Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- Introduction
- Select Bibliography
- Note on the Text
- Note on the Illustrations
- Sketches of Irish Character
- Dedication
- INTRODUCTION
- CONTENTS, AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- 1 LILLY O'BRIEN
- 2 MARY RYAN's DAUGHTER
- 3 THE BANNOW POSTMAN
- 4 “WE'LL SEE ABOUT IT.”
- 5 THE LAST OF THE LINE
- 6 THE WOOING AND WEDDING
- 7 JACK THE SHRIMP
- 8 HOSPITALITY
- 9 “TAKE IT EASY.”
- 10 PETER THE PROPHET
- 11 KATE CONNOR
- 12 FATHER MIKE
- 13 LARRY MOORE
- KELLY THE PIPER
- THE RAPPAREE
- ANNIE LESLIE
- MASTER BEN
- THE WISE THOUGHT
- MABEL O'NEIL'S CURSE
- THE FAIRY OF FORTH
- MARY MACGOHARTY'S PETITION
- OLD FRANK
- LUKE O'BRIAN
- INDEPENDENCE
- BLACK DENNIS
- GERALDINE
- CAPTAIN ANDY
- GOOD SPIRITS AND BAD
- Editorial Notes
- Silent Corrections
- Textual Variants
OLD FRANK
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- Introduction
- Select Bibliography
- Note on the Text
- Note on the Illustrations
- Sketches of Irish Character
- Dedication
- INTRODUCTION
- CONTENTS, AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- 1 LILLY O'BRIEN
- 2 MARY RYAN's DAUGHTER
- 3 THE BANNOW POSTMAN
- 4 “WE'LL SEE ABOUT IT.”
- 5 THE LAST OF THE LINE
- 6 THE WOOING AND WEDDING
- 7 JACK THE SHRIMP
- 8 HOSPITALITY
- 9 “TAKE IT EASY.”
- 10 PETER THE PROPHET
- 11 KATE CONNOR
- 12 FATHER MIKE
- 13 LARRY MOORE
- KELLY THE PIPER
- THE RAPPAREE
- ANNIE LESLIE
- MASTER BEN
- THE WISE THOUGHT
- MABEL O'NEIL'S CURSE
- THE FAIRY OF FORTH
- MARY MACGOHARTY'S PETITION
- OLD FRANK
- LUKE O'BRIAN
- INDEPENDENCE
- BLACK DENNIS
- GERALDINE
- CAPTAIN ANDY
- GOOD SPIRITS AND BAD
- Editorial Notes
- Silent Corrections
- Textual Variants
Summary
As long as I can remember, Frank was called – “Old Frank.” He was a little, crabbed-looking man, bent nearly double; had a healthy colouring on his cheek, and a few, very few, grey hairs straying over his bald and shrivelled forehead; with a halt in his walk; and was always either singing or coughing; somewhat “cranky” in his temper, and, in his capacity of coachman (which situation he had filled for a period of forty-two years in our family), exercised despotic sway over horses, dogs, and grooms. He was singularly faithful, and strongly attached to his master and mistress, his horses, and myself; indeed, as to the two last, it was a matter of doubt which he loved best; however “snappish” he might have been to others, he was to me, in my childish days, one of the kindest and firmest of friends; no matter how I tormented him – no matter what pranks I played (and they were not a few), “Miss Maria” was always right, and everybody else was wrong. Having lived so long in the family, he was hardly looked upon as a servant, and neither master nor mistress disputed his dictum; indeed, I do not know why they should, for, wherever his authority extended, matters were well managed. The coats of his carriage-horses shone like French satin, and the carriage, an old lumberiug thing of the last century, could not have existed at all under the care of any other coachman. Frank, the carriage, and horses, had grown old together; they were all of a piece, and cut a remarkable appearance, whenever they walked (for that was their most rapid pace) out in the bright, sunshiny summer. But it was not alone in this, his principal situation, that Frank was entitled to, and treated with, respect. All the perfect and all the embryo sportsmen of the neighbourhood came to consult him on every matter connected with dogs and horses; he was famed, all over the county, for educating pointers on the most approved principles, and was permitted to have three or four constantly in training for the neighbouring gentry, who always remunerated him handsomely for his trouble.
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- Sketches of Irish Characterby Mrs S C Hall, pp. 329 - 338Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014