' 1 Yes, oh, yes.' Interspersed with tears. ' Will you promise to do all I tell you about the company you keep, an' so on ? ' ' Yes, father.' ' Well, thin,' decided Andy, 'if so, I won't be too hard on you. You needn't pack up this time. But (it was an awful but) if ever agin— you know what that means. I'll go now an' send away the movers, but — gwan now an' tell it all to your high-toned mother. I'll have a word with her by-an'-by meself.' With the same dignity wherewith he had entered, he now left the room. But when the door closed behind . <im the dignity dissolved, and a broad smile illuminated the face of the democratic Andy.— 1 St. Patrick's.'