About one
o'clock
We do not affirm that in the family of the M'Kennas there were , upon the occasion which we were describing , any tears shed . The enjoyments of the season and the humors of the expected dance , both combined to give them a more than usual degree of mirth and frolic At an early hour all that was necessary for the due celebration of that night and the succeeding day , had been arranged and completed . The whiskey had been laid in , the Christmas candles bought , the barn cleared out , the seats laid ; in short , every thing in its place , and a place for everything . About one o'clock , however , the young members of the family began to betray some symptoms of uneasiness ; nor was M'Kenna himself , though the _ farithee _ or man of the house , altogether so exempt from what they felt , as might , if the cause of it were known to our readers , be expected from a man of his years and experience . From time to time one of the girls tripped out as far as the stile before the door , where she stood looking in a particular direction until her sight was fatigued . `` Och , ' och , '' her mother exclaimed during her absence , `` but that colleen 's sick about Barny ! -- musha , but it would be the beautiful joke , all out , if he 'd disappoint the whole of yez .