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 MEAP Edition
Manning Early Access Program
Kubernetes in Action
Second edition
Version 5

Copyright 2020 Manning Publications

For more information on this and other Manning titles go to

manning.com

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 welcome
Thank you for purchasing the MEAP for Kubernetes in Action 2nd Edition.
As part of my work at Red Hat, I started using Kubernetes in 2014, even before version
1.0 was released. Those were interesting times. Not many people working in the software
industry knew about Kubernetes, and there was no real community yet. There were hardly
any blog posts about it and the documentation was still very basic. Kubernetes itself was
ridden with bugs. When you combine all these facts, you can imagine that working with
Kubernetes was extremely difficult.
In 2015 I was asked by Manning to write the first edition of this book. The originally
planned 300-page book grew to over 600 pages full of information. The writing forced me to
also research those parts of Kubernetes that I wouldn’t have looked at more closely
otherwise. I put most of what I learned into the book. Judging by their reviews and
comments, readers love a detailed book like this.
The plan for the second edition of the book is to add even more information and to
rearrange some of the existing content. The exercises in this book will take you from
deploying a trivial application that initially uses only the basic features of Kubernetes to a
full-fledged application that incorporates additional features as the book introduces them.
The book is divided into five parts. In the first part, after the introduction of Kubernetes
and containers, you’ll deploy the application in the simplest way. In the second part you’ll
learn the main concepts used to describe and deploy your application. After that you’ll
explore the inner workings of Kubernetes components. This will give you a good foundation
to learn the difficult part - how to manage Kubernetes in production. In the last part of the
book you’ll learn about best practices and how to extend Kubernetes.
I hope you all like this second edition even better than the first, and if you’re reading the
book for the first time, your feedback will be even more valuable. If any part of the book is
difficult to understand, please post your questions, comments or suggestions in the liveBook
forum.

Thank you for helping me write the best book possible.

—Marko Lukša

©Manning Publications Co. To comment go to liveBook

 brief contents
PART 1: FIRST TIME ON A BOAT: INTRODUCTION TO KUBERNETES
1 Introducing Kubernetes
2 Understanding containers
3 Deploying your first application
PART II: LEARNING THE ROPES: KUBERNETES API OBJECTS
4 Introducing the Kubernetes API objects
5 Running applications in Pods
6 Managing the lifecycle of the Pod’s containers
7 Mounting storage volumes into the Pod’s containers
8 Configuring applications using ConfigMaps, Secrets, and the Downward
API
9 Organizing API objects using labels, selectors, and Namespaces
10 Exposing Pods with Services and Ingresses
11 Deploying applications using Deployments
12 Persisting application data with PersistentVolumes
13 Deploying distributed applications using StatefulSets
14 Running special workloads using DaemonSets, Jobs, and CronJobs
PART III: GOING BELOW DECK: KUBERNETES INTERNALS
15 Understanding the fine details of the Kubernetes API
16 Diving deep into the Control Plane

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 17 Diving deep into the Worker Nodes
18 Understanding the internal operation of Kubernetes controllers
PART IV: SAILING OUT TO HIGH SEAS: MANAGING KUBERNETES
19 Deploying highly-available clusters
20 Managing the computing resources available to Pods
21 Advanced scheduling using affinity and anti-affinity
22 Automatic scaling using the HorizontalPodAutoscaler
23 Securing the Kubernetes API using RBAC
24 Protecting cluster nodes with PodSecurityPolicies
25 Locking down network communication using NetworkPolicies
26 Upgrading, backing up, and restoring Kubernetes clusters
27 Adding centralized logging, metrics, alerting, and tracing
PART V: BECOMING A SEASONED MARINER: MAKING THE MOST OF
KUBERNETES
28 Best practices for Kubernetes application development and deployment
29 Extending Kubernetes with CustomResourceDefinitions and operators

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 1

1
Introducing Kubernetes

This chapter covers

• Introductory information about Kubernetes and its origins

• Why Kubernetes has seen such wide adoption
• How Kubernetes transforms your data center
• An overview of its architecture and operation
• How and if you should integrate Kubernetes into your own organization
Before you can learn about the ins and outs of running applications with Kubernetes, you
must first gain a basic understanding of the problems Kubernetes is designed to solve, how it
came about, and its impact on application development and deployment. This first chapter is
intended to give a general overview of these topics.

1.1 Introducing Kubernetes

The word Kubernetes is Greek for pilot or helmsman, the person who steers the ship - the
person standing at the helm (the ship’s wheel). A helmsman is not necessarily the same as a
captain. A captain is responsible for the ship, while the helmsman is the one who steers it.
After learning more about what Kubernetes does, you’ll find that the name hits the spot
perfectly. A helmsman maintains the course of the ship, carries out the orders given by the
captain and reports back the ship's heading. Kubernetes steers your applications and reports
on their status while you - the captain - decide where you want the system to go.

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 2

How to pronounce Kubernetes and what is k8s?

The correct Greek pronunciation of Kubernetes, which is Kie-ver-nee-tees, is different from the English pronunciation
you normally hear in technical conversations. Most often it’s Koo-ber-netties or Koo-ber-nay’-tace, but you may also
hear Koo-ber-nets, although rarely.
In both written and oral conversations, it’s also referred to as Kube or K8s, pronounced Kates, where the 8 signifies
the number of letters omitted between the first and last letter.

1.1.1 Kubernetes in a nutshell

Kubernetes is a software system for automating the deployment and management of
complex, large-scale application systems composed of computer processes running in
containers. Let’s learn what it does and how it does it.

ABSTRACTING AWAY THE INFRASTRUCTURE

When software developers or operators decide to deploy an application, they do this through
Kubernetes instead of deploying the application to individual computers. Kubernetes provides
an abstraction layer over the underlying hardware to both users and applications.
As you can see in the following figure, the underlying infrastructure, meaning the
computers, the network and other components, is hidden from the applications, making it
easier to develop and configure them.

Figure 1.1 Infrastructure abstraction using Kubernetes

STANDARDIZING HOW WE DEPLOY APPLICATIONS

Because the details of the underlying infrastructure no longer affect the deployment of
applications, you deploy applications to your corporate data center in the same way as you
do in the cloud. A single manifest that describes the application can be used for local
deployment and for deploying on any cloud provider. All differences in the underlying
infrastructure are handled by Kubernetes, so you can focus on the application and the
business logic it contains.

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 3

DEPLOYING APPLICATIONS DECLARATIVELY

Kubernetes uses a declarative model to define an application, as shown in the next figure.
You describe the components that make up your application and Kubernetes turns this
description into a running application. It then keeps the application healthy by restarting or
recreating parts of it as needed.

Figure 1.2 The declarative model of application deployment

Whenever you change the description, Kubernetes will take the necessary steps to
reconfigure the running application to match the new description, as shown in the next
figure.

Figure 1.3 Changes in the description are reflected in the running application

TAKING ON THE DAILY MANAGEMENT OF APPLICATIONS

As soon as you deploy an application to Kubernetes, it takes over the daily management of
the application. If the application fails, Kubernetes will automatically restart it. If the

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 4

hardware fails or the infrastructure topology changes so that the application needs to be
moved to other machines, Kubernetes does this all by itself. The engineers responsible for
operating the system can focus on the big picture instead of wasting time on the details.
To circle back to the sailing analogy: the development and operations engineers are the
ship’s officers who make high-level decisions while sitting comfortably in their armchairs, and
Kubernetes is the helmsman who takes care of the low-level tasks of steering the system
through the rough waters your applications and infrastructure sail through.

Figure 1.4 Kubernetes takes over the management of applications

Everything that Kubernetes does and all the advantages it brings requires a longer
explanation, which we’ll discuss later. Before we do that, it might help you to know how it all
began and where the Kubernetes project currently stands.

1.1.2 About the Kubernetes project

Kubernetes was originally developed by Google. Google has practically always run
applications in containers. As early as 2014, it was reported that they start two billion
containers every week. That’s over 3,000 containers per second, and the figure is much
higher today. They run these containers on thousands of computers distributed across
dozens of data centers around the world. Now imagine doing all this manually. It’s clear that
you need automation, and at this massive scale, it better be perfect.

ABOUT BORG AND OMEGA - THE PREDECESSORS OF KUBERNETES

The sheer scale of Google’s workload has forced them to develop solutions to make the
development and management of thousands of software components manageable and cost-
effective. Over the years, Google developed an internal system called Borg (and later a new
system called Omega) that helped both application developers and operators manage these
thousands of applications and services.

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 5

In addition to simplifying development and management, these systems have also helped
them to achieve better utilization of their infrastructure. This is important in any
organization, but when you operate hundreds of thousands of machines, even tiny
improvements in utilization mean savings in the millions, so the incentives for developing
such a system are clear.

NOTE Data on Google’s energy use suggests that they run around 900,000 servers.

Over time, your infrastructure grows and evolves. Every new data center is state-of-the-
art. Its infrastructure differs from those built in the past. Despite the differences, the
deployment of applications in one data center should not differ from deployment in another
data center. This is especially important when you deploy your application across multiple
zones or regions to reduce the likelihood that a regional failure will cause application
downtime. To do this effectively, it’s worth having a consistent method for deploying your
applications.

ABOUT KUBERNETES - THE OPEN-SOURCE PROJECT - AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM IT

Based on the experience they gained while developing Borg, Omega and other internal
systems, in 2014 Google introduced Kubernetes, an open-source project that can now be
used and further improved by everyone.

Figure 1.5 The origins and state of the Kubernetes open-source project

As soon as Kubernetes was announced, long before version 1.0 was officially released, other
companies, such as Red Hat, who has always been at the forefront of open-source software,
quickly stepped on board and helped develop the project. It eventually grew far beyond the
expectations of its founders, and today is arguably one of the world’s leading open-source
projects, with dozens of organizations and thousands of individuals contributing to it.
Several companies are now offering enterprise-quality Kubernetes products that are built
from the open-source project. These include Red Hat OpenShift, Pivotal Container Service,
Rancher and many others.

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 6

HOW KUBERNETES GREW A WHOLE NEW CLOUD-NATIVE ECO-SYSTEM

Kubernetes has also spawned many other related open-source projects, most of which are
now under the umbrella of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), which is part of
the Linux Foundation.
CNCF organizes several KubeCon - CloudNativeCon conferences per year - in North
America, Europe and China. In 2019, the total number of attendees exceeded 23,000, with
KubeCon North America reaching an overwhelming number of 12,000 participants. These
figures show that Kubernetes has had an incredibly positive impact on the way companies
around the world deploy applications today. It wouldn’t have been so widely adopted if that
wasn’t the case.

1.1.3 Understanding why Kubernetes is so popular

In recent years, the way we develop applications has changed considerably. This has led to
the development of new tools like Kubernetes, which in turn have fed back and fuelled
further changes in application architecture and the way we develop them. Let’s look at
concrete examples of this.

AUTOMATING THE MANAGEMENT OF MICROSERVICES

In the past, most applications were large monoliths. The components of the application were
tightly coupled, and they all ran in a single computer process. The application was developed
as a unit by a large team of developers and the deployment of the application was
straightforward. You installed it on a powerful computer and provided the little configuration
it required. Scaling the application horizontally was rarely possible, so whenever you needed
to increase the capacity of the application, you had to upgrade the hardware - in other
words, scale the application vertically.
Then came the microservices paradigm. The monoliths were divided into dozens,
sometimes hundreds, of separate processes, as shown in the following figure. This allowed
organizations to divide their development departments into smaller teams where each team
developed only a part of the entire system - just some of the microservices.

Figure 1.6 Comparing monolithic applications with microservices

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 7

Each microservice is now a separate application with its own development and release cycle.
The dependencies of different microservices will inevitably diverge over time. One
microservice requires one version of a library, while another microservice requires another,
possibly incompatible, version of the same library. Running the two applications in the same
operating system becomes difficult.
Fortunately, containers alone solve this problem where each microservice requires a
different environment, but each microservice is now a separate application that must be
managed individually. The increased number of applications makes this much more difficult.
Individual parts of the entire application no longer need to run on the same computer,
which makes it easier to scale the entire system, but also means that the applications need
to be configured to communicate with each other. For systems with only a handful of
components, this can usually be done manually, but it’s now common to see deployments
with well over a hundred microservices.
When the system consists of many microservices, automated management is crucial.
Kubernetes provides this automation. The features it offers make the task of managing
hundreds of microservices almost trivial.

BRIDGING THE DEV AND OPS DIVIDE

Along with these changes in application architecture, we’ve also seen changes in the way
teams develop and run software. It used to be normal for a development team to build the
software in isolation and then throw the finished product over the wall to the operations
team, who would then deploy it and manage it from there.
With the advent of the Dev-ops paradigm, the two teams now work much more closely
together throughout the entire life of the software product. The development team is now
much more involved in the daily management of the deployed software. But that means that
they now need to know about the infrastructure on which it’s running.
As a software developer, your primary focus is on implementing the business logic. You
don’t want to deal with the details of the underlying servers. Fortunately, Kubernetes hides
these details.

STANDARDIZING THE CLOUD

Over the past decade or two, many organizations have moved their software from local
servers to the cloud. The benefits of this seem to have outweighed the fear of being locked-
in to a particular cloud provider, which is caused by relying on the provider’s proprietary APIs
to deploy and manage applications.
Any company that wants to be able to move its applications from one provider to another
will have to make additional, initially unnecessary efforts to abstract the infrastructure and
APIs of the underlying cloud provider from the applications. This requires resources that
could otherwise be focused on building the primary business logic.
Kubernetes has also helped in this respect. The popularity of Kubernetes has forced all
major cloud providers to integrate Kubernetes into their offerings. Customers can now deploy
applications to any cloud provider through a standard set of APIs provided by Kubernetes.

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 8

Figure 1.7 Kubernetes has standardized how you deploy applications on cloud providers

If the application is built on the APIs of Kubernetes instead of directly on the proprietary APIs
of a specific cloud provider, it can be transferred relatively easily to any other provider.

1.2 Understanding Kubernetes

The previous section explained the origins of Kubernetes and the reasons for its wide
adoption. In this section we’ll take a closer look at what exactly Kubernetes is.

1.2.1 Understanding how Kubernetes transforms a computer cluster

Let’s take a closer look at how the perception of the data center changes when you deploy
Kubernetes on your servers.

KUBERNETES IS LIKE AN OPERATING SYSTEM FOR COMPUTER CLUSTERS

One can imagine Kubernetes as an operating system for the cluster. The next figure
illustrates the analogies between an operating system running on a computer and
Kubernetes running on a cluster of computers.

Figure 1.8 Kubernetes is to a computer cluster what an Operating System is to a computer

Just as an operating system supports the basic functions of a computer, such as scheduling
processes onto its CPUs and acting as an interface between the application and the
computer’s hardware, Kubernetes schedules the components of a distributed application onto

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 9

individual computers in the underlying computer cluster and acts as an interface between the
application and the cluster.
It frees application developers from the need to implement infrastructure-related
mechanisms in their applications; instead, they rely on Kubernetes to provide them. This
includes things like:
• service discovery - a mechanism that allows applications to find other applications and
use the services they provide,
• horizontal scaling - replicating your application to adjust to fluctuations in load,
• load-balancing - distributing load across all the application replicas,
• self-healing - keeping the system healthy by automatically restarting failed
applications and moving them to healthy nodes after their nodes fail,
• leader election - a mechanism that decides which instance of the application should be
active while the others remain idle but ready to take over if the active instance fails.

By relying on Kubernetes to provide these features, application developers can focus on

implementing the core business logic instead of wasting time integrating applications with
the infrastructure.

HOW KUBERNETES FITS INTO A COMPUTER CLUSTER

To get a concrete example of how Kubernetes is deployed onto a cluster of computers, look
at the following figure.

Figure 1.9 Computers in a Kubernetes cluster are divided into the Control Plane and the Workload Plane

You start with a fleet of machines that you divide into two groups - the master and the
worker nodes. The master nodes will run the Kubernetes Control Plane, which represents the
brain of your system and controls the cluster, while the rest will run your applications - your
workloads - and will therefore represent the Workload Plane.

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 10

NOTE The Workload Plane is sometimes referred to as the Data Plane, but this term could be confusing
because the plane doesn’t host data but applications. Don’t be confused by the term “plane” either - in this
context you can think of it as the “surface” the applications run on.

Non-production clusters can use a single master node, but highly available clusters use at
least three physical master nodes to host the Control Plane. The number of worker nodes
depends on the number of applications you’ll deploy.

HOW ALL CLUSTER NODES BECOME ONE LARGE DEPLOYMENT AREA

After Kubernetes is installed on the computers, you no longer need to think about individual
computers when deploying applications. Regardless of the number of worker nodes in your
cluster, they all become a single space where you deploy your applications. You do this using
the Kubernetes API, which is provided by the Kubernetes Control Plane.

Figure 1.10 Kubernetes exposes the cluster as a uniform deployment area

When I say that all worker nodes become one space, I don’t want you to think that you can
deploy an extremely large application that is spread across several small machines.
Kubernetes doesn’t do magic tricks like this. Each application must be small enough to fit on
one of the worker nodes.
What I meant was that when deploying applications, it doesn’t matter which worker node
they end up on. Kubernetes may later even move the application from one node to another.
You may not even notice when that happens, and you shouldn’t care.

1.2.2 The benefits of using Kubernetes

You’ve already learned why many organizations across the world have welcomed Kubernetes
into their data centers. Now, let’s take a closer look at the specific benefits it brings to both
development and IT operations teams.

SELF-SERVICE DEPLOYMENT OF APPLICATIONS

Because Kubernetes presents all its worker nodes as a single deployment surface, it no
longer matters which node you deploy your application to. This means that developers can

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 11

now deploy applications on their own, even if they don’t know anything about the number of
nodes or the characteristics of each node.
In the past, the system administrators were the ones who decided where each application
should be placed. This task is now left to Kubernetes. This allows a developer to deploy
applications without having to rely on other people to do so. When a developer deploys an
application, Kubernetes chooses the best node on which to run the application based on the
resource requirements of the application and the resources available on each node.

REDUCING COSTS VIA BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE UTILIZATION

If you don’t care which node your application lands on, it also means that it can be moved to
any other node at any time without you having to worry about it. Kubernetes may need to do
this to make room for a larger application that someone wants to deploy. This ability to move
applications allows the applications to be packed tightly together so that the resources of the
nodes can be utilized in the best possible way.

NOTE In chapter 17 you’ll learn more about how Kubernetes decides where to place each application and
how you can influence the decision.

Finding optimal combinations can be challenging and time consuming, especially when the
number of all possible options is huge, such as when you have many application components
and many server nodes on which they can be deployed. Computers can perform this task
much better and faster than humans. Kubernetes does it very well. By combining different
applications on the same machines, Kubernetes improves the utilization of your hardware
infrastructure so you can run more applications on fewer servers.

AUTOMATICALLY ADJUSTING TO CHANGING LOAD

Using Kubernetes to manage your deployed applications also means that the operations
team doesn’t have to constantly monitor the load of each application to respond to sudden
load peaks. Kubernetes takes care of this also. It can monitor the resources consumed by
each application and other metrics and adjust the number of running instances of each
application to cope with increased load or resource usage.
When you run Kubernetes on cloud infrastructure, it can even increase the size of your
cluster by provisioning additional nodes through the cloud provider’s API. This way, you
never run out of space to run additional instances of your applications.

KEEPING APPLICATIONS RUNNING SMOOTHLY

Kubernetes also makes every effort to ensure that your applications run smoothly. If your
application crashes, Kubernetes will restart it automatically. So even if you have a broken
application that runs out of memory after running for more than a few hours, Kubernetes will
ensure that your application continues to provide the service to its users by automatically
restarting it in this case.
Kubernetes is a self-healing system in that it deals with software errors like the one just
described, but it also handles hardware failures. As clusters grow in size, the frequency of
node failure also increases. For example, in a cluster with one hundred nodes and a MTBF

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 12

(mean-time-between-failure) of 100 days for each node, you can expect one node to fail
every day.
When a node fails, Kubernetes automatically moves applications to the remaining healthy
nodes. The operations team no longer needs to manually move the application and can
instead focus on repairing the node itself and returning it to the pool of available hardware
resources.
If your infrastructure has enough free resources to allow normal system operation
without the failed node, the operations team doesn’t even have to react immediately to the
failure. If it occurs in the middle of the night, no one from the operations team even has to
wake up. They can sleep peacefully and deal with the failed node during regular working
hours.

SIMPLIFYING APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

The improvements described in the previous section mainly concern application deployment.
But what about the process of application development? Does Kubernetes bring anything to
their table? It definitely does.
As mentioned previously, Kubernetes offers infrastructure-related services that would
otherwise have to be implemented in your applications. This includes the discovery of
services and/or peers in a distributed application, leader election, centralized application
configuration and others. Kubernetes provides this while keeping the application Kubernetes-
agnostic, but when required, applications can also query the Kubernetes API to obtain
detailed information about their environment. They can also use the API to change the
environment.

1.2.3 The architecture of a Kubernetes cluster

As you’ve already learned, a Kubernetes cluster consists of nodes divided into two groups:
• A set of master nodes that host the Control Plane components, which are the brains of
the system, since they control the entire cluster.
• A set of worker nodes that form the Workload Plane, which is where your workloads
(or applications) run.

The following figure shows the two planes and the different nodes they consist of.

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 13

Figure 1.11 The two planes that make up a Kubernetes cluster

The two planes, and hence the two types of nodes, run different Kubernetes components.
The next two sections of the book introduce them and summarize their functions without
going into details. These components will be mentioned several times in the next part of the
book where I explain the fundamental concepts of Kubernetes. An in-depth look at the
components and their internals follows in the third part of the book.

CONTROL PLANE COMPONENTS

The Control Plane is what controls the cluster. It consists of several components that run on
a single master node or are replicated across multiple master nodes to ensure high
availability. The Control Plane’s components are shown in the following figure.

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 14

Figure 1.12 The components of the Kubernetes Control Plane

These are the components and their functions:

• The Kubernetes API Server exposes the RESTful Kubernetes API. Engineers using the
cluster and other Kubernetes components create objects via this API.
• The etcd distributed datastore persists the objects you create through the API, since
the API Server itself is stateless. The Server is the only component that talks to etcd.
• The Scheduler decides on which worker node each application instance should run.
• Controllers bring to life the objects you create through the API. Most of them simply
create other objects, but some also communicate with external systems (for example,
the cloud provider via its API).

The components of the Control Plane hold and control the state of the cluster, but they don’t
run your applications. This is done by the (worker) nodes.

WORKER NODE COMPONENTS

The worker nodes are the computers on which your applications run. They form the cluster’s
Workload Plane. In addition to applications, several Kubernetes components also run on
these nodes. They perform the task of running, monitoring and providing connectivity
between your applications. They are shown in the following figure.

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 15

Figure 1.13 The Kubernetes components that run on each node

Each node runs the following set of components:

• The Kubelet, an agent that talks to the API server and manages the applications
running on its node. It reports the status of these applications and the node via the
API.
• The Container Runtime, which can be Docker or any other runtime compatible with
Kubernetes. It runs your applications in containers as instructed by the Kubelet.
• The Kubernetes Service Proxy (Kube Proxy) load-balances network traffic between
applications. Its name suggests that traffic flows through it, but that’s no longer the
case. You’ll learn why in chapter 14.

ADD-ON COMPONENTS

Most Kubernetes clusters also contain several other components. This includes a DNS server,
network plugins, logging agents and many others. They typically run on the worker nodes
but can also be configured to run on the master.

GAINING A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE ARCHITECTURE

For now, I only expect you to be vaguely familiar with the names of these components and
their function, as I’ll mention them many times throughout the following chapters. You’ll
learn snippets about them in these chapters, but I’ll explain them in more detail in chapter
14.
I’m not a fan of explaining how things work until I first explain what something does and
teach you how to use it. It’s like learning to drive. You don’t want to know what’s under the
hood. At first, you just want to learn how to get from point A to B. Only then will you be
interested in how the car makes this possible. Knowing what’s under the hood may one day
help you get your car moving again after it has broken down and you are stranded on the

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 16

side of the road. I hate to say it, but you’ll have many moments like this when dealing with
Kubernetes due to its sheer complexity.

1.2.4 How Kubernetes runs an application

With a general overview of the components that make up Kubernetes, I can finally explain
how to deploy an application in Kubernetes.

DEFINING YOUR APPLICATION

Everything in Kubernetes is represented by an object. You create and retrieve these objects
via the Kubernetes API. Your application consists of several types of these objects - one type
represents the application deployment as a whole, another represents a running instance of
your application, another represents the service provided by a set of these instances and
allows reaching them at a single IP address, and there are many others.
All these types are explained in detail in the second part of the book. At the moment, it’s
enough to know that you define your application through several types of objects. These
objects are usually defined in one or more manifest files in either YAML or JSON format.

DEFINITION YAML was initially said to mean “Yet Another Markup Language”, but it was latter changed to
the recursive acronym “YAML Ain’t Markup Language”. It’s one of the ways to serialize an object into a
human-readable text file.

DEFINITION JSON is short for JavaScript Object Notation. It’s a different way of serializing an object, but
more suitable for exchanging data between applications.

The following figure shows an example of deploying an application by creating a manifest

with two deployments exposed using two services.

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 17

Figure 1.14 Deploying an application to Kubernetes

These actions take place when you deploy the application:

1. You submit the application manifest to the Kubernetes API. The API Server writes the
objects defined in the manifest to etcd.

2. A controller notices the newly created objects and creates several new objects - one
for each application instance.

3. The Scheduler assigns a node to each instance.

4. The Kubelet notices that an instance is assigned to the Kubelet’s node. It runs the
application instance via the Container Runtime.

5. The Kube Proxy notices that the application instances are ready to accept connections
from clients and configures a load balancer for them.

6. The Kubelets and the Controllers monitor the system and keep the applications
running.

The procedure is explained in more detail in the following sections, but the complete
explanation is given in chapter 14, after you have familiarized yourself with all the objects
and controllers involved.

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 18

SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION TO THE API

After you’ve created your YAML or JSON file(s), you submit the file to the API, usually via the
Kubernetes command-line tool called kubectl.

NOTE Kubectl is pronounced kube-control, but the softer souls in the community prefer to call it kube-
cuddle. Some refer to it as kube-C-T-L.

Kubectl splits the file into individual objects and creates each of them by sending an HTTP
PUT or POST request to the API, as is usually the case with RESTful APIs. The API Server
validates the objects and stores them in the etcd datastore. In addition, it notifies all
interested components that these objects have been created. Controllers, which are
explained next, are one of these components.

ABOUT THE CONTROLLERS

Most object types have an associated controller. A controller is interested in a particular

object type. It waits for the API server to notify it that a new object has been created, and
then performs operations to bring that object to life. Typically, the controller just creates
other objects via the same Kubernetes API. For example, the controller responsible for
application deployments creates one or more objects that represent individual instances of
the application. The number of objects created by the controller depends on the number of
replicas specified in the application deployment object.

ABOUT THE SCHEDULER

The scheduler is a special type of controller, whose only task is to schedule application
instances onto worker nodes. It selects the best worker node for each new application
instance object and assigns it to the instance - by modifying the object via the API.

ABOUT THE KUBELET AND THE CONTAINER RUNTIME

The Kubelet that runs on each worker node is also a type of controller. Its task is to wait for
application instances to be assigned to the node on which it is located and run the
application. This is done by instructing the Container Runtime to start the application’s
container.

ABOUT THE KUBE PROXY

Because an application deployment can consist of multiple application instances, a load

balancer is required to expose them at a single IP address. The Kube Proxy, another
controller running alongside the Kubelet, is responsible for setting up the load balancer.

KEEPING THE APPLICATIONS HEALTHY

Once the application is up and running, the Kubelet keeps the application healthy by
restarting it when it terminates. It also reports the status of the application by updating the
object that represents the application instance. The other controllers monitor these objects
and ensure that applications are moved to healthy nodes if their nodes fail.
You’re now roughly familiar with the architecture and functionality of Kubernetes. You
don’t need to understand or remember all the details at this moment, because internalizing

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 19

this information will be easier when you learn about each individual object types and the
controllers that bring them to life in the second part of the book.

1.3 Introducing Kubernetes into your organization

To close this chapter, let’s see what options are available to you if you decide to introduce
Kubernetes in your own IT environment.

1.3.1 Running Kubernetes on-premises and in the cloud

If you want to run your applications on Kubernetes, you have to decide whether you want to
run them locally, in your organization’s own infrastructure (on-premises) or with one of the
major cloud providers, or perhaps both - in a hybrid cloud solution.

RUNNING KUBERNETES ON-PREMISES

Running Kubernetes on your own infrastructure may be your only option if regulations
require you to run applications on site. This usually means that you’ll have to manage
Kubernetes yourself, but we’ll come to that later.
Kubernetes can run directly on your bare-metal machines or in virtual machines running
in your data center. In either case, you won’t be able to scale your cluster as easily as when
you run it in virtual machines provided by a cloud provider.

DEPLOYING KUBERNETES IN THE CLOUD

If you have no on-premises infrastructure, you have no choice but to run Kubernetes in the
cloud. This has the advantage that you can scale your cluster at any time at short notice if
required. As mentioned earlier, Kubernetes itself can ask the cloud provider to provision
additional virtual machines when the current size of the cluster is no longer sufficient to run
all the applications you want to deploy.
When the number of workloads decreases and some worker nodes are left without
running workloads, Kubernetes can ask the cloud provider to destroy the virtual machines of
these nodes to reduce your operational costs. This elasticity of the cluster is certainly one of
the main benefits of running Kubernetes in the cloud.

USING A HYBRID CLOUD SOLUTION

A more complex option is to run Kubernetes on-premises, but also allow it to spill over into
the cloud. It’s possible to configure Kubernetes to provision additional nodes in the cloud if
you exceed the capacity of your own data center. This way, you get the best of both worlds.
Most of the time, your applications run locally without the cost of virtual machine rental, but
in short periods of peak load that may occur only a few times a year, your applications can
handle the extra load by using the additional resources in the cloud.
If your use-case requires it, you can also run a Kubernetes cluster across multiple cloud
providers or a combination of any of the options mentioned. This can be done using a single
control plane or one control plane in each location.

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 20

1.3.2 To manage or not to manage Kubernetes yourself

If you are considering introducing Kubernetes in your organization, the most important
question you need to answer is whether you’ll manage Kubernetes yourself or use a
Kubernetes-as-a-Service type offering where someone else manages it for you.

MANAGING KUBERNETES YOURSELF

If you already run applications on-premises and have enough hardware to run a production-
ready Kubernetes cluster, your first instinct is probably to deploy and manage it yourself. If
you ask anyone in the Kubernetes community if this is a good idea, you’ll usually get a very
definite “no”.
Figure 1.14 was a very simplified representation of what happens in a Kubernetes cluster
when you deploy an application. Even that figure should have scared you. Kubernetes brings
with it an enormous amount of additional complexity. Anyone who wants to run a Kubernetes
cluster must be intimately familiar with its inner workings.
The management of production-ready Kubernetes clusters is a multi-billion-dollar
industry. Before you decide to manage one yourself, it’s essential that you consult with
engineers who have already done it to learn about the issues most teams run into. If you
don’t, you may be setting yourself up for failure. On the other hand, trying out Kubernetes
for non-production use-cases or using a managed Kubernetes cluster is much less
problematic.

USING A MANAGED KUBERNETES CLUSTER IN THE CLOUD

Using Kubernetes is ten times easier than managing it. Most major cloud providers now offer
Kubernetes-as-a-Service. They take care of managing Kubernetes and its components while
you simply use the Kubernetes API like any of the other APIs the cloud provider offers.
The top managed Kubernetes offerings include the following:
• Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)
• IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service
• Red Hat OpenShift Online and Dedicated
• VMware Cloud PKS
• Alibaba Cloud Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK)

The first half of this book focuses on just using Kubernetes. You’ll run the exercises in a local
development cluster and on a managed GKE cluster, as I find it’s the easiest to use and
offers the best user experience. The second part of the book gives you a solid foundation for
managing Kubernetes, but to truly master it, you’ll need to gain additional experience.

1.3.3 Using vanilla or extended Kubernetes

The final question is whether to use a vanilla open-source version of Kubernetes or an
extended, enterprise-quality Kubernetes product.

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 21

USING A VANILLA VERSION OF KUBERNETES

The open-source version of Kubernetes is maintained by the community and represents the
cutting edge of Kubernetes development. This also means that it may not be as stable as the
other options. It may also lack good security defaults. Deploying the vanilla version requires
a lot of fine tuning to set everything up for production use.

USING ENTERPRISE-GRADE KUBERNETES DISTRIBUTIONS

A better option for using Kubernetes in production is to use an enterprise-quality Kubernetes

distribution such as OpenShift or Rancher. In addition to the increased security and
performance provided by better defaults, they offer additional object types in addition to
those provided in the upstream Kubernetes API. For example, vanilla Kubernetes does not
contain object types that represent cluster users, whereas commercial distributions do. They
also provide additional software tools for deploying and managing well-known third-party
applications on Kubernetes.
Of course, extending and hardening Kubernetes takes time, so these commercial
Kubernetes distributions usually lag one or two versions behind the upstream version of
Kubernetes. It’s not as bad as it sounds. The benefits usually outweigh the disadvantages.

1.3.4 Should you even use Kubernetes?

I hope this chapter has made you excited about Kubernetes and you can’t wait to squeeze it
into your IT stack. But to close this chapter properly, we need to say a word or two about
when introducing Kubernetes is not a good idea.

DO YOUR WORKLOADS REQUIRE AUTOMATED MANAGEMENT?

The first thing you need to be honest about is whether you need to automate the
management of your applications at all. If your application is a large monolith, you definitely
don’t need Kubernetes.
Even if you deploy microservices, using Kubernetes may not be the best option,
especially if the number of your microservices is very small. It’s difficult to provide an exact
number when the scales tip over, since other factors also influence the decision. But if your
system consists of less than five microservices, throwing Kubernetes into the mix is probably
not a good idea. If your system has more than twenty microservices, you will most likely
benefit from the integration of Kubernetes. If the number of your microservices falls
somewhere in between, other factors, such as the ones described next, should be
considered.

CAN YOU AFFORD TO INVEST YOUR ENGINEERS’ TIME INTO LEARNING KUBERNETES?

Kubernetes is designed to allow applications to run without them knowing that they are
running in Kubernetes. While the applications themselves don’t need to be modified to run in
Kubernetes, development engineers will inevitably spend a lot of time learning how to use
Kubernetes, even though the operators are the only ones that actually need that knowledge.
It would be hard to tell your teams that you’re switching to Kubernetes and expect only
the operations team to start exploring it. Developers like shiny new things. At the time of
writing, Kubernetes is still a very shiny thing.

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 22

ARE YOU PREPARED FOR INCREASED COSTS IN THE INTERIM?

While Kubernetes reduces long-term operational costs, introducing Kubernetes in your

organization initially involves increased costs for training, hiring new engineers, building and
purchasing new tools and possibly additional hardware. Kubernetes requires additional
computing resources in addition to the resources that the applications use.

DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE

Although Kubernetes has been around for several years at the time of writing this book, I
can’t say that the hype phase is over. The initial excitement has just begun to calm down,
but many engineers may still be unable to make rational decisions about whether the
integration of Kubernetes is as necessary as it seems.

1.4 Summary
In this introductory chapter, you’ve learned that:
• Kubernetes is Greek for helmsman. As a ship’s captain oversees the ship while the
helmsman steers it, you oversee your computer cluster, while Kubernetes performs
the day-to-day management tasks.
• Kubernetes is pronounced koo-ber-netties. Kubectl, the Kubernetes command-line
tool, is pronounced kube-control.
• Kubernetes is an open-source project built upon Google’s vast experience in running
applications on a global scale. Thousands of individuals now contribute to it.
• Kubernetes uses a declarative model to describe application deployments. After you
provide a description of your application to Kubernetes, it brings it to life.
• Kubernetes is like an operating system for the cluster. It abstracts the infrastructure
and presents all computers in a data center as one large, contiguous deployment
area.
• Microservice-based applications are more difficult to manage than monolithic
applications. The more microservices you have, the more you need to automate their
management with a system like Kubernetes.
• Kubernetes helps both development and operations teams to do what they do best. It
frees them from mundane tasks and introduces a standard way of deploying
applications both on-premises and in any cloud.
• Using Kubernetes allows developers to deploy applications without the help of system
administrators. It reduces operational costs through better utilization of existing
hardware, automatically adjusts your system to load fluctuations, and heals itself and
the applications running on it.
• A Kubernetes cluster consists of master and worker nodes. The master nodes run the
Control Plane, which controls the entire cluster, while the worker nodes run the
deployed applications or workloads, and therefore represent the Workload Plane.
• Using Kubernetes is simple, but managing it is hard. An inexperienced team should
use a Kubernetes-as-a-Service offering instead of deploying Kubernetes by itself.

So far, you’ve only observed the ship from the pier. It’s time to come aboard. But before you
leave the docks, you should inspect the shipping containers it’s carrying. You’ll do this next.

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 23

2
Understanding containers

This chapter covers

• Understanding what a container is

• Differences between containers and virtual machines
• Creating, running, and sharing a container image with Docker
• Linux kernel features that make containers possible
Kubernetes primarily manages applications that run in containers - so before you start
exploring Kubernetes, you need to have a good understanding of what a container is. This
chapter explains the basics of Linux containers that a typical Kubernetes user needs to know.

2.1 Introducing containers

In Chapter 1 you learned how different microservices running in the same operating system
may require different, potentially conflicting versions of dynamically linked libraries or have
different environment requirements.
When a system consists of a small number of applications, it’s okay to assign a dedicated
virtual machine to each application and run each in its own operating system. But as the
microservices become smaller and their numbers start to grow, you may not be able to
afford to give each one its own VM if you want to keep your hardware costs low and not
waste resources.
It’s not just a matter of wasting hardware resources - each VM typically needs to be
individually configured and managed, which means that running higher numbers of VMs also
results in higher staffing requirements and the need for a better, often more complicated
automation system. Due to the shift to microservice architectures, where systems consist of
hundreds of deployed application instances, an alternative to VMs was needed. Containers
are that alternative.

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 24

2.1.1 Comparing containers to virtual machines

Instead of using virtual machines to isolate the environments of individual microservices (or
software processes in general), most development and operations teams now prefer to use
containers. They allow you to run multiple services on the same host computer, while
keeping them isolated from each other. Like VMs, but with much less overhead.
Unlike VMs, which each run a separate operating system with several system processes,
a process running in a container runs within the existing host operating system. Because
there is only one operating system, no duplicate system processes exist. Although all the
application processes run in the same operating system, their environments are isolated,
though not as well as when you run them in separate VMs. To the process in the container,
this isolation makes it look like no other processes exist on the computer. You’ll learn how
this is possible in the next few sections, but first let’s dive deeper into the differences
between containers and virtual machines.

COMPARING THE OVERHEAD OF CONTAINERS AND VIRTUAL MACHINES

Compared to VMs, containers are much lighter, because they don’t require a separate
resource pool or any additional OS-level processes. While each VM usually runs its own set
of system processes, which requires additional computing resources in addition to those
consumed by the user application’s own process, a container is nothing more than an
isolated process running in the existing host OS that consumes only the resources the app
consumes. They have virtually no overhead.
Figure 2.1 shows two bare metal computers, one running two virtual machines, and the
other running containers instead. The latter has space for additional containers, as it runs
only one operating system, while the first runs three – one host and two guest OSes.

Figure 2.1 Using VMs to isolate groups of applications vs. isolating individual apps with containers

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 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Irish Penny Journal,
Vol. 1 No. 27, January 2, 1841
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other
parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may
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included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in
the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are
located before using this eBook.

Title: The Irish Penny Journal, Vol. 1 No. 27, January 2, 1841

Author: Various

Release date: April 20, 2017 [eBook #54584]

Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Brownfox and the Online Distributed Proofreading

Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
images generously made available by JSTOR www.jstor.org)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRISH PENNY JOURNAL, VOL. 1
NO. 27, JANUARY 2, 1841 ***
 THE IRISH PENNY JOURNAL.
Number 27. SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 1841. Volume I.
 THE IRISH MIDWIFE.—Part II.
BY WILLIAM CARLETON.

The village of Ballycomaisy was as pleasant a little place as one might wish to see of a
summer’s day. To be sure, like all other Irish villages, it was remarkable for a superfluity
of “pigs, praties, and childre,” which being the stock in trade of an Irish cabin, it is to be
presumed that very few villages either in Ireland or elsewhere could go on properly
without them. It consisted principally of one long street, which you entered from the
north-west side by one of those old-fashioned bridges, the arches of which were much
more akin to the Gothic than the Roman. Most of the houses were of mud, a few of
stone, one or two of which had the honour of being slated on the front side of the roof,
and rustically thatched on the back, where ostentation was not necessary. There were
two or three shops, a liberal sprinkling of public-houses, a chapel a little out of the town,
and an old dilapidated market-house near the centre. A few little bye-streets projected in
a lateral direction from the main one, which was terminated on the side opposite to the
north-west by a pound, through which, as usual, ran a shallow stream, that was gathered
into a little gutter as it crossed the road. A crazy antiquated mill, all covered and
cobwebbed with grey mealy dust, stood about a couple of hundred yards out of the
town, to which two straggling rows of houses, that looked like an abortive street, led you.
This mill was surrounded by a green common, which was again hemmed in by a fine
river, that ran round in a curving line from under the hunchbacked arch of the bridge we
mentioned at the beginning. Now, a little behind, or rather above this mill, on the skirt of
the aforesaid common, stood a rather neat-looking whitish cabin, with about half a rood
of garden behind it. It was but small, and consisted merely of a sleeping-room and
kitchen. On one side of the door there was a window, opening on hinges; and on the
outside, to the right as you entered the house, there was placed a large stone, about four
feet high, backed by a sloping mound of earth, so graduated as to allow a person to
ascend the stone without any difficulty. In this cabin lived Rose Moan, the Midwife; and
we need scarcely inform our readers that the stone in question was her mounting-stone,
by which she was enabled to place herself on pillion or crupper, as the case happened,
when called out upon her usual avocation.
Rose was what might be called a flahoolagh, or portly woman, with a good-humoured set
of Milesian features; that is to say, a pair of red, broad checks, a well-set nose, allowing
for the disposition to turn up, and two black twinkling eyes, with a mellow expression
that betokened good nature, and a peculiar description of knowing professional humour
that is never to be met with in any but a Midwife. Rose was dressed in a red flannel
petticoat, a warm cotton sack or wrapper, which pinned easily over a large bust, and a
comfortable woollen shawl. She always wore a long-bordered morning cap, over which,
while travelling, she pinned a second shawl of Scotch plaid; and to protect her from the
cold night air, she enfolded her precious person in a deep blue cloak of the true indigo
tint. On her head, over cloak and shawl and morning cap, was fixed a black “splush hat,”
with the leaf strapped down by her ears on each side, so that in point of fact she cared
little how it blew, and never once dreamed that such a process as that of Raper or
Mackintosh was necessary to keep the liege subjects of these realms warm and
waterproof, nor that two systems should exist in Ireland so strongly antithetical to each
other as those of Raper and Father Mathew.
Having thus given a brief sketch of her local habitation and personal appearance, we
shall transfer our readers to the house of a young new-married farmer named Keho, who
lived in a distant part of the parish. Keho was a comfortable fellow, full of good nature
and credulity; but his wife happened to be one of the sharpest, meanest, most
suspicious, and miserable devils that ever was raised in good-humoured Ireland. Her
voice was as sharp and her heart as cold as an icicle; and as for her tongue, it was
incessant and interminable. Were it not that her husband, who, though good-natured,
was fiery and resolute when provoked, exercised a firm and salutary control over her, she
would have starved both him and her servants into perfect skeletons. And what was still
worse, with a temper that was vindictive and tyrannical, she affected to be religious, and
upon those who did not know her, actually attempted to pass herself off as a saint.
One night, about ten or twelve months after his marriage, honest Corny Keho came out
to the barn, where slept his two farm servants, named Phil Hannigan and Barny Casey.
He had been sitting by himself, composing his mind for a calm night’s sleep, or probably
for a curtain lecture, by taking a contemplative whiff of the pipe, when the servant
wench, with a certain air of hurry, importance, and authority, entered the kitchen, and
informed him that Rose Moan must immediately be sent for.
“The misthress isn’t well, Masther, an’ the sooner she’s sint for, the betther. So mind my
words, sir, if you plaise, an’ pack aff either Phil or Barny for Rose Moan, an’ I hope I
won’t have to ax it again—hem!”
Dandy Keho—for so Corny was called, as being remarkable for his slovenliness—started
up hastily, and having taken the pipe out of his mouth, was about to place it on the hob;
but reflecting that the whiff could not much retard him in the delivery of his orders, he
sallied out to the barn, and knocked.
“Who’s there? Lave that, wid you, unless you wish to be shotted.” This was followed by a
loud laugh from within.
“Boys, get up wid all haste: it’s the misthress. Phil, saddle Hollowback and fly—(puff)—fly
in a jiffy for Rose Moan; an’ do you, Barny, clap a back-sugaun—(puff)—an Sobersides,
an’ be aff for the Misthress’s mother—(puff.)”
Both were dressing themselves before he had concluded, and in a very few minutes were
off in different directions, each according to the orders he had received. With Barny we
have nothing to do, unless to say that he lost little time in bringing Mrs Keho’s mother to
her aid; but as Phil is gone for a much more important character, we beg our readers to
return with us to the cabin of Rose Moan, who is now fast asleep; for it is twelve o’clock
of a beautiful moonlight night, in the pleasant month of August. Tap-tap. “Is Mrs Moan at
home?” In about half a minute her warm good-looking face, enveloped in flannel, is
protruded from the window.
“Who’s that, in God’s name?” The words in italics were added, lest the message might be
one from the fairies.
“I’m Dandy Keho’s servant—one of them, at any rate—an’ my Misthress has got a stitch
in her side—ha! ha! ha!”
“Aisy, avick—so, she’s down, thin—aisy—I’ll be wid you like a bow out of an arrow. Put
your horse over to ‘the stone,’ an’ have him ready. The Lord bring her over her
difficulties, any way, amin!”
She then pulled in her head, and in about three or four minutes sallied out, dressed as
we have described her; and having placed herself on the crupper, coolly put her right arm
round Phil’s body, and desired him to ride on with all possible haste.
“Push an, avouchal, push an—time’s precious at all times, but on business like this every
minute is worth a life. But there’s always one comfort, that God is marciful. Push forrid,
avick.”
“Never fear, Mrs Moan. If it’s in Hollowback, bedad I’m the babe that’ll take it out of him.
Come, ould Hack-ball, trot out—you don’t know the message you’re an, nor who you’re
carryin’.”
“Isn’t your misthress—manin’ the Dandy’s wife—a daughter of ould Fitzy Finnegan’s, the
schrew of Glendhu?”
“Faith, you may say that, Rose, as we all know to our cost. Be me song, she does have
us sometimes that you might see through us; an’ only for the masther——but, dang it, no
matther—she’s down now, poor woman, an’ it’s not just the time to be rakin’ up her
failins.”
“It is not, an’ God mark you to grace for sayin’ so. At a time like this we must forget
every thing, only to do the best we can for our fellow-creatures. What are you lookin’ at,
avick?”
Now, this question naturally arose from the fact that honest Phil had been, during their
short conversation, peering keenly on each side of him, as if he expected an apparition to
rise from every furze-bush on the common. The truth is, he was almost proverbial for his
terror of ghosts and fairies, and all supernatural visitants whatever; but upon this
occasion his fears arose to a painful height, in consequence of the popular belief, that,
when a midwife is sent for, the Good People throw every possible obstruction in her way,
either by laming the horse, if she rides, or by disqualifying the guide from performing his
duty as such. Phil, however, felt ashamed to avow his fears on these points, but still could
not help unconsciously turning the conversation to the very topic he ought to have
avoided.
“What war you looking at, avick?”
“Why, bedad, there appeared something there beyant, like a man, only it was darker. But
be this and be that—hem, ehem!—if I could get my hands on him, whatsomever he”——
“Hushth, boy, hould your tongue: you don’t know but it’s the very word you war goin’ to
say might do us harm.”
“—Whatsomever he is, that I’d give him a lift on Hollowback if he happened to be any
poor fellow that stood in need of it. Oh! the sorra word I was goin’ to say against any
thing or any body.”
“You’re right, dear. If you knew as much as I could tell you—push an—you’d have a
dhrop o’ sweat at the ind of every hair on your head.”
“Be my song, I’m tould you know a power o’ quare things, Mrs Moan; an’ if all that’s said
is thrue, you sartinly do.”
Now, had Mrs Moan and her heroic guide passed through the village of Ballycomaisy, the
latter would not have felt his fears so strong upon him. The road, however, along which
they were now going was a grass-grown bohreen, that led them from behind her cabin
through a waste and lonely part of the country; and as it was a saving of better than two
miles in point of distance, Mrs Moan would not hear of their proceeding by any other
direction. The tenor of her conversation, however, was fast bringing Phil to the state she
so graphically and pithily described.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Phil Hannigan, a son of fat Phil’s of Balnasaggart, an’ a cousin to Paddy who lost a finger
in the Gansy (Guernsey) wars.”
“I know. Well, Phil, in throth the hairs ’ud stand like stalks o’ barley upon your head, if
you heard all I could mintion.”
Phil instinctively put his hand up and pressed down his hat, as if it had been disposed to
fly from off his head.
“Hem! ahem! Why, I’m tould it’s wonderful. But is it thrue, Mrs Moan, that you have been
brought on business to some o’ the”—here Phil looked about him cautiously, and lowered
his voice to a whisper—“to some o’ the fairy women?”
“Husth, man alive—what the sorra timpted you to call them anything but the Good
People? This day’s Thursday—God stand betune us an’ harm. No, Phil, I name nobody.
But there was a woman, a midwife—mind, avick, that I don’t say who she was—may be I
know why too, an’ may be it would be as much as my life is worth”——
“Aisey, Mrs. Moan! God presarve us! what is that tall thing there to the right!”—and he
commenced the Lord’s Prayer in Irish as fast as he could get out the words.
“Why, don’t you see, boy, its a fir-tree, but sorra movin’ it’s movin.”
“Ay, faix, an’ so it is; bedad I thought it was gettin’ taller an’ taller. Ay!—hut! it is only a
tree.”
“Well, dear, there was a woman, an’ she was called away one night by a little gentleman
dressed in green. I’ll tell you the story some time—only this, that havin’ done her duty,
an’ tuck no payment, she was called out the same night to a neighbour’s wife, an’ a
purtier boy you couldn’t see than she left behind her. But it seems she happened to touch
one of his eyes wid a hand that had a taste of their panado an it; an’ as the child grew
up, every one wondhered to hear him speak of the multitudes o’ thim that he seen in all
directions. Well, my dear, he kept never sayin’ anything to them until one day when he
was in the fair of Ballycomaisy, that he saw them whippin’ away meal and cotton and
butther, an’ everything that they thought serviceable to them; so you see he could hould
in no longer, an’ says he to a little fellow that was very active an’ thievish among them,
‘Why duv you take what doesn’t belong to you?’ says he. The little fellow looked up at
him”—“God be about us, Rose, what is that white thing goin’ along the ditch to the left of
us?”
“It’s a sheep, don’t you see? Faix, I believe you’re cowardly at night.”
“Ay, faix, an’ so it is, but it looked very quare somehow.”
“—An’ says he, ‘How do you know that?’ ‘Bekase I see you all,’ says the other. ‘An’ which
eye do you see us all wid?’ says he again. ‘Why, wid the left,’ says the boy. Wid that he
gave a short whiff of a blast up into the eye, an’ from that day not a stime the poor boy
was never able to see wid it. No, Phil, I didn’t say it was myself—I named nobody.”
“An’, Mrs Moan, is it thrue that you can put the dughaughs upon them that trate their
wives badly?”
“Whisht, Phil. When you marry, keep your timper—that’s all.—You knew long Ned
Donnelly?”
“Ay, bedad, sure enough; there was quare things said about”——“Push an, avick, push
an; for who knows how some of us is wanted? You have a good masther, I believe, Phil?
It’s poison the same Ned would give me if he could. Push an, dear.”
Phil felt that he had got his answer. The abrupt mystery of her manner and her curt
allusions left him little indeed to guess at. In this way did the conversation continue, Phil
feloniously filching, as he thought, from her own lips, a corroboration of the various
knowledge and extraordinary powers which she was believed to possess, and she
ingeniously feeding his credulity, merely by enigmatical hints and masked allusions; for
although she took care to affirm nothing directly or personally of herself, yet did she
contrive to answer him in such a manner as to confirm every report that had gone
abroad of the strange purposes she could effect.
“Phil, wasn’t there an uncle o’ yours up in the Mountain Bar that didn’t live happily for
some time wid his wife?”
“I believe so, Rose; but it was before my time, or any way when I was only a young
shaver.”
“An’ did you ever hear how the reconcilement came betune them?”
“No, bedad,” replied Phil, “I never did; an’ that’s no wondher, for it was a thing they
never liked to spake of.”
“Throth, it’s thrue for you, boy. Well, I brought about——Push an, dear, push an.—They’re
as happy a couple now as breaks bread, any way, and that’s all they wanted.
“I’d wager a thirteen it was you did that, Rose.”
“Hut, gorsoon, hould your tongue. Sure they’re happy now, I say, whosomever did it. I
named nobody, nor I take no pride to myself, Phil, out o’ sich things. Some people’s
gifted above others, an’ that’s all. But, Phil?”
“Well, ma’am?”
“How does the Dandy an’ his scald of a wife agree? for, throth, I’m tould she’s nothing
else.”
“Faix, but middlin’ itself. As I tould you, she often has us as empty as a paper lanthern,
wid divil a thing but the light of a good conscience inside of us. If we pray ourselves,
begorra she’ll take care we’ll have the fastin’ at first cost; so that you see, ma’am, we
hould a devout situation undher her.”
“An’ so that’s the way wid you?”
“Ay, the downright thruth, an’ no mistake. Why, the stirabout she makes would run nine
miles along a deal boord, an’ scald a man at the far end of it.”
“Throth, Phil, I never like to go next or near sich women or sich places, but for the sake
o’ the innocent we must forget the guilty. So push an, avick, push an. Who knows but it’s
life an’ death wid us? Have you ne’er a spur on?”
“The divil a spur I tuck time to wait for.”
“Well, afther all, it’s not right to let a messager come for a woman like me, widout what
is called the Midwife’s Spur—a spur in the head—for it has long been said that one in the
head is worth two in the heel, an’ so indeed it is,—on business like this, any way.”
“Mrs Moan, do you know the Moriartys of Ballaghmore, ma’am?”
“Which o’ them, honey?”
“Mick o’ the Esker Beg.”
“To be sure I do. A well-favoured dacent family they are, an’ full o’ the world too, the
Lord spare it to them.”
“Bedad, they are, ma’am, a well-favoured[1] family. Well, ma’am, isn’t it odd, but
somehow there’s neither man, woman, nor child in the parish but gives you the good
word above all the women in it; but as for a midwife, why, I heard my aunt say that if
ever mother an’ child owended their lives to another, she did her and the babby’s to you.”
The reader may here perceive that Phil’s flattery must have had some peculiar design in
it, in connection with the Moriartys, and such indeed was the fact. But we had better
allow him to explain matters himself.
“Well, honey, sure that was but my duty; but God be praised for all, for every thing
depinds on the Man above. She should call in one o’ those newfangled women who take
out their Dispatches from the Lying-in College in Dublin below; for you see, Phil, there is
sich a place there—an’ it stands to raison that there should be a Fondlin’ Hospital beside
it, which there is too, they say; but, honey, what are these poor ignorant cratures but
new lights, every one o’ them, that a dacent woman’s life isn’t safe wid?”
“To be sure, Mrs Moan; an’ everyone knows they’re not to be put in comparishment wid a
woman like you, that knows sich a power. But how does it happen, ma’am, that the
Moriartys does be spakin’ but middlin’ of you?”
“Of me, avick?”
“Ay, faix; I’m tould they spread the mouth at you sometimes, espishily when the people
does be talkin’ about all the quare things you can do.”
“Well, well, dear, let them have their laugh—they may laugh that win, you know. Still one
doesn’t like to be provoked—no indeed.”
“Faix, an’ Mick Moriarty has a purty daughther, Mrs Moan, an’ a purty penny he can give
her, by all accounts. The nerra one o’ myself but would be glad to put my comedher on
her, if I knew how. I hope you find yourself aisey on your sate, ma’am?”
“I do, honey. Let them talk, Phil, let them talk; it may come their turn yet—only I didn’t
expect it from them. You! but, avick, what chance would you have with Mick Moriarty’s
daughther?”
“Ay, every chance an’ sartinty too, if some one that I know, and that every one that
knows her, respects, would only give me a lift. There’s no use in comin’ about the bush,
Mrs Moan—bedad it’s yourself I mane. You could do it. An’, whisper, betune you and me it
would be only sarvin’ them right, in regard of the way they spake of you—sayin’, indeed,
an’ galivantin’ to the world that you know no more than another woman, an’ that ould Pol
Doolin of Ballymagowan knows oceans more than you do.”
This was perhaps as artful a plot as could be laid for engaging the assistance of Mrs
Moan in Phil’s design upon Moriarty’s daughter. He knew perfectly well that she would
not, unless strongly influenced, lend herself to any thing of the kind between two persons
whose circumstances in life differed so widely as those of a respectable farmer’s daughter
with a good portion, and a penniless labouring boy. With great adroitness, therefore, he
contrived to excite her prejudices against them by the most successful arguments he
could possibly use, namely, a contempt for her imputed knowledge, and praise of her
rival. Still she was in the habit of acting coolly, and less from impulse than from a shrewd
knowledge of the best way to sustain her own reputation, without undertaking too much.
“Well, honey, an’ so you wish me to assist you? Maybe I could do it, and maybe—But
push an, dear, move him an; we’ll think of it, an’ spake more about it some other time. I
must think of what’s afore me now—so move, move, acushla; push an.”
Much conversation of the same nature took place between them, in which each bore a
somewhat characteristic part; for to say truth, Phil was as knowing a “boy” as you might
wish to become acquainted with. In Rose, however, he had a woman of no ordinary
shrewdness to encounter; and the consequence was, that each after a little more chat
began to understand the other a little too well to render the topic of the Moriartys, to
which Phil again reverted, so interesting as it had been. Rose soon saw that Phil was only
a plasthey, or sweetener, and only “soothered” her for his own purposes; and Phil
perceived that Rose understood his tactics too well to render any further tampering with
her vanity either safe or successful.
At length they arrived at Dandy Keho’s house, and in a moment the Dandy himself took
her in his arms, and, placing her gently on the ground, shook hands with and cordially
welcomed her. It is very singular, but no less true, that the moment a midwife enters the
house of her patient, she always uses the plural number, whether speaking in her own
person or in that of the former.
“You’re welcome, Rose, an’ I’m proud an’ happy to see you here, an’ it’ll make poor
Bridget strong, an’ give her courage, to know you’re near her.”
“How are we, Dandy? how are we, avick?”
“Oh, bedad, middlin’, wishin’ very much for you of coorse, as I hear”——
“Well, honey, go away now. I have some words to say afore I go in, that’ll sarve us,
maybe—a charm it is that has great vartue in it.”
The Dandy then withdrew to the barn, where the male portion of the family were staying
until the ultimatum should be known. A good bottle of potteen, however, was circulating
among them, for every one knows that occasions of this nature usually generate a festive
and hospitable spirit.
Rose now went round the house in the direction from east to west, stopping for a short
time at each of the windows, which she marked with the sign of the cross five times; that
is to say, once at each corner and once in the middle. At each corner also of the house
she signed the cross, and repeated the following words or charm:—

The four Evangels and the four Divines,

God bless the moon an us when it shines.
New moon,[2] true moon, God bless me,
God bless this house an’ this family.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, an’ John,
God bless the bed that she lies on.
God bless the manger where Christ was born,
An’ lave Joy an’ comfort here in the morn.
St Bridget an’ St Patrick, an’ the holy spouse,
Keep the fairies for ever far from this house. Amen.
Glora yea, Glora yea, Glora yea yeelish,
Glora n’ahir, Glora n’vac, Glora n’spirid neev. Amen.

These are the veritable words of the charm, which she uttered in the manner and with
the forms aforesaid. Having concluded them, she then entered into the house, where we
leave her for a time with our best wishes.
In the barn the company were very merry, Dandy himself being as pleasant as any of
them, unless when his brow became shaded by the very natural anxiety for the welfare of
his wife and child, which from time to time returned upon him. Stories were told, songs
sung, and jokes passed, all full of good nature and not a little fun, some of it at the
expense of the Dandy himself, who laughed at and took it all in good part. An occasional
bulletin came out through a servant maid, that matters were just the same way; a piece
of intelligence which damped Keho’s mirth considerably. At length he himself was sent for
by the Midwife, who wished to speak with him at the door.
“I hope there’s nothing like danger, Rose?”
“Not at all, honey; but the truth is, we want a seventh son who isn’t left-handed.”
“A seventh son! Why, what do you want him for?”
“Why, dear, just to give her three shakes in his arms;—it never fails.”
“Bedad, an’ that’s fortunate; for there’s Mickey M’Sorley of the Broad Bog’s a seventh
son, an’ he’s not two gunshots from this.”
“Well, aroon, hurry off one or two o’ the boys for him, and tell Phil, if he makes haste,
that I’ll have a word to say to him afore I go.” This intimation to Phil put feathers to his
heels; for from the moment that he and Barny started, he did not once cease to go at the
top of his speed. It followed as a matter of course that honest Mickey M’Sorley dressed
himself and was back at Keho’s house before the family believed it possible the parties
could have been there. This ceremony of getting a seventh son to shake the sick woman,
in cases where difficulty or danger may be apprehended, is one which frequently occurs
in remote parts of the country. To be sure, it is only a form, the man merely taking her in
his arms, and moving her gently three times. The writer of this, when young, saw it
performed with his own eyes, as the saying is; but in his case the man was not a seventh
son, for no such person could be procured. When this difficulty arises, any man who has
the character of being lucky, provided he is not married to a red-haired wife, may be
called in to give the three shakes. In other and more dangerous cases Rose would send
out persons to gather half a dozen heads of blasted barley; and having stripped them of
the black fine powder with which they were covered, she would administer it in a little
new milk, and this was always attended by the best effects. It is somewhat surprising
that the whole Faculty should have adopted this singular medicine in cases of similar
difficulty, for in truth it is that which is now administered under the more scientific name
of Ergot of rye.
In the case before us, the seventh son sustained his reputation for good luck. In about
three quarters of an hour Dandy was called in “to kiss a strange young gintleman that
wanted to see him.” This was an agreeable ceremony to Dandy, as it always is, to catch
the first glimpse of one’s own first-born. On entering he found Rose sitting beside the bed
in all the pomp of authority and pride of success, bearing the infant in her arms, and
dandling it up and down, more from habit than any necessity that then existed for doing
so.
“Well,” said she, “here we are all safe and sound, God willin’; an’ if you’re not the father
of as purty a young man as ever I laid eyes on, I’m not here. Corny Keho, come an’ kiss
your son, I say.”
Corny advanced, somewhat puzzled whether to laugh or cry, and taking the child up with
a smile, he kissed it five times—for that is the mystic number—and as he placed it once
more in Rose’s arms, there was a solitary tear on its cheek.
“Arra, go an’ kiss your wife, man alive, an’ tell her to have a good heart, an’ to be as kind
to all her fellow-creatures as God has been to her this night. It isn’t upon this world the
heart ought to be fixed, for we see how small a thing an’ how short a time can take us
out of it.”
“Oh, bedad,” said Dandy, who had now recovered the touch of feeling excited by the
child, “it would be too bad if I’d grudge her a smack.” He accordingly stooped, and kissed
her; but, truth to confess, he did it with a very cool and business-like air. “I know,” he
proceeded, “that she’ll have a heart like a jyant, now that the son is come.”
“To be sure she will, an’ she must; or if not, I’ll play the sorra, an’ break things. Well,
well, let her get strength a bit first, an’ rest and quiet; an’ in the mean time get the
groanin’-malt ready, until every one in the house drinks the health of the stranger. My
sowl to happiness, but he’s a born beauty. The nerra Keho of you all ever was the aiquails
of what he’ll be yet, plaise God. Troth, Corny, he has daddy’s nose upon him, any how.
Ay, you may laugh; but, faix, it’s thrue. You may take with him, you may own to him, any
where. Arra, look at that! My soul to happiness, if one egg’s liker another! Eh, my posey!
Where was it, alanna? Ay, you’re there, my duck o’ diamonds! Troth, you’ll be the flower
o’ the flock, so you will. An’ now, Mrs Keho, honey, we’ll lave you to yourself awhile, till
we thrate these poor cratures of sarvints; the likes o’ them oughtn’t to be overlooked; an’
indeed they did feel a great dale itself, poor things, about you; an’ moreover they’ll be
longin’ of coorse to see the darlin’ here.”
Mrs Keho’s mother and Rose superintended the birth-treat between them. It is
unnecessary to say that the young men and girls had their own sly fun upon the
occasion; and now that Dandy’s apprehension of danger was over, he joined in their
mirth with as much glee as any of them. This being over, they all retired to rest; and
honest Mickey M’Sorley went home very hearty,[3] in consequence of Dandy’s grateful
sense of the aid he had rendered his wife. The next morning Rose, after dressing the
infant and performing all the usual duties that one expected from her, took her leave in
these words:—
“Now, Mrs Keho, God bless you an’ yours, and take care of yourself. I’ll see you agin on
Sunday next, when it’s to be christened. Until then, throw out no dirty wather before
sunrise or afther sunset; an’ when Father Molloy is goin’ to christen it, let Corny tell him
not to forget to christen it against the fairies, an’ thin it’ll be safe. Good bye, ma’am; an’
look you to her, Mrs Finnegan,” said she, addressing her patient’s mother, “an’ banaght
lath till I see all again.”

[1] This term in Ireland means “handsome”—“good-looking.”

[2] If it did not happen to be new moon, the words were “good moon,” &c.
[3] Tipsy.
 THE MINSTREL’S WALK.
BY J. U. U.

(To the old Irish air of “Bidh mid a gol sa poga na mban.”)
Green hills of the west, where I carolled along
In the Mayday of life with my harp and my song,
Though the winter of time o’er my spirit hath rolled,
And the breast of the minstrel is weary and cold;
Though no more by those famous old haunts shall I stray,
Once the themes of my song, and the guides of my way,
That each had its story, and true-hearted friend,
Before I forget ye, life’s journey shall end!

Oh, ’twas joy in the prime of life’s morning to go

On the tracks of Clan Connell, led on by Hugh Roe,
O’er the hill of Keiscorran, renowned Ballimote,
By the Boyle, or by Newport, all passes of note,
Where the foe their vain armaments haughtily kept;
But the foot of th’ avenger went by while they slept:
The hills told no tale, but the night-cloud was red,
And the friends of the Sassenagh quaked at their tread.

By the plains of Rath Croghan, fields famous of yore,

Though stronghold and seat of the kingly no more,
By Tulsk and Tomona, hill, valley, and plain,
To grey Ballintubber, O’Connors’ domain;
While ages rolled backwards in lengthened array,
In song and old story, the long summer day;
And cloud-like the glories of Connaught rolled by,
Till they sank in the horrors of grim Athenry!

Through the heaths of Kiltullagh, kind, simple, though rude,

To Aeluin’s bright waters, where Willesborough stood,
Ballinlough then spoke welcome from many a door,
Where smiles lit kind faces that now smile no more;
Then away to the Moyne, o’er the moors of Mayo,
Still onward, still welcomed by high and by low,
Blake, Burke, and O’Malley, Lynch, Kirwan, and Browne,
By forest, lake, mountain, through village and town.

Then kind were the voices that greeted my way,

’Twas Cead mille failte at closing of day,
When young hearts beat lightly, and labour was done,
For joy tracked my steps, as light follows the sun;
I had tales for the hamlet, and news for the hall,
And the tune of old times, ever welcome to all,
The praise of thy glory, dear land of the west;
But thy praises are still, and thy kind bosoms rest!

My blessing rest with you, dear friends, though no more

Shall the poor and the weary rejoice at your door;
 Shall the poor and the weary rejoice at your door;
Though like stars to your homes I have seen you depart,
Still ye live, O ye live in each vein of my heart.
Still the light of your looks on my darkness is thrown,
Still your voices breathe round me when weary and lone;
Like shades ye come back with each feeling old strain,
But the world shall ne’er look on your equals again.

The difference between a rich man and a poor man is this—the former eats when he
pleases, the latter when he can get it.—Sir W. Raleigh.
 APOLOGUES AND FABLES FROM FOREIGN
LANGUAGES.
(Translated for the Irish Penny Journal.)

No. VI.—THE REMORSE OF A NIGHT.

The last night of the year was about to expire; the winds, after a day of storminess, had
subsided into slumber; the white earth lay outspread, like a shrouded map, under the
moon; and innumerable stars arose out from the remotest abysses of heaven, twinkling
as brightly as though they had but then begun their existence, and were never to suffer
impairment. Eleven o’clock had tolled from the tower of an ancient Gothic church; and as
the vibrations died away on the transparent air, an Old Man drew nigh to the window of a
dark room in the desolate dwelling of which he had long been the solitary tenant, and
cast his dull despairful eyes upwards towards the immoveable firmament, and from
thence down on the blank waste of the earth, and then breathed a groaning prayer, that
those eyes might never survey that firmament or that earth again. Wretched was he, in
truth, that Old Man, beyond all parallel and beyond all consolation—for his grave lay open
for him, as it seemed, by his side; it was thinly covered over, not by the flowers of Youth,
but by the snows of Age; and when, heartsick of the sight, he looked away from it into
himself, he saw that the sole fruits that he had gathered from a long and eventful life
were sins, regrets, and maladies—a decayed body, a plague-smitten soul, a bosom full of
bitterness, and an old age full of remorse. The beautiful days of his youth now came
again before him like ghosts, and resummoned to his remembrance the cheerful morning
upon which his venerable father had first placed him upon the great Cross-road of Life—a
road which, trodden on the right hand, conducts the pilgrim along the noonday path of
Virtue into a spacious, joyous land, abounding in sunbeams, harvests, and angelic spirits,
but which, followed on the left, betrays him through lampless and miry ways, into the
rueful wildernesses of Vice, where serpents for ever swarm, and pestilence chokes the
atmosphere, and to quench his burning thirst the sluggish black rivers yield him but slime
and poison.
Alas! the serpents were now coiled about him—the poison was rilling through his heart!
Alas for him! he knew too well which road he had chosen—where he was—and what he
must undergo—for eternity—for eternity!
With an anguish, with an agony, with a despair, that language cannot even faintly
pourtray, he uplifted his withered arms towards heaven, clasped his hands, and cried
aloud, O! give me back, give me back my youth! O! my father, lead me once more to the
Cross-road, that I may once more choose, and this time choose with foreknowledge!
But his cries wasted themselves idly upon the frozen air, for his father was no more, and
his youth was no more—both had alike long, long ago evanished, never to reappear. He
knew this, and he wept—yes, that miserable old man wept; but his tears relieved him
not; they were like drops of hot lava, for they trickled from a burning brain.
He looked forth, and he saw flitting lights—wills-o’-the-wisp—dancing over the morasses
and becoming extinguished in the burial-grounds; and he said, Such were my riotous
days of folly! He again looked forth, and he beheld a star fall from heaven to earth, and
there melt away in blackness that left no trace behind, and he said, I am that star!—and
with that woeful thought were torn open anew the leprous wounds in his bosom which
the serpents that clung around him would never suffer to be healed.
His morbid imagination, wandering abroad till it touched on the confines of frenzy,
showed him figures of sleep-walkers traversing like shadows the roofs of the houses:—
the chimneys widened into furnaces vomiting forth flames and monsters—the windmills
lifted up their giant arms, and threatened to crush him—and a forgotten spectre, left
behind in a deserted charnel-house, glared on him with a horrible expression of malignity,
and then mocked his terror by assuming his features.
On a sudden there flowed out upon the air a deep, rich, and solemn stream of music. It
came from the steeple of the old Gothic church, as the bells announced the birth of the
new year, for it was now the twelfth hour. Its cadences fell with a thrilling distinctness
upon the ear and the heart of the Old Man; and every tone in the melody, through the
agency of that mysterious power which sound possesses of re-assembling within the
forsaken halls of the soul images long departed, brought before his mind some past
scene of his life, vivid as a panoramic picture. Again he looked round upon the lucid
horizon and over the frosted earth; and he thought on the opportunities he had forfeited
—the warnings he had slighted—the examples he had scoffed at. He thought upon the
friends of his youth, and how they, better and more fortunate than he, were now good
men, at peace with themselves—teachers of wisdom to others, fathers of blessed
families, torchlights for the world—and he exclaimed, Oh! and I also, had I but willed it, I
also might, like them, have seen with tearless eyes, with tranquil heart, this night depart
into eternity! Oh, my dear father—my dear, dear mother! I, even I, might have been now
happy, had I but hearkened to your affectionate admonitions—had I but chosen to profit
by the blessings which on every returning New Year’s Morn like this your tenderness led
you to invoke on my head!
Amid these feverish reminiscences of his youth, it appeared to him as though the spectre
which had assumed his features in the charnel-house gradually approached nearer and
nearer to him—losing, however, as it advanced, one trait after another of its spectral
character—till at length, as if under the dominion of that supernatural influence which on
the last night of the old year is popularly said to compel even the Dead to undergo a
change of form, it took the appearance of a living young man—the same young man that
he had himself been fifty years before.
He was unable to gaze any longer: he covered his face with his hands; and, as the
blistering tears gushed from his eyes, he sank down, powerless and trembling, on his
knees—and again he cried out, as if his heart would break, O! come back to me, lost
days of my youth!—come back, come back to me once more!
And the supplication of the Penitent was not made in vain, for they came back to him,
those days of his youth, but not yet lost! He started from his bed—the blue moonbeams
were shining in through the windows—the midnight chimes were announcing the
beginning of a new year. Yes!—all had been but an appalling dream—all, except his sins
and transgressions: these, alas! were but too real, for conscience, even in sleep, is a
faithful monitor. But he was still young—he had not grown old in iniquity—and with tears
of repentance he thanked God for having, even by means of so terrific a vision,
awakened in his heart a feeling of horror for the criminal career he had been pursuing,
and for having revealed to him in that glimpse of a land full of sunbeams, harvests, and
angelic spirits, the blissful goal in which, if he pleased, the path of his existence might yet
terminate.
Youthful reader! on which of these two paths art thou? On the right-hand path? Go
forward, then, with the blessing of thy Maker, and fear nothing! On the left-hand path? If
so, pause: be forewarned—turn while yet thou mayest—retrace thy steps—make a
happier choice! I will pray that the terrors of this ghastly Dream may not hereafter be
arrayed in judgment against thee! Alas for thee, if the time ever come when thou shalt
call aloud in thy despair, Come back, ye precious days of my youth!—unlike the dreamer,
thou wilt but be mocked by the barren echo of thine own lamentation—the precious days
of thy youth will never, never come back to thee!
M.
 TEETOTALLERS AND TOPERS.
It is not a little curious, and perhaps not a little amusing in its way, to mark the feelings
with which these two very different classes contemplate each other. The introduction of
teetotallism was a thing for which the toper was wholly unprepared. It was a thing of
which, a priori, he could have formed no conception—a thing of which he never dreamt.
It therefore took him quite by surprise; and when it came, his opinion of it was, and to
this good hour is, that it is one of the most absurd and monstrous ideas that ever
entered into the human head.
That a class of men should arise who would forswear the use of those exhilarating
stimulants in which he himself so much delighted—that there should ever appear on the
face of the earth such an ass as the man who would refuse a glass of generous liquor
when offered him, is to him a thing surpassing belief; and in fact he does not, or rather
will not, believe in it. He insists upon it that it is all humbug, and that its professors, the
professors of teetotallism, may say what they please, but that they can and do take their
drink as freely as he does; the only real difference being, that they take theirs secretly.
No evidence whatever will convince him that it is otherwise, or at least will induce him to
admit that it is so. He is, in short, determined not to believe in so monstrous a doctrine.
But should conviction at any time be too strong for him, he then falls back on the
consolatory belief that it cannot long prevail—that it will not, can not stand. An
association whose rules should enjoin every member always to walk backwards instead of
forwards, or which should enjoin any other equally ridiculous absurdity, might live and
prosper; but teetotallism, the abstaining from the dear potations—no, no, that cannot
stand any time—ridiculous, impossible—not in the nature of things.
As might be expected, the toper entertains a most cordial hatred of the teetotaller; he
abhors him, and detests his principles—he in fact cannot hear him spoken of with any
degree of patience. Oh, what a triumph to him when he catches a teetotaller tripping!
With what delight he treasures up anecdotes of backsliding on the part of the professors
of abstinence! And of such anecdotes he has a large store; for he is constantly on the
look-out for them, and is not very particular on the score of authenticity. With what glee
he relates these anecdotes to his club! and with what glee his club listens to the edifying
and refreshing relation! They will chuckle over a story of this kind for a month. Nor, in the
matter of anecdote, is the teetotaller a whit behind his unregenerated brother. The two
parties, in fact, carry on a war of anecdote against each other—the teetotaller’s being
stories of ruin and misery resulting from dissipation—the toper’s, facetious little tales of
hypocrisy and backsliding. Both collect their anecdotes with great industry, and propagate
them with great zeal and diligence.
The toper’s attitude, as regards the teetotaller, is of course a hostile one. But it is not a
bold one. There is nothing of defiance in it, although he sometimes affects it. For
although he hates the teetotaller, he also stands in awe of him; being oppressed with an
awkward consciousness that the latter has the right side of the argument, and the weight
of general opinion is on his side—that, in short, the teetotaller is right and he is wrong.
This consciousness gives to his hostility a sneaking and timid character, and induces him
to confine himself in the matter of retaliation to the facetious joke and sly insinuation. On
more open warfare he dare not venture. The teetotaller is thus the assailing party: he
takes and keeps the field manfully, and with bold front and loud voice dares the toper to
the combat. The latter, in conscious weakness, shrinks at the sound, as do the small
animals of the forest when they hear the roar of the lion; and getting out of his way as
fast as he can, retires to his fastnesses, the drinking-shops, and hedges himself round
with bottles and quart-pots.
The toper always carefully eschews any thing like direct and open personal contact with
the enemy, in the shape of discussions on the merits of the question of abstinence. There
is, in fact, nothing he so much abominates as any attempt at reasoning on the subject,
where such reasoning has for its object to show the advantages of temperance or
intemperance. The toper thus at all times prefers keeping out of the teetotaller’s way,
and, although professing the most entire disregard of him, will at any time go a mile
about to avoid him. He has an instinctive dislike of him, and this because he is a living
personified reflection on himself.
Turning now to the teetotaller, we find two or three things in his conduct, too, with
reference to the toper, that are rather curious in their way. In the first place, it is curious
to mark the deep interest he takes in what may be called the tippling statistics of his
neighbourhood; and the amount of knowledge which he contrives to acquire on this
subject is really amazing. He knows all the topers in his vicinity, and keeps a sharp eye
on their proceedings. He knows every one of their haunts too—knows the different
degrees of dissipation to which each has attained, and could almost tell on any given day
what quantity each drank on the preceding night. In short, so vigilantly does he watch all
the outgoings and incomings of these marked men, and yet without seeming to notice
them, that they can hardly swallow a single cropper without his knowing it. The whole
thing, in fact, is a sort of private study of his own, and one to which he devotes a great
deal of quiet observation and secret reflection: he takes a deep interest in it, and hence
the proficiency he makes out in the knowledge of its details.
But our teetotaller not only knows all the professed, undisguised topers of his locality; he
knows—much more striking proof of his vigilance—every man also whose habits,
although not yet sufficiently intemperate to attract the attention of any one but a
teetotaller, exhibit signs and symptoms of becoming gradually worse. The tippling
progress of these persons he watches with the deepest interest, and keeps himself
accurately informed regarding the extent and frequency of their debauches. The
teetotaller, in short, keeps a vigilant eye over the entire drinking system of his
neighbourhood, and professes an astonishing knowledge of what every one is doing in
this way. If the teetotaller’s residence be in a small town, his surveillance then embraces
its whole extent, and hardly can a single bumper be swallowed within its limits, of which
he does not, somehow or other, obtain notice.
Abhorring dissipation itself, the teetotaller naturally extends that abhorrence to its signs
and symptoms. On flushed and pimpled faces he looks with aversion and distrust, but on
a red nose with absolute horror. We once saw a curious instance of this:—A gentleman
with a highly illumed proboscis one evening entered a teetotal coffee-room in which we
happened to be seated. The nose—for we sink the gentleman, its owner, altogether, as
an unnecessary incumbrance—passed, although with deliberate movement, like a fiery
meteor, up the entire length of the room, exciting in its progress the utmost horror and
dismay amongst the teetotallers with whom the apartment was thronged. The sensation,
in fact, created by the red nose was immense, although not noisy in its expression.
It was indicated merely by an extensive and earnest whispering, by a shuffling of feet,
and a general fidgetty sort of movement, giving, though in an unobtrusive form, a very
vivid idea of the presence of some exceedingly disagreeable object. The whole room, in
short, was shocked by the red nose, although they refrained from expressing that feeling
by any more marked demonstration than those we have mentioned. The red nose
seemed for some time unconscious of the effects it was producing, but the detection of a
number of horror-stricken faces peering eagerly over the edges and round the corners of
boxes, to get a glimpse of the detestable object, betrayed the real state of the case. The
red nose, however, evinced no emotion on making the discovery, but passed quietly into
an unoccupied box, took up a paper, and ordered a glass of lemonade. The landlord
looked queer at the nose as he tabled the order, but of course said nothing.
Now, we thought at the time, how different would have been the reception of the
gentleman with the red nose by a club of topers! In such case, his nose, in place of being
looked on with horror, would have been viewed with respect. It would have been a
passport to the highest favour of the jolly fraternity, and would have at once admitted its
owner to their confidence and good-fellowship. We do not know, indeed, that its entrance
would not have been hailed by a shout of acclamation; for, viewed as one of the chief
insignia of a boon companion, it was truly a splendid nose.
C.
 MORAL EVIL MAN’S OWN CREATION.
Man brings upon himself a thousand calamities, as consequences of his artifices and
pride, and then, overlooking his own follies, gravely investigates the origin of what he
calls evil:—
He compromises every natural pleasure to acquire fame among transient beings, who
forget him nightly in sleep, and eternally in death; and seeks to render his name
celebrated among posterity, though it has no identity with his person, and though
posterity and himself can have no contemporaneous feeling.
He deprives himself and all around him of every passing enjoyment, to accumulate
wealth that he may purchase other men’s labour, in the vain hope of adding happiness to
his own.
He omits to make effective laws to protect the poor against the oppressions of the rich,
and then wears out his existence under the fear of becoming poor, and being the victim
of his own neglect and injustice.
He arms himself with murderous weapons; and on the slightest instigation, and for hire,
practises murder as a science, follows this science as a regular profession, and honours
its chiefs above benefactors and philosophers, in proportion to the quantity of blood they
have shed, or the mischiefs they have perpetrated.
He disguises the most worthless of the people in showy liveries, and then excites them to
murder men whom they never saw, by the fear of being killed if they do not kill.
He revels in luxury and gluttony, and then complains of the diseases which result from
repletion.
He tries in all things to counteract or improve the provisions of nature, and then afflicts
himself at his disappointments.
He multiplies the chances against his own life and health by his numerous artifices, and
then wonders at their fatal results.
He shuts his eyes against the volume of truth as presented by Nature, and, vainly
considering that all was made for him, founds on this false assumption various doubts in
regard to the justice of eternal causation.
He interdicts the enjoyment of all other creatures, and regarding the world as his
property, in mere wantonness destroys myriads on whom have been bestowed beauties
and perfections.
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