JOHN TYNDALL

YNDALL was of high descent and lowly
birth. His father belonged to the Irish
Constabulary, and there were intervals
when the boy's mother took in washing.
But back of this the constable swore i'
faith, when the ale was right, that he
was descended from an Irish King, and
probably this is true for most Irishmen
are, and acknowledge it themselves.
The father of our Tyndall spelled his
name Tyndale, and traced a direct rela-
tionship to William Tyndale who de-
clared he would place a copy of the Eng-
lish Bible in the hands of every plough-
boy in the British Isles, & pretty nearly
made good his vow.

William Tyndale paid for his privileges,
however. He was arrested, given an op-
portunity to run away, but wouldn't;
then he was exiled. Finally he was in-
carcerated in a dungeon of the Castle
Vilvoorden. His cell was beneath the
level of the ground, so was cold and damp
and dark. He petitioned the governor of
the prison for a coat to keep him warm
and a candle by which he could read.
"We'll give you both light and heat,
pretty soon," was the reply.

LITTLE JOURNEYS

And they did. They led Tyndale out under the blue
sky and tied him to a stake set in the ground. Around
his feet they piled brush, and also all of his books and
papers that they could find. A chain was put around
his neck and hooked tight to the post. The fagots
were piled high, and the fire was lighted ✰✰
"He was not burned to death," argued one of the
priests who was present-"he was not burned to
death, he just drew up his feet and hanged himself in
the chain, & so was choked-he was that stubborn!"

The father of John Tyndall was an Orangeman and had in a glass case a bit of the flag carried at the Battle of the Boyne. It is believed, with reason, that the original flag had in it about ten thousand square yards of material. Tyndale the Orangeman was of so uncompromising a type, that he occasionally arrested Catholics on general principles, like the Irishman who beat the Jew under the mistaken idea that he had something to do with crucifying "Our Saviour." "But that was two thousand years ago," protested the Jew. "Niver moind—I just heard av it-take that and that!"

Zeal not wisely directed is a true Irish trait. It will not do to say that the Irish have a monopoly on stupidity, yet there have been times when I thought they nearly cornered the market.

I once had charge of a gang of green Irishmen at a lumber camp. I started a night school for their benefit, as their schooling had stopped at subtraction. One evening they got it into their heads that I was an

atheist. Things began to come my way. I concluded discretion was the better part of valor, and so took to the woods, literally. They followed me for a mile, and then gave up the chase. On the way home they met a man who spoke ill of me, and they fell upon him and nearly pounded his life out.

I never had to lick any of my gang-they looked after this themselves. On pay nights they all got drunk and fell upon each other-broken noses and black eyes were quite popular. Father Driscoll used to come around every month and have them all sign the pledge.

That story about the Irishman who ate the rind of the watermelon "and threw the inside away," is true. That is just what the Irish do. Very often they are not able to distinguish good from bad, kindness from wrong, love from hate. Ireland has all the freedom she can use or deserves, just as we all have. What would Ireland do with freedom if she had it? Hate for England keeps peace at home. Home-rule would mean home rough-house-and a most beautiful argument it would be, enforced with shillalah logic. The spirit of Donnybrook Fair is there to-day as much as ever, and wherever you see a head, hit it, would be home-rule. Donnybrook is a condition of mind. If England really had a grudge against Ireland and wanted to get even, she could not do better than to set her adrift.

But then the Irish impulsiveness sometimes leads to good, else how could we account for such men as O'Connor, Parnell, Burke, Goldsmith, Sheridan, John

LITTLE
JOURNEYS

LITTLE Tyndall, Arthur Wellesley and all the other Irish JOURNEYS poets, orators and thinkers who have made us vibrate with our kind.

Transplanted weeds produce our finest flowers.

The parents of Tyndall were intent on giving their
boy an education. And to them, committing things to
memory was education. William Tyndale gave the
Bible to the people; John Tyndale would force it upon
them. The book of Martyrs, the sermons of Jeremy
Taylor and the Bible, little John came to know by heart.
And he grew to have a fine distaste for all. Once, when
nearly a man grown, he had the temerity to argue
with his father that the Bible might be better appre-
ciated, if a penalty were not placed upon disbelief in
its divine origin. A cuff on the ear was the answer,
and John was given until sundown to apologize.
He did not apologize.

And young Tyndale then vowed he would change his
name to Tyndall and forever separate himself from a
person whose religion was so largely mixed with
brutality. But yet John Tyndale was not a bad man.
He had intellect far above the average of his neigh-
bors. He had the courage of his convictions. His son
had the courage of his lack of convictions.

And the early drilling in the Bible was a good thing for young Tyndall. Bible legend and allusion color the English language, and any man who does not know his Bible well, can never hope to speak or write English with grace and fluency. Tyndall always knew and acknowledged his indebtedness to his parents,