The Madigans

The Madigans, by Miriam Michelson

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Title: The Madigans
Author: Miriam Michelson
Illustrator: Orson Lowell
Release Date: April 27, 2007 [EBook #21243]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: A Few of Irene's "Fathers"]
THE MADIGANS BY MIRIAM MICHELSON

AUTHOR OF "IN THE BISHOP'S CARRIAGE"

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ORSON LOWELL

NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1904

Copyright, 1904, by The Century Co.
Published October, 1904
The DeVinne Press

CONTENTS
PAGE
Cecilia the Pharisee 3
A Pagan and a Puritan 39
A Merry, Merry Zingara 79
The Shut-Ups 115
The Ancestry of Irene 147
The Last Straw 189
A Ready Letter-Writer 219
"The Martyrdom of Man" 265
Kate: A Pretense 297
Old Mother Gibson 331

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE A Few of Irene's "Fathers" Frontispiece
"That settles Number 10," said Sissy, grimly 7
Left the room with such uncompromising hauteur ... that her aunt again exploded 13
"Please, Mr. Garvan," she said 17
Some of the Madigans 23
The Rest of the Madigans 29
Seizing Sissy in his arms, he bore her off to bed 35
"Play it, then, you mean thing," she cried, ... "if it's going to do you any good!" 47
"Go and shake hands properly, like a little gentleman," bullied Mrs. Pemberton 53
Of the design and construction of which he was quite vain 63
The Belle of the Afternoon 71
She was pronounced a "regular little love" by the Misses Bryne-Stivers 91
"I don't see how you're going to dance in them" 95
"But is she very sick?" 101
She glanced up the incline of the see-saw to the height whence Irene looked down 153
"I want you--come!" the Indian princess announced 163
They had coasted only half a block 169
"Oh, you needn't glare at me!" exclaimed Bep 183
A train meant domesticity and dignity to Sissy. In Split it bred and fostered a spirit of coquetry 223
Stamping ... in a frenzy 229
Madigan banged the door behind him as he fled 237
"Here would I rest," she chanted 253
She walked a step or two with him 261

THE MADIGANS

CECILIA THE PHARISEE
I, Cecilia Morgan Madigan, being of sound mind and in purfect bodily health, and residing in Virginia City, Nevada, do hereby on this first day of April solemnly promise:
1. That I will be Number 1 this next month at school.
2. That I will be pachient with Papa, and try to stand him.
3. That I will set Bep--yes, and Fom too, even if she is Irene's partner--a good example.
4. That I will not once this next month pinch Aunt Anne's sensative plant--no matter what she does to me.
5. That I will dust the back legs of the piano even when Mrs. Pemberton isn't expected.
6. That I will help Kate controll her temper, and not mock and aggravate her when she sulks.
7. That I will be a little mother to Frank and teach her to grow up and be a creddit to the famly.
8. That I will not steal candy out of Kate's pocket--without first begging her very hard to give me some.
9. That I will practice The Gazelle fathfully every solatary day. And give up reading on the sly while I play 5-finger exercises.
10. That I will try to bear with Irene. That I will do all I can not to fight with her--but she is a selfish devvil who is always in the wrong.
And all this I solemnly promise myself without being coersed in any way, of my own free will, without let or hidrance, because I want to be good.
Cecilia Morgan Madigan (called Sissy), Aged 11 last birthday.
P.S. And I feel sure I can do it all, God helping me, except Number 10--which is the hardest.
* * * * *
Sissy, who had been sitting writing only half dressed, folded the paper reverently, put it to her lips for lack of a seal, and then buttoned it firmly inside her corset waist.
She felt so virtuous already that the carrying out of her intentions seemed really supererogatory. When she went to Irene to have her button her dress in the back, she had such a sensation of holiness, such a consciousness of a forbearing, pure, and gentle spirit, that her sister's malicious pretense of ignoring her presence appeared to her nothing less than sacrilege.
"Ain't you going to button me, Split?" she demanded, indignant that her enemy, whom she was going to treat with Christ-like charity, should successfully try her temper before the ink was dry on her own promise to keep the peace.
"Ask me pretty," grinned Split, whose nickname honored a gymnastic feat which no other Madigan,