under which they place long, deep, wicker creels,
shaped like inverted cones, for the purpose of securing
the fish that are now on their return to the large
rivers, after having deposited their spawn in the
higher and remoter streams. It is surprising what a
number of fish, particularly of eels, are caught in
this manner--sometimes from one barrel to three in the
course of a single night!

"The creels are made, yer Reverence, though we did not set them yet; but
on Tuesday night, sir, wid the help o' God, we'll be ready."

"You can corn the trouts, Barny, and the eels too; but should you catch
nothing, go to Pat Hartigan, Captain Sloethorn's gamekeeper, and, if you
tell him it's for me, he'll drag you a batch out of the fish-pond."

"Ah! then, you're Reverence, it's himself that'll do that wid a heart
an' a half."

Such was the conversation which took place between the Reverend Philemy
M'Guirk, and those of his parishioners in whose houses he had appointed
to hold a series of Stations, for the week ensuing the Sunday laid in
this our account of that hitherto undescribed portion of the Romish
discipline.

Now, the reader is to understand, that a station in this sense differs
from a station made to any peculiar spot remarkable for local sanctity.
There, a station means the performance of a pilgrimage to a certain
place, under peculiar circumstances, and the going through a stated
number of prayers and other penitential ceremonies, for the purpose of