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diff --git a/35529.txt b/35529.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..04ce148 --- /dev/null +++ b/35529.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17900 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Charm of Ireland, by Burton Egbert +Stevenson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Charm of Ireland + + +Author: Burton Egbert Stevenson + + + +Release Date: March 8, 2011 [eBook #35529] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHARM OF IRELAND*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Emmy, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the numerous original illustrations. + See 35529-h.htm or 35529-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35529/35529-h/35529-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35529/35529-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/charmofireland00stevuoft + + +Transcriber's note: + + An o with a macron is represented in the text by [=o]. + + + + + +THE CHARM OF IRELAND + + +[Illustration: TWO TINY CONNAUGHT TOILERS + +_See page 356_] + + +THE CHARM OF IRELAND + +by + +BURTON E. STEVENSON + +Author of "The Spell of Holland," "The Mystery of the Boule +Cabinet," etc. + +With Many Illustrations from Photographs by the Author + + + + + + + +New York +Dodd, Mead and Company +1914 + +Copyright, 1914 +By Dodd, Mead & Company + + + + + _TO_ + + J. I. B. + + _THIS BOOK_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I DUBLIN'S SATURDAY NIGHT 1 + II LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF AN ANCIENT CAPITAL 9 + III THE ART OF ANCIENT ERIN 26 + IV ON THE TRAIL OF THE SHAMROCK 42 + V THE COUNTRY OF ST. KEVIN 59 + VI DROGHEDA THE DREARY 85 + VII HOLY CROSS AND CASHEL OF THE KINGS 97 + VIII ADVENTURES AT BLARNEY 113 + IX CUSHLA MA CHREE 128 + X THE SHRINE OF ST. FIN BARRE 139 + XI A TRIP THROUGH WONDERLAND 153 + XII THE "GRAND TOUR" 177 + XIII ROUND ABOUT KILLARNEY 192 + XIV O'CONNELL, JOURNEYMAN TAILOR 203 + XV THE RUINS AT ADARE 224 + XVI "WHERE THE RIVER SHANNON FLOWS" 242 + XVII LISSOY AND CLONMACNOISE 265 + XVIII GALWAY OF THE TRIBES 292 + XIX IAR CONNAUGHT 314 + XX JOYCE'S COUNTRY 339 + XXI THE REAL IRISH PROBLEM 358 + XXII THE TRIALS OF A CONDUCTOR 375 + XXIII THE LEACHT-CON-MIC-RUIS 398 + XXIV THE WINDING BANKS OF ERNE 415 + XXV THE MAIDEN CITY 438 + XXVI THE GRAINAN OF AILEACH 458 + XXVII THE BRIDGE OF THE GIANTS 472 + XXVIII THE GLENS OF ANTRIM 485 + XXIX BELFAST 503 + XXX THE GRAVE OF ST. PATRICK 519 + XXXI THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE 534 + XXXII THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE 559 + INDEX 567 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Two Tiny Connaught Toilers _Frontispiece_ + FACING + PAGE + Dublin Castle 10 + O'Connell, alias Sackville, Street, Dublin 10 + Ruins of St. Mary's Abbey Howth 22 + The Evolution of the Jaunting Car 28 + The Cross of Cong 40 + The Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell 40 + Glendalough and the Ruins of St. Kevin's Churches 66 + The Road to St. Kevin's Seat 74 + The First of St. Kevin's Churches 74 + The Round Tower, Clondalkin 88 + St. Lawrence's Gate, Drogheda 88 + Holy Cross Abbey, from the Cloisters 100 + The Mighty Ruins on the Rock of Cashel 100 + Cashel of the Kings 104 + Blarney Castle 116 + A Cottage at Inchigeelagh 144 + The Shrine of St. Fin Barre 144 + The Bay of Glengarriff 164 + The Upper Lake, Killarney, from the Kenmare Road 164 + Old Weir Bridge, Killarney 188 + The Meeting of the Waters 188 + Ross Castle, Killarney 188 + Muckross Abbey, Killarney 194 + The Cloister at Muckross Abbey 194 + The Choir of the Abbey at Adare 232 + The Castle of the Geraldines, Adare 232 + The Shannon, near World's End 248 + St. Senan's Well 248 + The Bridge at Killaloe 258 + The Oratory at Killaloe 258 + Entrance to St. Molua's Oratory 262 + A Fisherman's Home 262 + The Choir of the Abbey at Athenry 270 + A Cottage at Athenry 270 + The Goldsmith Rectory at Lissoy 276 + The "Three Jolly Pigeons" 276 + On the Road to Clonmacnoise 288 + St. Kieran's Cathair, Clonmacnoise 288 + The Market at Galway 296 + "Ould Saftie" 296 + The Claddagh, Galway 300 + A Claddagh Home 300 + A Galway Vista 302 + The Memorial of a Spartan Father 302 + The Connemara Marble Quarry 322 + A Connemara Home 322 + In "Joyce's Country" 344 + On the Shore of Lough Mask 344 + The Cloister at Cong Abbey 348 + The Monks' Fishing-house, Cong Abbey 348 + The Turf-Cutters 356 + A Girl of "Joyce's Country" 356 + Cromlechs at Carrowmore 392 + Sligo Abbey from the Cloister 400 + The Leacht-Con-Mic-Ruis 400 + A Ruin on the Shore of Lough Gill 402 + The Last Fragment of an Ancient Stronghold 402 + A Cashel near Dromahair 408 + St. Patrick's Holy Well 408 + The Coast at Bundoran 416 + The Home of "Colleen Bawn" 416 + Birthplace of William Allingham 430 + Castle Donegal 430 + The Walls of Derry 466 + The Grainan of Aileach 466 + The "Giant's Head," near Portrush 480 + The Ruins of Dunluce Castle 480 + The Giant's Causeway 482 + The Cliffs beyond the Causeway 482 + The Grave of Ossian 496 + An Antrim Landscape 496 + A Humble Home in Antrim 498 + The Old Jail at Cushendall 498 + The City Hall, Belfast 516 + High Street, Belfast 516 + The Grave of Patrick, Brigid and Columba 522 + The Old Cross at Downpatrick 522 + The Great Rath at Downpatrick 526 + The Inner and Outer Circles 526 + The Central Mound 526 + The Eye Well at Struell 528 + The Well of Sins at Struell 528 + The Birthplace of John Boyle O'Reilly 540 + Entrance to Dowth Tumulus 540 + Entrance to Newgrange 546 + The Ruins of Mellifont 546 + The Round Tower, Monasterboice 554 + The High Cross, Monasterboice 554 + Muiredach's Cross, Monasterboice 556 + + + + +THE CHARM OF IRELAND + + + + +CHAPTER I + +DUBLIN'S SATURDAY NIGHT + + +TWILIGHT was at hand when the little steamer, slender as a greyhound, +cast loose from the pier at Holyhead, made its way cautiously out past +the breakwater, and then, gathering speed, headed away across the Irish +Sea, straight toward the setting sun. + +The boat showed many evidences that the Irish Sea can be savage when it +chooses. Everything movable about the decks was carefully lashed down; +there were railings and knotted ropes everywhere to cling to; and in the +saloon the table-racks were set ready at hand, as though they had just +been used, and might be needed again at any moment. But, on this +Saturday evening in late May, the sea was in a pleasant, even a jovial, +mood, with just enough swell to send a thin shower of spray across the +deck from time to time, and lend exhilaration to the rush of the fleet +little turbine. + +There were many boats in sight--small ones, for the most part, rolling +and pitching apparently much worse than we; and then the gathering +darkness obscured them one by one, and presently all that was left of +them were the bobbing white lights at their mastheads. A biting chill +crept into the air, and Betty finally sought refuge from it in the +saloon, while I made my way back to the smoking-room, hoping for a +friendly pipe with some one. + +I was attracted at once by a rosy-faced old priest, sitting at one of +the corner tables. He was smoking a black, well-seasoned briar, and he +bade me a cheery good-evening as I dropped into the seat beside him. + +"You would be from America," he said, watching me as I filled up. + +"Yes," I answered. "From Ohio." + +"Ah, I know Ohio well," and he looked at me with new interest, "though +for many years I have been in Illinois." + +"But you were born in Ireland?" + +"I was so; near Tuam. I am going back now for a visit." + +"Have you been away long?" + +"More than thirty years," he said, and took a few reflective puffs. + +"No doubt you will find many changes," I ventured. + +But he shook his head. "I am thinking I shall find Tuam much as I left +it," he said. "There are not many changes in Ireland, even in thirty +years. 'Tis not like America. I am afraid I shall have to give up +smoking while I am there," he added, with a little sigh. + +"Give up smoking?" I echoed. "But why?" + +"They do not like their priests to smoke in Ireland." + +I was astonished. I had no suspicion that Irish priests were criticised +for little things like that. In fact, I had somewhere received the +impression that they were above criticism of every kind--dictators, in +short, no act of whose was questioned. My companion laughed when I told +him this. + +"That is not so at all," he said. "Every priest, of course, has +authority in spiritual matters; but if he has any authority outside of +that, it is because his people trust him. And before they'll trust him, +he must deserve it. There is no people in the world so critical, so +suspicious, or so sharp-sighted as the Irish. Take this matter of +smoking, now. All Irishmen smoke, and yet there is a feeling that it is +not the right thing for a priest. For myself, I see no harm in it. My +pipe is a fine companion in the long evenings, when I am often lonely. +But of course I can't do anything that would be making the people think +less of me," and he knocked his pipe out tenderly and put it sadly in +his pocket, refusing my proffered pouch. + +"You will have to take a few whiffs up the chimney occasionally," I +suggested. + +His faded blue eyes lit up with laughter. + +"Ah, I have done that same before this," he said, with a little chuckle. +"That would be while I was a student at Maynooth, and a wild lot we +were. There was a hole high up in the wall where the stove-pipe used to +go, and we boys would draw a table under it, and stand on the table, and +smoke up the chimney, turn and turn about," and he went on to tell me of +those far-off days at Maynooth, which is the great Catholic college of +Ireland, and of his first visit to America, and his first sight of +Niagara Falls, and of how he had finally decided to enter the priesthood +after long uncertainty; and then presently some one came to the door and +said the lights of the Irish coast could be seen ahead, and we went out +to look at them. + +Far away, a little to the right, a strong level shaft of light told of a +lighthouse. It was the famous Bailey light, at the foot of the Hill of +Howth, so one of the deckhands said; and then, still farther off, +another light began to wink and wink, and then a third that swept its +level beam across the sea, stared one full in the eye for an instant, +and then swept on; and then more lights and more--the green and red ones +marking the entrance to the harbour; and finally the lights of Kingstown +itself stretched away to the left like a string of golden beads. And +then we were in the harbour; and then we were beside the pier; and then +Betty and I and the "chocolate-drop"--as we had named the brown English +wrap-up which had done such yeoman service in Holland that we had vowed +never to travel without it,--went down the gang-plank, and were in +Ireland! + +There is always a certain excitement, a certain exhilaration, in setting +foot for the first time in any country; but when that country is +Ireland, the Island of the Saints, the home of heroic legend and history +more heroic still, the land with a frenzy for freedom yet never +free--well, it was with a mist of happiness before our eyes that we +crossed the pier and sought seats in the boat-train. + +It is only five or six miles from Kingstown to Dublin, so that at the +end of a very few minutes our train stopped in the Westland Row station, +where a fevered mob of porters and hotel runners was in waiting; and +then, after most of the passengers and luggage had been disgorged, and a +guard had come around and collected twopence from me for some obscure +reason I did not attempt to fathom, went on again, along a viaduct above +gleaming streets murmurous with people, and across the shining Liffey, +to the station at Amiens Street, which was our destination. + +Our hotel, I knew, was only two or three blocks away, and the prospect +of traversing on foot the crowded streets which we had glimpsed from the +train was not to be resisted; so I told the guard we wanted a man to +carry our bags, and he promptly yelled at a ragamuffin, who was drifting +past along the platform. + +"Here!" he called. "Take the bags for the gintleman. Look sharrup, now!" + +But there was no need to tell him to look sharp, for he sprang toward me +eagerly, his face alight with joy at the prospect of earning a few +pennies--maybe sixpence--perhaps even a shilling! + +"Where is it you'd be wantin' to go, sir?" he asked, and touched his +cap. + +I named the hotel. + +"It's in Sackville Street," I added. "That's not far, is it?" + +"'Tis just a step, sir," he protested, and picked up the bags and was +off, we after him. + +It was long past eleven o'clock, but when we got down to the street, we +found it thronged with a crowd for which the sidewalks were much too +narrow, and which eddied back and forth and in and out of the shops like +waves of the sea. We looked into their faces as we went along, and saw +that they were good-humoured faces, unmistakably Irish; their voices +were soft and the rise and fall of the talk was very sweet and gentle; +but most of them were very shabby, and many of them undeniably dirty, +and some had celebrated Saturday evening by taking a glass too much. +They were not drunk--and I may as well say here that I did not see what +I would call a drunken man all the time I was in Ireland--but they were +happy and uplifted, and required rather more room to walk than they +would need on Monday morning. + +Our porter, meanwhile, was ploughing through the crowd ahead of us like +a ship through the sea, swinging a bag in either hand, quite regardless +of the shins of the passers-by, and we were hard put to it to keep him +in sight. It was farther than I had thought, but presently I saw a tall +column looming ahead which I recognised as the Nelson Pillar, and I +assured Betty that we were nearly there, for I knew that our hotel was +almost opposite the Pillar. Our porter, however, crossed a broad street, +which I was sure must be Sackville Street, without pausing, and +continued at top speed straight ahead. We followed him for some moments; +but the street grew steadily darker and more deserted, and finally I +sprinted ahead and stopped him. + +"Look here," I said. "We don't want to keep on walking all night. How +much farther is the hotel?" + +He set down the bags and mopped his dripping face with his sleeve. + +"I'm not quite sure, sir," he said, looking about him. + +"I don't believe it is up this way at all," I protested. "It's back +there on Sackville Street." + +"It is, sir," he agreed cheerfully, and picked up the bags again and +started back. + +"That _is_ Sackville Street, isn't it?" I asked. + +"Sure, I don't know, sir." + +"Don't know?" I echoed, and stared at him. "Don't you know where the +hotel is?" + +"You see, sir, I'm a stranger in Dublin, like yourself," he explained. + +"Well, why on earth didn't you say so?" I demanded. + +He didn't answer; but of course I realised instantly why he hadn't said +so. If he had, he wouldn't have got the job. That was what he was afraid +of. In fact, he was afraid, even yet, that I would take the bags away +from him and get some one else to carry them. I didn't do that, but I +took command of the expedition. + +"Come along," I said. "You follow me." + +"Thank you, sir," he said, his face lighting up again, and fell in +behind us. + +As we retraced our steps, I tried to figure out how he had expected to +find the hotel by plunging straight ahead without asking the way of any +one, and for how long, if I had not stopped him, he would have kept on +walking. Perhaps he had expected to keep going round and round until +some good fairy led him to our destination. + +At the corner of Sackville Street, I saw a policeman's helmet looming +high above the crowd, and I went to him and asked the way, while our +porter waited in the background. Perhaps he was afraid of policemen, or +perhaps it was just the instinctive Irish dislike of them. This +particular one bent a benignant face down upon us from his altitude of +something over six feet, and in a moment set us right. The hotel was +only a few steps away. The door was locked, and I had to ring, and while +we were waiting, our porter looked about him with a bewildered face. + +"What name was it you gave this street, sir?" he asked, at last. + +"Sackville Street," I answered, and pointed for confirmation to the sign +at the corner, very plain under the electric light. + +From the vacant look he gave it I knew he couldn't read; but he +scratched his head perplexedly. + +"A friend of mine told me 'twas O'Connell Street," he said finally, and +I paid him and dismissed him without realising that I had been brought +face to face with the age-long conflict between English officialism and +Irish patriotism. + +Ten minutes later, I opened the window of our room and found myself +looking out at Lord Nelson, leaning sentimentally on his sword on top of +his pillar--posing as he so often did when he found himself in the +limelight. Far below, the street still hummed with life, although it was +near midnight. The pavements were crowded, side-cars whirled hither and +thither, some of the shops had not yet closed. Dublin certainly seemed a +gay town. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF AN ANCIENT CAPITAL + + +I KNOW Dublin somewhat better now, and I no longer think of it as a gay +town--rather as a supremely tragic one. Turn the corner from any of the +main thoroughfares, and you will soon find yourself in a foul alley of +crowded tenements, in the midst of a misery and squalor that wring the +heart. You will wonder to see women laughing together and children +playing on the damp pavements. It is thin laughter and half-hearted +play; and yet, even here, there is a certain air of carelessness and +good-humour. It may be that these miserable people do not realise their +misery. Cleanliness is perhaps as painful to a person reared in dirt as +dirt is to a person reared in cleanliness; slum dwellers, I suppose, do +not notice the slum odour; a few decades of slum life must inevitably +destroy or, at least, deaden those niceties of smell and taste and +feeling which play so large a part in the lives of the well-to-do. And +it is fortunate that this is so. But one threads one's way along these +squalid streets, shuddering at thought of the vice and disease that must +be bred there, and mourning, not so much for their unfortunate +inhabitants, as for the blindness and inefficiency of the social order +which permits them to exist. + +[Illustration: DUBLIN CASTLE + +(C) Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.] + +[Illustration: O'CONNELL, ALIAS SACKVILLE STREET, DUBLIN] + +These appalling alleys are always in the background of my thoughts of +Dublin; and yet it is not them I see when I close my eyes and evoke my +memory of that ancient town. The picture which comes before me then is +of the wide O'Connell Bridge, with the great monument of the Liberator +guarding one end of it, and the curving street beyond, sweeping past the +tall portico of the old Parliament House, past the time-stained +buildings of Trinity College, and so on along busy Grafton Street to St. +Stephen's Green. This is the most beautiful and characteristic of +Dublin's vistas; and one visualises it instinctively when one thinks of +Dublin, just as one visualises the boulevards and the Avenue de l'Opera +when one thinks of Paris, or the Dam and the Kalverstraat when one +thinks of Amsterdam, or the Strand and Piccadilly when one thinks of +London. + +It was in this direction that our feet turned, that bright Sunday +morning, when we sallied forth for the first time to see the town, and +we were impressed almost at once by two things: the unusual height of +Dublin policemen and the eccentric attitudes of Dublin statues. There +are few finer bodies of men in the world than the Royal Irish +Constabulary. They are as spruce and erect as grenadiers; throughout the +length and breadth of Ireland, I never saw a fat one. They are recruited +all over the island, and the tallest ones must be selected for the +Dublin service. At any rate, they tower a full head above the average +citizen of that town, and, in consequence, there is always one or more +of them in sight. + +As for the statues, they sadly lack repose. The O'Connell Monument is a +riot of action, though the Liberator himself is comparatively cool and +self-possessed. Just beyond the bridge, Smith O'Brien poses with leg +advanced and head flung back and arms proudly folded in the traditional +attitude of haughty defiance; opposite him, Henry Grattan stands with +hand outstretched midway of an eloquent period; and, as you explore the +streets, you will see other patriots in bronze or marble doing +everything but what they should be doing: standing quietly and making +the best of a bad job. For to stand atop a shaft of stone and endure the +public gaze eternally _is_ a bad job, even for a statue. But a good +statue conceals its feeling of absurdity and ennui under a dignified +exterior. Most Dublin ones do not. They are visibly irked and impatient. + +I mentioned this interesting fact, one evening, to a Dublin woman of my +acquaintance, and she laughed. + +"'Tis true they are impatient," she agreed. "But perhaps they will quiet +down once the government stops calling O'Connell Street by a wrong +name." + +"Where _is_ O'Connell Street?" I asked, for I had failed to notice it. + +"Your hotel faces it; but the government names it after a viceroy whom +nobody has thought of for a hundred years." + +It was then I understood the confusion of the man who had carried our +bags up from the station; for to every good Irishman Sackville Street is +always O'Connell Street, in honour of the patriot whose monument adorns +it. That it is still known officially as Sackville Street is probably +due to the inertia of a government always suspicious of change, rather +than to any desire to honour a forgotten viceroy, or hesitation to add +another leaf to O'Connell's crown of laurel. O'Connell himself, in some +critical quarters, is not quite the idol he once was; but Irishmen agree +that the wide and beautiful street which is the centre of Dublin should +be named after him, and his monument, at one end of it, is still the +natural rallying-place for the populace, whose orators love to +illustrate their periods by pointing to the figure of Erin breaking her +fetters at its base. + +At the other end of the street is a very noble memorial of another +patriot--Charles Stewart Parnell. Parnell's fame burns brighter and +clearer with the passing years, and this memorial, so simple, so +dignified, and yet so full of meaning, is one which no American can +contemplate without a thrill of pride, for it is the work of Augustus +Saint-Gaudens--a consummate artist, American to the marrow, though +Dublin-born, of a French father and an Irish mother. + +Midway of this great thoroughfare, rises the Nelson Pillar--a fluted +column springing a hundred and fifty feet into the air, dominating the +whole town. I do not understand why Nelson should have been so signally +honoured in the Irish capital, for there was nothing Irish about him, +either in birth or temperament. Perhaps that is the reason. Stranger +things have happened in Ireland. And indeed it is no stranger than the +whim which set another statue to face the old Parliament House--a gilded +atrocity representing William of Orange, garbed as a Roman emperor in +laurel-wreath and toga, bestriding a sway-backed horse! + +The Home Rule Parliament will no doubt promptly change the street signs +along the broad thoroughfare which forms the heart of Dublin; but +meanwhile everybody agrees in calling the bridge O'Connell's monument +faces by his name. A very handsome bridge it is, and there is a +beautiful view from it, both up and down the river. Dublin is like +Paris, in that it is built on both sides of a river, and the view from +this point reminds one somewhat of the view along the Seine. There are +many bridges, and many domed buildings, many boats moored to the +quays--and many patient fishermen waiting for a bite! + +A short distance beyond the bridge is the great granite structure with +curving facade and rain-blackened columns, a queer but impressive jumble +of all the Greek orders, which now houses the Bank of Ireland. Time was +when it housed the Irish Parliament, and that time may come again; +meanwhile it stands as a monument to the classical taste of the +eighteenth century and its fondness for allegorical sculpture--Erin +supported by Fidelity and Commerce, and Fortitude supported by Justice +and Liberty! Those seem to me to be mixed allegories, but never mind. + +Those later days of the eighteenth century were the days of Dublin's +glory, for then she was really, as well as sentimentally, the capital of +Ireland. Her most beautiful public buildings date from that period, and +all her fine spacious dwelling-houses. After the Union, nobody built +wide spacious dwellings, but only narrow mean ones, to suit the new +spirit; and the new spirit was so incapable of living in the lovely old +houses that it turned them into tenements, and put a family in every +room, without any sense of crowding! I sometimes fear that the old +spirit is gone for good, and that not even independence can bring it +back to Dublin. + +It was the Irish House of Commons which, in 1752, provided the funds for +the new home of Trinity College, just across the street--a great pile of +time-worn buildings, also in the classic style, and rather dull; but it +is worth while to go in through the great gateway for a look at the +outer and inner quadrangles. + +Beyond the college stretches Grafton Street, the principal +shopping-street of Dublin, and at its head is St. Stephen's Green, a +pretty park, with some beautiful eighteenth century houses looking down +upon it. This was the centre of the fashionable residence district in +the old days, and the walk along the north side was the "Beaux Walk." +Such of the residences as remain are mostly given over to public +purposes, and the square itself is redolently British; for there is a +statue of George II in the centre, and one of Lord Eglinton not far +away, and a triumphal arch commemorating the war in South Africa. But, +if you look closely, you may find the inconspicuous bust of James +Clarence Mangan, who coughed his life out in the Dublin slums while Tom +Moore--who was also born here--was posing before fine London ladies; and +Mangan had this reward, that he remained sincere and honest and warmly +Irish to the last, a true bard of Erin, and one whose memory she does +well to cherish. How feeble Tom Moore's tinklings sound beside the white +passion of "Dark Rosaleen!" + + Over dews, over sands, + Will I fly for your weal: + Your holy, delicate white hands + Shall girdle me with steel. + At home in your emerald bowers, + From morning's dawn till e'en, + You'll pray for me, my flower of flowers, + My dark Rosaleen! + My own Rosaleen! + You'll think of me through daylight's hours, + My virgin flower, my flower of flowers, + My dark Rosaleen! + +A short walk down Kildare Street leads to a handsome, wide-flung +building with a court in front, once the mansion of the Duke of +Leinster, but now occupied by the Royal Dublin Society. The wing at the +right is the Science and Art Museum, that to the left the National +Library. The latter is scarcely worth a visit, unless there is some +reading you wish to do, but we shall have to spend some hours in the +museum. + +On this Sunday morning, however, Betty and I walked on through to +Leinster Lawn, a pleasant enclosed square, with gravelled walks and +gardens gay with flowers, but marred with many statues; and here you +will note that a Victorian government spent a huge sum in commemorating +the virtues of the Prince Consort. We contemplated it for a while, and +then went on to the great building which closes in the park on the +north, and which houses the National Gallery of Ireland. We found the +collection surprisingly good. It is especially rich in Dutch art, and +possesses three Rembrandts, one of an old and another of a young man, +and the other showing some shepherds building a fire--just such a +subject as Rembrandt loved. And there is a good Teniers, and an +inimitable canvas by Jan Steen, "The Village School." There are also a +number of pictures by Italian masters, but these did not seem to me so +noteworthy. + +This general collection of paintings is on the upper floor. The ground +floor houses the National Portrait Gallery, composed for the most part +of mediocre presentments of mediocre personalities, but with a high +light here and there worth searching for. Sir Godfrey Kneller's portrait +of Dick Steele is there, and Holbein's Henry Wyatt, and Zuccaro's +Raleigh, and there are three or four portraits by Lely and Reynolds, but +not, I should say, in their best style. + +Let me add here that there is in Dublin another picture gallery well +worth a visit. This is the Municipal Gallery, housed in a beautiful old +mansion in Harcourt Street--another memorial of spacious eighteenth +century days, where that famous judge and duellist, Lord Clonmell, +lived. The house itself would be worth seeing, even if there were no +pictures in it, for it is a splendid example of Georgian domestic +architecture; but there are, besides some beautiful examples of the +Barbizon school, a number of modern Irish paintings which promise much +for the future of Irish art. + + * * * * * + +The day was so bright and warm that it seemed a pity to spend the whole +of it in town, so, after lunch, we took a tram for the Hill of Howth. +Most of the tram lines of the city start from the Nelson Pillar, so we +had only to cross the street to the starting point. + +There seems to be a considerable difference of opinion as to the correct +pronunciation of "Howth." Perhaps that is because it is a Danish +word--hoved, a head--the Danes having left the mark of their presence in +the names of places all over Ireland, even in the names of three of its +four provinces. Only far Connaught escaped the stigma. At any rate, when +I asked a policeman which tram to take for Howth, I pronounced the word +as it is spelt, to rhyme with "south." He corrected me at once. + +"'Tis the Hill of Hooth ye mean," he said, making it rhyme with "youth," +"and that's your tram yonder." + +We clambered up the steep stairway at the back to a seat on top, and +presently we started; and then the conductor came around with tickets, +and asked where we were going--in Ireland, as everywhere else in Europe, +the fare is gauged by the length of the journey. + +"To the Hill of Hooth," I answered proudly. + +"Ah, the Hill of H[=o]th, is it," he said, making it rhyme with "both," +and he picked out the correct tickets from the assortment he carried, +punched them and gave them to me. + +We used the pronunciations indiscriminately, after that, and I never +learned which is right, though I suspect that "H[=o]th" is. + +Howth is a great detached block of mountain thrown down, by some caprice +of nature, at the sea-ward edge of a level plain to the north of Dublin +Bay, where it stands very bold and beautiful. It is some eight or ten +miles from Dublin, and the tram thither runs through the north-eastern +part of the town, and then emerges on the Strand, with Dublin Bay on one +side and many handsome residences on the other. Away across the bay are +the beautiful green masses of the Wicklow hills, and presently you come +to Clontarf, where, on Good Friday, nine hundred years ago, the Irish, +under their great king, Brian Boru, met the marshalled legions of the +Danes, and broke their power in Ireland. + +For the Danes had sailed up the Liffey a century before, and built a +castle to command the ford, somewhere near the site of the present +castle; and about this stronghold grew up the city of Dublin; and then +they built other forts to the south and north and west; bands of raiders +marched to and fro over the country, plundering shrines, despoiling +monasteries, levying tribute, until all Ireland, with the exception of +the extreme west, crouched under the Danish power. The Danes, it should +be remembered, were the terror and scourge of Europe, and since the +Ireland of that day was the richest country of Europe in churches and +monasteries and other religious establishments, it was upon Ireland the +Pagan invaders left their deepest mark. + +For a hundred years they had their will of the land, crushing down such +weak and divided resistance as the people were able to offer. And then +came Brian Boru, a man strong enough to draw all Ireland into one +alliance, and at last the Danes met a resistance which made them pause. +For twenty years, Brian waged desperate war against them, defeating them +sometimes, sometimes defeated; but never giving up, though often +besought to do so; retiring to his bogs until he could recruit his +shattered forces, and then, as soon as might be, falling again upon his +enemies. + +In the intervals of this warfare, he devoted himself to setting his +kingdom in order, and to such good purpose that, as the historians +tell--and Tom Moore rhymes--a lone woman could make the circuit of Erin, +without fear of molestation, though decked with gold and jewels. Brian +did more than that--and this is the measure of his greatness: he built +roads, erected churches and monasteries to replace those destroyed by +the Danes, founded schools to which men came from far countries, and +"sent professors and masters to teach wisdom and knowledge and to buy +books beyond the sea." + +It was in 1014 that the final great battle of Clontarf was fought. Both +sides, realising that this was the decisive struggle, had mustered every +man they could. With Brian were his own Munster men, and the forces of +O'Rourke and Hy Many from Connaught, and Malachy with his Meath legions, +and Desmond with the men of Kerry and West Cork--a wild host, with +discipline of the rudest, trusting for victory not to strategy or +tactics, but to sheer strength of arm. + +And what a muster of Danes there was! Not only the Danes of Dublin, but +the hosts from the Orkneys and "from every island on the Scottish main, +from Uist to Arran"; and even from far-off Scandinavia and Iceland the +levies hastened, led by "Thornstein, Hall of the Side's son, and +Halldor, son of Gudmund the Powerful, and many other northern champions +of lesser note." It is characteristic of Irish history through the ages +that, on this great day, one Irish province cast in its lot with its +country's enemies, for the battalions of Leinster formed side by side +with the Danes. + +There are Danish and Irish sagas which tell the story of that fight, and +blood-stirring tales they are. Brian Boru, bent under the weight of +seventy-four years, took station apart on a bit of rising ground, and +there, kneeling on a cushion, alternately prayed and watched the battle. +The Danes had the better of it, at first, hewing down their adversaries +with their gleaming axes; but the Munster men stood firm and fought so +savagely that at last the Danes broke and fled. One party of them passed +the little hill where Brian knelt, and paused long enough to cut him +down; but his life's work was done: the power of the Danes was broken, +and there was no longer need to fear that the Norsemen would rule +Ireland. + +Just north of Clontarf parish church stands an ancient yew, and +tradition says that it was under this tree that Brian's body was laid by +his men. The tradition may be true or not, but the wonderful tree, the +most venerable in Ireland, is worth turning aside a few moments to +visit. It stands in private grounds, and permission must be asked to +enter, but it is seldom refused. + +Like too many other spots in Ireland, Clontarf has its tragic memory as +well as its glorious one, for it was here that O'Connell's Home Rule +movement, to which thousands of men had pledged fealty, dropped suddenly +to pieces because of the indecision of its leader at the first hint of +British opposition. But there is no need to tell that story here. + + * * * * * + +The town of Howth consists of one long street running around the base of +the hill and facing the harbour and the Irish Sea. The harbour is +enclosed by impressive piers of granite, and was once a busy place, for +it was the Dublin packet station until Kingstown superseded it. Since +then, the entrance has silted up, and now nothing rides at anchor there +but small yachts and fishing-boats. On that clear and sunny day the view +was very beautiful. A mile to the north was the rugged little island +known as Ireland's Eye, and far away beyond the long stretch of low +coast loomed the purple masses of the Carlingford hills. Away to the +east stretched the Irish Sea, greenish-grey in the sunlight, with a +white foam-crest here and there, and to the south lay Dublin Bay against +the background of the Wicklow mountains. + +High on a cliff above the haven lie the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, and +we presently clambered up to them. We found them encircled by an +embattled wall, but a neighbourhood urchin directed us to a pile of +tumbledown buildings at the corner as the home of the caretaker. He was +not there, but his wife was, as well as a large collection of ragged +children, and one of these, a girl of ten or thereabouts, was sent by +her mother to do the honours. She was very shy at first, but her tongue +finally loosened, and we were enraptured with her soft voice and +beautiful accent. Her father was a fisherman, she said; they were all +fisher-families who lived in the tumble-down pile, which was once a part +of the abbey and so comes legitimately by its decay, since it is four or +five hundred years old, and has apparently never been repaired. + +Of the abbey church itself, only the walls remain, and they are the +survivals of three distinct buildings. The west front is part of the +original Danish church, built in 1042, and is pierced by a small +round-headed doorway, above which rises an open bell-turret. In 1235, +the Archbishop of Dublin rebuilt the Danish church, retaining only its +facade. The interior, as he remodelled it, consisted of a nave and one +aisle, separated by three pointed arches. They are still there, very low +and rude, marking the length of the Archbishop's church. Two centuries +later, this was found too small, and so the church was lengthened by the +addition of three more arches. They also are still standing, and are +both higher and wider than the first three. The tracery in the east +window is still intact, and is very graceful, as may be seen by the +photograph opposite this page, in which the variation in the arches is +also well shown. Note also the round-headed doorway at the side, with +the remains of a porch in front--a detail not often seen in old Irish +churches. And, last of all, note the ruined building in the corner. +Although it has no roof, it is still used as a dwelling, as the +curtained window shows. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF ST. MARY'S ABBEY, HOWTH] + +Just inside the east window of the church is the tomb of Christopher, +nineteenth Lord Howth, who died about 1490. It is an altar tomb, bearing +the recumbent figures of the knight and his lady, the former's feet +resting, after the usual fashion, on his dog. Considering the +vicissitudes of weather and vandalism through which they have passed, +both figures are surprisingly well preserved. + +The Howth peninsula still belongs to the Howth family, who trace their +line direct to Sir Almericus Tristram, an Anglo-Norman knight who +conquered and annexed it in 1177, and the demesne, one of the most +beautiful in Ireland, lies to the west of the town. The castle, a long, +battlemented building flanked with towers, is said to contain many +objects of interest, but we did not get in, for the gardener informed us +that it was open to the public only on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The +grounds are famous for their gorgeous rhododendrons, and there is a +cromlech there, under which, so legend says, lies Aideen, wife of Oscar, +son of Ossian and chief hero of those redoubtable warriors, the Fianna. + + * * * * * + +In Ireland, during the summer months, sunrise and sunset are eighteen +hours apart, and so, though it was rather late when we got back to the +hotel, it was as light as midday. We were starting for our room, when a +many-buttoned bell-boy, with a face like a cherub, who was always +hovering near, stopped us and told us shyly that, if we would wait a few +minutes, we could see the parade go past. + +During the morning, we had noticed gaily-uniformed bands marching hither +and thither, convoying little groups of people, some of them in fancy +costume, and had learned that there was to be a great labour celebration +somewhere, with music and much oratory. We had not thought it worth +while to run it down, but we said we should be glad to see the parade, +so our guide took us out to the balcony on the first floor, and then +remained to talk. + +"You would be from America, sir, I'm thinking," he began. + +"Yes," I said. + +"Then you have seen Indians!" + +"Indians? Why, yes, I've seen a few." + +"On the war-path?" he cried, his eyes shining with excitement. + +I couldn't help laughing. + +"No," I said. "They don't go on the war-path any more. They're quite +tame now." + +His face fell. + +"But you have seen cowboys?" he persisted. + +"Only in Wild West Shows," I admitted. "That's where I have seen most of +my Indians." + +"They're brave lads, aren't they?" and his eyes were shining again. + +"Why, have you seen them?" I questioned in surprise. + +"Ah, I have, sir, many times, in the moving-pictures," he explained. "It +must be a fine thing to live in America!" + +I found out afterwards that the Wild West film is exceedingly popular in +Ireland. No show is complete without one. I saw some, later on, and most +sanguinary and impossible they were; but they were always wildly +applauded, and I think most Irishmen believe that the life of the +average American is largely employed in fighting Indians and rescuing +damsels in distress. I tried to tell the bell-boy that life in America +was much like life everywhere--humdrum and matter-of-fact, with no +Indians and few adventures; but I soon desisted. Why should I spoil his +dream? + +And then, from up the street, came the rattle and blare of martial +music, and we had our first view of an Irish performer on the bass-drum. +It is a remarkable and exhilarating spectacle. The drummer grasps a +stick in each hand, and sometimes he pounds with both of them, and +sometimes he twirls one over his head and pounds with the other, and +sometimes he crosses his arms over the top of the drum and pounds that +way. I suppose there is an etiquette about it, for they all conduct +themselves in the same frenzied fashion, while the crowd stares +fascinated. It is exhausting work, and I am told that during a long +parade the drummers sometimes have to be changed two or three times. But +there is never any lack of candidates. + +There were thousands of men in line, that day, members of a hundred +different lodges, each with its banner. Their women-folk trooped along +with them, often arm-in-arm; and they trudged silently on with the slow +and dogged tread of the beast of burden; and the faces of men and women +alike were the pale, patient faces of those who look often in the eyes +of want. It melted the heart to see them--to see their rough and +toil-worn clothing, their gnarled and twisted hands, their heavy +hob-nailed shoes--and to think of their treadmill lives, without hope +and without beauty--just an endless struggle to keep the soul in the +body. Minute after minute, for almost an hour, they filed past. What +they hoped to gain, I do not know--a living wage, perhaps, since that is +what labour needs most in Ireland--and what it has not yet won! + +Our Buttons had watched the parade with the amused tolerance of the +uniformed aristocrat. + +"There's a lot of mad people in Dublin," he remarked cheerfully, as we +turned to go in. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ART OF ANCIENT ERIN + + +DUBLIN is by far the most fascinating town in Ireland. She has +charm--that supreme attribute alike of women and of cities; and she has +beauty, which is a lesser thing. She is rich in the possession of many +treasures, and proud of the memorials of many famous sons. Despite all +the vicissitudes of fortune, she has remained the spiritual and artistic +capital of Ireland, and she looks forward passionately to the day when +the temporal crown will be restored to her. To be sure, there is a +canker in her bosom, but she knows that it is there; and perhaps some +day she will gather courage to cut it out. + +Among her memorials and treasures, are four of absorbing interest--the +grave of Swift, the tomb of Strongbow, the Cross of Cong and the Book of +Kells. It was for the first of these, which is in St. Patrick's +Cathedral, that we started Monday morning, and to get there we mounted +for the first time to the seats of a jaunting-car. + +I suppose I may as well pause here for a word about this peculiarly +Irish institution. Why it should be peculiarly Irish is hard to +understand, for it furnishes a rapid, easy, and--when one has learned +the trick--comfortable means of locomotion. Every one, of course, is +familiar with the appearance of a jaunting-car--or side-car, as it is +more often called--with its two seats back to back, facing outwards, +and a foot-rest overhanging each wheel. + +Opposite the next page is a series of post-card pictures showing its +evolution from the primitive drag, which is the earliest form of vehicle +all the world over, and which still survives in the hilly districts of +Ireland, where wheels would be useless on the pathless mountain-sides. +Then comes a rude cart with solid wheels and revolving axle working +inside the shafts, still used in parts of far Connaught, and then the +cart with spoke wheels working outside the shafts on a fixed +axle--pretty much the form still used all the world over--just such a +"low-backed car" as sweet Peggy used when she drove to market on that +memorable day in spring. The next step was taken when some +comfort-loving driver removed the side-boards, in order that he might +sit with his legs hanging down; and one sees them sitting just so all +over Ireland, with their women-folk crouched on the floor of the cart +behind, their knees drawn up under their chins, and all muffled in heavy +shawls. I do not remember that I ever saw a woman sitting on the edge of +a cart with her legs hanging over--perhaps it isn't good form! + +Thus far there is nothing essentially Irish about any of these vehicles; +but presently it occurred to some inventive Jehu that he would be more +comfortable if he had a rest for his feet, and presto! the side-car. It +was merely a question of refinements, after that--the addition of backs +and cushions to the seats, the enlargement of the wheels to make the car +ride more easily, the attachment of long springs for the same purpose, +and the placing of a little box between the seats for the driver to sit +on when his car is full. In a few of the larger places, the development +has reached the final refinement of rubber tires, but usually these are +considered a too-expensive luxury. + +[Illustration: THE EVOLUTION OF THE JAUNTING CAR] + +Now evolution is supposed to be controlled by the survival of the +fittest, but this is only half-true of the side-car; for, while +admirably adapted to hilly roads, it is the worst possible conveyance in +wet weather. Hilly roads are fairly frequent in Ireland, but they are +nowhere as compared to wet days, and the side-car is a standing proof of +the Irishman's indifference to rain. Indeed, we grew indifferent to it +ourselves, before we had been in Ireland very long, for it really didn't +seem to matter. + +I suppose it is the climate, so soft, so sweet, so balmy that one gets +no harm from a wetting. The Irish tramp around without any thought of +the weather, work just the same in the rain as in the sun, never think +of using a rain-coat or an umbrella--would doubtless consider the +purchase of either a waste of money which could be far better spent--and +yet, all the time we were in Ireland, we never saw a man or woman with a +cold! The Irish are proud of their climate, and they have a right to be. +And, now I think of it, perhaps the climate explains the jaunting-car. + +That compound, by the way, is never used by an Irishman. He says simply +"car." "Car" in Ireland means a side-car, and nothing else. In most +other countries, "car" is short for motor-car. In Ireland, if one means +motor, one must say motor. But the visitor will never have occasion to +mean motor unless he owns one, for, outside of the trams in a few of +the larger cities, the side-car is practically the only form of +street and neighbourhood conveyance. One soon grows to like it; we have +ridden fifty miles on one in a single day, and many times we rode +twenty-five or thirty miles, without any undue sense of fatigue. The +secret is to pick out a car with a comfortably-padded back extending in +a curve around the rear end of each seat. One can tuck oneself into this +curve and swing happily along mile after mile. + +The driver of a side-car is called a jarvey. I don't know why. The +Oxford dictionary says the word is a "by-form of the surname Jarvis," +but I am not learned enough to see the connection, unless it was Mr. +Jarvis who drove the first side-car. I wish I could say that the jarvey +differed as much from the cabbies and chauffeurs of other lands as his +car does from the cab and the taxi; but, alas, this is not the case. He +is just as rapacious and piratical as they, though he may rob you with a +smile, while they do it with a frown; and he has this advantage: there +is no taximeter with which to control him. Everywhere, if one is not a +millionaire, one must be careful to bargain in advance. Once the bargain +is concluded, your jarvey is the most agreeable and obliging of fellows. +He usually has every reason to be, for nine times out of ten he gets +much the better of the bargain! I have never been able to decide +whether, in these modern times when piracy on the high seas has been +repressed, men with piratical instincts turn naturally to cab-driving, +or whether all men have latent piratical instincts which cab-driving +inevitably develops. + +The Dublin jarvey is famous for his ability to turn a corner at +top-speed. He usually does it on one wheel, and the person on the +outside seat has the feeling that, unless he holds tight, he will +certainly be hurled into misty space. We held on, that morning, and so +reached St. Patrick's without misadventure in a surprisingly few +minutes. + +St. Patrick's Cathedral is not an especially impressive edifice. It +dates from Norman days, and was built over one of St. Patrick's holy +wells; but, like most Irish churches, it was in ruins most of the time, +and fifty years ago it was practically rebuilt in its present shape. Sir +Benjamin Guinness, of the Guinness Brewery, furnished the money. Like +all the other old religious establishments, it was taken from the +Catholics in the time of Henry VIII and given to his Established +Church--the Episcopal Church, here called the Church of Ireland--and has +remained in its possession ever since, though the church itself was +disestablished some forty years ago. + +By far the most interesting fact about St. Patrick's is that Jonathan +Swift was for thirty-two years its Dean, and now lies buried there +beside that "Stella" whom he made immortal. A brass in the pavement +marks the spot where they lie side by side, and on the wall not far away +is the marble slab which enshrines the epitaph he himself wrote. It is +in Latin, and may be Englished thus: + + Jonathan Swift, for thirty years Dean of this + Cathedral, lies here, where savage indignation can + no longer tear his heart. Go, traveller, and, if + you can, imitate him who played a man's part as + the champion of liberty. + +Another slab bears a second epitaph written by Swift to mark the grave +of "Mrs. Hester Johnson, better known to the world by the name of +'Stella,' under which she is celebrated in the writings of Dr. Jonathan +Swift, Dean of this Cathedral." Whether she should have borne the name +of him who celebrated her the world will never know. She died seventeen +years before him, "killed by his unkindness," and was buried here at +midnight, while he shut himself into a back room of his deanery across +the way that he might not see the lights of the funeral party. He had +faults and frailties enough, heaven knows, but the Irish remember them +with charity, for, though his savage indignation had other fuel than +Ireland's wrongs and sorrows, yet they too made his heart burn, and he +voiced that feeling in words more burning still. He died in a madhouse, +as he expected to die, leaving + + "the little wealth he had + To build a house for fools and mad, + And showed by one satiric touch + No nation wanted it so much." + +There is another characteristic epitaph of Swift's on a tablet in the +south wall, near the spot where General Schomberg lies--that bluff old +soldier who met glorious death at the head of his victorious troops at +the battle of the Boyne. Swift wished to mark the grave with an +appropriate memorial, but Schomberg's relatives declined to contribute +anything toward its cost; whereupon Swift and his Chapter put up this +slab, paying tribute to the hero's virtues, and adding that his valour +was more revered by strangers than by his own kindred. + +There are many other curious and interesting monuments in the place, +well worth inspecting, but I shall refer to only one of them--the one +which started the feud that sent Strafford to the scaffold. It is a +towering structure, erected by the great Earl of Cork to the memory of +his "virtuous and religious" Countess, in 1629. It stood originally at +the east end of the choir near the altar, but Strafford, instigated by +Archbishop Laud, who protested that it was a monstrosity which +desecrated that sacred place, compelled its removal to the nave, where +it now stands. The Earl of Cork never forgave him, and hounded him to +his death. The monument is a marvel of its kind, containing no less than +sixteen highly-coloured figures, most of them life-size. The Earl and +his lady lie side by side in the central panel, with two sons kneeling +at their head and two at their feet, while their six daughters kneel in +the panel below, three on either side of an unidentified infant. After +contemplating this huge atrocity, one cannot but conclude that the +Archbishop was right. + +Back of the Cathedral is a little open square, where the children of the +neighbouring slums come to play in the sunshine on the gravelled walks; +and dirty and ragged and distressful as they are, they have still about +them childhood's clouds of glory. So that it wrings the heart to look at +the bedraggled, gin-soaked, sad-eyed, hopeless men and women who crowd +the benches and to realise not only that they were children once, but +that most of these children will grow to just such miserable maturity. + +We walked from the Cathedral up to the Castle, that morning, crossing +this square and traversing a corner of the slums, appalling in their +dirt and squalor, where whole families live crowded in a single room. In +Dublin there are more than twenty thousand such families. Think what +that means: five, six, seven, often even eight or nine persons, living +within the same four walls--some in dark basements, some in ricketty +attics--cooking and eating there, when they have anything to cook and +eat; sitting there through the long hours; sleeping there through the +foul nights; awaking there each morning to another hopeless day of +misery. Think how impossible it is to be clean or decent amid such +surroundings. Small wonder self-respect soon withers, and that drink, +the only path of escape from these horrors, even for a little while, is +eagerly welcomed. And the fact that every great city has somewhere +within her boundaries some such foulness as this is perhaps the one +thing our civilisation has most reason to be ashamed of! + + * * * * * + +Dublin Castle is interesting only because of its history. It was here, +by what was then the ford across the Liffey just above the tideway, that +the Danish invaders built their first stronghold in 837, and from it the +last of them was expelled in 1170 by Strongbow at the head of his +Anglo-Norman knights; here, two years later, Henry II received the +submission of the overawed Irish chiefs; and from that day forward, this +old grey fortress cast its shadow over the whole land. No tribesman was +too remote to dread it, for the chance of any day might send him to rot +in its dungeon, or shriek his life out in its torture-chamber, or set +his head to blacken on its tower--even as the shaggy head of Shan the +Proud blackened and withered there for all the world to see. In a word, +it is from the Castle that an alien rule has been imposed on Ireland for +more than a thousand years, until to-day to say "the Castle" is to say +"the Government." + +Of the mediaeval castle, only one of the four towers remains, and the +curtains which connected them have been replaced by rows of +office-buildings, where the Barnacles who rule Ireland have their lairs. +A haughty attendant--not too haughty, however, to accept a tip--will +show you through the state apartments, which are not worth visiting; and +another, more human one, will show you through the chapel. It is more +interesting without than within, for over the north door, side by side +in delightful democratic equality, are busts of Dean Swift and St. +Peter, while over the east one Brian Boru occupies an exalted place +between St. Patrick and the Virgin Mary, while on the corbels of the +window-arches the heads of ninety sovereigns of Great Britain have been +cut--I cannot say with what fidelity. + +It is but a step from the Castle to Christ Church Cathedral, by far the +most interesting building in Dublin. The Danes founded it in 1038; then +came Strongbow, who built an English cathedral atop the rude Danish +church, which is now the crypt, and his transepts and one bay of his +choir still survive. There were various additions and rebuildings, after +that, but in 1569 the bog on which the Cathedral is built moved under +its weight, the entire south wall of the nave and the vaulted roof fell +in, and the debris lay where it fell until 1875, when Henry Roe, of +Roe's Whiskey, furnished the money for a complete restoration. + +It is a significant coincidence that St. Patrick's was restored from the +profits of a brewery and Christ Church from the profits of a distillery, +for it was by some such profits that they had to be restored, if they +were to be restored at all, because brewing and distilling are the only +industries which have flourished in Dublin since the Act of Union. All +others have decayed or withered entirely away. Wherein is food for +thought! + +But this takes nothing from the fact that Christ Church is an +interesting structure; and the most interesting thing in it is the tomb +of Strongbow. Richard de Clare his name was, second Earl of Pembroke, +and it was to him, so legend says, that Dermot MacMurrough, King of +Leinster, appealed for aid, in 1166, after he had been driven from his +kingdom and compelled to restore to Tiernan O'Rourke, Prince of Breffni, +Dervorgilla--otherwise Mrs. O'Rourke--with whom he had eloped. It wasn't +the lady that Dermot wanted--it was revenge, and, most of all, his +kingdom--we shall hear more of this story later on--and Strongbow +readily agreed to assist. He needed little persuasion, for the Normans +had been looking longingly across the Irish Sea for many years; and +Dermot got more than he bargained for, for Strongbow brought his legions +over from Wales, entered Dublin, and soon established English rule so +firmly that it was never afterwards displaced. + +When Strongbow died, he was buried here in the church that he had built, +and a recumbent statue in chain armour was placed above the tomb, with +legs crossed above the knees to indicate three crusades. Crossed at the +ankles would have meant one crusade, between knee and ankle, two. I +don't know how the old sculptors indicated four crusades; perhaps they +never had to face that problem. Some critics assert that this is not the +old statue at all; but if we paid heed to the critics, there would be +mighty little left to believe! + +If you will lay your hand upon the head of the statue, you will find +that the top is worn away into a hole. And that hole was worn by human +fingers--thousands upon thousands of them--placed there just as yours +are, as witness to the making of a deed or the signing of an agreement +or the paying of a debt. Almost all of such old documents in Dublin were +"Made at the Tomb of Strongbow." Thither people came for centuries to +settle accounts, and the Irish are so conservative, so tenacious of +tradition, that I dare say the tomb is sometimes the scene of such +transactions, even yet. Beside the knight's statue lies a truncated +effigy supposed to represent his son, whom, in a fit of rage, he cut in +two with a single stroke of his sword for cowardice on the battle-field. + +There are many other things of interest about the church, especially +about the crypt, where one may see the old city stocks, and the +tabernacle and candlesticks used at the Mass celebrated here for James +II while he was trying to conquer Ulster; and the church is fortunate in +possessing a most intelligent verger, with whom it is a pleasure to +explore it. We talked with him quite a while that day, and he lamented +bitterly that so few visitors to Dublin think the church worth seeing. +I heartily endorse his opinion of them! + + * * * * * + +Which brings us to those two wonderful masterpieces of ancient Irish +art, the Cross of Cong and the Book of Kells. + +The Cross of Cong is in the National Museum of Science and Art, and is +only the most interesting of many interesting things which have been +assembled there. The first exhibit as one passes through the vestibule, +has a flavour peculiarly Irish. It is an elaborate state carriage, +lavishly decorated with carvings and inlay and bronze figures, and it +was ordered by some Irish lord, who, when it was completed, found that +he had no money to pay for it, and so left it on the builder's hands. +What the poor builder did can only be conjectured. Perhaps he took down +his shillelagh and went out and assaulted the lord; perhaps he fled to +the hills and became a brigand; perhaps he just sat philosophically down +and let _his_ creditors do the worrying. + +Just beyond the vestibule is a great court, containing a remarkable +collection of plaster replicas of ancient Celtic crosses. They should be +examined closely, especially the two which reproduce the high and low +crosses at Monasterboice. We shall see the real crosses, before we leave +Ireland, but they have iron railings around them, which prevent close +examination, and they are not provided with explanatory keys as the +replicas are. Half an hour's study of the replicas helps immensely +toward appreciation of the originals. + +The chief glory of the museum is its collection of Irish antiquities on +the upper floor. It starts with the Stone Age, and we could not but +remark how closely the flint arrow-heads and spear-heads and other +implements resemble those of the Indians and Moundbuilders, so common in +our part of Ohio. Then comes the Bronze Age, with a magnificent +collection of ornaments of hammered gold, and some extraordinarily +interesting examples of cinerary urns and food vessels--for the old +Irish burned their dead, and, after the fashion of most Pagan peoples, +put food in the grave beside them, to start them on their journey in the +other world. + +In the room beyond are the so-called Christian antiquities: that is, all +the objects of art, as well as of domestic and military usage, which +date from the time of St. Patrick down to the Norman conquest--roughly, +from 400 A. D. to 1200 A. D. Before that time, Ireland was Pagan; after +the Norman conquest, she was crushed and broken. It was during these +eight hundred years, while the rest of Europe was struggling in +ignorance and misery through the Dark Ages, that Ireland touched the +summit of her artistic and spiritual development--and a lofty summit it +was! + +Her art was of home growth, uninfluenced from any outside source, and it +was admirable. Her schools and monasteries were so famous that students +from all over Europe flocked to them, as the recognised centres of +learning. Scholars were revered and books were holy things--so holy that +beautiful shrines were made to hold them, of gold or silver, set with +precious stones. Five or six of them, nine hundred years old and more, +are preserved in this collection. + +The bells used by the early Irish saints in the celebration of the Mass +were also highly venerated, and, cracked and worn by centuries of use, +were at last enclosed in shrines. Most holy of all, of course, was the +rude little iron bell used by St. Patrick, and recovered from his grave +in 552. The exquisite shrine made for it by some master artist about +1100 is here, as is also the bell itself. There is a picture of the +shrine opposite the next page; the bell is merely a rude funnel made of +two bent iron plates rivetted together and then dipped in molten +bronze--not much to look at, but an evoker of visions fifteen centuries +old for them who have eyes to see! + +I should like to say something of the croziers, of the brooches, of the +chalices which are gathered here; but I must hasten on to the chief +treasure, the Cross of Cong. It is perhaps the very finest example of +early Irish art in existence anywhere. It was made to enshrine a +fragment of the True Cross, sent from Rome in 1123 to Turlough O'Conor, +King of Ireland, and it is called the "Cross of Cong" because Rory +O'Conor, the last titular King of all Ireland, took it with him to the +Abbey of Cong, at the head of Lough Corrib, when he sought sanctuary +there in his last years, and it was by the Abbots of Cong that it was +preserved religiously through the long centuries. The last Abbot died +about a hundred years ago, and the museum acquired the cross by +purchase. + +There is a picture of it opposite the next page, which gives some faint +idea of its beauty. It was in a cavity behind the central crystal that +the fragment of the True Cross was placed; but it is not there now, and +nobody seems to know what became of it. Perhaps it doesn't matter much; +at any rate, all that need concern us here is the fact that, eight +hundred years ago in Ireland, there lived an artist capable of producing +a masterpiece like this. + +[Illustration: THE CROSS OF CONG] + +[Illustration: THE SHRINE OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL] + +It is of oak, covered with plates of bronze and silver, washed in places +with a thick coating of gold, and with golden filigree work of the most +exquisite kind around the central crystal. It is elaborately carved, +front and back, with the intertwined pattern characteristic of Irish +ornamentation, and every detail is of the finest workmanship. It is +inscribed with a Latin verse, + + Hac cruce crux tegitur qua passus conditor orbis, + +"In this cross is the cross enclosed upon which suffered the Founder of +the world"; and there is also a long inscription in Irish which bids us +pray, among others, for Turlough O'Conor, King of Erin, for whom the +shrine was made, and for Maelisu MacBraddan O'Echon, the man who +fashioned it. Thus is preserved the name of a great artist, who has been +dust for eight centuries. + +The Book of Kells is even more wonderful. It is to the library of +Trinity College we must go to see it--and go we must!--for it is +indisputably the "first among all the illuminated manuscripts of the +world." No mere description can give any idea of its beauty, nor can any +picture, for each of its pages is a separate masterpiece. Kells was a +monastery celebrated for its sanctity and learning, and it was there, +sometime in the eighth century, that an inspired monk executed this +Latin copy of the Gospels. It is of sheepskin parchment, and each of +its pages is framed with exquisite tracery and ornamentation, and with a +beautiful harmony of colouring. Most wonderful of all, perhaps, the +colours are as fresh and brilliant as they were when they came from the +artist's brush, eleven centuries ago. + +There are many other things in this old library worth seeing--among them +the Book of Darrow, thirteen centuries old, and ornamented with designs +which, as Betty remarked, would make beautiful crochet patterns. And +there is Brian Boru's harp--the very one, perhaps, that shed the soul of +music through Tara's halls--only unfortunately, the critics say that it +isn't more than five or six hundred years old. And there are stacks of +modern books, and the attendant who piloted us around remarked sadly +that many of the best of them were never taken off the shelves, except +to be dusted. I couldn't help smiling, for that is a complaint common to +all librarians! + + * * * * * + +We went out, that night, to a big bazar given for the benefit of the +Passionist Fathers, where we were made almost riotously welcome. +"America" is the open sesame to every Irish heart; and how winning those +bright-eyed Irish girls were in their quaint costumes! Ordinarily Irish +girls are shy with strangers; but they were working in a good cause that +night, and if any man got out of the place with a penny in his pocket it +must certainly have been because he lacked a heart! And the nice old +women, with smiling eyes and wrinkled, pleasant faces--we could have +stayed and talked to them till morning! Indeed, we almost did! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ON THE TRAIL OF THE SHAMROCK + + +OUR third day in Dublin was ushered in by a tremendous explosion. In a +minute the street outside was filled with dense black smoke, and then in +another minute with excited people. When we got down to breakfast, we +found that the suffragettes had tried to blow up the post-office, which +is next to the hotel, by throwing a bomb through the door. But the woman +who threw the bomb, like most women, couldn't throw straight, and +instead of going through the door, the bomb struck a stone at the side +of it and exploded. Our bell-boy proudly showed us the hole that it had +made in the wall. + +The day was so bright and pleasant that we decided to spend it somewhere +in the country, and as we wanted to see a round tower, and as there is a +very handsome one at Clondalkin, a few miles west of Dublin, we decided +to go there. The ride thither gave us our first glimpse of rural +Ireland--rather unkempt, with the fields very lush and green; and then, +when we got off the train, we were struck by a fact which we had +occasion to remark many times thereafter: that railroads in Ireland are +built with an entire disregard of the towns along the route. Perhaps it +is because the towns are only Irish that the railroads are so haughty +and disdainful--for of course the roads are English; at any rate, they +never swerve an inch to get closer to any town. The train condescends +to pause an instant at the point nearest the town, and then puffs +arrogantly on again, while the passengers who have been hustled off hoof +it the rest of the way. + +We got off, that morning, at a little station with "Clondalkin" on it, +but when we looked about, there was no town anywhere in sight. We asked +the man who took the tickets if this was all there was of the town, and +he said no, that the town was over yonder, and he pointed vaguely to the +south. There was no conveyance, so we started to walk; and instead of +condemning Irish railroads, we were soon praising their high wisdom, for +if there is anything more delightful than to walk along an Irish lane, +between hedgerows fragrant with hawthorn and climbing roses, past fields +embroidered with buttercups and primroses and daisies, in an air so +fresh and sweet that the lungs can't get enough of it, I don't know what +it is. And presently as we went on, breathing great breaths of all this +beauty, we caught sight of the conical top of the round tower, above the +trees to the left. + +I should say that Clondalkin is at least a mile from its station, and we +found it a rambling village of small houses, built of stone, +white-washed and with roofs of thatch. Many of them, even along the +principal street, are in ruins, for Clondalkin, like so many other Irish +villages, has been slowly drying up for half a century. There was a +great abbey here once, but nothing is left of it except the round tower +and a fragment of the belfry. + +The tower stands at the edge of what is now the main street, and is a +splendid example of another peculiarly Irish institution. For these +tall towers of stone, resembling nothing so much as gigantic chimneys, +were built all over eastern and central Ireland, nobody knows just when +and nobody knows just why; but there nearly seventy of them stand to +this day. + +They are always of stone, and are sometimes more than a hundred feet +high. Some of them taper toward the top in a way which shows the high +skill of their builders. That they were well-built their survival +through the centuries attests. The narrow entrance door is usually ten +or twelve feet from the ground, and there is a tiny window lighting each +floor into which the tower was divided. At the top there are usually +four windows, one facing each point of the compass; and then the tower +is finished with a conical cap of closely-fitted stones. + +As to their purpose, there has been violent controversy. Different +antiquarians have believed them to be fire-temples of the Druids, +phallic emblems, astronomical observatories, anchorite towers or +penitential prisons. But the weight of opinion seems to be that they +were built in connection with churches and monasteries to serve the +triple purpose of belfries and watch-towers and places of refuge, and +that they date from the ninth and tenth centuries, when the Danes were +pillaging the country. In case of need, the monks could snatch up the +most precious of their treasures, run for the tower, clamber up a ladder +to the little door high above the ground, pull the ladder up after them, +bar the door and be comparatively safe. + +I confess I do not find this theory convincing. As belfries the towers +must have been failures, for the small bells of those days, hung a +hundred feet above the ground in a chamber with only four tiny openings, +would be all but inaudible. As watch-towers they were ineffective, for +the enemy had only to advance at night to elude the lookout altogether; +and as places of refuge, they leave much to be desired. For there is no +way to get food or water into them, and the enemy had only to camp down +about them for a few days to starve the inmates out. However, I am not +an antiquarian, and my opinion is of no especial value--besides, I have +no better theory to suggest. Whatever their purpose, there they stand, +and very astonishing they are. + +The Clondalkin tower, for the first thirteen feet, is a block of solid +masonry about twenty feet in diameter, and above this is the little door +opening into the first story. New floors have been built at the +different levels and ladders placed between them, so that one may climb +the eighty-five feet to the top, but we were contented to take the view +for granted. While I manoeuvred for a photograph in a field of +buttercups which left my shoes covered with yellow pollen, Betty got +into talk with the people who lived in the cottage at the tower-foot, +and then she crossed the street to look over a wall at a tiny garden +that was a perfect riot of bloom, and by the time I got there, the +fresh-faced old woman with a crown of white hair who owned the garden +had come out, and, after a few minutes' talk, started to pick Betty a +bouquet of her choicest flowers. + +Betty was in a panic, for she didn't want the garden despoiled,--at the +same time she realised that she must be careful or she would hurt the +feelings of this kindly woman, who was so evidently enjoying pulling her +flowers to give to the stranger from America. It was at that moment the +brilliant idea flashed into her head to ask if the true shamrock grew in +the neighbourhood. + +"Sure, miss, I have it right here," was the answer, and the owner of the +garden picked up proudly a small pot in which grew a plant that looked +to me like clover. + +"But doesn't it grow wild?" Betty asked. + +"It does, miss; but 'tis very hard to find. This was sent me by my +brother in Tipperary. 'Tis the true shamrock, miss," and she broke off a +spray for each of us. + +Let me say here that she knew perfectly well Betty was a married woman; +her first question had been as to our relationship. But all over +Ireland, women, whether married or single, are habitually addressed as +"miss," just as, conversely, in France they are addressed habitually as +"madame." But we had got the old woman's mind off her flowers, and we +managed to escape before she thought of them again. + +There are not, I fancy, many visitors to Clondalkin, for, as we +sauntered on along the street, we found ourselves objects of the +liveliest interest. It was a kindly interest, too, for every one who +could catch our eyes smiled and nodded and wished us good-day, just as +the Dutch used to do in the little towns of Holland. We were heading for +the church, and when we reached it we found that there was a large +school attached to it, and most of the pupils were having their lessons +outdoors, a group in this corner and a group in that. The small children +were being taught by older ones, and the older children were being +taught by nuns; but I am afraid that our passage through the school-yard +nearly broke up the lessons. It was a sort of triumphal progress, for, +as we passed each class, the teacher in charge would say "Stand!" and +all the children would rise to their feet and stare at us with round +eyes, and the teacher would bow gravely. I am sorry now I didn't stop +and talk to some of them, but the formal nature of our reception +confused and embarrassed us, and we hastened on. + +We took a look at the church, which is new and bare; and then we walked +on toward the gate, past a lawn which two gardeners were leisurely +mowing. It was evident from the way they returned our greeting that they +wanted to talk, so we stopped and asked if we could get a car in the +village to take us back to the station. + +"You can, miss," said the elder of the two men, who did all the talking, +while his younger companion stood by and grinned. "There is a very good +car to be had in the village," and he told us where to go to find the +owner. "You would be from America? I have a sister and two brothers +there." And he went on to tell us about them, where they lived and what +they were doing and how they had prospered. And then Betty asked him if +he could find her a piece of the true shamrock. "I can, miss," he +answered instantly, and stepping over a low wire fence, he waded out +into a meadow and came back in a moment with a clover-like clump in his +hand. "This is it, miss," he said, and gave it to her; "the true +shamrock." + +We examined it eagerly. It was a trefoil, the leaf of which is like our +white clover, except that it lacks the little white rings which mark the +leaf of ours, and it blossoms with a tiny yellow flower. I confess that +it wasn't at all my idea of the shamrock, nor was it Betty's, and she +asked the gardener doubtfully if he was sure that this was it. + +"I am, miss," he answered promptly; "as sure as I am of anything." + +"But down in the village," said Betty, "a woman gave me this," and she +took the spray from her button-hole, "and said _it_ was the true +shamrock. You see the leaf is quite green and larger and the blossom is +white." + +"True for you, miss; and there be some people who think that the true +shamrock. But it is not so--'tis only white clover. The true shamrock is +that I have given you." + +"Well, you are a gardener," said Betty, "and ought to know." + +"Ah, miss," retorted the man, his eyes twinkling, "you could start the +prettiest shindy you ever saw by getting all the gardeners in Ireland +together, and asking them to decide which was the true shamrock!" + +I suppose I may as well thresh out the question here, so far as it is +possible to thresh it out at all, for though, in the east, the west, the +north and south of Ireland, we sought the true shamrock, we were no more +certain of it when we got through than before we began. The only +conclusion we could reach, after listening to every one, was that there +are three or four varieties of the shamrock, and that almost any trefoil +will do. + +The legend is that, about 450, St. Patrick reached the Rock of Cashel, +in his missionary journeyings over Ireland, and at once went to work to +convert Aengus MacNatfraich, the ruling king who lived in the great +castle there. One day, out on the summit of the rock, as the Saint was +preaching to the king and his assembled household, he started to explain +the idea of the Trinity, and found, as many have done since, that it was +rather difficult to do. Casting about for an illustration, his eyes fell +upon a trefoil growing at his feet, and he stooped and plucked it, and +used its three petals growing from one stem as a symbol of the +Three-in-One. This simple and homely illustration made the idea +intelligible, and whenever after that St. Patrick found himself on the +subject of the Trinity, he always stooped and plucked a trefoil to +demonstrate what he meant. + +Now of course the true shamrock is the particular trefoil which St. +Patrick plucked first on the Rock of Cashel, but there is no way of +telling which that was. In his subsequent preaching, the Saint would +pluck the first that came to hand, since any of them would answer his +purpose, and so, sooner or later, all the Irish trefoils would be thus +used by him. The Irish word "seamrog" means simply a trefoil, and in +modern times, the name has been applied to watercress, to wood-sorrel, +and to both yellow and white clover; but nowadays only the two +last-named kinds are generally worn on St. Patrick's day. Whether white +or yellow clover is worn is said to depend somewhat on the locality, but +the weight of authority is, I think, slightly on the side of the yellow. + +Whatever its colour, it is a most elusive plant and difficult to get. +Our original idea was that every Irish field was thick with shamrocks, +but in no instance except that of the gardener at Clondalkin, do I +remember any one finding some growing wild right at hand. Indeed, in +most localities, it didn't seem to grow wild at all, but was carefully +raised in a pot, like a flower. Where it _did_ grow wild, it was always +in some distant and inaccessible place. I should have suspected that +this was simply blarney, and that our informants either wished to keep +our profane hands off the shamrock or expected to get paid for going and +getting us some, but for the fact that those who raised it always +eagerly offered us a spray, and those who didn't usually disclaimed any +exact knowledge of where it grew. + +We bade the Clondalkin gardener and his helper good-bye at last, and +walked on down to the village for a look at the remnant of the fort the +Danes built here as their extreme western outpost against the wild +Irish, and presently we fell in with an old woman, bent with rheumatism, +hobbling painfully along, and she told us all about her ailment, and +then as we passed a handsome house set back in a garden surrounded by a +high wall, she pointed it out proudly as the residence of the parish +priest. Then we thought it was time to be seeing about our car, and +started down the street to find its owner, when we heard some one +running after us. It was a man of about thirty, and his face, though not +very clean, was beaming with friendliness. + +"Is it a car your honour would be wantin'?" he asked. + +"Yes," I said. "How did you know?" + +"The man up at the church told me, sir. He said you'd be wishin' to +drive to the station." + +"Well, we do," I said. "It's too far to walk. Have you a car?" + +"I have, sir, and it's myself would be glad to carry you and your lady +there." + +"All right," I agreed; and then, as an afterthought, "How much will you +charge?" + +"Not a penny, sir," he protested warmly. "Not a penny." + +I stared at him. I confess I didn't understand. He returned my stare +with a broad smile. + +"The Dublin train doesn't go for an hour yet, sir," he went on. "If +you'll just be wanderin' down this way when the time comes, you'll find +me ready." + +"It's mighty kind of you," I said hesitatingly; "but we couldn't think +of troubling you. . . ." + +"Niver a bit of trouble, sir," he broke in. "I'll be that proud to do +it." + +He seemed so sincerely in earnest that we finally agreed, and he raced +away as he had come, while we went on to the village post-office to mail +a postcard--and perhaps find some one else to talk to. + +The post-office was a little cubby-hole of a place, in charge of a +white-haired, withered little old woman, whom we found very ready to +talk indeed. At first there were the inevitable questions about America +and about our family history, and then she told us about herself and her +work and the many things she had to do. For every Irish post-office, no +matter how small, is the centre of many activities. Not only does it +handle the village mail, but it is also the village telegraph-office, +and it does the work--by means of the parcel-post--which in this country +has been done until quite recently by the express companies. Furthermore +it is at the post-office that the old age pensions are disbursed and the +multifarious details of the workman's insurance act attended to. + +The latter is too complicated to be explained here, but we soon had a +demonstration of the working of the old age pension, for, as we sat +there talking, a wrinkled old woman with a shabby shawl over her head, +came in, said something we did not understand, held out her hand, was +given three or four pennies, and walked quickly out. + +"The poor creatures," said the postmistress gently, "how can one be +always refusin' them!" And then, seeing that we did not understand, she +went on, "That one gets an old age pension, five shillings the week; but +it never lasts the week out, and so she comes in for a bit of an +advance. I shouldn't be giving it to her, for she's no better in the +end, but I can't turn her away. Besides, she thinks--and there's many +like her--that the pension may be stoppin' any time, next week maybe, +and so what she gets this week is so much ahead. Many of them have no +idea at all of where the money do be coming from." + +I am not myself partial to pensions of any sort, for no permanent good +can come from alms-giving, which weakens instead of strengthens; but +Ireland, perhaps, needs special treatment. At any rate, the pensions +have been a great help. Every person over seventy years of age and with +an income of less than ten shillings a week, receives five shillings +weekly from the government. The same law applies to England and +Scotland, but there is an impression that Ireland is getting more than +her share. Certainly there is a surprisingly large number of people +there whose income is under ten shillings and whose years exceed +threescore and ten. I questioned the postmistress about this, and she +smiled. + +"Yes, there be a great many," she agreed. "In this small place alone +there are fifty poor souls who get their five shillings every Friday. +Are they all over seventy? Sure, I don't know; there be many of them +don't know themselves; but they all think they are, only it was very +hard sometimes to make the committee believe it. There is Mary Clancy, +now, as spry a woman as you will see anywhere, and lookin' not a day +over fifty. The committee was for refusin' her, but she said, said she, +'Your honours, I was the mother of fourteen children, and the youngest +of them was Bridget, whom you see here beside me. Bridget was married +when she was seventeen, and she has fifteen children of her own, and +this is the youngest of them she has by the hand--you'll see that he is +four years old. Now how old am I?' The gentlemen of the committee they +looked at her and then they looked at each other and then they took out +their pencils and made some figures and then they scratched their heads +and then they said she should have a pension. And sure she deserved it!" + +We agreed with her,--though, as I figured it out afterwards, Mrs. Clancy +may still have been a year or two under seventy--and then she went on to +explain that the pensions had been a blessing in another way, for not +only do they give the old people a bit to live on, but their children +treat them better in consequence. In the old days, the parents were +considered an encumbrance, and whenever a marriage contract was made or +a division of the property, it was always carefully stipulated who +should look after them. Naturally in a land where a man was hard put to +it to provide for his own family, he was reluctant to assume this +additional burden, and the result often was that the old people went to +the workhouse--a place they shunned and detested and considered it a +disgrace to enter. But the pension has changed all that, for a person +with a steady income of five shillings a week is not to be lightly +regarded in Ireland; and so the old people can live with their children +now, and the workhouses are somewhat less crowded than they used to be. + +But they are still full enough, heaven knows, in spite of the aversion +and disgust with which the whole Irish people regard them. Let me +explain briefly why this is so, because the establishment of the +workhouse system is typical of the blind fashion in which England, in +the past, has dealt with Irish problems,--the whole Irish problem, as +some protest, is merely the result of a stupid people trying to govern a +clever one! + +About eighty years ago, England realised that something must be done for +the Irish poor. Irish industries had been killed by unfriendly +legislation, the land was being turned from tillage to grass, and so, +since there was no work, there was nothing for the labouring class to do +but emigrate or starve. In fact, a large section of the people had not +even those alternatives, for there was no way in which they could get +money enough to emigrate. + +The Irish themselves suggested that something be done to develop the +industrial resources of the country, so that the able-bodied could find +work, and that some provision be made for the old, sick and infirm who +were unable to work, and for children who were too young. Instead of +that, and in spite of frenzied and universal Irish protest, a bill was +put through Parliament extending the English workhouse system to +Ireland. + +Now, the workhouse system was devised to provide for tramps--for people +who would not work, though work was plentiful; so there is a stigma +about the workhouse which the Irish poor detest and which most of them +do not deserve. They enter it only when driven by direst need--and how +dire that need has been may be judged by the fact that, in 1905, for +instance, the number of workhouse inmates exceeded forty-five thousand. +Of these, about four thousand might be classified as tramps. The +remainder were aged and infirm men and women, young children, and a +sprinkling of starving middle-aged who could find no work--but the +disgrace of the workhouse was upon them all. + +To-day, the traveller in Ireland finds one of these mammoth structures +in every town--in nearly every village, for their total number is 159. +In fact, the two most imposing buildings in the average Irish town are +the workhouse and the jail. And there is a savage irony in this, for not +only are there few voluntary paupers in Ireland, but there is amazingly +little crime. Six millions a year of Irish money are spent to maintain +the workhouses; how much the jails cost I don't know; but perhaps in +that golden age which some optimists believe will follow the coming of +Home Rule, workhouses and jails alike will be transformed into schools +and factories, and Irish money will be spent in brightening and +beautifying the lives of Ireland's people. + + * * * * * + +We bade good-bye, at last, to the little Clondalkin postmistress, with +many mutual good wishes, and wandered forth to find the Samaritan who +had offered to take us to the station; and finally we saw him standing +in a gateway beckoning to us, and when we reached him, we found the +gateway led to the house which had been pointed out to us as that of the +parish priest. It was a beautiful house, with lovely grounds and gardens +and a large conservatory against one end, and we stood hesitating in the +gateway, wondering if we would better enter. + +"Come in, sir; come in, miss!" cried our new-found friend. "The Father +is away from home the day, worse luck, but he'd never forgive me if I +didn't make you welcome." + +"Oh, then you're the gardener," I said. + +"Sure, I'm everything, sir," and he hustled us up the path, his face +beaming with happiness. "And how grieved His Riverence will be when he +comes back and learns that he missed you. If he was anywhere near, I'd +have gone for him at once, but he went to Dublin to the conference and +he won't be back till evenin'. He's a grand man, God bless him, and has +travelled all over the world, and it's himself would know how to talk +to you! There is the cart, sir; but there's no hurry. I must cut some +blooms for your lady." + +Betty was already admiring the flowers--great scarlet peonies, white and +pink geraniums, cinerarias, laburnums, and I know not what beside; but +she tried to stop him as he made a dash at them, knife in hand. + +"Oh, but you mustn't cut them!" she cried. "What would the Father say!" + +"Sure, miss, if he was here, he'd make me cut twice as many!" he +retorted, and went on cutting and cutting. "If he was here, 'tis not by +this train you'd be leaving. He'd take you all over the house, and it +would break his heart if you didn't stop for tea. It's sorry he'll be +when he gets home and I tell him of you!" + +We too were sorry, and said so--sorrier, next day, when we learned from +Katherine Tynan Hinkson what an accomplished and interesting man he is. +Meanwhile, the gardener had entered the greenhouse and was attacking the +plants there. Almost by main force, and sorely against his will, we made +him stop. As it was, Betty had about all she could carry--as lovely a +bouquet, she protested, as she had ever had in her life. And the joy of +this simple, kindly fellow in being able to give it to her was beautiful +to see. + +Then he brought out a fat little mare and hitched her to the cart, and +insisted on driving us for a while along the fragrant country roads +before he took us to the station. And I am sure that he valued our +thanks much more than the coin I slipped into his hand. + +We went out, that night, to see some friends in Dublin, and Betty took +part of her bouquet along to give to them. And as we were walking up +Grafton Street, an old and tattered woman, with two or three grimy +little bouquets in her hands, fell in beside us and begged us to buy +one. Finally she laid one of them on top of the gorgeous bunch Betty was +carrying. + +"Take it, miss; take it!" she urged. "Just see how beautiful it is!" + +"It's not beautiful at all!" Betty protested. "It's faded." + +"And so am I faded, miss," came the instant retort. "Sure, we can't all +be fresh and lovely like yourself!" + +Of course, after that, I bought the bouquet! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE COUNTRY OF ST. KEVIN + + +DUBLIN is fortunate in its environs. A few miles to the south or west, +and one is in the midst of lovely scenery. The Liffey, just above the +town, changes from an unsightly stream into a beautiful river; just to +the south lie the Wicklow hills--one can reach their foot by tram-line +and some of their wildest beauties are within an hour's walk; a short +run by rail takes one to Bray, from where the Dargle, a glen beloved of +Dubliners, is within easy reach. But the wise traveller will keep on to +Rathdrum, and from there drive over to Glendalough. Or the trip may be +made all the way from Dublin by motor-omnibus, and by this route one +gets the full beauty of the Wicklow passes; but I think the car trip +preferable, at least in fine weather. + +The forty-mile run from Dublin to Rathdrum is by the very edge of the +sea. The roadway has been cut high in the face of the cliffs that fringe +the coast--sometimes piercing a projecting headland, sometimes spanning +a deep gully, sometimes skirting a sheer precipice--and the view at +every turn is very romantic and beautiful. The train pauses at Bray, and +then, still hugging the coast, reaches Wicklow, where it turns inland +and mounts toward the hills along a pleasant valley to Rathdrum, perched +in the most picturesque way on the steep banks of the Avonmore, for all +the world like an Alpine village. + +Betty and I were the only ones who descended at Rathdrum, that day, and +we were glad, for it is peculiarly true of a side-car that two are +company and any larger number a crowd. The car was waiting, and in a few +minutes we were off on the twelve-mile drive. + +The road mounted steeply for a time, passed through a dingy village +clinging to a hillside, and then suddenly emerged high above the lovely +Vale of Clara. Far down, so far it seemed the merest ribbon, the +Avonmore sparkled over its rocky bed; beside it, here and there, a +thatched cottage nestled among the trees; and the greenest of green +fields ran back to the hills on either side. Here the gorse began, +mounting the hillsides in a riot of golden bloom, only to be met and +vanquished on the highest slopes by the low, closely-growing heather, +brown with last year's withered flowers, but soon to veil the hilltops +in a cloud of purple. But the gorse was in its glory--every hedge, every +fence, every wall, every neglected corner was ablaze with it; it +outlined every field; the road we travelled was a royal way, bordered on +either side with gold. "Unprofitably gay?" Betty hotly disputed it. For +how could such beauty be unprofitable? + +It was a perfect day, with the air magically soft and the sun just warm +enough for comfort, and we sat there, mightily content, drinking in mile +after mile of loveliness. Away across the valley, we caught a glimpse of +Avondale House, a school of forestry now, but sacred to every Irishman +as the home of Parnell. A little farther on, Castle Howard glooms down +upon the valley where the Avonmore meets the Avonbeg--that "Meeting of +the Waters" celebrated by Tom Moore. But it would take a far greater +poet to do justice to that exquisitely beautiful Vale of Avoca, +stretching away into the shimmering distance. + +The road turned away, at last, from the edge of the valley and plunged +into a beautiful wood, and we could see that the bracken was alive with +rabbits. It was a game preserve, our driver said, and he told us to whom +it belonged, but I have forgotten. I suggested that, when he had nothing +better to do, it would be easy enough to come out and knock over a +rabbit. + +"They would be putting a lad away for six months for the likes of that," +he protested. + +"Surely no one would grudge you a rabbit now and then!" + +"Ah, wouldn't they?" and he laughed grimly. "There's nothing the keepers +like so much as to get their hands on one of us. Why, sir, 'tis a crime +for a man to be caught on the far side of that wall. Not but what I +haven't got me a rabbit before this," he added, "and will again." + +We passed a gang of men repairing the road, and two or three others +sitting along the roadside, breaking stone by hand, and wearing goggles +to protect their eyes from the flying splinters; and our driver told us +how the contract for keeping each section of road in shape was let each +year by the county council to the lowest bidder, and the roads inspected +at regular intervals to see that the work was properly done. Two +shillings a day--fifty cents--was about the average wage. I suppose it +is because stone is so plentiful and labour so cheap that the roads all +over Ireland are so good; but one would be inclined to welcome a rut +now and then, if it meant a decent wage for the labourers! + +We emerged from the wood presently, and then, away to the left, our +jarvey pointed out the high peaks which guard the entrance to +Glendalough--and let me say here that the word "lough," which occurs so +frequently in Irish geography, means lake, and is pronounced almost +exactly like the Scotch "loch." Glendalough is one of the most beautiful +and romantic spots in Ireland, and its story runneth thus: + +In the year 498, the King of Leinster had a son whom he named +Caomh-ghen, or Gentle-born, and whom to-day we call Kevin. The King had +been converted by St. Patrick himself, and he brought his boy up a +Christian; and Kevin had never the slightest doubt as to his vocation, +but knew from the very first that he must be a priest. So he was sent +first to St. Petroc's school in Wicklow, and then to his uncle, St. +Eugenius, who had a school near Glenealy. + +Kevin grew in grace and wisdom, and likewise in beauty, until a +handsomer lad was to be found nowhere in Erin, and many a girl looked +sideways at him as he passed, but he paid no heed. One of them, seeing +him so fair and saintly, lost her heart to him entirely, and her head as +well, for she grew so shameless that she followed him in his walks, +pleading with him, touching his hand, kissing his robe--all of which +must have been most embarrassing to that modest and retiring man. At +last, one day, she waylaid him in a wood, and, hungry with passion, +flung herself upon him. + +There are two versions of what followed. One is that St. Kevin escaped +by jumping into a bush of nettles, and cooled the damsel's ardour by +beating her with a branch of them, whereupon she asked his pardon and +made a vow of perpetual virginity. The other, and much more plausible +one, is that, after the manner of women, she loved Kevin more +desperately after he had beaten her than she had before, and that +finally the Saint, worn out by a struggle in which he saw that he would +some day be defeated, resolved to hide himself where no man could +discover him, and betook himself to the wild and inaccessible spot where +the mountains meet above Glendalough. There high in the side of the +cliff above the lake, he found a crevice where he made his bed, and lay +down with a sigh of relief for the first peaceful sleep he had had for a +long time. Here is Tom Moore's rendering of the rest of the story: + + On the bold cliff's bosom cast, + Tranquil now he sleeps at last; + Dreams of heaven, nor thinks that e'er + Woman's smile can haunt him there. + But nor earth nor heaven is free + From her power if fond she be; + Even now while calm he sleeps, + Kathleen o'er him leans and weeps. + + Fearless she had tracked his feet + To this rocky, wild retreat, + And when morning met his view, + Her wild glances met it too. + Ah! your saints have cruel hearts! + Sternly from his bed he starts, + And, with rude, repulsive shock, + Hurls her from the beetling rock. + + Glendalough, thy gloomy wave + Soon was gentle Kathleen's grave! + Soon the saint (but, ah! too late) + Felt her love and mourned her fate. + When he said, "Heaven rest her soul!" + Round the lake light music stole, + And her ghost was seen to glide + Smiling o'er the fatal tide. + +Most biographers of the Saint hotly deny that he killed the fair +Kathleen, and point out that he was far too holy a man to do such a +thing, even in a moment of anger; but, on the other hand, Kathleen's +ghost may be seen almost any night sitting on a rock by the lakeside, +combing its yellow hair and lamenting its sad fate. What, then, are we +to believe? My own theory is that when the Saint opened his eyes, that +fatal morning, and found his tempter bending over him, he sprang hastily +away, well knowing to what lengths her passion led her, and +inadvertently brushed her off the narrow ledge of rock. The horrified +Saint scrambled down the cliff as quickly as he could, but the +too-impulsive girl was dead. A good many people will add that it served +the hussy right. + +This seems to me a reasonable theory; whether it be true or not, Saint +Kevin dwelt seven years in his cave, after Kathleen's death, without +being further disturbed. Then one day, a shepherd climbing down over the +cliff searching for a lost sheep, came upon the holy man, sitting +meditating in his cell, and hastened away to spread the news of the +discovery of a new saint. Great throngs crowded the lake to get a +glimpse of him, much to his annoyance, and besought him to come down so +that they could see him better. This he sternly refused to do, and told +them to go away; but finally he permitted them to build him a little +chapel on a shelf of rock near his cell. That was in June, 536; but the +number of his disciples increased so rapidly that the chapel soon proved +too small, and at last an angel appeared to him and ordered him to found +a monastery at the lower end of the lake. This he did, and it soon +became one of the most famous in Ireland. + +It must have been a picturesque place; for there was a special +stone-roofed cell for the Saint, and no less than seven churches to hold +the people, and a great huddle of domestic buildings to protect the +students from the rain and cold, and finally a tall round tower, from +which to watch for the Norse invader. St. Kevin himself died in the +odour of sanctity on the third day of June, 618. What I like about this +story of St. Kevin are the dates--they give it such an unimpeachable +vraisemblance! + +After his death, the monastery had a varied history. It was destroyed by +fire in 770, and sacked by the Danes in 830 and many times thereafter; +but the final blow was struck by the English invaders in 1308, when the +place was burnt to the ground. Since then it has been in ruins, much as +it is to-day. + +As we drove into the valley, that lovely day in May, no prospect could +have been more beautiful. To right and left, in the distance, towered +the bare brown hills, very steep and rugged, with the blue lake nestling +between. In the foreground lay the ruins of the seven churches, with the +round tower rising high above them; and, from among the trees, peeped +here and there the thatched roof of a cottage with a plume of purple +smoke rising from its chimney. It was like a vision--like some ideal, +painted scene, too lovely to be real--and we gazed at it in speechless +enchantment while our jarvey drove us around the lower lake, under the +shadow of the hills, and so to the little inn where we were to have +lunch. + +[Illustration: (C) Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. + +GLENDALOUGH AND THE RUINS OF ST. KEVIN'S CHURCHES] + +We were looking in delight at the inn, with its thatched roof and +whitewashed walls, when a formidable figure appeared in the door--a +towering young woman, with eyes terrifically keen and a thick shock of +the reddest hair I ever saw. She was a singularly pure specimen, as I +afterwards learned, of the red Irish--a sort of throw-back, I suppose, +to the old Vikings of the Danish conquest. I admit that I quailed a +little, for she was looking at us with an expression which seemed to me +anything but friendly. + +"Can we get lunch?" I inquired. + +"You can," she answered, short and sharp like the snap of a whip, and +she stood in the doorway staring at us, without making any sign that we +should enter. + +"Is it ready?" I ventured further, for the long drive had made us very +hungry. + +"It is not." + +Let me say here that very rarely does any one of Irish blood say "yes" +or "no" in answer to a question. When you ask the man at the station, +"Is this the train for So-and-so?" he will invariably answer, "It is," +or "It is not," as the case may be. When you ask your jarvey if he +thinks it will rain to-day, his invariable answer is "It will not." I +never heard an Irishman admit unreservedly that it was going to rain. +But before I had time to ask the red-headed girl any further questions, +she was hustled aside by a typical little brown Irishwoman, who asked us +in and made us welcome. Lunch would be ready in fifteen minutes, she +said; meanwhile, if we wished, we could walk to the waterfall. + +Of course we _did_ wish, and set eagerly forth past the end of the upper +lake, across a bridge, past a great empty hotel which was falling to +decay, and up a little stream to the fall. It is really a series of +rapids rather than a fall, and only mildly pretty; but growing +abundantly in the damp ground along the margin of the stream was what +Betty declared to be the true shamrock--a very beautiful trefoil, +evidently a variety of oxalis, and certainly much nearer our ideal of +the shamrock than the skimpy plant shown us by the gardener at +Clondalkin. We gathered some of it, and then hastened back--for we +didn't want to be late for lunch. As we were passing the lake, we +noticed an extremely dirty and unkempt individual, who looked like a +vagabond, sitting on a stone, and as soon as he saw us, he jumped up and +fell in beside us. + +"Your honour will be goin' to St. Kevin's bed," he began. + +"Where is the bed?" I asked. + +"In the cliff beyant there, sir," and he pointed across the lake. + +"How do we get to it?" + +"Sure I'll carry your honour and your lady in me boat." + +I looked at the fellow, and at the wide lake, and at the little +flat-bottomed skiff moored to a rock near by, and I had my doubts as to +the wisdom of entrusting ourselves to the combination. He read the doubt +in my face, and broke in with voluble protests. + +"Arrah, you must go to the bed, your honour," he cried; "and your +honour's lady, too. 'Tis the place where the blessed Saint lived for +siven years, and if you sit down in his seat you will niver have the +backache, and if you lie down in his bed you will niver have any ache at +all, at all, and if you make three wishes they will surely come true." + +Betty and I glanced at each other. We were tempted. Then I looked at our +would-be guide. + +"Why don't you make three wishes yourself?" I asked. + +"I have, your honour." + +"Did they come true?" + +"They did, your honour," he answered instantly. "I asked for a light +heart, a quick wit and a ready tongue. Your honour can see that I have +all of them." + +My heart began to warm to him, for he was the first person we had met in +Ireland who talked like this. + +"Now just be lookin' at this, your honour," he went on, and led us to +the side of the road where stood a cross of stone--the terminal cross, +as I afterwards learned, which marked the boundary of the old monastery. +"Do you see them marks? This large one is the mark of a horse's hoof, +and this small one of a colt's; and 'twas by a miracle they came there. +In the old time, there was a man who stole a mare and her foal, but who +denied it, and who was brought before St. Kevin. The Saint placed the +man in front of this cross and told him if he was guilty to be sayin' +it, and if he was not guilty to be sayin' it; and the man said he was +not guilty. And as he spoke the words, the shape of the hoofs appeared +on the cross, and when the man saw them, he knew it was no use tryin' to +deceive the Saint, so he confessed everything. And there the hoof-prints +are to this day." + +They certainly bore some resemblance to hoof-prints, and I could not but +admire the ingenuity of the tale which had been invented to explain +them. + +"What happened to the thief?" I asked. "Did the Saint let him go?" + +"He did not, your honour, for it was the law that he must be hanged. But +before he died, he asked the Saint to grant him one favour, and the +Saint told him to name it; and the man asked that he be buried in the +same graveyard with the Saint himself, and that on his grave a stone be +placed with a hole in the middle, so that, if a horse stepped over his +grave, he might put out his hand and pull it in. The Saint kept his +promise, and in the graveyard yonder you may see the stone." + +As, indeed, we did; at least, there is a grave there covered by a stone +with a large round hole in the middle. + +"And now, your honour," went on our guide, as we came to the door of the +inn, "you will be wantin' me to row you over to the Saint's bed, I'm +thinkin'." + +"What is the fare?" I asked. + +"As much over sixpence as you care to give, your honour." + +"All right," I said. "We'll be ready presently." And we went in to +lunch. + +We certainly enjoyed that meal, though I have forgotten its ingredients; +but I have not forgotten the clean, pleasant dining-room in which it was +served. And then we sallied forth for the visit to St. Kevin's bed. + +Our guide was awaiting us, and helped us into his boat and pushed off; +and at once began to recount the legends of the lake; how the fairies +danced punctually at nine every evening, whenever there was a moon, +while at eleven the ghost of the fair Kathleen sat on a stone and sang +and combed her hair, and at twelve the wraith of a wicked sorceress +struck blind by St. Kevin glided about the lake. I forget what else +happened, but it was evident that any one spending a night there would +not lack for entertainment. And he told us why no skylark ever sings in +the vale of Glendalough. + +It seems that when St. Kevin was building his monastery, he had a great +number of workmen employed, and the rule was that they should begin the +day's labour with the singing of the lark and end it when the lambs lay +down to rest. It was summer time, and the larks began to sing about +three in the morning, while the lambs refused to retire until nine at +night. The workmen thought these hours excessive, and so complained to +St. Kevin, and he listened to them, and looked at them, and when he saw +their poor jaded faces and tired eyes wanting sleep, his kind heart +pitied them, and he promised to see what he could do. So he raised his +eyes to heaven and put up a prayer that the lark might never sing in the +valley, and that the lamb might lie down before the sun was set; and +the prayer was granted, and from that day to this Glendalough has been +famous as + + "the lake whose gloomy shore + Skylark never warbles o'er." + +At what hour the lambs now go to rest our boatman did not state, and I +did not have time to make any observations for myself; but I commend the +question to the attention of antiquarians. + +By the time all these tales had been told, we were across the lake and +drawing in toward a high cliff on the other side; and suddenly somebody +shouted at us, and, as the hills shuttlecocked the echo back and forth +across the water, we looked up and saw two men clinging to the cliff +about forty feet up. As our boat ran in to the shore, they came +scrambling down and helped us out upon a narrow strand. + +"The seat and the bed are up yonder," said our guide. "Them ones will +help your honour up." + +I looked at the perpendicular cliff, quite smooth except for a little +indentation here and there where one might possibly put one's toe, and +my desire to sit in St. Kevin's seat suffered a severe diminution, for I +have no head for heights. I said as much and listened sceptically to the +fervent assurances of the guides that there was no danger at all, at +all, that they had piloted thousands of people up and down the cliff +without a single mishap, glory be to God. I knew they were talking for a +tip, and not from any abstract love of truth. But in matters of this +sort, Betty is much more impulsive than I--as will appear more than once +in the course of this narrative--and she promptly declared that she was +going up, for the chance to be granted three wishes was too good to be +missed. So up she went, one man pulling in front and the other guiding +her toes into those little crevices in the rock; and presently she +passed from sight, and then her voice floated down to me saying that she +was all right. + +Of course I had to follow, if I was to escape a lifetime of derision, +and after a desperate scramble, I found her sitting on a narrow ledge at +the back of a shallow cave in the cliff, with her eyes closed, making +her three wishes. Then I sat down and made mine; and then the guides +offered to conduct us to St. Kevin's bed, but when I found that the bed +was a hole in the cliff into which one had to be poked feet first, and +that to get to it one had to walk along a ledge about three inches wide, +I interposed a veto so vigorous that it prevailed. + +Having got up, it was necessary to get down, and when I looked at the +cliff, I understood why St. Kevin had stayed there seven years. The +method of descent is simply to sit on the edge and slide over and trust +to the man below. Fortunately he was on the job, so we live to tell the +tale. As to the efficacy of the seat, I can only say that two of my +three wishes came true, which is a good average. I don't know about +Betty's, for it breaks the charm to tell! + +I asked our boatman afterwards why he didn't pilot his passengers up the +cliff himself, and so earn the extra sixpence which is the fee for that +service; and he told me that he couldn't because that was an hereditary +right, controlled by one family, in which it had been handed down for +generations. The father trains his sons in the precise method of +handling the climbers, so that they become very expert at it, and there +is really no great danger. One member of the family is always on the +lookout above the cliff, and when any visitor approaches, two members +climb down to offer their services. Our boatman added that he wished he +belonged to the family, because in good seasons they made a lot of +money. + +We pushed out into the lake again, and rowed up a little farther to +another narrow beach, whence a rude flight of steps led to a shelf of +rock many feet above the lake, on which are the ruins of St. Kevin's +first little church. There is not much left of it, which is natural +enough since it was built nearly a thousand years before America was +discovered; but I took the picture of it which is reproduced opposite +the next page, and which gives a faint idea of the beauty of the lake. + +All during the afternoon, I had been conscious, at intervals, of a dull +rumbling among the hills, and as we pushed out from the shore, I heard +it again, and asked the boatman if it was thunder, for the clouds had +begun to bank up along the horizon, and I remembered that we had twelve +miles to ride on a side-car before we reached the station. But he said +that it wasn't thunder; there was an artillery camp many miles away +among the hills and the rumbling was the echo of the guns. He also +assured me, after a look around, that it wouldn't rain before morning. +The basis of an Irish weather prediction, as I have said before, is not +at all a desire to foretell what is coming, but merely the wish to +comfort the inquirer; but in this case the prediction happened to come +true. + +When we got back to the inn, we found a new arrival, a very pleasant +woman who had come over in the coach from Dublin. Her husband, I +learned, was an inspector employed by the National Education Board, who +had come to Glendalough to inspect the schools in the neighbourhood. He +had started out to inspect one at once, but when he returned I had a +most interesting talk with him concerning education in Ireland, and the +problems which it has to face. + +[Illustration: THE ROAD TO ST. KEVIN'S SEAT] + +[Illustration: THE FIRST OF ST. KEVIN'S CHURCHES] + +The Irish schools, like everything else Irish, are controlled by a +central board which sits at Dublin Castle. There are sixty-six other +boards and bureaus and departments sitting there, each dealing with some +special branch of Irish affairs, and all of them are costly and +complicated. These sixty-seven varieties must cause a pang of envy in +the breast of our own Heinz, for that is ten more than he produces! The +particular board which controls the schools is called the National +Education Board, and, like all the others, it is in no way responsible +to the Irish people. In fact, it isn't responsible to anybody. Its +members are appointed for life, and it is virtually a self-perpetuating +body, for vacancies are usually filled in accordance with the +recommendation of a majority of its members. It is absolutely supreme in +Irish educational affairs. + +The elementary schools in Ireland are known as "National Schools," and +each of them is controlled by a local manager, who is always either the +priest or the rector of the parish--the priest if the parish is largely +Roman Catholic, the rector if it is largely Protestant. If there are +enough children, both Catholic and Protestant, to fill two schools, +there will be two, and the two creeds will be separated. This is always +done, of course, in the cities, and in the north of Ireland there are +separate schools for the Presbyterians; but in the country districts +this cannot be done, so that, whatever the religious complexion of the +school, there will always be a few pupils of the other denomination in +it. In the villages where there is a church, as at Clondalkin, the +school is usually connected with the church and in that case, if it is +Roman Catholic, the teachers will be nuns. + +The local manager of the school has absolute authority over it. He +employs and dismisses the teachers; he prescribes the course of study; +no book which he prohibits may be used in the school; any book, within +very wide limits, which he wishes to use, he may use; he determines the +character of the religious instruction. If he is a Catholic, this is, of +course, Catholicism; if he is a Protestant, it is Protestantism--which +means in Ireland either Presbyterianism in the north or Church of +Irelandism in the south and west. But, as a very noted preacher remarked +to me one evening, if he should happen to be a Mohammedan, he would be +perfectly free to teach Mohammedanism. + +The secular instruction given in the schools is supposed not to be +coloured by religion, but it is inevitable that it should be; and this +is especially true of Ireland, in whose history religious differences +have played and still play so large a part. The result is that the +memory of old wrongs, far better forgotten, is kept alive and flaming; +and not only that, but the wrongs themselves are magnified and +distorted out of all resemblance to the truth. Some one has remarked +that half the ill-feeling in Ireland is caused by the memory of things +that never happened; and furthermore such atrocities as did occur in +some far distant day are spoken of as though they happened yesterday. To +every Catholic, Limerick is still "The City of the Violated Treaty," +although the treaty referred to was made (and broken) in 1691, and +Catholics have long since been given every right it granted them. In +Derry, the "siege" is referred to constantly as though it were just +over, though as a matter of fact it occurred in 1689. To shout "To hell +with King Billy!" is the deadliest insult that Catholic can offer +Protestant, though King Billy, otherwise William III of Orange, has been +dead for more than two centuries. And when one asks the caretaker of any +old ruin how the place came to be ruined, the invariable answer is +"'Twas Crummell did it!" although it may have been in ruins a century +before Cromwell was born. + +A certain period of every day, in every National School, is set apart +for religious instruction. When that period arrives, a placard on the +wall bearing the words "Secular Instruction," is reversed, displaying +the words "Religious Instruction" printed on the other side. Then +everybody in the schoolhouse who does not belong to the denomination in +which religious instruction is to be given is chased outside. Thus, as +you drive about Ireland, you will see little groups of boys and girls +standing idly in front of the schoolhouses, and you will wonder what +they are doing there. + +They are waiting for the religious instruction period to be ended. + +No Protestant child is permitted to be present while Catholic +instruction is going on, and no Catholic child while Protestant +instruction is being given. The law used to require the teacher forcibly +to eject such a child; but this raised an awful rumpus because, of +course, both Catholics and Protestants are anxious to make converts, and +the teachers used to say that they had conscientious scruples against +driving out any child who might wish to be converted. So the law now +requires the teacher to notify the child's parents; and the result is, I +fancy, very painful to the child. + +All of which, I will say frankly, seems to me absurd. I do not believe +that religious and secular instruction can be combined in this way, +especially with a mixed population, without impairing the efficiency of +both. The first real struggle the Home Rule Parliament will have to +face, in the opinion of my friend the inspector, is the struggle to +secularise education. And this, he added, will not be a struggle of +Protestant against Catholic, but of clerical against anti-clerical, for, +while religious instruction is a far more vital principle with the +Catholic church than with the Protestant church, Protestant preachers in +Ireland are just as jealous of their power over the schools and just as +determined to retain it, as the Catholic priests. The influence of the +clergy in Ireland is very great, and I am inclined to think they will +win the first battle; but I also think that they are certain to lose in +the end. + +The General Education Board keeps in touch with the local schools by +employing inspectors, who visit them three times a year and report on +their condition. These visits are supposed to be unexpected, but, as a +matter of fact, they seldom are. + +"Word always gets about," my informant explained, with a smile, "that we +are in the neighbourhood, and of course things are furbished up a bit." + +"I should like to visit some of the schools," I said. + +"You are at perfect liberty to do so. Any orderly person has the right +to enter any school at any time." + +"It is the poor little schools I wish to see," I added. + +"You will find plenty of them in the west of Ireland--in fact, that is +about the only kind they have there. And you will probably scare the +teacher out of a year's growth when you step in. He will think you are +an inspector, or a government official of some kind, who has heard +something to his discredit and has come to investigate." + +"Something to his discredit?" I repeated. + +"Perhaps that he doesn't try to make the children in his district come +to school. That is one great fault with our system. We have a compulsory +education law, and every child in Ireland is supposed to go to school +until he is fourteen. But no effort is made to enforce it, and not over +half the children attend school with any sort of regularity. Often, of +course, their parents need them; but more frequently it is because the +parents are so ignorant themselves that they don't appreciate the value +of an education. That isn't their fault entirely, for until thirty or +forty years ago, it was practically impossible for a Catholic child to +get any education, since the schools were managed by Protestants in a +proselytising spirit and the priests would not allow Catholic children +to attend them. + +"I have some of the old readers that were used in those days," went on +the inspector, with a smile, "and I wish I had them here. They would +amuse you. In one of them, the Board cut out Scott's lines, + + "'Breathes there a man with soul so dead + Who never to himself has said + This is my own, my native land,' + +and so on, fearing that they might have a bad effect upon Irish children +by teaching them to love the land they were born in, and substituted +some verses written by one of their own members. One stanza ran +something like this: + + "'I thank the goodness and the grace + Which on my birth have smiled, + And made me in these Christian days + A happy English child.' + +The Board claimed there was nothing sectarian about that stanza, but I +wonder what the O'Malleys over in Joyce's Country thought when their +children recited it? I'll bet there was a riot! And the histories had +every sort of history in them except Irish history. Ireland was treated +as a kind of tail to England's kite, and the English conquest was spoken +of as a thing for which Ireland should be deeply grateful, and the +English government was held up to admiration as the best and wisest that +man could hope to devise. + +"Ah, well, those days are over now, and they don't try to make a happy +English child out of an Irish Catholic any longer. The principal +trouble now is that there isn't enough money to carry on the schools +properly. Many of the buildings are unfit for schoolhouses, and the +teachers are miserably paid. The school-books are usually poor little +penny affairs, for the children can't afford more expensive ones. We +visit the schools three times a year and look them over, but there isn't +anything we can do. Here is the blank we are supposed to fill out." + +The blank was a portentous four-page document, with many printed +questions. The first section dealt with the condition of the schoolhouse +and premises, the second with the school equipment, the third with the +organisation, and so on. As might be expected, many of the questions +have to do with the subject of religious instruction. Here are some of +them: + + Note objections (if any) to arrangements for + Religious Instruction. + + Have you examined the Religious Instruction + Certificate Book? + + Are the Rules as to this book observed? + + Is the school _bona fide_ open to pupils of all + denominations? + + In case of Convent or Monastery schools, paid by + capitation, state is the staff sufficient. + +The "Religious Instruction Certificate Book"--note the reverent +capitals--is the book in which the religion of each child is certified +to by its parents, so that there can be no controversy on the subject, +and in which the child's attendance is carefully entered. There is also +a Punishment Book, in which the teacher, when a child is punished, must +enter the details of the affair for the inspector's information; and an +Observation Book, in which the inspector is supposed to note +suggestions for the teacher's guidance; as well as records of attendance +and proficiency, and all the usual red tape of the Circumlocution +Office. I have never seen any of these books, but I fancy that, with the +exception of the first-named, few teachers spend much time over them. + +As I have said before, the local manager has absolute control of the +school, and the poverty of the school funds is sometimes due to his +desire to keep this power wholly in his own hands. The government grant +is intended only as a partial support, and is supposed to be +supplemented by a local contribution. But frequently no local +contribution is asked for or desired, because, if one was made, the +persons who made it would rightfully claim some voice in the management +of the school. I have heard queer tales of managers' eccentricities. One +of them read somewhere of the high educational value of teaching +children to fold paper in various shapes, and so had the children in his +school devote an hour every day to this exercise. It was popular with +the children, but the indignation of their parents may be imagined. They +were, however, quite powerless to do anything except raise a row. +Another, who believed that the highest function of education was to +develop the aesthetic consciousness, had the children in his school +arrange rags of various colours in symphonies, and the people in his +parish nearly went mad with rage. + +But these, of course, were exceptions. As a rule, the course of study is +utilitarian and humdrum enough, and the only colour the manager injects +into it is that of religion. I note that the subjects of study +mentioned in the inspector's blank are oral and written English, +history, arithmetic, geography, object lessons and elementary science, +cookery and laundry work, singing, drawing, needlework, and training of +infants. This sounds ambitious enough, but I fancy it is mostly blarney, +so far as the small schools are concerned, at any rate. About all most +of them do is to teach the children to read and write and cipher--and +these most haltingly. Twenty per cent of the people in western Ireland +are still unable to do even that. + +"You are a Nationalist, I suppose?" I said, after I had finished looking +through the blank. + +"I am," he assented emphatically. + +"Why?" I asked. + +"Because it is bad for Ireland to be treated like a spoiled child. That +is the way England treats us now--we can get anything we want if we yell +loud enough. And it's bad for England, too. She has problems enough of +her own, heaven knows, but all she can think about is Ireland. Every +sensible Englishman will be glad to get rid of us, so his government can +have a little time to attend to its own affairs. What Ireland needs is +to be chucked overboard and told to sink or swim. We'll swim, of course, +but the shore's a long way off, and it will be a hard pull; but the +harder it is, the closer we Irishmen will be drawn together. Home Rule +won't bring any shower of blessings--it's more apt to bring hardships +for a while; but it will give us a chance to stop thinking about our +wrongs, and go to work to make Ireland a country worth living in." + +The time had come for us to take our leave, and the inspector and his +wife walked with us, for half a mile or so, along a beautiful path +through the woods on the other side of the lower lake, and finally, with +many expressions of good-will, bade us good-bye. We went on again, to +the ruins of St. Kevin's seven churches, with the round tower looming +high above them, while all about are the mounds and slabs of the old +graveyard. All the churches are little ones--mere midgets, some of +them--and they are in all states of preservation, from a few fragments +of wall to the almost perfect "St. Kevin's Kitchen"--a tiny structure +with high stone roof, which was set apart for the Saint's use, and which +was so solidly built that it passed unharmed through the many burnings +and sackings of the monastery, and still stands intact, defying the +centuries. There is a queer little tower at one end of it, and a chamber +above between the vault and the high roof; but most of these pre-Norman +churches are small and bare of ornament, and remarkable only for their +great age. + +We spent some time in the graveyard, looking at the crosses and +ornamented tombstones, and sculptured fragments lying about, and then we +inspected the round tower; but my picture of it looks like a silhouette +against the sunset sky; and finally we went on to the road, where our +car was waiting. As we swung along through the fresh, cool air of the +evening, we drew our jarvey into talk. He was very pessimistic about the +state of the country, and apparently did not believe that Home Rule +would help it much. There was no chance, he said, for a man to get +ahead. It was a hard struggle for most of them to get enough to eat and +a place to sleep and a few clothes to wear. A little sickness or bad +luck, and there was nothing left but the workhouse--the workmen's +insurance act did not include men like him. His own wages were ten +shillings ($2.40) a week, and there were many who could not earn even +that. On ten shillings--eked out by such tips as he picked up from his +passengers--he managed to clothe and feed himself, but that was all. +Marriage was not to be thought of; there was no hope of saving money +enough to go to America; in fact, there was no hope of any kind. But +though he spoke bitterly enough, he didn't seem unreasonably cast down, +and I dare say spent little time thinking about his hard fate except +when some passing Americans like ourselves reminded him of it. + +And at last, just as dusk was falling, we wound down into the valley at +Rathdrum; and presently our train came along; and an hour later we were +again walking along O'Connell Street. It was long past nine o'clock, but +not yet dark. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +DROGHEDA THE DREARY + + +THERE was one more excursion we wanted to make from Dublin. That was to +Drogheda (pronounced Drawda) of bitter memory; from where we hoped to +drive to the scene of the battle of the Boyne, and on to Dowth and +Newgrange, the sepulchres of the ancient kings of Erin, and finally to +the abbeys of Mellifont and Monasterboice. So we set forth, next +morning, on this pilgrimage; but fate willed that we were not to +accomplish it that day. + +Drogheda is about thirty miles north of Dublin, near the mouth of the +River Boyne, and the ride thither, for the most part close beside the +sea, is not of special interest, as the coast is flat and the only town +of any importance on the way is Balbriggan, celebrated for its hosiery. +Drogheda itself is an up-and-down place, built on the side of a hill. I +suppose the castle which was the nucleus of the town stood on top of the +hill, and houses were gradually built from it down to the ford from +which the town takes its name. Encircled with walls and dominated by its +castle, it was no doubt picturesque enough, but it is singularly dingy +and unattractive now, with slums almost as bad as Dublin's and evidences +of biting poverty everywhere. + +We blundered into the fish-market, as we were exploring the streets, and +watched for some time the haggling between the dealers and the women +who had come to market--a haggling so vigorous that it often threatened +to end in blows. Most of the fish had been cut up into pieces, and every +piece was fingered and poked and examined with a scrutiny almost +microscopic; and then the would-be purchaser would make an offer for it, +which would be indignantly refused. Then the dealer would name his +price, and this never failed to arouse a storm of protest. Then dealer +and purchaser would indulge in a few personalities, recalling with +relish any discreditable facts in the other's private life or family +history; and finally, sometimes, an agreement would be reached. In any +case, the price was never more than a few pennies, and the reluctance +with which they were produced and handed over proved how tremendously +hard it had been to earn them. + +Drogheda recalls Cromwell to every Irishman, usually with a malediction, +for it was here that the massacre occurred which made and still makes +the Great Protector anathema in Catholic Ireland. Briefly, the facts are +these: The Irish Catholics, under Owen Roe O'Neill, had, naturally +enough, supported Charles I against the Parliament, and when the +Parliament cut off his head, promptly declared for his son, Charles II, +and started in to conquer Ulster, which was largely Protestant then as +now. + +Cromwell realised that, before the Commonwealth would be safe, the +rebellion in Ireland must be put down, and at once addressed himself to +the task. He landed at Dublin about the middle of August, 1649, and +marched against Drogheda, which was held by an Irish force of some three +thousand men. Arrived before it, he summoned the town to surrender; +upon its refusal, took it by storm, and "in the heat of action," as he +afterwards wrote, ordered that the whole garrison be put to the sword. +Not more than thirty of the three thousand escaped, and such Catholic +priests as were found in the place were hanged. Cromwell afterwards +sought to justify this cruelty on two grounds: as a reprisal for the +killing of Protestants in Ulster, and as the most efficacious way to +strike terror to the Irish and end the rebellion. As a matter of fact, +it cannot be justified, as John Morley very clearly points out in a +chapter of his life of Cromwell which should be read by every one +interested in Irish history. + +Some fragments of the old walls still remain, and one of the gates, +which will be found pictured opposite the next page. It spans what is +now the principal street, and consists of two battlemented towers, +pierced with loopholes in each of their four stories, and connected by a +retiring wall also loopholed. It is so well preserved because it stands +on the opposite side of the town from the one Cromwell attacked, and is +the most perfect specimen of the mediaeval city-gate which I saw anywhere +in Ireland. When one has seen it, one has exhausted the antiquarian +interest of Drogheda, for all that is left of the old monastery is a +battered fragment. As for the modern town, the churches are rococo and +ugly, while the most imposing building is the workhouse, capable of +accommodating a thousand inmates. + +Having satisfied our curiosity as to Drogheda, we addressed ourselves to +getting out to the battlefield and abbeys. The railroads sell +combination tickets for the whole trip, at three or four shillings +each, carrying their passengers about in brakes; but these excursions do +not start till June, so it was necessary that we get a car. At the +station, and again at the wharf by the river, we had observed large +bulletin boards with a list of the jaunting-car tariffs fixed by the +corporation, and giving the price of the trip we wanted to take as ten +shillings for two people. In the square by the post-office, a number of +cars were drawn up along the curb, and, picking out the best-looking +one, I told the jarvey where we wanted to go. + +[Illustration: THE ROUND TOWER, CLONDALKIN] + +[Illustration: ST. LAWRENCE'S GATE, DROGHEDA] + +"Very good, sir," he said. "I'm the lad can take ye. Do you and your +lady get right up." + +"What is the fare?" I asked. + +"One pound, sir." + +"The legal fare is just half that," I pointed out. + +"It may be," he agreed pleasantly. + +We left him negligently flicking his horse with his whip, and presently +we met a policeman, and told him we wanted to drive out to +Monasterboice, and while we didn't mind being robbed, we didn't care to +be looted, and we asked his advice. He scratched his head dubiously. + +"Ye see it is like this, sir," he said; "there is no one to enforce the +regulations, so the jarvies just charge what they please. I'm free to +admit they have no conscience. There is one, though, who is fairly +honest," and he directed us to his house. "Tell him you come from me, +and he'll treat you well." + +But that transaction was never closed. We found the house--grimy, dark, +dirt-floored, trash-littered--with the man's wife and assorted children +within; but the woman told us that "himself" had driven out into the +country and would not be back till evening. And just then it began to +drizzle most dismally. + +"This is no day for the trip, anyway," I said. "Suppose we wait till we +get to Belfast, and run down from there." + +So it was agreed, and we made our way back to the station, through a sea +of sticky mud, and presently took train again for Ireland's ancient +capital. + + * * * * * + +We were ready to leave Dublin for a swing clear around the coast of +Ireland, and late that afternoon, having sifted our luggage to the +minimum and armed ourselves cap-a-pie against every vicissitude of +weather, we bade our friends at the hotel good-bye (not forgetting the +bell-boy), drove to the station, and got aboard a train, which presently +rolled away southwards. It was very full--the third-class crowded with +soldiers in khaki bound for the camp on the Curragh of Kildare, and our +own compartment jammed with a variety of people. + +In one corner, a white-haired priest mumbled his breviary and watched +the crowd with absent eyes, while across from him a loud-voiced woman, +evidently, from her big hat and cheap finery, just home from America, +was trying to overawe the friends who had gone to Dublin to meet her by +an exhibition of sham gentility. In the seat with us was a plump and +comfortable woman of middle age, with whom we soon got into talk about +everything from children to Home Rule. + +What she had to say about Home Rule was interesting. Her home was +somewhere down in the Vale of Tipperary, and I judged from her +appearance that she was the wife of a well-to-do farmer. She was most +emphatically not a Nationalist. + +"It isn't them who own land, or who are buyin' a little farm under the +purchase act that want Home Rule," she said. "No, no; them ones would be +glad to let well enough alone. 'Tis the labourers, the farm-hands, the +ditch-diggers, and such-like people, who have nothin' to lose, that +shout the loudest for it. They would like a bit of land themselves, and +they fancy that under Home Rule they'll be gettin' it; but where is it +to come from, I'd like to know, unless off of them that has it now; and +who would be trustin' the likes of them to pay for it? Ah, 'tis foolish +to think of! Besides, if everybody owned land, where would we be gettin' +labour to work it? No, no; 'tis time to stop, I say, and there be many +who think like me." + +"What wages does a labourer make?" I asked. + +"From ten to twelve shillin's a week." + +"All the year round?" + +"There's no work in winter, so how can one be payin' wages then?" + +"But how can they live on that?" + +"They can't live on it," she said fiercely; "many of them ones couldn't +live at all, if it wasn't for the money that's sent them from America. +But what can the farmers do? If they pay higher wages, they ruin +themselves. Most of them have give up in disgust and turned their land +into grass." + +"What do the labourers do then?" I asked. + +"They move away some'rs else--to America if they can." + +"Perhaps Home Rule will make things better," I suggested. + +"How, I'd like to know? By raisin' taxes? That same is the first thing +will happen! No, no; the solid men hereabouts don't want Home +Rule--they're afraid of it; but they know well enough they must keep +their tongues in their mouths, except with each other. The world's goin' +crazy--that's what I think." + +Now I look back on it, that conversation seems to me to sum up pretty +well the situation in rural Ireland--the small farmer, handicapped by +poverty and primitive methods, ground down in the markets of the world, +and in turn grinding down the labourers beneath him, or turning his farm +into grass, so that there is no work at all except for a few shepherds. +And I believe it is true that, as a whole, only the upper class and the +lower class of Irishmen really want Home Rule--the upper class from +motives of patriotism, the lower class from hope of betterment; while +the middle class is either lukewarm or opposed to it at heart. The +middle class is, of course, always and everywhere, the conservative +class, the class which fears change most and is the last to consent to +it; in Ireland, it is composed largely of small farmers, who have +dragged themselves a step above the peasantry and who are just finding +their feet under the land purchase act, and I think their liveliest fear +is that a Home Rule Parliament will somehow compel them to pay living +wages to their labourers. I can only say that I hope it will! + +Outside, meanwhile, rural Ireland was unfolding itself under our eyes, +varied, beautiful--and sad. The first part of it we had already +traversed on our excursion to Clondalkin; beyond that village, the road +emerged from the hills encircling Dublin, and soon we could see their +beautiful rounded masses far to the left, forming a charming background +to meadows whose greenness no words can describe. Every foot of the +ground is historic; for first the train passes Celbridge where Swift's +"Vanessa" dwelt, and just beyond is Lyons Hill, where Daniel O'Connell +shot and killed a Dublin merchant named D'Esterre in a duel a hundred +years ago--an affair, it should be added, in which D'Esterre was the +aggressor; and presently the line crosses a broad and beautiful +undulating down, the Curragh of Kildare, where St. Brigid pastured her +flocks, and it was made in this wise: + +One time, when Brigid, who was but a poor serving-girl, being the +daughter of a bond-woman, was minding her cow, with no place to feed it +but the side of the road, the rich man who owned the land for leagues +around came by, and saw her and her cow, and a pity for her sprang into +his heart. + +"How much land would it take to give grass to the cow?" said he. + +"No more than my cloak would cover," said she. + +"I will give that," said the rich man. + +"Glory be to God!" said Brigid, and she took off her cloak and laid it +on the ground, and she had no sooner done so than it began to grow, +until it spread miles and miles on every side. + +But just then a silly old woman came by, bad cess to her, and she opened +her foolish mouth and she said, "If that cloak keeps on spreading, all +Ireland will be free." + +And with that the cloak stopped and spread no more; but the rich man was +true to his word, and Brigid held the land which it covered during all +her lifetime, and it has been a famous grazing-ground ever since, though +the creatures are crowded off part of it now by a great military camp. + +Beyond the Curragh, the train rumbles over a wide bog, which trembles +uneasily beneath it, and the black turf-cuttings stretch away as far as +the eye can see; and then the Hill of Allen looms up against the +horizon, where the Kings of Leinster dwelt in the old days, and the +fields grow greener than ever, but for miles and miles there is not a +single house. + +And this is the sad part of it; for this fertile land, as rich as any in +the world, supports only flocks and herds, instead of the men and women +and children who once peopled it. They have all been driven away, by +eviction, by famine, by the hard necessity of finding work; for there is +no work here except for a few herdsmen, and has not been for half a +century. For when the landlords found--or fancied they found--there was +more money in grazing than in agriculture, they turned the people out +and the sheep and cattle in--and the sheep and cattle are still there. + +But the landscape grows ever lovelier and more lovely. Away on either +hand, high ranges of hills spring into being, closing in the Golden Vale +of Tipperary, and one realises it was a true vision of the place of his +birth that Denis McCarthy had when he wrote his lilting verses in praise +of it: + + Ah, sweet is Tipperary in the springtime of the year, + When the hawthorn's whiter than the snow, + When the feathered folk assemble and the air is all a-tremble + With their singing and their winging to and fro; + When queenly Slievenamon puts her verdant vesture on + And smiles to hear the news the breezes bring; + When the sun begins to glance on the rivulets that dance-- + Ah, sweet is Tipperary in the spring! + +Slievenamon is not in sight from the train--we shall see it to-morrow +from the Rock of Cashel; but just ahead is a rugged hill with a +singular, half-moon depression at the summit, for all the world as +though some one had taken a great bite out of it--and that is precisely +what happened, for once upon a time the Prince of Darkness passed that +way, and when he came to the hill, being pressed with hunger, he took a +bite out of the top of it; but it was not to his taste, so he spat it +out again, and it fell some miles away across the valley, where it lies +to this day, and is called the Rock of Cashel, while the hill is known +as the Devil's Bit. + +And then we came to Thurles--and to earth. + +Now Thurles--the word is pronounced in two syllables, as though it were +spelled Thurless--is a small town and has only two inns. We knew nothing +of either, so we asked the advice of a bluff, farmer-looking man in our +compartment, who was native to the place. He declined, at first, to +express an opinion, saying it would ill become him to exalt one inn at +the expense of the other, since the keepers of both were friends of +his; but after some moments of cogitation, he said that he would +recommend one of them, since it was kept by a poor widow woman. I +confess this did not seem to me a convincing reason for going there; but +our new-found friend took charge of us, and, having seen us safely to +the platform, called loudly for "Jimmy," and an old man presently +shambled forward, to whose care, with many wishes for a pleasant +journey, we were committed. + +The old man proved to be the driver of a very ramshackle omnibus, in +which we were presently rumbling along a wide and dreary street. The +hotel, when we got to it, proved bare and cheerless, with every corner +crowded with cots. The landlady explained that the great horse-fair +opened in a day or two, and that she was preparing for the crowds which +always attended it; but finally she found a room for us away up in the +attic, and left us alone with a candle. The weather had turned very +cold, and we were tired and uncomfortable, and even our electric torch +could not make the room look otherwise than dingy; and I think, for a +moment, we regretted that we had come to Ireland--and then, presto! +change. . . . + +For there came a knock at the door, and a soft-voiced maid entered with +towels and hot water, and asked if there wasn't something else she could +do for us; and then another came, to see if there was anything _she_ +could do, and between them they lapped us in such a warmth of Irish +welcome that we were soon aglow. I left them blarneying Betty and went +down to the shining little bar, where I smoked a pipe in company with +two or three habitues and the barmaid, and had a most improving talk +about the state of the country. They were as hungry to hear about +America as I was to hear about Ireland, and it was very late before I +mounted the stairs again. + +All through the night, we were awakened at intervals by the tramping and +neighing of the horses arriving for the fair. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HOLY CROSS AND CASHEL OF THE KINGS + + +IF one doesn't like bacon and eggs, one must go without breakfast in +Ireland, unless one likes fish, or is content with bread and butter. +Every evening Betty would have a colloquy with the maid, which ran +something like this: + +"What will ye be wantin' for breakfast, miss?" + +"What can we have?" + +"Oh, anything ye like, miss." + +"Well, what, for instance?" + +"There's bacon and eggs, miss, and there's fish." + +We usually took bacon and eggs, for fish seemed out of place on the +breakfast-table. Besides, we were sure to encounter it later at dinner. + +"And will ye have coffee or tay, miss?" the maid would continue. + +We took coffee once, and after that we took tea. The tea is good, though +strong, and it seems somehow to suit the climate; but one sip of Irish +coffee will be enough for most people. + +So next morning we sat down to our breakfast of tea and bacon and eggs +with a good appetite. The cloth was not as clean as it might have been, +but the eggs were fresh and the bacon sweet, and the bread and butter +were delicious--as they are all over Ireland--and the tea tasted better +than I had ever imagined tea could taste, and outside the sun was +shining brightly, but no brighter than the face of the maid who waited +on us, and there was a pleasant stir of movement up and down the street, +for it was Saturday and market-day, so that it was quite impossible to +be otherwise than happy and content. And presently the car I had +arranged for the night before drove up, and we were off on the four-mile +drive to the ruins of Holy Cross Abbey. + +We had to go slowly, at first, for the street was crowded with people +come to market, and with the wares exposed for sale. There were little +carts heaped high with brown turf, which might be bought for two or +three shillings a load, though every load represented as many days' hard +work; there were red calves in little pens, and chickens in crates, and +eggs and butter in baskets; and there were a lot of pedlars offering all +sorts of dry-goods and hardware and odds and ends to the country-people +who stood stolidly around, apparently rather sorry they had come. The +faces were typically Irish--the men with short noses and shaved lips and +little fuzzy side-whiskers, and the women with cheeks almost startlingly +ruddy; but there wasn't a trace of those rollicking spirits which the +Irish in books and on the stage seldom fail to display. + +Once clear of the crowd, we rolled out of the town, over a bridge above +the railway, and along a pleasant road, past little thatched cottages +overflowing with children; meeting, from time to time, a family driving +to town, all crowded together on a little cart behind a shaggy donkey, +the men with their feet hanging down, the women scrooched up under their +shawls, with their knees as high as their chins. They all stared at us +curiously; but our driver passed them by with disdain, as not worth his +notice, and from a word or two he let fall, it was evident that he +considered them beneath him. + +The road was rather higher than the surrounding country, and we could +see across it, north and south, for many miles; then it descended to a +winding stream, the Suir, flowing gently between rushy banks, and +presently we saw ahead a great pile of crumbling buildings--and then we +were at Holy Cross, one of the most exquisite and interesting of the +hundreds of ruins which cover Ireland. + +That word "hundreds" is no exaggeration. In a single day's journey, one +will see scores; and as one goes on thus, day after day, one begins to +realise what a populous and wealthy country Ireland was eight hundred +years ago, how crowded with castles and monasteries; and I think the +deepest impression the traveller bears away with him is the memory of +these battered and deserted remnants of former grandeur. And yet it is +not quite just to blame England for them, as most of the Irish do. It +was the English, of course, who broke up the monasteries and destroyed +many of the castles; but the march of the centuries would probably have +wrought much the same ruin in the end; for men no longer live in +castles, finding homes far pleasanter; and it is not now to monks they +go for learning, nor is the right of sanctuary needed as it was in the +time when might made right, and a poor man's only hope of safety lay in +getting to some altar ahead of his pursuers. Yet one cannot tread these +beautiful places without a certain sadness and regret--regret for the +vanished pomp and ceremony, the cowled processions and torch-lit feasts, +the shuffle of feet and the songs of minstrels--in a word, for the old +order, so impressive, so picturesque--and so cruel! + +[Illustration: HOLY CROSS ABBEY, FROM THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: THE MIGHTY RUINS ON THE ROCK OF CASHEL] + +Holy Cross was a great place in those days, for, as its name indicates, +it held as its most precious relic a fragment of the True Cross, given +by the Pope, in 1110, to Donough O'Brien, grandson of Brian Boru, and +thousands of pilgrims came to pray before it. The relic had many strange +vicissitudes, in the centuries that followed, but it was not lost, as +was the one which the Cross of Cong enshrined, and it is preserved +to-day in the Ursuline convent at Blackrock. Holy Cross had better luck +than most, for, at the dissolution in 1563, it was granted to the Earl +of Ormonde, a friend who cherished it. But the end came with the passing +of the Stuarts, and now it is deserted save for the old woman who acts +as caretaker, and who lives in a little ivy-covered house built against +the wall of the great church. + +She opened the iron gate which bars access to the ruins, and let us +wander about them at will, for which we were grateful. The plan of the +place is that common to almost all monastic establishments: a cruciform +church, with the altar at the east end, as nearest Jerusalem, the arms +of the cross, or transepts, stretching north and south, and the body of +the cross, or nave, extending to the west, where the main entrance was; +a door from the nave opened to the south into a court around which were +the cloisters and the domestic buildings--the refectory, the +chapter-house and the dormitories; and still beyond these were the +granaries and storehouses and guest-houses and various out-buildings. +Also, like most others, it stands on the bank of a river, for the monks +were fond of fishing,--and had no mind to go hungry on Friday! + +The roof of the church has fallen in, but it is otherwise +well-preserved, even to the window-tracery; and the square tower above +the crossing is apparently as firm as ever. The whole place abounds in +beautiful detail, proof of the loving workmanship that was lavished on +it; but its bright particular gem is a little sanctum in the north +transept, surrounded by delicate twisted pillars and covered by a roof +beautifully groined. Whether this was the sanctuary of the relic, or the +place where the monks were laid from death to burial, or the tomb of +some saintly Abbot, no one knows; but there it is, a living testimony to +the beauty of Irish artistry. + +The cloister is now a grass-grown court, and only a few arches remain of +the colonnade which once surrounded it; but the square of domestic +buildings about it is better preserved than one will find almost +anywhere else, and deserves careful exploration. + +As was the custom in most of the abbeys, the friars, when they died, +were laid to rest beneath the flags of the church floor; the church is +still used as a burial place, and is cluttered with graves, marked by +stones leaning at every angle. One's feet sink deep into the mould--a +mould composed, so the caretaker told us in awestruck voice, of human +dust. + +We mounted the narrow staircase to the tower roof and sat there for a +long time, gazing down on these lichened and crumbling walls, restoring +them in imagination and repeopling them with the White Brothers and the +pilgrims and the innumerable hangers-on who once crowded them. It +required no great stretch of fancy to conjure the old days back--that +day, for instance, three centuries and more ago, when Red Hugh +O'Donnell, marching southward from Galway with his army to join the +Spaniards at Kinsale, came down yonder white highway, and stopped at the +monastery gate, and invoked a blessing from the Abbot. And the Abbot, +with all the monks in attendance, carried the fragment of the Cross in +its gilded shrine out to the gate, and held it up for all to see, and +Red Hugh and his men knelt down there in the road, while the priest +prayed that through them Ireland might win freedom. And even as they +knelt, a wild-eyed rapparee came pounding up with the news that a great +force of English was at Cashel, a few miles away; so Red Hugh had to +flee with his men over the hills to the westward, to die a year later, +poisoned by a man he thought his friend. + +We descended after a time, and crossed the river to have a look at the +Abbey from that vantage-ground; and at last, most regretfully, we +mounted the car again and drove back to Thurles. An hour later, we were +at Cashel--the one place in all Ireland best worth seeing. + +I write that in all earnestness. If the traveller has time for only one +excursion out of Dublin, he should hesitate not an instant, but go to +Cashel. I shall try to tell why. + +Cashel is a rock some three hundred feet high dropped down among the +pastures along the northern edge of the Golden Vale of Tipperary. I do +not know how the geologists explain it. How the Irish explain it I have +told already. Its sides are of the steepest, and its flat top is about +two acres in extent. In itself it is a natural fortress, and it was of +course seized upon as such by the dim people who fought back and forth +over the length and breadth of Ireland in the far ages before history +begins. At first it was strengthened by a wall around the top. Any such +defensive wall in Ireland is called a cashel, as one of earth is called +a rath, and there are both raths and cashels all up and down the land, +for forts have always been sorely needed there; but this is the Cashel +above all others. + +Buildings were put up inside the wall, rude at first, but gradually +growing more elaborate, and when the real history of the place begins, +say about fifteen centuries ago, it was already the seat of the Kings of +Munster, that is of the southern half of Ireland. Hither about 450 came +St. Patrick to convert the King and his household; it was while +preaching here that he is said first to have plucked the trefoil or +shamrock to illustrate the principle of the Three-in-One; Brian Boru +strengthened its fortifications; and in 1134 was consecrated here that +wonderful chapel of Cormac McCarthy, King of Munster, which still +endures as a most convincing demonstration of the beauty of old Irish +architecture. Then a round tower was put up, and then a castle, and then +a great cathedral, for King Murtough had granted the Rock to "the +religious of Ireland," and the Archbishop of Cashel came, before long, +to be nearly as powerful as the great Archbishop of Armagh; and then a +monastery was built, and schools, under the sway first of the +Benedictines and later of the Cistercians. All this made a stupendous +group of buildings, a splendid and impressive symbol of Cashel's +greatness. + +[Illustration: (C) Underwood & Underwood, N.Y. + +CASHEL OF THE KINGS] + +But under Elizabeth, the scale turned. Dermot O'Hurley, Archbishop of +Cashel, was taken prisoner and carried to Dublin and hanged. His +successor, Milar Magrath, abjured his religion, under Elizabethan +pressure, and to prove the sincerity of his Protestantism, married not +once, but twice. From that time on, the place was used as a Protestant +cathedral, until, in 1744, Archbishop Price succeeded to the see. + +Now the Archbishop was a man who loved his ease, and though his palace +was situated conveniently enough at the foot of the Rock, his church was +perched most inconveniently upon it, and the only way even an archbishop +could get to it was to walk. Price spent a lot of money trying to build +a carriage road up the Rock, but finally he gave it up and procured from +Parliament an act decreeing that, whereas, "in several dioceses, +cathedral churches are so incommodiously situated that they cannot be +resorted to for divine service," power should be given the chief +governor, with assent of the privy council, to "remove the site of a +cathedral church to some convenient parish church." Two years later, in +1749, an act was passed directing that the cathedral be removed from the +Rock into the town. This was, of course, impossible in any but a +metaphorical sense; but, incredible as it may seem, since he couldn't +remove it, Price determined to destroy it, secured from the government +the loan of a regiment of soldiers, and set them to work tearing it +down. They stripped off the leaden roof, knocked in the vaulting, and +left the place the ruin that it is to-day. It might be remarked, in +passing, that here is one ruin "Crummell" didn't make. George II was +King of England in 1749, and Cromwell had been dead nearly a hundred +years. + +I shall never forget my first glimpse of this stupendous pile of +buildings, looming high in air, all turrets and towers, like those fairy +palaces which Maxfield Parrish loves to paint. A short branch runs from +Goold's Cross to Cashel, and it was from the windows of the rickety +little train we peered, first on this side and then on that--and then, +quite suddenly, away to the left, we saw the Rock, golden-grey, high +against the sky, so fairy-like and ethereal that it seemed impossible it +could be anything more than a wonderful vision or mirage. And then the +train stopped, and we jumped out, and hurried from the station, and +presently we were following the path around the Rock. But that was too +slow, and with a simultaneous impulse we left the path and climbed the +wall, and hastened upward over rock and heather, straight toward this +new marvel. We skirted another wall, and climbed a stile--and then we +were stopped by a high iron gate, secured with a chain and formidable +padlock. + +But we had scarcely time to feel the shock of disappointment, when we +saw hastening upward toward us a sturdy old man, with weather-beaten +face framed by a shock of reddish-grey hair and beard, and a moment +later we had the pleasure of meeting John Minogue, the caretaker--the +most accomplished caretaker, I venture to say, in all the length and +breadth of Ireland. For, as we soon found, he has the history and +legends and architectural peculiarities of Cashel at his tongue's +end--he knows them intimately, accurately, in every detail, for he has +lived with them all his life and loves them. + +He unlocked the iron gate and ushered us in, and chased away the rabble +of ragged children who had followed him up from the village; and then +began one of the most delightful experiences that I have ever had. I +almost despair of attempting to describe it. + +At our feet lay the Vale of Tipperary--an expanse of greenest green +stretching unbroken to the foot of a great mountain-chain, the Galtees, +thirty miles away. Farther to the north, we could just discern the gap +of the Devil's Bit, beyond which lay Limerick and the Shannon. And then +we walked to the other side of the Rock, and there, away in the +distance, towered the great bulk of "queenly Slievenamon," the Mountain +of Fair Women, and as we stood there gazing at it, John Minogue told us +how it got its name. + +It was in the days when Cormac son of Art was King of Erin, and Finn son +of Cumhal, Finn the Fair, he of the High Deeds,--whose name I shall +spell hereafter as it is pronounced, Finn MacCool--had been declared by +birthright and by swordright Captain of that invincible brotherhood of +fighting-men, the Fianna. Finn was past his youth, and had a comely son, +Ossian the sweet singer; but at times his spirit hung heavy on him, for +his wife was dead, and no man has peaceful slumber who is without a +fitting mate. So he looked about for one to share his bed, but found it +hard to choose, for there were many fine women in Erin; and at last in +his perplexity he sat himself down on the summit of Slievenamon, and +said that all who wished might run a race from the bottom to the top, +and she who won should be his wife. So it was done, and the race was won +by Grainne, daughter of the great Cormac himself. The feast was set for +a fortnight later, in the king's hall at Tara--and what happened there +we shall hear later on. + +We might have been standing yet upon the Rock, gazing out across that +marvellous valley, if John Minogue had not dragged us away to see the +wonders of the place. Not the least of them is the weather-beaten stone +cross, with the crucifixion on one side and an effigy of St. Patrick on +the other, which stands just outside the castle entrance, on the rude +pedestal where the Kings of Munster were crowned in the old, old days. +Here it was, perhaps, that St. Patrick himself stood when he stooped to +pluck the trefoil, and that King Aengus was baptised. Legend has it that, +as he was performing that ceremony, the Saint, without knowing it, drove +the spiked end of his crozier through the King's foot. Aengus said never +a word, nor made complaint, thinking it part of the rite; but when the +Saint went to take up his crozier and saw what he had done, he blessed +the King and promised that none of that royal stock should die of wounds +forever. Perhaps the promise was not "forever," for, five centuries +later, Brian Boru, the greatest of them all, was killed in battle at +Clontarf, as I have told. + +But the greatest wonder of all at Cashel is the jewel of a chapel built +by Cormac and standing as firm to-day as when its stones were laid, +eight centuries ago. It nestles in between the choir and south transept +of the later cathedral, and its entrance is the most magnificent doorway +of its kind existing anywhere on this earth. + +It is round-headed, as in all Irish Romanesque, with five deep mouldings +rich in dog-tooth and lozenge ornamentation, and though it is battered +and weather-worn, it is still most beautiful and impressive. + +Inside, the chapel is divided into nave and chancel, both very small, +but decorated with a richness and massiveness almost oppressive--twisted +columns, arcaded walls, dog-tooth mouldings, rounded arches, traceried +surfaces, sculptured capitals, and I know not what beside. Facing the +choir is a stone sarcophagus, beautifully ornamented with characteristic +Celtic serpent work, as may be seen in the photograph. It is called +"King Cormac's Coffin." It was in the small apartment over the nave and +under the steep stone roof that Cormac was struck down by an assassin, +as he knelt in prayer. + +It was something of a relief to get out into the high, roofless +cathedral, where one feels at liberty to draw a deep breath. The +cathedral is rich with sculptures, too; but I shall not attempt to +describe them. I can only hope that it may be your fortune to visit the +place, some day, and have John Minogue to take you round. But, let me +warn you, he does not waste himself on the unsympathetic. While we stood +admiring the sculptures of St. Patrick and St. Brigid and eleven of the +apostles, in the north transept (the sculptor omitted St. Matthew for +some unknown reason; or perhaps our guide told me why and I have +forgotten); as we stood there gazing in delight at these inimitable +figures, a party of four or five entered the church, and stood staring +vacantly about. + +"See here, Mr. Minogue," I said, after a time, "we can amuse ourselves +for a while, if you'd like to look after those other people." + +Minogue shot one glance at them. + +"No," he said; "they're not worth it. Now come--I must show you the +round tower." + +A beauty the tower is, with walls four feet thick, built of great blocks +of stone, and a little round-headed doorway, twelve feet above the +ground. It stands eighty-five feet high, and is wonderfully preserved; +but when we looked up it from the inside, we saw that the old masons did +not succeed in getting it quite true. + + * * * * * + +It was an hour later--or perhaps two hours later--that we emerged again +from the iron gate, and found the rabble of children still waiting. They +closed in on us at once, murmuring something in a queer half-mumble, +half-whisper, of which we could not understand a word. + +"What is it they're saying?" we asked. + +"They're saying," explained Minogue, "that if your honour will toss a +penny amongst them, they will fight for it; or, if you'd rather, they +will put up a prayer for you, so that you will get safe home again. They +don't consider that begging, you see, since they offer some return for +the money." + +And then, as they hustled us more closely, he turned and shouted +something at them--some magic incantation, I fancy, for they scurried +away as though the devil was after them. I regretted, afterwards, that I +had not asked him for the formula--but in the end, we found one of our +own, as you shall hear. + +Our guide insisted that we go down with him to his house and see his +books, and write our names in his album, and have a cup of tea. He lived +in an ivy-covered cottage, just under the Rock, and his old wife came +out to welcome us; and we sat and talked and wrote our names and looked +at his books--one had been given him by Stephen Gwynne, and others by +other writers whose names I have forgotten; but the treasure of his +library was a huge volume, carefully wrapped against possible soiling, +which, when unwrapped, proved to be a copy of Arthur Champneys' "Irish +Ecclesiastical Architecture," and with gleaming face our host turned to +the preface and showed us where Champneys acknowledged his indebtedness +for much valuable assistance to John Minogue, of the Rock of Cashel. + +We bade him good-bye, at last, and made our way down through the quaint +little town, which snuggles against one side of the Rock--a town of +narrow, crooked streets, and thatched houses, and friendly women leaning +over their half-doors, and multitudinous children; but the most vivid +memory I have of it, is of the pleasant tang of turf smoke in the air. +And presently we came out again upon the road leading to the station. + +From the top of the Rock we had seen, in the middle of a field not far +away, a ruin which seemed very extensive, and Minogue told us that it +was Hore Abbey, a Cistercian monastery built about 1272, but had added +that it was scarcely worth visiting after Cashel. That was perhaps +true--few ruins can compare with Cashel--but when we saw the grey bulk +of the old abbey looming above the wall at our left, we decided to get +to it, if we could. + +It required some resolution, for the way thither lay across a very wet +and muddy pasture, with grass knee-high in places, and Betty would +probably have declined to venture but for the assurance that there are +no snakes in Ireland. The nearer we got to the ruin, the worse the going +grew, but we finally scrambled inside over a broken wall, and sat down +on a block of fallen masonry to look about us. + +The mist, which had been thickening for the last half hour, had, almost +imperceptibly, turned to rain, and this was mizzling softly down, +shrouding everything as with a pearly veil, and adding a beauty and +sense of mystery to the place which it may have lacked at other times. +But it seemed to us singularly impressive, with its narrow lancet +windows, and plain, square pillars. Such vaulting as remains, at the +crossing and in the chapels, is very simple, and the whole church was +evidently built with a dignity and severity of detail which modern +builders might well imitate. It seems a shame that it is not kept in +better order and a decent approach built to it; but I suppose the Board +of Works, whose duty it is to care for Irish ruins, finds itself +overburdened with the multiplicity of them. + +We sat there absorbing the centuries-old atmosphere, until a glance at +my watch told me that we must hurry if we would catch our train. We +_did_ hurry, though with many a backward glance, for one is reluctant +to leave a beautiful place which one may never see again; but we caught +the train, and the last glimpse we had of Cashel was as of some gigantic +magic palace, suspended in air and shrouded in mist. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ADVENTURES AT BLARNEY + + +IT was getting on toward evening when we caught our train on the main +line at Goold's Cross. The storm had swept southward, and the hills +there were masked with rain, but the Golden Vale had emerged from its +baptism more lush, more green, more dazzling than ever. We left it +behind, at last, plunged into a wood of lofty and magnificent trees, and +paused at Limerick Junction, with its great echoing train-shed and wide +network of tracks and switches. Beyond the Junction, one gets from the +train a splendid view of the picturesque Galtees, the highest mountains +in the south of Ireland, fissured and gullied and folded into deep +ravines in the most romantic way. + +The train had been comparatively empty thus far, and we had rejoiced in +a compartment to ourselves; but as we drew into the station at +Charleville, we were astonished to see a perfect mob of people crowding +the platform, with more coming up every minute. The instant the train +stopped, the mob snatched open the doors and swept into it like a tidal +wave. When the riot subsided a bit, we found that four men and two girls +were crowded in with us, and the corridor outside was jammed with people +standing up. We asked the cause of the excitement, and were told that +there had been a race-meeting at Charleville, which had attracted a +great crowd from all over the south-eastern part of Ireland, especially +from Cork, thirty-five miles away. + +Our companions soon got to chaffing each other, and it developed that +all of them, even the two girls, had been betting on the races, and I +inferred that they had all lost every cent they had. It was assumed, as +a matter of course, that nobody would go to a race-meeting without +putting something on the horses; it was also assumed that every normal +man and woman would make almost any sacrifice to get to a meeting; and +there was a lively discussion as to possible ways and means of attending +another meeting which was to be held somewhere in the neighbourhood the +following week. And finally, it was apparent that everybody present had +contemplated the world through the bottom of a glass more than once that +day. As I looked at them and listened to them, I began to understand the +cause of at least a portion of Irish poverty. + +It was a good-humoured crowd, in spite of its reverses, and when a girl +with a tambourine piped up a song, she was loudly encouraged to go on +and even managed to collect a few pennies, found unexpectedly in odd +pockets. Then one of the men in our compartment told a story; I have +forgotten what it was about, but it was received uproariously; and then +everybody talked at once as loud as possible, and the clatter was +deafening. + +We were glad when we got to Cork. + + * * * * * + +Cork is superficially a sort of smaller Dublin. It has one handsome +thoroughfare, approached by a handsome bridge, and the rest of the town +is composed for the most part of dirty lanes between ugly houses. In +Dublin, the principal street and bridge are dedicated to O'Connell; in +Cork both bridge and street are named after St. Patrick--that is about +the only difference, except that Cork lacks that atmosphere of charm and +culture which makes Dublin so attractive. + +We took a stroll about the streets, that Saturday night after dinner, +and found them thronged with people, as at Dublin; but here there was a +large admixture of English soldiers and sailors, come up from Queenstown +to celebrate. Many of them had girls on their arms, and those who had +not were evidently hoping to have, and the impression one got was that +Cork suffers a good deal from the evils of a garrison town. There is a +tradition that the girls of Cork are unusually lovely; but I fear it is +only a tradition. Or perhaps the lovely ones stay at home on Saturday +night. + +Sunday dawned clear and bright, and as soon as we had breakfasted, we +set out for the most famous spot in the vicinity of Cork, and perhaps in +all Ireland, Blarney Castle. Undoubtedly the one Irish tradition which +is known everywhere is that of the blarney stone; "blarney" itself has +passed into the language as a noun, an adjective, and a verb; and the +old tower of which the stone is a part has been pictured so often that +its appearance is probably better known than that of any other ruin in +Europe. Blarney is about five miles from Cork, and the easiest way of +getting there is by the light railway, which runs close beside a pretty +stream, in which, this bright morning, many fishermen were trying their +luck. And at last, high above the trees, we saw the rugged keep which +is all that is left of the old castle. Almost at once the train stopped +at the station, which is just outside the entrance to the castle +grounds. + +[Illustration: BLARNEY CASTLE] + +"The Groves of Blarney" are still charming, though they have changed +greatly since the day when Richard Milliken wrote his famous song in +praise of them. There were grottoes and beds of flowers, and terraces +and rustic bowers there then, and statues of heathen gods and nymphs so +fair all standing naked in the open air; but misfortune overtook the +castle's owner and + + The muses shed a tear when the cruel auctioneer, + With his hammer in his hand, to sweet Blarney came. + +So the statues vanished, together with the grottoes and the terraces; +but the sweet silent brook still ripples through the grounds, and its +banks are covered with daisies and buttercups, and guarded by giant +beeches. Very lovely it is, so that one loiters to watch the dancing +water, even with Blarney Castle close at hand. + +Approached thus, the massive donjon tower, set on a cliff and looming a +hundred and twenty feet into the air, is most impressive. To the left is +a lower and more ornamental fragment of the old castle, which, in its +day, was the strongest in all Munster. Cormac McCarthy built it in the +fifteenth century as a defence against the English, and it was held by +the Irish until Cromwell's army besieged and captured it. Around the top +of the tower is a series of machicolations, or openings between +supporting corbels, through which the besieged, in the old days, could +drop stones and pour molten lead and red-hot ashes and such-like +things down upon the assailants, and it is in the sill of one of these +openings that the famous Blarney stone is fixed. + +Legend has it that, once upon a time, in the spring of the year when the +waters were running high, Cormac McCarthy was returning home through the +blackness of the night, and when he put his horse at the last ford, he +thought for a moment he would be swept away, so swift and deep was the +current. But his horse managed to keep its feet, and just as it was +scrambling out upon the farther bank, McCarthy heard a scream from the +darkness behind him, and then a woman's voice crying for help. So he +dashed back into the stream, and after a fearful struggle, dragged the +woman to safety. + +In the dim light, McCarthy could see only that she was old and withered; +but her eyes gleamed like a cat's when she looked at him; and she called +down blessings upon him for his courage, and bade him, when he got home, +go out upon the battlement and kiss a certain stone, whose location she +described to him. Thereupon she vanished, and so McCarthy knew it was a +witch he had rescued. Next morning, he went out upon the battlement and +found the stone and kissed it, and thereafter was endowed with an +eloquence so sweet and persuasive that no man or woman could resist it. + +Such is the legend, and it may have had its origin in the soft, +delutherin speeches with which Dermot McCarthy put off the English, when +they called upon him to surrender his castle. Certain it is that it was +fixed finally and firmly in the popular mind by the stanza which Father +Prout added to Milliken's song: + + There is a stone there, that whoever kisses + Oh! he never misses to grow eloquent. + 'Tis he may clamber to a lady's chamber, + Or become a member of Parliament. + A clever spouter he'll sure turn out, or + An out and outer, to be let alone; + Don't hope to hinder him, or to bewilder him, + Sure he's a pilgrim from the Blarney Stone. + +And ever since then, troops of pilgrims have thronged to Blarney to kiss +the stone. + +The top of the tower is reached by a narrow staircase which goes round +and round in the thickness of the wall, with narrow loopholes of windows +here and there looking out upon the beautiful country, and a door at +every level giving access to the great, square interior. The floors have +all fallen in and there is only the blue sky for roof, but the graceful +old fireplaces still remain and some traces of ornamentation, and the +ancient walls, eighteen feet thick in places, and with mortar as hard as +the rock, are wonderful to see; and finally you come out upon the +battlemented parapet, with miles and miles of Ireland at your feet. + +But it wasn't to gaze at the view we had come to Blarney Castle, it was +to kiss the stone, and we went at once to look for it. It was easy +enough to find, for, on top of the battlement above it, a row of tall +iron spikes has been set, and the stone itself is tied into the wall by +iron braces, for one of Cromwell's cannon-balls almost dislodged it, and +it is worn and polished by the application of thousands of lips. But to +kiss it--well, that is another story! + +For the sill of which the stone forms a part is some two feet lower than +the level of the walk around the parapet, and, to get to it, there is a +horrid open space some three feet wide to span, and below that open +space is a sheer drop of a hundred and twenty feet to the ground below. +When one looks down through it, all that one can see are the waving +tree-tops far, far beneath. There is just one way to accomplish the +feat, and that is to lie down on your back, while somebody grasps your +ankles, and then permit yourself to be shoved backward and downward +across the abyss until your mouth is underneath the sill. + +Betty and I looked at the stone and at the yawning chasm and then at +each other; and then we went away and sat down in a corner of the +battlement to think it over. + +We had supposed that there would be some experienced guides on hand, +anxious to earn sixpence by assisting at the rite, as there had been at +St. Kevin's bed; but the tower was deserted, save for ourselves. + +"Well," said Betty, at last, "there's one thing certain--I'm not going +away from here until I've kissed that stone. I'd be ashamed to go home +without kissing it." + +"So would I," I agreed; "but I'd prefer that to hanging head downward +over that abyss. Anyway, I won't take the responsibility of holding you +by the heels while you do it. Perhaps some one will come up, after +awhile, to help." + +So we looked at the scenery and talked of various things; but all +either of us thought about was kissing the stone, and we touched on it +incidentally now and then, and then shied away from it, and pretended to +think of something else. Presently we heard voices on the stair, and a +man and two women emerged on the parapet. We waited, but they didn't +approach the stone, they just looked around at the landscape; and +finally Betty inquired casually if they were going to kiss the Blarney +stone. + +"Kiss the Blarney stone?" echoed the man, who was an Englishman. "I +should think not! It's altogether too risky!" + +"But it seems a shame to go away without kissing it," Betty protested. + +"Yes, it does," the other agreed; "but I was here once before, and I +fought that all out then. It's really just a silly old legend, you +know--nobody believes it!" + +Now to my mind silly old legends are far more worthy of belief than most +things, but it would be folly to say so to an Englishman. So the +conversation dropped, and presently he and his companions went away, and +Betty and I sat down again and renewed our conversation. + +And then again we heard voices, and this time it was two American women, +well along in years. They asked us if we knew which was the Blarney +stone, and we hastened to point it out to them, and explained the +process of kissing it. There were postcards illustrating the process on +sale at the entrance, and we had studied them attentively before we came +in, so that we knew the theory of it quite well. + +"We were just sitting here trying to screw up courage to do it," Betty +added. + +The newcomers looked at the stone, and then at the abyss. + +"Well, _I'll_ never do it!" they exclaimed simultaneously, and they +contented themselves with throwing a kiss at it; and then _they_ went +away, and Betty and I, both rather pale around the gills, continued to +talk of ships and shoes and sealing-wax. But I saw in her eyes that +somehow or other she was going to kiss the stone. + +And then a tall, thin man came up the stair, and _he_ asked us where the +stone was, and we showed him, and he looked at it, and then he glanced +down into the intervening gulf, and drew back with a shudder. + +"Not for me," he said. "Not--for--me!" + +"We've come all the way from America," said Betty, "and we simply +_can't_ go away until we've kissed it." + +"Well, _I've_ come all the way from New Zealand, madam," said the man, +"but I wouldn't think for a minute of risking my life like that." + +"It used to be a good deal more dangerous than it is now," I pointed +out, as much for my own benefit as for his. "They used to take people by +the ankles and hold them upside down outside the battlement. I suppose +they dropped somebody over, for those spikes were put there along the +top to stop it. If the people who hold your legs are steady, there +really isn't any danger now." + +The New Zealander took another peep over into space. + +"No sirree!" he said. "No sir--ree!" + +But he didn't go away. Instead, he sat down and began to talk; and I +fancied I could see in his eyes some such uneasy purpose as I saw in +Betty's. + +And then a boy of twelve or fourteen came up. He was evidently native to +the neighbourhood, and I asked him if he had ever kissed the stone. + +"I have, sir, many a time," he said. + +"Would you mind doing it again, so that we can see just how it is done?" + +He readily consented, and lay down on his back with his head and +shoulders over the gulf, and the New Zealander took one leg and I took +the other. Then the boy reached his hands above his head and grasped the +iron bars which ran down inside the battlement to hold the stone in +place. + +"Now, push me down," he said. + +My heart was in my mouth as we pushed him down, for it seemed an awful +distance, though I knew we couldn't drop him because he wasn't very +heavy; and then we heard a resounding smack. + +"All right," he called. "Pull me up." + +We pulled him up, and in an instant he was on his feet. + +"That's all there is to it," he said, and sauntered off. + +"Hm-m-m!" grunted the New Zealander, and sat down again. + +I gazed at the landscape for a minute or two, my hands deep in my +pockets. + +When I turned around, Betty had her hat and coat off, and was spreading +her raincoat on the parapet opposite the stone. + +"What are you going to do?" I demanded sternly. + +She sat down on the raincoat with her back to the abyss. + +"Come on, you two, and hold me," she commanded. + +I suppose I might have refused, but I didn't. The truth is, I wanted her +to kiss the stone as badly as she wanted to; so I knelt on one side of +her and the New Zealander knelt on the other, and we each grasped an +ankle. She groped for the iron bars, found them after an instant, and +drew herself toward them. + +"Now, push me down," she said. + +We did; and as soon as we heard the smack, we hauled her up again, her +face aglow with triumph. It took her some minutes to get her hair fixed, +for most of the hair-pins had fallen out. When she looked up, she saw +that I had taken off my coat. + +"What are you going to do?" she demanded, in much the same tone that I +had used. + +"I'm going to kiss that stone," I said. "Do you suppose I'd go away now, +without kissing it? Why, I'd never hear the last of it! Get hold of my +legs," and I sat down, keeping my eyes carefully averted from the +hundred-and-twenty-foot drop. + +"Oh, but look here," she protested, "I don't know whether I'm strong +enough to hold you." + +"Yes, you are," I said, making sure that there was nothing in my +trousers' pockets to fall out. "Now, then!" + +Just then four or five Irish girls came out upon the tower, and Betty, +stricken with the fear of losing me, asked them if they wouldn't help, +and they said they would; so, with one man and four women holding on to +my legs, I let myself over backwards. One doesn't realise how much two +feet is, till one tries to take it backwards; it seemed to me that I was +hanging in midair by my heels, so I kissed a stone hastily and started +to come up. + +"That wasn't it," protested one of the girls who had been watching me; +"you've got to go farther down." + +So they pushed me farther down, and I saw the smooth, worn stone right +before my eyes. + +"Is this it?" I asked. + +"Yes," she said; so I kissed it, and in a moment was right side up +again; and I don't know when I have felt prouder. + +And then the New Zealander, his face grim and set, began to take things +out of his trousers' pockets. + +"If you people will hold me," he said, "I'll do it too." + +So we held him, and _he_ did it. + +Then he and I offered to hold the Irish girls, but they refused, +giggling, and as there was nothing more to do on top of that tower, we +went down again, treading as if on air, more elated than I can say. + +That sense of elation endures to this day, and I would earnestly advise +every one who visits Blarney Castle to kiss the stone. I am not aware +that I am any more eloquent than I ever was, and Betty never had any +real need to kiss it, but to go to Blarney without doing so is--well, is +like going to Paris without seeing the Louvre, or to the Louvre without +seeing the Winged Victory and the Venus of Milo. Really, there isn't any +danger, if you have two people of average strength holding you; and +there isn't even any very great sense of danger, since your back is to +the abyss and you can't see it. My advice is to do it at once, as soon +as you get to the top of the tower, without stopping to think about it +too long. After that, with a serene mind, you can look at the view, +which is very, very lovely, and explore the ruin, which is one of the +most interesting and noteworthy in Ireland. + + * * * * * + +We sat down on a bench just outside the castle entrance to rest after +our exertions. There was a young man and woman on the bench, and in +about a minute we were talking together. It turned out that they were +members of Alexander Marsh's company, then touring Ireland in classical +repertoire, and would open in Cork in "The Three Musketeers" the +following evening. I had never heard of Alexander Marsh, but they both +pronounced his name with such awe and reverence that I fancied he must +be a second Irving, and I said at once that we should have to see the +play. We went on to talk about that high-hearted story, which I love; +and I noticed a growing embarrassment in our companions. + +"See here," said the man at last, "you know the book so well and think +so much of it, that I'm afraid the play will disappoint you. For one +thing, we can't put on Richelieu. The play makes rather a fool of him, +and the Catholics over here would get angry in a minute if we made a +fool of a Cardinal, even on the stage. So we have to call him Roquefort, +and leave out the Cardinal altogether, which, of course, spoils the +whole point of the plot. It's a pity, too, because his robes are +gorgeous. Of course it doesn't make so much difference to people who +haven't read the book--and mighty few over here have; but I'm afraid you +wouldn't like it." + +I was afraid so, too; so we promised we wouldn't come. + +And then they went on to tell us about themselves. They were married, it +seemed, and were full of enthusiasms and ideals, and they spoke with +that beautiful accent so common on the English stage; and he had been to +New York once, and for some reason had fared pretty badly there; but he +hoped to get to America again. He didn't say why, but I inferred it was +because in America he could earn a decent salary, which was probably +impossible in the Irish provinces. + +We left them after a while, and wandered through what is left of the +groves of Blarney, and visited the caves in the cliffs under the castle, +at one time used for dungeons, into which the McCarthys thrust such of +their enemies as they could capture. And then we explored the charming +little river which runs along under the cliff, and walked on to Blarney +Lake, a pretty bit of water, with more than its share of traditions: +for, at a certain season of the year, a herd of white cows rises from +its bosom and feeds along its banks, and it is the home of a red trout +which will not rise to the fly, and it was into this lake that the last +of the McCarthys cast his great chest of plate, when his castle was +declared forfeited to the English, and his spirit keeps guard every +night along the shore, and the secret of its whereabouts will never be +revealed until a McCarthy is again Lord of Blarney. + +We walked back to the entrance, at last, and had a most delicious tea on +the veranda of a clean tea-shop there, with gay little stone-chatters +hopping about our feet, picking up the crumbs; and then we loitered +about the quaint little village, and visited the church, set in the +midst of a pretty park, and wandered along a road under lofty trees, and +were wholly, completely, riotously happy. + +We had kissed the Blarney Stone! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CUSHLA MA CHREE + + +IT was very evident, as we went back to Cork, that the people who live +there do not regard it as an earthly paradise, for it seemed as though +the whole population of the place was out in the fields. We had seen the +same thing at Dublin the Sunday before--every open space near the city +crowded with men and women and children; from which I infer that the +Irish have sense enough--or perhaps it is an instinct--to get out of +their slums and into the fresh, clean air whenever they have a chance. +And the way they lie about in the moist grass on the damp ground is +another proof of the amenity of the Irish climate. + +When we got back to the town, we decided we could spend an hour very +pleasantly driving about and seeing the place; and, since the day was +fine, we voted for an outside car. Be it known, there are two varieties +of car in Cork: one the common or garden variety, the outside car, and +the other a sort of anti-type called an inside car. The difference is +that, in an outside car you sit on the inside, that is in the middle +with your feet hanging over the wheel, while in an inside car you sit on +the outside, that is over the wheel with your feet hanging down in the +middle. Also the inside car has a top over it and side-curtains which +can be let down in wet weather. I hope this is clear, for I do not know +how to make it clearer without a diagram. Both inside and outside cars +are rather more ramshackle in Cork than anywhere else in Ireland. + +The legal rate for a car in Cork is one shilling sixpence per hour, and +I decided in advance that, come what might, come what may, I would not +pay more than twice the legal rate for the use of one. So when we got +off the train at the Cork terminus, I passed under review the cars +standing in the street in front of it, while each individual jarvey, +seeing I was interested, stood up in his seat and bellowed at the top of +his voice. Finally I picked out the least disreputable one and looked +the jarvey in the eye. + +"We want to drive around for an hour or two," I said. "How much will you +charge an hour?" + +"Jump right up, sir," he cried, and wheeled his car in front of me with +a flourish. + +"You'll have to answer my question first." + +"'Twill be only five shillings an hour, sir." + +I passed on to the next driver, who had been listening to this colloquy +with absorbed interest. His price was four shillings. So I passed on to +the third. His price was three shillings. I suppose if I had passed once +again, the price would have been two shillings; but three shillings was +within my limit, so we mounted into our places and were off. + +I fear, however, that that phrase, "we were off," gives a wrong idea of +our exit. We did not whirl up the street, with our horse curvetting +proudly and the jarvey clinging to the reins. No, nothing like that. The +horse trotted--I convinced myself of this, from time to time, by looking +at him--but he was one of those up-and-down trotters, that come down in +almost exactly the same place from which they go up. The jarvey +encouraged him from time to time by touching him gently with the whip, +but the horse never varied his gait, except that, whenever he came to a +grade, he walked. Sometimes we would catch up with a pedestrian +sauntering in the same direction, and then it was quite exciting to see +how we worked our way past him, inch by inch. This mode of progression +had one advantage: it was not necessary to stop anywhere to examine +architectural details or absorb local atmosphere. We had plenty of time +to do that as we passed. In fact, in some of the slum streets, we +absorbed rather more of the atmosphere than we cared for. + +Cork is an ancient place, built for the most part on an island in the +River Lee. St. Fin Barre started it in the seventh century by founding a +monastery on the island; the Danes sailed up the river, some centuries +later, and captured it; and then the Anglo-Normans took it from the +Danes and managed to keep it by ceaseless vigilance. The Irish peril was +so imminent, that the English had to bar the gates not only at night, +but whenever they went to church or to their meals, and no stranger was +suffered inside the walls until he had checked his sword and dagger and +other lethal weapons with the gate-keeper. + +But the Irish have always had a way with them; and what they couldn't +accomplish by force of arms, they did by blarney;--or maybe it was the +girls who did it! At any rate, at the end of a few generations Cork was +about the Irishest town in Ireland, and levied its own taxes and made +its own laws and even set up its own mint, and when the English +Parliament attempted to interfere, invited it to mind its own business. +The climax came when that picturesque impostor, Perkin Warbeck, landed +in the town, was hailed as a son of the Duke of Clarence and the +rightful King of England by the mayor, and provided with new clothes and +a purse of gold by the citizens, together with a force for the invasion +of England. The result of which was that the mayor lost his head and the +city its charter. + +Cork is a tragic word in Irish ears not because of this ancient history, +but because of the dreadful scenes enacted here in the wake of the great +famine of 1847. It was here that thousands and thousands of famished, +hopeless, half-crazed men and women said good-bye to Ireland forever and +embarked for the New World. Hundreds more, unable to win farther, lay +down in the streets and died, and every road leading into the town was +hedged with unburied bodies. That ghastly torrent of emigration has kept +up ever since, though it reached its flood some twenty years ago, and is +by no means so ghastly as it was. Yet every train that comes into the +town bears its quota of rough-clad people, mere boys and girls most of +them, with wet eyes and set faces, and behind it, all through the west +and south, it leaves a wake of sobs and wails and bitter weeping. + +Cork possesses nothing of antiquarian interest. The old churches have +all been swept away. The oldest one still standing dates only from 1722, +and is worth a visit not because of itself, but because of some verses +written about its bells by a poet who lies buried in its churchyard. St. +Anne Shandon, with its tall, parti-coloured tower surmounted by its +fish-weathervane, stands on a hill to the north of the Lee. The tower +contains a peal of eight bells, and it was their music which furnished +inspiration for Father Prout's pleasant lines: + + With deep affection and recollection + I often think of the Shandon bells, + Whose sounds so wild would, in the days of childhood, + Fling round my cradle their magic spells. + On this I ponder where'er I wander, + And thus grow fonder, sweet Cork, of thee,-- + With thy bells of Shandon, that sound so grand on + The pleasant waters of the River Lee. + +Of course we wanted to see St. Anne Shandon and to hear the bells, so, +with some difficulty, we persuaded our driver to put his horse at the +ascent. The streets rising up that hill are all slums, with little lanes +more slummy still ambling away in various directions; and all of them +were full of people, that afternoon, who hailed our advent as an +unexpected addition to the pleasures and excitements of the day, and +followed along, inspecting us curiously, and commenting frankly upon the +details of our attire. The impression we made was, I think, on the +whole, favourable, but there is a certain novelty in hearing yourself +discussed as impersonally as if you were a statue, and after the first +embarrassment, we rather enjoyed it. At last we reached the church, and +stopped there in the shadow of the tower until the chimes rang. They are +very sweet and melodious, and fully deserve Father Prout's rhapsody. + +The wife of the inspector we met at Glendalough had told Betty of a +convent at Cork where girls were taught lace-making, and had given her +the names of two nuns, either of whom, she was sure, would be glad to +show us the school. It is in the convents that most of the lace-making +in Ireland is taught nowadays, and of course we wanted to see one of the +schools, so Monday morning we sallied forth in search of this one. We +found it without difficulty--a great barrack of a building opening upon +a court. Both nuns were there, and I do not remember ever having +received anywhere a warmer welcome. Certainly we might see the +lace-makers, and Sister Catherine took us in charge at once, explaining +on the way that there were not as many girls at work as usual that +morning, because one of their number had been married the day before, +and the whole crowd had stayed up very late celebrating the great event. +And then she led us into a room where about twenty girls were bending +over their work. + +They all arose as we entered, and then I sat down and watched them, +while Sister Catherine took Betty about from one girl to the next, and +explained the kind of lace each was making. Some of it was +Carrickmacross, of which, it seems, there are two varieties, applique +and guipure; and some of it was needle-point, that aristocrat of laces +of which one sees so much in Belgium; and some of it was Limerick, and +there were other kinds whose names I have forgotten, but all of it was +beautifully done. The designing is the work of Sister Catherine, and, +while I am very far from being a connoisseur, some of the pieces she +afterwards showed us were very lovely indeed. Then we were asked if we +wouldn't like to hear the girls sing, and of course we said we would, so +one of them, at a nod from the Sister, got to her feet and very gravely +and earnestly sang John Philpot Curran's tender verses, "Cushla ma +Chree," which is Irish for "Darling of My Heart": + + Dear Erin, how sweetly thy green bosom rises! + An emerald set in the ring of the sea! + Each blade of thy meadows my faithful heart prizes, + Thou queen of the west! the world's cushla ma chree! + + Thy gates open wide to the poor and the stranger-- + There smiles hospitality hearty and free; + Thy friendship is seen in the moment of danger, + And the wanderer is welcomed with cushla ma chree. + + Thy sons they are brave; but, the battle once over, + In brotherly peace with their foes they agree; + And the roseate cheeks of thy daughters discover + The soul-speaking blush that says cushla ma chree. + + Then flourish forever, my dear native Erin, + While sadly I wander an exile from thee; + And, firm as thy mountains, no injury fearing, + May heaven defend its own cushla ma chree! + +It is a very characteristic Irish poem of the sentimental sort, and it +has been set to a soft and plaintive air also characteristically Irish, +and it took on a beauty which the lines by themselves do not possess as +we heard it sung that morning, with the girls, bending to their work, +joining in the chorus. Then we were shown over the convent, and finally +taken to the parlour, where Sister Bonaventura joined us, and where we +had a very pleasant talk. + +The convent's chief treasure is the great parchment volume in which its +history is noted from day to day. How far back it goes I have forgotten, +but I think to the very founding of the institution, and it is +illuminated throughout very beautifully, while the lettering is superb. +The great events in the life of every nun are recorded here, and those +events are three: when she became a novice, when she took the final +vows, and when she died. Those are the only events that concern the +community, except that sometimes when death followed a painful and +lingering illness, it was noted how cheerfully the pain was borne. +Occasionally some delicate woman found the hard life more than she could +endure, and then she was permitted to put aside her robes and go back +into the world. + +I spent half an hour looking through the book, and Sister Bonaventura +showed me the record of her own entry into the convent. It was in the +year in which I was born, and I shivered a little at the thought that, +during all the long time I had been growing to boyhood and manhood and +middle age, she had been immured here in this convent at Cork; during +all the years that I had been reading and writing and talking with men +and women and knocking about the world, she had been doing over and over +again her little round of daily duties; but when I looked at her bright +brave face and quiet eyes, and listened to her calm sweet voice, I +wondered if, after all, she hadn't got farther than I! + +It would be a mistake, however, to think of these nuns--or of any I ever +met--as pious, strait-laced, lachrymose creatures. They were quite the +reverse of that; they were fairly bubbling over with good humour and +with big-hearted blarney. Some one had given them a victrola, and it was +evidently the supreme delight of their lives. + +"We can't go to the opera," they said; "but the opera comes to us. We +have a concert nearly every evening, and it's sorry we are when the bell +rings and we have to go to bed." + +They showed us their austere little chapel, after that, and introduced +us to the Mother Superior, a very delicate, placid, transparent woman of +more than eighty, who reminded me of the sister of Bishop Myriel; and I +am sure they were sorry when we had to say good-bye. + + * * * * * + +We went down to Monkstown by rail, that afternoon, to see Queenstown +harbour. The line runs close to the river, passing Passage, whose charms +have been celebrated by Father Prout, and finally reaching Monkstown, on +the heights above which stands the famous, four-square castle which cost +its owner only fourpence. The story goes that, in 1636, John Archdeckan +marched away to the war in Flanders, and his wife determined to surprise +him, on his return, by presenting him with a stately castle. So she +gathered a great number of builders together and gave them the job on +the condition that they would buy all their food and drink and clothing +from her. When the castle was done, she balanced her accounts and found +that she had expended fourpence more than she had received. + +At Monkstown, we took a boat and ferried across the harbour, past many +grey men-of-war which lay at anchor there. Very beautiful it is, with +the high, green-clad hills pressing about it on all sides, and shrouding +the entrance so completely that one might fancy oneself in a landlocked +lake. Queenstown is built on the side of one of these hills, and is +dominated by the great, white cathedral, which has been building for +fifty years, and is not yet finished. + +It is a curious coincidence that the two ports of Ireland by which most +visitors enter and leave it should be named after two people whom the +Irish have little reason to love. In 1821, when George IV embarked at +the port of Dunleary, just below Dublin, he "graciously gave permission" +that its name might be changed to Kingstown in honour of the event. In +1849, Queen Victoria paid one of her very few visits to Ireland, and +sailed into the Cove of Cork. As she herself wrote, "To give the people +the satisfaction of calling the place Queenstown, in honour of its being +the first spot on which I set foot on Irish ground, I stepped on shore +amidst the roar of cannon and the enthusiastic shouts of the people." +Forty years later, when the Irish had come to realise that the Queen had +no interest in them, they had the dignity and good sense to put aside +the servility to which they have sometimes been too prone, and to refuse +to take part in the celebration of her Jubilee. But Queenstown is still +Queenstown. + +The town consists of a single long street of public houses and emigrant +hotels and steamship offices facing the water, and some steep lanes +running back up over the hill, and the day we were there, it was crowded +with emigrants, Swedes and Norwegians mostly, who had been brought +ashore from the stranded _Haverford_, and who spent their time wandering +aimlessly up and down, trying to find out what was going to happen to +them. There were many sailors and marines knocking about the grog-shops, +as well as the crowd of navvies and longshoremen always to be found +lounging about a water-front. This water-front is one great +landing-stage, and it is here that perhaps a million Irish men and women +have stepped forever off of Irish soil. + +We climbed up the hill presently to the cathedral, which owes not a +little of its impressiveness to its superb site. Its exterior is +handsome and imposing--good Gothic, though perhaps a trifle too florid +for the purest taste; but the effect of the interior is ruined by the +absurd columns of the nave, made of dark marble, and so slender that the +heavy structure of white stone above them seems to be hanging in the +air. + + * * * * * + +We had hoped to go by rail to Youghal and take steamer up the Blackwater +to Cappoquin, and from there drive over to the Trappist monastery at Mt. +Melleray; but we found that the steamer did not start until the +fifteenth of June, so most regretfully that excursion had to be +abandoned. Those who have made it tell me it is a very beautiful one. +Cloyne is also perhaps worth visiting; but we were tired of Cork and +hungering for Killarney, and so decided to turn our faces westward next +day. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SHRINE OF ST. FIN BARRE + + +THERE are two ways of getting from Cork to Killarney, one by the +so-called "Prince of Wales Route," because the late King Edward went +that way in 1858, and the other by way of Macroom. Both routes converge +at Glengarriff and are identical beyond that, and as the best scenery +along the route is between Glengarriff and Killarney, I don't think it +really matters much which route is chosen. The "Prince of Wales Route" +is by rail to Bantry, and then either by boat or coach to Glengarriff, +which is only a few miles away. The other route is to Macroom by rail, +and from there there is a very fine ride by coach of nearly forty miles +to Glengarriff. We chose the Macroom route because of the longer coach +ride and because it touches Gougane Barra, the famous retreat of St. Fin +Barre. I think, on the whole, it is the more picturesque of the two +routes; but either is vastly preferable to the all-rail route. Indeed, +the visitor to Killarney who misses the run from Glengarriff, misses +some of the most beautiful and impressive scenery in all Ireland. + + * * * * * + +It was shortly after nine o'clock that our train pulled out of the +station at Cork, and at first the line ran between small, well-tilled +fields, each with its cosy cottage. The whole country-side had an air of +content and passable well-being; every wall was gay with the yellow +gorse, and in the fields the green of potato and turnip was just +beginning to show above the dark earth of the ridges in which they were +planted. These ridged fields, which we were to see so often afterwards +in the west of Ireland, tell of a ground so soaked with moisture that it +must be carefully and thoroughly drained before anything will grow in +it. The ridges, which run with the slope of the land, are usually about +eighteen inches wide, and are separated by ditches a foot wide and a +foot deep to carry off the excess moisture. There is always a trickle of +water at the bottom of these ditches, and the task of keeping them open +and free from weeds is a never-ending one. + +Presently on a high rock away to the left, appeared the tower which is +all that is left of the old stronghold of the Barretts, and farther on +are the green-clad ruins of Kilcrea Abbey, and near by is another great +keep marking an old castle of the McCarthys. And then the train skirts +the wild bog of Kilcrea, and then there are more ruins, and still more; +and at last the train stops at its terminus, Macroom. + +The motor-coach was awaiting us, and we were relieved to find that, so +far from being crowded, there was only one other couple, Americans like +ourselves, to make the trip. The season had opened only the day before, +and, after we got started, the driver confided to us that this was the +first time he had ever been over the road. Even if he hadn't told us, we +should soon have had every reason to suspect it. + +The road follows the valley of the Lee, which is not here the single +clear and shining stream which we saw above Cork, but is broken into a +score of channels between islands covered with low-growing brush--a sort +of morass, of a strange and weird appearance. Here and there an ivied +ruin towers above the trees, for this was the country of the O'Learys +and these are the strongholds they built to defend it against the +aggressions of their neighbours; and then we rattled down the street of +a little village, and the driver brought the coach to a stop before the +door of an inn, told us that this was Inchigeelagh and that there would +be ten minutes for refreshments, and then disappeared in the direction +of the bar. + +I suppose he got his refreshments for nothing, as a reward for stopping +there. At least I can think of no other reason for stopping, since +Inchigeelagh is only half an hour from Macroom, unless it was to give +the nerves of the passengers a chance to quiet down a little. For we had +already begun to realise that our driver was a speed-maniac. He had +struck a hair-raising gait from the start, had sent the lumbering bus +down grades and around turns at a rate that was decidedly disconcerting, +and while there had been no especial danger except to the people we +met--for the road was bordered by high earthen walls--the rattle and jar +of the solid tires had been enough to make the teeth chatter. + +So we were glad when the racket stopped, and we could get down and +stroll about a little; and we soon found that Inchigeelagh is a very +quaint village. We walked down to the bridge over the Lee, and looked at +Lough Allua stretching away to the west; and then we stopped at a +tumbledown cottage to talk to an old woman who was leaning over her +half-door; and she invited us in and asked us to sit down. It was my +first glimpse of the interior of an Irish cottage of the poorer class, +and it opened my eyes to the cruel lot of the people--and there are +many, many thousands of them--who are compelled to live in such +surroundings. + +There was just one room, perhaps eight feet by fifteen, lighted by two +little windows about eighteen inches square, one on either side the +door. The doorway was just high enough to enter without stooping, and +ran from the ground right up to the eaves. The floor was of clay, and +the walls inside had been daubed with mud to fill up the cracks and then +whitewashed, but the damp had flaked the whitewash off in great +leprous-looking blotches. The ceiling was formed by some rough boards +laid on top of the joists overhead, so low that one feared to stand +upright, and I suppose the dark space under the thatch was used as a +sleeping-room, for there was a ladder leading to it, and I saw nothing +in the room below which looked like a bed. There may have been a bed +there, however, which, being new to rural Ireland, I did not recognise +as such. + +At one end of the room was an open fireplace in which a few blocks of +turf smoked and flared, with that pungent odour which we had already +come to like, but which, at such close quarters, was a little +over-powering. A black and battered pot hung on a crane above the fire, +and some sort of mess was bubbling in it--potatoes I suppose. There was +a rude table, and two or three chairs, and all sorts of rags and debris +hung against the walls and piled in the corners, and a few dishes in a +rough home-made dresser, and an old brush-broom, and some boxes and a +lot of other indescribable trash. Three or four bedraggled chickens +were wandering in and out, and I glanced around for the pig. But there +was no pig--this family was far too poor to own one. + +It seemed impossible that a human being could live for any length of +time in a place so bare of comfort, and I looked at the old woman, who +had sat down across from us, and wondered how she managed to survive. I +suspect she was not half so old as her wrinkled face and sunken eyes and +shrivelled hands indicated. She lived there with her husband, she said, +and had for many years. He was a labourer, and, in good times, could +earn ten shillings a week; but most of the time it was impossible to +find any work at all. She had no relatives in America to turn to, and +neither she nor her husband was old enough to get a pension, so that it +was a hard struggle to keep out of the workhouse. But they _had_ kept +out thus far, glory be to God, though the struggle was growing harder +every year, for they were getting older and their rheumatism was getting +worse, and neither of them could work as they once could. + +All this was said quite simply, in a manner not complaining, but +resigned, as if accepting the inevitable. Her philosophy of life seemed +to be that, since Fate had chosen to set herself and her husband in the +midst of circumstances so hard, there was nothing to do but struggle on +as long as possible, with the certainty of coming to the workhouse in +the end. No doubt they would be far more comfortable in the workhouse +than they had ever been outside of it, and yet they had that horror of +it which is common to all Irish men and women. The horror, I think, is +not so much at the abstract idea of receiving charity as at the public +stigma which the workhouse gives. The Irish have been eager enough to +draw their old age pensions, and many of them, who shrink from the +workhouse as from a foul disgrace, do not hesitate to beg a few pennies +from the passing stranger. + +[Illustration: A COTTAGE AT INCHIGEELAGH] + +[Illustration: THE SHRINE OF ST. FIN BARRE] + +The old woman at Inchigeelagh, however, did not beg, nor intimate in any +way that she desired or expected money, but she did not refuse the coin +I slipped into her hand, after I had taken the picture of her and of her +cottage, which you will find opposite this page. Perhaps she would have +liked to do so, but the little coin represented a measure of potatoes or +of turnips, and so a little less hunger, a little more strength. How +many of us, I wonder, would be too proud to beg if we could find no work +to do, and our backs were bare and our stomachs empty? + +The tooting of the horn warned us that our bus was ready to go on again, +and we were soon skirting the shore of Lough Allua, with picturesque +mountains closing in ahead. And then our driver crossed the bridge over +the Lee, and made a wrong turning, and didn't know it until somebody +shouted at him and set him right; and this small misadventure seemed +completely to wreck his self-control, so that, when he got back to the +main road, he rushed along in a manner more terrifying than ever. The +fearful racket heralded our approach, else there must have been more +than one bad accident; and I can yet see wild-eyed men leaping from +their seats and springing frantically to their horses' heads, while the +white-faced women seated in the carts peered out at us under their +shawls as we brushed past, and no doubt sent a malediction after us. +Geese, chickens and pigs scurried wildly in every direction, and that we +did not leave the road strewn with their dead bodies was little less +than a miracle. The road ran between high hedges, so that we could see +only a little way ahead, and we got to watching the curves with a sort +of fascination, for it seemed certain that we _must_ run into something +at the next one. + +We had been mounting gradually all this time, often up gradients so +steep that they kept the driver busy with his gears, and the view had +gradually widened and grown in impressiveness. Then we turned off a +narrow road at the right, and I thought for a moment our driver had gone +wrong again. + +"We're going to Gougane Barra," he explained, seeing my look, for I sat +on the seat beside him, and in a few minutes we were skirting a narrow +lough, hemmed in, on the north, by a range of precipitous mountains, +with gullied sides patched with grey granite and dark heather, as bare +and desolate as a mountain could be. + +There is an inn by the lake shore, and the bus stopped in front of it. +The driver showed us with a gesture the little island containing the +shrine of St. Fin Barre, and then hastened away into the inn. We four +started for the island, and presently we heard heavy steps behind us, +and an animated scarecrow armed with a big stick came running up and +shouted something in an incomprehensible tongue, and waved the stick +above his head, and proceeded to lead the way. He was evidently the +guide, so we followed him along the border of the lake, and across the +narrow strip of land which now connects the island with the shore, and +all the time our guide was talking in the most earnest way, but not a +word could any of us understand. It sounded remotely like English, and +he evidently understood English, for when we asked him to repeat some +particularly emphatic bit, he would do so with added emphasis, but quite +in vain. I shall never forget how earnestly he would look in our faces, +raising his voice as though we were deaf, and pointing with his stick, +and gesturing with his other hand, in the effort to make us understand. + +We persuaded him to go and sit down, after awhile, and then we had a +chance really to look about us. There is something indescribably savage +and threatening about that dark sheet of water, shadowed by gloomy +cliffs, bare of vegetation, and torn into deep gullies by the cataracts +which leap down them. Through the hills to the east, the water from the +lake has carved itself a narrow outlet, and the stream which rushes away +through this gorge is the beginning of the River Lee. No place so grand +and desolate would be without its legend, and this is Gougane Barra's: + +When the blessed Saint Patrick gathered together all the snakes in +Ireland and drove them over the mountains and into the western sea, +there was one hideous monster which he overlooked, so well had it +concealed itself in this mountain-circled tarn. It was a winged dragon, +and it kept very quiet until the Saint was dead, for fear of what might +happen; but, once Patrick was gathered to his fathers, the dragon +fancied it might do as it pleased. So it issued forth, all the more +savage for its years of retirement, and started to lay waste the +country. The frightened people appealed to their saints to help them, +and among those who put up prayers was a holy man named Fineen Barre, +who had a hermitage on an island in the lake, and so knew the dragon +well. And the saints in heaven looked down and saw the distress of the +poor people and pitied them, and they told Fineen Barre that they would +give him power to slay the dragon on one condition, and that condition +was that he should build a church on the spot where the waters of the +lake met the tide of the sea. + +Fineen accepted the condition gladly, and went out and met the monster +and slew it and threw its body into the lake, and its black blood +darkens the water to this day. And when that was done, he set off down +the river, and at the spot where its waters met the tide, he built his +church, and the city of Cork grew up about it. And then in place of the +church, he built a great cathedral, and when he died his body was placed +in a silver coffin and buried before its high altar. Then the city was +plundered by the Danes, who dug up the coffin and carried it away, and +what became of the Saint's bones no one knows. + +But the little island where he first lived has been a holy place from +that day to this, and on the anniversary of his death, which comes in +September, crowds of pilgrims journey here to say their prayers before +the thirteen stations set apart by tradition, and to bless themselves +with water from the Saint's well. + +The well is just at the entrance to the island, and its water is +supposed to possess miraculous power. Our voluble but ununderstandable +guide invited us by urgent gestures to test its efficacy, but the water +looked scummy and dirty, and we declined. A few steps farther on is a +small, stone-roofed chapel, built in the likeness of Cormac's chapel on +the Rock of Cashel, and in it services are held during the days of +pilgrimage to the shrine. There are also some remains of an old chapel, +supposed to have been Saint Fin Barre's own; but by far the most +interesting thing on the island is the stone enclosure within which the +pilgrims say their prayers. + +The enclosure, which is surrounded by a heavy wall of stones laid +loosely on each other, after the ancient Irish fashion, is about thirty +feet square, and its level is some feet below that of the ground +outside, so that one goes down into it by a short flight of steps. In +the centre of the enclosure a plain wooden cross stands on a platform of +five steps. On the flagstone at its foot is an inscription telling in +detail how the "rounds" are to be performed on the vigil and forenoon of +St. Fin Barre's feast-day. In the enclosing wall, which is fourteen feet +thick in places, under heavy arches, are eight cells, which may be used +as places of retreat by those undergoing penance. The Stations of the +Cross are set in the upper portion of the wall, but are ugly modern +plaster-casts. I took a picture of the place, which will be found +opposite page 144, and which gives a fairly good idea of it. + +In the middle of a scrubby grove, a little way from the enclosure, is a +wishing-stone, which had evidently been much used, I hope to good +purpose, for the stone itself was covered with trinkets and the bushes +round about were hung thickly with rags and hairpins and rosaries and +other tokens. I picked up somewhere, perhaps from the jargon of the +guide, that this wishing-stone is the altar of Fin Barre's old chapel, +but I haven't been able to verify this, and it may not be so; but the +game is to put up a prayer to the Saint, and make your wish, and leave +some token to show you are in earnest, and the wish will surely come +true. Of course we made a wish and added some half-pennies to the +collection on the altar. In turning over the trinkets already deposited +there, we were amused to find two bright Lincoln cents. + +On the shore just opposite the island is a little cemetery held in great +repute because of the holy men who are buried there. For the island has +been the home of a succession of hermits from the time St. Fin Barre +left it to build his church at Cork, and there are many legends of their +saintly lives and wonderful deeds. When they died, they were buried in +the cemetery, where there is also a cross to the memory of Jeremiah +Callanan, a poet native to the neighbourhood, who celebrated the shrine +in some pretty verses beginning: + + There is a green island in lone Gougane Barra, + Where Allua of songs rushes forth as an arrow; + In deep-valleyed Desmond--a thousand wild fountains + Come down to that lake, from their home in the mountains. + +But the wild honking of the horn told us it was time to go; our guide +realised this, too, and was back at our heels more voluble and +inarticulate than ever; not too inarticulate, however, to sell a knobby +shillelagh to our companions and to accept with thanks the pennies I +dropped into his hand. He tried to stay, hat in hand, until we +departed, but the strain was too much for him, and after a moment he +made off for the bar of the inn. + +Our chauffeur was evidently vexed that we had lingered so long at the +shrine of the Saint, for he hurtled us down the rough by-road at a great +rate, whirled into the smoother highway on two wheels, and then opened +his throttle wide and pushed up his spark and let her rip. The road +mounted steadily, with the view to the south opening more and more, and +a rugged range of hills ahead coming closer and closer, until they lay +flung right across the road, and then we swept around a sharp turn and +entered the Pass of Keimaneigh. + +The guide-books assert that no pass in Europe exceeds it in grandeur, +but this is a gross exaggeration--it is not nearly so fine, for +instance, as the Pass of Llanberis; and yet it is wild and savage and +very beautiful--a deep gorge cut right through the mountains by a +glacier, which has left the marks of its passage on the rocks on either +side. There is just room between the craggy precipices for a narrow road +and the rugged channel of the rushing stream which drains the mountains. +The pass is most picturesque near its eastern end, for there the cliffs +are steepest, and the overhanging crags assume their most fantastic +shapes. In every nook and cranny of the rocks ferns and heather and +wild-flowers have found a foothold, the feathery plumes of London-pride +being especially noticeable. Here in Ireland it is called St. Patrick's +Cabbage, and no doubt there is a legend connecting the Saint with it, +but I have never happened to run across it. + +As we plunged deeper into the pass, the walls on either side closed in +more and more, great boulders dislodged from the heights above crowded +the road so closely that more than once it was forced to turn aside to +avoid them; the greenery of fern and colour of flower gave place to the +sober hue of the heather and the dark green of the bog-myrtle; and then +we were suddenly conscious that the stream by the roadside, which had +been flowing back toward Cork, was flowing forward toward Bantry Bay, +and we knew that we had reached the summit of the watershed dividing +east from west. And then the hills fell back, and there, far below us, +stretched a great rugged valley, with a tiny river wandering through, +and white threads of roads curving here and there, and Lilliputian +houses scattered among the fields. + +The car paused for an instant on the edge of this abyss and then plunged +into it. At least, that was the sensation it gave its passengers. I do +not know that I have ever travelled a steeper road, or one which wound +more threateningly near the unguarded edges of precipices--certainly not +in a heavy motor-bus hurtling along at thirty miles an hour. Perhaps the +brakes were not holding, or perhaps the driver had had a drink too much; +at any rate, we bounced from rock to rock and spun around sharp turns, +only a foot or two from the edge of the road, which there was absolutely +nothing to guard and which dropped sheer for hundreds of feet. But at +last the more hair-raising of these turns were left behind, the road +straightened out along the side of the hill, and then, far ahead, we saw +opening out below us the blue waters and craggy shores of Bantry Bay. + +Down and down we dropped, with new vistas opening every minute, until we +were running close beside the border of the bay, and for ten miles we +followed its convolutions. Then we swung away between high hedges, and +Betty nearly fell out of the bus--for the hedges were of fuchsias, ten +feet high and heavy with scarlet flowers! + +That was the crowning delight of that wonderful drive. We ran between +high rows of fuchsias for perhaps half a mile; then we turned through a +gate into beautiful grounds; and a moment later we were climbing out in +front of the hotel at Glengarriff--half an hour ahead of schedule time! + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A TRIP THROUGH WONDERLAND + + +YOU may well believe that, with such variegated loveliness all about us, +we did not linger in the hotel a moment longer than was necessary, but +made a hasty tea and sallied forth to explore the neighbourhood. First +of all, Betty must pick some fuchsias, so we went back to the road, and +climbed over a wall into a field surrounded by high hedges of the +gorgeous flower. It was a new experience for Betty to reach up overhead +and break off great branches which were simply masses of scarlet bells, +until she had her arms full, and I suspect she went a little wobbly over +it; but she was to have the same experience many times thereafter, for +the fuchsia grows in great profusion throughout southern and western +Ireland. + +I saw but one variety, however, the flower of which has a dark blue +trumpet and scarlet bell, but this is perhaps the most showy of all, and +nothing could be more gorgeous than a hedge in full bloom. In the woods, +or in gardens where they are left untrimmed, the bushes will grow into +veritable trees, twenty-five or thirty feet high. + +We went back to the hotel, when Betty had gathered all she could carry, +and she sent the flowers up to our room by a maid who laughed +sympathetically--I fancy she had seen such attacks of madness more than +once before--and then we started along a winding path which led through +the woods down to the shore of the bay. And we soon found that fuchsias +were not the only things which grow to giant proportions here, for the +path was hedged with ferns four or five feet high--great, lordly +fellows, standing stiffly upright as though on parade. Ferns were +everywhere, even on the trees overhead, for the trees are padded with +moss, and in this the ferns have found a foothold. And there were holly +trees still scarlet with last year's berries, and hawthorn fragrant with +bloom; and over everything the English ivy ran riot--rather in the same +fashion, I thought as I looked at it, in which England herself has run +riot over Ireland. + +We got down to the shore of the bay, at last, and I quite agree with +Thackeray that it is a world's wonder, with its rock-strewn shore and +emerald islands and pellucid water, framed in, all about, by rugged +mountains. We wandered along its edge, gay with sea-pinks, for an hour +or more, and then spent another hour loitering in the woods, and finally +walked on, between the flaming hedges and fern-draped trees, to the +little village, which we could smell, long before we came to it, by the +tang of peat-smoke in the air. It is a mere huddle of low, thatched +houses, and I judge that, even amid these gorgeous surroundings, life +can be as hard and sordid as anywhere in Ireland. + +A little distance from the village was a pretty, two-storied villa, +covered with roses and climbing vines, and with a large garden beside +it, blazing with a great variety of gorgeous bloom. We stopped to look +at it over the gate, and the gardener espied us and came hurrying +forward to ask us in to see the flowers. And one of the plants he +showed us most proudly was a single, sickly-looking stalk of Indian +corn, about a foot high, growing in a pot. When we told him that, in the +state we came from, Indian corn filled thousands and thousands of acres +every summer, and grew from eight to ten feet high, he looked as though +he scarcely believed us. But that little stalk of corn brought home to +me, as perhaps nothing else could have done, the fact that my own +particular corner of the earth is divinely favoured, too, in ways +unknown even to Glengarriff. + + * * * * * + +I had a most improving conversation, that night, in the smoking-room of +the hotel, with a Catholic priest and a salesman for the British +Petroleum Company. The priest, who must have been at least sixty-five, +had the typical long, thin Irish face, and was intensely Nationalist. +The salesman was younger and rather rubicund, and I judge that he was an +Englishman and a Unionist. It was the priest who did most of the talking +about Home Rule, after I got him started, and he protested earnestly +that Ulster's fears of unfair treatment were utterly unfounded. The +Catholics, he said, didn't want supremacy; all they wanted was equality, +but they _did_ want that, and felt they were entitled to it. England, he +admitted, had made great strides within the past ten years toward +atoning for her old injustice to Ireland, and was evidently trying hard +to do what was right. + +"Yes," broke in the salesman; "she's going altogether too far. What with +old age pensions and the purchase act and poor relief and railway +building and putting up labourers' houses and what not, she's spending +twice as much on this country as she gets out of it. It won't do; it has +got to stop." + +"I don't believe England spends more on Ireland than she gets out of +us," said the priest quickly. + +"Here it is in black and white," and the other triumphantly slapped the +paper he had been reading. "Imperial expenditures for Ireland, 1912-13, +L12,381,500; received from Ireland, L10,850,000; deficit, +L1,531,500--that would be about seven and a half million dollars," he +added, for my benefit. "Over a million and a half pounds sterling that +England has made Ireland a present of in the past year! What do you +think of that?" and he turned back to the priest. + +"The figures may be true," said the latter, slowly, "and then again they +may not. I have been told that England burdens Ireland with many +expenditures which don't belong to us. But in any event, I agree with +you that charity does us no good--it does us harm. We don't want +charity." + +"Hm-m-m!" grunted the salesman sceptically. + +"I'll admit," went on the other, "that there are and always have been +many Irishmen only too eager to take alms--more shame to them. There +have always been many ready to sell themselves for a good position under +government, and to sell their country too, if need be. We have our share +of patriots, but we have more than our share of traitors, I sometimes +think. But it isn't by them the country should be judged. What true +Irishmen want is the right to stand alone like men and fight their own +battles, and in fighting them, the north and south will forget their +foolish quarrel and become friends again as they should be. They aren't +half as far apart, even now, as some would have you believe. Most of +this talk about Ulster is the black work of men who make their living +out of it, who care nothing for Ireland, and take advantage of every +little by-election to stir the fire and keep the pot bubbling." + +I remarked that this ceaseless agitation over elections was unknown in +America, where all the elections were held on one day, after which there +were no more elections for a year. + +The priest stared at me in astonishment. + +"Did I understand you to say," he asked, "that the elections all over +your country are held on the same day?" + +"Yes," I said; "on a day early in November, fixed by law." + +"I don't see how you manage it." + +"It isn't hard to manage--it's really very simple." + +"But where do you get enough police?" + +"Enough police?" + +"Yes. Here in Ireland, when we have an election, we have to send in the +police from all the country round to keep the peace. If we tried to have +all our elections on one day, there would be riots everywhere." + +"What about?" I asked. + +"I don't know--the people wouldn't know themselves, most likely; but +there's many of them would welcome the chance for a shindy, if the +police wasn't there. Isn't it the same in America?" + +I told him I had been an election officer many times, but had never seen +any serious disorder at the polls. + +"Aren't there many riots next day?" he asked. + +"Why," I said, "the day after election is the quietest day in the year. +Everybody goes to work as though nothing had happened." + +"I don't think there is much danger of riots," put in the salesman, "but +we couldn't have your system over here because with us a man has a right +to vote wherever he owns property and pays taxes, and if all the +elections were held on one day, he couldn't get around." + +"Ah, yes," nodded the priest; "I did not think of that. How do you +manage it in America?" + +"With us," I explained, "every man has one vote and no more." + +Again his eyes goggled. + +"Would you be telling me," he gasped, "that your millionaires, your men +of vast properties, have no more votes than the poor man?" + +And when I told him that was so, I think he was by way of pitying our +millionaires, as men deprived of their just rights--as, perhaps, in some +respects, they are. + +And then the salesman told me that he had been to America, as far west +as Kansas, where he had visited some friends. He had gone over, he said, +with that sort of good-natured contempt for everything American so +common in England, but he had come away convinced that there was no +country on earth to match it. + +"The only thing I saw to criticise in America were the roads," he added. +"Why don't you take a leaf from Lloyd George's book? He has put a tax of +three-pence a gallon on gasoline used by pleasure cars, and this tax +goes into a fund for the upkeep of the highways, proportioned according +to the number of cars in each county. Gasoline used in commercial cars +pays a tax of three-ha'-pence a gallon. A great sum is collected in this +way, and the upkeep of the highways is thrown upon the people who do +them the most damage. If you'd do the same in America, your roads would +soon be as good as ours; and nobody could complain that the tax was +unjust." + +I agreed that it was a clever idea, and I hereby call it to the +attention of our lawmakers. + +"Well," said the priest, who had been listening attentively to all this, +"I am glad to know the truth about this tax. I had heard of it, and had +thought it another English exaction laid upon Ireland. Now I see that I +was wrong; for, as you say, it is a just tax." + +And then he told us some stories of the old days, of famine and +persecution and eviction, of the hard fight for life on the rocky +hillsides, while the fertile valleys were given over to grazing or +ringed with high walls and turned into game preserves. There were +lighter stories, too, of the humorous side of Irish character, and one +of them, though I suspect it is an old one, I will set down here. + +The southwest coast of Ireland, of which Bantry Bay forms a part, is one +of the most dangerous in the world, because of the rugged capes which +stretch far out into the ocean and the small islands and hidden reefs +which lie beyond. It is just the sort of coast where fish abound, and so +little villages are scattered all along it, whose men-folks fish +whenever the weather lets them, and at other times labour in the tiny +potato patches up on the rocky hillsides. Naturally they are familiar +with all the twists and turnings of the coast, and are always on the +lookout to add to their scanty incomes by a job of piloting. + +One day the crew of a fishing-boat perceived a big freighter nosing +about in a light fog, rather closer inshore than she should have been, +and at once lay alongside and put a man aboard. + +"Will you be wantin' a pilot, sir?" he asked the captain, who was +anxiously pacing the bridge. + +The captain stared a moment at the dirty and tattered visitor. + +"Who the devil are you?" he demanded, at last. + +"Me name's McCarthy, sir. I'm a pilot, sir." + +"A pilot!" and the captain looked at McCarthy again. "I don't believe +it." + +"'Tis the truth I'm tellin' you, sir," protested McCarthy. + +"Well," said the captain, "if it's the truth, you can easily prove it. +Let me hear you box the compass." + +McCarthy was nonplussed. More than once, sitting over a pot of ale in +some public house, he had heard old sailors proudly rattle off the +points of the compass, but, though he remembered how the rigmarole +sounded, he had no idea how to do it, nor even any very clear idea of +what it meant. + +"Faith, I can't do it, sir," he admitted. + +"Can't do it?" roared the captain. "Can't box the compass! And yet you +call yourself a pilot." + +McCarthy did some rapid thinking, for he saw a good job, which he could +ill afford to lose, slipping through his fingers. + +"It's like this, sir," he said, finally, "in our small place, it's the +Irish we would be using, niver a word of English, and all the English +any of us knows is just the little we might pick up from bein' after the +ships. I can't box the compass in English, but I can box it in the +Irish, sir, if that will do." + +The captain looked into the speaker's guileless eyes and also did some +rapid thinking. He knew no Gaelic, but he needed a pilot badly, and he +reflected that, in any language, it ought to be possible to tell whether +the compass was being boxed correctly, because the words would have to +follow each other with a certain similarity of sound, as north, +north-and-by-east, north-north-east, north-east-by-north, and so on. + +"All right," he growled, "go ahead and let's hear you." + +"My father," McCarthy began solemnly in his homely Gaelic; "my +grandfather, my grandfather's grandmother, my grandmother's grandfather, +my great grandfather, my great grandfather's grandmother, my great +grandmother's great. . . ." + +"Hold on," shouted the captain, quite convinced. "I see you know how. +Take charge of the ship!" + +And McCarthy thereupon proved he knew how by getting the vessel safely +past Cape Clear! + + * * * * * + +It was pouring rain, next morning, a steady, driving rain, which looked +as though it might last forever, and we were confronted by the problem +which so often confronts the traveller in Ireland, whether to go or +stay. To go meant the possibility of having the most beautiful drive in +Ireland obscured in mist; to stay meant a dreary day at the hotel, with +no assurance that the next day would be any better, or the next, or the +next. At last we decided to go. + +Never after that was the problem so difficult, for we soon realised the +folly of permitting Irish rain to interfere with any plan. In the first +place, the rain is not an unmixed evil, for it is soft and fresh and +vivifying, and it adds mystery and picturesqueness to the most +commonplace landscape; and in the second place, it is very fickle, +begins unaccountably, stops unexpectedly, and rarely lasts the day +through. In fact, the crest of any ridge may take one into it, or out of +it, as we were to find that day. + +So when, about ten o'clock, the bus came puffing up to the door, we +climbed aboard. The road, for a little way, wound up the valley of the +Glengarriff River, and then, striking off into the mountains, climbed +upward at a gradient that tested the power of the engine. Almost at once +we were in the mountain mist, soft and grey, eddying all about us, +whirling aside for an instant now and then to give us tantalising +glimpses down into the valleys, and then closing in again. Up and up we +went, a thousand feet and more, and at last we came to the crest of the +mountain range which divides County Cork from County Kerry. The road +plunges under the crest through a long tunnel, and then winds steeply +down into the valley of the Sheen. + +Again there was a series of sharp and unprotected turns, just as on the +day before, and this time with the added complication of a slippery, +sloppy road; but I have never ridden with a more careful or more +accomplished driver than we had that day, and he nursed the heavy bus +along so quietly and with such easy mastery that no one thought of +danger. Gradually the mist lightened and cleared away, until we could +see the wide valley far below, with the tiny winding river at the +bottom, and the walled fields and midget houses. There was a succession +of such valleys all the way to Kenmare, and we finally rolled up before +the big hotel there just in time for lunch. + +We walked down into the village, afterwards, and found it more bustling +and prosperous than any of the other small villages we had seen. This is +due partly perhaps to the tourist traffic, for Kenmare is a famous +bathing and fishing resort; but homespun tweeds are manufactured there +in considerable quantities, and at the convent scores of girls are +employed at lace-making, Celtic embroidery, wood-carving and +leather-work. The school is said to be one of the best managed in +Ireland, and I was sorry that we did not have time to visit it. We saw, +however, some of the Kerry girls in the street, and they were fully +handsome enough to give colour to the doggerel: + + 'Tis sure that the lads will be goin' to Cork + When their money is gone and they're wantin' to work; + But 'tis just as sure that they'll turn back to Kerry + For a purty colleen when they're wantin' to marry. + +Kerry is a poor country and always will be, for it consists mostly of +stony hills, and though it is renowned for its scenery, no one except +the hotel keepers can live on that. Such little hill farms as have been +wrested from the rocks produce but scantily; so when there is a "long +family," as the Irish put it--and "long families" are the rule--one son +will stay at home to look after the old people, and the others will fare +forth into the world to search for a living. I hope it is true that they +come back when they're searching for wives. Otherwise the lot of the +Kerry girls, hard enough under any circumstances, would be harder still. +Nowhere in Ireland are there brighter eyes or redder cheeks. + +[Illustration: THE BAY AT GLENGARRIFF] + +[Illustration: THE UPPER LAKE, KILLARNEY, FROM THE KENMARE ROAD] + +The rain was quite over by the time we were ready to start again, and +the mist had disappeared under the rays of the sun, so that we had the +benefit of the full beauty of the Kenmare River, which is really a wide +bay, as we ran close along its western bank. Then the road doubled back +from it, and presently the driver stopped at a spot where a narrow +footpath struck down into the woods, and advised us to take it, saying +that he would wait for us at its other end. In a moment we found +ourselves clambering down the side of a wildly-beautiful ravine, with +the roar of rushing water rising from below, and trees festooned with +ferns and ivy meeting above our heads. And then, high above us, we saw +the arch of a stone bridge; and quite suddenly we came out upon the +stream, the Blackwater, foaming over the rocks. It was at its very best, +from the heavy rain of the morning, and we stood there watching it, +fascinated by its beauty, as long as we dared. + +We went on again close beside the shore of the bay, and in half an hour +came to Parknasilla, where there is another big hotel, set in the midst +of beautiful grounds, and with superb views opening on every side. The +climate here is sub-tropical, and the vegetation mounts to a climax +of riotous profusion, with palms and calla lilies growing in the open. +The bay, too, is very fine, with bluff, rock-strewn shores, and +innumerable green islets speckling its sparkling waters, and rugged +mountains closing in the distance. + +Then again we were off, mounting steadily, steadily, winding under +beetling crags and above grey precipices; up and up, with the world +sinking away into the valley at our left, and the heathery, rock-strewn +heights soaring upward at our right; and finally, at our feet, opened +the wonderful panorama of the Brown Valley--brown bog, brown rock, brown +heather, mounting to the distant slopes of Macgillicuddy's Reeks. We +dropped down toward it, mile after mile; then up and up again, to the +crest of the ridge beyond--and there, far below us, lay the lakes of +Killarney, rimmed with green hills and dotted with green islands--the +most sweetly beautiful in all the world. + + * * * * * + +The loveliest general view of the lakes of Killarney to be had from +anywhere is as one drops down toward them along the Kenmare road. Their +individual beauties may, of course, be seen to better advantage closer +at hand; but from this height, the whole wonderful panorama stretches +before one. Right across the valley opens the Gap of Dunloe, with the +rugged Reeks on one side and the green clad Purple Mountain on the +other; below is the narrow, island-dotted, hill-encircled upper lake; +farther away is Muckross Lake, and far in the distance stretch the blue +waters of Lough Leane, the largest of them all. My advice is to take a +long look at it, for you will never see anything more lovely. + +The road soon dropped among the trees, and our driver pointed out with +evident pride the Queen's cottage on the shore of the upper lake, built +a good many years ago in order that Victoria, on her tour of the lakes, +might have a fitting place in which to lunch, and which has never been +occupied since. Then the road ran close beside the border of the middle +lake, plunged again into the woods for a mile or two; and at last the +bus stopped before the inn where we intended to stay, and we climbed +down regretfully. + +The inn was a long, two-storied building, standing a little back from +the road, and the porter who came running out to take our bags might +have stepped straight out of Pickwick, he was so fat, so jolly, and so +rubicund. I had some films I wanted developed at once, because I was +afraid the damp weather would affect them, and I asked him where I could +get it done. + +"There's a man just this side of the village can do it, sir," he said. +"You will see his sign as you go along the road." + +"How far is it?" I asked. + +"The village is two mile, sir." + +"Then it's less than two miles?" + +"It is, sir." + +I turned to Betty. + +"We've got plenty of time before dinner," I said. "Suppose we walk in +and see the town." + +And Betty, wotting little of what was before her, consented. + +I put my films in my pocket, and we set off eagerly along the pleasant +road, past a little village, past a church with a graveyard back of it +and a Celtic cross high on the hillside above it, past a hotel or two, +around one turn after another, with green-clad hills mounting steeply to +our right and the blue lake lying low on our left. We met an occasional +cyclist, or a donkey-cart being driven home from market, or a labourer +trudging stolidly home from work, or two or three girls strolling along +with arms interlaced, exchanging confidences. And the air was very sweet +and the evening very cool and pleasant, and the sky full of glorious +colour-- + +"We must certainly have come two miles," said Betty. "What do you +suppose is the matter?" + +"I don't know," I said, looking at my watch and noting that we had been +half an hour on the road. "Perhaps we'll see the town around the next +turn." + +But we didn't. All we saw was about half a mile of empty road. We +covered this and came to another turn, and there before us lay another +long stretch of road. Determined not to give up, we pushed on, and came +to a bridge over a rippling little stream, which we learned afterward +was the Flesk, and we stopped and looked at it awhile and rested. + +"We must be nearly there," I said encouragingly. + +"What's bothering me," explained Betty, "isn't the distance we have to +go to get there; it's the distance we have to go to get back." + +There was another bend in the road just beyond the bridge, and we turned +this, confident that the village would be there. But it wasn't. We saw +nothing but the smooth highway, stretching away and away into the dim +distance. I looked at my watch again. + +"We've been walking nearly an hour," I said. "It looks as though we +might miss dinner, after all." + +And just then there came the trot of a horse and the jingle of harness +along the road behind us, and a side-car drew up with a flourish. + +"Would your honour be wantin' a car?" asked the jarvey, leaning toward +us ingratiatingly. + +"We were told there was a photographer's just this side of the village. +Do you know where it is?" + +"I do, your honour." + +"How far is it?" + +"'Tis just over there beyont. If you will step up on the car, I'll have +ye there in a minute. I'm goin' right past it." + +Of course we got up. And, as the jarvey had said, the photographer's +shop was just around the next bend. But before I got down, I made a +bargain with him to drive us back to our hotel, and, after I had left my +films, we set merrily off through the gathering dusk. + +"There's one thing I don't understand," I said, at last. "The porter at +the hotel said it was only two miles to the village. Yet we walked for +an hour without getting there." + +"He meant Irish miles, your honour," explained the jarvey, laughing. +"There is an old saying that 'an Irish mile is a mile and a bit, and the +bit is as long as the mile.' You see, here in ould Ireland we always +stretch everything." + +I have found since that the Irish mile is about a mile and a quarter; +but this is no real measure of its elasticity. More than once thereafter +we saw one mile stretch out to three; and we soon came to realise that +the Irish mind is extremely vague and inexact when it comes to distances +and directions. + +We got back to the hotel to have our first view of what proved to be a +nightly ceremony. On a stand in the entrance hall was a huge platter, +and on the platter lay a huge salmon, and a card leaning against it +announced that it weighed fourteen pounds and had been caught that day +by Captain Gregory, and there were flowers all about it, so it's a proud +fish it should have been. There were five or six other salmon on a lower +table, each with a card giving its weight--anywhere from five pounds to +eleven--and the whole collection represented the day's catch of the +guests of the hotel. + +For the hotel, being handy to the lakes, and clean and comfortable and +homelike, is a favourite resort of the fishermen who come to Killarney +during the salmon season. Every evening while we were there, as the +fishermen came in, tired and wet, with their boatmen tramping behind +them carrying the fish--if there were any--they were met at the door by +the rotund porter, his face beaming like a full moon--a red harvest +moon!--and the fish would be solemnly weighed, and the biggest would be +decorated with flowers and awarded the place of honour, and the others +would be grouped around it, and after dinner, the fishermen would stand +and look at them, their hands deep in their pockets; and later on there +would be a great bustle as the fish were wrapped in straw and tied up, +ready to be sent by parcel-post to admiring friends back home! + + * * * * * + +It was a cosmopolitan crowd which gathered that evening after dinner +about the big fireplace in the smoking-room, where a most welcome and +comforting wood fire blazed and crackled. The weather had turned very +cold, and Betty and I were dressed as warmly as we had been at any time +during the winter, though it was the fifth of June, and the papers were +running long columns about the fearful heat wave which had America in +its grip. There was a sturdy, red-faced old Scotchman in carpet +slippers, and a sallow, heavy-lidded ancient whom the others addressed +as "colonel," and just such a close-clipped, stiff-backed sporting +squire as is Canon Hannay's Major Kent, of near Ballymoy; and there were +two or three other Englishmen with no outstanding characteristic except +their insularity; and the talk was of flies and rods and casts, and +everybody was indignant at the suffragette who had rushed out on the +track and tried to stop the Derby; and there was a steady emptying of +tall glasses and a steadily-deepening cloud of tobacco smoke, and +everybody was very comfortable and cosy. And presently the old Scotchman +took pity on me as a mere American who knew nothing about the high +mysteries of sport. + +"It must be a great pleasure for you to sit before an open fire like +this," he said. + +"It is," I agreed. "There's nothing more pleasant than a wood fire." + +"Ye may well say so. But of course in America you have nothing like it." + +"Nothing like it?" I repeated, looking at him. + +"Why no," he said. "You never see an open fire in America. All you have +is steam pipes running all around the room." + +I looked at him again to see if he was in earnest; and then I tried +gently to disabuse his mind of that idea. But it was no use. Indeed, he +got rather huffy when I said I had never seen a room with steam pipes +running all around it. + +The savage insularity of the average Englishman is matter for +never-ending amusement, once one has grown accustomed to his contempt. +He believes that all American men are money-grubbers, and all American +women social climbers, who chew gum and talk loudly, while their +daughters are forward minxes who call their fathers "popper," and that +men, women, and children are alike wholly lacking in culture and +good-taste. The peculiar thing about it is that he never for an instant +doubts his own good taste in telling one all this frankly to one's face. + +This is no fancy sketch. My own opinion is that the average Englishman +has no genuine feeling of friendship for America, and his ignorance of +things American is abysmal. One day, on the boat coming home, a +well-educated Englishman whom I had got to know, asked me the name of a +man with whom I had been talking. + +"That is Senator So-and-so," I answered. + +"What is a senator?" he inquired. + +I remember that one day Betty and I and two other Americans happened to +be driving through the Tyrol in a coach with two Englishmen, and they +began to discuss American railway accidents--a favourite topic with +Englishmen when Americans are present; and one of them remarked that it +was no wonder there were so many accidents in America, since when +Americans built a railroad all they did was to lay the ties along on top +of the ground and spike the rails to them. I asked him if he had ever +been to America, and he said no, and I advised him to run over and pay +us a visit some time. This huffed him. + +"Ah!" he said. "But what you Americans would give for a king!" + +"Give for a king?" + +"Yes; you would give anything for a king. Then you could have a court +and an aristocracy, and some real society. You're sick of your limping, +halting, make-believe government, and you know it!" + +We all four stared at him in astonishment, wondering if he had gone +suddenly mad. Then Betty got her breath. + +"No," she said; "you're really wrong about that. You see we settled the +king question back in 1776." + +The rest was silence. + +But really Englishmen aren't to blame for their distorted ideas of +America, for they get those ideas from the English newspapers, and the +only kind of American news most English newspapers publish is freak +news. During that week, for instance, almost the only American news in +any of the papers was about the terrific heat-wave, about Harry Thaw's +escape from Matteawan, and about some millionaire who had taken +bichloride of mercury by mistake, and lived for ten days or so +afterwards, occupying the time very cheerfully in closing up his +affairs. After his death, one of the great London dailies published a +column editorial about the affair, reasoning in the most solemn manner +that his survival for so long a time could have been due only to the +remarkable tonic properties of the American climate. + +With the Irish it is entirely different. In the first place, America is +to them the haven to which a million Irishmen have fled from English +persecution; and in the next place, their knowledge of the country comes +not from newspapers but from letters written by relatives and friends. +The letters are somewhat rosier, I fear, than the facts warrant, but +they establish a kindly feeling which makes every Irishman ready to +welcome the passing American as a friend and brother. The only trouble +is that he is also apt to regard him as necessarily a millionaire. + +It is undoubtedly true that a large portion of the lower-class Irish +consider it no disgrace to beg from an American. Not that they are +habitual beggars, but when an American comes their way, they seem to +consider it a waste of opportunity if they do not apply for a small +donation. In tourist centres, such as Dublin and Killarney, they are +very persistent, especially the children, and will follow along for +minutes on end telling the tale of their poverty and distress in queer +bated voices, as though they lacked the strength to speak aloud. But +Betty accidentally discovered a cure for this nuisance, quite as +effective as John Minogue's, and I take pleasure in passing it on. + +Like most other people who have lived together for a long time, we have +developed a lot of symbols and pass-words, without meaning to any one +but ourselves; and it has become a rather foolish habit of mine when we +are together and I see something I especially admire, to express my +admiration by uttering the single word "Hickenlooper." And Betty, if she +agrees, says "Oppenheimer," and we understand each other and pass on. +One day in Cork, a group of children were unusually annoying, and +followed along and followed along, until Betty, losing patience, turned +upon them sharply, pointed her finger at them, and said "Oppenheimer!" I +shall never forget the startled look in their eyes, as they stopped dead +in their tracks, stared at her for an instant, and then fled +helter-skelter. We decided afterwards that they thought she was putting +a curse on them. She tried it more than once thereafter, and it never +failed to work; so, if you are annoyed beyond endurance by juvenile +beggars in Ireland, turn upon them sharply, point your finger at them, +and say "Oppenheimer!" + +And since I am giving advice, I will give one bit more before I close +this chapter. + +Among the purchases which Betty had made in New York, just before we +sailed, was a small electric torch. I had derided it as unnecessary, but +she had insisted on bringing it along, and had put it in our +travelling-bag when we were sorting over our luggage in Dublin. The +first night at Thurles, in a dreary little room, with only the +flickering candle for a light, I acknowledged her wisdom, for the bright +glow of the torch was very welcome. Again at Glengarriff candles were +the only illumination, and that night at Killarney, when I got to our +room, I found her in animated conversation with the chambermaid by the +light of a single tallow dip. They were talking about America, I think, +and the maid's eyes were shining with excitement and her cheeks were +flushed and the beautiful soft brogue was rolling off her tongue, when a +sudden gust from the open window blew the candle out. Betty picked up +the torch from the dresser and pressed the button. + +"Glory be to God! What's that?" cried the girl, as the glare flashed +into her astonished eyes. + +"It's only a torch," said Betty. "It won't hurt you." And then, when I +had lighted the candle again, she showed the girl how it worked. + +"Glory be to God!" she cried again. "The wonder of it! You would niver +be gettin' that in Ireland!" + +"No; I got it in New York." + +"Ah, 'tis a wonderful place," said the girl, reverentially. "No place +but America would be havin' such things as that!" + +Now this is no doubt a libel upon Ireland, for I suppose one can get +electric torches there. At any rate, my advice is to get one +somewhere--a good one--and take it along in your handbag. This advice is +good for the continent as well as for Ireland, but it is especially good +for the latter, and the reason is this: + +In the old days, when English prodigals wasted their substance on +castellated palaces, the Irish squire, being a wiser man, spent his +money on good wine and good horses--or, when he had no money, ran +light-heartedly into debt for them. As to his family mansion, he +contented himself with adding a wing from time to time, as it might be +needed, either because of the increasing number of his children, or the +widening circle of his friends. The result was a singular house, often +only one story high, never more than two, flung wide over a great deal +of ground, and of a most irregular plan. Such a house had many +advantages, for, as another writer has pointed out, "at one end of it +the ladies could sleep undisturbed, no matter how joyous the men were at +the other; there were no stairs to fall down; and the long narrow +corridors were pleasant to those who found it hard to direct their +devious steps." + +But the time came when these hospitable Irishmen found themselves +overwhelmed by debt, their houses were taken from them, and many of +them, since they were too large for any private family, were converted +into inns. The traveller in rural Ireland will encounter more than one +of them, and will find those long, shadowy, zig-zag corridors eerie +places after night, unless he has a torch to light his steps. The doors +are not always fitted with locks, and if the window is kept open, an +intruder has only to step over the sill. We never had any intruder; but +had we had, I am sure one flash from the torch would have sent him +flying. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE "GRAND TOUR" + + +THERE are many excursions which can be made over and around the +Killarney lakes, but the most important one--the "grand tour," so to +speak--starts at the town, proceeds by car to Kate Kearney's cottage, +then by pony through the Gap of Dunloe, then by boat the full length of +the lakes to Ross Castle, and back to town again by car. This round +takes a day to accomplish, and gives one a very fair idea of Killarney. +It is about all most of the people who come to Killarney ever see of it. +In fact, some of them don't see that much--as will presently appear. + +Now Killarney is to Ireland what the Trossachs are to Scotland and +Niagara Falls to America--in other words, its most famous show-place; +and so it has passed more or less under the control of that ubiquitous +exploiter of show-places, Thomas Cook. Cook arranges all the excursions, +Cook controls most of the vehicles, Cook's boats are the biggest and +safest, and so, if you wish to see Killarney "in the least fatiguing +manner," you must resign yourself to Cook. Let me say here that I admire +Cook; there is no place where a traveller is served more courteously, +more fairly, or more intelligently than in a Cook office. No one need be +ashamed to make intelligent use of Cook. The reason of his disrepute is +that he has come to be used so largely by self-complacent people whose +idea of seeing Europe is to gallop from place to place in charge of a +conductor. But that isn't Cook's fault. + +Killarney is the one place in Ireland which every tourist wants to see, +not because it is characteristically Irish, but because it has been very +carefully exploited. In my own opinion, a trip to Holy Cross and Cashel, +or to Mellifont and Monasterboice and the tombs of the kings, or to the +congested districts of Connaught, is far better worth while. But the +great bulk of tourist traffic follows the beaten path, and in Ireland +the beaten path leads straight to Killarney. + + * * * * * + +As we sat at breakfast next morning, we witnessed the ceremonial rites +involved in getting the fishermen started off for the day's sport. The +rotund porter acted as major-domo, and puffed and panted and hurried +hither and yon, his brow creased with the anxieties of his high office. + +It is a point of honour with all true fishermen to wear only the most +faded, rain-stained, disreputable of garments, and it was a +weird-looking company which gathered in front of the hotel that morning, +with their hats, decorated with many-coloured flies, flapping around +their brick-red faces. There was one woman in the lot who was going out +with her father--a short, square spinster, evidently hard as nails, with +a face as red as the reddest, and boots as heavy as the heaviest. The +wonder was that she didn't smoke a pipe like the others. They overhauled +their tackle with great care--shook out the lines, tested rods and +reels, examined the flies, and finally trudged away, the boatman +following, laden with rain-proofs and lunch-basket and gaff and +landing-net, and with a broad grin on his face at the prospect of +sharing his employer's tobacco and lunch, and of earning a few shillings +in so pleasant a manner. + +When we had finished breakfast, we went out to have a look at the +weather, and found the sun shining brightly, with every prospect of a +pleasant day. The porter assured us that there was no chance of rain; +but we had already had some experience of the fickleness of the Irish +climate, so we went back and prepared for the worst, and clambered +presently to the seat of the car Cook sent for us. + +On the way in to the village, we stopped at another hotel to pick up +three American women who had been touring the continent and England, and +who, by a long jump, had managed to squeeze in one day for Killarney +before hastening on to Queenstown to catch their boat. They had arrived +late the night before, and would leave for Cork as soon as the tour of +the lakes had been completed, and they were jubilant because the day was +so fine. They had feared it might rain, and that their long journey +would be for nothing. The only protection against rain they had with +them was two small umbrellas, and I could see that they were somewhat +amused at our rain-coats and leggings. + +There was a long open coach, with seats for about twenty people, waiting +in front of Cook's office in the village, and presently, as cars drove +in from the various hotels, this was filled to overflowing, and at last +we rumbled away. We were fortunate in having been assigned to the front +seat with the driver, a handsome, good-humoured fellow, not averse to +talking; and behind us we could hear the merry chatter of the happy and +contented crowd. We passed the workhouse, which, as usual, is the +biggest building in the place, and then the lunatic asylum, which is +almost as big, and then we saw the ruins of Aghadoe high on the +hillside--and then I felt a drop of rain on my cheek. There was another +drop, and then another, and then a gentle patter, and then a rushing and +remorseless downpour. + +We held the rubber lap-robe up under our chins and the water ran down it +in streams. The happy chatter had turned to exclamations of +consternation and dismay, and we did not need to look around to realise +the havoc which the rain was working. The driver chirruped to his horses +and endeavoured to divert his passengers with a few stanzas of a classic +Irish drinking song, rendered in a resounding baritone: + + Let the farmer praise his grounds, + Let the huntsman praise his hounds, + The shepherd his dew-scented lawn; + But I, more blest than they, + Spend each happy night and day + With my charming little cruiskeen lawn, lawn, lawn, + With my charming little cruiskeen lawn. + +"What does cruiskeen lawn mean?" asked a man's voice behind us. + +"Oh, it is just a term of endearment," said a woman's voice in answer. +"Don't you remember the song about Willy Reilly and his dear cruiskeen +lawn?" + +"Oh, yes," said the man. + +I caught a twinkle in our driver's eye, but he said nothing. After all, +Willy Reilly, being a true Irishman, no doubt loved his cruiskeen lawn, +or little full jug, almost as well as his colleen bawn, or fair-haired +lassie. + +So we rolled merrily on, and presently turned into a hilly lane, where a +crowd of ragamuffins mounted on bony steeds awaited us. These were the +pony-boys, and a wild-looking lot they were as they fell in about us and +proceeded to act as a sort of cavalry escort. We took a bridge and a +steep grade beyond at a gallop, and drew up in front of a white-washed, +slate-roofed little house, which our driver announced was Kate Kearney's +cottage, and his bedraggled passengers made a break for its welcome +shelter. It was Lady Morgan who celebrated Kate's charms in the +ingenuous verses beginning, + + Oh, did you not hear of Kate Kearney? + She lives on the banks of Killarney, + From the glance of her eye shun danger and fly, + For fatal's the glance of Kate Kearney, + +and she is supposed to have lived somewhere in this neighbourhood, +though it is a long way from the "banks of Killarney." At any rate, this +spick-and-span cottage, very unlike Kate's, has been given her name, and +I dare say that any of the girls who tend bar inside would answer to it, +just to keep up the local colour. + +The room into which the door opens has a bar at one end and an open fire +at the other, and while the women of the party crowded about the fire, +the men paused before the bar for a taste of potheen. There are many +other opportunities to taste it before one gets through the gap, but if +it is to be done at all, it would better be done here, for here one +gets a clean glass to drink it out of. The whiskey is supposed to be +surreptitious, but of course it has paid the tax like any other; an inch +of it is poured into the bottom of the glass, and then the glass is +filled with milk, and one drinks it and smacks one's lips and looks +knowing. I drank a glass of it in the interests of this narrative, and I +am free to say I have drunk many things I liked better. + +At the end of half an hour, everybody had managed to get fairly dry, and +a prolonged discussion arose whether to go on through the gap or turn +back to the town. The rain was still falling steadily, and there was no +sign of break in the heavy clouds, though our conductor contended that +they were clearing away to the westward. The motley crew of pony-boys, +with their shaggy "coppaleens," were all most insistent that the shower +would soon be over, and that it would be a great mistake to go back. +Betty and I had already made up our minds: we were going to see the +thing through whatever happened; but the rest of the crowd vacillated +back and forth in cruel indecision, especially the three women who must +see Killarney to-day or never. We advised them to risk it; but in the +end, only one other member of the party, a little German Jew, decided to +do so, and all the rest clambered back into the bus and were driven off +toward the town. The Cook's conductor stayed with us to act as pilot. + +I wish you could have heard the chorus of commendation from those Irish +throats as Betty mounted her pony. Sure she was the brave lady, she was +the wise lady, the torrents and cataracts would be that fine; let the +featherbed trash drive off back to the town, sure they were not worth a +thought; the shower would soon pass by, and it would be a fine day, and +anyway the Irish rain was a soft sweet rain that never did any harm, and +the gap was the grandest sight in the whole world--so their tongues ran +on. + +I gave my camera into the keeping of the pony-boy who was going along +with us, and scrambled into the saddle. I have had mighty little +equestrian experience since my hobby-horse days, and I cannot pretend +that I enjoyed that ride, for the road was rough and up-and-down and the +pony anything but a smooth stepper. If I had it to do again, I think I +should walk. The distance is only about five miles, and a person not +thoroughly at home in the saddle has far more leisure to survey the +beauties of the gap when he is using his own legs than when he is +bumping along on a "coppaleen." + +The accompaniments of the ride are more diverting than the ride itself. +We had gone scarcely a dozen yards, when we found a photographer with +his camera set up in the middle of the road, who took our pictures on +the off chance that we'd buy one. Then from the shelter of a rock arose +a battered human, with a still more battered cornet, which looked as +though it had been used as a shillelagh in moments of absent-mindedness, +and he offered to awake the echo for a penny. I produced the penny, but +the blast he blew upon the horn was so faint and wavering that Echo +slept on undisturbed. Then we came to an individual playing with great +violence upon a wheezy accordion. The pony-boys said that he had been a +great actor, but that rheumatism had overtaken him, so that he could +strut the boards no longer, and he had finally been reduced to playing +an accordion in the Gap of Dunloe, and they besought charity for him, as +the most deserving case in the gap. And then we came to two men with a +small cannon, which they offered to discharge for sixpence. And then +began a long procession of barefooted old women, pretending to offer +homeknit woollen socks and home-distilled potheen for sale, but really +begging--begging most insistently, running along beside the ponies with +their poor red feet slopping in the mud or slipping over the stones; +voluble with their blessings if they got a small coin, and plainly +thinking themselves insulted if they didn't. + +Meanwhile, we had mounted into the gap along a rough and winding +bridle-path, and a desolately-impressive place we found it. A little +river, the Loe, runs at the bottom, and close on either side high, +frowning, rock-strewn precipices tower steeply upwards. There is no sign +of vegetation--except a patch of heather maintaining a perilous foothold +here and there on the bare and desolate hills,--the Tomies on one side +and McGillicuddy's Reeks on the other. And then, at what seemed the most +desolate spot, we came to a substantial, two-storied house, a station of +the Royal Irish Constabulary. What the police could find to do in such a +desert was difficult to imagine; but we stopped a few minutes to talk +with them, and they evidently welcomed the diversion. + +Legend has it that the Gap of Dunloe was cleft by Finn MacCool with a +single blow of his great sword, and that it was here, in the Black Lough +into which the River Loe presently widens, that St. Patrick imprisoned +the last snake in Ireland, by persuading it to enter a box on the +promise that he would release it to-morrow. When the morrow came, the +too-trusting serpent reminded the Saint of his promise, and asked him to +open the lid, but Patrick replied that it was not yet to-morrow, but +only to-day, and so the snake is still there in the box on the bottom of +the lake, waiting for to-morrow to come. It makes such a fearful +bubbling sometimes that it scares all the fish away, so that, while +there are fish in plenty in the other lakes, there is none in this. +There is a bridge at one end of the lake, and if one makes a wish as one +crosses it, the wish will come true. + +The road mounts steadily, curving from side to side of the valley, and +one should stop from time to time and look back, or the full beauty of +the place will be lost. We found the wind rushing along the heights, as +we worked our way upward, and the rain fairly poured at times, so that +the cataracts performed splendidly. At least I can vouch for two of +them--one down Betty's nose and the other down mine! But presently, the +clouds blew away, and the rain stopped just before we came out on the +heights above the Black Valley. + +This is undoubtedly the most beautiful point of the ride. To the right a +savage glen runs back into the very heart of the Reeks, ending in a +pocket shut in by sheer and rugged precipices. Far below lies the +valley, with a silver ribbon of a river winding through it, and to the +left shine the blue waters of the upper lake. + +I dismounted at this point, turned my pony over to the boy, and went +down the winding road on foot, for I didn't want anything to distract +my eyes from this wonderful view. And presently we were down among the +trees, before a little lodge called for some unknown reason "Lord +Brandon's Cottage," in which sat a man to whom we had to pay a shilling +each before we could pass to the landing-place at the head of the lake, +where the boats and lunch were waiting. Killarney is about the only spot +in Ireland which is exploited in this manner, but here you will find +fees exacted at every turn--a petty annoyance which, added to the +persistent begging and insistent demands for tips, does much to +interfere with the pleasure of the Killarney trip. + +At the landing we found two boats which had rowed up from Ross Castle +during the morning--a small one with two oarsmen and a larger one with +four. The conductor marshalled us into the big one, took his seat at the +stern, got out our lunches, which had been sent up from the hotel, +tucked us in with heavy waterproofs, drew the tiller-lines across his +lap and gave the signal to start. + +The upper lake is much the most beautiful of the three, with its many +islands, and the high hills hemming it in. Near its lower end is Arbutus +Island, and it is worth pausing a moment beside it to look at the +arbutus, that handsomest of shrubs, with ruddy stem and glossy leaf, +which is indigenous all about Killarney, but reaches its height of glory +on this little island. It is impossible to tell where the outlet of the +lake is, until you are right upon it, but it suddenly opens out between +two high rocks, and the boat enters the Long Range--the winding river +some three miles in length which connects the upper and middle lakes. + +The rock on the left is called Colman's Leap, and the legend is that, +once upon a time, this Colman, who was lord of the upper lake, was +chased down the mountain by some supporters of The O'Donaghue, and took +a flying leap across the river, in proof of which you may still see the +print of his feet in the rock where he landed on the other side. Our +guide offered to show us the foot-prints, if we required any proof of +the story, but we assured him of our unquestioning belief. + +The Reach itself is quite as beautiful as any of the lakes, for its +banks are covered with the most varied and luxuriant vegetation; and +once, as we drifted quietly along, we saw a red deer browsing among the +bracken. And then we drifted past the foot of a great precipice, and the +channel narrowed, the current quickened, and the boatmen prepared to run +the rapids into the middle lake. + +One of the boatmen was a wild-eyed old fellow, very nervous and fidgety, +who had considerable difficulty in wielding an oar against the husky +fellow opposite him, and more than once the steersman had admonished him +to put more ginger into it. Now, as we drew near the rapids, his +agitation increased, his eyes grew wilder than ever, and as the current +caught us and we shot under the ancient arch of masonry called the Old +Weir Bridge, he managed to strike his oar on a rock with a force that +nearly broke it. The nose of the boat swerved alarmingly for an instant, +but the steersman brought her round with a quick jerk, and in a minute +more we were in the quiet waters of the middle lake. The atmosphere was +far from quiet, however, as the steersman relieved his mind. Let it be +added that the rapids are not very terrible, as will be seen from the +picture opposite this page, and even if the boat struck a rock and was +ripped in two, one could get ashore without much difficulty. + +[Illustration: OLD WEIR BRIDGE, KILLARNEY] + +[Illustration: THE MEETING OF THE WATERS] + +[Illustration: ROSS CASTLE, KILLARNEY] + +Just beyond, at the "meeting of the waters," there is a whirlpool called +O'Sullivan's Punchbowl, and every rock and cave along the shore has its +tradition, many of them manufactured, I suspect, for the consumption of +the summer visitor. Most of the traditions are of The O'Donaghue, +Chieftain of the Glens. A long cave is O'Donaghue's Wine-cellar; a +depression at its mouth is O'Donaghue's Chair; and a tall knoll beside +it is O'Donaghue's Butler, otherwise Jockybwee. + +The boat leaves the middle lake under another massive, high-hipped arch +of masonry--Drohid-na-Brickeen, "The Bridge of the Little Trout," or +Brickeen Bridge, as it is called now--and emerges into Glena Bay, +another place of beauty; but, as we were gazing at its loveliness, the +boat suddenly pitched sideways, then tried to stand on end, and we +started round to find ourselves in the midst of an ugly expanse of +white-capped water. We had never thought of rough water on Killarney; +yet here it was, and mighty rough at that. The lower lake is five miles +long and half as wide, and when the wind gets a good sweep at it, it can +kick up a sea that is not to be despised. + +"'Tis just O'Donaghue's white horses out for a frolic," said the +steersman encouragingly, and took a new grip of his lines. The oarsmen +bent to their work, and we headed out into the lake, for it was +necessary to cross to Ross Island. + +We said nothing, but held tight, and grinned palely at each other when +the boat made a peculiarly ferocious pitch; the spray flew in sheets, +the wind dashed the spindrift viciously in our faces, and we would have +been very wet indeed but for the waterproofs. But after the first few +minutes, we began to enjoy it, for it was evident that the boat was a +staunch one, and even if it went over, it wouldn't sink. I don't suppose +there was really any danger of its going over, though it hung at an +alarming angle on the side of a huge wave, once or twice; and at the end +of half an hour, we swept under the lee of Ross Island, and our sweating +boatmen paused to take breath. The excitable one was trembling so he +could scarcely get his pipe between his teeth. + +That night at the hotel, Betty was talking to two Englishwomen who had +hired a boatman to row them out to Inisfallen Island. The lake hadn't +been especially rough when they went out, and it wasn't until they got +out of the lee of the island on the return trip that they realised its +fury. Their boatman, at the end of a few moments, found himself unable +either to get ahead or to go back; the most he could do was to keep the +boat's head to the waves, and for nearly an hour they tossed there, +shipping great seas, bailing desperately, too frightened to be sea-sick, +and finally giving themselves up for lost, when the wind shifted and +their boatman managed to struggle past the point of Ross Island. They +expressed surprise that their hair wasn't white, and said that they +would consider all the remainder of their lives sheer gain, because they +felt that, except for a miracle, they would have ended on June 5, 1913. +No doubt they exaggerated their danger, but just the same I would advise +any one who is nervous on the water to be sure that the lower lake is +fairly smooth before attempting to cross it. We certainly drew a breath +of relief when we stepped ashore in the shadow of the ivy-clad ruins of +Ross Castle. + +The castle itself is not of especial interest, for all that is left of +it is the ruin of the old keep, with some crumbling outworks, not nearly +so imposing as Blarney. About the only reason to visit it is to get the +view from the top, which is very fine. But it has some stirring +associations, for it was the stronghold of the great O'Donaghue, whose +legend dominates the whole district. The story goes that, every May +morning just before sunrise, the old warrior, armed cap-a-pie, emerges +from the lake, mounts his white horse, and rides like the wind across +the waters, attended by fairies who strew his path with flowers. + +It was here the Royalist forces made their last stand against Cromwell, +and they thought they were safe, because the castle was a strong one, +and was built on an island, which made it unusually difficult to attack; +and furthermore there was an old legend which said it would never be +taken until a fleet swam upon the lake. Ludlow brought an army of four +thousand men over the mountains, and started a siege, but made little +progress; and then, one morning, as the garrison looked out over the +battlements, they saw a fleet of boats bearing down upon them across the +lake, and they rubbed their eyes and looked again, only to see the boats +nearer, and now they could discern the pieces of ordnance mounted in +the bows and the soldiers who crowded them, and they were so awed by the +fulfilment of the prophecy that they surrendered without more ado. That +was the end of Ross Castle, but nobody knows certainly to this day how +Ludlow got the boats over the hills from Castlemaine. + + * * * * * + +A pretty drive along the margin of the middle lake brought us back to +the hotel, where we found all the fishermen assembled, for the water had +been too rough for fishing. We hurried out of our wet things, and dinner +certainly tasted good; and when we joined the others about the fire, +that evening, we found that we had qualified for admission to their +charmed circle by going through the gap and crossing the lake on such a +day. We were no longer tenderfeet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ROUND ABOUT KILLARNEY + + +WE had been assured more than once, during our trip through the Gap of +Dunloe, that the Irish rain is a soft, sweet rain, which does nobody any +harm, and we found that this was true, for we felt splendidly next +morning. The only evidence of our strenuous experience was a certain +redness of visage, which grew deeper and deeper, as the days went on, +until it approached that rich brick-red, which we had already noted as a +characteristic of Irish fishermen. + +The day was bright and warm, and after breakfast we walked in to the +town to take a look at our films. We found the road even more beautiful +in the morning than it had been in the evening, and, since we knew how +long it was, it did not seem long at all. But we were rather +disappointed in the films. I had not appreciated how much the moisture +in the atmosphere diminished the intensity of the sun, and so most of +the films were under-exposed. Amateur photographers in Ireland will do +well to remember that they must use an aperture twice as large or an +exposure twice as long as is necessary anywhere else. + +We walked on in to the town, and were sauntering along looking in the +windows, when some one touched me on the elbow. + +"Hello, comrade," said a voice, and I swung around to find myself +looking into the face of a tall, thin American whom we had met at +Dublin looking at the Book of Kells in Trinity College Library. We had +fallen into talk upon that occasion, and he had confided to us that he +was from Massachusetts, that he was a bachelor, that he had started out +by himself to see Europe, and that he was very lonely. He looked +lonelier than ever, standing on this Killarney street corner, and he +said that he was getting disgusted with Ireland, that it seemed to be +raining all the time, that Killarney wasn't half as beautiful as he had +been led to believe, and that he had about made up his mind not to go up +the west coast, as he had intended, but to go straight to the continent. +We remarked that we intended going up the west coast, and I saw his eye +light with anticipation, but there are some sacrifices too great for +human nature, and I didn't suggest his coming along. + + * * * * * + +Perhaps the most interesting show-place in the vicinity of Killarney is +Muckross Abbey, and we spent that afternoon exploring it and its +grounds. Muckross is far surpassed in interest by many other Irish +ruins, but it is very beautiful, embowered as it is in magnificent trees +and all but covered with glistening ivy. It is not very old, as Irish +ruins go, for it dates only from the latter half of the fifteenth +century, when it was founded for the Franciscans. The gem of the place +is undoubtedly the cloister, with its arcade of graceful arches ranged +around a court and lighting a finely-vaulted ambulatory. In the middle +of the court is a giant yew, many centuries old, which spreads its +branches from wall to wall. It is encircled with barbed wire, and I +don't know whether this is to protect it from vandals, or to protect +vandals from it--for the legend is that whoever plucks a spray of this +tree dies within a twelvemonth. + +[Illustration: MUCKROSS ABBEY, KILLARNEY] + +[Illustration: THE CLOISTER AT MUCKROSS ABBEY] + +The adjoining graveyard is crowded with interesting old tombs, and as we +were wandering about looking at them, a funeral arrived. The priest +walked in front, reading the burial service, while his assistant walked +beside him, holding an umbrella over him, for it had begun to rain. Both +of them wore black and white scarfs draped over one shoulder and strips +of black and white cloth tied about their hats. Behind them came the +coffin, carried on the shoulders of four men, the pair in front and the +pair behind gripping each other about the waist so as not to be thrown +apart by the inequalities of the path. Then came the mourners, about a +dozen men, each with a black streamer about his hat. A number of women +came last, their shawls over their heads. + +The coffin was placed on the ground, and every one knelt in the dripping +grass, bareheaded under the drenching rain, until the service was +concluded. One of the mourners, at the proper moment, produced from +beneath his coat a little black bottle which proved to contain the holy +water, and with this the priest sprinkled the rude black casket, with +little crosses for the screw-heads. Then the priest and his assistant +went away, and the men hastened to get to their feet and clap on their +hats, and then there was a general production of black clay cutties, and +in a moment a dozen deep puffs of smoke were floating away before the +breeze. + +The women of the party retired behind a corner of the abbey to eat a +bite of lunch, and the men stood around talking and smoking; and finally +the caretaker produced four long-handled spades, and there was an +animated discussion as to just where the grave should be dug. As is +usually the case with Irish graveyards, this one was so crowded that it +was no easy matter to find room for a fresh grave, but at last the spot +was fixed upon, and four of the men fell to with the spades. When they +grew tired, four others took up the work, and in half an hour the +shallow grave was dug, the coffin placed in it, and the earth heaped +back upon it. There was no keening. + +One of the women who was with the party told us that the funeral +procession had come all the way from the end of the upper lake, more +than fourteen miles away, and that the deceased was a woman of +ninety-six. Fancy the tragedies she must have seen! For she was a woman +of twenty-six, married, no doubt, with children, in the famine of '47. +How many of them died, I wondered, and how had she herself managed to +survive the awful years which followed? Her home beyond the upper +lake--I could close my eyes and see it--the dark little cabin with its +thatched roof and dirt floor and single room; I could picture the rocky +field from which she and her husband had somehow managed to wring a +livelihood; I could see her running with her poor bare feet through mud +and over stones beside some laughing tourist in the hope of getting a +penny or two-- + +But it is too tragic to think about! + +The shower passed, after a time, and we went on along a beautiful walk +leading toward the lake--the Friars' Walk, it is called, and it is +bordered by century-old beeches, yews, pines and limes, the most +magnificent trees that I have ever seen, so glorious and inspiring that +we were lured on and on. We came to the shore of the lake, at last, +where the waves have carved the rocks into beautiful and fantastic +shapes, and we followed the shore a long way, stopping at every jutting +headland for a long look out over the grey, wind-swept water. Then the +path turned inland and came out upon the middle lake, and here we found +the fishermen from our hotel just getting to land, in a very drenched +and disconsolate condition, for the water had been too rough for good +sport. + +That evening before the fire, the old Englishman, of whom I have already +spoken, relieved his mind to me upon the subject of Ireland and the +Irish. He said it was no use to try to help the Irish: in the first +place, they didn't deserve any help; in the second place they took your +help with one hand and bludgeoned you with the other; and in the third +place any attempt to help them only made matters worse. Take the old age +pensions, for example. They were a farce. Hundreds and hundreds of +farmers had given their property to their children, so that they could +go into court and swear they possessed nothing and claim a pension. +Thousands more who were nowhere near seventy were drawing pensions +because there was no way to prove just how old they were. And most of +the pension money went for drink. Every pensioner had credit at the +public houses, and his pension was usually drunk away long before it was +received. The only effect of the act had been to make the Irish worse +drunkards than ever--and they were already the worst in the world. That +was the cause of their poverty; that was the reason they lived in filth +and wretchedness. They were without ambition, without pride, without any +sense of manhood or decency--all they wanted was whiskey, and they would +do anything to get it. All this, I dare say, is the honest belief of a +great many Englishmen; and there is in it just that small grain of truth +which makes it sting. + +But I grew tired of listening, after a time, and went out to the bar, +where a very loquacious Ulsterman with the broadest of Scotch accents +was explaining his woes to the grinning barmaid. He had just been +dismissed, it seemed, from some position in the neighbourhood because he +had "been out with a few friends" the night before. He was convinced +that his late employer was no gentleman, because a gentleman would have +understood the circumstances and overlooked them; he pronounced Kerry +the most God-forsaken of counties, and announced his intention of +getting back to Ulster as soon as he could. No doubt his experience in +the south of Ireland made him a more rabid Orangeman than ever, and I +suppose he lost no time in signing the covenant and enlisting in +Ulster's "army." + + * * * * * + +We had planned to spend our last day at Killarney walking and driving +about the neighbourhood, and we were delighted, when we came down to +breakfast that Saturday morning, to find the weather all that could be +desired, with the sun shining from a brilliant sky, and not a cloud upon +it, except high, white, fair-weather ones flying before the wind. So as +soon as we had eaten, we started away on a car for a drive through the +deer-park of the Earl of Kenmare, a walk along the "fairy glen" which +traverses it, and then another drive up along the heights to the ruins +of Aghadoe. + +We met many little carts driving in to Killarney, for it was market +day--the identical type which had already grown so familiar: a flat cart +with a man driving, his legs hanging down, and his women-folks crouched +behind him under their shawls, with their knees drawn up to their chins, +and the shaggy donkey which furnished the motive power, trotting briskly +and alertly along. I don't know what the poor Irish would do without +this serviceable little beast, long lived and useful in so many ways, +able to exist on stones and nettles, and costing only a pound or two. +Betty was so impressed with their usefulness that she wanted to buy one +and send it home, but that speculation fell through. + +As we climbed higher and higher up the heights, the wind grew cold and +cutting, but the view below us over the lakes to the south opened more +and more--a glorious panorama of wood and hill and white-capped water, +with ever-varying light and shade under the drifting clouds. But what a +contrast between this smiling landscape and the one which met our eyes +when we turned them to the north, where one bleak and desolate hill +towered behind another, away and away as far as the eye could see, a +wilderness of grey boulders and black, fissured crags. + +The car stopped at last before some stone steps leading over a wall, but +as we started to mount them, a woman came running out of a near-by +cottage and insisted on unlocking the gate for us, in the hope, of +course, of getting a tip. She was the caretaker in charge of the ruins +of Aghadoe, and she tried to tell us something about them, but the +visitor who has to rely on her for information must content himself with +very little. + +The story, as I piece it together, is something like this: About the +middle of the seventh century, there dwelt at Killarney a very holy man +named St. Finian the Leper, and on Inisfallen, the largest of the +Killarney islands, he founded an abbey, whose ruins may yet be seen +there; and here at Aghadoe, the Field of the Two Yews, he built a +church, which became the seat of a bishop. As was often the case, the +original church proved, in time, to be too small, and an addition was +tacked on to it. A round tower was also built as a protection against +the Danes, and a little farther down the slope, a rude castle was put up +as a residence for the bishop. + +There is very little left of the castle and the round tower, but the +walls of the church are still standing. The early church built by St. +Finian forms the western part, or nave, and is entered by a beautiful +round-headed doorway, of the familiar Celtic type. The rain of centuries +has washed away much of the carving, but enough remains to show how +elaborate it was. The windows here are also round-headed, but the later +portion, or choir, is lighted by narrow lancet windows, which prove that +it was built some time in the thirteenth century, after the Normans +came. These are the only things of interest left in the ruins, and the +visit to them is worth making not so much on their account, as for the +magnificent view over the lakes. + +We drove back to Killarney along the border of the lower lake, through +the Kenmare demesne, and past the many-gabled mansion of the Earl, which +has since been destroyed by fire; and we spent a very pleasant hour +wandering about the village. The main street at Killarney is +unattractive enough, crowded as it is with shops whose principal stock +in trade is post-cards and photographs and books of views and +monstrosities in bog oak and Connemara marble--souvenirs, in a word, for +Cook tourists to take home. But turn up any of the narrow lanes which +branch off on either side, and there is authentic Ireland--the Ireland +of plastered cottages and thatched roofs and half-naked children and +gossiping women leaning over their half-doors. + +As it was market day, the lanes were more than usually crowded, and I +explored them one after another, to an accompaniment of much +good-humoured chaffing from the girls and women, especially when I +unlimbered my camera. Then we walked out and took a look at the +cathedral, a towering structure, still uncompleted as to its interior +and bare and cold, but an impressive proof of the influence of the +church which could raise the money to build so great an edifice in this +poverty-stricken land; and then we stopped at some of the shops and +looked at the Irish homespun, and spent a little time at an +auction-sale, where the bidding was very slow and cautious, and finally +we caught the omnibus back to our hotel. + + * * * * * + +There was still one place we wished to see. That was the Torc cascade, +and, after tea, we set out to walk to it. The road lay for about a mile +along the road skirting Muckross Lake, and then we came to a gate where +a boy was waiting to exact a fee of nine-pence. Then we mounted a steep +path, under magnificent pines, close beside the brawling Owengarriff +River, up and up, with a lovely view of the lakes opening below us; and +finally we came to the cascade--a white welter of water slithering down +over the black rocks, very beautiful and impressive. + +We sat there for a long time, looking at it and at the stately wood +which clothed the opposite hillside, and at the blue water lying far +below us, and at the green hills away beyond, and we both agreed that, +next to the view from the Kenmare road, this was the most glorious view +to be had about Killarney. Subsequent reflection has not altered this, +and, after the trip through the Gap of Dunloe and across the lakes, I +should certainly place this one to the Torc cascade. Beside it, the view +from Aghadoe is nowhere. + +We went on reluctantly, at last, mounting still higher until we came to +a path bearing away to the left through the woods, and we followed this +until we came to a mountain road which we had been told was there. It is +called the Queen's Drive, and I suppose Victoria passed this way during +her visit to the lakes; and it led us past the reservoir which supplies +Killarney with water, and on down through magnificent woods whose beauty +is marred only by a lot of so-called "monkey trees"--a monstrosity which +had annoyed us all through Ireland, but to which I have not yet +referred. + +The monkey tree is a sort of evergreen, with long, thin branches clad +with close-growing foliage, and looking not unlike monkeys' arms. In +fact, the tree itself resembles in a grotesque way a lot of monkeys +swinging in midair, and hence its name. It is a hideous thing, and yet a +specimen grows in every dooryard. There was one in front of our hotel, +there were others along the road; here they had been planted in great +numbers and reached an unprecedented size--but we were glad to observe +that a few were dying. The monkey tree seems to be to Irish homes what +the rubber-plant used to be to American ones, and it appalled us to see +how many little ones were being started in tiny front yards, which they +would one day overshadow and render abominable. I can only hope that, in +some happy hour, a wave of reform will sweep over Ireland and carry +these monstrosities before it. + +We came out, at last, upon a little huddle of houses on the hillside +above our hotel, and stopped to talk to some children and their mother, +then went on downward, in the gathering dusk, very happy because of a +beautiful and satisfying day. And just as we turned into the highroad, +Betty saw something gleaming on the ground at her feet, and stooped and +picked up a shilling. From what ragged pocket had it fallen, we +wondered? How great a tragedy would its loss represent? We looked up and +down the road, but there was no one in sight. So we decided to keep it +for luck, and we have it yet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +O'CONNELL, JOURNEYMAN TAILOR + + +THERE was quite a crowd on the platform, that Sunday morning, of +travellers turning their backs on Killarney, and we found ourselves +eventually in a compartment with two Americans, man and wife, who were +plainly in no pleasant humour. The man was especially disgruntled about +something, and I judged from his exclamations that he had got decidedly +the worst of it when it came to settling the bill. It is in some such +mood as this, I fear, that many people leave Killarney. + +But the view from the window soon made us forget our fellow-passengers. +The road runs for a time close beside the Flesk, one of the prettiest of +Irish rivers, while away to the south rose the beautiful Killarney +hills, peak upon peak, with mighty Mangerton dominating all of them. And +then came the Paps, two conical elevations separated by a deep ravine; +and then the bleak brown slopes of the Muskerry hills, with a ruined +castle of the McCarthys guarding the only pass into the valley. To the +north a boggy plain stretched away and away, ridged with black pits, +like long earthworks, from which the turf had been cut. + +The hills to the south grew gradually less rugged, and presently we +dropped into the beautiful valley of the Blackwater, with many ruined +castles perched on the crags which overshadow it--castles built by the +McCarthys, the O'Callaghans, and I know not what other septs, memorials +of the old days of raid and counter-raid, of warring clans and +treacherous chieftains. + +And then we came to Mallow, and had to change into another carriage, +where we found five Americans, who were also coming from Killarney, and +who also believed that they had been held up. Their grievance was +against the hotel at which they had stopped, and they said wildly that +it was no better than a den of thieves. This, of course, was an +exaggeration, and, in any event, I did not pity them much, for it was +soon evident that their visit to Ireland had been a waste of time. They +knew nothing of her history and traditions; her ruins held no meaning +for them; her empty valleys told them nothing of her past; they had +never heard of Cormac, or Finn the Fair, or Ossian, or Conn the Hundred +Fighter, or even of Brian Boru; they had never heard of that old +civilisation which the Danes swept away, and saw nothing very wonderful +in the Cross of Cong or the Book of Kells. So to them Ireland had proved +a disappointment, just as she will to every one who visits her in +ignorance and indifference. + +We reached Limerick Junction, at last, and changed thankfully to the +branch which runs to Limerick, twenty miles away. And almost at once we +came upon traces of Patrick Sarsfield, of glorious memory, for a few +miles beyond the Junction, to the left of the line, are the ruins of a +castle, which was held by the English, but which he surprised one night, +on one of those famous raids of his, and captured and blew up. And then +the line mounted the hills which divide the Vale of Tipperary from the +valley of the Shannon, crossed them, and came out upon a land as +beautiful and fertile as any we had seen in Ireland. Such lushness, such +greenness, such calm, quiet loveliness can surely be matched in few +other spots upon this earth. + +It was still early afternoon when the train rolled in to the station at +Limerick, and on the platform we met the actor and his wife whom we had +talked with at Blarney a week before. They had come to Limerick, where +their principal was a great favourite, for a three weeks' engagement. I +saw the actor afterwards on the street, and he told me that the theatre +was in terrible shape, for some misguided enthusiasts had attempted to +hold a Unionist meeting there, a few days previously, and the patriotic +Limerickians had nearly torn the place to pieces. + +Limerick is by far the most important town of central or western +Ireland; in fact it is surpassed in population only by Belfast, Dublin +and Cork, and it has many amusing points of resemblance to the two +latter. It is divided into two parts by a branch of the Shannon; it has +one long, curving principal street leading to a bridge; the street is +known officially as George Street, after an English king, but to all +Irishmen it is O'Connell Street, in honour of the Liberator whose statue +is its chief adornment; this street is a street of bright and attractive +shops, not in itself interesting, but cross the bridge to the older part +of the town, or turn up any of the little lanes which lead off from it, +and you will find nothing more picturesque anywhere--nor more +distressful. + +We walked along George Street, that afternoon, and crossed the bridge +to the island on which Limerick had its birth. The bridge is called +Matthew Bridge, not after the Disciple, but after Ireland's great +apostle of temperance. Beyond the bridge is a maze of narrow, crooked +streets, and we made our way through them to the old cathedral, whose +tower served as guide. We got there just as vespers were over, and we +found the verger very willing to show us about. + +I do not imagine there are many Protestants at Limerick; at least, a +very small portion of this impressive old church serves the needs of the +congregation, and the rest of it is bare and empty--and imposing. Rarely +indeed have I seen a more sombre interior, for the walls are very +massive, and the windows small, and there is a surprising number of dark +little chapels--the principal one, of course, being dedicated as a +burial place for the Earls of Limerick. The carved miserere seats are +worth examining, as are also many of the old tombs which clutter the +interior. There is an elaborate one to the Earl of Thomond in the +chancel, and a carved slab covering the grave of Donall O'Brien, King of +Munster, who founded the cathedral in 1179; but among the quaintest is a +slab built into the wall of the nave with this epitaph cut upon it: + + MEMENTO MORY + HERE LIETH LITTELL SAMUEL + BARINGTON THAT GREAT UNDER + TAKER OF FAMOUS CITTIES + CLOCK AND CHIME MAKER + HE MADE HIS ONE TIME GOE + EARLY AND LATTER BUT NOW + HE IS RETURNED TO GOD + HIS CREATOR + THE 29 OF NOVEMBER THEN + HE SCEST AND FOR HIS + MEMORY THIS HERE IS PLEAST + BY HIS SON BEN + 1693 + +We spent a very pleasant half hour in the church, and then we wandered +on through the crooked streets to the magnificent Norman castle, set up +here to defend the passage of the Shannon. Most venerable and impressive +it is, with its great drum towers, and curtains ten feet thick. Just in +front of it the Shannon is spanned by a fine modern bridge, replacing +the ancient one which was the scene of so many conflicts, and at the +farther end of it, mounted on a pedestal, is the famous stone on which +Sarsfield signed his treaty with the English in 1691--the treaty which +guaranteed equal rights to Catholics, but which, as every Catholic +Irishman somewhat too vividly remembers, resulted only in a more bitter +persecution. Irish memory, curiously enough, seems always to grow +clearer with the passing years, and the mists of two centuries +accentuate, rather than obscure, the fame of Limerick as "The City of +the Violated Treaty." The story runneth thus: + +The River Shannon, with its wide estuary, its many lakes, and its mighty +current flowing between impassable bogs or beetling cliffs, has always +been a formidable barrier between east and west Ireland. In the old +days, the only doors in this barrier was the ford at Athlone, just below +Lough Ree, and another all but impassable one at Killaloe, just below +Lough Derg; but in the ninth century, the Danes sailed up from the sea, +landed on an island at the head of the tideway, fortified it, and so +started the city of Limerick. The current of the river was divided here, +and the invaders managed in time to get a bridge across, and so opened +another door in the Shannon barrier. Brian Boru drove them out, at last, +and then the Normans came and, after their fashion everywhere, rendered +their hold secure by erecting a great round-towered castle to guard the +bridge. Edward Bruce captured it in 1316, and three centuries later, +Hugh O'Neill held it for six months against Cromwell's great general, +Ireton. The Ironsides captured it, finally, and Ireton died of the +plague not long afterwards in a house just back of the cathedral. + +But it was in the war against William of Orange that Limerick played its +most distinguished part. I have already told how the Irish chose the +cause of the Stuarts against the Parliament; how they proclaimed Charles +II king as soon as his father's head was off, and of the vengeance +Cromwell took. So it was inevitable that they should espouse the cause +of James II against the Protestant William, whom the English had called +over from the Netherlands to be their king. James came to Ireland to +lead the rebellion, proved himself an idiot and a coward, and ended by +running away and leaving the Irish to their fate. + +William's troops swept the country, took town after town and castle +after castle, until Limerick remained nearly the last stronghold in +Irish hands. So William marched against it, at the head of 26,000 men, +but the position was a very strong one, and that ablest of Irish +generals, Patrick Sarsfield, was in command of the town, and William was +beaten back. The next year another great army under General Ginkle +marched against the place, first capturing Athlone, and so getting +across the river. A terrific attack was concentrated on the fortress +guarding the bridge, a breach was made, the fort stormed, and the +garrison put to the sword, only about a hundred out of eight hundred +escaping across the other branch of the river into Limerick. + +Sarsfield still held the town, but his men were disheartened by the loss +of the castle. Ginkle, on the other hand, realised that to take the town +would be no easy task. A truce was proposed, negotiations began, both +sides were eager to end the war, and the result was that the famous +Treaty of Limerick was signed by Ginkle and Sarsfield on the third day +of October, 1691, on a stone near the County Clare end of the bridge +over the Shannon. + +There were twelve articles in the treaty, and some of them were +kept--the one, for instance, permitting all persons to leave the country +who wished to do so, and to take their families and portable goods +along; but one was not kept, the most important one, perhaps, which +provided that Irish Catholics should enjoy all the religious rights they +possessed under Charles II, and that all Irish still in arms, who should +immediately submit and take the oath of allegiance, should be secured in +the free and undisputed possession of their estates. In a word, the +price of peace was to have been a general indemnity and freedom of +religious worship. It was not an excessive price, but it was never paid. + +The Protestant colonists in Ireland protested in great wrath that they +had been betrayed, and the Irish Parliament, which the colonists +controlled, after a bitter fight, repudiated the treaty, or, at least, +confirmed only so much of it as "consisted with the safety and welfare +of his Majesty's subjects in Ireland," and passed a number of new laws +aimed at Catholics, disqualifying them from teaching school, from +sending their children abroad to be educated, from observing any holy +day except those set apart by the Church of Ireland, and many others of +the same sort, some of almost insane malignity. All this was, of course, +quite unjustifiable, but "King Billy" seems to have been in no way +responsible for it. In any event, it happened more than two centuries +ago, all these laws have long since been repealed, and it seems absurd +to keep their memory so fresh and burning. + +One word more, and I am done with history. After the surrender of +Limerick, Sarsfield and his men were given the choice of enlisting in +William's army or leaving the country. They chose the latter, and went +to France, where the last Catholic king of England had sought refuge. +He, of course, was unable to maintain them, so they enlisted under the +French king, Louis XIV, and formed the Irish Brigade, which was +afterwards to become so famous, and in which, during the next fifty +years, nearly half a million Irishmen enlisted, as the best means of +avenging themselves on England. The part they played at Landen, at +Barcelona, at Cremona, at Blenheim, at Ramilles, and finally at +Fontenoy--all this is matter of history. + + * * * * * + +We crossed the bridge again, after a look at the treaty stone--which, +enshrined on its lofty pedestal, is really a monument to English +perfidy--passed the castle, and plunged into the crooked streets of +"English Town," as this oldest part of Limerick is called, with its +tall, foreign-looking, tumbledown houses--as picturesque a quarter as I +have seen anywhere. For Limerick grew into an important city in the +century following its capture by the English, and many wealthy people +put up handsome town-houses, four or five stories high, with wide halls +and sweeping stairs and beautiful doorways and tall windows framed in +sculptured stone. It is these old houses which shadow the narrow lanes +of "English Town," and they are all tenements now, for the well-to-do +people--such of them as are left--have moved over to the newer, more +fashionable, more sanitary quarter. No attempt is made to keep them in +repair, and many of them have fallen down, leaving ragged gaps in the +street. Others seem in imminent danger of falling, and the distressed +look of the place is further heightened by the great fragments of the +old walls which remain here and there. + +This part of Limerick is on the island where the town started; the part +just beyond the bridge which leads to the mainland is called Irish Town, +and it, too, was once included in the city walls, a long stretch of +which is still standing back of the ancient citadel. Here too, +especially along the quay, are handsome houses, long since fallen from +their high estate, and now the homes of the poorest of the poor, a +family in every room. It is something of a shock to see these ragged and +distressed people climbing the beautiful stairways, or sitting in the +handsome doorways or leaning out of the carved windows, very much at +home in the place which was once the abode of wealth and fashion, while +the noisy play of dirty and neglected children echoes through the rooms +which once rang with gentle laughter and impassioned toast. + +Newtown-Pery, the newer part of the town, built on land reclaimed from +the river by the Pery family, the Earls of Limerick, who still own it, +contrasts strongly with the older part, for its streets are wide and +straight and run regularly at right angles, and it is a bustling place, +but quite without interest to the stranger. The houses are almost +uniformly four stories high, and are built of a peculiar dark-brown +brick, which makes them look much older than they really are. And down +along the water-front are nearly a mile of quays, with floating docks +and heavy cranes, and towering warehouses looking down upon them. + +Time was when Limerick fondly hoped to become the greatest port in +Ireland. She had every advantage--a noble situation on the broad estuary +of the Shannon, up which ships from America could sail direct to her +wharves--but in spite of great expenditures to improve her harbour +facilities, not only did no new trade come, but such as she already had +withered and withered, until to-day her tall warehouses are empty, her +quays almost deserted, and in the broad expanse of the Shannon there are +few boats except excursion steamers and pleasure yachts. + +The cause of this decay? Irishmen assert that there is only one +cause--unjust and discriminating laws passed by England to protect her +own trade by destroying Irish industry. No doubt this is true; but these +laws have been repealed for many years, and there is little evidence of +the healthy revival of these industries anywhere in Ireland. Such +revival as there is has been carefully fostered by various government +agencies; there has been no great spontaneous revival, and perhaps there +never will be. But it is a melancholy sight--the empty, decaying mills, +the idle factories, the deserted warehouses, the ruined dwellings, which +the traveller sees all up and down the land. + +I went out for another stroll about the town, after tea, for I wanted to +see the new Catholic cathedral, whose tall spire dominates the landscape +for many miles around. And as I went, I could not but notice the impress +the English have left on the names of the streets. The principal street, +as I have said already, is George Street; then there is Cecil Street, +and William Street, and Nelson Street, and Catherine Street, and George +and Charlotte Quays opposite each other. There is one, however, named +after a local celebrity whom all Irishmen should delight to +honour--Gerald Griffin, an authentic poet, whose "Eileen Aroon" is one +of the tenderest and most musical of lyrics. + +Gerald Griffin Street is one of the most important in Limerick, and it +is by it that one gains the cathedral, an impressive building, +especially as to its interior, dimly lighted through high, narrow lancet +windows. And here again one admires not so much the church itself, as +the indomitable spirit which could undertake the task of building such +an edifice in want-stricken Ireland. + +The Sarsfield monument is in the cathedral square, a rampageous figure, +charging with drawn sword off the top of a shaft of stone--perhaps the +most ridiculous tribute to a great soldier and patriot to be seen +anywhere on this earth. I, at least, have never seen any to match it, +unless it be that imperturbable dandy, supposed to represent Andrew +Jackson, who calmly doffs his chapeau from the back of a rearing horse +in front of our own White House! + +I walked on, after that, down toward the quays, along little lanes of +thatched houses, and then back into the region of the old mansions, with +their chattering women and sprawling children; and then, suddenly, I +became aware of the girls. + +Limerick, like Cork, is supposed to be famous for the beauty of its +women, and the younger generation was out in force, that Sunday evening, +rigged up in its best clothes, evidently ready for any harmless +adventure. There _were_ some nice-looking girls among them, no doubt of +that, with bright eyes and red lips and glowing cheeks, and the advent +of a stranger in their midst filled them with the liveliest interest, +which they were at no pains to dissemble. I know nothing about the +psychology of Irish girls, for I was not in a position to investigate or +experiment; but while they are shy, at first, I should judge that most +of them are not altogether averse to mild flirtation. The glance of +their eye is not, perhaps, as fatal as Kate Kearney's, but it is very +taking. + +I wish I could say as much for the boys; but if there were any witty, +invincible Rory O'Mores left in Ireland, I didn't see them. The Irish +young man seems very different indeed from the light-hearted, audacious, +philandering scapegrace so dear to Lover and Lever and scores of lesser +poets, and once so familiar upon the stage. They are not forever +breaking into song, they do not brim with sentiment, they are not, so +far as I could judge, full of heroic emotions and high ambitions. In +fact, they are quite the opposite of all that--matter-of-fact, humdrum, +rather stupid. + +Of course there are exceptions, and I was fortunate enough to meet one +that very evening. I stopped in at a tobacconist's to get a paper, and +fell into talk with the proprietor; and presently there entered a man +who bought a pennyworth of tobacco, filled his pipe, and then remained +for a word, seeing that I was a stranger. We were talking about Ireland, +and in a very few minutes the newcomer had the centre of the stage. + +O'Connell, journeyman tailor, so he introduced himself, and I wish I +could paint a picture of him that would make him live for you as he +lives for me. He was a faded little man, of indeterminate age, with a +straw-coloured moustache and sallow skin, but his eyes were very bright, +and before long his face was glowing with an infectious enthusiasm. His +clothes were worn and shabby, but one forgot them as he stood there and +talked--indeed they even lent a sort of dignity to his lean, nervous +little figure. + +First he told of how Cleeve, the big butter man, was trying to get the +city to close the swing bridge over the Shannon, so that his heavy +trams, which went about the country collecting milk, could cross it. To +close the bridge would shut off permanently about four hundred yards of +quay; but, so Cleeve argued, the quays were little used, and the town +would never need that stretch above the bridge. But O'Connell did not +believe it. + +"'Tis true," he said, "that England with her cruel laws, has killed our +trade and brought us all to want; 'tis true that we have no use for the +quay at present. But all that will be changed when we get Home Rule. +Then, sir, you will see our quays crowded with boats from end to end; +you will see our mills and factories humming with life, you will see our +warehouses piled with commodities from every quarter of the world. To +shut off part of them, just because this bloated butter-maker wants it, +would be a crime against the people of this town." + +"How is all this to be brought about?" I asked. + +"'Tis you Americans will be doing it, sir. The Irish in America, our +brothers, God bless them, will rally to the ould land. Her children will +come home to the Shan Van Vocht, once she is free of England. 'Tis them +ones will set us on our feet again. They will be putting their money +into our industries, till in the whole island there will be not an idle +wheel or a smokeless chimney." + +I told him I was afraid his dreams were too rosy; that the American +Irish, like all other Americans, would be governed by dividends, not by +sentiment, in the investment of their money. But nothing could shake his +belief in the good time coming. I asked him what he thought of Ulster, +and he laughed. + +"The Protestants have nothing to fear from Home Rule," he said. "'Tis +them will control this government. We Catholics are going to pick the +best and strongest men in this island to man the ship, and there will be +more Protestants than Catholics amongst them. We will need strong arms +at the helm, and what do we care what their religion may be, if only +they're good men and true? You're a Protestant, I take it, sir?" + +"Yes," I said; "I am." + +"And does that make me think any the less of you? Not a bit of it. 'Tis +the same God we look at, only with different eyes." + +"Not even that," I corrected; "with the same eyes--just from a different +angle." + +"You've said it, sir. I can't improve on that. Well then, what is it the +Ulster men are afraid of? They say it's the priests. But how silly that +is! Let them look back into history, and see what has happened when the +priests interfered with things that did not concern them. In spiritual +matters I bow to my priest; in everything else, I am independent of him. +It is so with all Irishmen, and has always been. Do you remember what +the great O'Connell said: 'I would as soon,' said he, 'take my politics +from Stamboul as from Rome.' Do you remember what happened when Rome +tried to prevent the Catholics of Ireland from contributing to the +testimonial for the greatest patriot Ireland has ever had, Charles +Stewart Parnell? But of course you don't. I'll just tell you. Why, sir, +the whole country was on fire from end to end. 'Make Peter's Pence into +Parnell's Pounds' was the battle-cry, and the money poured in like rain. +Mr. Parnell's friends had hoped to raise fifteen thousand pounds for +him. When they got the money counted at last, they had near forty +thousand pounds. What do you think of that now?" + +"I think it was fine," I said. "But why is it, then, Ulster is so +frightened?" + +"Ah, Ulster isn't frightened--it's just a lot of talk from people who +live by talkin'. There's many Catholics who are against Home Rule, and +there's many Protestants who are for it. They'll all be for it, after +they've tried it a while. And we won't let the Protestants stay out--we +can't afford to--we need them too much. Why, sir, our leaders have +always been Protestants, and I'm thinking always will be." + +"There was O'Connell," I reminded him. + +"I have not forgotten him--I quoted him but a moment since; and 'tis +true he was a great man and a true patriot. But he fell into grievous +error when he chose Catholic emancipation, when he might have got Home +Rule. What did Catholic emancipation mean to me and thousands like me? +It meant just nothing at all. It meant that some Catholics of +O'Connell's own class could hold jobs under government--that was all. +The greatest man this island ever produced, sir, was a Protestant. I +have mentioned him already; his name was Charles Stewart Parnell!" + +I wish you could have seen his shining eyes and heard his quivering +voice as he went on to tell me about Parnell; and how, after the scandal +which ruined his life--a scandal prearranged, so many think, by his +political enemies--he had come to Limerick to address a meeting, with +death in his face and a broken heart in his eyes; and there had been +some in the crowd that hissed him and pelted him with mud; and the +little tailor, his chest swelling at the old glorious memory, told how +he had been one of those who rallied around the stricken leader and beat +the crowd back and got him safe away. There were tears in his eyes +before he had ended. + +"Ah, woman," he went on, "'twas not only Parnell you ruined then, it was +ould Ireland, too! And not for the first time! Why, sir, 'twas because +of a woman the British first came to this island. Troy had her Helen, as +Homer tells, and so had Erin. 'Twas the same story over again. +Dervorgilla the lady's name was, and she was the wife of Tiernan +O'Rourke, Prince of Breffni, who had his fine castle on the beautiful +green banks of Lough Gill. It was there that Dermot MacMurrough, King of +Leinster, saw her, and after that no other woman would do for him. So he +courted her in odd corners and whispered soft honeyed words into her +ear; and she listened, as women will, and her head was turned by his +flattery. One day her husband, who was a pious man, kissed her good-bye +and started on a pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Purgatory in Lough Derg; +and he was there nine days; and when he came back, what did he find? Ah, +sir, Tom Moore has told it far better than I can: + + "'The valley lay smiling before me, + Where lately I left her behind; + Yet I trembled, and something hung o'er me, + That saddened the joy of my mind. + I looked for the lamp which, she told me, + Should shine when her Pilgrim returned; + But, though darkness began to enfold me, + No lamp from the battlements burned! + + "'I flew to her chamber--'twas lonely, + As if the loved tenant lay dead;-- + Ah, would it were death, and death only; + But no, the young false one had fled. + And there hung the lute that could soften + My very worst pains into bliss; + While the hand, which had waked it so often, + Now throbbed to a proud rival's kiss.'" + +I wish I could convey the tremor of the voice with which O'Connell, +journeyman tailor, recited these silly lines. I can see him yet, +standing there, one hand against his heart, his eyes straining up to the +battlements from which no welcoming light gleamed. I can see the +proprietor of the little shop, as he lounged against his counter, +smiling good-naturedly. I can see the two or three other men who had +drifted in, listening with all their ears. + +And then O'Connell went on to tell how O'Rourke, finding his wife had +fled with MacMurrough, appealed to his overlord, King Turlough O'Conor, +and how the two of them so harassed MacMurrough that he was compelled to +restore Dervorgilla to her husband and to flee to England, where he went +to Strongbow and persuaded him to bring his Normans to Ireland to help +him in his feud; and how Strongbow, once he got a firm grip on the land, +refused to loosen it, and the curse of English rule had been on Ireland +ever since. + +I looked this story up, afterwards, and found that legend tells it much +as O'Connell did, and it is probably true. But, just the same, it is +hardly fair to lay the whole blame for Ireland's woes on Dervorgilla, +for the Normans had been looking longingly across the Irish Sea years +before MacMurrough fled to them, and would no doubt have crossed it, +sooner or later, without an invitation. The tragic point of the story is +that, as usual, the invader found the Irish divided and so unable to +resist. We shall see the castle from which Dervorgilla fled, before our +journey is done, and also the place where she lies buried, at Mellifont, +in the valley of the Boyne. + +The quotation from Tom Moore had turned my little tailor's thoughts +toward poetry, and he asked if I knew this poem and that, and when I +didn't, as was frequently the case, he would quote a few lines, or sing +them, if they had been set to music. + +"Of course you know 'To the Dead of Ninety-eight'?" he asked. + +"Yes," I said; "but that is not Johnson's noblest poem. Do you know his +'Ode to Ireland'?" + +"I do not," he answered. "Let us have it, sir." + +How sorry I was that I couldn't let them have it, or didn't have a copy +that I could read to them, for it is a stirring poem; I had to confess +that I didn't know it, but I can't resist quoting one splendid stanza +now-- + + "No swordsmen are the Christians!" Oisin cried: + "O Patrick! thine is but a little race." + Nay, ancient Oisin! they have greatly died + In battle glory and with warrior grace. + Signed with the Cross, they conquered and they fell; + Sons of the Cross, they stand: + The Prince of Peace loves righteous warfare well, + And loves thine armies, O our Holy Land! + The Lord of Hosts is with thee, and thine eyes + Shall see upon thee rise + His glory, and the blessing of His Hand. + +"Have you heard Timothy Sullivan's 'Song from the Backwoods'?" he asked +me finally, and when I said I never had, he sang it for the assembled +company, and a splendid song I found it. Here it is: + + Deep in Canadian woods we've met, + From one bright island flown; + Great is the land we tread, but yet + Our hearts are with our own. + And ere we leave this shanty small, + While fades the Autumn day, + We'll toast Old Ireland! + Dear Old Ireland! + Ireland, boys, hurray! + + We've heard her faults a hundred times, + The new ones and the old, + In songs and sermons, rants and rhymes, + Enlarged some fifty-fold. + But take them all, the great and small, + And this we've got to say:-- + Here's dear Old Ireland! + Good Old Ireland! + Ireland, boys, hurray! + +As he went on with the song, the others in the shop warmed up to it and +joined in the chorus so lustily that a crowd gathered outside; and the +shopkeeper got a little nervous, fearing, perhaps, a visit from some +passing constable, and he whispered in O'Connell's ear, when the song +was done, and there were no more songs that evening. + +But still we sat and talked and smoked and O'Connell told me something +of himself: of the fifteen shillings a week he could earn when he had +steady work; of the three-pence a week he paid out under the insurance +act, and how, if he was sick, he would draw a benefit of ten shillings +a week for six months. He said bitterly that, if he lived in England, he +would get free medical attendance, too, but that had been refused to +Ireland through the machinations of the doctors and their friends. He +told of the blessing the old age pension had been to many people he +knew, and he admitted that England had been trying, of late years, to +atone for her old injustices toward Ireland, and was now, perhaps, +spending more money on the country than she got out of it. + +"But there is a saying, sir, as you know," he concluded, rising and +knocking out his pipe, "that hell is paved with good intentions; and +however good England's intentions may be, she can never govern us well, +because she can never understand us. Besides, it's not charity we want, +it's freedom. Better a crust of bread and freedom, than luxury and +chains! We'll have some hard fights, but we'll win out. Come back in ten +years, sir, and you'll see a new Ireland. Take my word for it. It's glad +I am that I came in here this night," he added. "I was feeling downcast +and disheartened; but that is all over now. This talk has been a great +pleasure to me. Good-bye, sir; God save you!" and he disappeared into +the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE RUINS AT ADARE + + +WE threw back the shutters, next morning, to a cold and dreary day of +misting rain; and after a look at it, Betty elected to spend it before a +cosy fire in our great, high-ceilinged room. I have wondered since if +our hotel at Limerick was not one of those handsome eighteenth-century +mansions, brought by the hard necessities of time to the use of passing +travellers. It is difficult to explain the gorgeousness of some of its +rooms on any other theory. Ours was a very large one, with elaborate +ceiling-mouldings and panelled walls and a mantel of carved marble, +which Betty inspected longingly. She could see it, I fancy, in her own +drawing-room, and perhaps its beauties had something to do with her +decision to spend the day in front of it. + +There were two or three pictures I wanted to take--one of the old castle +and another of the crooked little lane I had wandered through the night +before; so I set forth to get them, along busy George Street, with its +bright shops, and then across the river to English Town, and so to the +castle front. I found it very hard to get anything like a satisfactory +picture of it, because the parapet of the new bridge is in the way, and +because the angle of my lens was not wide enough to take in both the +towers. I did the best I could, took a last look at the treaty stone, +but forbore to add to its fame by photographing it; and then traversed +again the quaint old streets, with their ramshackle houses, and so came +to the little lane. + +The town, as I came through it, had been full of market-carts drawn by +ragged donkeys and driven by shawled women, and I loitered about for a +time, hoping that one of them would come this way and so add a touch of +human interest to my picture. A painter was busy giving one of the +thatched houses a coat of white-wash; only it wasn't white-wash, +properly speaking, because a colouring-matter had been added to it which +made it a vivid pink. This pink wash is very popular in Ireland, and, +varied sometimes by a yellow wash, adds a high note to nearly every +landscape. I talked with the man awhile, and then, the rain coming down +more heavily, I slipped into a cobbler's shop for shelter. + +It would be difficult to imagine anything more comfortless and primitive +than that interior. The shop occupied one of the two rooms of the family +home--bare little rooms with dirt floors and tiny windows and no +furniture except the most necessary. Somebody has said that there are +two pieces of furniture always worthy of veneration--the table and the +bed; but I doubt if even that philosopher could have found anything to +venerate in the specimens which this house contained. The table was a +rude affair of rough boards, with one corner supported by a box in lieu +of a leg, and the bed was a mere pile of rags on a sort of low shelf in +one corner. What sort of fare was set forth upon that table, and what +sort of rest the bed afforded, was not difficult to imagine. + +The cobbler was tapping away at a pair of shoes, trying to mend them, +and sadly they needed it. Indeed, they were such shoes as no +self-respecting tramp would wear in America, and I could not but suspect +that the cobbler had fished them from a garbage heap somewhere, and was +trying, as a sort of speculation, to make them worth a few pennies. Two +or three blocks of turf smoked and flared in a narrow fire-place, and, +as always, a black pot hung over them, with some sort of mess bubbling +inside it. The cobbler's wife sat on a stool before the fire +contemplating the boiling pot gloomily, and a dirty child, of +undeterminable sex, played with the scraps of leather on the floor. + +I apologised for my intrusion; but the atmosphere of the place was not +genial. I fancied they resented my presence,--as I should have done, had +our positions been reversed--and so, as soon as the downpour slackened a +bit, I pressed a penny into the baby's fist and took myself off. The +cobbler, suddenly softened, followed me outside to see me take the +picture, and perhaps to be in it; but that picture was a failure, all +spotted by the rain. + +I intended going to Adare, a little town not far away, said to possess a +most remarkable collection of ruins, but it was yet an hour till train +time, and I spent it exploring the town back of the railway station. I +found it a most picturesque collection of crooked streets and quaint +houses, and my advent was frankly treated as a great event by the +gossips leaning over their half-doors. How eager they were to talk; I +should have liked to stop and talk to all of them; but when I got ready +to take a picture of the very crookedest street, their interest in my +proceedings was so urgent and humorously-expressed that I lost my head +and forgot to pull the slide--a fact I didn't realise until I had bade +them good-bye and was walking away; and then I was ashamed to go back +and take another. + +The train for Adare was waiting beside the platform when I got to the +station, and I carefully selected a vacant compartment and clambered +aboard. And then a guard came along and laughingly told me I would have +to get out, because that car was reserved for a "Mothers' Union," which +was going to Adare to hold a meeting. So I got out and waited on the +platform till the Union arrived--some twenty or thirty comfortable-looking +matrons, in high spirits, which the miserable weather did not dampen in +the least. Irish meetings are held, I suppose, just the same rain or +shine. It was Simeon Ford who remarked that if the Scotch knew enough to +go in when it rained, they would never get any outdoor exercise. This is +equally true of the Irish--only in Ireland, one doesn't need to go in, +for sure 'tis a soft rain that does nobody any harm! + +Adare is about ten miles from Limerick and the road thither runs along +the valley of the Shannon, with its lush meadows and lovely woods, +veiled that day in a pearly mist of rain. As usual, the station is +nearly a mile from the town, and as I started to walk it, I saw a tall +old man coming along behind me, and I waited for him. + +"'Tis a bad day," I said. + +"It is so," he agreed; "and it's a long walk I have before me, for my +house would be two miles beyont the village." + +"They tell me there are some fine ruins in the village." + +"There are so;" and then he looked at me more attentively. "You're not a +native of these parts?" he asked, at last. + +"No," I said; "I'm from America." + +"From America!" he echoed, incredulously. + +"Yes; from the state called Ohio." + +"Think of that, now!" he cried. "And I can understand every word you +say! Why, glory be to God, you speak fairer than the old woman up here +along who has never crossed the road!" + +I should have liked to hear more about this remarkable old woman, but he +gave me no chance with his many questions about America. He had a son in +New Jersey, he said, and the boy was doing well, and sent a bit of money +home at Christmas and such like. It was a wonderful place, America. Ah, +if he were not so old-- + +So, talking in this manner, we came to the town, and he pointed out the +inn to me, opposite a picturesque string of thatched cottages nestling +among the trees, and bade me Godspeed and went on his way; and I suppose +that night before the fire he told of his meeting with the wanderer from +far-off America, and how well he could understand his language! + +I went on to the inn, which was a surprisingly pretty one, new and clean +and well-kept; and I took off my wet coat and sat down in the cosy bar +before a lunch which tasted as good as any I have ever eaten; and then I +lit my pipe and drew up before the fire and asked the pretty maid who +served me how to get to the ruins. They were all, it seemed, inside the +demesne of the Earl of Dunraven, the entrance to which was just across +the road, and it was necessary that I should have an entrance ticket, +which the maid hastened to get for me from the proprietor of the inn. +When she gave it to me, I asked the price, and was told there was no +charge, as the Earl of Dunraven was always glad for people to come to +see the ruins. + +All honour to him for that! + +So it was with a very pleasant feeling about the heart that I presently +crossed the road and surrendered a portion of my ticket to a black-eyed +girl at the gate-house, and she told me how to go to get to the ruins, +and hoped I wouldn't be soaked through. But I didn't mind the rain; it +only added to the beauty of the park. Besides, I was thinking of "Silken +Thomas." + +Have you ever heard of "Silken Thomas," tenth Earl of Kildare? Probably +not; yet he was a great man in his day--not so great as his grandfather, +that greatest of the Geraldines, whose trial for treason before Henry +VII is a thing Irishmen love to remember. + +"This man burned the cathedral at Cashel," said the prosecutor, "and we +will prove it." + +"Spare your evidence," said the Earl. "I admit that I set fire to the +church, but 'twas only because I thought the archbishop was inside." + +"All Ireland cannot rule this man!" cried one of his opponents. + +"Then, by God, this man shall rule all Ireland!" said the King, and +Kildare was made lord lieutenant, and went back to Dublin in triumph. + +It was in the thirteenth century that Adare came into possession of +this mighty family, and the second Earl built a great castle here, on +the site of an older one which had belonged to the dispossessed +O'Donovans. The first Earl had already built near by a monastery for the +Augustinians; and another Earl and his pious wife built a yet handsomer +one for the Franciscans; so that here was citadel and sanctuary for +them, when they grew weary of fighting, or when the tide of battle went +against them. It was a Kildare who led the northern half of Ireland +against the southern, at the great battle of Knocktow, where Irishmen +slew each other by thousands, while the English looked on and chuckled +in their sleeves; and after that, the Kildares waxed so powerful that +Wolsey, the great minister of the eighth Henry, took alarm at their +over-vaulting ambition, and caused the head of the house, the ninth +Earl, to be summoned to London. He went unwillingly, though he had been +given every assurance of safety; and his misgivings proved well-founded, +for he was at once imprisoned in the Tower. + +He left behind him in Ireland his son, "Silken" Thomas, so-called from +the richness of his attire and retinue, a youth of twenty-one; and when +the news came that the old Earl had been put to death, Silken Thomas, +deeming it credible enough, renounced his allegiance to England, marched +into Dublin, and threw down his sword of state before the Chancellor and +Archbishop in St. Mary's Abbey, and then rode boldly forth again, none +daring to stop him. But it came to naught, for a great English force +wore him out in a long campaign, seduced his allies from him, and +finally persuaded him to yield on condition that his life should be +spared. He sailed for England, assured of a pardon, was arrested as soon +as he landed, and was beheaded, and drawn and quartered on Tower Hill, +together with five of his kinsmen. + +So ended the haughty Geraldines. The estate was confiscated, and the +castle, after being besieged by Desmonds and O'Connells, by Irish and by +English, was finally taken by Cromwell's men and destroyed, and they +also, perhaps, put the finishing touches to the monasteries. + +That was the wild old story I was thinking of as I made my way along the +winding road, over a beautiful little stream in which I could see the +trout lurking, and then across a golf ground to the ivy-draped ruins of +the old abbey of the Franciscans, built by the Geraldines in the heyday +of their power. It is a beautiful cluster of buildings, with a graceful +square tower rising high above them; and they are in excellent +preservation, lacking only the roofs and a portion of gable here and +there. Even the window tracery is, for the most part, intact. + +The interior of the church is of unusual richness and beauty, abounding +in delicate detail--recessed altar-tombs, richly-carved sedilia, arched +vaults, graceful mouldings, and the window traceries are very pure and +lovely. Here, as at Muckross, the cloisters are especially beautiful, +and are perfectly preserved. They are lighted on two sides by pointed +arches arranged in groups of three, while on the side next the church +the arches are grouped in pairs, and the fourth side is closed in by a +lovely arcade, with double octagonal columns. Here, also as at Muckross, +the friars planted a yew tree in the centre of the court, and it is now +a venerable giant. Whether it is as deadly as the Muckross yew I do not +know. + +[Illustration: THE CHOIR OF THE ABBEY AT ADARE] + +[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF THE GERALDINES, ADARE] + +Beyond the cloisters are the refectory and domestic offices and +dormitories, all well-preserved, and repaying the most careful scrutiny. +I don't know when I have been more ecstatically happy than when, after +examining all this beauty, I sat myself down under an arch in the very +midst of it, and smoked a pipe and gazed and gazed. + +I tore myself away at last, and made my way across the meadow to the +ruins of the castle, which I could see looming above the trees by the +river. Right on the bank of the river it stands, and at one time there +was a moat all around it which the river fed. One can see traces of the +moat, even yet, with a fosse beyond, and there is enough left of the +castle to show how great and strong this citadel of the Geraldines was. +There is a high outer wall, all battlemented, pierced by a single gate; +and then an inner ward, also with a single gate, flanked by heavy +defending towers. Within this looms the ultimate place of refuge, the +mighty donjon, forty feet square, with walls of tremendous strength, and +flanking towers, and every device for defence, so that one wonders how +it was ever taken. + +One can still go up by the narrow stone stair, and from the top look +down upon these walls within walls, and fancy oneself back in the Middle +Ages, with their pageantries and heroisms and picturesque mummeries; and +one can see, too, how hard and comfortless life was then, save for the +few who held wealth and power in their mailed fists. "The good old +times!" Not much! The sad, cruel, gruesome, selfish, treacherous old +times, whose like, thank heaven, will never be seen again upon this +earth! + +The rain was pouring down in sheets as I left the castle, but I could +not forbear going back again to the friary for a last look at it; and +then I tramped happily back along the road to the gate; and the +black-eyed girl was there to welcome me, and to say how sorry she was +that the day was so bad. But I did not think it bad; I thought it +beautiful, and said so; only I was afraid my photographs wouldn't be +worth reproducing. + +And then the girl asked me if I wouldn't come in and sit by the fire a +bit, and we had a little gossip, of course about America. She had a +married sister in New York, she said, and she hoped some day to join +her. And then she told me that the cottage next door was where the +famous Adare cigarettes were made--an industry started by the Earl, who +grew the tobacco on his place. + +I stopped in to see the factory, and found four girls rolling the +cigarettes and a man blending the tobaccos. He told me that the Earl had +planted twenty-five acres with tobacco, and that it did very well; but +it was not used alone, as it was too dark, but blended with the lighter +Maryland, brought from America. I bought a packet of the cigarettes in +the interests of this narrative, but they did not seem to me in any way +extraordinary. + +I went on again and stopped in at the parish church, which was at one +time a Trinitarian Friary, or White Abbey, founded seven hundred years +ago. It was falling into ruins, when the Earl, who seems omnipotent in +these parts, restored it and fitted it up as a church and turned it over +to the Catholics. There is a big school attached to it now, and as I +entered the grounds, a white-coifed nun who was sitting at a window +looking over some papers, fled hastily. The church itself is chiefly +remarkable for a very beautiful five-lighted window over the altar. Just +outside is a handsome Celtic cross, surmounting the fountain where the +villagers get their water. + +There was a store farther down the street, and I stopped in to get some +postcards. It was the most crowded store I ever saw, the ceiling hung +with tinware, the shelves heaped with merchandise of every kind, and the +floor so crowded with boxes and barrels that there was scarcely room to +squeeze between them. I remarked to the proprietor that he seemed to +carry a large stock, and he explained that he tried to have everything +anybody would want, for it was foolish to let any money get away. While +we were talking, a girl came in to sell some eggs. She had them in a +basket, and the man took them out, but instead of counting them, he +weighed them. + +I went on back to the station, after that, through the driving rain, and +I was very wet by the time I got there--wet on the outside, that is, but +warm and dry and happy underneath. And at the station, I found three +men, who were engaged in a heated argument as to whether a man weighed +any more after he had eaten dinner than he did before. One of the men +contended very earnestly that one could eat the heartiest of meals +without gaining an ounce of weight if one only took the precaution of +drinking a mug or two of beer or porter with the meal, since the drink +lightened the brain and so neutralised the weight of the food in the +stomach. He asserted that he had seen this proved more than once, and +that he was willing to bet on it. He was also willing to bet that he +could put twelve pennies into a brimming glass of stout without causing +it to spill. As the village was a mile away, there was no place to get a +glass of stout and try this interesting experiment. + +And then one of the men, looking at my wet coat and dripping cap, asked +me if I had been fishing. + +"No," I said. "I was tramping around through the demesne looking at the +ruins and trying to get some pictures of them," and I tapped my camera. + +He looked at the camera and then he looked at me. + +"Where would you be from?" he asked. + +"From America." + +"From America?" he echoed in surprise. "Ah, well," he added, after a +moment's thought, "that do seem a long way to come just to get a few +photos!" + +I couldn't help laughing as I agreed that it did; but I had never before +thought of it in just that way. + +And then he told me that he had five brothers in America, but he himself +had been in the army, and was minded to enlist again. In the army, one +got enough to eat and warm clothes to wear and a tight roof to sleep +under, which was more than most men were able to do in Ireland! + +The Mothers' Union presently arrived, very wet but very happy. I was +curious to know what they had discussed at their meeting, and what +conclusions they had reached, but the train pulled in a moment later, +and I had no time to make any inquiries. If Betty had been along, I +think I should have persuaded her to attend that meeting; but I found +her very warm and comfortable before her fire back at Limerick, and I +confess that I was glad to get out of my wet things and sit down in +front of it. + +At 9:25 o'clock that night, when we supposed that most of Limerick was +in bed, we heard the sound of music and the tramp of many feet in the +street below, and looked out to see a band going past, followed by a +great crowd of men tramping silently along in the wet. Ordinarily, I +would have rushed out to see what was up; but I was tired, and the fire +felt very good, and so I sat down again in front of it. I have been +sorry since, for I suspect it was a Home Rule meeting, and Limerick has +a great reputation for shindies. Perhaps O'Connell, journeyman tailor, +made a speech. If he did, I am sorrier still, for I am sure it was a +good one! + + * * * * * + +There was one thing more at Limerick we wished to see--the great butter +factory of the Messrs. Cleeve, on the other side of the Shannon. We had +already seen, rumbling through the streets of Limerick, the heavy steam +trams carrying enormous iron tanks, which collect the milk from the +country for miles around--from ten thousand cows some one told us--and +we had seen so few industries in Ireland that it seemed worth while to +inspect this one. So, next morning, we walked down to the water-front, +past the towering, empty warehouses, to the swing bridge which Cleeve +wants to close so that his trams can get across the Shannon without +going away around by the castle. + +The bridge, a very fine one, was named originally after Wellesley, but +has been re-christened after Patrick Sarsfield, in whose honour the +street which leads up from it is also named. The swivel which allows +boats to pass and which isn't strong enough to carry the weight of +Cleeve's trams, is on the Limerick side, and just beyond it is a statue +which one naturally thinks is Sarsfield's, until one reads the +inscription at its base and finds it is a presentment of a certain Lord +Fitzgibbon, who was killed in the charge of the Light Brigade. Beyond +that, the bridge stretches away across the wide and rapid stream, by far +the biggest river in Ireland. + +The butter factory is not far off, and we entered the office and told +the clerk who came forward that we should like to see the place. He +asked for my card, had me write my American address on it, and then +disappeared with it into an inner room. There was a delay of some +minutes, and finally one of the Messrs. Cleeve came out, my card in his +hand. + +After greeting us quite cordially, he looked at the camera which I had +under my arm, and asked if I expected to take any pictures of the place. + +"Why, no," I said; "I hadn't thought of doing so. I certainly won't if +you don't want me to." + +"Are you interested in the butter business?" + +"Only as a private consumer." + +"Or in the condensed milk business??" + +"No," I said promptly, "neither of us is interested in that, even as +consumers." And then, seeing that he still hesitated, I explained that +we were just travelling Americans who had heard about the factory and +thought we should like to see it; but that if it was against the rules, +he had only to say so, and it would be all right. + +"It isn't against the rules," he explained. "In fact, we welcome +visitors; only we have to be careful. We have some secret processes, +especially with our condensed milk, which we wouldn't care to have our +competitors know about. But I'm sure you're all right," he added, and +called a clerk and told him to show us everything. + +Most interesting we found it, for twenty-three million gallons of milk +are used there every year, and are converted not only into butter and +condensed milk, but into buttons and cigarette holders and all sorts of +things for which celluloid is commonly used. It was in this use of one +of the by-products of the business, casein, so our guide explained, that +much of the profit was made, since both the butter and the condensed +milk had to be sold on a very close margin. + +The factory is a very complete one, making everything it uses--its own +cans and boxes, its own labels, its own cartons, its containers of every +kind and shape, as well as their contents. And the machinery with which +this is done is very intricate and ingenious. + +Our guide said that one of the principal hazards of the business was the +likelihood that some new machine would be invented at any time to +displace the old ones, and would have to be purchased in order to keep +abreast of competition. + +We saw the long troughs into which the milk is poured and strained and +heated to Pasteurize it, and then run through the separators. In the +next room were the great churns, from which the yellow butter was being +taken; and beyond were the mechanical kneaders, which worked out the +superfluous water and worked in the salt; and then the butter was put +through a machine which divided it into blocks weighing a pound or two +pounds, and then each of these blocks was carefully weighed, to be sure +that it was full weight, and if it wasn't a little dab of butter was +added before it was wrapped up and placed in the carton. And during all +these processes it was never touched by any human finger. + +On the floor above were the great copper retorts in which the milk was +being condensed by boiling. We looked in through a little isinglassed +opening, and could see it seething like a volcano. And still higher up +were the machines which turned the hardened casein, which would +otherwise be wasted, into buttons and novelties of various kinds. The +place seemed very prosperous and well-managed, and, so our guide assured +us, was doing well. We were glad to find one such place in southern +Ireland. + +Of course there are many others; and perhaps the impression I have given +of Limerick does the town injustice, for it is a busy place. It is +famous for its bacon, to the making of which ten thousand pigs are +sacrificed weekly. It used also to be famous for its lace, worked by +hand on fine net; but Limerick lace is made almost everywhere nowadays +except at Limerick, although there is a successful school there, I +believe, in one of the convents. + +The name of the town has also passed into the language as that of a +distinctive five-line stanza, which Edward Lear made famous, and of +which such distinguished poets as Rudyard Kipling, Cosmo Monkhouse, +George du Maurier, Gelett Burgess and Carolyn Wells have written famous +examples. The limerick is said to have been originally an extempore +composition, a lot of people getting together and composing limericks, +in turn, as a sort of game designed to while away an evening. Whether +this was first done at Limerick I don't know, but the name came from the +chorus which was sung after every stanza in order to give the next +person time to get his limerick into shape: + + Oh, won't you come up, come up, come up, + Oh, won't you come up to Limerick? + Oh, won't you come up, come all the way up, + Come all the way up to Limerick? + +At least, that is the way I heard the chorus sung once, many years ago, +without understanding in the least what it meant. The invitation, of +course, is for the passing ship to enter the wide estuary of the Shannon +and sail up to Limerick's waiting quays. If the first limerick was +composed at Limerick, it must have been a long time ago, and I doubt if +any are produced there nowadays. + +We took a last stroll about the town, after we had seen the +butter-making, and looked at the great artillery barracks, and the big +market, and the mammoth jail and the still more mammoth lunatic asylum, +where the inmates are decked out in bright red bonnets, which I should +think would make them madder still. And then we walked through an open +space called the People's Park, whose principal ornament is a tall +column surmounted by the statue of a man named Spring Rice. Betty +remarked that she had heard of spring wheat, but never of Spring Rice, +and asked who he was; but I didn't know; and then we came to the +Carnegie Library, and went inside to see what it was like. + +I have seldom seen a drearier place. In the reading-room a few shabby +men were looking over some newspapers, but the rest of the building was +deserted, except for one old man, who may have been the librarian. There +were few books, and the names of those the library had were arranged in +a remarkable mechanism which resembled a lot of miniature post-office +boxes; and when the book was in, the name was turned out toward you, and +when it was out, the card was turned blank-side out. It was the most +complicated thing I ever saw in a public library. I suppose after a +while, when the library gets more books, this bulletin will be used only +for the newer ones; but I don't imagine there is a great demand for +books in Limerick. At least mighty few seemed to be in circulation. +Where life's realities are so bitter, where want is always at one's +heels, there is little time for intellectual recreation. + +How bitter those realities are we realised, as we had never done before, +on our way back to the station; for, on the doorstep of a low, little +house, sat a ragged girl of six or eight, cuddling her doll against her +breast and crooning to it softly. And the doll was just a block of turf, +with a scrap of dirty rag for a dress. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"WHERE THE RIVER SHANNON FLOWS" + + +I HAVE already spoken of the wonders of the River Shannon, which rises +in a bubbling cauldron away above Lough Allen, and flows down through +ten counties to the sea; widening into lakes twenty miles long, or +draining vast stretches of impassable bog; navigable for more than two +hundred miles; and, finally, the great barrier between eastern Ireland, +which the Danes and English over-ran and conquered, and western Ireland, +which has never ceased to be Irish, and where the old Gaelic is still +the language of the people. + +The most beautiful portion of the river lies between Lough Derg, at +whose lower end stands the ancient town of Killaloe, and Limerick, which +marks the limit of the tideway. In this twenty-mile stretch, the river, +for the first and last time in its course, is crowded in between high +hills, and runs swift and deep and strong. It was this stretch we +started out from Limerick, that day, to explore, and our first +stopping-place was Castleconnell, about halfway to Killaloe. We found it +a perfect gem of a town, situated most romantically on the left bank of +the river, and with one of the nicest, cleanest, most satisfactory +little inns I have ever seen. It reminded us of our inn at Killarney, +for it was a rambling, two-storied structure, and the resort of +fishermen. Castleconnell, as the guide-book puts it, is the Utopia of +Irish anglers. I can well believe it, for the salmon we saw caught at +Killarney were mere babies beside the ones which are captured here. + +We made straight for the river as soon as we had divested ourselves of +our luggage, down along the winding village street, past the ruins of +the castle which was once the seat of the O'Briens, kings of Thomond, +and which Ginkle blew up during the siege of Limerick, thinking it too +dangerous a neighbour; and then we turned upstream, close beside the +water's edge, for two or three miles. The exquisite beauty of every +vista lured us on and on--the wide, rushing river, with its wooded +banks, broken here and there by green lawns and white villas, lovely, +restful-looking homes, whose owners must find life a succession of +pleasant days. For this portion of the valley of the Shannon seems to me +one of the real garden spots of the world. + +The river was in flood, and so not at its best for fishing, but +nevertheless we passed many anglers patiently whipping the water in the +hope that, by some accident, a passing fish might see the fly and take +it. And at last we came to the end of the river road--a place called +"World's End," where we had expected to get tea. But the refreshment +booth was closed and there was no sign of any one in the neighbourhood. + +We were very hungry therefore, when we got back to our inn, and our high +tea tasted very good indeed, served in the pleasantest of dining rooms, +on a table with snowy linen and polished dishes and shining silver, and +by a waiter who knew his business so well that I judged him to be +French. What a pleasure that meal was, after the slovenly service of the +house at Limerick, most of whose customers were commercial travellers! +Irish commercial travellers, I judge, are the least fastidious of men! + +Just across the street from the inn at Castleconnell is the place where +the famous Enright rods are made, and after tea we went over to take a +look at them. I know nothing about rods, but any one could appreciate +the beauties of the masterpieces which the man in charge showed us. And +then he asked us if we wouldn't like to try one of them, and insisted on +lending us his own--hurrying home after it, and stringing on the line +and tying on the flies, and pressing it into my hand in a very fever of +good-nature. I confess I shrank from taking it. I had a vision of some +mighty fish gobbling down the fly and dashing off with a jerk that would +crumple up the rod in my hands, and I tried to decline it. But he +wouldn't hear of it--besides, there was Betty, her eyes shining at the +prospect of fishing in the Shannon. + +So I took the rod at last, and we went down to the river again, and +worked our way slowly down stream, along a path ablaze with primroses, +and cast from place to place for an hour or more. There were many others +doing the same thing, and they all seemed to think that the fish would +be sure to rise as the twilight deepened. But they didn't, and I saw no +fish caught that day. This didn't in the least interfere with any one's +pleasure, for your true angler delights quite as much in the mere act of +fishing as in actually catching fish. But it was with a sigh of relief I +finally returned the rod intact to its owner. He said that I was welcome +to it any time I wanted it, but I did not ask for it again. + +There were five or six fishermen staying at the hotel, and they came in +one by one, empty-handed. They had had no luck that day--the water was +too high; but it was already falling, and they were looking forward to +great sport on the morrow. + +That morrow was a memorable one for us, also. It was a perfect day, and +we set out, as soon as we had breakfasted, for the falls of Doonas and +St. Senan's well, one of the most famous of the holy wells of Ireland. +To get to it, it was necessary to cross the river, and the only way to +get across is by a ferry, which consists of a flat-bottomed skiff, +propelled by a man armed only with a small paddle. As I looked from the +paddle to the mighty sweep of the river, rushing headlong past, I had +some misgivings, but we clambered aboard, and the boatman pushed off. + +He headed almost directly upstream, and then, when the current caught +us, managed by vigorous and skilful paddling to hold his boat diagonally +against it, so that it swept us swiftly over toward the other bank, and +we touched it exactly opposite our point of departure. It was an +exhibition of skill which I shall not soon forget. + +We stepped ashore upon a beautiful meadow rolling up to a stately, +wide-flung mansion, and turned our faces down the river. Already the +fishermen were abroad, some of them casting from the bank, but the most +out in midstream, in flat-bottomed boats like the one we had crossed in, +which two men with paddles held steady in some miraculous way against +the stream. One was at the bow and the other at the stern, and they did +not seem to be paddling very hard, but the boat swung slowly and +steadily back and forth above any spot which looked promising, no +matter how swift the current. + +It grew swifter with every moment, for we were approaching the rapids, +and at last we came out on a bluff overhanging them. Above the rapids, +the river flows in a broad stream forty feet deep, but here it is broken +into great flurries and whirlpools by the rocky bed, which rises in dark +irregular masses above its surface, and the roar and the dash and the +white foam and flying spray are very picturesque. For nearly a mile the +tumult continues, and then the stream quiets down again and sweeps on +toward Limerick and the sea. + +We followed close beside it to a little inn called the "Angler's Rest," +set back at the edge of a pretty garden, entered through a gate with +three steps, on which were graven the words of the old Irish greeting, +"Cead Mile Failte," a hundred thousand welcomes. We sat down for a time +at the margin of the river and watched the changing water, and then set +off to find St. Senan's well. + +There are really two wells. The first is in a graveyard, a few rods +away, where a fragment of an old church is still standing. It is a +tangled and neglected place, with the headstones tumbled every way, and +bushes and weeds running riot, but the path that leads to the well shows +evidence of frequent use. The well itself is merely a small hollow in an +outcropping of rock--a shallow basin, about a foot in diameter, but +always miraculously full of water. I don't know how the water gets into +it, or whether it is true that the basin is always full, but it +certainly was that day; and the legend is that whoever bathes his +forehead in that water will never again be troubled with headache, +provided that he does it reverently, with full belief, and with the +proper prayers. The well is shadowed by a tall hawthorn bush, and this +bush is hung thick with cheap rosaries and rags and hairpins and bits of +string and other tokens placed there by the true believers who had +tested the wonderful properties of the water. We tested them, too, of +course, and added our tokens to the rest. + +The principal well is a little farther up the road, set back in a circle +of trees and approached by a short avenue of lindens. It is a far more +important well than the other--is one of the most famous in Ireland, +indeed--and is covered with a little shrine, which you will find +pictured opposite the next page. The shrine is hung with rosaries and +crowded with figurines and pictures of the Virgin and of various saints, +among which, I suppose, the learned in such matters might have picked +out Saint Senan, who blessed this well and gave it its miraculous power. +The trees which encircle the glade in which the well stands are also +hung with offerings--sacred pictures, rosaries, small vessels of gilt, +and the crutches of those who came lame and halting and went away cured. +On either side of the entrance is a bench where one may sit while saying +one's prayers, and in front of the shrine is a shallow basin, some two +feet wide and a yard long, into which the water from the well trickles, +and where one may sit and wash all infirmities away. The water is held +to be especially efficacious in curing rheumatism and hip disease and +diseases of the joints; and I only hope the cripples who left their +crutches behind them never had need of them again. + +[Illustration: THE SHANNON, NEAR WORLD'S END] + +[Illustration: ST. SENAN'S WELL] + +This whole valley of the Shannon, from Killaloe to the sea, is dominated +by the patron of this well, St. Senan, a holy man who died in 544, and +whose life resembled that of St. Kevin, whom we have already encountered +at Glendalough. Like Kevin, Senan was persecuted by the ladies, who, in +all ages, have taken a peculiar delight in pursuing holy men, and he was +finally driven to take refuge on a little island at the mouth of the +Shannon, Scattery Island, where he hoped to be left in peace. But he was +destined to disappointment, for a lady named Cannera, since sainted, +followed him and asked permission to remain. This scene, of course, +appealed to Tom Moore, and he enshrined it in a poem, of which this is +the final stanza: + + The Lady's prayer Senanus spurned; + The winds blew fresh, the bark returned; + But legends hint that had the maid + Till morning's light delayed, + And given the Saint one rosy smile, + She ne'er had left his lonely isle. + +I do not know upon what evidence Moore bases this slander of a holy man; +but, at any rate, he stayed on his island, and built a monastery and +collection of little churches there for the use of the disciples who +soon gathered about him, and their ruins, which much resemble those at +Glendalough, even to a tall round tower, may be seen to this day. Some +antiquarians hold that St. Senan is merely a personification of the +Shannon; but I don't see how a personification could build a +collection of churches. It is more satisfactory, anyway, to think of him +as a person who once existed, and lived a picturesque life, and built +churches and blessed holy wells, and died at a ripe age in the odour of +sanctity. + +We sat for a long time before his shrine, looking at the tokens and the +crutches, and wishing we had been there the day they were abandoned. To +be made whole by faith is a wonderful thing, whatever form the faith may +take, and I should like to have seen the faces of the cripples as they +felt the miracle working within them, here in this obscure place. +Unlettered they no doubt were, unable to read or write perhaps, +believing this flat and stable earth the centre about which the universe +revolves; but they touched heights that day which such sophisticated and +cynically sceptical persons as you and I can never reach. + +We left the shrine, at last, and made our way back to the river, and up +along it, past the rapids, to the ferry. The ferryman was watching for +us, and had us back on the Castleconnell side in short order. He +evidently considered the sixpence I gave him a munificent reward for the +double trip. + +When we got back up into the village, we found it in the throes of a +great excitement over the arrival of three itinerant musicians, two of +whom played cornets, while the third banged with little sticks upon a +stringed instrument suspended in front of him. The cornetists paused +from time to time, to make short excursions, cap in hand, in search of +pennies, but the third man never stopped, but kept playing away all up +the street and out of sight. We came across them again when we walked +over to the station to take the train for Killaloe; but I judge their +harvest was a slender one, for the people who hung out of gates and over +doors to listen to the music, disappeared promptly whenever the +collectors started on their rounds. + +We had a little while to wait at the station, and I got into talk with +the signalman, who told me he had a brother, a Jesuit priest, in +Maryland, and who wanted to hear about America, whither he hoped to be +able to come some day. That it would be at best a far-off day I judged +from the wistful way in which he said it. + +And then he saw that I was interested in the signal-system by which the +trains on his little branch were managed, and he explained it to me. For +each section of the road there is a hollow iron tube, some two feet +long, with brass rings around it, called a staff. The engine-driver +brings one of these staffs in with him, and this must be deposited in an +automatic device in the signal-house and another received from the +signalman before the train can proceed. When the staff is deposited in +the machine, it automatically signals the next station and releases the +staff in the machine there, ready to be given to the engineer of the +approaching train. No staff, once placed in the machine, can be got out +again until it is released in this way, and as no train can leave a +station until its engineer has received a staff, it is practically +impossible for two trains to be on the same section of road at the same +time. The system is rather slow, but it is sure; and being automatic, it +leaves nothing to chance, or to the vagaries of either engineer or +signalman. + +The bell rang, signalling the approach of our train, the signalman +carefully closed the gates across the highway which ran past the +station, and a crowd of men and boys collected, to whom the arrival of +the train was the most important and interesting event of the day; and +then it puffed slowly in, and we climbed aboard. Killaloe is only ten +miles or so from Castleconnell, but we had to change at a station called +Bird Hill; and then the line ran close beside the Shannon, with lofty +hills crowding down upon it, and at last we saw the beautiful bridge +which spans the river, and beyond it the spires and roofs of the little +town. + +Not unless one knows one's Irish history will one realise what a +wonderful place Killaloe is; for Killaloe is none other than Kincora, a +word to stir Irish hearts, the stronghold of the greatest of Irish +kings, Brian Boru. When that great chieftain fell at Clontarf, MacLiag, +his minstrel, wrote a lament for him in the old Gaelic, and James +Clarence Mangan has rendered it into an English version, of which this +is the first stanza: + + O, where, Kincora, is Brian the Great? + And where is the beauty that once was thine? + O, where are the princes and nobles that sate + At the feast in thy halls, and drank the red wine? + Where, O, Kincora? + +It was by no mere chance that Kincora, the seat of the Kings of Thomond, +was situated just here, for it was this point which controlled the +valley of the lower Shannon. Limerick marks the head of the tideway +navigable from the sea, then come fifteen miles of rushing torrent, of +fall and rapid, which no boat can pass; and then comes the long stretch +of placid lake and river over which boats may go as far as the ford of +Athlone, and farther. Between Athlone and the sea, there was just one +ford--a treacherous and hidden one, it is true, possible only to those +who knew every step of it, but still a ford--and it was here, a little +above the present town of Killaloe, where Lough Derg begins to narrow +between the hills. + +Brian was born here in 941. Twenty years before, the Danes had sailed in +force up the Shannon and fortified the island at the head of the tideway +which is now the oldest part of Limerick. They set themselves to ravage +the wide and fertile valley, to sack the shrines of the churches, to +exact tribute from every chieftain--nay, from every family. MacLiag, +Brian's bard, author of that old epic, "The Wars of the Gael with the +Gall," another Homer almost, who told the story of Danish oppression +down to their final defeat at Clontarf, thus described the burden under +which, in those days, the people of Ireland groaned: + + "Such was the oppressiveness of the tribute and + the rent of the foreigners over all Erin, that + there was a king from them over every territory, a + chief over every chieftaincy, an abbot over every + church, a steward over every village, and a + soldier in every house, so that no man of Erin had + power to give even the milk of his cow, nor as + much as the clutch of eggs of one hen, in succour + or in kindness to an aged man, or to a friend, but + was forced to keep them for the foreign steward or + bailiff or soldier. And though there were but one + milk-giving cow in the house, she durst not be + milked for an infant of one night, nor for a sick + person, but must be kept for the foreigner; and + however long he might be absent from the house, + his share or his supply durst not be lessened." + +Brian had an elder brother, Mahon, who was king of South Munster, and +dwelt at Cashel, and the two did what they could against the invaders, +killing them off "in twos and in threes, in fives and in scores"; but +always fresh hordes poured in, and at last Mahon grew disheartened at +the seemingly endless struggle against these stark, mail-clad warriors; +while as for Brian, his force was reduced to a mere tattered handful, +hiding in the hills. Then it was that he and Mahon met to discuss the +future. + +"But where hast thou left thy followers?" Mahon asked, looking at the +men, only a score in number, standing behind their chief. + +"I have left them," answered Brian, "on the field of battle." + +"Ah," said Mahon, sadly. "Is it so? You see how little we can do against +these foreigners." + +"Little as it is," said Brian, "it is better than peace." + +"But it is folly to keep on fighting," said Mahon. "We can not conquer +these shining warriors, clad in their polished corselets. The part of +wisdom is to make terms with them, and leave no more of our men dead +upon the field." + +"It is natural for men to die," answered Brian calmly; "but it is +neither the nature nor the inheritance of the Dalcassians to submit to +injury and outrage. And yet I have no wish to lead any unwilling man to +battle. Let the question of war or peace be left to the whole clan." + +So it was done, and "the voice of hundreds as of one man answered for +war." + +Mahon abode loyally by this decision, and there was a great muster, and +a fierce battle near the spot where Limerick Junction now stands, and +the Danes were routed, "and fled to the ditches, and to the valleys, and +to the solitudes of that great sweet-flowery plain," and the Irish +pursued them all through the night, and with the morning, came to +Limerick, and stormed and took the island fortress; plundered it, and +reduced it "to a cloud of smoke and red fire afterwards." + +Then Mahon was murdered by some such treachery as stains so many pages +of Irish history, and Brian became king of all Munster. His first work +was to punish his brother's murderers, which he did with grim celerity, +so that, as the chronicler puts it, they soon found that he "was not a +stone in place of an egg, nor a wisp in place of a club, but a hero in +place of a hero, and valour in place of valour." After that, with new +energy, he turned against the Danes, and harried them and was himself +harried, defeated them and was himself defeated, but fought on undaunted +year after year, until the final great victory at Clontarf, where he +himself was slain. And during all the years that he was king of Munster, +he ruled it, not from Cashel, but from Kincora, his well-beloved castle +here at the ford of the Shannon. + +The ford is no longer there, for an elaborate system of sluice-gates and +weirs has been constructed to hold the water back and regulate the +supply to the lower reaches of the river, and one crosses to the town +upon a beautiful stone bridge of thirteen arches, between which the +water swirls and eddies, forming deep pools, where great salmon love to +lurk. At its other end is the town, with its houses mounting the steep +slope from the river, and dominated by the square tower of its old +cathedral. + +It was to the cathedral we went first, and a venerable pile we found it, +dating from the twelfth century, and attributed to that same Donall +O'Brien, King of Munster, who built the one at Limerick. But, alas, it +is venerable only from without; as one steps through the doorway, all +illusion of age vanishes, for the interior has been "improved" to suit +the needs of a small Church of Ireland congregation. + +The Protestants in this parish are so few that the choir of the +cathedral is more than ample for them; so it has been closed off from +the rest of the church by a glass screen with hideous wooden +"tracery"--there is a rose window (think of it!) sawed out of boards; +and beyond this screen an ugly pavement of black and yellow tiles has +been laid over the beautiful grey flags of the old pavement, and pews +have been installed. One of the transepts is used as a robing-room; in +the other an elaborate combination of steam-engine, dynamo and +storage-batteries has been placed to furnish heat and light--and this, +mind you, in the church which was once the royal burying-place of the +Kings of Munster! + +It seems foolish to maintain a great church like this for the use of so +small a congregation as worships here, and yet the same thing is done +all over Ireland, though it would seem to be only common sense to give +the big churches to the big congregations, and to provide small churches +for the small ones. But I suppose no one in Ireland would dare make such +a suggestion. + +I am surprised that the energetic vicar of this parish has not decided +that the church is too dark and hired some workmen to knock out the +lancet windows. These windows are one of its chief beauties, they are so +tall, so narrow, so deeply splayed--the very earliest form, before the +builders gathered courage to cut any but the smallest openings in their +walls. And in the wall of the nave, blocked up and with use unexplained, +is a magnificent Irish-Romanesque doorway. Tradition has it that it was +the entrance to the tomb of King Murtough O'Brien, and its date is +placed at the beginning of the twelfth century. The man who built it was +an artist, for nothing could be more graceful than its four +semi-circular arches, rising one beyond the other and covered with +ornamentation--spiral and leaf work, grotesque animals with tails twined +into the hair of human heads, flowers and lozenges, and the familiar +dog-tooth pattern, of which the Irish were so fond. + +Interesting as the church is, or would be but for the "improvements," it +is far outranked by a tiny stone structure just outside--the parish +church of Brian Boru himself. It is less than thirty feet long, and the +walls are nearly four feet thick, and the two narrow windows which light +it, one on either side, are loopholes rather than windows; and the +doorway by which it is entered, narrower at the top than at the bottom, +is a veritable gem; and the high-pitched roof of fitted blocks of stone +is twice as high as the walls;--and on the stone slabs of its pavement +Brian Boru was wont to kneel in prayer, five centuries before Columbus +sailed out of Palos! + +Of course I wanted a picture of this shrine; but there were +difficulties, for it stands in a little depression which conceals part +of it, and the high wall around the churchyard prevented my getting far +enough away to get all of the high-pitched roof on the film. The +caretaker, who was most interested in my manoeuvres, brought a ladder +at last, and I mounted to the top of the wall, and took the picture +opposite the next page; but, even then, I didn't get it all. + +The graveyard about these churches is a large one, but it is crowded +with tombs; and the north half of it is mown and orderly, and the south +half is almost impenetrable because of the rank and matted grass and +weeds and nettles. This is the result of an old quarrel, more foolish +than most. For, like Ireland itself, this graveyard is divided between +Protestants and Catholics, the Protestants to the north and the +Catholics to the south of the church; and the Protestants consider their +duty done when they have cared for the graves in their own half; while +the Catholics hold that, since the Protestants claim the cathedral, they +are bound to look after its precincts; and the result is that the +visitor to those precincts is half the time floundering knee-deep in +weeds. + +The most interesting tomb in the place is in the midst of this tangle, +therefore a Catholic's. It bears the date 1719, and is most elaborately +decorated with carved figures--one kneeling above the legend, "This is +the way to Blis"; another, a man with crossed arms, inquiring, "What am +I? What is man?"--two questions which have posed the greatest of +philosophers. One panel bears this sestet: + + How sweetly rest Christ's saints in love + That in his presence bee. + My dearest friends with Christ above + Thim wil I go and see + And all my friends in Christ below + Will post soon after me. + +[Illustration: THE BRIDGE AT KILLALOE] + +[Illustration: THE ORATORY AT KILLALOE] + +We left the place, at last, and walked on along the street, peeping in +between the bars of an iron gate at the beautiful grounds of the +Bishop's palace; and then up a steep and narrow lane to the little +plateau which is now the town's market-place, but where, in the old +days, Brian's palace of Kincora stood. Not a stone is left of that +palace now, for the wild men of Connaught swept down from the mountains, +in the twelfth century, while the English were trying to hold the castle +and so control the destinies of Clare, and drove the intruders out, and +tore the castle stone from stone, and threw timber and stone alike into +the Shannon. Just beyond the square stands the Catholic church--a +barn-like modern structure, hastily thrown together to shelter the +swarming congregation, for which the cathedral would be none too large. + +We went on down the hill, past the canal, with the roaring river beyond, +and the purple vistas of Lough Derg opening between the hills in the +distance, along an avenue of noble trees, and there before us lay a +great double rath, sloping steeply to the river, built here to guard the +ford. The ford lies there before it--a ford no longer, since the sluices +back up the water; but in the old days this was the key to County Clare, +this was the path taken by the men of Connaught in raid and foray; and +here it was that Sarsfield, with four hundred men, followed Hogan the +rapparee, on that night expedition which resulted in the destruction of +the English ammunition-train. Aubrey de Vere has told the story in a +spirited little poem, beginning, + + Sarsfield went out the Dutch to rout, + And to take and break their cannon; + To Mass went he at half past three, + And at four he crossed the Shannon. + +We had hoped to go to Athlone by way of Lough Derg, but we had already +learned that that was not to be, for we had been told, back at the +bridge, that the passenger service across the lake would not start until +the sixteenth of June. And we were sorry, for, from the summit of this +old rath, the lake, stretching away into the misty distance, looked very +beautiful and inviting. + +We made our way back to the village and stopped in at a nice little +hotel just below the bridge, and had tea, served most appetizingly by a +clean, bright-eyed maid; and then, while Betty sat down to rest, I +sallied forth to see, if possible, the greatest curiosity of all about +Killaloe--the original church or oratory of St. Molua, on an island near +the left bank of the Shannon, about half a mile downstream. + +Now to get back to St. Molua, one has to go a long way indeed, for he +died three hundred years before Brian Boru was born. He was the first +bishop of Killaloe, which is named after him, "cill" meaning church, and +Killaloe being merely a contraction of Cill Molua, the church of Molua. +The little oratory on the island, to which he retired for contemplation, +after the manner of Irish saints, was built not later than the year +600. + +You will understand, therefore, why I was so eager to see it, and I went +into the bar to consult with the barmaid as to the best manner of +getting to it. I had been told that it was possible to reach it from the +left bank of the river without the aid of a boat, but the maid assured +me this could be done only when the river was low, and was out of the +question in the present stage of the water. So she went to the door and +called to a passing boatman, and explained my wishes, and he at once +volunteered to ferry me over to the island. His house, he said, was just +opposite the island, and his boat was tied up at the landing there; so +we walked down to it, along the bank of the canal which parallels the +river. + +A little way down the canal was a mill, and a boat was tied up in front +of it unloading some grain, and when I looked into the boat, I saw that +the grain was shelled Indian corn! It was not from America, however, but +from Russia, and my companion told me that quite a demand for cornmeal +was growing up in the neighbourhood, and that it was used mixed with +flour. And then he listened, his eyes round with wonder, while I told +him how corn grows. He had never seen it on the ear, and did not know +the meaning of the word "cob," except as applied to a horse. + +"And of course you have seen bananas growing!" he said, when I had +finished, and I think he scarcely believed me when I tried to explain +that a country warm enough for corn might still be too cold for bananas. + +We finally reached his house--a little hovel built on a bluff +overhanging the river--and went down some rude stone steps to the +water's edge; and he unchained his boat, and whistled to his dog, and +pushed off. It was quite an exciting paddle, for the current was very +swift; but we got across to the island at last, after some hair-raising +scrapings against rocks and over submerged reefs. We found the island a +tangle of weeds and briars, but we broke our way through, and after some +searching, found the tiny church, almost hidden by the bushes about it. +They were so thick that I found it quite impossible to get a picture of +the whole church, but by breaking down some of them, I finally managed +to get a picture of the narrow inclined doorway, with my guide's dog +posing on the threshold. + +The oratory is built solidly of stone, with walls three feet thick, and +a steep stone roof. Its inside measurements are ten feet by six! There +is a single window, with a round head cut out of a block of stone, and +in the wall on either side just below it is a shallow recess. The +ceiling has fallen in, but one can still see the holes in the walls +where the supporting beams rested. Above it, under the steep roof, was a +croft, where perhaps the saint slept. + +Consider, for a moment, what was going on in the world when this little +church was built. It takes us back to the age of legend--the age of King +Arthur and his knights--to that dim period when the Saxons were +conquering England, and the Frankish kingdom was falling to pieces, and +Mohammed was preaching his gospel in Arabia. A century and a half would +elapse before Charlemagne was born, and two centuries before the first +Norse boat, driving westward before the tempest, touched the New England +coast! + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO ST. MOLUA'S ORATORY] + +[Illustration: A FISHERMAN'S HOME] + +There is, of course, a holy well on the island--the one at which St. +Molua drank; and we found it after a long search, but the river was so +high that it was under two or three feet of water. There were some rags +and other tokens hanging on the neighbouring bushes, but not many, and I +judge that few people ever come to this historic spot. + +At last I was ready to go, and we climbed into the boat and started for +the mainland; and once I thought we were surely going to capsize, for +the boat got out of control and banged into a rock; but we finally +stemmed the current, and the boatman dropped his paddle and snatched up +a pole, and pushed along so close to the shore that the overhanging +branches slapped us in the face, and the dog, thinking we were going to +land, made a wild leap for the bank, fell short, and nearly drowned. + +When we were safe again at the landing-place, and the boat tied up, I +asked my companion how much I owed him for his trouble. + +"Not a penny, sir," he said, warmly. "It's glad I am to oblige a +pleasant gentleman like yourself." + +"Oh, but look here," I protested, "that won't do," and I fished through +my pockets and was appalled to find that I had only nine-pence in +change. "Wait till we get back to the hotel," I said, "and I'll get some +money." + +"What is that you have in your hand, sir?" + +"Oh, that's only nine-pence." + +"That would be far too much, sir," he said; and when I hesitatingly +gave it to him, he as hesitatingly took it, and I really believe he was +in earnest in thinking it too much. + +On our way back to the town, he expounded to me his theory of life, +which was to give faithful service to one's employer, and help one's +fellow-men when possible, and never bother unduly about the future, +which was never as black as it looked. And I agreed with him that +trouble always came butt-end first, and that, after it had passed, it +frequently dwindled to a pinpoint--the which has been said in verse +somewhere, by Sam Walter Foss I think, but I can't put my hand on it. + + * * * * * + +We got back to Castleconnell just as the fishermen were coming in, and +it was far from empty-handed they were this time. The array of salmon +stretched out on the floor of the bar, when they had all arrived, was a +very noble one. And everybody stood around and looked at them proudly, +and told of the enormous flies that had been used, and how one monster +had whipped the boat around and towed it right down through the rapids, +and lucky it was that the water was high or it would infallibly have +been ripped to pieces, but the boatmen kept their heads and managed to +get it through, and when the salmon came out in the quiet river below +and found itself still fast, it gave up and let itself be gaffed without +any further fuss. + +And again after dinner, we saw the familiar sight of the catch being +wrapped in straw to be sent by parcel post back to England, as proof of +the anglers' prowess; and I can guess how those battles on Shannon +water were fought over again when the angler got back to the bosom of +his family. As for me, I have only to close my eyes to see again that +noble stream sweeping along between its green, flower-sprinkled banks, +foaming over the weirs, brawling past the rapids, hurrying between the +quays of Limerick, and widening into the great estuary where it meets +the sea. + + Into the West, where, o'er the wide Atlantic, + The lights of sunset gleam, + From its high sources in the heart of Erin + Flows the great stream. + + Yet back in stormy cloud or viewless vapour + The wandering waters come, + And faithfully across the trackless heaven + Find their old home. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LISSOY AND CLONMACNOISE + + +SINCE we could not get to Athlone by water, we must needs get there by +rail; so, most regretfully, next morning, we bade good-bye to +Castleconnell and took train for Limerick. Half an hour later, we pulled +out of the Limerick terminus, circled about the town, crossed the +Shannon by a long, low bridge, and were in County Clare. + +Ruins are more numerous here than almost anywhere else in Ireland, for +this western slope of the Shannon valley, so fertile and coveted, was +famous fighting-ground. There are one or two in sight all the time, +across the beautiful rolling meadows. Near Cratloe there are three, +their great square keeps looming above the trees, and looking out across +the wide Shannon estuary. A little farther on is the famous seat of the +Earls of Thomond, Bunratty Castle, a fine old fortress, with all the +approved mediaeval trimmings of moat, guard-room, banqueting-hall, +dungeons and torture-chamber, and I am sorry we did not get to visit it. +Indeed, there are many places in the neighbourhood worth a visit--but if +one is going to visit every Irish ruin, he will need ten years for the +task. Only it does cause a pang of the heart to pass any of them by. + +We must have passed at least fifty by, that day; but I found that the +train stopped for a while at Ennis, the chief town of Clare, and I +hurried out to see what I could of it. It is certainly a picturesque +place, with narrow winding streets, and queer little courts, and houses +painted pink or washed with yellow ochre. I glanced in at the new +Catholic cathedral, whose most impressive feature is a rather good +picture of the ascension over the high altar; and then spent a few +minutes among the ruins of the Franciscan friary, a queer jumble of +buildings which I did not have time to untangle. + +As usual, the two biggest buildings in the town are the jail and the +lunatic asylum, and I passed them both on my way back to the station. +Some of the lunatics were languidly hoeing a big potato patch that day, +with five or six guards looking on. I have never looked up the +statistics of lunacy in Ireland, but if all the asylums are full, the +rate must be very high. + +About half a mile beyond Ennis, the train passes a most imposing ruin, +very close to the railway. It is the ruin of Clare Abbey, and is +dominated by a great square tower, which must be visible for many miles +around. There is still another ruin, that of Killone Abbey, only a few +miles away, and for a connoisseur in ruins, Ennis would be an excellent +place to spend a few days. + +From Ennis, we turned almost due northward toward Athenry, and the +landscape became the rockiest I have ever seen. Every little field was +surrounded by a high stone wall, and as these walls did not begin to +exhaust the supply, there were great heaps of rocks in every available +corner--every one of them dug from the shallow soil with almost +incredible labour. The fact that any one would try to reclaim such land +speaks volumes for the hard necessities of the people who settled here. +I don't suppose they enjoyed the labour, but they had no choice--at +least, their only choice was to wrest a living from these rocky fields +or starve. No doubt many of them did starve, but the rest kept labouring +on, with insect-like industry, reclaiming this corner and that, adding +to the soil of their fields inch by inch. + +There is an old saying that in this district, and in others like it in +Connaught, the first three crops are stones, and I can well believe it. +The green appearance of these hillsides is a delusion and a snare, for +it is nothing but a skin of turf over the rocks, and these rocks must be +dug away to the depth of two feet, sometimes, before the soil is +reached. In any other part of the world, a man who would attempt to +convert such a hillside into an arable field would be thought insane; +here, in the west of Ireland, it is the usual thing. Most tragic of all, +after it was fit for tillage, it did not belong to the man whose labour +had made it so, but to his English landlord, who promptly proceeded to +raise the rent! + +We ran out of this rocky land, at last, and crossed a vast bog, scarred +with long, black, water-filled ditches, from which the turf had been +taken. There were a few people here and there cutting it, but a woman +who had got into the compartment with us said that the continued wet +weather had made the work very difficult and dangerous. All the people +hereabouts, she added, lived by the turf cutting, at which they could +earn, perhaps, ten-pence a day; but in bad seasons they were soon close +to starvation. I remarked that, with such wages, they must be close to +it all the time, and she smiled sadly and said that that was true. +Only, of course, in the bogs the children can work, as well as the men +and women, and that helps. Indeed, we saw them many times--little boys +and girls who should have been at school or running free, gaining health +and strength for the hard years to come, tugging at the heavy, +water-soaked blocks of peat, and laying them out in the sun to dry. It +takes a month of sun to dry the peat; in wet weather it won't dry at +all, and so isn't salable. Truly, the lives of the poor Irish hang on +slender threads! + +There are ruins of castles and monasteries and raths and cashels all +through this region, and a lot of them cluster about the dirty little +town of Athenry, which can boast a castle, two monasteries, city walls +and an old gate. Such richness was not to be passed by, and we left the +train, checked our luggage at the parcel office, fought off a jarvey who +was determined to drive us to the ruins which we could see quite plainly +just across the track, crossed the road by the overhead bridge, and came +out in the streets of the village. + +Athenry is typically Irish, with streets running every way, houses built +any way, and their inhabitants leaning over the half-doors, or braced +against the walls at the street corners, or going slowly about such +business as they have. Life has stood still here for at least a century; +and yet Athenry was once a royal town--"The Ford of the Kings" its name +signifies--and a royal court was held here in the great castle, and a +beautiful monastery was built near by at the express wish of St. +Dominick himself, and it became a famous place of learning, to which +scholars flocked from all over Europe. Alas and alack! + + Vanished, those high conceits! Desolate and forlorn, + We hunger against hope for that lost heritage. + +For the red tide of war swept over Athenry more than once, and left it +but smoking ruins. Eleven thousand Connaughtmen lay piled about the +walls one summer day in 1316, all that was left of the army that tried +to make Edward Bruce king of Ireland; two centuries later, when the +Earls of Clanricarde swept Connaught with fire and sword, Athenry fell +before them, and was left in ashes; and when it struggled to its feet +again, it was only to fall before the destroying hand of Red Hugh +O'Donnell, who left scarcely one stone upon another, and from that blow +it never rallied. + +One of the old gates still survives, well preserved in spite of war and +weather, and near it is a quaint old market cross, with the Virgin and +Child on one side and Christ on the other. All that is left of the +thirteenth century castle is the gabled keep, looming high on a rock +just back of the town, and some fragments of the battlemented curtains. +All the floors have fallen in, and its four massive walls are open to +the heavens. Red Hugh, when he destroyed it, did his work well! + +The ruins of the abbey nestle in the shadow of the rock on which the +castle stands, and we made our way down to them, along disordered +streets swarming with geese, ducks, dogs, chickens and children, only to +find the way closed by an iron gate, securely padlocked. But a passer-by +told us that the village blacksmith had the key, and indicated vaguely +the way to his shop, which we found after some circuitous wanderings. +The smith was a gnarled little man, quite the reverse of Longfellow's, +and as soon as we had made our errand known, he snatched down the keys +and hastened to lead the way to the ruins, leaving his work without +pausing to remove his apron, and without a backward glance at his +helper, who stood open-mouthed by the forge. + +[Illustration: THE CHOIR OF THE ABBEY AT ATHENRY] + +[Illustration: A COTTAGE AT ATHENRY] + +There were three gates to unlock before we reached the ruins, and then +the blacksmith hurried back to his work, leaving his daughter to keep an +eye on us. The church is all that is left of the monastery, for the +domestic buildings, and even the cloisters have been swept entirely away +by the rude hand of time, and the far ruder ones of the villagers who +needed stone for their houses. The church itself has suffered more than +most, for not only is the roof gone, but the tower and one transept and +most of the window-tracery, and the whole interior has been swept by a +savage storm, the tombs hacked and hewed, and the carved decorations +knocked to fragments. Doubtless if we had questioned the girl who stood +staring at us, she would have said that "Crummell did it," and in this +case, history would bear her out, for the Puritan soldiery _did_ do a +lot of damage here. They and the sans-culottes suffered from the same +mania--a sort of vertigo of destructiveness before memorials of kings or +Catholics! + +But they couldn't destroy everything, and what is left in this old +church is well worth seeing, for there are some graceful pointed +windows, and six narrow lancets in a lovely row along the north wall of +the choir, and a fine arcade in the north transept, and many details +of decoration beautiful in spite of mutilation. The place is crowded +with tombs, for this was the burial place of the Dalys and the Lynchs +and the De Burgos, and is still in use as such. The tomb of the "noble +family of De Burgh" is in one corner, and there are many mural tablets, +with inscriptions in French and Latin and Gaelic, as well as English. In +fact one of them announces in French and Latin and English, presumably +so that every one except the Irish might read, that "here is the antient +Sepulchre of the Sept of the Walls of Droghty late demolished by the +Cromellians." + +We went back through the town, at last, and while I was manoeuvring +for the picture opposite page 270, Betty got into talk with a girl who +was leaning over a half-door, and found, marvellous to relate, that she +had once lived in Brookline, Mass. We asked her why she had come back to +Ireland, and after a moment's thought she said it was because "America +wasn't fair." We thought of aristocratic Brookline, the abode of +millionaires, and then we looked about us--at the ragged donkey standing +across the way, at the pig wandering down the middle of the dirty +street, at the low little houses and the shabby people--and perhaps we +smiled, but be sure it was in sympathy, not in derision. + +We crossed over to the railway hotel, finally, and had lunch, and when +we came out, the woman who managed the place waylaid us at the front +door for a chat. She told us of a woman from the village who was on the +_Titanic_, but was saved, and discussed various scandals in high life, +which she had gleaned from the half-penny press; and then we spoke of +the girl we had met in the village, and she deplored the high-and-mighty +airs which some of the girls who come home from America give themselves. + +"But I once heard one of them put well in her place," she added, "when +she came back with her hat full of flowers and her petticoat full of +flounces, and walked about the town as though we were all dirt beneath +her feet. Well, one day an old man stopped her for a word, a friend of +the family who wished her well, but she put up her nose at him--and +perhaps he was not very clean--and was for going past. But he put out +his hand and caught her by the arm. 'You're after bein' a fine lady +now,' says he, 'but I mind the time, and that but a few years since, +when I've seen ye sittin' on your bare-backed ass, with your naked legs +hangin' down--yes, and I can be tellin' ye more than that, if so be ye +wish to hear it!' She didn't stay long in the village after that," added +the speaker, with a chuckle of relish. + +Our train came along, presently, and we were soon running over as +dreary, bleak and miserable a land as any we had seen in Ireland. Vast +boggy plains, bare rocky hillsides, with scarcely a house to be seen +anywhere--only a ruin, now and then, marking the site of some ancient +stronghold; and so, in the first dusk of the evening, we came to +Athlone. + +One would have thought that, with so important a town, the station would +have been placed somewhere near it; but habit was too strong for the +builders of the line, and so they put the station about a mile away, at +the end of a dreary stretch of road, beyond a great barrack, along the +river, past the castle, and over the bridge. + +Athlone has been famous for its widows ever since the days of Molly +Malone, ohone! who + + Melted the hearts + Of the swains in them parts; + +and we found that the best hotel in the place, which was not as good as +it might have been, was managed by a widow, who might well have posed +for the lovely Molly. She had not been a widow long, and I judged would +not be if the swains of the town had any voice in the matter, for the +bar was very popular when she was behind it. + +We went out, after dinner, to see the town, and found it one of the most +ugly and depressing we had yet encountered--a sort of cross between a +town and a village, but with the attractions of neither. The water-front +is its most interesting part, for a fragment of the old castle which was +built to guard the second of the all-important fords of the Shannon +still stands there. Kincora, you will remember, guarded the other. But +Kincora was three days' march to the southward; and for two days' march +to the northward there was no other place where the Shannon could be +crossed; and so here at the ford just below Lough Ree, in the old days, +a franklin named Luan set up a rude little inn, and the place came to be +known as Ath Luan, Luan's Ford--Athlone. Here in the year 1001, hostages +were sent from all Ireland to meet Brian Boru and proclaim him High +King; and here, a century later, the O'Conors built a rath and a tower +to guard the ford and levy tribute upon all who used it. In another +hundred years, the Normans had seized it, and put up the strong, +round-towered castle, parts of which still remain; and for seven +centuries after that, the English power "sat astride the passage of +Connaught," save for the brief time, after the battle of the Boyne, it +was held by the Irish. But Ginkle captured it, as he was soon to capture +Limerick, and a few years later, most of what was left of the town was +destroyed when the magazine of the castle blew up during a thunderstorm. + +But though there is little in Athlone to delay the visitor, there are +two places in the neighbourhood worth seeing. Nine miles to the north is +Lissoy, made immortal by Goldsmith as + + Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain; + +and ten miles to the south, on the bank of the Shannon, are the ruins of +Clonmacnoise, whither, twelve centuries ago, men in search of knowledge +turned their faces from all the corners of Europe. + + * * * * * + +It was for Lissoy we started next morning, on a car for which I had +bargained the night before. Our jarvey was a loquacious old fellow, who +talked unceasingly, but in so broken a brogue that it was only with the +greatest difficulty we could follow him. He had known some people who +had gone down on the _Titanic_, and he told us all about them; but most +of his talk was a lament for the hard times, the sorrowful state of the +country, the paucity of tourists, and the vagaries of the landlady, of +whom he spoke in the most mournful and pessimistic way. She was not, I +gathered, a native of Athlone, but a Dublin woman whose ideas were +new-fangled and highfalutin, and who, I inferred, did not look kindly +upon the careless habits of her "help." + +The road lay through a pleasant, rolling country, with glimpses of Lough +Ree to the left, and on a hill to the right a tall shaft which our +jarvey told us marked the exact centre of Ireland. When one looks at the +map, one sees that it is at least somewhere near the centre. But it has +been explained to other passers-by in many ways: as the remains of a +round tower, as a tower which a rich man built in order to mount to the +top of it every day to count his sheep, as a pole for his tent put up by +Finn MacCool, as a wind-mill in the old days, and as a dozen other +things--anything, in fact, that happened to occur to the man who was +asked the question. One answer, you may be sure, he never made, and that +was that he didn't know! + +There _are_ some remains of old windmills in the neighbourhood--we saw +one or two on near-by hillsides, close enough to recognise them; and if +I had known at the time what a divergence of opinion there was about +that lonely tower in the distance, I would have driven over to it and +investigated it on my own hook. But our jarvey's answer was so positive +that it left no room for doubt, so we drove on through a village of tiny +thatched houses, with the smoke of the turf giving a pleasant tang to +the air; then up a long hill, to the left at a cross-roads, and at last +our jarvey drew up before a five-barred gate. We looked at him +questioningly, for there was no village in sight. + +"'Tis here it was, sir," he said, "sweet Auburn, the loveliest village +of the plain. 'Twas up that path yonder the village preacher's modest +mansion rose, though there is little enough left of it now; and over +yonder, behind that wall with the yellow furze atop it, unprofitably +gay, was where the village master taught his little school, and there is +nothing at all left of that; and a little furder on is the 'Three Jolly +Pigeons,' where news much older than the ale went round." + +[Illustration: THE GOLDSMITH RECTORY AT LISSOY] + +[Illustration: THE "THREE JOLLY PIGEONS"] + +I looked at him wonderingly. + +"Where did you pick up all that patter?" I asked. + +He snickered. + +"Ah, you would not be the first gintleman I have driven out here, sir," +he explained; "and many of them would be speakin' parts of the poem." + +"I suppose ale is still to be obtained at the 'Three Jolly Pigeons'?" + +"It is, sir, if so be your honour would be wantin' some. And they have +one of the big stones of the old mill for a doorstep," he added, as an +extra inducement not to pass it by. + +We got down from our seats, went through the gate, and up the path which +Goldsmith and his father trod so many times; for, whether or not Lissoy +was really Auburn, there can be no doubt that the elder Goldsmith was +really vicar here, and that he lived in the house, the rectory of +Kilkenny West, of which only a fragment of the front wall remains, and +that Oliver was a boy here. The ash trees which shadowed the path have +disappeared, but there are still plenty of gabbling geese around, and a +file of them went past as I took a picture of the remnant of the +rectory. A shed with a hideous roof of corrugated iron has been built +behind it, and near by is a two-storied house where the present tenant +lives. We found an old woman, for all the world like Goldsmith's +"widowed, solitary thing," carding wool in an outhouse, and she showed +us the old well, deep in the ground, walled around and approached by a +steep flight of steps. + +There was nothing more to see, so we went back to the gate, escorted by +three friendly pigs, and clambered up to our seats again, and looked out +over the valley. There is nothing in that valley but gently-rolling +pastures, and nothing lives there now but sheep and cattle. And it sends +a chill up the spine to realise that once a village stood there, and +that it has melted away into the earth. Not a stone is left of its +houses, not a sod of its walls, not a flower of its gardens. + +But that village was Lissoy, not Auburn. No such village as Auburn ever +existed in Ireland, where the young folks sported on the village green, +and the swain responsive to the milkmaid sung, and the village master +taught his school during the day, and argued with the preacher in the +evening, and a jolly crowd gathered every night at the inn to drink the +nut-brown ale. There is not a single Irish detail in that picture; it is +all English, just as Goldsmith intended it should be, for it was of +"England's griefs" he was writing, not of Ireland's. In that day, few +people here in Westmeath spoke anything but Irish; the village children +knew nothing of schools, except hedge-row ones, taught by some fugitive +priest; the "honest rustics" had no "decent churches," but only hidden +caves in dark valleys, where Mass was said secretly and at the risk of +life; and, rest assured, when any inhabitant of this valley had money to +spend for drink, he wasted it on no such futile beverage as nut-brown +ale! + +I am sure that little of it is sold to-day at the "Three Jolly Pigeons," +where we presently arrived, a low wayside tavern with thatched roof and +plastered wall, kept by John Nally, who welcomed us most kindly, and +grew enthusiastic when I proposed to take a picture. There was a rickety +donkey-cart standing by the door, and its owner came out to be in the +picture, too--raggeder even than his donkey, disreputable, dirty, +gin-soaked, and with only a jagged tooth or two in his expansive mouth, +but carefree and full of mirth. + +Betty, who had been admiring the supreme raggedness of the donkey, asked +its name. + +"Top o' the Mornin', miss," answered the man, with a shout of laughter, +and I am sure the name was the inspiration of the moment. + +And then, while our jarvey drank his whiskey, I had a talk with Mr. +Nally, who, of course, for reasons of trade perhaps, is firmly of the +belief that Auburn is Lissoy and no other. And he told me of another +poet who was born down on the banks of the Inny, a mile or two away, and +who, in the old days, spent many an evening at the Pigeons--Johnny Casey +he called him, and it turned out to be that same John Keegan Casey, who +wrote "The Rising of the Moon," and "Maire my Girl," and "Gracie og +Machree," and "Donal Kenny,"--Irish subjects all, and most of them local +ones, as well. Donal Kenny, for instance, was a bold blade, a clever +hand with the snare and the net, who turned the heads of all the girls +in the neighbourhood, and broke those of most of the boys, until it was +glad they were when he went off with himself to America. I have looked +up the poem since, and I fear that Casey enveloped the parting scene +with exaggerated sentiment; yet the verses have a swing to them: + + Come, piper, play the "Shaskan Reel," + Or else the "Lasses on the Heather," + And, Mary, lay aside your wheel + Until we dance once more together. + At fair and pattern oft before + Of reels and jigs we've tripped full many; + But ne'er again this loved old floor + Will feel the foot of Donal Kenny. + +We tore ourselves away, at last, taking a road which ran along the +border of the lake--a beautiful sheet of bluest water, dotted with +greenest islands, with the rolling plains of Roscommon rising beyond. +And then, from the top of a long hill, we saw below us the spires of +Athlone, and soon we were rattling down into the town. + + * * * * * + +That morning, while looking through our guide-book, we had encountered a +sentence which piqued our curiosity. It was this: + + "Some of the walls of St. Peter's Abbey remain, in + which can be seen one of those curious figures + called 'Sheela-na-gig." + +I remembered dimly that, back at Cashel, John Minogue had called our +attention to a grotesque figure with twisted legs and distorted visage +carved on a stone, and had called it something that sounded like +Sheela-na-gig; but I wasn't sure, and so we started out blithely to find +this one. + +Right at the start, we met with unexpected difficulties, for nobody at +the hotel, not even the ancient jarvey, had ever heard of the +Sheela-na-gig. The barmaid, however, said that St. Peter's Abbey was on +the other side of the river, past the castle, so we went over there, and +found that part of the town much more dilapidated and picturesque than +the more modern portion on the Westmeath side. We wandered around for +quite a while, asking the way of this person and that, and finally we +wound up at St. Peter's church, a new structure and one singularly +uninteresting. It was evident that there was no Sheela-na-gig there; and +at this point Betty surrendered, and went back to the hotel to write +some letters. + +But I had started out on the quest of the Sheela-na-gig, and I was +determined to find it. I thought possibly it might be somewhere among +the ruins of the Franciscan Abbey, which stand close to the other side +of the river, so I crossed the river again, and after walking about a +mile along a high wall through a dirty lane, reached a gate, only to +find it locked. There was a man inside, raking a gravelled walk, but he +said nobody was admitted to the ruins, and anyway he was quite positive +that there was no such thing as a Sheela-na-gig among them. He added +that a portion of the ruins had been torn down to make room for an +extension of the Athlone Woolen Mills, and perhaps they had the +Sheela-na-gig there. + +I had no faith in this suggestion, but for want of something better to +do, I turned in at the office of the mills, and was warmly welcomed by +the manager, who invited me to inspect the place. It is an exceedingly +rambling and haphazard structure, but it gives employment to hundreds of +people, mostly girls and women, whose pale faces and drooping figures +bore testimony to the wearing nature of the work. The mill gets the wool +in the raw state, straight from the grower, and the processes by which +it is cleaned and carded and spun into thread, and dyed, and woven into +cloth, and inspected, and weighed, and finally rolled up ready for the +market, are many and intricate. The manager told me that the mill turned +out thirty thousand yards of tweed a week, and he hoped to turn out even +more, as soon as a reduction of the tariff permitted him to get into the +American market. Even with a duty of forty-five per cent., he could +compete with American tweeds, and with a lower duty he could undersell +them. + +It needed only a glance at the shabby, toil-worn men and women working +in his factory to understand why this was true. I didn't ask him what +wages his women earned, but I _did_ ask as to their hours of labour. +They go to work at 6:30 in the morning and work till six in the evening, +with a three-quarter hour interval for breakfast and the same for lunch. +I saw groups of them, afterwards, strolling about the streets in the +twilight, and sad and poor and spiritless they looked. Yet they are +eager for the work, for at least it keeps them alive, and one can +scarcely blame the manager for sticking to the market price, and so +doing his best to meet a remorseless competition. I confess that such +economic problems as this are too stiff for me. + +As I was about to leave, I casually mentioned my search for the +Sheela-na-gig--and he knew where it was! It was over on the other bank, +it seemed, not far from the river-front, and he directed me with great +detail how to get to it; but, alas, in such a town of crooked streets, +definite direction was impossible. However, with hope springing eternal, +I crossed the bridge a third time, turned up-stream close beside the +river, wandered into a board-yard, extricated myself, got into a blind +alley that ended in a high wall and had to retrace my steps; asked man +after man, who only stared vacantly and shook their heads; and finally +found a boy who knew, and who eagerly left his work to conduct me to the +spot. + +Imagine with what a feeling of triumph I stood at last before the +Sheela-na-gig! + +It is carved over the wide arch of the entrance to what was once an +abbey, but what I think is now a laundry--an impish, leering figure, +clasping its knees up under its chin, and peering down to see who +passes. Underneath the imp are the words "St. Peter's Port," and +underneath the words is a grotesque head. On either side of the arch is +a sculptured plaque, that to the left bearing the words "May Satan never +enter," and that to the right, "Wilo Wisp & Jack the Printer,"--the two, +of course, forming a couplet. + +While I was staring at these remarkable inscriptions and trying to +puzzle out some meaning for them, an old woman, who had been watching me +with interest from the door of her house, came out and tried to tell me +the history of the gate. But she spoke so incoherently that I could make +nothing of it beyond the fact that the inscriptions originated in two +men's rivalry for possession of the property; so somebody else will +have to untangle that legend. + +A little way up the street there was a shop which, among other things, +had post-cards displayed for sale, and I stopped in, thinking I might +get a picture of the gate and perhaps learn something more of its story. +But when I asked for such a card, the proprietor stared at me in +amazement. + +"There is no such gate hereabouts," he said. + +"But there is," I protested; "right there at the end of the street. Do +you mean to say you have never seen the Sheela-na-gig, nor read that +line about Wilo Wisp and Jack the Printer?" + +He rubbed his head dazedly. + +"I have not," he admitted. "Look at that, now," he went on; "here have I +been going past that gate for years, and you come all the way from +America and see more in one minute than I have seen in me whole life!" + +Then he asked me if I had been up on top the castle, which was just +opposite his shop, and I replied that I had not. + +"Nor have I," he said; "but I am told there is a grand view from up +there." + +"Why not go up with me now?" I suggested. + +"I might," he agreed; and then he looked at the tall keep of the castle +and shook his head. "'Tis not to-day I can be doing it; you see, I must +stay with the shop." + +So I left him there, and essayed the heights of the castle by myself. +Only for a little way, however, was I by myself, for some families +connected with the garrison live there, and they are all prolific; so I +soon found myself surrounded by a horde of ragged children, who begged +for ha'pennies in the queer bated voice which seems to go with begging +in Ireland. I distributed a few, but that was a mistake; for when they +found I not only had some ha'pennies but was actually willing to part +with them, they grew almost ferocious; I said "Oppenheimer!" in vain, +and I was only saved at last by a husky woman who issued forth from one +of the towers and swept down upon them, vi et armis, and drove them +headlong out of sight. She was red-headed and curious, and she stopped +for a bit of talk. (I pass over the part about America.) + +"How do you like living in the old castle?" I asked her, finally. + +"Sure, 'tis a grand place, sir." + +"Do you ever see any ghosts?" + +"Ghosts? Niver a one, sir." + +"Nor hear any banshees?" + +"Banshees is it? Sure, they niver come to this place, sir, 'tis that +healthy, bein' so high." + +And it must, indeed, be healthier than the narrow, gloomy, squalid +streets below. I could look down into them from the top of the tower, to +which I presently mounted, and see their swarming life--men and women +idling about, a girl drawing water from the public pump, a boy skinning +some eels at the corner, small children playing in the gutters. On the +other side lay the river, empty save for a few small launches, and +beyond it the roofs of the newer part of the town, and beyond the town +the beautiful Westmeath hills. + +Just at my feet was the bridge across the Shannon, connecting east and +west Ireland. It is a modern one, but it stands on the site of the old +one, built while Elizabeth was queen, and the scene of a desperate +conflict when Ginkle stormed the town. Of the castle itself, only the +keep is old. The drum-towers, which frown down upon the river, are of +later date, though one would never suspect it to look at them; but when +one gets to the top of them, one finds embrasures for artillery, and the +approach is up a graded way along which the guns can be taken. The old +drawbridge and portcullis which guarded the entrance to the keep are +still in place, but there is little else of interest. + + * * * * * + +The ruins of the ancient abbey of Clonmacnoise lie close beside the +Shannon, some ten miles below Athlone, and the road thither winds +through a rolling country down to the broad river, which here flows +lazily between flat banks. One would expect so noble a stretch of water +to be crowded with commerce, but it was quite empty that morning, save +for an occasional rude, flat-bottomed punt, loaded high with turf, which +a man and a boy would be poling slowly upstream toward Athlone. + +It was a desolate scene; and Clonmacnoise looked desolate, too, with its +gaunt grey towers, and huddle of little buildings, and cluttered +graveyard. It seemed incredible that this obscure corner of the world +was once a centre of learning toward which scholars turned their faces +from the far ends of Europe, to which Charlemagne sent gifts, and within +whose walls princes and nobles were reared in wisdom and piety. Yet such +it was--the nearest to being a national university among all the abbeys, +for it was not identified with any class or province, but chose its +abbots from all Ireland, and welcomed its students from all the world. + +The abbey was founded by St. Kieran in 548. St. Kieran belonged to what +is known as the Second Order of Irish Saints, founders of monasteries +and of great co-operative communities, as distinguished from the First +Order--St. Patrick and his immediate successors--who were bishops and +missionaries and founders of churches, and the Third Order, who were +hermits, dwelling in desert places, often in small stone cells, just as +St. Molua did in his little cell near Killaloe. St. Kieran had already +started an abbey on an island in Lough Ree, but grew dissatisfied with +it, for some reason, and he and eight companions got on board a boat and +floated down the river, rejecting this place and that as not suited to +their purpose, and finally reaching this sloping meadow, where their +leader bade them stop. + +"Let us remain here," he said, "for many souls will ascend to heaven +from this spot." + +So the abbey was started, and, though Kieran himself died in the +following year, it grew rapidly in importance. Let me try to picture the +place as it was then. The students lived in small huts crowded about the +precincts; the classes were held in the open air; only for purposes of +worship were permanent buildings built. Here, as at Glendalough, there +was not one large church, but seven small ones; and the students seem to +have attended divine service in the groups in which they studied. It was +a self-supporting community, tilling its own lands, spinning its own +wool, weaving its own cloth, and building its own churches; and its +life, while not austere, was of the simplest. + +The students, at times, numbered as many as three thousand. The teaching +was free, but from every student a certain amount of service was +required in the interest of the community. The principal study, of +course, was that of religion, but from the very first the heathen +classics and the Irish language, arithmetic, rhetoric, astronomy and +natural science were taught side by side with theology. + +The life at Clonmacnoise was typical of that at all the other monastic +schools with which Ireland was then so thickly dotted; and it is the +more interesting because the whole continent of Europe, at that time, +was groping through the very darkest period of the Middle Ages. Culture +there was at its lowest ebb--knowledge of Greek, for instance, had so +nearly vanished that any one who knew Greek was assumed at once to have +come from Ireland, where it was taught in all the schools. Those schools +sent forth swarms of missionaries, "the most fearless spiritual knights +the world has known," to spread the light over Europe; they established +centres at Cambrai, at Rheims, at Soissons, at Laon, at Liege; they +founded the great monastery at Ratisbon; they built others at Wurzburg, +at Nuremberg, at Constanz, at Vienna--and then came the Vikings, and put +an end to Irish learning. For the Vikings were Pagans, and the shrines +of the churches, the treasuries of the monasteries and schools, were the +first objects of onslaught. + +For two centuries, the Danes made of Ireland "spoil-land and sword-land +and conquered land, ravaged her chieftaincies and her privileged +churches and her sanctuaries, and rent her shrines and her reliquaries +and her books, and demolished her beautiful ornamented temples--in a +word, though there were an hundred sharp and ready tongues in each head, +and an hundred loud, unceasing voices from each tongue, they could never +enumerate all the Gael suffered, both men and women, laity and clergy, +noble and ignoble, from these wrathful, valiant, purely-pagan people." +The Danes aimed to destroy all learning, which they hated and +distrusted, and they very nearly succeeded. + +[Illustration: ON THE ROAD TO CLONMACNOISE] + +[Illustration: ST. KIERAN'S CATHAIR, CLONMACNOISE] + +I have already told how, under Brian Boru, the Irish drew together, and +finally managed to defeat the Danes at Clontarf; and for a century and a +half after that, ancient Erin seemed rising from her ashes. The books +destroyed by the Danes were re-written, churches and monasteries +rebuilt, schools re-opened--and then came Strongbow at the head of his +Normans, and that dream was ended. There was civilisation in Ireland +after that, but it was a civilisation dominated by England; there was +education, but not for the native Irish; there were great monasteries, +but they were built by French or Norman monks--by Franciscans or +Cistercians or Augustinians; and finally even these were swept away with +the coming of the Established Church. + + * * * * * + +I shall not attempt to describe the ruins of the seven churches of +Clonmacnoise, except to say that, though they are all small, they are +crowded with interesting detail; and there are two round towers, +somewhat squat and rude, as a witness to the danger of Danish raiders; +but the glory of the place is the magnificent sculptured cross, erected +a thousand years ago over the grave of Flann, High King of Erin, and +still standing as a witness to Irish craftsmanship. It is ten feet +high, cut from a single block of stone, and elaborately carved from top +to bottom, and its date is fixed by an Irish inscription which can still +be deciphered: "A prayer for Colman who made this cross on the King +Flann." It was Flann who built the largest of the stone churches, near +which the cross stands, about 909, and at that time Colman was Abbot of +Clonmacnoise. Flann died five years later, and Colman honoured his +memory with this magnificent tribute. + +Its maker's name is lost, but there can be no doubt he was a great +artist. On one side he has represented scenes from the founding of +Clonmacnoise, and on the other scenes from the Passion of the Saviour. +The crucifixion, as usual, is depicted at the intersection, while hell +and heaven are shown on the arms themselves, crowded with the damned or +the blessed, as the case may be. There is another cross in the graveyard +scarcely less interesting, though no one knows on whose grave it stands, +and there is the shaft of a third. And all about them are crowded the +lichened tombstones marking the graves of the fortunate ones who won +sepulture in St. Kieran's cathair, and who, on the last day, will be +borne straight to heaven with him. + +For this enclosure was once the very holiest in Ireland. It was here +that Kieran was laid, and then his prophecy was remembered that many +souls would ascend to heaven from this spot; and the belief gradually +grew that no one interred "in the graveyard of noble Kieran" would ever +be adjudged to damnation. In consequence, so many people wanted to be +buried there that there wasn't room for all of them, and in the end, +even powerful kings and princes were forced to contend with great gifts +for a place of sepulture. Here Flann was laid; and hither was borne the +body of Rory O'Conor, the last who claimed the kingship of all Ireland, +after his death at Cong. The great abbey at Cong served well enough as +the retreat for his declining years, but it was only at Clonmacnoise, in +the sacred cathair of Kieran, that he would be buried. And, as I closed +the chapter on the Shannon with some verses of one of Ireland's truest +poets, I cannot do better than close this one with his lovely rendering +of the lament which Enock O'Gillan wrote many centuries ago for + + +THE DEAD AT CLONMACNOISE + + In a quiet-watered land, a land of roses, + Stands St. Kieran's city fair, + And the warriors of Erin in their famous generations + Slumber there. + + There beneath the dewy hillside sleep the noblest + Of the clan of Conn, + Each below his stone with name in branching Ogham + And the sacred knot thereon. + + There they laid to rest the seven kings of Tara, + There the sons of Cairbre sleep-- + Battle-banners of the Gael that in Kieran's plain of crosses + Now their final hosting keep. + + And in Clonmacnoise they laid the men of Teffia, + And right many a lord of Bregh; + Deep the sod above Clan Creide and Clan Conaill, + Kind in hall and fierce in fray. + + Many and many a son of Conn the Hundred-fighter + In the red earth lies at rest; + Many a blue eye of Clan Colman the turf covers, + Many a swan-white breast. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +GALWAY OF THE TRIBES + + +IT was in the dusk of early evening that our train started westward from +Athlone, and we soon found ourselves traversing again the dreary bogs +which we had crossed on our way from Athenry. I have seldom seen a more +beautiful sunset than the one that evening, and we watched the changing +sky and the flaming west for long hours; and then, just as darkness +came, the great reaches of Galway Bay opened before us, and we were at +our journey's end--Galway of the Tribes, the beautiful old town which is +the gateway to Connemara. + +There is a good hotel connected with the railway, and we had dinner +there, and then went forth to see the town. We were struck at once by +its picturesqueness, its foreign air. The narrow curving streets do not +somehow look like Irish streets, nor do the houses look like Irish +houses; rather might one fancy oneself in some old town of France or +Belgium. We were fascinated by it, and wandered about for a long time, +along dim lanes, into dark courts, looking at the shawled women and +listening to the soft talk of the strolling girls. + + * * * * * + +Nobody knows certainly how Galway got its name. Some say it was because +a woman named Galva was drowned in the river; others maintain that the +name was derived from the Gallaeci of Spain, who used to trade here; and +still others think that it came from the Gaels, who eventually occupied +it in the course of their conquest of Ireland. Whatever the origin of +the name, the town was but a poor place, a mere trading village of +little importance, until the English came. Richard de Burgo was granted +the county of Connaught by the English king in 1226, and six years later +he entered Galway, rebuilt and enlarged the castle which had been put up +by the Connaught men, threw a wall around the town, and so established +another of those centres of Norman power, which were soon to overshadow +the whole of Ireland. It was a very English colony, at first, with a +deep-seated contempt for the wild Irish. Over the west gate, which +looked toward Connemara, was the inscription, + + FROM THE FURY OF THE O'FLAHERTIES + GOOD LORD DELIVER US. + +and one of the by-laws of the town was that no citizen should receive +into his house at Christmas or on any other feast day any of the Burkes, +MacWilliamses, or Kelleys, and that "neither O' nor Mac shalle strutte +ne swaggere thro the streetes of Gallway." + +The years wore away this animosity, as they have a fashion of doing in +Ireland, and by Cromwell's time, the citizens of the town had become so +Irish that they were contemptuously called "the tribes of Galway" by the +Puritan soldiers. But, as was the case of the Beggars in Holland, a name +given in contempt was adopted as a badge of honour, and the "Tribes of +Galway" became a mark of distinction for men who had suffered and fought +and had never been conquered. There were thirteen of these tribes; and +the Blakes and Lynches and Joyces and Martins who still form the greater +part of the old town's population are their descendants--but how fallen +from their high estate! + +For many years, Galway had a practical monopoly of the trade with Spain, +there was always a large Spanish colony here, and it is to this +long-continued intercourse that many persons attribute the foreign air +of the town. I have even seen it asserted that the people are of a +decided Spanish type; but we were unable to discern it, and I am +inclined to think the Spanish influence has been much exaggerated. Its +period of prosperity ended with the coming of the Parliamentary army, +which took the place and plundered it; and the final blow was struck +forty years later, when the army of William of Orange, fresh from its +victories to the east, laid siege to it and captured it in two days. The +old families found themselves ruined, trade utterly ceased, the great +warehouses fell to decay, and the mansions of the aristocracy, no longer +able to maintain them, were given over to use as tenements. There is +to-day about Galway an air of ruin and decay such as I have seen +equalled in few other Irish towns; but there are also some signs of +reawakening, and it may be that, after three centuries, the tide has +turned. + + * * * * * + +We found the streets crowded, next morning, with the most picturesque +people we had seen anywhere in Ireland, for it was Saturday and so +market day, and the country-folk had gathered in from many miles around. +The men were for the most part buttoned up in cutaways of stiff frieze, +nearly as hard and unyielding as iron; and the women, almost without +exception, wore bright red skirts, made of fuzzy homespun flannel, which +they had themselves woven from wool dyed with the rich crimson of +madder. The shaggier the flannel, the more it is esteemed, and some of +the skirts we saw had a nap half an inch deep. They are made very full +and short, somewhat after the fashion of the Dutch; but the resemblance +ended there, for most of these women were barefooted, and strode about +with a disregard of cobbles and sharp paving-stones which proved the +toughness of their soles. + +Galway, as well as most other Irish towns, boasts a number of millinery +stores, with windows full of befeathered and beribboned hats; but one +wonders where their customers come from, for hats are a luxury unknown +to most Irish women, who habitually go either bareheaded, or with the +head muffled in a shawl. All the women here in Galway were shawled, and +beautiful shawls they were, of a delicate fawn-colour, and very soft and +thick. + +We went at once to the market, and found the country women ranged along +the curb, with great baskets in front of them containing eggs and butter +and other products of the farm. How far they had walked, that morning, +carrying these heavy burdens, I did not like to guess, but we met one +later who had eight miles to go before she would be home again. A few +had carts drawn by little grey donkeys; and the old woman in one of +these was so typical that I wanted to get her picture. She was sitting +there watching the crowd with her elbows on her knees, and a chicken in +her hands, but when she saw me unlimbering my camera, she shook her +head menacingly. + +[Illustration: THE MARKET AT GALWAY] + +[Illustration: "OULD SAFTIE"] + +There was a constable in the crowd, and he offered to clear the +bystanders away, so that I could get a good picture of her. I remarked +that she seemed to object, and he said that he didn't see why that made +any difference, and that it wouldn't do her any harm. But I preferred +diplomacy to force, and finally I asked a quaint-looking old man +standing by if I might take his picture. + +"Ye may, and welcome," was the prompt response. + +So I stood him up in front of the cart and got my focus. + +"Will ye be seein' the ould saftie!" cried the woman. "Look at the ould +saftie standin' there to get his picter took." And she went on to say +other, and presumably much less complimentary things, in Irish; but my +subject only grinned pleasantly and paid no heed. If you will look at +the picture opposite this page, you can almost see the scornful +invectives issuing from her lips. My subject was very proud indeed when +I promised him a print; and I hope it reached him safely. + +Eggs are sold by the score in Galway, and the price that day was one +shilling twopence, or about twenty-eight cents--which is not as cheap as +one would expect them to be in a country where wages are so low. But +perhaps it is only labour that is cheap in Ireland! + +One row of women were offering for sale a kind of seaweed, whose Celtic +name, as they pronounced it, I could not catch, but which in English +they called dillisk; a red weed which they assured us they had gathered +from the rocks along the beach that very morning, and which many +people were buying and stuffing into their mouths and chewing with the +greatest relish. It did not look especially inviting, but the women +insisted, with much laughter, that we sample it, and we finally did, +somewhat gingerly. The only taste I detected in it was that of the +salt-water in which it had been soaked; but it is supposed to be very +healthy, and to be especially efficacious in straightening out a man who +has had a drop too much. No matter how tangled his legs may be, so the +women assured us, a few mouthfuls of dillisk will set him right again; +and no man with a pocketful of dillisk was ever known to go astray or +spend the night in a ditch. I regret that we were not able to experiment +with this interesting plant; but if it really possesses this remarkable +property, it deserves a wider popularity than it now enjoys. + +While I was talking to the women and the constable--who was a Dublin man +and very lonesome among these Irish-speaking people, who regarded him +with scorn and derision--Betty had been exploring the junk-shops of the +neighbourhood, and presently came back with the news that she had +discovered a Dutch masterpiece. Now we are both very fond of Dutch art, +so I hastened to look at the picture; and, indeed, it may have been an +Ostade, for it was a small panel showing two boors drinking, and it +seemed to me excellently painted; but when the keeper of the shop saw +that we were interested, he named a price out of all reason, and I was +not certain enough of my own judgment to back it to that extent. I +intended to go back later on and do a little bargaining; but I didn't; +and the first connoisseur who goes to Galway should take a look at the +picture--it is in a little shop just a few doors from the cathedral--and +he may pick up a bargain. + +We went on down the street, and crossed the Corrib River to the +Claddagh--a picturesque huddle of thatched and whitewashed cottages, the +homes of fishermen and their families, Irish of the Irish, who, from +time immemorial have formed a unique community, almost a race apart. +Galway, within its walls on the other side of the river, was very, very +English; here on this strip of land next to the bay, the despised Irish +built their cabins, and formed a colony which made its own laws, which +was always ruled by one of its own members, where no strangers were +permitted to dwell, and whose people always intermarried with each +other. That old semi-feudal condition is, of course, no longer strictly +maintained; but the Claddagh people still keep to themselves, the men +follow the sea for a living just as they have always done, and the women +peddle the catch about the streets of Galway, as has been their custom +ever since the English settled there. They wear a quaint and distinctive +costume, one feature of which is the red petticoat I have already +described, and common to all Connemara women. But in addition to this is +a blue mantle, and a white kerchief bound tightly round the head, and +then over this, if the woman is unusually well-to-do, a fawn-coloured +shawl. The feet are usually bare, and so are the sturdy legs, some +inches of which, very red and rough from exposure to every weather, are +visible below the short skirts. + +The houses of the Claddagh have been built wherever fancy dictated, and +in consequence form a most confusing jumble, for one man's back door +usually opens into another man's front yard. How a man gets home from +the tavern on a dark night I don't know, but I suspect that the +consumption of dillisk is large. We stopped to talk to a woman leaning +over a half-door; and her children, who had been playing in the dirt, +gathered around, and there is a picture of her quaint little house +opposite the next page. Then while I foraged for more pictures, Betty +sat down on a stone, and a perfect horde of children soon assembled to +stare at her. They were very shy at first and perfectly well-behaved; +but gradually they grew bolder, and finally, under careful +encouragement, their tongues loosened, until they were chattering away +like magpies. + +The people of the Claddagh are said to be a very moral and religious +race, who never go to sea or even away from home on any Sunday or +religious holiday; and these dirty, unkempt, neglected, but chubby and +red-cheeked children were capital illustrations of Kipling's lines: + + By a moon they all can play with--grubby and grimed and unshod-- + Very happy together, and very near to God. + +They were certainly happy enough; and, whether they were near to God or +not, they had all evidently been taught their catechism with great care, +for when Betty took from one of them a little picture of the Madonna and +asked who it was, they answered in chorus, without an instant's +hesitation, "The blessed Virgin, miss." + +The Claddagh people are dark as a rule, though here and there one sees a +genuine Titian blond, and Spanish blood has been ascribed to them; but +they probably date much farther back than the Spaniards--back, indeed, +to that ancient, original Irish race, "men of the leathern wallet," +antedating the Milesians or Gaels who now form the bulk of the Irish +people. The older race took refuge in the bleak Connemara hills before +the stronger invaders, to come creeping down again and found their +colony here at the mouth of the Corrib when the invaders had swept on +eastward to the kindlier and more fertile country there. Their whole +life is bound up in this topsy-turvy little settlement, where they live +just as they have lived for centuries, undisturbed by the march of +civilisation. + +[Illustration: THE CLADDAGH, GALWAY] + +[Illustration: A CLADDAGH HOME] + +We tore ourselves away, at last, from this primeval place, and recrossed +the river to the turf market, with its familiar little carts piled high +with the dark fuel. + +"The bogs are very wet this year, are they not?" I asked an old man. + +"They are, sir, God save ye," he replied, his wrinkled face lighting up +at the chance to talk to a stranger. "There never was such a year for +rain. I'm sixty year, God bless ye, and I've never seen such another." +And then he went on to relate the story of his life, with a "God save +ye" to every clause. A hearty old fellow he was, in spite of his sixty +years; and he had driven his cart of turf down ten miles out of the +mountains, that morning, and would drive ten miles back that night; and +if he was lucky he would get half a crown--sixty cents--for the load of +turf which had taken a hard day's labour to cut, and numerous turnings +during a month to dry. + +We went on past some fragments of the old walls, with a most romantic +arched gateway, and through the fish market, over which the red-skirted +women from the Claddagh presided--great strapping creatures, with broad +hips and straight backs and shining, good-humoured faces. Most of them +were selling an ugly, big-mouthed, unappetising-looking fish, whose name +I couldn't catch; but they told us it was a fish for poor people, not +for the likes of us, God bless ye--full of bones and scarcely worth the +trouble of eating, but plentiful and therefore cheap. + +The principal street of Galway is called Shop Street--a name so +singularly lacking in imagination that it would prove the English origin +of the town at once, were any proof needed--and about midway of this +stands a beautiful four-storied building, known as Lynch's Castle, once +a fine mansion but now a chandler's shop. The walls are ornamented with +carved medallions, and there is a row of sculptured supports for a +vanished balcony sticking out like gargoyles all around the top; and +over the door there is the stone figure of a monkey holding a child, +commemorating the saving of one of the Lynch children from a fire, by a +favourite monkey, some centuries ago. + +The Lynches were great people in old Galway, and another memorial of +them exists just around the corner--a fragment of wall, with a doorway +below and a mullioned window above, and it was from this window, so +legend says, that James Lynch Fitzstephen, sometime mayor of Galway, +hanged his son with his own hands. The principal inscription reads: + + This memorial of the stern and unbending justice + of the chief magistrate of this city, James Lynch + Fitzstephen, elected mayor A. D. 1493, who + condemned and executed his own guilty son, Walter, + on this spot, has been restored to its ancient + site A. D. 1854, with the approval of the Town + Commissioners, by their Chairman, Very Rev. Peter + Daly, P. P., and Vicar of St. Nicholas. + +Below the window is a skull and crossbones, with a much more interesting +inscription: + + 1524 + REMEMBER DEATHE VANITI OF VANITI + AND AL IS BUT VANITI + +[Illustration: A GALWAY VISTA] + +[Illustration: THE MEMORIAL OF A SPARTAN FATHER] + +The story of the very upright Fitzstephen runs in this wise: He was a +merchant, prominent in the Spanish trade, and fortunate in everything +except in his only son, Walter, who was as bad a nut as was to be found +anywhere. But he had shown some fondness for a Galway lady of good +family, and it was hoped she might reform him; when, unhappily, she +looked, or was thought to look, too favourably upon a handsome young +hidalgo, who had come from Spain as the guest of the elder Fitzstephen. +So young Walter waited for him one night at a dark corner, thrust a +knife into his heart, and then gave himself up to his father, as the +town's chief magistrate. + +Walter, as is often the way with rake-hellies, was a great favourite in +the town, and everybody interceded for his pardon, but his father +condemned him to death. Whereupon a number of young bloods organised a +rescue party, but just as they were breaking into the house, the +inexorable parent put a noose about his son's neck, and hanged him from +the window mullion above the crowd's head--the same mullion, I suppose, +which you can see in the picture opposite the preceding page. + +Just behind the reminder of this fifteenth-century Brutus, stands the +fourteenth-century church of St. Nicholas, a venerable and beautiful +structure, with good windows and splendid doorways, and containing some +interesting tombs--one of them in honour of Mayor Lynch, the hero of the +tragedy I have just related. On the south wall is a large tablet to +"Jane Eyre, relict of Edward Eyre," (I wonder if Charlotte Bronte ever +heard of her), who died in 1760, aged 88. At the bottom of the slab the +fact is commemorated that "The sum of 300L was given by the Widow Jane +Eyre to the Corporation of Galway for the yearly sum of 24L to be +distributed in bread to 36 poor objects, on every Sunday forever." The +sexton told us that the yearly income from this bequest was now +thirty-six pounds, but that the weekly distribution of bread had +occasioned so much disturbance that it had been discontinued, and the +income of the bequest was now divided equally among twelve deserving +families. + +As we stood there, the peal of bells in the tower began to ring for +service, but their musical invitation went quite unheeded by the crowd +in the market-place outside, all of whom, of course, were Catholics. One +woman, clad in black, slipped into a pew just before the curate began to +read the lesson. We waited a while to see if any one else would come, +but no one did, and at last we quietly took ourselves off. + +There was one other sight in Galway we wanted to see--the most famous of +its kind in Ireland--and that was the salmon making their way up the +Corrib River from the sea to spawn in the lake above; and the place to +see them is from the bridge which leads from the courthouse on the east +bank of the river to the great walled jail on the west bank. Just above +the bridge is the weir which backs up the water from Lough Corrib to +afford power for some dozen mills--though all the mills, so far as I +could see, are decayed and ruined and empty. But below this weir the +salmon gather in such numbers that sometimes they lie side by side +solidly clear across the bed of the stream. + +A number of fishermen were flogging the water, and we sat down under the +trees on the eastern bank to watch them for a while before going out on +the bridge. Two or three of them were stationed on a narrow plank +platform built out over the water just in front of us, and the others +were on the farther bank, in the shadow of the grey wall of the jail. +This is supposed to be the very best place in all Ireland to catch +salmon, and, in the season, more anglers than the short stretch of shore +can accommodate are eager to pay the fifteen shillings, which is the fee +for a day's fishing there. They fish quite close together, which is +somewhat awkward, but has its advantages occasionally; as, for instance, +on that day, not very long ago, when one enthusiast, having hooked a +noble fish, dropped dead in the act of playing it. The long account of +this sad event which the Galway paper published, concluded with the +following paragraph: + + Our readers will be glad to learn that the rod + which Mr. Doyle dropped was immediately taken up + by our esteemed townsman, Mr. Martin, who found + the fish still on, and after ten minutes' play, + succeeded in landing it--a fine clean-run salmon + of fifteen pounds. + +One cannot but admire the quick wit of Mr. Martin, who, seeing at a +glance that his fellow-townsman was past all human aid, realised that +the only thing to do was to save the fish, and saved it! + +But no fish were caught while we were there. We had rather expected to +see one hooked every minute, but we watched for half an hour, and there +was not even a rise; so at last we walked out on the bridge to see if +there were really any fish in the stream. + +The bridge has a high parapet, worn glassy-smooth by the coat-sleeves of +countless lookers-on, and there are convenient places to rest the feet, +so we leaned over and looked down. The water was quite clear, and we +could see the stones on the bottom plainly--but no fish. + +"Look, there's one," said a voice at my elbow, and following the +pointing finger, I saw a great salmon, his greenish back almost exactly +the colour of the water, poised in the stream, swaying slowly from side +to side, exerting himself just enough to hold his place against the +current. Then the finger pointed to another and another, and we saw that +the river was alive with fish--and then I looked around to see whose +finger it was, and found myself gazing into the smiling eyes of a young +priest--not exactly young, either, for his hair was sprinkled with grey; +but his face was fresh and youthful. + +"Of course you're from America," he said. "One can see that." And when I +nodded assent, he added, "Well, you Americans brag like hell, but you +have good reason to." + +I glanced at him again, thinking perhaps I had mistaken his vocation; +but there was no mistaking his rabat. + +"I have been to America," he went on. "I went there as a beggar for a +church here; and after my mission was done, I rested and enjoyed myself; +and I want to say that there is no country like America." + +The words were said with an earnestness that warmed my heart; and of +course I agreed with him; and then, when he learned we were from Ohio, +he told us how he had crossed our State on his way to San Francisco, and +that seemed to establish a kind of relationship; and when we were +satisfied with looking at the fish, he insisted on taking us through the +marble works, just across the river, where some great columns of +Connemara marble were being polished. It comes from a quarry high on +Lissoughter, which we were soon to visit--though we didn't know it +then!--and it is very beautiful indeed, usually a deep green, but +sometimes a warm brown, and always gorgeously veined. + +And then he asked us if we wouldn't like to see Queen's College, the +Galway branch of the National University of Ireland; and of course we +said we would, and so we started for it, he pushing his wheel before +him; and on the way, we met a handsome old man, who stopped when he saw +us, and smilingly asked for an introduction. It proved to be Bishop +O'Dee, and even in the short chat we had with him, it was easy to see +that he deserved his reputation for culture and scholarship. He has two +pet aversions, so our guide told us, as we went on together, bribery and +drunkenness. I don't imagine there is much bribery in Connaught, but I +fear the Bishop has a formidable antagonist in John Barleycorn. + +We came to the college presently--a fine Gothic building, with a good +quadrangle, and we went through its somewhat heterogeneous museum and +looked in at some of the halls. There are now about a hundred and forty +pupils, so our guide said, and the new seminary, which drew students +from all the west of Ireland, and which was just getting nicely started, +was certain to increase this number greatly. + +The National University of Ireland was established in 1908, as I +understand it, for the purpose of affording Catholic youth an +opportunity for higher education. The act provides that "no test +whatever of religious belief shall be imposed on any person as a +condition of his becoming or continuing to be a professor, lecturer, +fellow, scholar or student" of the college; nevertheless it is well +understood that its spirit and atmosphere are Catholic, and such +Protestant youth as desire higher education usually enter Trinity +College, Dublin, or Queen's College, Belfast. There are three colleges +in the National University of Ireland--University College, Dublin, which +is the parent institution, Queen's College, Cork, and Queen's College, +Galway. All of them are maintained by state grants. + +I am not quite clear as to the maintenance of the new seminary, to which +our guide next conducted us; but it is a mammoth building, with queer +squat towers, giving it an aspect quite oriental. Our guide said that +the architecture was Irish-Romanesque, but it reminded me of nothing so +much as of the pictures I had seen of the temples of ancient Syria and +Egypt. The seminary is really an intermediate school, and is planned on +a very extensive scale. Its promoters are hoping great things for it, +which I trust will come to pass. We mounted to the top of the main +tower, and looked out over the bay and the hills, and talked of America +and of Ireland, and of many other things, and then our guide asked us if +we wouldn't come and have tea with him. + +"Ah, I hope you will come," he urged, seeing that we hesitated. "When I +was in America, the welcome I got was so warm and open-hearted, that I +feel I am forever indebted to all Americans, and it is a great pleasure +to me when I am able to repay a little of that kindness. It's few +opportunities I have, and I hope you won't refuse me this one." + +So we accepted the invitation, telling him how kind we thought it, and +started back through the streets, with the women and children +courtesying to our guide as we passed, and he never failing to give them +a pleasant word. + +"'Tis not to my own quarters I'll be taking you," he explained, "but to +those of a brother priest, who will be proud to have them put to this +use," and he stopped in front of a row of little houses, called St. +Joseph's Terrace, and opened the door of one of them, and ushered us in, +and called the old servant, and bade her get us tea. + +It was served in a bare little dining-room--with bread and butter and +jam and cake--and very good it tasted, though the tea was far too strong +for us, and we had to ask for some hot water with which to weaken it. +Our host laughed at us; he drank his straight, without milk or sugar, +and he told us about the first time he ordered tea in New York. When he +started to pour it, he thought the cook had forgot to put any tea in the +pot, so he called the waiter and sent it back; and the waiter, who was +Irish and understood, laughed and took the pot back and put some more +tea in. + +"It was still far too weak," went on our host; "but I was ashamed to say +anything more, so I drank it, though I might as well have been drinking +hot water. Indeed, I got no good tea in America. And I nearly burnt my +mouth off me once, trying to eat ice-cream. I took a great spoonful, +without knowing what it would be like, and I thought it would be the +death of me. And I shall never forget the first time they served Indian +corn. It was in great long ears, such as I had never seen before; and I +had no idea how to eat it, so I said it didn't agree with me; and then I +was astonished to see the other people at the table--educated, cultured +people they were, too--pick it up in their fingers and gnaw it off just +as an animal would! Ah, that was a strange sight!" + +I do not know when I have spent a pleasanter half-hour; but he had to +bid us good-bye, at last, for he was due at some service; and he wrung +our hands and wished us Godspeed, and sprang on his bicycle and pedalled +off down the road, turning at the corner to wave his hat to us. And I am +sure his heart was light at thought of the good deed he had done that +day! + + * * * * * + +Galway possesses a tram-line, which starts at the head of Shop Street +and runs out to a suburb called Salthill; and as this happens to pass +St. Joseph's Terrace, we walked slowly on until a tram should come +along. And in a moment a woman stopped us--a woman so ragged and forlorn +and with such a tale of woe that, in spite of my dislike for beggars and +suspicion of them, I gave her sixpence; and she fairly broke down and +wept at sight of that bit of silver, and we walked on followed by her +blessings and thinking sadly of the want and misery of Ireland's people. + +We had another instance of it, before long, for after we had got on the +tram, an old man stopped it and tried to clamber aboard, but the +conductor put him off, after a short sharp altercation, and he followed +us along the sidewalk, shaking his stick and, I suppose, hurling curses +after us. The conductor explained that the old fellow had no money to +pay for a ticket, but had proposed to pay for it after he had collected +some money which was due him in Galway. This he no doubt considered an +entirely reasonable proposition, and he was justly incensed when the +conductor refused to extend the small necessary credit. + +"Them ones gave us trouble enough at first," the conductor added. "They +thought because the trams were owned by the town that they should all +ride free, and that only strangers should be made to pay. Even yet, they +think it downright savage of us to put them off just because they +haven't the price of a ticket. It costs us no more, they say, to take +them than to leave them, and so, out of kindness and charity, we ought +to take them. Och, but they're a thick-headed people!" he concluded, and +retired to the rear platform to ruminate upon the trials of his +position. + +We got down at the head of Shop Street, and Betty went on to the hotel +to rest, while I spent a pleasant half-hour wandering about the streets +and through the calf-market. There were numbers of little red calves, +cooped up in tiny pens, and groups of countrymen standing about looking +at them, their hands under their coat-tails and their faces quite +destitute of expression. At long intervals there would be a little +bargaining; which, if the would-be purchaser was in earnest, grew +sharper and sharper, sometimes ending in mutual recriminations, and +sometimes in an agreement, in which case buyer and seller struck hands +on it. Then the calf in question would be caught and his legs tied +together, and a piece of gunny-sack wrapped about him, and he would be +carried away by his new owner. Or perhaps he might be sent somewhere by +parcel-post. Calves tied up in gunny-sacks with their heads sticking out +form a considerable portion of the Irish mail--how often have I seen the +postmen lifting them on and off the cars or lugging them away to the +parcel-room! + +Betty rejoined me, after a time, and we got on the tram to ride out to +Salthill. Curiously enough, when we had climbed to the top of it, we +found sitting there the old man whom we had seen put off earlier in the +afternoon. I don't know whether he recognised us; but he at once +proceeded to relate to us the story of that misadventure, with great +warmth and in minutest detail--just as he would relate it, no doubt, to +every listener for a month to come. + +"Why, God bless ye, sir, I told the felly he should have his penny," he +explained, with the utmost earnestness. "There was a man in the town +would be owin' me eight shillin's, and he had promised to pay me this +very evenin'--but it was no use; he put me off into the road, bad cess +to him, and it was in my mind to lay my stick across his head. But he +can't put me off now," he added triumphantly, and held up his ticket for +us to see. + +And then he told us how he had five miles to walk beyond the end of the +tram-line before he would be home; but he seemed to think nothing of +having had to walk ten or twelve miles to collect his wages. Indeed, +most Irish regard such a walk as not worth thinking of; which is as +well, since many children have to walk four or five miles to school, and +men and women alike will trudge twice that distance in going from one +tiny field to another to do a bit of cultivating. Our new-found friend +seemed quite taken with us, for when the tram came to a stop, he asked +us if we wouldn't have a drink with him; and when we declined, bade us a +warm good-bye, with many kind wishes, and then shambled over to the +public-house for a last drink by himself. Twenty minutes later, we saw +him go past along the road, his face to the west, on the long walk to +his tiny home among the hills. + +Salthill is a popular summer resort, and has a picturesque beach. The +view out over Galway Bay is very beautiful, and the wide stretch of +water seems to offer a perfect harbour; but there were no ships riding +at anchor there. Time was when the people of the town fancied their bay +was to become a world-famous port because of its nearness to America, +and a steamship company was formed, and the government was persuaded to +build a great breakwater and half a mile of quays and a floating dock +five acres in extent. But the company's life was a short one, for one +of its boats sank and another burned, and the other companies all +preferred to go on to Liverpool or London or Southampton, and the docks +and quays and harbour of Galway were left deserted, save for the little +hookers of the Claddagh fishermen. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +IAR CONNAUGHT + + +WE were ready to say good-bye to Galway and to fare westward into far +Connaught, most primitive of Irish provinces; but on Sunday there is +only a single train each way, and the westbound one leaves Galway at six +in the morning. We managed to catch it, somewhat to our surprise, +crossed the Corrib River on a long bridge and viaduct, and were at once +in Iar Connaught--West Connaught, the domain of the wild O'Flaherties, +from whom the dwellers in Galway every Sunday besought the Lord to +deliver them. + +The train skirts the shore of Lough Corrib, and one has beautiful +glimpses of the lake and the hills beyond; and then it plunges into a +wild and desolate country, strewn with great glacial boulders, some of +them poised so precariously on hill-side and cliff-edge that it seems +the rattle of every passing train would bring them crashing down. + +And then we came out upon wide moors, crossed by innumerable little +streams, and then ahead of us the great Connemara mountains began to +loom against the sky--gigantic masses of grey granite, bare of +vegetation, even of the skin of turf which can find foothold almost +anywhere, but which is powerless against these masses of solid rock. The +Maamturk Mountains are the first to be seen, rugged giants two thousand +feet high, and the road mounts toward them over a pass, and then dips +rapidly to the station at Recess, which was our stopping-point. + +It was still so early that there was nobody about, and when we got to +the hotel we found it locked; but the porter hastened to open the door +in answer to our ring, and we found ourselves in one of the nicest +hotels we had encountered anywhere in Ireland. We had already made up +our minds to spend that Sunday climbing Lissoughter, a mountain just +back of the hotel, famous for the view from its top; and so, as soon as +we had disposed of our luggage and eaten a most appetising breakfast, we +inquired how to get to it. And Sheila was summoned to tell us--Sheila +with a complexion like peach-bloom, and the brightest of blue eyes, and +the fluffiest of brown hair, fit to pose as the prototype of Sweet +Peggy, or Kathleen Bawn, or Kitty Neil, or any other of the lovely girls +the Irish poets delighted to sing. Not the least of the attractions of +this hotel at Recess are the girls who work there--as bright and +blooming a lot of Irish lasses as one could wish to see--and Sheila, I +think, was the flower of them all. She told us how to go, and we set off +happily through the soft, bright air of the morning. + +Our road, at first, lay along the margin of a placid lake, then turned +off sharply to the right, and the climb began. It was an easy climb, +with beautiful views over bogs and lakes and mountains opening at every +step. There was a wet bog on either side the road, and at a place where +the peat was being cut, we walked out to take a closer look at it. And +as we stood there gazing down into the black excavation, we felt the +ground trembling beneath our feet; and when we looked up, there was a +man striding upward toward us, two hundred feet away, but at every +stride shaking the bog so that we could feel the tremor distinctly. The +bog shook more and more as he approached and passed us; and then the +tremor grew fainter and fainter as he went on his way. Unless I had felt +it, I would never have believed that the footsteps of a single man could +have created so wide a disturbance, and I understood how serious were +the difficulties the railways had to face in getting across the bogs of +central Ireland. + +Half a mile farther on, we came to a cluster of little cabins clinging +to the hillside, and we paused to ask the way of a man who was pottering +about them; and, after a moment, we found that we were talking to Mr. +Rafferty, who with his brother, both bachelors, own the only quarry in +the world which produces Connemara marble; and when he offered to show +it to us, you may well believe we assented. + +From the very first moment, I had perceived an air about Mr. Rafferty +which puzzled me. He was undoubtedly Irish, and yet his manner of +speaking was not precisely the Irish manner I had grown accustomed to; +his intonation was not precisely the Irish intonation, his choice of +words and acquaintance with slang was surprisingly wide for a man born +and reared in Connemara, and there was a certain alertness about him +which was not Irish at all. And then, when he started to tell us his +story, I understood, for he had been born in New York and spent the +first fifteen or twenty years of his life there. Not until then did I +realise in how many subtle, scarcely recognisable ways does the American +Irishman differ from the Irish Irishman. + +His father was a Connemara man who had gone to America in the decade +following the great famine and settled in New York, where the son who +was talking to us was born. The father had come back to Connemara, +again, for some reason, and had settled at Recess, and, by mere +accident, one day discovered the vein of marble high on the side of +Lissoughter. There was no railroad in the valley then, and nobody +supposed the vein would ever be of any value, so he managed to get +control of it, and his sons came back from America to help him work it. +Its development was very slow and difficult, for the only way of getting +the marble to market was to haul it along the mountain roads to Galway, +forty miles distant. + +But since the coming of the railroad, all that is changed. Some +primitive machinery has been installed, larger blocks can be handled, +and already more than one office building in New York has its vestibule +embellished with the beautiful green stone. Even the fragments are +carefully saved and worked up into small ornaments and novelties to sell +to tourists--round towers and Celtic crosses and such things. + +We were at the entrance to the quarry by this time, and he took us +through and explained its workings to us. It is a surface vein, as you +will see from the photograph opposite page 322, which I took next day, +and no one knows its depth or its extent. Enough has been uncovered to +last for many years, at the present rate of quarrying. Of course if it +was in America, a great company would be formed to exploit it, and +modern machinery installed, and it would be yanked out by the thousands +of tons a day; but since it is in Ireland, I doubt if the rate of +production will ever be largely increased. + +We bade Mr. Rafferty good-bye at last, and took up the climb again +toward the summit of the mountain which loomed before us; up and up, +with the view opening more and more. Away at the bottom of the valley +ran the white ribbon of a road, with a cluster of thatched roofs huddled +near it, here and there; and beyond the valley towered the granite sides +of the Twelve Pins of Bunnabeola, the loftiest and most picturesque +mountains in these western highlands. + +We came to a cabin, presently, away up there by itself on the mountain +side, and we stopped long enough to leave the specimens of marble which +Mr. Rafferty had given us, for they threatened to become embarrassingly +heavy before the climb was ended. The family who lived there came out to +show us the best way up the hill, and stood watching us as we climbed +on. The path for a time lay along the bottom of a brook; then we came +out upon the bare hillside, with an outcrop of granite here and there +and dripping bog between, and no living thing in sight except agile, +black-faced sheep, who peered down at us curiously from every crag. The +way grew steeper and steeper and the stretches of bog more wet and +treacherous; but always the view was more magnificent, especially to the +west, where the Twelve Pins were, and to the south, where the plain +stretched away, gleaming with innumerable little lakes. I never saw so +many lakes at one time as I saw that day--there must have been two or +three hundred of them between us and the far horizon, each of them +gleaming in the sun like a polished mirror. + +After an hour of this steep and slippery work, Betty declared that she +had had enough; but the last grey escarpment of the mountain loomed just +over our heads, and I hated to give up with the goal so near. She said +she would wait for me while I went up alone, so, leaving her cosily +seated in a niche in the cliff, I scrambled on, along the granite wall, +on hands and knees sometimes; and at last I came out upon the very +summit, with one of the most beautiful views in all Ireland at my feet. + +Lissoughter stands exactly at the end of a great transverse valley, with +the Maamturk Mountains on one side and the Twelve Pins on the other, and +at the bottom of this valley gleam the waters of Inagh and Derryclare; +and the granite hills stretch away as far as the eye can see, one behind +the other, rugged and bleak, without a sign of vegetation--far more +impressive than the green-clad hills about Killarney. The day was +gloriously clear, and I sat there for a long time, gazing first this way +and then that, and I can shut my eyes now and see again that glorious +landscape. The top of Lissoughter is a ring of granite, with a bog in +the depression in the centre; and on the highest point of this ring some +one had heaped up a little cairn of stones. Feeling something like Peary +at the north pole, I tore a leaf from my note-book, wrote my name and +address upon it, with greetings to the next comer, and placed it under +the topmost stone of this cairn. I did not suppose that it would ever be +discovered, but when I got home, I found a postal awaiting me from an +Irish girl, who had climbed Lissoughter with a party a week later, and +found my note where I had left it. + +When we got down again to the cottage where we had left our marble, we +found the man of the house out in front, and stopped for a chat with +him. Yes, it was a fine day; very wet it had been, but a few more such +days as this would do the potatoes a world of good, and one could get +into the bogs again to cut the winter fuel. As we talked, children +gathered from various directions, until there were ten standing about +staring at us, and Betty asked him if they were the neighbours' +children. + +"They are not, miss," he answered, grinning. "They're all mine." + +"All yours!" echoed Betty, and counted them again. + +The man turned to the eldest girl. + +"Mary Agnes, go bring the baby," he said; and Mary Agnes disappeared +indoors, and came out presently with number eleven. + +How they manage to live I don't know; but they do live, and, so far at +least as the children are concerned, even grow fat. Their bright eyes +and red cheeks spoke of anything but undernourishment, and it must take +a large pot to hold enough to satisfy that family! How the pot is filled +is the mystery. + +Their home was typical of Connaught--and of the poorer part of all +Ireland, indeed: a low cabin, built of stones and whitewashed, with two +rooms, a dirt floor, a few pieces of rude furniture, a pile of straw and +rags for a bed, and hardly enough clothes to go around. In fact, below +the age of ten or twelve, it was impossible to tell the boys from the +girls, for they were all dressed alike in a single garment, a sort of +shift made of homespun flannel, and usually, I judge, cut out of the +mother's old red petticoats; and boys and girls alike have their hair +cropped close. All through Connemara we saw this fashion--a single +rudely-made garment of wool, worn by the children of both sexes all the +year round, without undergarment of any kind, without shoes or +stockings. The flannel the garments are made of is practically +indestructible, and I fancy they are taken off only when outgrown and +passed on to the next youngest member of the family. When a boy outgrows +it and is privileged to put on trousers, it is a proud day for him, for +he ceases to be a mere petticoated "malrach" and becomes a "gossure." + +Mary Agnes, the oldest member of this particular family, was a girl of +sixteen, who was soon to leave for America to try her fortune; I don't +know by what miracles of self-denial the money for her passage had been +scraped together! She was an ugly girl, with bad teeth and stupid +expression, and I am afraid she will find life no bed of roses, even +here in America. The rest of the children went to school; and the +nearest schoolhouse was five Irish miles away! + +We went on at last, down past the other cabins, which are occupied by +the men employed in the quarry. They were all faithful replicas of the +one I have described, and they were all swarming with children. I never +ceased to be astonished at these children, for though they were dirty +and half-naked, they all seemed plump and healthy. Potatoes, I suppose, +is the main article of their diet, for every cabin had its deep-trenched +patch, won by back-breaking toil from the rocks of the hillside. That +leisurely walk down into the green valley is unforgettable, the day was +so bright, the air so fresh and sweet, the view so lovely. + +[Illustration: THE CONNEMARA MARBLE QUARRY] + +[Illustration: A CONNEMARA HOME] + +We spent the remainder of the afternoon playing clock golf, and +exploring the beautiful garden attached to the hotel; and that night we +sat in front of a great open fire-place where a wood fire crackled, and +luxuriated in the pleasant fatigue of a well-spent day. If I had known +as much then as I do now, we would have spent other evenings there, for +Recess is as good a point as any from which to explore Connaught, and +the hotel there is immeasurably superior to any other in that section of +Ireland--clean and bright and comfortable and well-managed, with food +that was a pleasant variant from the unimaginative dishes we had grown +so weary of. It has been built by the railroad company to encourage +tourist traffic, and I don't see how it can pay; but, for the sake of +travellers in that part of Ireland, I hope it will never be closed. + +I said something of this, that evening, to the manager and to Sheila; +and added to the latter that if she would tell me the secret of her +complexion, I would make a fortune for both of us. + +"'Tis just the air," she laughed. "Send your lady friends out here to +us, and we'll soon have them blooming like roses." + +So there is another reason for a stay at Recess. + + * * * * * + +I clambered back up to the quarry, next morning, for I wanted some +pictures of it, and of the quaint cabins along the way. I found Mr. +Rafferty there, and a gang of men busy loading some blocks of marble +upon a cart, preparatory to taking them down the mountain. Just back of +the quarry, two red-skirted women were digging in a potato patch, and +they looked so picturesque and Millet-like that I asked them if I might +take their picture. They held a quick consultation, and then said I +might provided I paid them two shillings first! + +But I _did_ want a picture of one of those poor little mountain cabins, +and on my way back, I saw a woman standing at the door of one of them, +and she passed the time of day so amiably that I stopped to talk. The +year had been very hard, she said--as what year is not, in such a +place!--and her husband was even then at Oughterard, trying to find +work. Meanwhile, she was left with the children, to do the best she +could, and what they found to live on I don't know; but she was glad for +me to take a picture of her little place, with herself and the children +and the dog standing in front of it, and I am sure the coin I slipped +into the baby's fist was very welcome. That picture is opposite page +322, and it gives a better idea than any mere description could of these +damp, dark, comfortless mountain homes, with their low walls, and tiny +windows, and leaky, grass-grown thatch, tied on with ropes. Both the +boys in the picture wear the red flannel garment common to all Connemara +children. The girl has just outgrown it. + +Farther on, I came upon a woman and her daughter, a girl of about +sixteen, working in a potato patch; and the girl was really pretty, +although at the moment she was engaged in spreading manure with her +hands about the roots of the plants. Her skirt was kilted high, +revealing her graceful and rounded legs, and when she smiled her teeth +were very white. That was the finishing touch, for teeth are bad in +Ireland, and most pretty girls need only smile to disillusion one. So, +after some talk about the weather, and about America, I asked the mother +if I might not take the girl's picture; and the girl was willing enough, +for she hastily let down her skirt, blushing with pleasure; but her +mother shook her head. + +"You are not the first one to be askin' that," she said; "but I have +said no to all of them, for I would not have her growing vain." + +"She has a right to be vain," I pointed out, "for she is very pretty; +and it wouldn't hurt her to have her picture taken." + +"Handsome is as handsome does," said her mother; "and she is not as good +as she looks." + +No doubt with a little more blarney I could have won her consent; but in +my heart of hearts I knew she was right, and I didn't try to persuade +her. It was not the first time I realised I was not cut out for a +photographer! She said the girl would be going to America before long, +and I advised her to take care of her teeth, and bade them good-bye and +went on my way. I have regretted since that I didn't try the blarney, +for that picture would certainly have embellished the pages of this +book! + +I had thought that the fine weather would bring out the turf cutters in +force, and I had hoped to get a picture of them at work; but the +cuttings were all empty, for some reason, and at last, after a final +long look at the beautiful valley, I made my way back to the hotel, and +an hour later we were faring westward toward Clifden. + +The road ran for many miles with the granite masses of the Twelve Pins +towering on the right, springing sheer two thousand feet from the bogs +around them--great cones rising one behind the other, their summits +gleaming so white in the sun that they seemed crowned with snow. We ran +away from them, at last, across a dreary moor, down to the sea, and so +to Clifden. + +Clifden is a little modern town with a single wide street overlooking +the bay; but we had time for only a glance at it, for the motor-bus was +waiting which was to take us to Leenane,--which is pronounced to rhyme +with "fan," as though it had no final "e"--and we were soon climbing out +of the town, with a beautiful view of the bay to the left, and on a +cliff close to the shore the great masts of the Marconi station, which +is in touch with the coast of Newfoundland. No contrast could have been +more complete--this latest and greatest of the achievements of science, +set down in a country where nothing has altered for five centuries; a +country to which the description penned by Rory O'Flaherty, more than a +century before our Revolution, applies as closely and completely as it +did when it was written. Another contrast, just as great, is that +between the handsome young Italian who set those masts here and the men +who live in the little cottages along the sea under them. And yet +Marconi himself is half Irish--for his mother was Irish, and he has +married an Irish girl; and I fancy he is glad that one of the greatest +of his stations should be here on the Irish coast. + +We mounted steadily along a winding road, and at every turn the scenery +grew more superb--great sweeps of rugged landscape, of bog and rocky +field and granite mountain, rousing the soul like a blare of martial +music. Beyond Letterfrank, the road dips into the lovely Pass of +Kylemore; and again, as back at Glengarriff, it was bordered with +fuchsia hedges, gay with scarlet flowers. And presently we were running +close beside Kylemore Lake, with the white towers of the castle gleaming +above the trees on the other side--a magnificent structure, now owned by +the Duke of Manchester--financed by his Cincinnati father-in-law! + +And then we came out upon a wide moor, and the road climbed up and +up--and all at once, we came to the top of the pass, and there, far +below us lay Killary Bay, a narrow arm of the Atlantic running back into +the very heart of the Connemara mountains, which press upon it so +closely that there is barely room for the road between rock and water. +We dropped down toward it, passed a tiny mountain village, came out upon +the shore, and sped along at the very edge of the water, until, far +ahead, we saw the cluster of houses which is Leenane; and in another +moment we had stopped before the rambling building which is McKeown's +Hotel. + +McKeown himself is a bearded giant of a man, with bronzed face and the +sunniest of smiles, and his hotel is a sort of paradise for fishermen. +To others it is not so attractive; but in surroundings it could hardly +be surpassed. Right at its door stretches Killary Bay; back of it tower +the steep hills, and across the inlet grey and purple giants spring two +thousand feet into the air, right up from the water's edge. + +A few looms have been set up by Mr. McKeown in a building adjoining the +hotel, and tweeds are woven there from yarn spun in the neighbourhood, +forming a small industry which gives employment to a number of persons; +and a few yards farther down the road is a station of the constabulary, +and it looked so bright and inviting that I stopped in for a chat with +the men. + +I have already spoken of the Royal Irish Constabulary--the force which +polices the country; slim, soldierly men, governed from Dublin Castle, +and really constituting an army, eleven thousand strong, armed with +carbines, sword bayonets and revolvers, and ready to be concentrated +instantly wherever there is trouble. They are nearly all Irishmen, so it +is not a foreign army, but they are seldom assigned to the districts +where they were born and reared; and the men who command them from +Dublin Castle are English army officers, who are in no way responsible +to the public. All, in fact, that Ireland has to do with the Royal Irish +Constabulary is to foot the bills. + +Because of this fact, because in the old days they were called out to +assist at every eviction and at every political or religious arrest, +because their services are still required at every trial and +mass-meeting and fair and market, and finally because their demeanour is +sometimes rather top-lofty, the Irish generally regard them with a +suspicion and dislike which seem to me undeserved. So far as I came into +contact with them, I found them courteous and kindly men, and apparently +as good Irishmen as any one could desire. But there is one cause for +complaint which has a real basis, and that is that, in a country which +is as free of crime as Ireland now is, a police force should be +maintained which averages one to every 394 of the population, and which +costs annually about $7,500,000. In the old days of evictions and +coercion acts and political and religious strife, some such force may +have been necessary; but that need has passed. Crime is to-day much less +frequent and serious in Ireland than in England, yet in Ireland the per +capita cost of the police is $1.64, while in England it is only +fifty-six cents. + +But the members of the constabulary are not to blame for this, and one +grows accustomed to seeing them everywhere--at the Dublin crossings, at +the street corners of every little village, walking briskly in pairs +along the loneliest of mountain roads, stationed in the wilds of the +hills or amid the desolation of the bogs, often with no house in sight +except the barrack in which they live. + +I certainly got a warm welcome, that day, from the sergeant in charge of +the Leenane barrack, and from the one constable who happened to be on +duty there. They showed me all through the place, clean and bare and +Spartan-like, with their kits along the wall, ready to be caught up at a +moment's notice, for a call to duty may come at any time, and there must +be no delay. It was a real barrack, too, with heavy bars across the +windows, and a door that would resist any mob. + +And then they showed me their equipment. To the belt which they all wear +a leather case is suspended for the baton, and a square leather pouch +which contains a pair of handcuffs. At the back is the ammunition pouch, +and on the side opposite the baton hangs the sword-bayonet, which can +also be used as a knife or dagger. The small carbine they carry weighs +only six and a half pounds, but is wonderfully compact and efficient, +with a six-shot magazine, and a graduated sight up to two thousand +yards. No man in this station had ever had occasion to use his rifle, +and they all said earnestly that they hoped they never would. + +They have a beat of twelve miles along the mountain roads, and they +cover it twice every day and once every night. I asked them the reason +for so much vigilance, for I could not imagine any serious crime back in +these hills among this simple and kindly people; and they said that +there was really very little crime; but a sheep would be missing now and +then, or a bit of poaching would be done, or perhaps a quarrel would +arise between some farmer and his labourers and a horse would be +lamed--it was such things as those they had to be on the lookout for. +The position of constable is a good one--for Ireland; and I imagine that +most of those who enter the service stay in it till retired, for it +carries an increase of pay every five years, with a pension after +twenty-five years' service, or in case of disability. + +We sat and talked for a long time about America and Ireland, and +intelligent fellows I found them, though perhaps with a little of the +soldier's contempt for the shiftless civilian. And then I walked on to +the village which nestles at the head of the bay, a single street of +slated houses. Everybody wanted to talk, and I remember one old granny, +with face incredibly wrinkled, who sat in front of her door knitting a +stocking without once glancing at it, and who told me she was +eighty-five and had nine children in America. And I met the girl who, +with her brother, teaches the village school, and she asked me if I +wouldn't come in, before I left, and see the school, and I promised her +I would. + +Then I noticed that one of the little shops had the name "Gaynor" over +the door, and I stopped in to ask the proprietor if he knew that was +also the name of the mayor of New York. He did--indeed, he knew as much +about Mayor Gaynor as I did. There were two other men sitting there, and +they asked me to sit down. One of them was a mail carrier, and he told +me something of his trips back up into the hills, and how almost all the +letters he delivered were from America, each with a bit of money in it. + +"When there is bad times in America," he went on, "and when men are out +of work there, it pinches us here just as hard as it pinches them +there--harder, maybe, for if the money don't come, there is nothing for +it but the work-house. A man can't make a living on these poor hill +farms, no matter how hard he tries, and there is no work to be had about +here, save a little car driving and such like in the summer for visitors +like yourself." + +"Why do they stay here?" I asked. "Why don't they go away?" + +"Where would they go? There's no place for them to go in +Ireland--America is the only place, and every one that can raise the +money does go there, you may be sure. Them that's left behind are too +poor or too old to cross the sea; and then, however bad it is, there is +some that will not leave the little home they was born in, so long as +they can stay there and keep the soul in their body. There be some so +wrongheaded that they won't even move down into the valley farms which +they might be getting from the Congested Districts Board." + + * * * * * + +I have been fighting shy of the Congested Districts Board ever since I +left Cork; but here, in the very heart of the worst of the congested +districts, I may as well explain what the words mean. + +No one, travelling from Galway to Clifden and then on to Leenane, as we +had done, would have thought of the district as "congested," for, while +the little huddles of thatched roofs which mark a village are fairly +frequent, they are scarcely noticeable in the great stretches of hill +and bog and rocky meadow among which they nestle. And, indeed, +"congested," in this sense, does not mean crowded with people; it means +exceptionally poor; and there is no district of Ireland poorer than +Connaught, that land of bog and granite, where every inch of ground must +be either elaborately drained or wrested from the rock, and where, even +after years of labour, the fields are still either so wet that a little +extra rain ruins them, or so full of stones that the reaping must be +done with the hook. In Connaught, even the poorest man has a right to be +proud of his home, because, however small and mean it may be, it +represents infinite toil. + +But how does it come that any one lives in these hills, where life is +such a constant and heartrending struggle? The answer is that Connaught +is the Irish pale. After Cromwell had subdued Ireland, the Puritan +Parliament announced that it was "Not their intention to extirpate the +whole nation," as many people had been led, not unreasonably, to +believe; and a year later, they proved their humanitarian intentions by +enacting that such Irish as survived should be permitted to live +thereafter between the Atlantic and the Shannon, certain portions of +which were set aside, as the Parliament said in unintentional rhyme, + + "For the habitation + of the Irish nation." + +It was stipulated, however, that they should not settle within four +miles of the sea, within four miles of a town, nor within two miles of +the Shannon; they were given until the first of May, 1654, to get into +their new homes, after which date, any found outside of Connaught were +to be treated as outlaws and killed out of hand. The misery and +sufferings of the little bands of terror-stricken people, wandering in +the depth of winter westward along unknown roads to an unknown, +inhospitable country, will not bear thinking of--or, thinking of it, one +can understand something of Irish hate for Cromwell's memory. As a +matter of fact, the edict sounds worse than it was, as such edicts +usually do, for it was impossible for it to be literally carried out. +All the Irish were not banished to Connaught, for many of them preferred +to face death where they had always lived rather than among the +Connemara hills; and they were not murdered out of hand, but given work, +for the new landlords were glad to employ them at menial labour, since +no other labourers were to be had. But from that time on, it was usually +the Protestant Englishman who lived in the mansion house, and the Irish +Catholic whose home was roofed with thatch and floored with dirt. + +Let us be careful not to grow sentimental over the wrongs of Ireland, +nor to magnify them. They are not unique, for they have been paralleled +many times in history. We should be careful, too, not to judge a +seventeenth-century Parliament by twentieth-century ideals. There is +this to be said for it: that its only hope of existence lay in stamping +out rebellion, and the only way, apparently, to stamp out rebellion in +Ireland was to kill the rebels. That the Parliament chose to banish them +rather than kill them is so much to its credit, and I doubt not that, +after the vote had been taken, many of those old Puritans went home with +the feeling that they had done a merciful and Christian deed. Nor should +we forget that the wars of religion were as bitter on one side as on the +other: St. Bartholomew was far more bloody than Drogheda, and the +removal of the Irish to Connaught was matched by the banishment of the +Huguenots from France, thirty years later. It did not seem possible, in +that day, that Protestant and Catholic could ever live side by side in +peace and friendship, and that narrow bigotry alone would strive to keep +alive the memory of those mistaken, centuries-old feuds and +persecutions. + +The best portions of Connaught were already fully settled, as the +fugitive Irish found when they got there; furthermore, although the +broad Shannon formed a natural moat which would hold safely the Irish +who had crossed it, it was further strengthened by giving to Cromwell's +soldiers all the broad belt of fertile land along the river, as well as +the rich valleys running back into the hills. All that was left for the +newcomers were the bleak moors and rocky mountain-sides, where no one +else would live; and since these, for the most part, were quite unfit to +be cultivated, there was every reason to believe that the people +condemned to live among them would soon cease from troubling. + +But they didn't--at least, all of them didn't. They built rude shelters +of rock for their families, and the cabins one sees to-day throughout +Connemara are the direct descendants of those early ones, with scarcely +an altered feature. They set to work to reclaim the hillsides, and +though, every year, the spade turned up a new crop of stones, the fields +slowly grew capable of producing a little food. Before that time, of +course, many of the people had starved, but those that were left were +all the better off, and it looked, for a while, as though they might +some day be able to open the door without seeing the wolf there. + +But the end was not yet. It should be remembered that these mountain +farms did not belong to the people who had created them, and who +laboured constantly to improve them, but were part of the "plantation" +of some court favourite or adventurer, so that rent must be paid for +them; and as the farm improved the rent was raised, although the +improvement resulted from the labour of the man who paid the rent, so +that, in the end, it was not the tenant who was richer, but the +landlord. If the rent was raised to a point where the tenant couldn't +pay it, or if the landlord wanted the land, the tenant was evicted with +absolutely no compensation for the improvements he had made. Then it was +a question either of going to America, or, if there wasn't money enough +for that, as was usually the case, of taking up some other stretch of +rocky hillside, and beginning the weary struggle all over again. The +craze for grazing, which started some forty or fifty years ago, resulted +in the eviction of many thousands from farms their own industry had +made, and to-day, as one drives through Connaught, one sees great +stretches of land given over to sheep which were once part of such +farms, and one can tell it is so by the faint ridges which mark the old +tillage. + +So evolution proceeded, but for the Irish peasantry it was devolution, +for every step was a step downward; and millions of them left the land +in despair, and millions of those that remained were unable to make +enough to live on; and the workhouses kept getting bigger and bigger, +and the people poorer and poorer; until finally, a few English +statesmen, with a somewhat broader outlook than the average, saw that +something had to be done, and set about doing it. There is no need for +me to enumerate the steps that were taken--some of them wise, many of +them foolish; but the greatest of all was the enactment of legislation +permitting and assisting tenants to become the owners of the land on +which they lived. + +This was in 1891, when the Congested Districts Board was established, +with wide powers, which have since been made wider still; but the kernel +of it all is this: in the west of Ireland, where the need is greatest, +the board has power to condemn and purchase at a fair valuation the +fertile land of the great land-owners, except the demesne, which is the +park about the mansion house, and can then re-sell this land to small +farmers, giving them about sixty years to pay for it, the payments being +figured on the basis of the cost price, plus interest at the rate of +four per cent. Such condemnation and re-selling is necessarily slow, but +it is going steadily forward, and must in the end, change the whole face +of western Ireland. Indeed, there are some who think it has already done +so. + +The Congested Districts Board has done much more than buy and re-sell +land; it has aided and developed agriculture, improved the breeding of +stock, encouraged the establishment of industries, developed the +fisheries along the western coast, established technical schools--in +short, it has assumed a sort of paternal oversight of the districts +committed to its care. + +All of the "congested districts" aren't in the west of Ireland--there +are districts in the east and south where the holdings are +"uneconomic"--that is, where the income possible to be derived from them +is not enough to support a family--sometimes not enough even to pay the +rent. But conditions are worst in Connaught, and remain worst, in spite +of the work of the board. It is here that life has sunk to its lowest +terms, where the usual home is a hovel unfit for habitation, sheltering +not only the family, but the chickens and the pigs and the donkey; it is +here that manure is piled habitually just outside the door, and where +fearful epidemics sweep the countryside. At the time we were at Leenane, +there was an outbreak of typhus a few miles back in the mountains. It +had been announced with hysterical scare-heads by the Dublin papers, but +the people of the neighbourhood thought little of it--they had seen +typhus so often! + +Which brings me back to Gaynor's general store, and the mail-carrier who +was telling me about the letters from America. + +"Yes," Gaynor put in, "and about the only letters that go out from here +are for America--and well I know what is inside them! There was a time +when I sold stamps to the poor people, or gave credit to them when they +couldn't pay, and the only stamps I ever thought of buying was the +tuppence-ha'penny ones, which we used to have to put on American +letters. And many is the letter I have written for poor starving people +praying for a little help from the son or daughter who had gone to the +States, and who was maybe forgetting how hard life is back here in +Connaught." + +"Not many of them do be forgetting," said the mail-carrier, puffing his +pipe slowly; "I will say that for them. There be many away from here +now," he went on, "just for the summer--gone to England or Scotland to +help with the harvest. It is a hard life, but they make eighteen +shillings a week there, and the money they bring back with them will +help many a family through the winter. There be thousands and thousands +here in Connaught who could not live but for the money they make every +year in this way." + +He stopped to watch Gaynor weigh out a shilling's worth of +flour--American flour!--for a girl who had come in with a dingy basket, +into which the flour was dumped; and then he went on to tell me +something about his trips up over the hills--for no house in Ireland is +too poor or too remote for the mail-carrier to reach. Talk about rural +delivery! With us, a man must have his mail-box down by the highroad, +where the carrier can reach it easily; in Ireland, the carrier climbs +to every man's very door, and puts the letter into his hand--and I can +imagine the joy that it brings. Irish mail-carriers play Santa Claus all +the year round! + +I tore myself away, at last, from this absorbing conversation, and +started back to the hotel. The sun had not yet set; but suddenly the +thought came to me that it must be very late, and I snatched out my +watch and looked at it. It was half-past eight--an hour after the +hotel's dinner time! However, in a fishing hotel, they are accustomed to +the vagaries of their guests; and I found that dinner had been kept hot +for me. + + * * * * * + +An hour later, as we sat on the balcony in front of our room, gazing out +across the moonlit water, we heard the tread of quick feet along the +road, and, looking down, saw pass two constables, starting out upon +their night patrol. And whenever I think of Leenane, I see those two +slim, erect figures marching vigorously away into the darkness along the +lonely road. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +JOYCE'S COUNTRY + + +TWENTY-FIVE miles away to the eastward from Leenane, across a wild +stretch of hill and bog known as Joyce's Country, are the ruins of the +old abbey of Cong, and thither we set out, next morning, behind a little +black mare who would need all her staying powers for the trip that day, +and on a car driven, as was fitting, by a man named Joyce--as perhaps +half the men are who live in this neighbourhood. "Jyce" is the local +pronunciation; and the Joyces are one of the handsomest and fiercest +breeds of mountaineers to be met with anywhere--fit companions for those +of Kentucky and Tennessee. + +The original Joyces were Welshmen, so it is said, who came to Ireland +about 1300, and, with the permission of the all-powerful O'Flaherties, +settled in this country between Lough Mask and the sea. Why they should +have chosen so inhospitable a region I don't know--perhaps because no +one else wanted it. Certainly the O'Flaherties didn't; for they +preferred to live along the sea, where fish was plentiful. But the +Joyces were an agricultural people; they turned as much of the hillside +as they could into arable land, cultivated with the spade to this day +and reaped with the hook. On the rest of it, they grazed their flocks, +and they still graze them there. + +It was a beautiful, warm day, with fleecy clouds in the sky and a blue +haze about the hills, and everybody was out enjoying the sunshine as we +drove through the village and turned up along the shoulder of the +Devil's Mother Mountain. The fine weather had brought the men and women +out to work in the potato fields--such of the men, that is, as hadn't +yet left for England or Scotland to spend the summer in the fields +there. Usually there were five or six women to one man, each of them +armed with a spade or a fork, and it was pitiful to see the poor little +patches in which they were working. Almost always they were on a steep +hillside--there isn't much else but hillside hereabouts which can be +cultivated, for even where there happens to be a little level land in +the valley, it is almost always wet bog in which nothing can be grown. +The patches were very, very small, and each of them was surrounded by a +high wall built of the stones which had been dug from the ground; and at +the bottom of every slope was a pile of surplus stones which had been +rolled there out of the way. + +The potatoes were planted in drills about two feet wide, and then +between the drills a deep trench was dug to carry off the water, for +even on the hillsides the ground is very wet; and these trenches must be +kept clear of weeds so that the water will run off freely, and of course +the drills must be kept clear of weeds too; and the ground is so poor +that manure must be freely used, and the only way to get it where it is +needed is to place it there by hand. And almost every time the spade is +driven into the ground, it brings up more stones which must be carried +away, until it sometimes becomes quite a problem what to do with them. + +As many as possible are built into the fences; and the dominant feature +of every Connemara landscape is the zig-zag tapestry of stone walls +which covers it. They run in every direction--up the sides of hills so +steep that it seems a miracle they don't slide off, around fields so +small that the ground can't be seen above the fence, along the tops of +high ridges where they form grotesque patterns against the sky which +shines through every chink, in places where there seems to be no need +whatever for a wall and yet to which the stones have been carried with +prodigious labour. + +But do not suppose that, even with all this toil, the fields are cleared +of stones. Everywhere there are outcroppings of solid rock which the +tiller of the field has been unable to dislodge, and around which he +must sow and reap. In consequence, there are practically no fields in +which it would be possible to drive a plow, and few indeed in which it +is possible to swing a scythe. The fields themselves are so small that +one wonders anybody should trouble to cultivate them at all. I have seen +scores and scores not more than fifty feet square, each surrounded with +its high wall; I have seen many less than that, with just space enough +for a two-roomed hovel, where the family must take the stock into the +house with them, because there is no place for an out-building, and +where the manure must be heaped against the wall, because to throw it a +foot away would be to put it on land belonging to some one else. The +land which the family itself cultivated might lie in twenty different +places, miles away. + +This complication, which is unparalleled elsewhere in the world, arose +in this way: Half a century ago a man would lease some acres of ground +and by terrific labour convert it into tillable land. As his sons grew +up and his daughters married, he would sub-let to each of his sons and +sons-in-law small portions of his holding, and their other relatives +would do the same, so that, while each of them might be the tenant of +four or five acres, they would be scattered in a dozen different places. +A second generation further complicated things. An acre field would be +split up between ten different tenants, each with his stone wall around +his portion; and one of the biggest jobs the Congested Districts Board +has had to tackle is that of so redistributing the land that each tenant +shall have a compact portion. + +Imagine the small farmers of any neighbourhood called together for the +purpose of redistribution, each of them suspicious and jealous of all +the others, each of them believing that his scattered bits of land are +quite exceptionally valuable, each of them remembering the bitter labour +by which he reclaimed each rood; and then imagine the patience and tact +which are needed to convince them that they are not being cheated, and +to persuade them to agree to the proposed re-allotment. Talk about the +labours of Hercules! Why they were child's play compared with this! + + * * * * * + +We drove on, that morning, down a wide valley, past these tiny walled +fields and thatched houses, now and then passing one of the neat little +slated cottages which the County Council builds where it can, but which +are distressingly few and far between; and then we came out into the +grazing country, with stone walls running right up the thousand-foot +hillsides to the very top, and the white sheep dotted over the green +turf; and then we turned off along a side-road, which speedily mounted +through a narrow pass, across a wide bog, and so to the head of a deep +gorge where, far below us, stretched the blue waters of Lough Nafooey, +lying in a deep cup of granite mountains. + +I have never seen a steeper road than that which zig-zags down into this +valley, and I was very glad indeed to get off and walk, not only because +of the steepness, but also because on foot I could stop whenever I chose +and look at the beautiful scene below--the long, narrow lake, crowded in +on the south by steep, bare mountains, and with a white ribbon of road +running along its northern edge, past a cluster of houses built close +beside it, and with the furrowed fields behind them mounting steeply +upwards. The whole village was out at work in the fields, and the red +petticoats of the women gave the scene just that added touch of colour +it needed. + +The mountains on the southern shore grew less rugged presently, and as +soon as the ground grew level enough for tillage, it presented such a +complicated pattern of stone walls as must be unique, even here in this +bewalled district. For more than a mile we drove along opposite them; +and then we reached the end of the lake, and struck off along another +valley toward Lough Mask. We were soon on another desolate moor, dotted +with the black stumps of bog oak; and then the road sank into a pass, as +the hills closed in on either side, and skirted a dancing brook, and +then before us opened the lower part of Lough Mask. + +[Illustration: IN "JOYCE'S COUNTRY"] + +[Illustration: ON THE SHORE OF LOUGH MASK] + +I have said that these Irish mountaineers are fierce, and I must explain +now what I meant by that, for a kindlier people, one more eager to bid +you welcome or help you on your way, you will find nowhere. The same is +true of the Kentucky mountaineers; and yet they do not hesitate to put a +bullet through any man they regard as an enemy. So with the Joyces and +the O'Malleys. It was here among these hills that the "Invincibles" and +the "Moonlighters" ranged in the days of the Land League; their notions +of right and wrong were, and still are, the old primitive ones. They +believe in the Mosaic law of an eye for an eye; murder after murder has +been done here, and no one disapproved; and yet a man with a purse +filled with gold, or a woman with no protection save her chastity, might +walk these roads unharmed and unafraid on the darkest night. + +Just before one reaches the bridge over the narrow stream through which +the upper lake flows into the lower, the road passes close to a cluster +of houses, and it was in one of them that two bailiffs of Lord Ardilaun +were beaten to death, and their bodies placed in sacks weighted with +stones; and then they were carried down to the lake, and every one along +the road was made to lend a hand to carrying them. That was but one +tragedy of many such--outbreaks of the feud which started six centuries +ago, and which only within the past decade has shown any sign of being +outlived and forgotten. + +I do not know when I have been more impressed and astonished than when I +stood on the bridge over the river below Lough Mask, and gazed out upon +that noble sheet of water, stretching away to the north like an +inland sea. It was dotted with beautiful islands, but no farther shore +was visible, not even when we mounted a bold crag overhanging the water +in order to get a wider view. We went on again, with the lake at our +left, and then the road turned away between high stone walls--only these +walls were solidly built of dressed stones laid in mortar, and were +surmounted with broken glass set in cement. There was a gate here and +there, through which we could catch glimpses of wild and unkempt woods, +a-riot with a luxuriant vegetation bearing witness to the richness of +the soil. + +The wall must have been ten feet high, and after we had gone on for half +an hour with no sign of it coming to an end, we asked the driver what it +was, and he told us that it was the wall surrounding part of the estate +of Lord Ardilaun, which stretches clear on to Cong, a distance of six or +eight miles--the very choicest land of the whole district. Some of it is +let to tenants, so our driver said, at rents which are almost +prohibitive; but the most part is walled in, with many notices against +trespassing posted about it--a preserve for woodcock. + +We dropped through the little town of Rosshill, once the seat of the +Earl of Leitrim (but now owned by Lord Ardilaun), and then into Clonbur +(also owned by Lord Ardilaun), where the wall stopped for a while to +make room for the houses, but began again as soon as the village ended; +and then we passed a curious collection of cairns on a plateau at the +side of the road, some of them surmounted by weather-blackened wooden +crosses; and then on a hill to the right we saw another great cairn; +and then we suddenly realised that we were on the battlefield of +Moytura, which raged for five days over this peninsula between Lough +Corrib and Lough Mask, so long ago that nobody knows exactly when it +was, though it has been roughly dated at two thousand years before +Christ. + +The contestants in that battle were the Firbolgs, the men of the +leathern wallets, who had come from the south to Ireland five days +before the flood, and the De Dananns, a tall, fair, blue-eyed race of +magicians from the north, who had "settled on the Connemara mountains in +the likeness of a blue mist." The De Dananns were the victors, and the +cairns we saw that day were the monuments they raised over the burial +places of their dead warriors. + +There was another famous battle on this same peninsula, not so many +years ago, for over there on the shore of Lough Mask lived Captain +Boycott, whose name has passed into the language as that of the silent +and effective weapon which the peasantry forged against him, in Land +League days. + +Half a mile farther, and a sharp turn of the road brought us into the +village of Cong, a single street of drab houses, whose principal +attraction is the ruins of the abbey where the Cross of Cong was +fashioned; but the long drive had made us hungry, and so first of all we +stopped at a clean little inn and had tea, and it was set forth in a +service of old silver lustre which Betty marvelled over so warmly that +she almost forgot to eat. And then we started for the abbey, which, of +course, like everything else hereabouts, belongs to Lord Ardilaun. + +From the road, all that one can see of it is a portion of the wall of +the church, so overgrown with ivy that even the windows are covered; but +we managed to rout out a boy, who took us around to the cloister side, +which is very beautiful indeed, with its lovely broken arcades, its +rounded arches, its clustered pillars, and round-headed windows--some +glimpse of which will be found in the photograph opposite page 346. +There is not much of interest left in the church, but in one corner is a +small, dark, stone-roofed charnel house, still heaped high with the +whitened skulls of the monks who were entombed there. + +The abbey stands close to the bank of that wonderful white river which, +coming underground from Lough Mask, bursts from the earth in a deep +chasm a mile above Cong, and sweeps, deep and rapid, down into Lough +Corrib. And the monks at Cong were more ingenious than most, for there, +on a little island in the middle of the river, stand the ruins of their +fishing-house, constructed over a narrow channel into which the nets +were dropped, and they were so arranged that when a fish was captured, +its struggles rang a bell back at the abbey, and some one would hasten +to secure it. We made our way through an orchard of beautiful old apple +trees bearded with lichen, waist-deep in grass, to the very edge of the +stream, that I might get the picture of this labour-saving edifice, +which you will find opposite the preceding page. + +Then the boy asked us if we would care to see Ashford House, the seat of +Lord Ardilaun; and for the benefit of those of my readers who are +wondering from what ancient family Lord Ardilaun is descended, I may as +well state here that he is none other than Guinness, of Guinness's +Stout, and takes his title of Baron Ardilaun from a little island out in +Lough Corrib. We said, of course, that we should like to see Ashford +House, and we walked for half a mile through the beautiful woods of the +demesne, up to the great mansion of limestone and granite, set at the +edge of a terrace sloping down to the lake. The entrance to it is under +a square tower with drawbridge and portcullised gateway, and the house +itself is a mammoth affair, with turrets and battlements and towers and +machicolations and other mediaevalities, quite useless and meaningless on +a modern residence, and there are acres and acres of elaborately-planted +grounds, with sunken gardens and fountains and long shady avenues +stretching away into dim distance. + +[Illustration: THE CLOISTER AT CONG ABBEY] + +[Illustration: THE MONKS' FISHING-HOUSE, CONG ABBEY] + +But nobody lives here except a few caretakers, for Lord Ardilaun, an old +man of seventy-three, prefers the south of France, so that Ashford House +is deserted from year's end to year's end, except for a few days now and +then when a shooting-party of more than usual importance comes to kill +the woodcock. For the ordinary party, another mansion, farther down the +lake on Doon Hill, suffices; but when the king comes, as he did in 1905, +of course the great house has to be opened. + +One reads in Murray, which is a very British guide-book, how, on that +occasion, the king and his party killed ninety brace of woodcock in a +single day; and how, five years later, 587 brace were bagged in five +days; but it will be quite impossible for you to understand, unless you +are also British, the peculiar veneration with which such coverts as +these are regarded by British sportsmen, and the peculiar cast of +mind which deems it right and proper that thousands of fertile acres +should be maintained as game preserves in a land where most of the +people are forced to wring their livelihood from the rocky hillsides. + +It is only for such great parties that Lord Ardilaun returns to do the +honours; and he hastens away again, as soon as the parties are over. He +knows nothing of his tenants; he leaves the collection of his rents to a +factor, and the preservation of his coverts to a force of gamekeepers, +and any one caught inside the wall may expect to be prosecuted to the +limit of the law. + +Now I have no quarrel with Lord Ardilaun. The stout he sells is honest +stout, and he got possession of this estate by honest purchase, which is +more than can be said for most great estates in Ireland. But he presents +an example of that absentee landlordism which has been the chief and +peculiar curse of this unfortunate country. With landlords who lived on +their estates and looked after their properties and got acquainted with +their tenants and took some human interest in their welfare, the tenants +themselves seldom had any quarrel. It was the landlords who lived in +England or on the continent, who entrusted the collection of rents to +agents, and whose only interest in their Irish estates was to get the +largest possible returns from them--it was these men who kept the +country in an uproar of eviction and persecution. + +Indeed, I believe that if all Irish landlords were resident landlords, +the Irish labourer would be better off without the land purchase act; +for there are no more grasping and exacting masters in the world than +the small farmers to whom the great estates are passing. The old owners +might be despotic, but they were not mean; and where they lived among +their people and came to know them, their despotism was usually a +benevolent despotism, tempered with mercy. The rule of the small farmer +will be a despotism, too, but there will be no mercy about it. Joyce, +our driver, voiced all this in a sentence, as we were driving back. + +"Land purchase, is it?" he said, puffing his short pipe, and staring out +across the hills. "Yes, I have heard much of it; but I'm thinking it +will be a cruel time for the poor." + + * * * * * + +The neighbourhood of Cong is remarkable for its natural curiosities, for +the ground to the north toward Lough Mask is honeycombed with caves, +made by the water working its way through to Lough Corrib. Geologists +explain it learnedly, and doubtless to their own satisfaction, by saying +that the peninsula is composed of carboniferous limestone which has been +perforated and undermined by the solvent action of the free carbonic +acid in the river water; but I prefer to believe, with the residents of +the neighbourhood, that it was the work of the Little People. + +The lofty tunnel through which the sunken river flows is accessible in +several places, and one of these, called the Pigeon Hole, is not far +from the village and is worth visiting. It is in the centre of a field, +and is a perpendicular hole some sixty feet deep, clothed with ferns and +moss and very damp indeed, and the steps by which one goes down are very +slippery, so that some caution is necessary; but there at the bottom is +a vaulted cavern through which the river sweeps. The girl who has come +along, carrying a wisp of straw, lights it and walks away into the +depths of the cavern, but the effect is not especially dazzling and the +smoke from the straw is most offensive. They order these things better +in France--at the Grotto of Han, for instance! + +Another curiosity of the peninsula is not a natural but an artificial +one--a canal dug during famine times with government money to connect +Lough Corrib with Lough Mask. This was expected to be a great blessing +to the west of Ireland, extending navigation from Galway clear up across +Lough Mask and Lough Conn to Ballina; but, alas, when it was finished, +it was found that the canal wouldn't hold water, for the rock through +which it was cut was so porous that the water ran through it like a +sieve, and left the canal as dry as a bone. So there it remains to this +day, and one may walk from end to end of it dryshod and ponder on the +marvels of English rule in Ireland! + +One thing more at Cong is worth inspecting, and that is the old cross +which stands at the intersection of the street with the road to the +abbey. It was erected centuries ago to the memory of two abbots, Nicol +and Gilbert O'Duffy, whose names may yet be read on its base; and it is +a cross that can work miracles. Here is one of them: + +There was a boy here at Cong, once, who was stupid and could learn +nothing, but spent all his time wandering along the river or climbing +the hills or lying in the fields staring up at the sky. Everybody said +he would come to a bad end; but one day he sat down on the base of this +cross, and fell asleep with his head against it; and that night, when he +went home, he took up the newspaper which his father was reading and +read aloud every word that was on it; and they took him to the priest, +thinking a spell was on him, and there was not a book the priest had, in +Latin or Irish or any language whatever, but the boy he could read it at +a glance; and they sent him down to Cork to the college there, but there +was nothing his masters could teach him that he did not know already; +and the fame of him became so great that when Queen Victoria was looking +about her for a man to put at the head of the new college at Galway, she +hit upon him, and so he was given charge of Queen's College, and his +name was O'Brien Crowe, and he made that college a great college, and he +taught things there that no other man in Ireland had ever so much as +dreamed of! + +I am sorry I had not heard this tale when I was at Galway; I should have +liked to ask Bishop O'Dee how much of it is true. + + * * * * * + +We returned to Leenane by a different road, which lay for some miles +close beside the shore of Lough Corrib, white-capped now under a stiff +wind which had arisen, and studded with lovely green islands. It is +undoubtedly one of the most beautiful of the Irish lakes, but even here +the shadow of Land League days still lingers, for close by the shore is +Ebor Hall, which was the residence of Lord Mountmorris, who was beaten +to death near by; and as we drove on, our jarvey pointed out the scenes +of similar if less famous tragedies, whose details I have forgotten. But +all that was thirty years ago; the problem which the Land League tried +to solve has been solved in another fashion; the peasantry of Ireland +have won the fight for fair rent, fixed hold, and free sale, and can +afford to forget the past. + +Just beyond the Doon peninsula, the road opens up the long expanse of +the narrow arm of the lake which runs back many miles into the +mountains, and on an island a little distance from the shore, towers the +keep of a ruined castle--Caislean-na-Circe, or Hen Castle in the prosaic +vernacular. Islands, as you will have remarked before this, were a +favourite place in Ireland for castles and monasteries, and the deeper +the water about them the better, for it was a welcome defence in the +days when midnight raids were the favourite pastime of every chief, and +no sport was so popular with the English as that of hunting the Irish +"wolves." + +There are many legends to explain the name of this castle in Lough +Corrib. One is that the castle was built in a single night by an old +witch and her hen, and she gave it and the hen to The O'Flaherty, +telling him that, if the castle was ever besieged, he need not worry +about provisions, since the hen would lay eggs enough to keep the +garrison from want. It was not long before a force of O'Malleys ferried +over from the mainland and camped down about the walls, and O'Flaherty, +forgetting the witch's words, killed the hen and was soon starved out. +Another legend is that the castle was held during a long siege by the +formidable Grainne, wife of Donell O'Flaherty, and that her husband was +so proud of her that he named the place Hen Castle in her honour. Still +another is that the Joyces were holding it against the O'Flaherties, +but were about to surrender, when the famous Grace O'Malley marched a +party of her clansmen over the mountains from the sea and drove the +O'Flaherties off, and so it was named after her. These are examples of +what the Irish imagination can do when it turns itself loose; for the +fact is that the castle, at least as it stands now, was built by Richard +de Burgo, that first old doughty Norman ruler of Connaught, to hold the +pass from the isthmus of Cong into the wilds of Connemara. The keep is +plainly Anglo-Norman, flanked by great square towers of cut limestone. + +A few miles farther on is the village of Maam, set in the midst of +magnificent scenery at the intersection of two valleys, one running to +the west and one to the south, closed in by the wildest, bleakest, +ruggedest of mountains. Our driver drew up here to water and wind the +horse, and I wandered about the village for a while, and stopped at last +at the open door of a little cottage where an old woman and some +children were sitting before a flaring fire of turf, and a hen was +hovering some chickens in a basket in one corner. Three or four others +were wandering about the dirt floor, looking for crumbs as a matter of +habit, though they must have known perfectly well that there were no +crumbs there. + +I was welcomed heartily and invited to sit down before the fire, with +that instinctive courtesy and open-heartedness which is characteristic +of the Irish peasantry. Let the traveller take shelter anywhere, pause +before any door, and he will be greeted warmly. There is an old Irish +riddle which runs something like this: + + From house to house it goes, + A wanderer frail and slight, + And whether it rains or snows, + It bides outside in the night. + +It is the footpath the Irish mean; and if they could bring it in out of +the rain and the snow, I am sure they would, just as they bring their +chickens and cats and dogs and pigs and donkeys in, to share the warmth +of the fire. + +So in this little cottage a stool was at once vacated for me and set in +a good place, and a ring of smiling faces closed around me, and the rain +of eager questions began as to whence I came and whither I was going. I +wish I could give you some idea of the tangle of trash that littered the +single room of that hovel--old clothes, old boards, broken baskets, a +pile of turf in one corner but scattered all about where the chickens +had been scratching at it, a low shelf piled with rags and straw for a +bed, a rude dresser displaying some chipped dishes--but I despair of +picturing it. And the dirty, ragged children, with their bright eyes and +red cheeks; and the old woman, wrinkled and toil-worn, but obviously +thinking life not so bad, after all. . . . + +A whistle from Joyce told me that he was ready to start, and we were +soon climbing out of the valley, emerging at last upon a vast moor, with +great mountain masses away to the south, their summits veiled in mist. +We could see groups of people working in the bog here and there, and at +last we came upon two men and two boys cutting turf close to the road. I +asked them if I might take their picture, and they laughed and agreed, +and it is opposite this page, but the sun was setting and the light was +not good enough to give me a sharp negative. Still one can see the man +at the bottom of the ditch cutting the peat with a sharp-edged +instrument like a narrow spade and throwing the water-soaked bricks out +on the edge, where the boys picked them up and laid them out at a little +distance to dry. + +[Illustration: THE TURF-CUTTERS] + +[Illustration: A GIRL OF "JOYCE'S COUNTRY"] + +"There's one would make a picture," said Joyce, about ten minutes later, +and I turned to see him pointing with his whip at a little girl +unloading turf from the panniers of a donkey by the side of the road. + +Needless to say, I was out of my seat in an instant, and Betty, scarcely +less excited, was asking the girl if I might not take her picture; and +then Joyce said something to her in the Irish, and then from across the +bog came her mother's voice telling her, also in Irish, to hold still +and do as the gentleman wished. + +She was a child of eight or ten, with dark hair and eyes, and slighter +and frailer than the average Irish child; and she wore the +characteristic garment fashioned from red flannel which all the poor +children in Connemara wear; and she was bare-headed and barefooted; and +her task was to drive the ragged little donkey out into the bog and fill +the panniers with the bricks, and drive it back again to the side of the +road, and pile the turf there, ready for the cart which would take it +away. From the place where the turf was being cut to the roadside was at +least a quarter of a mile, and how often that child had travelled that +road that day I did not like to think. From the pile of turf that lay +at the side of the road, it was evident she had not idled! + +She was not without her vanity, for she had her skirt kilted up, and let +it quickly down as soon as she realised what I wanted; and then she let +me pose her as I wished. You should have seen her astonishment when I +pressed a small coin into her hand, as some slight recompense for the +trouble I had given her; you should have seen her shining eyes and +trembling lips. . . . + +Up we went and up, with the mists of evening deepening about us; and at +last we reached the summit of the pass, and dropped rapidly down toward +Leenane. Half an hour later, we trotted briskly up to the hotel, the +little mare apparently as fresh as ever, in spite of the fifty miles, up +hill and down, she had covered that day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE REAL IRISH PROBLEM + + +IT was well we went to Cong when we did, for the next day was cold and +rainy, with a clammy mist in the air which settled into the valleys and +soaked everything it touched. I walked over to the village, after +breakfast, to keep my promise to the school-teacher. The school is a +dingy frame building with two rooms and two teachers, a man for the +older pupils and a woman for the younger ones. They are brother and +sister, and from their poor clothes and half-fed appearance, I judge +that teachers are even worse paid in Ireland than elsewhere. But they +both welcomed me warmly, and the man hastened to set out for me the only +chair in the place, carefully dusting it beforehand. + +He called the roll, and it was delightful to hear the soft, childish +voices answer "Prisent, sorr," "Prisent, sorr." Then he counted heads to +be sure, I suppose, that some child hadn't answered twice, once for +himself and once for some absent friend. There were about thirty +children present, ranging in age from six to fifteen; and they were all +barefoot, of course, and such clothing as they had was very worn and +ragged, and most of them had walked four or five miles, that morning, +down out of the hills. The teacher said sadly that the attendance should +be twice as large, but there was no way of enforcing the compulsory +education law, though the priest did what he could. + +I wish I could paint you a picture of that school, so that you could see +it, as I can, when I close my eyes. In the larger room there was a +little furniture--a chair and cheap desk for the teacher, some rude +forms for the children, and a small blackboard; but the other room was +absolutely bare, and the children sat around on the floor in a circle, +with their legs sticking out in front of them, red with cold, while the +teacher stood in their midst to hear them recite. Each of them had over +his shoulder a cheap little satchel, usually tied together with string; +and in this he carried his two or three books--thin, paper-covered +affairs, which cost a penny each; and all the children, large and small, +had to carry their books about with them all the time they were in +school because there was no place to put them. + +The reading lesson had just started when I entered the room where the +smaller children were, and it was about the advantages of an education. +It brought tears to the eyes to hear them, in their soft voices and +sweet dialect, read aloud with intense earnestness what a great help +education is in the battle of life and in how many ways it is useful. +When the reading was done, the teacher asked them the meaning of the +longest words, and had them tell again in their own way what the lesson +had said, to be certain that they understood it. + +Poor kiddies! As I looked at them, I could see in my mind's eye our +schoolhouses back home, heated and ventilated by the best systems--there +was ventilation enough here, heaven knows, for the door was wide open, +but no heat, though the day was very raw and chilly, and the children +were shivering--equipped with expensive furniture and the latest devices +of charts and maps; and I could see the well-fed, well-clothed children, +with their beautiful costly books which make teachers almost +unnecessary, languidly reading some such lesson as was being read here +in Connaught, on the advantages of an education! It would not have been +read so earnestly, be sure of that, nor with such poignant meaning. + +And in that moment, I thrilled with a realisation of Ireland's greatest +and truest need. It is not land purchase, or reform of the franchise, or +temperance, or home rule, though these needs are great enough; it is +education. It is education only that can solve her industrial problems +and her labour problems; and, however she may prosper under the +favouring laws of a new political regime, it is only by education, by +the banishment of ignorance and illiteracy, that she can hope to take +her place among the nations of the world. + +It was a sort of vision I had, standing there in that bare little room, +of a new Ireland, dotted with schools and colleges, as she was a +thousand years ago, illumined with the white light of knowledge; but +here, meanwhile, were these eager, bright-eyed, ragged little children, +stumbling along the path of knowledge as well as they could; but a rocky +path they find it, and how deserving of help they are! I wish you could +have seen those soiled, thumbed little readers, which cost, as I have +said, only a penny each, and which, if they had cost more, would have +been beyond the reach of the average Connaught family. + +I bought a few of them, afterwards, to bring home with me, and when I +looked through them, I found them very primitive indeed. Here, for +instance, is Lesson Six in the primer: + + Pat has a cat. + It is fat. It is on the mat. + The cat ran at the rat. + It bit the fat cat. + Pat hit the rat. + The rat ran. The cat ran at it. + The rat bit the fat cat. + +Cats and rats used, I remember, to be favourite subjects in the readers +of my own early school days; and so were dogs. It is still so in +Ireland, as Lesson Eight will show: + + Is it a dog? + It is a fox. + Was the fox in a box? + The dog was in the box. + He was in the mud. + Rub the mud off the dog. + He ran at the fox in the mud. + The dog ran at the fox and bit it. + +My principal objection to this is that it is nonsense: how, for example, +if the dog was in the box, could it have been also in the mud? These +questions occur to children even more readily than to adults, and to +teach them nonsense is wrong and unjust. Also these lessons tell no +story; they have no continuity; they ask questions without answering +them; they change the subject almost as often as the dictionary. Here, +for instance, is the first lesson of the second term: + + Tom put the best fish in a dish. + The cat sat near it on a rug. + Let the hen rest in her nest. + Frank rode a mile on an ass. + He went so fast he sent up the dust. + +The last sentence shows it was an Irishman made this book; but why, in +this lesson, did he not continue with the story of the fish in the dish, +which the cat was plainly watching from the rug with malicious intent, +instead of branching off to a wholly irrelevant remark about a hen, and +then to an account of Frank's adventure with an ass? Perhaps the first +step to be made in educational reform in Ireland is the adoption of +better school-books, and there is no reason why this step should be +delayed. + +I went back, presently, to the other room where the larger boys and +girls were reciting in small sections, standing shrinkingly before the +shrivelled little teacher, whose fierceness, I am sure, was assumed for +the occasion, and he got out for me a sheaf of compositions which the +boys and girls had written on the subject, "My Home," and of which he +was evidently very proud. They were written in the round, laborious +penmanship of the copy-book, and the homes which they described were, +for the most part, those poor little cabins clinging to the rocky +hillsides, which I have tried to picture; but here the picture was drawn +sharply and simply, with few strokes, without any suspicion that it was +a tragic one. For instance, this is John Kerrigan's picture of + + +My Home. + + My home is in County Galway and is placed in + Ganaginula. It is built on a height near the + roadside. The length of it is eighteen feet and + the breadth is six feet. It is about ten feet + high. The covering is timber and thatch. It is + built with stones and mortar. There are four + windows, two in the kitchen and two in the room. + The floor is made of sand and gravel. + +That was all that John Kerrigan found to describe about his home, and I +dare say there wasn't much more; but it is easy to picture it standing +there on the bleak hillside, with its low walls of rubble and its roof +of thatch, and its two little rooms, nine feet by six, with dirt floor +and tiny windows. And at one end of the kitchen there would be an open +fireplace, with some blocks of turf smoking in it, and above the turf +there would be hanging a black pot, where the potatoes are boiling which +is all John will have for supper. . . . + +I put the compositions aside, for a lesson in Gaelic had begun. The +teacher wrote on the little blackboard some sentences composed of the +strangest-looking words imaginable, and the pronunciation of them was +stranger still. But the lesson proceeded rapidly, and it was evident +that most of the children understood Gaelic quite as well as they did +English. That, of course, is not saying very much; and I fancy that +about all these children can be expected to learn is to read and write. +Indeed, it is a wonder that they learn even that, for the odds against +them are almost overwhelming. + +I bade them good-bye at last, and returned pensively to the hotel, and +there I found the district physician making some repairs to his +motor-cycle. It probably needs them often, for the roads up into the +hills are trying for anything on wheels; but he said it was surprising +where it would go and how much knocking about it would stand. And then, +naturally enough, we fell into talk about his work. + +Every poor person in Ireland is, as I understand it, entitled to free +medical attendance. The country is divided into districts, in each of +which a doctor is stationed, paid partially by the government and +depending for the remainder of his income on his private practice. +Before a person is entitled to free attendance, he must secure a ticket +from one of the poor-law guardians, who have the management of the +charities in each district; and no physician is compelled to give free +attendance, unless the person asking for it can produce one of these +tickets. + +"Even then," continued the doctor at Leenane, who was explaining all +this to me, "I don't put myself out, if I think the person presenting +the ticket can afford to pay. I look him over, of course, and give him +some medicine, with instructions how to take it--the law compels me to +do that; but I don't bother myself to see whether the instructions are +carried out. And if he's really sick, he soon realises that if he wants +me to be interested, he's got to pay for it, and he manages to find a +guinea or so. This sounds hard-hearted, perhaps; but it's astonishing +how many beggars there are in this country, and how the poor-law +guardians let themselves be imposed on. Why, people come to me with +cards and try to get free attendance who could buy and sell me ten times +over! I don't bite my tongue telling them what I think of them, you may +well believe. The trouble is, the poor-law guardians are natives of the +district and they all have some axe to grind; so the doctor, who is a +stranger for whom they care nothing, gets the worst of it. This is about +the worst district in Ireland, anyway, so big and poor and full of +hills. A man has to work himself to death to make three hundred pounds a +year out of it." + +Various reflections occurred to me while he was talking. One was that +three hundred pounds a year is many, many times the income of the +average dweller in Connaught; and another was that, to leave any +discretion to the physician in regard to the treatment of charity +patients is not without its dangers; and still a third was that, in any +sudden emergency, such as might occur at any time, many valuable minutes +would be lost if the poor-law guardians had to be hunted up and a card +obtained before the doctor could be summoned. I suppose, in such cases, +the doctor is summoned first, and the card secured when there is time to +do so. + +It is probably only in cases of dire need that the district doctor is +summoned at all. The fact that he is a stranger and a government +appointee is enough to make a large section of the Irish peasantry +distrust him. This one told me that he is never called for confinement +cases, because every old Irish woman considers herself competent to +handle them, and usually is; and that other cases are treated with "home +remedies" or visits to holy wells, until they get so bad that the doctor +is turned to as a last resort. + +"The ignorance of the people is past all belief," he went on. "They +haven't any idea of what causes disease; they never heard of germs; they +don't know it is unhealthy to have a stinking heap of manure and human +excrement under the window or in front of the door; they don't believe +there is any reason why a person dying with consumption shouldn't sleep +in the same bed with other people, and eat out of the same dishes, and +spit all about the place. And so we have typhus, and tuberculosis--you +Americans are partially responsible for that." + +"In what way?" I asked. + +"The people born and reared in these western highlands, with lungs +adapted through long generations to this soft, moist climate, can't +stand the American atmosphere. When they are poor and live crowded +together in your towns, consumption gets them; and then, when they're +too far gone to work, they come back home to cough their lives out and +poison all their friends. They lie in these dark cabins without a +window, which soon become perfect plague-spots; and the children, +playing on the filthy, infected floor, get the infection in their lungs; +or perhaps they cut their knees and rub it into the sore. Ugh! it makes +one sick to think about it. There ought to be a law preventing any such +infected person landing in Ireland--you won't let such a one land in +America." + +I had to admit that that would be one way of dealing with the mischief; +and I suggested that another way would be to try to educate the people +to some knowledge of the simpler facts of hygiene. But the doctor +snorted. + +"Educate them!" he echoed. "You can't educate them! Why, you haven't any +conception of the depths of their ignorance. And they're superstitious, +too; they don't believe in science; they think it's something +irreligious, something against their faith. If prayers to the Virgin +won't cure them, or a visit to some holy well or other, why nothing +will. If I do cure them, I don't get the credit--they simply believe +they've got on the good side of one of their saints. What is a man to do +against such ignorance as that? The only reason they don't all die is +because this country is so full of little streams that the running water +carries off most of their filth, and the turf smoke which fills their +houses helps to disinfect them." + +I agreed that his was a hard task; and left him still tinkering with his +motor-cycle, and went over to smoke a pipe with the men at the stables. +Joyce, our driver of the day before, was there, and he smiled as he +pointed his pipe-stem toward the doctor, with whom he had seen me +talking. + +"He's a hard one, he is," he said. "Not a word of advice nor a sup of +medicine do you get out of that one, if he thinks you've got a shillin' +about you. He thinks we're all liars and thieves, which is natural +enough, for he's an Englishman--and I'm not sayin' but what it may be +true of some of us," and he grinned around at his companions. + +"Tell the gintleman about the other one," one of them suggested. + +"Ah, Mister O'Beirn, that was," said Joyce; "a Galway man, born to the +Irish. How he got the app'intment, I don't know; but he did stir this +district up--went about givin' long talks, he did, about how we're made +and why we get sick, and such like; and he went into the houses and made +the women wash the childer and set things to rights, and they bore with +him because they knew he meant them no harm. He wore himself to a bone, +he did, and we were all fond of him; but I'm not sayin' it wasn't a +relief when he was moved to another district, and we could make +ourselves comfortable again." + +"No doubt the children are glad, too," I ventured. + +"They are, sir; and why should one bother washin' them when they get +dirty again right away? Sure the women have enough to do without that!" + +But it would be a mistake to suppose that the lives of the women and +girls are all work and no play. Betty chanced to remark to the girl who +waited on our table at the hotel that she must find the winters very +lonesome. + +"Oh, not at all, miss," she protested. "We have a very good time in the +winter with a dance every week; and at Christmas Mr. McKeown do be +givin' us a big party here at the hotel. Then there will be maybe two or +three weddings, and as many christenings, and some of the girls who have +been to America will come home for a visit and there will be dances for +them, so there is always plenty to do." + +So Leenane has its social season, just the same as New York and Paris +and London; and I suppose the same is true of every Irish village. The +Irish are said to be great dancers, but we were never fortunate enough +to see them at it. + +You may perhaps have noticed that in such Irish conversations as I have +given in these pages, I have contented myself with trying to indicate +the idiom, without attempting to imitate the brogue; and this is +because it is impossible to imitate it with any degree of accuracy. +Such imitation would be either a burlesque or would be unreadable. For +example, while we were talking to the waitress at Leenane, Betty asked +her what a very delicious jam which she served with our tea was made of. + +"Black torn, miss," she answered--at least, that is what it sounded +like. + +"Black torn?" repeated Betty. "What is it? A berry or a fruit?" + +The girl tried to describe it, but not recognisably. + +"Can you spell it?" asked Betty at last. + +"I can, miss; b-l-a-c-k, black, c-u-r-r-a-n-t, torn," answered the girl. + + * * * * * + +We bade good-bye to Leenane, that afternoon, taking the motor-bus for +Westport, and my friends of the constabulary were out to see me off and +shake hands, and Gaynor sent a "God speed ye" after us from the door of +his little shop, and the schoolmaster and his sister waved to us from +the door of the school. It was almost like leaving old friends; and +indeed, I often think of them as such, and of that drab little town +crouching at the head of Killary, and of how serious a thing life is to +those who dwell there. We looked back for a last glimpse of it, as we +turned up the road out of the valley--the row of dingy houses, the grey +mountains rising steeply behind them, the broad sheet of blue water in +front--how plainly I recall that picture! + +There were three other passengers on the bus--an elderly man and woman, +rather obese and grumpy, and a younger man with clean-shaven eager +face; and we were puzzled for a time to determine their relationship, +for the younger man was most assiduous in attending to the wants of his +companions and pointing out the places of interest along the road. And +then, finally, it dawned upon us--here was a personally conducted party; +a man and wife who had brought a guide along to see them safely through +the wilds of Ireland! + +The road from Leenane to Westport is not nearly so picturesque as that +from Clifden, for we soon ran out of the hills, and for miles and miles +sped across a wild bog, without a sign of life except a few sheep +grazing here and there. We met a flock of them upon the road, and the +way the shepherd's dog, at a sharp whistle from him, herded his charges +to one side out of the way was beautiful to see. + +Then at last, far below us, at the bottom of a valley, we saw the roofs +of Westport, and we started down the road into it--a steep and dangerous +road, for we came within an ace of running down a loaded cart that was +labouring up; and when we came to the foot of the hill, we were startled +by a remarkable monument looming high in the middle of the principal +street--a tall, fluted shaft, with two seated women at its base, rising +from an octagonal pedestal, and surmounted by a heroic figure in knee +breeches and trailing robe--without question the very ugliest monument I +ever saw. It was so extraordinarily ugly that we came back next day to +look at it, and discovered the following inscription: + + To the Memory of + GEORGE GLENDINING + Born in Westport 1770 + Died in Westport 1845 + +If the deceased had any other claim to fame except that he was born in +Westport, and also ended his days there, it does not appear upon his +monument. + + * * * * * + +Westport has only one hotel, and it is probably the worst in Ireland. +When we had been ushered along its dark and dirty corridors, into a room +as dingy as can be imagined, and had found that it was the best room to +be had, and that there was nothing to do but grin and bear it, we sat +down and looked at each other, and I could see in Betty's disgusted face +some such thought as Touchstone voiced: "So here I am in Arden. The more +fool I. When I was at home, I was in a better place." + +"'Travellers must be content,'" I said. "Let's get out of here and look +at the town." + +Betty agreed with alacrity; but we soon found that it is a dull and +uninteresting place, offering no diversion except a stroll through Lord +Sligo's demesne. The gate was open, so we entered and plodded along a +sticky road, past the square, unimpressive mansion-house, out to the +head of Clew Bay. We walked on, past the longest line of deserted quays +and empty warehouses we had encountered in Ireland. There must be half a +mile of quays, and the warehouses are towering, four-storied structures, +with vast interiors given over to rats and spiders; and all along that +dreary vista, there was just one boat--a small one, unloading lumber. + +It was government money, I suppose, which built the quay, and a +government board which authorised it; and looking at it, one realises +where Canon Hannay got the local colour for the descriptions of the +activities of government boards which are scattered through his Irish +stories. For Canon Hannay, whose pen name is George A. Birmingham, lives +here at Westport; and the bay which faces it is the scene of most of his +tales. + +It is a beautiful bay, dotted with the greenest of islands; and it was +among those islands that the irrepressible Meldon sailed in quest of +Spanish gold; it was there the Major's niece had her surprising +adventures; and I have wondered since if the grotesque statue back in +the town may not have suggested that of the mythical General John Regan. + +And there, in the distance, towering above the bay, is Croagh Patrick, +the great hill, falling steeply into the water from a height of 2500 +feet, down which Saint Patrick one fine morning drove all the snakes and +toads and poisonous creatures in Ireland, to their death in the sea +below. Indeed, the marks of their passage are still plainly to be seen, +for the precipice down which they fell is furrowed and scraped in the +most convincing manner: + + The Wicklow hills are very high, + And so's the Hill of Howth, sir; + But there's a hill much bigger still, + Much higher nor them both, sir; + 'Twas on the top of this high hill + St. Patrick preached his sarmint + That drove the frogs into the bogs + And banished all the varmint. + +The legend is that St. Patrick, who had spent forty days on the mountain +in fasting and prayer, stood at the edge of the precipice and rang his +little bell--the same bell we have seen in the museum at Dublin--and all +the snakes and toads in Ireland, attracted by the sound, plunged over +the cliff and so down into the sea. + +From a distance, Croagh Patrick seems to end in a sharp point; but there +is really a little plateau up there, some half-acre in extent, and a +small church has been built there, and on the last Sunday in July, +pilgrims gather from all over Ireland and proceed to the mountain on +foot and toil up its rugged sides and attend Mass on the summit and then +make the rounds of the stations on their knees, just as has been done +from time immemorial. For Croagh Patrick is a very holy place, since +Ireland's great apostle prayed and fasted there, and those who pray and +fast there likewise shall not go unrewarded. + + * * * * * + +I heard the click of a typewriter, as I went up the walk to the rectory, +that evening, to spend a few hours with Canon Hannay, and it must be +only by improving every minute that he gets through the immense amount +of work he manages to accomplish. He had just arranged for an American +lecture tour in the following October, and both he and his wife were +pleasantly excited at the prospect of encountering American +sleeping-cars and soft-shelled crabs and corn on the cob, and other such +novelties, some of which they had heard were very dreadful. I reassured +them as well as I could; and then we talked awhile about George Moore's +inimitable reminiscences, and Canon Hannay's own books; but the gist of +the evening was the discussion of Ireland and Irish problems which +occupied the greater part of it. It was very late indeed when I arose to +say good-night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE TRIALS OF A CONDUCTOR + + +WE took a last look about the town, next morning, not forgetting the +Glendining monument, which has the fascination supreme ugliness +sometimes possesses; and then we walked on down to the station, where a +loquacious old woman accosted Betty with a tale of woe which culminated +in an appeal for aid; and it was suddenly borne in on me that not once +in the whole of Connaught had we encountered a beggar. Not even a child +had held out its hand or indicated in any way that it desired or +expected alms. And I do not know that I can pay any greater compliment +to the people of that distressful province than by setting down this +fact. We were in Mayo now--and Mayo is different! + +The first town out of Westport is Castlebar, which, as Murray puts it, +"has all the buildings usual in a county town, viz. Asylum, Gaol, +Court-house and Barracks," and they can be seen looming up above the +other buildings as the train passes, some half mile away. Beyond +Castlebar, the line crosses the so-called plains of Mayo, a vast expanse +of naked limestone rock, very ugly and sinister; and then to the left is +a village dominated by a round tower; and finally we came to +Claremorris, where we were to change cars. + +Claremorris, no doubt, also has an asylum, a jail, a court-house and a +barracks; but we didn't go out to see, for nobody seemed to know just +when our train might be expected, and we were afraid to run any risks. +So we sat down on the platform, and Betty fell into talk with a clean, +nice-looking old man, who was carefully gathering up all the dodgers and +posters and old newspapers that were lying around, and folding them up +and putting them in his pocket, I suppose to read at leisure after he +got home. And he told about where he lived, and how many children he +had, and described the disposition of each of them; and then he +questioned Betty about her condition in life, and age, and size of +family, and all the time he was looking intently at her mouth. + +"Tell me, miss," he said, at last, "is them your own teeth you've got?" + +"Indeed they are," laughed Betty, and clashed them to prove it. + +"I would hardly believe it," he went on, and looked closer. "I niver saw +any like them." + +"They're strong as iron," and Betty clashed them again. + +"And white as snow. I wish my daughter was here, for she will not +believe me when I tell her." + +Good teeth, as I have remarked before, are the exception in Ireland; and +most of those that appear good at first glance, turn out, at second +glance, to be fabrications of the dentist. Perhaps it has always been +so. Irish poets are fond of dwelling on the glories of Irish hair, and +it is still glorious; they tell over and over again of the brightness of +Irish eyes, and they are still bright; they describe how many times the +beauty of Irish complexions, and there is none to match them anywhere +else in the world; but I do not remember that any of them refer to +Irish teeth. It is a pity, for many a pretty face is ruined by the ugly +teeth a smile discloses. + +We got away from Claremorris, finally, after narrowly escaping being +carried back to Westport, and proceeded northward over a new line which +has been built across the plains of County Mayo. There were few +passengers, and we had a compartment to ourselves, except for two +priests who rode with us for a short distance, and who wanted to know +all about President Wilson, of whom they had heard many splendid things. +Just where we crossed into County Sligo I don't know; but we were in it +at Collooney, a village more prosperous than most, with a number of +mills; and then we came to Ballysadare, where there are some famous +salmon fisheries. + +As we ran on past Ballysadare, a hill like a truncated cone loomed up on +the left, and in the centre of the level top was something that looked +like a huge bump, and as we drew nearer, we saw that it was a great +cairn of loose stones piled on top of each other. The hill was +Knocknarea, and the cairn, which is six hundred feet around and +thirty-five feet high, is said to have been piled over the body of +Meave, Queen of Connaught, by her tribesmen, in the first century after +Christ. Meave was killed while bathing in Lough Ree by Conal Carnach, +who, angry at her share in the death of the mighty Cuchulain, put a +stone into a sling and cast it at her with such sure aim that he +inflicted a mortal wound. There is some dispute as to whether she was +really borne to the top of Knocknarea for burial; but the cairn is +called "Miscan Meave," or "Meave's Heap," and if it does not actually +cover her body, it probably commemorates her death. She lived so long +ago that her name has passed into folk-lore--in England as Queen Mab. + +Knocknarea, with its strange shape, dominates the whole landscape, and +is in sight all the way to Sligo, for the train describes a half-circle +around it. Sligo itself is a considerable town, with more bustle about +its streets than is usual in western Ireland, and the proprietor of its +principal hotel is a canny individual who follows the precept, once so +popular with American railroads, of charging all the traffic will bear. +When I asked the price of a double room, he looked me over, and then he +said ten shillings the night. + +"Ten shillings a night!" I echoed, in some surprise, for I had not +expected to encounter rates so metropolitan on the west coast of +Ireland; and then I asked to see the room, thinking it might be +something palatial. But it was quite an ordinary room; clean and airy +and comfortable enough; but I judged the usual charge for it was about +five shillings. There are few things I detest more than being +overcharged. "Come along," I said to Betty. "There's another hotel in +this town; we'll have a look at it." + +The proprietor was waiting nervously in the lobby. + +"What's the matter?" he asked, as we came down. "Isn't the room all +right?" + +"Oh, it's right enough," I said; "but I'm not going to pay two prices +for it." + +"But this is the best hotel in Sligo," he protested. "There's an +American millionaire and his wife staying here right now." + +"Well, I'm not a millionaire," I said; "and even if I were, I wouldn't +pay ten shillings for that room," and I started to walk out, for I +didn't want to argue about it. + +But he followed me to the door. + +"What would you pay, now?" he asked, ingratiatingly. + +I looked at him in surprise, for I hadn't had any idea of fixing his +rates for him. + +"Five shillings," I said. + +"You may have it for six," he countered. + +I hesitated. I didn't like the man; but it was a nice room, and the +dining-room looked clean. Probably we should fare worse if we went +farther. + +"All right," I agreed finally; and I am bound to admit that he never +showed any malice, but treated us as nicely as possible during all our +stay in Sligo. Perhaps he is a retired jarvey, and this is just his way +of doing business. + + * * * * * + +Sligo, with its well-built houses and bustling streets, has every +appearance of being prosperous, and I have been told that it is one of +the few towns in Ireland which is growing in population. It has had its +share of battles and sieges, for Red Hugh O'Donnell captured it from the +English, and then the English captured it from Red Hugh, and camped in +the monastery and did what they could to destroy it; but enough of it +remains to make a most interesting ruin, and we set out at once to see +it. + +It is a Norman foundation, dating from 1252, but a good deal of the +existing structure is later than that. The most interesting feature, to +my mind, is the row of eight narrow lancet windows lighting the choir of +the church. I like these early lancets, and I am inclined to question +whether the wide windows and elaborate tracery of later Gothic are as +dignified and severely beautiful. There is a grace and simplicity about +these tall, narrow openings, with their pointed arches, which cannot be +surpassed. + +There are some interesting monuments, too, in the choir, notably a most +elaborate one to O'Conor Sligo against the south wall. O'Conor and his +wife, life-size, kneel facing each other in two niches, over and below +and on either side of which are sculptured cherubs and saints and skulls +and swords and drums and spades and hooks and hour-glasses, together +with the arms of the family and an appropriate motto or two. From the +choir, a low door gives access to the charnel-house, and beyond that is +the graveyard; while from the nave there is an entrance to the +cloisters, three sides of which are very well preserved, though the +level of the ground almost touches the base of the pillars. + +It is, I should say, at least four feet higher than it was when the +cloisters were built, and this accretion is mostly human dust, for the +graveyard has been in active use for a good many centuries. Burials grew +so excessive, at last, that before one body could be placed in the +ground, another had to be dug out of it; and gruesome stories are told +of the ruthless way in which old skeletons were torn from the graves and +thrown out upon the ground and allowed to lie there, a scandal to the +whole county. All that has changed now, and there wasn't a bone in sight +the day we visited the place. Indeed, the old caretaker waxed very +indignant about the way he had been wronged. + +"'Tis in that book you have in your hand the slander is," he said, and +nodded toward my red-bound Murray, and I read the sentence aloud: + + "The exposure of human remains, and the general + neglect here and in other church ruins, are a + scandal to the local authorities." + +"Now, I ask ye to look around, sir," continued the caretaker, excitedly, +"and tell me if ye see anywhere aught to warrant such words as them +ones. Human remains, indeed! Ye see, sir, it was like this. The day the +felly was here who wrote that book, I had just picked up a bone which +had got uncovered on me, and slipped it under a tomb temporary like, +till I could find time to bury it decent; and then he come by, and saw +it, and that was what he writ. The bones do be workin' up to the surface +all the time--and how can that be helped, I should like to know? But I +put them under again as soon as I see them. As for neglect--look about +ye and tell me if ye see neglect." + +I assured him that everything seemed to be in good shape, for the grass +had just been cut and everything was very tidy. And then he told me that +he and his helper had been working on the place for a week past, +because, in a few days, the Irish Antiquarian Society was to meet at +Sligo, and its members would be poking their noses about everywhere. +From which I inferred that, perhaps, at ordinary times, the place may be +rather ragged, and that an occasional bone _may_ escape the guardian's +watchful eye. + +When we got back to the hotel and entered the dining-room for dinner, we +were amused to find that the American millionaire and wife, of whom the +proprietor had boasted, were no other than the personally-conducted +couple who had come with us on the coach from Leenane to Westport. They +were eating grumpily, while their guide, who ate with them, was doing +his best to impart an air of cheerfulness to the meal by chattering away +about the country. The head-waiter hovered near in a tremor of anxiety, +and almost jumped out of his skin whenever the guide raised his finger. + +I went into the smoking-room, later on, to write some letters; and +presently the door opened, and the guide slipped in, and closed the door +carefully, and sat down with a sigh, and got out a pipe and filled and +lighted it, and rang for a whiskey and soda. And then I caught his eye, +and I couldn't help smiling at its expression, and in a minute we were +talking. He was a special Cook guide, he told me, and the two people +with him were from Chicago. + +"I fancied," he went on, "when I took this engagement, that I was going +to have an easy time of it with just two people, but I have never worked +so hard in my life. The man is all right; but all the woman wants to do +is to keep moving on. You know Glengarriff? Well, then you know what a +jolly place it is, and what a splendid trip it is over the hills from +Macroom. Would you believe me, that woman would not even turn her head +to look at that view. I would say to her, 'Now, Mrs. Blank, isn't that +superb!' and she would just bat her eyelids; and when we got to +Glengarriff, she raised a most awful row because we had to stay there +over night, and because there was no light but candles in the bedrooms. + +"I don't know why such people travel at all," he went on wearily. "Yes I +do, too--she travels just to buy post-cards and send them back home. She +buys a hundred at every stop, and as soon as she gets them addressed and +posted, she is ready to start on. Ruins? Why she won't look at ruins. +She wouldn't even get out of the carriage at Muckross Abbey--but she +thinks that new Catholic cathedral at Killarney a marvel of beauty. It +is the only thing she has grown enthusiastic about since she has been in +Ireland. We had planned to stay at Killarney four days, but she wanted +to go on before she had been there four hours. I tell you, sir, it's +disheartening." + +I asked him how long he had been conducting for Cook, and he said only +for a short time, for he was an actor by profession, and hoped to return +to the stage some day. But by a run of bad luck, he had been involved in +three or four failures, and had been driven to Cook's to make a living. +He had been to America, and he told me with what company, but I have +forgotten, and then he was going on to tell me what roles he had played +and which of them had been his greatest successes, and the worn, +harassed look left his face--and just then the door opened and the +Chicagoan stuck his head in, and frowned when he saw us talking and +laughing together; and my companion grew suddenly sober, and went out to +see what was wanted, and I didn't see him again. I suppose they were on +their way at daybreak. + +Sligo is the centre of one of the most interesting districts in Ireland +for the antiquarian. There is that great cairn on the top of Knocknarea, +and on the plain of Carrowmore near the mountain's foot is such a +collection of megalithic remains as exists nowhere else in the British +Isles, while on the summit of a hill overshadowing Lough Gill is a +remarkable enclosure, resembling Stonehenge, but far more extensive. + +It was for Carrowmore we set off on foot, next morning, determined to +spend the day, which was beautifully bright and warm, in a leisurely +ramble over the plain, which, four thousand years ago, was the scene of +a great battle, in which the De Dananns were again the victors, as they +were at Moytura, below Lough Mask. This battle is known as Northern +Moytura, and here the De Dananns met and conquered Balor of the Evil Eye +and his Formorians, and after that they were undisputed masters of Erin +for a thousand years, until the Milesians, or Gaels, sailing from +south-western Europe, beached their boats upon the shore of Kenmare Bay. +It was to mark the graves of the warriors who fell in that dim-distant +fray that the circles and cromlechs which dot its site were probably +erected; but the Irish have another theory, which we shall hear +presently. + +I shall not soon forget that walk, at first through the busy streets of +the town, past solid, well-built houses of brick, with bright shops on +the lower floor and living-rooms above; then into the poorer and +quainter quarter, where the houses are all one-storied, built of rubble, +roofed with straw, and, as we could see through the open doors, stuffed +with trash, as all these little Irish houses seem to be; and finally +out along the country road, between fragrant hedges, occasionally +passing a pretty villa, set in the midst of handsome grounds--and then +we came to a place where the road branched, and we stopped. + +Our guide-book gave no definite directions as to how to get to +Carrowmore. "On Carrowmore," it says, with magnificent vagueness, +"within three miles south-west of Sligo, is a large and most interesting +series of megalithic remains"; nor does it tell how far the remains are +apart, or how to find them. If it had been Baedeker, now, we would not +have stood there hesitant at the cross-roads, because he would not only +have told us which way to turn, but would have provided a diagram, and +led us step by step from one cromlech to the other. There is no Baedeker +for Ireland, which is a pity, for I have never yet found a guide to +equal that painstaking German. + +There was no one to ask, so we took the road which led toward +Knocknarea; but after we had gone some distance, a telegraph-boy came by +on his wheel, and told us that we should have taken the other road; so +we walked back to the branch and turned up it. The road mounted +steadily, and after about a mile of up-hill work, we came to a cluster +of thatched houses, and I went up to one of them to ask the way of a +woman who was leaning over her half-door. + +I think I have already said somewhere that Irish directions are the +vaguest in the world--perhaps this is the reason Murray is so vague, +since it is written by an Irishman!--and the conversation on this +occasion ran something like this: + +"Good morning," I began. "It is a fine day, isn't it?" + +"It is so, glory be to God." + +"Can you tell me how to get to the cromlechs?" + +"The cromlechs? What might that be?" + +"The big stone monuments that are back here in the fields somewhere." + +"Ah--so it is the big stones you would be after?" + +"Yes. Can you tell me how to get to them?" + +"I might," said the woman cautiously. She had been looking at me all +this time with the brightest of eyes, and then she looked at Betty, who +had remained behind at the gate. "Is yon one your wife?" she asked, with +a nod in Betty's direction. + +"Yes." + +"You would be from America." + +"Yes." + +"Have you people hereabouts?" + +"Oh, no; we haven't any relatives in Ireland." + +"And would you be comin' all this way just to see the big stones?" + +"We want to see everything," I explained. "The stones are near here, +aren't they?" + +"They are so. Just a step up yonder lane, and you are right among them." + +She was preparing to ask further questions; but this direction seemed +definite enough, so I thanked her and fled, and Betty and I proceeded to +take a step up the lane. We took many steps without seeing any stones; +and finally we turned up a narrow by-lane, and came to a tiny cottage, +hidden in the trees. We were greeted by a noisy barking, and then a man +hurried out of the cottage and quieted the dog and told us not to be +alarmed. We told him we were looking for the stones. + +"There be some just a small step from here," he said; "but you would +never find them by yourselves, so I will go with you. You are from +America, I'm thinking?" + +"Yes," I admitted, wondering, with sinking heart, if it was going to +begin all over again. + +"I have four brothers in America, and all doing well, glory be to God, +though seldom it is that I hear from them." + +"How did you happen to stay in Ireland?" I asked. + +"One must stay with the mother," he explained simply. "I was the oldest, +so that was for me to do." + +He was a nice-looking man of middle age, with a kindly, intelligent +face, and eyes very bright; and while his clothes were old and worn, +they were clean. + +"She is dead now, God rest her soul," he added, with a little convulsion +of the face I didn't understand till later, "and I am alone here." + +"What," I said; "not married?" + +"No," he answered, with a smile, "there's just Tricker and me." + +"Tricker?" + +"Sure that's the dog, and a great help he is to me. Come here, Tricker, +and show the lady and gentleman what you can do." The shaggy black dog +came and sat down in front of him, looking up at him with shining eyes. +"You would hardly believe it, miss, but Tricker gathers all my eggs for +me, and he can tell a duck egg from a hen egg. If I do be having a bit +of company, I will tell Tricker to go out and bring in some duck eggs, +and I have never known him to make a mistake. Or perhaps I will be +wanting some water from the spring, and I just give Tricker the bucket +and send him for it. Or perhaps I will be wanting some coal, and then I +just tell Tricker to fetch it." + +There was a little pile of coal lying in one corner of the yard, and I +had noticed it with some surprise, for we had seen nothing but turf in +the west of Ireland; but our host told us that the coal came from +Donegal and that it was better than turf and even cheaper in the long +run. + +"Tricker," he said, "take in some coal!" + +Tricker ran to the coal and picked up a lump in his jaws and trotted +through the open door of the house and laid the lump down on the hearth +inside; then he came back and took in another lump, and then a third, +and finally his master stopped him. + +"He would be taking it all in if I left him to himself," he said. "He is +not very well, for he was kicked by the mare the other day, and I +thought for a time he was going to die on me. But he did not, glory be +to God, and I think he will soon be well again. And now, if you will +come this way, I will be showing you the stones." + +He led the way across a field, which he said was his, and then over a +stone wall into another; and in the middle of it was a depressed tomb +with slabbed sides, in which, I suppose, at some far-off time, the body +of some chieftain had been laid; and then our guide showed us the path +which we must follow to get to the cromlechs; and then I put my hand in +my pocket. + +"Ah, no," he protested, drawing back. + +"For Tricker," I said; "to get him some dainty, because he's ill." + +His face softened. + +"Ah, well, sir," he said, "if you put it like that, I'll take it, and +Tricker and I both thank ye kindly; and you, miss. God speed ye," and he +stood watching us for quite a while, as we made our way up toward the +road which ran along the edge of the ridge above us. + +As soon as we gained it, we saw the first of the cromlechs; and then, in +a farther field, we saw another--great stones, standing upright in a +circle of smaller ones, with a mighty covering slab on top, grey and +lichened, and most impressive. They are supposed, as I have said, to +mark the graves of warriors who fell in battle four thousand years ago; +but the Irish peasantry explain them in a more romantic way, as the beds +which Diarmuid prepared nightly for his mistress, Grainne, during the +year they fled together up and down Ireland to escape the wrath of her +husband, the mighty Finn MacCool. + +Grainne, you will remember, was the daughter of King Cormac, and she it +was who won that race up Slievenamon for the honour of Finn's hand. +There was a splendid wedding at Tara; but as Grainne sat at the feast, +she looked at the man she had just married, and saw that the weight of +years was on him; and then she looked about the board and noticed a +"freckled, sweet-worded man, who had the curling, dusky black hair, and +cheeks berry-red," and she asked who he was, and she was told that he +was Diarmuid, "the white-toothed, of lightsome countenance, the best +lover of women and of maidens that was in the whole world." And Grainne +looked on him again, and her heart melted in her bosom; and she mixed a +drink and sent it about the board, until there came upon all the company +"a stupor of sleep and deep slumber." + +Then she arose from her seat and went straight to Diarmuid, and laid a +bond upon him that he should take her away; and Diarmuid, who was leal +to Finn, asked his comrades what he should do, and they all said he must +bide by the bond she had laid on him, for he was bound to refuse no +woman, though his death should come of it. + +"Is that the counsel of you all to me?" asked Diarmuid. + +"It is," said Ossian and Oscar and all the rest; and then Diarmuid rose +from his place, and his eyes were wet with tears, and he said farewell +to his comrades, for he knew that from that day he was no longer a +member of the goodly company of the Fianna, but only a hunted man. + +And he and Grainne fled from Tara to Athlone, and crossed the Shannon by +the ford there, with Finn's trackers close behind them; and for a year +and a day they travelled through the length and breadth of Ireland; and +every night Diarmuid built for his love a chamber of mighty stones, and +carpeted it with sweet grass, and crept softly in beside her and held +her in his arms till morning, so that no hurt might come to her. And +there the chambers remain to this day, 366 of them, to prove the story +true. + +I wish I could tell the remainder of the legend, but there is no space +here; besides you will find it and many others like it very beautifully +told in one of the most fascinating Irish books I know--Stephen Gwynne's +"Fair Hills of Ireland"; a book which I have pillaged remorselessly, and +which I recommend to every one planning to visit the Island of the +Saints. + +There are really more than 366 of the cromlechs, though nobody knows the +exact number; and they are the most venerable monuments reared by man in +Ireland. The growth of peat around certain of them proves that they have +stood where they now stand for at least four thousand years. How the +huge covering stones, sometimes weighing hundreds of tons, were lifted +into place, no one knows, just as no one knows how the Egyptians raised +their great monoliths from the quarry. + +There are two most impressive cromlechs at Carrowmore, quite close +together, and my pictures of them are opposite the next page. The first +one we came to stands near the road in a pasture, and it was merely a +question of clambering over a wall to get to it; but to reach the other, +it was necessary to cross a newly-cultivated field; and as there were +some men working in it, I asked permission to do so. + +"Ah," said one of them, "so it is the big stones you have come to see. +You're very welcome. I only wish you could take them with you." + +"So do I," I said. "We haven't anything like them in America. Everybody +would want to see them." + +"That is just the trouble here. There are always people coming to see +them, and they tramp about over my field, with no thought of the damage +they will be doing, and without asking my leave, as you have done. And +then it is at least half an acre of good land that the stones make good +for naught, and good land is not that plentiful in Ireland that we can +afford to waste any of it. And then there's the trouble of ploughing +around them." + +[Illustration: CROMLECHS AT CARROWMORE] + +The farmer was right, in a way, for a half acre of good land would have +been of far more value to him than this beautiful cromlech in the midst +of its circle of stones; but how happy I would have been to give it half +an acre, if I could have wafted it home to America! The circle is +considerably more than a hundred feet in diameter, and the stones which +compose it are great boulders, four or five feet high, set on end. The +cromlech itself is very imposing, with massive side supports, six or +seven feet high, and a mighty covering stone, flat on the under side. It +is like a giant bestriding the landscape; and Betty remarked that it +reminded her of the legs of Uncle Pumblechook, with several miles of +open country showing between them. My picture of it has Knocknarea in +the background, and if you look closely, you will see the little bump in +the middle of its summit which is the cairn of Queen Meave. + +The hill was only a mile or so away, and I proposed going over to it, +but Betty vetoed that, for it meant some stiff climbing, and we had +already walked a good many miles; so we started back slowly along the +road to Sligo, and a beautiful road it was, with the purple hills in the +distance, and the green rolling fields on either side, and the +whitewashed cottages gathered close beside it. And the doors of all of +them were wide open, and the people who lived in them, hearing our +footsteps, came out to pass the time of day and make some comment on the +weather; and one old woman, who had been hoeing her potatoes, was so +eager to talk that we stopped and sat down on the low wall in front of +her cottage, and stayed for half an hour. + +She began with the usual questions--where we were from, if we were +married, how old we were, and so on; and then she started to tell us +about herself, omitting no detail, however intimate. + +"I have been to America," she said; "for seven years I lived there, and +a grand place it is; and you will be wondering why I ever came back to +County Sligo. 'Twas because of this bit of land, which would be mine, +and this houseen, which is a poor one, but I was born there, and I will +die there, glory be to God. I would ask you in, but it is that dirty, I +am ashamed of it. There is so much to be done in the field that I have +had no time for the house; besides, I am getting old and my legs are +very bad. I got a bottle from the doctor, and I do be taking a sip of it +now and then, but it does me no good. I am thinking there is nothing +will cure me. + +"We were not always down in the world like this," she rattled on. "There +was a time when we were well off. That was before my man was hurted. He +was a county councillor, then, and as handsome a man as you would be +seeing in a day's walk; and many's the time he has gone to Dublin with a +flower in his button-hole, and me looking after him with pride, for he +was always a good head to me. But a horse kicked him, and broke his leg +and his arm, and he has not had the right use of either since; and so +we started going down; and when one starts doing that, there's no +stopping. + +"That's himself going there," she added, indicating an unkempt figure +limping painfully along the road with the help of a heavy cane. "He's +ashamed for you to see him, he's that dirty;" but curiosity proved +stronger than pride, in the end, and he finally came hobbling up to us, +a wreck of a man with dirty clothes and unkempt hair and unshaven face +and battered derby hat--and yet one could see that he had been a +handsome fellow once. + +We mentioned our stopping at the house of the bachelor who owned +Tricker, and both our companions grew serious. + +"Ah, poor boy," said the woman, "he does be havin' a hard time. There +was no one but his mother--all the others had gone to America; and he +looked after her as careful as a daughter could; but she was very +feeble, and he come home from the field one day to find her dead on the +hearth. She had fallen in the fire and burned, bein' too weak to get up. +It was a great shock to him, her dyin' in a way so painful and without a +priest; and we all felt for him, though he was to blame for not marryin' +some girl who could have looked after the old woman. He is well off, but +there's no girl could put the comether on him, though many have +tried,--nice girls, too, as nice as ever put a shawl across their +heads." + +I remarked that we had been surprised at the number of bachelors in +Ireland; we had supposed that all Irishmen married and had "long +families," but it was not so at all. Some were too poor to marry, and +that we could understand; but many that were not poor preferred to stay +single. There were the Rafferty brothers, owners of the Connemara marble +quarry; there was the proprietor of the hotel at Castleconnell; and now +here was this man. + +"It is so," the old woman agreed. "There be many bachelors +hereabouts--men too who could well afford to take a wife. The priest +gets very warm over it. Not long ago, he said some words about it in the +church--he said if it was left to him, he would be puttin' all these +bachelors in a boat with a rotten bottom, and sendin' them out to sea, +and sink or swim, small loss it would be whatever happened. For he said +they were poor creatures, who thought of nothing but their own pleasure, +who wasted their money in Dublin, instead of raising a family with it, +and who would come to no good end. And I'm thinking that was nothing to +what he had been saying to them in private. For of course, before he +said anything in public, he had been after them to let him speak to the +fathers of some of the nice girls there be about here." + +Among the Irish, especially the Irish peasantry, marriage is still +largely a matter of arrangement between the families of the young +people; though I doubt if it is ever quite so carelessly done as in one +of Lever's books, where, after the bargain has been made, the father of +three daughters asks the suitor which one it is he wants, and the suitor +has them all brought in so that he may inspect them before he makes up +his mind. It is always a solemn occasion, however, with the suitor's +relatives ranged along one side of a table, and the bride's relatives +along the other--male relatives, be it understood, for it is not lucky +for a woman to take part in a match-making; and the bargaining is very +shrewd and quite without sentiment; but the marriages thus arranged +usually turn out well. For, if they are without romance, they are also +without illusion. The woman knows beforehand what will be expected of +her as wife and mother; the man is quite aware that matrimony has its +rough side; and so there is no rude awakening for either. It is really a +partnership, in which both are equal, and which both work equally hard +to make successful. + +But I suspect that, in Ireland as elsewhere, marriage is not the +inevitable thing it once was, especially for the men. It may be, as the +priest said, that they have grown selfish and think only of their own +comfort; or it may be that their needs have become more complex and +their ideals harder to satisfy. Whatever the cause, Ireland certainly +has her full share of bachelors. + + * * * * * + +We went to a picture-show at Sligo, that night, and I have never seen a +livelier audience. There was, of course, a cowboy film which was +received with the keenest pleasure; and there was a lurid melodrama, +which culminated in the hero flinging the villain over a high cliff, at +which those present rose to their feet and stamped and cheered; and then +King George was shown reviewing the Life Guards, and the crowd watched +in moody silence--a silence that was painful and threatening. As the +troops marched past, gallant and glittering, a sight to stir the blood, +there was not the suspicion of a cheer or hand-clap--just a strange, +breathless silence. We were to witness the same thing thereafter in +"loyal" Derry--the most convincing evidence imaginable of the feeling +toward England which every Irishman, Protestant or Catholic, carries +deep in his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE LEACHT-CON-MIC-RUIS + + +WE wanted to drive around Lough Gill, a distance of about twenty-five +miles, and I had mentioned this project to our landlord the day before, +and asked the price of a car. He said it was a long trip and a trying +one on a horse, and that the price would be twenty shillings, and I saw +the same glitter in his eye which had been there when he named the price +of a room. + +That afternoon, I happened to see a sign over a shop announcing that +posting was done in all its branches. Remembering the glitter in the +landlord's eye, I stopped in and asked the woman in charge if a car +could be had for the trip around Lough Gill. She said it might, and the +price would be twelve shillings, including the driver. I closed with her +on the spot, and told her to have the car ready at nine o'clock next +morning; and somewhat to my surprise it was; and we set forth on what +was to prove one of the most beautiful and adventurous excursions we had +had in Ireland. + +It was a bright, warm day, and our jarvey, a picturesque old fellow, was +quite certain it would not rain; but we put our rain-coats and all our +other waterproof paraphernalia in the well of the car, so as to be +prepared for the worst; and we elected to go out by the northern shore +and come back by the southern one. For a mile or two our road lay +through beautiful fragrant woods, and then we came out high above the +lake. + +There is no prettier lake in Ireland than Lough Gill, with its green +islands, and its blue water reflecting the blue sky and the fleecy +clouds, and its banks covered with a vegetation almost as varied and +luxuriant as that about Killarney, and the purple mountains crowding +down upon it--only it is hardly fair to call them purple, for they are +of many colours--the grey granite of their towering escarpments gleaming +in the sun, the wide stretches of heather just showing a flush of +lavender, the clumps of dark woodland clothing the glens, the broad +spread of green pastures along their lower slopes, all combining in a +picture not soon forgotten. For two or three miles we trotted on with +this fairy scene stretched before us, and then we turned back into the +hills, for we wanted to see the Leacht-Con-Mic-Ruis, the Stone of Conn +the Son of Rush, set up on a neighbouring hilltop as a warning and a +sign. + +At least, Murray calls it the Leacht-Con-Mic-Ruis, but our driver had +never heard of it, though he protested that he knew every foot of the +neighbourhood. Perhaps he did not recognise the words as I pronounced +them, and as he could not read, it did no good for me to show them to +him in the book. So I described it to him as well as I was able, never +having seen it myself and having only the vaguest idea what it looked +like, as a collection of great standing stones on top of a hill not far +away; and still he had never heard of it. He was inclined to turn back +to the lake, but I persisted; and finally he stopped a man who was +driving a cart in to Sligo, and they talked together awhile in Irish, +and then our driver turned up another road, not very hopefully. + +[Illustration: SLIGO ABBEY FROM THE CLOISTER] + +[Illustration: THE LEACHT-CON-MIC-RUIS] + +It was a very hilly road, and our horse developed an alarming propensity +to gallop--a propensity which the driver encouraged rather than strove +to check, so that we felt, a good part of the time, as though we were +riding to a fire at break-neck speed. The jaunting-car, it should be +remembered, is a two-wheeled vehicle, and when the animal between the +shafts takes it into his head to gallop, it describes violent arcs +through the air. But we hung grimly on, and finally our driver drew up +at a house near the roadside. + +"'Tis here," he said. + +We got down and looked around, but saw nothing that resembled the +Leacht-Con-Mic-Ruis; and then a woman came out of the house, and we +asked her if she knew where it was, and, wonder of wonders! she did. +Most wonderful of all, she had been to see it herself, so she knew where +it was not vaguely but precisely, and she told us just how to go. It was +on the hill back of the house, and she showed us the path which we must +follow, and told us to look out for the rabbit-warrens, or we might +sprain an ankle; and we set off through knee-deep heather up over the +hill. It was quite a climb, and when we got to the top we saw no +standing stones, and I wondered if we were going to miss them, after +all; but we pressed on, and then, as we topped the next rise, my heart +gave a leap--for there before us was the Leacht-Con-Mic-Ruis--the most +remarkable stone enclosure I have seen anywhere, with the exception of +Stonehenge--and Stonehenge is more remarkable only because its stones +are larger. + +In every other way--in extent and in complexity--this enclosure far +outranks Stonehenge. Great upright rocks, lichened and weatherbeaten +by the rains and winds of forty centuries, form a rude oblong, about a +hundred and fifty feet in length by fifty feet across. It stretches east +and west, and at the western end is a square projection like a +vestibule, divided into two chambers; while at the eastern end are two +smaller oblongs some ten or twelve feet square, and their doorways are +two trilithons--that is to say, two great rocks set on end with another +rock laid across them, just as at Stonehenge. I despair of trying to +picture it in words, but I took two photographs, one of which is +opposite the preceding page, and gives some idea of the appearance of +this remarkable monument--at least of the trilithons. But it gives no +idea of its shape or its extent. There was no vantage point from which I +could get a photograph that would do that. + +Its effect, here on this bleak hilltop, with other bleak hills all +around as far as the eye could see, was tremendously impressive. Nobody +knows who built it, nor when it was built, nor why. That it was a shrine +of some sort, a holy place, seems evident; and to me it seemed also +evident that the holy of holies were those two little chambers back of +the trilithic doorways; and it seemed to me also significant that they +should be at the east end, nearest the sunrise, just as the altars in +Gothic churches are, and that there should be a vestibule or entrance at +the west end. Surely it was built with some reference to the sun; and I +tried to picture the horde of panting men, who had, with incredible +labour, hacked out these giant stones from some quarry now unknown, and +pulled them up the steep hillside and somehow manoeuvred them into +place. Some powerful motive must have actuated them, and I can think of +none powerful enough except the motive of religion--the motive of +building a great temple to the God they worshipped, in the hope of +pleasing Him and winning His favour. + +[Illustration: A RUIN ON THE SHORE OF LOUGH GILL] + +[Illustration: THE LAST FRAGMENT OF AN ANCIENT STRONGHOLD] + +What strange rites, I wondered, had these old stones witnessed; what +pageantries, what sacrifices, what incantations? Of all that ancient +people there remains on earth not a single trace, except in such silent +monuments of stone as this, so mighty the passing centuries have been +powerless to destroy them, more mysterious, more inscrutable than the +Sphinx. + +We tore ourselves away, at last, and went silently down through the +heather, which was fairly swarming with rabbits; and we mounted our car +and headed back toward the lake. We came out presently close beside the +shore, and followed it around its upper end. Just there, out at the end +of a point of land, stands the fragment of a tower, and our jarvey told +us it was all that was left of the castle from which Dervorgilla eloped +with Dermot MacMurrough--a tale already told by the little tailor of +Limerick. + +Of course I wanted a picture of it, and after much manoeuvring, I +managed to get the one opposite this page, which I include only because +of the beautiful Japanesy branch across one corner; for this wasn't +Breffni's castle at all, as we were presently to find. A little farther +on, and quite near the road, was another ruin, and a most imposing one, +with drum towers at the four corners, and a dilapidated cottage hugging +its wall; and I took a peep within the square enclosure, used now as a +kind of barnyard. There were little turrets looking out over the +lake, and a spiral stair in one corner, and mullioned windows and tall +chimneys and yawning fireplaces; and it looked a most important place, +but I have not been able to discover anything of its history. Then we +went on again, with beautiful views of the lake at our right, and high +on our left the flat-topped mountain called O'Rourke's Table, where, +once upon a time, as told by the old ballad, "O'Rourke's Noble Feast" +was spread: + + O'Rourke's noble fare will ne'er be forgot + By those who were there, or those who were not. + His revels to keep, we sup and we dine + On seven score sheep, fat bullocks and swine, + +and so on. It is, indeed, a table fit for such a celebration--a rock +plateau with sheer escarpments of grey granite dropping away from it, +and a close cover of purple heather for a cloth. + +The road curved on along the lake; then turned away from it through a +beautiful ravine; and then a sparkling river was dashing along at our +right, and beyond it loomed the grey walls of a most extensive ruin; and +then we dropped steeply down into the town of Dromahair, and stopped at +a pretty inn to bait the horse. + +I wanted to get closer to the ruins, and I asked if there was a bridge +across the river, and was told that there was, just behind the hotel. So +I made my way down to it, to find that the "bridge" was a slender plank, +without handrail or guard, spanning some ugly-looking rapids. I looked +at the plank, and I looked at the swirling water, and I looked at the +grey ruins on the farther shore, and I hesitated for a long time; but I +wasn't equal to it; and I turned away at last and made my way back to +the village in the hope of finding some more stable bridge there. + +The dominating feature of the village is not the workhouse or lunatic +asylum, but an enormous mill, five stories high, built of black stone as +hard as flint, to endure for all eternity, but forlorn and deserted; and +while I was gazing at it and wondering where the money had come from to +build it, a man came out of the house attached to it and spoke to me. He +was an Englishman, he said, who was spending his vacation at Dromahair. +I asked him if there was any other bridge across the river except the +slender plank, and he said there was not; and that it was characteristic +of the Irish that there should not be, for a more careless, shiftless, +happy-go-lucky race did not exist anywhere on earth. + +I asked him about the mill, and he said that it was just another example +of Irish inefficiency and wrong-headedness; that it had been erected at +great expense and equipped with the most costly machinery to grind +American grain, which was to be brought up Sligo Bay from the sea, and +up the river and across the lake; and then, when all was ready, there +was no grain to grind--or none, at least, which could be brought to the +mill without prohibitive expense. Furthermore, the power was so poor and +costly that it would have been impossible to operate the mill profitably +even if there had been plenty of grain. But the owner of the mill, with +some sort of dim faith in the power of Home Rule to produce the grain, +was preparing to install a turbine to run the machinery, and had already +started to build a big aqueduct to bring the water in from above the +rapids. + +The rapids are just above the mill, and are quite imposing; and there, +just beyond them, is the abbey. I was near enough to see it fairly well, +though not, of course, in detail as I should have liked to do; but I +comforted myself with the thought that it is a comparatively modern one, +dating from the sixteenth century, when Margaret, the wife of another +O'Rourke, having, perhaps, like Dervorgilla, done something she +regretted, built it for the Franciscans. + +I had another comfort, too; for I asked the Englishman if he had seen +the Leacht-Con-Mic-Ruis; and he said that he had been hunting for it for +a week, but hadn't been able to find it, as none of the people +thereabouts seemed to know where it was; and he was astonished when I +told him that we had found it, and commented with envy upon the energy +of Americans. He asked me where it was, and I told him as nearly as I +could; and then he wanted me to come in and have tea, and was for +sending up to the hotel for Betty; but I had to decline that invitation. +I think he was lonely and glad to find some one to talk to, for he was +unusually expansive for an Englishman; and he said he would send his car +in to Sligo after us, if we would come out next day; but I told him we +were going on to Bundoran. + +And then I left him and went back up the hill to the ivy-covered ruin +which was really the castle of Tiernan O'Rourke. It stands on the edge +of the hill overlooking the valley--the same valley which lay smiling +before him that evening he came back from his pilgrimage to Lough Derg; +and up there was the battlement from which no light burned. It was +battered down in the sixteenth century, in some obscure fight, and all +that is left of the castle now is the shell of its walls. + +I am afraid Tom Moore, as well as O'Connell, journeyman tailor, has +invested the story with a glamour which did not belong to it; for +Tiernan O'Rourke was a one-eyed bandit who had sacked the abbey of +Clonard a few years before, and who certainly had need of pilgrimages to +shrive him from his sins; and Dervorgilla, so far from being a "young +false one," was forty-two years old; and MacMurrough took care to carry +off, not only the lady's person, but all her movable property, and most +of her husband's, as well. + + * * * * * + +The clouds were gathering in the west as we set out from Dromahair, and +presently the rain began to slant down, slowly and softly at first, and +then in a regular torrent. I do not know when I have seen it rain +harder; but we were soon fixed for it and didn't mind. Dromahair is +about twelve miles from Sligo, and they are hilly miles, so we knew that +we had at least three hours of this wet work ahead of us; but the people +working in the fields or plodding along the road paid no attention to +the rain, so why should we? In fact, most of them, though without any +sort of protection, seemed to be quite unconscious that it was raining +at all. + +And then, just when the rain was hardest, I saw to the left a circle of +stones crowning a little hill, and I knew it was a cashel. A cashel, as +I have explained already, is a fort made of stones, just as a rath is a +fort made of earth, both being in the form of a circle; and I knew I +could get pictures of raths without much difficulty, but I didn't know +when I would see another cashel; so I made the driver stop, and got my +camera out of the well, and started off through a field to get a picture +of this one, not heeding Betty's anxious inquiry if I had suddenly gone +mad. + +That field into which I plunged was thigh-deep with dripping grass, and +I didn't realise how wet it was until I was well into it, and then there +was nothing to do but go on. So I scrambled up the hill and took two +pictures, shielding my lens, as well as I could, against the driving +rain; and I hadn't any idea that the pictures would be good ones, but +they were, and one of them is opposite the next page. + +There was no vantage point from which I could take a picture which would +show the circular shape of the cashel; but it had been built in a +perfect circle about sixty feet in diameter. It was on top of a steep +hillock, of which it occupied nearly the whole summit. The walls, +pierced only by a single narrow entrance, were about six feet high, and +four or five feet thick, and the lower stones were very massive, as the +picture shows. They had been roughly dressed and laid without +mortar--the ancient Irish knew nothing of mortar, apparently, for all +these old stone circles are uncemented; but they had been so nicely +fitted that they were still in place after many centuries, though the +clambering ivy was doing its best to pull them down. + +Right in the middle of the circle was a great stone slab, flush with +the ground. The only use I could imagine for it was as a base for a +shrine or altar; but as I went down to the road again, an old man came +out of a little house to talk, and he said that some antiquarians from +Sligo, who believed the slab covered the entrance to a secret passage, +had taken it up and found beneath it, not a passage, but a beautifully +fitted pavement; and that the parish priest, investigating on his own +account, had dug up some wood ashes, and so decided that this was the +place where the fire was built. + +[Illustration: A CASHEL NEAR DROMAHAIR] + +[Illustration: ST. PATRICK'S HOLY WELL] + +"But no one knows," my informant rambled on. "Maybe some day some wise +man like yourself will be able to tell us what it was for." + +I remarked that the man who did so would have to be far wiser than I; +but he protested that he knew a wise man when he saw one; and I suspect +that there is a blarney stone in some of these ruins, which the general +public doesn't know about. + +I was sorry it was raining, for there was another cashel on a hill to +the right, and a great rath a little farther off, and I should have +liked to explore both of them; but really the weather was too bad, so I +went back reluctantly to the car, which our jarvey had driven close +under a clump of trees for shelter, and we were soon jogging contentedly +on again. + +The valley which slopes down here to Lough Gill seems very fertile, and +the little farms have a more prosperous look than is usual in Ireland. +This is partly due to the fact that a number of neat labourers' cottages +have been built to replace the usual tumbledown hovels, and still more +are going up. + +This erection of labourers' cottages, which is going on to-day all over +Ireland, seems to me almost as important as land purchase. If there is +any class of Irish more deserving of pity than another, it is the +agricultural labourer. He is worse off than the tenants; he has no land, +however poor, to cultivate, except perhaps a tiny patch in front of his +door; he has no means of livelihood except the unskilled labour of his +hands; if he can manage to earn ten shillings a week he is unusually +fortunate. In most cases, his average income throughout the year will be +scarcely half that. So naturally the labourers and their families live +in the most wretched of all the wretched hovels, in want, discomfort and +peril of disease. + +It is for the relief of these unfortunate people that the new houses are +being built. They are very plain; but they have large windows which can +be opened, and stone floors which can be cleaned, and tight slate roofs, +and sanitary outbuildings; and each of them has a half acre or so of +garden, where vegetables enough to support the family can be raised +during the summer; and they rent for from two to three shillings a +week--just enough to pay interest on the amount invested in the house, +with a small sinking fund for upkeep and repairs. The money needed is +borrowed from the government by the county council, and the council has +control of the houses, decides where they shall be built, what rent +shall be asked for them, and exercises a general supervision over the +tenants. + +The same thing is being done in the towns, where the insanitary +dwellings of the poorer artisans are being replaced by comfortable +houses, rented at a very low rate. Nearly a hundred thousand of these +cottages have been built within the past ten years, replacing as many +insanitary shacks, which, for the most part, have been torn down. The +shacks were much more picturesque, but nobody regrets them. And the +severely utilitarian aspect of the new dwellings will no doubt soon be +masked with vines and climbing roses. + +It was such cottages as this, then, that gave the valley sloping down to +Lough Gill an unusually prosperous appearance, and many more were in +course of erection throughout the neighbourhood. We padded past them, +along the road above the lake, between beautiful hedgerows, gay with +climbing roses; and then we turned away through a luxuriant wood, where +the bracken was almost waist-high and the trees were draped with moss +and ferns, just as we had seen them along the southern coast. And then +we passed through a gate and jolted down a very rough and narrow lane; +and finally our driver stopped at the edge of a wood, and pointed to a +path running away under the trees. + +"'Tis the path to St. Patrick's holy well," he said; and we clambered +down, and made our way under the trees and up the hillside, and there +before us was the well. + +It is a lively spring, which bubbles up from the ground in considerable +volume, fills a deep basin, and then sparkles away down into the valley. +A wall has been built around it, with an opening on one side, and steps +by which one may descend and drink of the magic water. Just above it on +the hillside is a shrine, something like the one we had seen at St. +Senan's well--really an altar, where, I suppose, Mass may be +celebrated; and it was crowded with figurines of the Virgin and small +crucifixes and rosaries and sacred pictures, and the bushes all about +were tied with rags and strings and other tokens which the pilgrims to +the shrine had left behind. + +This well is a very famous one, and the number of pilgrims who come to +it prove how general is the belief in its powers. It is really a belief +in the power of prayer, for prayer is always necessary. I tried to get a +picture of the well and the shrine above it, but it was very dark under +the trees, and there was no place where I could rest my camera for a +time exposure; but the photograph opposite page 408, is better than I +had any reason to expect. + +We found that the rain had ceased when we came out from under the trees, +and we jogged happily back to the highroad and on towards Sligo; and +presently far ahead the bay opened out, rimmed by romantic hills, green +nearly to the summit, and then culminating in steep escarpments of grey +rock; and beneath us in the valley lay the roofs and spires of the town, +and we were soon rattling through its streets. + +We went back to the hotel to change out of our wet things and get a cup +of hot chocolate; and then we took a last stroll about the streets, and +stopped to see the church of St. John, said to be older than the abbey, +but recently restored and now used by a Church of Ireland congregation. +The graveyard about it is full of interesting tombs, and the street it +fronts is one of the most romantic in the town. Indeed, the whole town +is interesting; its greatest drawback for the visitor being the beggars +who infest it, and who are nearly as pertinacious as those at Killarney. + +We went back to the hotel, at last, and told the proprietor that we were +going to Bundoran by the four o'clock train. + +"You will make a great mistake," he protested, "to leave Sligo without +going around Lough Gill." + +It was then I had my revenge. + +"We have been around Lough Gill," I explained sweetly. "That's where we +were this morning." + + * * * * * + +It is no easy task to travel along the west coast of Ireland. The great +bays which indent it, running far inland, and the mountain ranges which +tower one behind the other, make it impossible to follow anything like a +straight line. The only thing to do is to zig-zag around them. Our +journey, that afternoon, was a striking example of this. Bundoran lies +twenty-two miles north along the coast from Sligo; but to get there by +rail, it was necessary to travel ninety-two--forty-eight miles +north-eastward to Enniskillen, and then forty-four miles westward to the +coast again. + +The road to Enniskillen parallels Lough Gill, though it is so hemmed in +by hills that we caught no glimpse of the water; and then proceeds +across a dreary bog, climbing up and up with a wide valley opening to +the south; and then runs into woodland and even orchards--the first, I +think, that we had seen in Ireland; and then drops down toward +Enniskillen, whose name lives in English history as that of one of the +most famous of its regiments. It is said to be a pretty town, nestling +between two lakes and entirely water-girt; but we did not stop to see +it. + +We changed instead to the Bundoran line, which runs along the northern +shore of Lough Erne; and we found the train crowded with people, on +their way to spend the week-end at that famous resort; at least so we +supposed, but when we got to Pettigoe, there was a crowd on the +platform, waving flags and shouting, and as the train stopped somebody +set off a series of bombs; and most of the passengers piled out of the +train to take part in the celebration; and then we saw a man and woman +standing rather sheepishly in front of another man, who was evidently +delivering an address of welcome. We asked the guard what it was all +about, and he said that the citizens of Pettigoe were welcoming home a +fellow-townsman who had gone to Australia and won a fortune and also a +wife--or perhaps I should put it the other way around--and had come back +to Pettigoe to live. + +I was half-inclined to get off there myself, in order to visit St. +Patrick's Purgatory, a famous place of pilgrimage on an island in Lough +Derg, five miles away; but from the map it looked as though it would be +possible to drive over from Donegal, which would be much more +convenient. I found out afterwards that there is a mountain range +between Donegal and Lough Derg, and no direct road over it; so we did +not get to visit the island where, so legend says, St. Patrick had a +vision of purgatory, and which became so celebrated that pilgrims +flocked to it from all over Europe. The time prescribed for the +ceremonies is from the first of June to the middle of August, and the +island is often so crowded with penitents performing the rounds that +visitors are not permitted to land. + +Our train moved on, after the address of welcome was concluded, and we +could see the blue waters of Lough Erne stretching away to the south, +while westward the sun was setting in a glory of crimson clouds; and +presently the broad estuary of the Erne opened below us, hemmed in with +high banks of yellow sand; and then we were at Bundoran--a bathing +resort, consisting of a single street of boarding-houses facing the sea; +and a little farther on, a great hotel, built on a projecting point of +the cliffs. As we paused at its door to look about us, we realised that +we had come very far indeed from primitive Connemara, for the first +thing which met our eyes was a huge sign: + + BEWARE OF GOLF BALLS! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE WINING BANKS OF ERNE + + +THE weather god was certainly good to us in Ireland. The occasional +showers and two or three heavy downpours were merely short interludes, +and by no means unpleasant ones, in the long succession of sweetly +beautiful days which I remember when I run my mind back over those +delightful weeks. That day at Bundoran was one of them, soft and +fragrant and altogether perfect. + +There is nothing Irish about Bundoran except its climate--not, at least, +if one stays at the hotel which has been built there by the Great +Northern Railroad, and which is one of the most satisfactory hotels I +was ever in. And perhaps it would be as well to say a word here about +Irish hotels. + +The small, friendly inn, which is one of the delights of European +travel, does not exist in Ireland; or, if it does, it is so carelessly +managed that it is not endurable. Commercial hotels are also apt to be +inferior. The only hotels that are sure to be pleasant and satisfactory +are the large ones which cater to tourist traffic. In the more important +towns, of course, there is never any difficulty in finding a good hotel; +in the smaller towns, the only safe rule is to go to the best in the +place, and if there is one managed by the railway, that is usually the +one to choose. + +Some years ago, the Irish railways realised that the surest way to +encourage tourist traffic in the west and south was to provide +attractive hotel accommodations, and they set about doing this with the +result that the traveller in Ireland is now well provided for. Such +hotels as those at Bundoran, Recess and Parknasilla--and there are many +others like them, handsome buildings, splendidly equipped, set in the +midst of beautiful surroundings--leave nothing to be desired. Nor are +their rates excessive, considering the excellent service they offer, +averaging a little over three dollars a day. In the smaller towns, the +tariff is considerably less than this, though the service is almost as +good. In places where the railroad does not itself own or manage a +hotel, it usually sees to it that at least one under private management +is kept up to a satisfactory standard. So no one wishing to explore +Ireland need hesitate on account of the hotels. They will be found, with +a few exceptions, surprisingly good. + +[Illustration: THE COAST AT BUNDORAN] + +[Illustration: THE HOME OF "COLLEEN BAWN"] + +The hotel at Bundoran is set close to the edge of the scarred and +weather-beaten cliffs, which look right out over the Atlantic toward +America. It was along the top of these cliffs that we set out, that +Sunday morning, and below us lay the strand where three galleons of the +Spanish Armada went to pieces, as they were staggering homewards from +the battle in the Channel. From time to time, an effort is made to find +these "treasure ships," but, though cannon and anchors and such-like +gear have been recovered, no one as yet has found any treasure. + +The great waves which roll right in from the Atlantic, and which proved +too much for the galleons, have worn the cliffs into the most fantastic +shapes; and a little way above the hotel there is a natural arch, +called the Fairy Bridge, some twenty-five feet wide, which the water has +cut in the rocks. When the tide comes in, it may be seen boiling and +bubbling below the bridge, as in a witch's cauldron. Most beautiful of +all is a wide yellow strand, a little farther on, with the rollers +breaking far out and sweeping in, in white-topped majesty. We sat for a +long time watching them, rolling in in long lines one behind the other; +and then we scrambled down to the beach through the bare and shifting +dunes. Seen thus from below, the black cliffs are most impressive. + +We went on again, at last, over the upland toward a wide-flung camp, +where the Fourth Inniskillens were getting their summer practice; and +one of the men directed us how to find a cromlech and a cairn, which we +knew were there somewhere, but which we were unable to see amid the +innumerable ridges. From the cairn, which crowns a little eminence +overlooking the Erne estuary, there was supposed to be, so our +acquaintance said, an underground passage to the other side of the +river, where stands the old castle of the Ffolliotts; but as the estuary +is at least a mile wide, I doubt if this ever existed except in the +imagination of the country-side. The castle is there, however,--we could +see its towers looming above the trees; but there was no way to get to +it, that day, for the river lay between. I was determined to see it +closer before we left the neighbourhood, because it was from that castle +that the fair Colleen Bawn eloped with Willy Reilly. + +Farther down the stream, a two-masted schooner lay wrecked beside a +sand-bank, and across from us some soldiers were fishing in tiny boats, +while a company was going through some manoeuvres on the shore, so far +away they looked like a company of ants deploying this way and that. For +a long time we watched them; then we bade our companion good-bye, and +went slowly back through the bracken, where Betty picked a great bouquet +of primroses and violets and blue-bells; and we stumbled upon another +ancient burial-place; and stopped at the ruins of an old church; and got +back finally to the hotel to find the golf-links full of industrious +players. + +Betty got into talk with the owner of a shaggy English sheep-dog--shaggy +clear to its feet, and looking for all the world like Nana, the +accomplished nurse of the Darling children; and I went on down to the +beach to watch the tide come in. It was swirling threateningly about the +black rocks; and out at the farthest point of them I found a man +sitting. He invited me to sit down beside him, and we fell into talk. He +was a handsome old fellow, a barrister from Dublin, who had come clear +across Ireland (which isn't as far as it sounds) to get a breath of sea +air. There was no air like the Bundoran air, he said, and two or three +days of it did him a world of good. And then we began to talk about +Ireland; and I was guilty of the somewhat banal remark that, before +Ireland could make any real progress, life there would have to be made +attractive enough to keep her young people at home, for she could never +hope to get ahead as long as her best blood was drained away from her. + +He pooh-poohed the idea. + +"The best advice you can give any Irish man or Irish girl," he said, +"is to leave the country the first chance they get; and that will always +be good advice, because there will never be anything here for them to +do. All this talk about the revival of industry is foolish. You can't +revive what's dead; and industry here has been dead for three hundred +years. Besides this is an agricultural country, and it will never be +anything else; and over wide stretches of it, grazing pays better than +tillage will ever do, so grazing there will be. Home Rule will make no +difference--how can it? I suppose we're going to get it, and I'll be +glad to see it come, if only to stop this ceaseless agitation; but as +for its reviving any industries, or increasing wages, or making Ireland +a place for ambitious young people to live in--I don't believe it." + +"You don't foresee a roseate future, then?" + +"Not for Ireland. All these schemes for land purchase and new cottages +and pensions and so on may make life here a little more comfortable than +it has been; but this country has been in a lethargy for centuries, and +it will never be shaken off. The Irish have no ambition; they just live +along from day to day without any thought for the future; and they will +always be like that. It's their nature." + +He would doubtless have said more to the same effect, for he was very +much in earnest, but the rising tide drove us in, and I did not see him +again. + + * * * * * + +The picturesque old town of Ballyshannon is only a few miles from +Bundoran, and we took train for it next morning, after a last stroll +along the cliffs and a look at the "rock-pool," a treasure-house of +fossils and marine growths of every kind. First of all, we wanted to +see the Colleen Bawn castle, so we got a car at the station, and set +out. + +Ballyshannon, after the fashion of Irish towns, is built on the side of +a hill, and no horse unaccustomed to mountaineering could have got up +the street which leads from the river; but our horse had been reared in +the town, so he managed to scramble up; and then we turned to the left +and followed along the river to the falls--a dashing mass of spray, +where the whole body of water which rushes down from Lough Erne sweeps +roaring over a cliff some thirty feet high. Two or three miles along +country roads brought us to a gate; and here our driver, looking a +little anxious, had a short conference with a woman who lived in a neat +labourer's cottage near by; and finally he opened the gate and drove +through. + +Half a mile along this lane brought us to another gate; and there our +driver stopped, and showed us the castle just ahead, and said that was +all the farther he could go, and that we would have to walk the rest of +the way. There was a certain constraint in his manner which I did not +understand till afterwards. + +We went on through the gate, and across what had once been the demesne, +but had been swept bare of trees, and was now divided between a meadow +and a stable-yard, and in a few minutes we stood before the castle which +was the scene of a romance very dear to Irish hearts. It is not really a +castle, but merely a tall and ugly house, with three bays and a low +terrace in front, and it is not very old, since it dates only from 1739, +when it was built as the home of the Ffolliotts, a powerful English +family into whose hands this whole neighbourhood had fallen. The +Ffolliotts, of course, were Protestants, and Willy Reilly was a +Catholic; but Helen Ffolliott was so ill-advised as to fall in love with +him, and one night packed up her jewels and eloped. A hue and cry was +raised after them, and they were soon captured, and Reilly was thrown +into Sligo jail, and it looked for a while as though he might be +"stretched," for all this happened about 1745, when the penal laws +against Catholics were most severe. But the fair Helen came to the +rescue, and swore at the trial that she had been the leader in the +affair, not Reilly, and so he escaped with a sentence of banishment. +What happened thereafter history does not state; but Will Carleton, who +wove a poor romance about the affair, manages to reunite the lovers in +the end. + +It is not to be wondered at that Reilly became a popular hero. Here was +a young and handsome Catholic, who, in the most daring way, had captured +the heart of a great Protestant heiress, the daughter of a persecutor of +Catholics, and, in addition, a girl so lovely that she was the toast of +the whole country-side. The ballad which celebrated the affair had an +immense vogue. It is a real ballad, rough and halting, but rudely +eloquent. You remember how it starts: + + "Oh! rise up, Willy Reilly, and come alongst with me, + I mean for to go with you and leave this countrie, + To leave my father's dwelling, his houses and fine lands;" + And away goes Willy Reilly and his dear Colleen Bawn. + +In the ballad, the family is called Folliard, which is the way the name +is still pronounced in the neighbourhood; but the old mansion is now +occupied by a tenant. And pretty soon we understood our jarvey's +uneasiness, for first a man came to the front door and looked at us, and +then went quickly in again; and then an old woman opened the side door, +and glared at us, and when we asked if we might have a glimpse of the +interior, slammed the door in our faces. I must give her credit, +however, for restraining a particularly savage-looking dog eager to be +at us. But it was evident we weren't wanted there, for even the turkey +gobbler resented our visit, and strutted fiercely about us, trying to +scare us out. So we went back to the car, and our jarvey breathed a sigh +of relief when he saw us. + +"Sure, I didn't know whether you'd come back alive or not," he said. +"The master is away from home the day, and the woman that does work for +him wouldn't be above settin' the dog on you. But it's all right, glory +be to God," and he climbed up to his box and drove us back to +Ballyshannon. + +We left our luggage at the station of the Donegal narrow-gauge railway, +and then walked down into the town. We found it a quaint place, with the +friendliest of people; and we were fortunate in discovering a clean inn +on the main street, where we had the nicest of lunches, after which we +set off to see the abbey. + +The road to the abbey lies through a deep, romantic dell, at the bottom +of which we found a grain mill working, its great wheel turned by the +brook which rushes through the glen; and a little farther on were four +or five other mills, all fallen to decay, their wheels mere skeletons, +and their machinery red with rust. Just beyond, a little higher up the +hill, stands all that is left of the abbey, a few shattered fragments of +the old walls. Yet the abbey was, in its day, a great foundation, +patronised by the mighty Prince of Tyrconnell, and taking its name of +Assaroe from the falls in the river--Eas Aedha Ruaidh, the Waterfall of +Red Hugh, who was High King of Erin about three centuries before Christ, +and who was swept over the falls and drowned while trying to cross the +ford above them. A boy who played about the ruins described them, when +he grew to manhood, in a musical stanza: + + Grey, grey is Abbey Assaroe, by Ballyshanny town, + It has neither door nor window, the walls are broken down; + The carven stones lie scattered in briars and nettle-bed; + The only feet are those that come at burial of the dead. + A little rocky rivulet runs murmuring to the tide, + Singing a song of ancient days, in sorrow, not in pride; + The bore-tree and the lightsome ash across the portal grow, + And heaven itself is now the roof of Abbey Assaroe. + +We had heard certain legends of underground passages, which could still +be explored, and we asked an old man who was cutting grass in the +graveyard if he knew anything about them, and he said that he did not. +We remarked that it was a hard task cutting the grass around the +gravestones; and he said it was so, and would not be worth doing but +that the grass was given to him for the cutting; but the guardians were +unreasonable men who wanted it cut long before it was ready--it ought +really to stand a week longer, now, but them ones would not wait! + +We went back past the mill, and met a man in flour-besprinkled clothes, +who bade us good-day and stopped to talk; and it proved to be the +miller. He invited us in to see the mill, which was grinding Russian +corn, very red and hard, into yellow meal which was used for feeding +cattle. We tried to tell him something of the delights of corn-bread and +griddle-cakes, but he was plainly sceptical. + +He was an Ulster man, and had been running the mill for three years, but +he said it was a hard struggle to make both ends meet. If it was not +that his power cost him nothing, he would have had to give it up long +ago. Power apart, I could imagine no poorer place for a mill, for it was +at least two miles from the railway, and the road into the hollow was so +steep that it must be a terrific struggle to get a loaded wagon into or +out of it. There had been a number of mills in the neighbourhood at one +time, but they had all given up the struggle long ago, except one flour +mill, which had somehow managed to survive. + +We told him that we had seen the ruins of some of them as we went to the +abbey. + +"Have you been to the abbey?" he asked. "Did you see the underground +passages?" + +"Are there really some?" + +"Come along, and I'll show you." + +We protested that we didn't want him to leave his work, but he said the +mill could take care of itself for awhile; and we started off together +up the hill, through a gate to the right, and then knee-deep through the +grass to the brook which ran at the bottom of the ravine, under the +walls of the monastery. And there, sure enough, was the mouth of a +passage cut in the solid rock of the bank. It was about six feet high +by three wide, and ran in about a hundred feet, for all the world like +the entrance to a mine. How much farther it extended I don't know, for +an iron gate had been put across it to keep out explorers; but there can +be no doubt that, at one time, it connected with the abbey itself, and +formed a secret means of ingress and egress, which was no doubt often +very convenient. + +And then our guide showed us something else, which was far more +interesting. In the penal days, Catholic priests were forbidden to +celebrate Mass under the severest penalties; but nevertheless they +managed to hold a service now and then in some out of the way place, +carefully concealed, with sentries posted all about to guard against +surprise. A short distance down stream from the entrance to the secret +passage was a shallow cave in the cliff, so overhung with ivy that it +could scarcely be seen, and here, many times, the Catholics of the +neighbourhood had gathered at word that a priest would celebrate Mass. +On the heights all about lookouts would be placed, and then the men and +women would kneel before the mouth of the little cave and take part in +the sacrament. + +At the back of the cave, the shelf of rock which served as the altar +still remains, and at one side of it is a rude piscina--a basin hollowed +in the rock, with a small hole in the bottom to drain it; and it was +here the vessels used in the celebration of the Mass were washed, after +the service was over. I wanted mightily to get a picture of this cave, +but it had started to shower, and though I got under the umbrella and +made an exposure, the picture was a failure. + +We bade our guide good-bye, with many thanks for his kindness, and went +slowly back along the highroad toward Ballyshannon; and presently from a +tiny cottage beside the road two old women issued and greeted us with +great cordiality. They were clean and neatly dressed, and the younger +one, who did most of the talking, seemed to be quite unusually +interested in our private history and solicitous for our welfare, and +the blarney with which her tongue plastered us was the most finished I +have ever listened to. We thanked her for her good wishes, and were +about to go on, much pleased at this new demonstration of Irish +cordiality, when we had a rude awakening. + +"Ah, your honour," she said, "would you not be giving me something for +my poor sister here? You see she is all twisted with rheumatism, and can +scarcely walk, and the medicine do be costing so much that she often +must go without it. Just a small coin, God bless ye." + +I didn't want to give her anything, for I suspected that she made a +practice of waylaying passers-by and begging from them; and then I +looked at the older woman, who was standing by with her hands crossed +before her, and I saw how the fingers were twisted and withered and how +the face was drawn with pain--so I compromised by dropping sixpence into +the outstretched hand. + +"If your honour would only be makin' it eightpence now," the woman said +quickly; "we can get three bottles of castor-oil for eightpence--" + +But the other woman stopped her. + +"No, no," she protested; "take shame to yourself for askin' the kind +gentleman for more. We thank your honour, and God bless ye, and may He +bring ye safe home." + +And the other woman joined in the blessings too, and they continued to +bless us, considerably to our embarrassment, until we were out of +ear-shot. + +Betty had had enough of Ballyshannon; besides, the showers were coming +with increasing force and frequency; so she elected to go back to the +railway station and rest, while I wandered about for a last look at the +town. And now, I suppose, I shall have to say a word about its history. + +All this country to the north of Lough Erne is Tyrone--Tir Owen, the +Province of Owen--and was once a great principality, which stretched +eastward clear to the shore of the Channel about Belfast. Northwest of +it, answering roughly to the present county of Donegal, was +Tyrconnell--Tir Connell, the Province of Connell; and Connell and Owen +were brothers, sons of Nial of the Nine Hostages, who was King of +Ireland from 379 to 405, and whose eight sons cut Ireland up between +them into the principalities which were, in time, by their own +internecine warfare, to make Ireland incapable of defending herself +against the invader. Saint Patrick, about 450, found Connell in his +castle on Lough Erne and baptised him; and then he journeyed north to +Owen's great fortress, which we shall see before long on a hill +overlooking Lough Swilly, and baptised him. + +Five centuries later, when Brian Boru had brought all Ireland to +acknowledge his kingship, he decreed that every family should take a +surname from some distinguished ancestor, and so began the era of the +O's and the Macs. The two great clans of Tyrone and Tyrconnell chose the +names of O'Neill and O'Donnell, and the river Erne was the frontier of +the O'Donnell domain. There was a ford here at Ballyshannon, and so, of +course, a castle to guard it, and many were the herds of lifted cattle +which the O'Donnells, sallying south into Sligo, drove back before them +into Donegal. Cattle was the principal form of property in those old +days--about the only kind, at least, that could be stolen--and so it was +always cattle that the raiders went after. + +The English brought a great force against the place in 1597, and for +three days besieged the castle and tried unavailingly to carry it by +assault; and then the O'Donnell clans poured down from the hills, and +the English, seeing themselves trapped, tried to cross the river at the +ford just above the falls; and the strongest managed to get across, but +the women and the wounded and the weak were swept away. + +There is no trace remaining of the castle, but just below the graceful +bridge of stone which crosses the river is the ford over which the +English poured that day, and an ugly ford it is, for the water runs deep +and strong, quickening at its lower edge into the rapids above the +falls. From the centre of this bridge, some twenty-five years ago, the +ashes of one of Ireland's truest poets were scattered on the swift, +smooth-running water and carried down to the sea, and a tablet marks the +spot: + + WILLIAM ALLINGHAM + A Native of This Town + Born 1824; died 1889. + + Here once he roved, a happy boy, + Along the winding banks of Erne, + And now, please God, with finer joy, + A fairer world his eyes discern. + +It is certainly a halting quatrain, quite unworthy the immortality of +marble. A couplet from Allingham's own poem in praise of his birthplace +would have been far more fitting; but I suppose that the lines on the +tablet were composed by some local dignitary, and that nobody dared tell +him how bad they were. I know of no more graceful tribute to any town +than Allingham paid to Ballyshannon in his "Winding Banks of Erne." The +first stanza gives a savour of its quality: + + Adieu to Ballyshanny, where I was bred and born; + Go where I may, I'll think of you, as sure as night and morn: + The kindly spot, the friendly town, where everyone is known, + And not a face in all the place but partly seems my own; + There's not a house or window, there's not a field or hill, + But east or west, in foreign lands, I'll recollect them still; + I leave my warm heart with you, though my back I'm forced to turn-- + Adieu to Ballyshanny, and the winding banks of Erne. + +You will note that the savour is the same as that of the lines I have +already quoted describing Abbey Assaroe, and of course the same hand +wrote them. I wish I could quote the whole poem to Ballyshannon, for it +is worth quoting, but one more stanza must suffice, the last one: + + If ever I'm a moneyed man, I mean, please God, to cast + My golden anchor in the place where youthful years were passed; + Though heads that now are black or brown must meanwhile gather grey, + New faces rise by every hearth, and old ones drop away-- + Yet dearer still that Irish hill than all the world beside; + It's home, sweet home, where'er I roam, through lands and waters wide. + And if the Lord allows me, I surely will return + To my native Ballyshanny, and the winding banks of Erne. + +His birthplace is not far away--one of a row of plain old stone houses +standing in the Mall, with a tablet: + + WILLIAM ALLINGHAM + Poet + Born in This House + 19th March, 1824 + +I walked on past it, down to the river below the falls, where, close to +the water's edge, a seat has been placed under a rustic canopy, and I +sat there for a long time and watched the foaming water rushing over the +cliff, with a crash and roar which, as Allingham says, is the voice of +the town, "solemn, persistent, humming through the air day and night, +summer and winter. Whenever I think of that town, I seem to hear the +voice. The river which makes it, runs over rocky ledges into the tide. +Before, spreads a great ocean in sunshine or storm; behind stretches a +many-islanded lake. On the south runs a wavy line of blue mountains; and +on the north, over green, rocky hills, rise peaks of a more distant +range." + +[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF WILLIAM ALLINGHAM] + +[Illustration: CASTLE DONEGAL] + +It is up from the ocean the salmon come in the spring, seeking a place +to spawn, and before they can get into the "many-islanded lake," they +have to pass the falls. It is a ten-foot leap, even at flood-tide; but +they take it, and a beautiful sight it must be to see them do it. But I +saw none that day. Just below the falls is a little island, Inis-Saimer, +said to be the spot where the Firbolgs, the earliest inhabitants of +Ireland, first touched foot to Irish soil. It is given over now to some +small buildings connected with the fishery, which is very valuable. +There were a number of boats out, that day, with fishermen in them +patiently whipping the water, but I did not see any fish caught. + +Ballyshannon is not, I judge, so prosperous as it once was, for across +the river from where I sat were a number of tall mills and warehouses, +empty and evidently dropping to decay. But it is more bustling than many +other towns in Ireland, and has perhaps not sunk quite so deeply into +the Slough of Despond. And then again, as the towering mass of the +Belfast Bank in the main street warned me as I walked back through the +village, we were getting nearer to the hustling north! + +The little train we were to take for Donegal backed up to the platform +soon after I reached the station. It is a narrow-gauge road, and the +coaches are miniature affairs, scarcely high enough to stand up in, as +we found when we entered. And just then the heavens opened, and the rain +poured down in sheets. We closed door and windows, and congratulated +ourselves that we were snug and dry--and then the other passengers began +to arrive, soaked through and dripping wet; and as the train consisted +of only two coaches, our compartment was soon invaded by two women and +two girls, whose gowns were fairly plastered to them. They dried +themselves as well as they could, but little streams of water continued +to trickle off of them for half an hour. + +The road runs through a bare, bleak valley for the first part of the +way, clinging perilously to the hillside, and then climbs steeply over +the watershed into the valley of the Ballintra, which is green and +smiling and apparently prosperous; and at last winds down along the +shore of Donegal Bay, through a district of orchards and lush meadows +and beautiful hedges and comfortable houses, and so into the picturesque +town--Dunna-Gall, the Fort of the Strangers--the ancient seat of the +O'Donnells; but to me Donegal, town and county, has one connotation +which overshadows all others, and that is with Father O'Flynn. Just +where he lived I don't know, but the tribute which Alfred Perceval +Graves paid him is the most eloquent ever paid in rhyme to any +priest--and, as a comment upon the efforts of selfish politicians to fan +the flame of religious bigotry in Ireland, it is worth remembering that +it was written by a Protestant! Do you know the poem? Well, if you do, +you will be glad to read it again, and if you do not, you will have +every reason to thank me for introducing you to it; so, just to give +myself the pleasure of writing it, I am going to quote it entire, for it +would be a crime to leave out a line of it. + +FATHER O'FLYNN + + Of priests we can offer a charmin' variety, + Far renowned for larnin' and piety; + Still, I'd advance ye widout impropriety, + Father O'Flynn as the flower of them all. + Here's a health to you, Father O'Flynn, + _Slainte_ and _slainte_ and _slainte_ agin; + Powerfulest preacher, and + Tinderest teacher, and + Kindliest creature in ould Donegal. + + Don't talk of your Provost and Fellows of Trinity, + Famous forever at Greek and Latinity, + Faix! and the divels and all at Divinity-- + Father O'Flynn'd make hares of them all! + Come, I vinture to give ye my word, + Niver the likes of his logic was heard, + Down from mythology + Into thayology, + Troth! and conchology if he'd the call. + + Och! Father O'Flynn, you've the wonderful way wid you, + All ould sinners are wishful to pray wid you, + All the young childer are wild for to play wid you, + You've such a way wid you, Father avick! + Still, for all you've so gentle a soul, + Gad, you've your flock in the grandest control, + Checking the crazy ones, + Coaxin' onaisy ones, + Liftin' the lazy ones on wid the stick. + + And, though quite avoidin' all foolish frivolity, + Still, at all seasons of innocent jollity, + Where was the play-boy could claim an equality + At comicality, Father, wid you? + Once the Bishop looked grave at your jest, + Till this remark set him off wid the rest: + "Is it lave gaiety + All to the laity? + Cannot the clargy be Irishmen too?" + +There is a quaint old inn in Donegal, with dining and sitting rooms +crowded with "curiosities" gathered from the four quarters of the globe +by the proprietor, who was once a soldier; and his daughter looks after +the comfort of the guests; and we had there that night a most satisfying +dinner. And then, as it was still quite light, I filled my pipe and +started out to stroll about the town; but I hadn't gone far when I heard +a bell being rung with great violence, and when I looked again, I saw +the small boy who was ringing it; and when he passed me, I asked him +what the matter was, and he handed me a poster, printed most gorgeously +in red and black, and these were the first lines of it: + + TOWN HALL, DONEGAL + + Monday Evg., June 23rd, 1913 + + MONSTER ATTRACTION + + Powerful Performance! + For the Benefit of Mr. Joe Cullen, + The Donegal Old Favourite + On which occasion the ladies and + gentlemen of the Donegal Amateur + Dramatic and Variety Club will + Appear. + +Then followed the programme. There were to be four scenes from "The Ever +Popular Play Entitled Robert Emmet," also "The Laughable Sketch Entitled +The Cottage by the Sea," also "The Irish Farce, Miss Muldowedy from +Ireland," the whole to be interspersed with variety turns by members of +the club, as well as Mr. Cullen. "Don't Miss This Treat," the poster +concluded. "Motto, 'Fun without Vulgarity.'" + +Blessing the chance which had brought us to Donegal upon this day, I +hastened back to the hotel, showed the poster to Betty, and three +minutes later, we were sallying forth in quest of the town-hall, whose +entrance proved to be up a little court just across the street. The +prices of admission, so the bill announced, were "2s., 1s. and 6d.," and +I consulted with the abashed young man at the door as to which seats we +should take. He advised the shilling ones, and we thereupon paid and +entered. I wondered afterwards where the two shilling seats were, for +the shilling ones were the best in the house. + +Although it was nearly time for the performance to begin, we were almost +the first arrivals; but we soon heard heavy feet mounting the stair, and +quite a crowd of men and boys began to file into the sixpenny seats at +the rear. A few girls and women came forward into the shilling seats; +but from the look of them, I suspected that they were deadheads, and I +fear that Mr. Cullen did not reap a great fortune from that benefit! + +There was a tiny stage at one end of the hall, and the stage-manager, +after the habit of all such, was having his troubles, for he could not +get the footlights--a strip of gas-pipe with holes in it--to work. We +thought for a while that he was going to blow himself up, and the whole +house along with him; but he gave up the struggle, at last; the pianist +played an overture, and the curtain rose. + +I have never seen the whole of "Robert Emmet," but from what I saw of it +that night, I judge that it must have been written for a star, for +nobody does much talking except Emmet himself. He, however, does a lot; +and it was fortunate that, in this instance, he was impersonated by Mr. +Cullen, for I am sure none of the other actors could have learned the +part. Mr. Cullen proved to be a hatchet-faced old gentleman without any +teeth; but he had a pleasing voice, and Emmet's grandiloquent speech +from the dock was greeted with applause. + +Of the two farces I will say nothing, except that they were really not +so bad as one would expect, once the actors had recovered from their +embarrassment when they perceived two strangers present; but the feature +of the evening was the songs, which were many and various and +well-rendered. I remember only one of them, which we then heard for the +first time, but which we were to hear many times thereafter, a lilting, +catchy air, in which the audience assisted with the chorus, which ran +something like this: + + It's a long way to Tipperary, + It's a long way to go; + It's a long way to Tipperary, + The sweetest land I know. + Good-bye, Piccadilly, + Farewell, Leicester Square; + It's a long, long way to Tipperary, + But my heart is there. + +It is the old, old theme of the Irish exile longing for home; the theme +of I know not how many poems, from the time of St. Columba, banished +overseas and "thinking long" of + + Derry mine, my own oak grove, + Little cell, my home, my love; + +down through Father Dollard's lilting "Song of the Little Villages": + + The pleasant little villages that grace the Irish glynns + Down among the wheat-fields--up amid the whins; + The little white-walled villages, crowding close together, + Clinging to the Old Sod in spite of wind and weather: + Ballytarsney, Ballymore, Ballyboden, Boyle, + Ballingarry, Ballymagorry by the Banks of Foyle, + Ballylaneen, Ballyporeen, Bansha, Ballysadare, + Ballybrack, Ballinalack, Barna, Ballyclare, + +to the tender verses by Stephen Gwynne with which I will close this +already, perhaps, too-poetical chapter: + + Ireland, oh, Ireland! centre of my longings, + Country of my fathers, home of my heart, + Overseas you call me, "Why an exile from me? + Wherefore sea-severed, long leagues apart?" + + As the shining salmon, homeless in the sea-depths, + Hears the river call him, scents out the land, + Leaps and rejoices in the meeting of the waters, + Breasts weir and torrent, nests him in the sand; + + Lives there and loves; yet with the year's returning, + Rusting in his river, pines for the sea; + Sweeps down again to the ripple of the tideway, + Roamer of the ocean, vagabond and free. + + Wanderer am I, like the salmon of thy rivers; + London is my ocean, murmurous and deep, + Tossing and vast; yet through the roar of London + Reaches me thy summons, calls me in sleep. + + Pearly are the skies in the country of my fathers, + Purple are thy mountains, home of my heart: + Mother of my yearning, love of all my longings, + Keep me in remembrance, long leagues apart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE MAIDEN CITY + + +ASs far back as its history goes, Donegal was the seat of the +O'Donnells, that powerful clan of which the choicest flowers were Hugh +Roe and Red Hugh, and here they had their castle, on a small bluff +overlooking the waters of the River Eask. It still stands there, +remarkably well-preserved considering its vicissitudes, one of the +handsomest semi-fortified buildings in existence anywhere. It is by far +the most interesting thing to be seen in the town of Donegal, and we set +out for it immediately after breakfast next morning. + +Donegal we found by daylight to be a pleasant little town, with a single +street of two-storied houses curving down over the hill toward the +river, and a few narrow lanes branching off from it, after the +traditional fashion of the Irish village. The castle is nestled in a +bend of the river, which defends it on two sides, and there is still a +trace of the moat which used to defend the other two. The best view of +it is from the bridge crossing the river, and surprisingly beautiful it +is, with its gabled towers and square bartizan turrets and mullioned +windows. The picture opposite this page shows how the castle looks from +the land side, with one of the square turrets, perfectly preserved; but +the mullioned windows are the most striking feature of this side of the +building, which was the domestic side, and so had larger openings than +the one overlooking the river, which was more open to attack. + +Just when the castle was built no one knows, but it was thoroughly +restored and largely added to by Sir Basil Brooke, to whom it was +granted after the confiscation in 1610, when the power of the O'Donnells +was finally broken. Red Hugh was really the last of the line, and his +short life of twenty-eight years was more crowded with adventure than +that of most heroes of romance. + +He was the son of Hugh O'Donnell, head of the clan, and of a +high-spirited daughter of the Lord of the Isles, Innen Dhu Mac Donnell, +whom Hugh of the Red Hair resembled in more ways than one. He was +kidnapped by the English when only thirteen, and taken to Dublin and +imprisoned in the castle there, as a hostage for his father's good +behaviour. A year later, he managed to escape; was recaptured, escaped +again; and, by remarkable cunning and daring, eluded the pursuers who +were close after him, and got through to Donegal. + +He arrived there to find a great force of English camped about the +place; but, half dead with exposure as he was, he mustered a force of +his clansmen, marched on the English and put them to rout--a good +beginning for a boy of fourteen. From that time forward, he was the +firebrand which kept all Ireland alight against the invaders; but at +last, as has happened so frequently in Irish history, a traitor in his +own camp overthrew him--his cousin and brother-in-law, Nial Garv the +Fierce, who, being older than Hugh, thought that he should have had the +O'Donnellship and been crowned at the Rock of Doon, and so grew jealous +of the red haired lad, and ended by going over to the English. + +There was red battle between them after that, and the English were +treated to the pleasant spectacle of Irishmen slaying each other; but +Hugh was called away to Kinsale to join the Spaniards, stopping at Holy +Cross on the way, as we have seen, for the Abbot's blessing, and then +going on to a ruinous defeat. He went to Spain, after that, to plead for +more help, and died there, of poison it is said, at the age of +twenty-eight, and lies buried at Valladolid. + +His brother, Rory O'Donnell, was recognised by the English and made Earl +of Tyrconnell, but at the end of a year or two he found himself so +surrounded with intrigue that, in fear for his life, he gathered up such +of his belongings as he could and fled the country. O'Neill, Earl of +Tyrone, fled with him, and this "flight of the earls" was the end of +Irish power in the north of Ireland, for their estates were declared +forfeit, and divided among adherents of the English court. Nial Garv, +who had contributed so much to the O'Donnells' overthrow, put in a claim +for their estates, but was arrested and sent to the Tower of London and +left to rot there till he died. Such was the end of Donegal as the seat +of a Celtic Princedom, for the new prince was an Englishman, Sir Basil +Brooke. + +It is his imprint you will see upon the castle as it exists +to-day--particularly in the great sculptured chimney-piece which stands +in what was once the banqueting hall, and which is a marvel of +elaborate, though not very finished, carving. Brooke was a Catholic and +a royalist, a supporter of Charles I, and after the fall of that unlucky +monarch, was imprisoned in the Tower and his estate declared forfeited +to the Parliament. The old castle, now the property of the Earl of +Arran, fell gradually to ruin, until to-day only the shell remains. + +Next to the chimney-piece, the most interesting feature of the interior +is the vaulting of the lower rooms, which are lighted only by narrow +slits like loopholes. This vaulting is made of flat stones, an inch or +two in thickness, set on edge, and though rough enough, is as firm +to-day as the day it was put in place. + +As we came out of the grounds, we were accosted by an old man with a +flowing white beard, who suggested that we visit his tweed depot, just +across the street, and see for ourselves what Donegal tweeds really +were. He was so pleasant about it that we couldn't refuse; and to say +that we were astonished when we stepped inside his shop would be putting +it mildly, for there, in that village of twelve hundred people, was the +largest stock of tweeds and other Irish weaves that I have ever seen. +The place was fairly jammed with great rolls of cloth; and when we said +we weren't especially interested in tweeds, but might be in a +steamer-rug, he led us up to a wide balcony and produced rug after rug; +beautiful rugs, soft and thick, pure wool in ever fibre. Of course we +succumbed! + +Mr. Timony, for such was the old man's name, was very proud of his shop, +as he had a right to be, and of his American custom. He told us that +President Woodrow Wilson and William Randolph Hearst had both been +among his visitors, and he evidently considered them equally +distinguished! + +It had begun to shower again by the time we tore ourselves away from Mr. +Timony, and Betty elected to return to the hotel; but I wanted to see +the ruins of the old abbey, a little way down the river, and walked out +to it. There is scarcely more left of it than there is of Assaroe--just +some fragments of ivy-clad wall standing in the midst of a graveyard, as +may be seen from the picture opposite page 438. The graveyard is still +used, and when I got there, I found three men trying to decide on the +site for a grave, while the diggers stood by, with their long-handled +spades, waiting the word to begin. They had a hard time finding a place, +for the graveyard is crowded, like most Irish ones, and they wandered +about from place to place for quite a while. + +That so little is left of the abbey is due to the fact that in 1601, +Nial Garv took possession of the place, and Red Hugh besieged him there, +and in some way Garv's store of gunpowder exploded and tore the +buildings to pieces. All of which is told in that priceless volume of +Irish history which was written here, the "Annals of the Four Masters," +a book of eleven hundred quarto pages, which, by some miracle of luck, +has been preserved. The "four masters" were four monks of the abbey, and +it is largely to their labours we owe what history we have of the times +in which they lived. + +There are a few arches of the cloisters still standing, and they +resemble those at Sligo not only in shape and character, but also in the +fact that repeated burials have raised the ground about them many feet +above its ancient level, so that what was once a lofty arched doorway +can now be passed only by stooping low. Hugh Roe O'Donnell and his wife, +Fingalla, who founded the monastery for the Franciscans in 1474, are +said to be buried here, but I did not find their graves. There is also a +legend that castle and abbey were at one time connected by a secret +passage, but I scarcely believe it, for they are a long way apart. + +The rain was sheeting down in earnest when I finally left the place, but +the gravediggers were bending to their task, quite oblivious of the +downpour. + + * * * * * + +We bade good-bye to Donegal that afternoon, and took train for +Londonderry and the "Black North." And it was not long before we +realised that we had turned our backs upon the Ireland of the Irish and +entered the Ireland of the English and the Scotch--a very different +country! + +Just outside of Donegal, we witnessed one of those leave-takings, which +have occurred a million times in Ireland during the past fifty years. As +the train stopped at a little station, we saw that the platform was +crowded, and then we perceived the cause. A boy and two girls, some +seventeen or eighteen years old, were setting out for Derry to take ship +for America, and their relatives and friends had come down to see them +off. There were tears in every eye, and if blessings have any virtue, +enough were showered on that trio that afternoon to see them safely +through life. + +The guard came along presently, and hustled them into the compartment +ahead of ours--he had seen such scenes a hundred times, I suppose, and +had long since ceased to be impressed by them--and then the three +children hung out of the door and took a last look at their people; and +then the engine whistled and the train started slowly, and one man, his +face working convulsively, began to run along beside it, then suddenly +recollected himself, and stopped with a jerk. + +The whole country-side must have known that the three were going, for +every house for miles had a group of men and women out to wave at them +as the train passed; and the exiles waved and waved back, and leaned out +and gazed at the country they were leaving, as though to impress its +every feature on their minds. + +And indeed it is a beautiful country, for the road follows the valley of +the Eask, and presently Lough Eask opened before us, lying in a deep +basin at the foot of lofty hills--such hills as cover the whole of +Donegal and make it one of the most picturesque of Irish counties. +Beyond the lake, the line traverses one of the wildest valleys we had +seen in Ireland, the Gap of Barnesmore--a bleak, rock-strewn defile, +with a little stream running at the bottom and the post-road following +its windings; but the railway line has been laid, most perilously it +seemed, right along the face of the mountain. There were evidences of +land-slips here and there, and it was plain that great boulders were +always rolling down, so I should fancy that a sharp watch has to be kept +on those five miles of road-bed. But we got across without accident, and +the views out over the valley and the Donegal mountains were superb--I +only wish we had had time to explore them more thoroughly. + +Just beyond the gap, the line passes Lough Mourne, a melancholy little +lake set in a framework of bleak hills, and then runs on across a still +bleaker moor; but gradually, as the hills are left behind, the character +of the country changes, the houses become more numerous, the fields +larger and less stony, one sees an orchard here and there--and then, +quite suddenly, the whole landscape becomes prosperous and pastoral, and +we caught our first glimpse of wide fields covered with a light and +vivid green, which we knew was the green of flax. After that, there was +no time, until we left Ireland, that this new and lovely tint was not +among the other tints of whatever landscape we might be looking at. + +We paused for a moment at the prosperous little town of Stranorlar, and +then went on northwards, past one village after another, along the +valley of the Finn, to Strabane--like Leenane, pronounced to rhyme with +"fan." We had an hour or two to wait here, so we walked up into the +town, and had lunch at a pleasant inn, and then took a look about the +place; and I think it was then we began to realise that the picturesque +part of Ireland was behind us. Certainly there is nothing picturesque +about Strabane, although it resembles most other Irish towns in having a +huge workhouse and jail. But it has also some large shirt-factories, +whence came the whirr of machinery, and where we could see the girls and +women in long rows bending to their tasks; and it has great ware-houses, +not falling to ruin like those of Galway and Westport and Ballyshannon, +but filled with merchandise and busy with men and drays. We were so +unaccustomed to such a sight that we stopped and looked at it for quite +a while. + +It is a fifteen mile run from Strabane to Derry, for the most part along +the bank of the Foyle, through a beautiful and prosperous country, with +many villages clustered among the trees; and at six o'clock we reached +the "Maiden City,"--by far the busiest town we had seen since Dublin. In +fact, as we turned up past the old walls and came to the centre of the +town, the bustle of business and roar of traffic seemed to me to surpass +Dublin; and more than once, when we were settled in our room, the +unaccustomed noise drew us to the window to see what was going on. We +went out, presently, to see that portion of the town which stands within +the ancient walls; but before I describe that excursion, I shall have to +tell something of what those walls stand for. + +Fourteen hundred years ago--in 546, to be exact--Columba, greatest of +Irish saints after Patrick and Brigid, passed this way, and stopping in +the oak grove which clothed the hill on which the town now stands, was +so impressed with the lovely situation, that he founded an abbey there, +which was known as Daire-Columbkille--Columba's Oak-grove. + +There was another reason, perhaps, besides the beauty of the spot, which +persuaded the Saint to choose this site for his monastery, and that was +the nearness of the great fort on Elagh mountain, the stronghold of the +Lord of Tyrone. He doubtless hoped that, in the shadow of that mighty +cashel, his abbey would be safe from spoliation; but in this he was +disappointed, for its position on a navigable river, so close to the +sea, made it easy prey to the Danes and the Saxons, and they sailed up +to it time and again and laid it waste. But it grew in importance in +spite of repeated burnings, and it held off the English longer than +most, for, though it was plundered by Strongbow's men in 1195, and +included in the grant to Richard de Burgo, the Red Earl of Ulster, in +1311, it was not until 1609, two years after that "flight of the earls" +which left Tyrone and Tyrconnell confiscated to the English, that it was +really conquered. + +In confiscating this vast domain, as in all previous and subsequent +confiscations in Ireland, the English crown proceeded upon the theory +that all the land a chief ruled over belonged to that chief; but in +Ireland this was not at all the case, for there the land belonged, and +always had belonged, not to the chief but to his people. This, however, +was not allowed to interfere in any way with its re-apportionment among +court favourites and companies of adventurers; and Derry, together with +a vast tract of land about it, was granted to the Corporation of London, +which thereupon proceeded to re-name it Londonderry, in token of its +subserviency. Three years later, the Irish Society for the New +Plantation in Ulster was formed, and to it was granted the towns of +Coleraine and Londonderry, with seven thousand acres of land and the +fisheries of the Foyle and the Bann. The society was pledged to enclose +Derry with walls, and these were laid out and built in 1617. They were +strong and serviceable, as may be seen to this day, and so wide that a +carriage and four could drive along the top of them. + +The new colonists were mostly Protestants, and in the war which soon +followed between King Charles and the Parliament naturally chose the +Republican side, so that Derry quickly became the centre of resistance +to royalty in Ulster. The town prospered under the Commonwealth, but the +ups and downs of Irish politics after the Restoration kept it in a +perpetual turmoil. + +I have already told how, after the fall of Charles I, Cromwell's army +conquered Ireland, drove the Irish to the hills west of the Shannon, and +divided the fertile land among the Puritan soldiers and the adherents of +the Parliament. When Charles II was restored to the throne, part of the +price exacted from him for that restoration was the so-called Act of +Settlement, in which this division of the land among its Protestant +conquerors was confirmed. That the Irish should protest against the +injustice of this was natural enough; and that, once seated on the +throne, the king should give ear to the protestations was natural too, +since the Irish had been his father's allies and had lost their lands in +fighting his battles for him. So, while Irish Catholic Ireland brought +heavy pressure to bear on the king, English Protestant Ireland was on +pins and needles through fear of what might happen. Finally the +Cromwellians agreed to surrender a third of the estates in their +possession, and on this basis peace of a sort was patched up. + +That was in 1665, and it looked for a while as though Protestant and +Catholic would thereafter be able to live together in amity, for there +was a general revival of industry which resulted in a prosperity the +country had seldom known, and a consequent abatement of religious +discord. But Charles died, and his brother, James II, at once proceeded +to remodel the Irish army upon a Catholic basis, even going so far as +partially to disarm the Protestants, who of course immediately concluded +that they were all going to be massacred in revenge for Drogheda. + +But James soon found himself facing a rebellion in England, and in 1688 +a large force of Irish troops were transported to England to help him +hold his throne. Among these troops was the regiment which had been +stationed at Derry; and when, alarmed at the attitude of the town, the +king attempted to throw another garrison into it, rebellion flamed up +swift and fierce, and some apprentice boys seized the keys of the city +gates and closed and locked them in the face of the royal army. +Enniskillen followed suit, and everywhere throughout the north of +Ireland, the Protestants began to form town companies and to arm and +drill for their own defence. Thus was organised the first "army of +Ulster"! It was soon to be needed--as I hope and believe the latest one +will never be! + +Certain English leaders, determined to get rid of James at any cost, had +invited William Prince of Orange to bring an army to England to restore +liberty and rescue Protestantism from the destruction which seemed to +threaten it. William, it should be remembered, stood very near the +English throne, for his mother was the eldest daughter of Charles I, and +his wife was his own cousin, the eldest daughter of Charles's son, James +II. William, who had been expecting such an invitation, at once gathered +a great army together and landed in England in November. James, finding +himself detested and deserted by all parties, fled to France; and +William and Mary were proclaimed King and Queen of Great Britain and +Ireland. + +Ireland, of course, was still in rebellion. There is no more pathetic +page of Irish history than that which tells of Irish loyalty to the +Stuarts; for the Stuarts cared nothing for Ireland, but only for +themselves, and used the Irish merely as pawns in their selfish struggle +for power. The poor Irish stood firm for James, and got a great army +together; and James came over from France with a small French force, and +together they marched against Derry, which the Protestants still held, +but which James expected to capture with little difficulty. The +commander at Derry was a man named Robert Lundy, a Protestant and +soldier of some experience, but he seems to have been a Jacobite at +heart for, after one skirmish near Strabane, he held a council of war, +recommended immediate surrender, ordered that there should be no firing, +and sent word to James that the city was ready to submit. But he had +reckoned without Derry's militant spirit; for when news of his decision +got abroad, the people sprang to arms, and Lundy escaped with his life +only by fleeing in disguise. + +Meanwhile, the Rev. George Walker and Major Henry Baker and Captain Adam +Murray, three militants to the backbone, took charge of affairs and put +Derry in the best state of defence possible; but the outlook was not +bright. Military opinion was agreed that the town could not hold out +against such an army as James was bringing against it; it seemed likely +that to defend it would be to invite another Drogheda; and while the +debate in the town council was still raging, James appeared under the +walls expecting an immediate surrender. + +Negotiations were begun; but the sight of the Catholic army was the last +thing needed to inflame the townsmen. A group of them managed to get a +cannon pointed in the king's direction and touched it off. The ball is +said to have passed so close to him that the wind of it blew off his +hat; at any rate, the negotiations ended then and there, and with a +shout of "No surrender!" Derry prepared for the struggle. + +That was the eighteenth day of April, 1689, and for fifteen weeks the +town held out against a strict siege, which nothing could break. There +were assaults and sallies, a bombardment which killed many people--all +the accompaniments of a siege, with the final accompaniment of famine. +It was the old story of horseflesh, mice and rats and even salted hides +being greedily devoured; of a garrison thinning wofully from death and +disease; but though there seemed to be no choice except starvation or +surrender, nobody thought of surrender. And then, on Sunday, July 28th, +a relief fleet which had been hovering uncertainly at the mouth of the +harbour for some weeks, ran the batteries, broke the boom across the +river, swept up to the city, and the siege was ended. + +Such was the siege of Derry. A thousand incidents, impossible to set +down here, are treasured in the minds of every inhabitant; and, lest the +great event should ever be forgotten, two anniversaries connected with +it are celebrated every year, on December 18th the Closing of the Gates +against the King's Army, and on August 12th the Raising of the Siege. +There are processions and meetings and speeches of a very Protestant +character, and at the December festival the effigy of the perfidious +Lundy is hanged and burnt--not without some little rioting, for rather +more than half the population of Derry is Catholic and Nationalist. One +of the popular airs upon these occasions is, of course, "Boyne Water," +and another is about Derry herself. It is called + + +THE MAIDEN CITY + + Where Foyle his swelling waters rolls northward to the main, + Here, Queen of Erin's daughters, fair Derry fixed her reign; + A holy temple crowned her, and commerce graced her street, + A rampart wall was round her, the river at her feet; + And here she sat alone, boys, and, looking from the hill, + Vowed the Maiden on her throne, boys, would be a Maiden still. + + From Antrim crossing over, in famous eighty-eight, + A plumed and belted lover came to the Ferry Gate: + She summoned to defend her our sires--a beardless race-- + They shouted "No Surrender!" and slammed it in his face. + Then, in a quiet tone, boys, they told him 'twas their will + That the Maiden on her throne, boys, should be a Maiden still. + + Next, crushing all before him, a kingly wooer came + (The royal banner o'er him blushed crimson deep for shame); + He showed the Pope's commission, nor dreamed to be refused; + She pitied his condition, but begged to stand excused. + In short, the fact is known, boys, she chased him from the hill, + For the Maiden on her throne, boys, would be a Maiden still. + + On our peaceful sires descending, 'twas then the tempest broke, + Their peaceful dwellings rending, 'mid blood and flame and smoke. + That hallowed graveyard yonder swells with the slaughtered dead-- + O brothers! pause and ponder--it was for us they bled; + And while their gift we own, boys--the fane that tops our hill-- + Oh! the Maiden on her throne, boys, shall be a Maiden still! + + Nor wily tongue shall move us, nor tyrant arm affright, + We'll look to One above us who ne'er forsook the right; + Who will, may crouch and tender the birthright of the free, + But, brothers, "No Surrender!" no compromise for me! + We want no barrier stone, boys, no gates to guard the hill, + Yet the Maiden on her throne, boys, shall be a Maiden still! + +There is a good marching song, if there ever was one--a song to make the +heart leap and the spirit sing, when a thousand voices roar it in +unison; and it very fairly represents the spirit of Derry and of the +whole of Protestant Ulster--a spirit which is admirable, though often +mistaken, and sometimes made use of for base and selfish ends. The song +was written by a woman, a native of Derry, of course, Charlotte Tonna, +some sixty years ago; and it is a song of which Ireland, north and +south, should be proud. + +Let me tell here, as briefly as may be, the rest of the story of that +ill-fated rebellion, of which Derry wrote one terrific chapter, for +unless we know it, it will be impossible for us to understand Ulster. + +The relief of the Maiden City was followed by the complete defeat of the +royal army before Enniskillen, and no further attempt was made to +subjugate the north of Ireland. James took up headquarters at Dublin, +and every nerve was strained to recruit an army capable of withstanding +the one which William was certain to bring into Ireland. The king of +France sent seven thousand veterans, with a park of artillery and large +stores of arms and ammunition, every device of religious and racial +hatred was employed to persuade Irishmen to enlist; so that when, on +June 30, 1690, the Protestant and Catholic armies stood facing each +other on either side Boyne River, a few miles above Drogheda, the +Protestants had no very great numerical advantage. In discipline and +general efficiency, however, their advantage was immense, and the odds +against James were so great that it was folly for him to risk a battle; +but he could not make up his mind what to do, and in consequence, when +William threw his troops across the river, he caught the Irish +unprepared, and defeated them after a brisk engagement. + +James was the first to gallop from the field. He reached Dublin that +night, snatched a few hours' rest, and then pressed on to Waterford, +where he took ship for France. Deprived of their cowardly leader, and +perhaps with some comprehension of how they had been betrayed, the Irish +would have been glad to lay down their arms on terms of a general +amnesty, which William, for his part, was willing to grant. But the +English settlers intervened. They had been compelled to restore to the +Irish a third of the estates which the Commonwealth had confiscated; +there were thousands of other fertile acres which the settlers coveted; +and, as a result of their influence, the amnesty, when finally +published, was confined to the tenant and the landless man. In +consequence, the Irish army was held together by Tyrconnell and +Sarsfield, and the rebellion did not end until Athlone, Cork, Kinsale, +Limerick, and finally Galway had been captured by the English. The +Irish troops were permitted to go to France and enlist in the king's +army, as has been told already; and so ended the hope of placing a +Catholic monarch on the English throne. So ended, too, for more than two +centuries, Catholic liberty in Ireland. + +It is this Protestant triumph which is so dear to Ulster, and which the +walls of Derry have been preserved to commemorate. Their preservation is +a great inconvenience to the inhabitants of that town, but any one who +proposed to remove them would be treated as a traitor. They circle the +steep hill upon which the oldest part of the town is built, and when one +wishes to enter it, one must go around to one of the gates. There are +seven gates, now, instead of the original four; but it takes quite a +walk, sometimes, to get to one, for the walls are something over a mile +around. But no patriotic resident would think of objecting to +this--indeed, the walk gives him time to meditate upon his city's glory +and to thank the Lord that he was born there. I suspect that the +Catholics of Derry are just as proud of the walls as the Protestants +are. + +It so happened that there was a gate not far from our hotel, so we +passed through it, and found ourselves confronted by one of the steepest +streets I have ever seen. The hill on which the old citadel was built +slopes very abruptly on this side toward the river, and no attempt has +been made to cut it down. We managed to climb it, and came out upon the +so-called Diamond--the square at the centre of the town where the old +town hall once stood, but which has now, to quote Murray, "been +converted into a pleasant garden by the London Companies." For it +should be remembered that the grant made to the London Companies three +hundred years ago is still in force. + +The Diamond is the heart of the town, and from it four arteries radiate, +running to the four original gates; other smaller streets zig-zag away +in various directions, and everywhere is the vigorous flow of life and +trade. The shops are bright and attractive, and that evening crowds of +girls, freed from the day's labour in the factories, were loitering past +them, arm in arm, staring in at the windows and chattering among +themselves. They were distinctly livelier than the factory girls of +Athlone, and I judge that life is easier for them and that they are +better paid. + +We walked about for a long time, and then, for want of something better +to do, went to a moving-picture show. I have forgotten all the pictures +but two--a meeting of the Knights of the Garter at Windsor and a review +of a body of English cavalry. In the former, King George and Queen Mary +twice passed slowly before the audience; in the latter, the king, on a +spirited horse, cantered down the field and then took his station in the +foreground while his troops galloped past. It was a stirring scene; but +the audience watched it in stony, almost breathless silence, without the +shadow of applause--and this in "loyal Derry"! I am inclined to think +that, with reference to England, the north of Ireland and the south of +Ireland are "sisters under their skins." + +We had been wondering, during the final reel, how we were going to find +our way back to the hotel through the dark and unfamiliar streets, for +it was nearly ten o'clock; and we came out into them with a start of +astonishment, for it was still quite light, with the street lights not +yet on. So we loitered about for half an hour longer; and then, from the +balcony in front of our window, sat watching for an hour more the +fascinating life flowing past below us. + +One feature of it was a boy quartette,--one of the boys with a clear, +high soprano voice,--which sang very sweetly, "It's a long way to +Tipperary"; and then, just as we began to think everybody had gone to +bed, there came a blast of martial music down the street, and the tramp +of feet, and a company of men swung past, going heaven knows where; but +the fife-and-drum corps which marched at their head was making the +windows rattle with + + "The Maiden on her throne, boys, shall be a Maiden still!" + +It was the first of many such processions we were to see during our +remaining weeks in Ireland. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE GRAINAN OF AILEACH + + +DERRY has a charm--the charm of the hive--for it is a busy town, and a +cheerful one. It is only on mooted anniversaries, I fancy, or when some +fire-brand politician comes to town, that the Protestants and Catholics +amuse themselves by breaking each other's heads. At other times they +must work amicably side by side. At least, I saw nobody idle; and +Catholics and Protestants alike were plainly infected by the same spirit +of hustle. + +The cause of the difference between the north and south of Ireland has +been hotly debated for a hundred years. Why is the north energetic and +prosperous, while the south is lazy and poverty-stricken? Some say +it is the difference in climate, others the difference in religion. +I could perceive no great difference in the climate, and as for +religion--strange as it may seem to those who think of Ulster only in +the light of Orange manifestoes--there are almost as many Catholics as +Protestants in the north of Ireland. My own opinion is that the Celt is +easy-going in the south and industrious in the north because of the +environment. "Canny" is undoubtedly the best of all adjectives to apply +to the Scotch--they are congenitally thrifty and industrious. The Celt, +on the other hand, is congenitally easy-going and unambitious. Left to +himself, among his own people, weighted with centuries of repression, he +falls into a lethargy from which it is impossible to awaken him--from +which, I sometimes think, he will never be awakened. But put him in +another environment, and he soon catches its spirit. At least, his +children catch it, and their children are confirmed in it--and there you +are. Put them back in the old environment, and in another generation or +two they will have slipped back into the old habits of carelessness and +improvidence. This, it seems to me, is the Irishman's history not only +in the north of Ireland, but here in America. He is adaptable, +impressionable, and plastic. + + * * * * * + +It would be absurd for any one to go to Derry without making a circuit +of the walls, and this we proceeded to do next morning. We mounted them +at the New Gate, where they are at least twenty-five feet high. There is +a promenade on top about fifteen feet wide, and along the outer edge the +old cannon given by the London companies still frown down through the +embrasures of the battlement. Outside the wall there was originally a +moat, but this has disappeared, and so have many of the old bastions. A +few of them still remain--the double bastion where the fruitful gallows +stood, and from which the noisy old gun, affectionately christened +"Roaring Meg," still points out over the town. And back of the +cathedral, the old wall stands as it stood during the siege, with its +high protecting parapet, crowned with little loop-holed turrets. + +The cathedral itself is a quaint, squat structure, with pinnacled tower, +standing in the midst of a crowded graveyard, the most prominent object +in which is an obelisk erected over the bodies of those who fell in the +siege. The inscription, as is fitting, is long and eloquent. The church +itself is comparatively modern and uninteresting, but it is filled with +trophies of the siege--a bomb-shell containing a summons to surrender +which fell in the cathedral yard, the flags taken from the French during +a sally, memorials of the Rev. Mr. Walker, and so on. It is still called +after St. Columba, although the abbey built by the Saint stood outside +the present walls. + +A little distance past the cathedral is another bastion which has been +turned into a foundation for the great monument to Walker--a fluted +column ninety feet high, surmounted by a statue of the hero, his Bible +in one hand. Time was when he held a sword in the other, but legend has +it that the sword fell with a crash on the day that O'Connell won +Catholic emancipation for Ireland. + +A fierce controversy has raged about the part Walker really played in +the siege; and it is probable that he at least shared the honours with +Murray and Baker. However that may be, he must have been an inspiring +figure, as he walked about the walls, with his white hair and +impassioned face and commanding vigour--a vigour which his seventy-two +years seem nowise to have impaired; and his end was inspiring, too, for +he did not rest quietly at home, content with his laurels, as most men +would have done. Instead, he joined William's army, was in the forefront +at the Battle of the Boyne, and managed to get killed there while +exhorting the troops to do their duty. + + * * * * * + +The town of Derry has long since outgrown the old walls, but there is +little else worth seeing there, unless one is interested in a busy +port, or in humming factories, or rumbling mills, or clattering +foundries. Of these there is full store. But a few miles to the west, on +the summit of a hill looking down upon Lough Swilly, is the cashel which +was once the stronghold of the Kings of Ulster, and for it I set out +that afternoon. + +Murray, with that vagueness delightful in the Irish but exasperating in +a guide-book, remarks that "it can be reached from Bridge End Station on +the Buncrana line," so I proceeded to the station of the Buncrana line +on the outskirts of the town, and bought a ticket to Bridge End Station. +The ticket seller had apparently never heard of the Grainan of Aileach, +as the cashel is called, and seemed rather to doubt if such a thing +existed at all; but I determined to trust to luck, and took my seat in +the little train which presently backed in along the platform. + +The Buncrana line is, I judge, a small affair; at any rate, the train +was very primitive, and the two men who shared the compartment with me +complained bitterly of the poor service the railroads give the people of +Ireland. They said it was a shame and a disgrace, and that no free +people would put up with the insults and ignominy which the railroads +heap upon the Irish, and much more to the same effect. I had heard this +complaint before and have read it in more than one book; but I never had +any real cause of complaint myself. Beyond a tendency to let the +passengers look out for themselves, the guards are as courteous as +guards anywhere; and only once, on the occasion of the race-meeting at +Charleville, did we suffer from crowding. This was not because we +travelled first, because we didn't--we travelled second; and when I was +alone, I always travelled third, as I would advise any one to do who +wishes really to meet the people. + +Bridge End Station is only a few minutes' run from Derry, and when I got +off there, I asked the man who took my ticket if he could direct me to +the cashel. + +"I can," he said; "but it is a long way from here, and a stiff climb. Do +you see that hill yonder?" and he pointed to a lofty peak some miles +away. "It is there you will find the fort, right on the very top." + +"Have you ever been there?" I asked. + +"I have not, though I'm thinking I will go some day, for them that have +seen it tell me it is a wonderful sight. But 'tis a long walk." + +"Well, I'm going to try for it," I said, and hitched my camera under my +arm. "How do I start?" + +"By that road yonder; and turn to your right at the village. Good luck +to you, sir." + +I could see he didn't really believe I would get to the cashel; but I +set off happily along the road, between high hedges; and presently I +passed a village, and turned to the right, as he had told me; and then +two barefooted children caught up with me, on their way home from +school. They knew the way to the cashel very well, though they had never +been there either; and presently they left me and struck off across the +fields; and then I came to a place where the road forked, and stopped to +ask a man who was wheeling manure from a big stable which way to go. He +too was astonished that any one should start off so carelessly on such +an expedition; but he directed me up a narrow by-way, which soon began +to climb steeply; and then the valley beneath me opened more and more, +and finally I saw to my right the summit I was aiming for, and struck +boldly toward it along a boggy path. + +The path led me to the rear of a thatched cottage, where two men were +stacking hay. They assured me that I was on the right road, and I pushed +on again for the summit, past another little house, from which a man +suddenly emerged and hailed me. + +"Where be you going?" he demanded. + +"To the fort," I said. "It's up this way, isn't it?" + +"It might be." + +"Am I trespassing?" I asked, for there seemed to be an unfriendly air +about him. + +"You are so," he answered. + +"I'm sorry," I stammered; "if there's another way--" + +"There is no other way." + +"Well, then, I'll have to go this way," I said. "I'll not do any harm." + +"That's as may be. You must pay three-pence if you wish to pass." + +I paid the three-pence rather than waste time in argument, which, of +course, wouldn't have done any good; and his countenance became +distinctly more pleasant when the pennies were in his hand, and he +directed me how to go; and I started up again, over springy heather now, +along a high wall of stones gathered from the field; and then the ground +grew wet and boggy, just as it is on the mountains of Connemara, and I +had to make a detour--the man who directed me, probably thought nothing +of a little bog! A ploughman in a neighbouring field stopped work to +watch me with interest until I passed from sight, and two red calves +also came close to investigate the stranger; and then I crested the last +ridge and saw towering before me the stronghold where Owen, son of Nial +the Great, established himself to rule over his province, Tyrone. + +For a moment I was fairly startled at the huge apparition, grey and +solitary and impressive, for I had expected no such monster edifice--a +cyclopean circle of stone, looking like the handiwork of some race of +giants, three hundred feet around and eighteen feet high, with a wall +fourteen feet in thickness! + +The outer face of the wall is inclined slightly inwards, and is very +smooth and regular. It is made of flat, hammer-dressed stones of various +sizes, carefully fitted together, but uncemented, as with all these old +forts. The stones are for the most part quite small, very different from +the great blocks used in the other cashels I had seen. There is a single +entrance, a doorway some five feet high by two wide, slightly inclined +inward toward the top, and looking very tiny indeed in that great +stretch of wall; and then my heart stood still with dismay, for there +was an iron gate across the entrance, and I thought for a moment that it +was locked. With a sigh of relief I found that the padlock which held it +was not snapped shut, and I opened it and entered. + +It was as though I had stepped into some old Roman amphitheatre, for the +terraces which run around it from top to bottom have the appearance of +tiers of seats. They mount one above the other to the narrow platform at +the top, which is guarded by a low parapet. Two flights of steps run up +the slope, but an active man would have no need of them. On either side +of the entrance door a gallery runs away in the thickness of the wall, +opening some distance away on the interior, and designed, I suppose, to +enable an extra force to defend the entrance. + +Of the castle which once stood within that stone circle not a trace +remains, and the circle itself, as it stands to-day, is largely a +restoration, for Murtagh O'Brien captured it in 1101 and did his best to +destroy it, and the storms of the centuries that followed beat it down +stone by stone. But these fragments have all been gathered up and put +back into place, so that the great fort stands to-day much as it did in +the days of its glory, except that the outworks of earth and stone which +formed the first lines of defence, have disappeared. The cashel was to +this great fortification what the donjon tower was to the later Norman +castle--the ultimate place of refuge for the garrison. + +"Grainan" means a royal seat, and "Aileach," so say the Four Masters of +Donegal, was a Scotch princess, "modest and blooming," who lost her +heart to Owen of the Hy-Nial, and followed him back to Erin. After the +division of the north of Ireland with his brother Connell, he set up his +palace here--Connell's you will remember was at Donegal--and so this +became the royal seat of the rulers of Tyrone. Hither came St. Patrick +to baptise Owen and his family; hither came St. Columba before his exile +to Iona; hither captive Danes were dragged in triumph. But at last +Murtagh O'Brien, King of Munster, led a great raid to the north, and +defeated the army of Tyrone and captured the mighty fortress, and made +each of his soldiers carry away a stone of it in token of his triumph. + +[Illustration: THE WALLS OF DERRY] + +[Illustration: THE GRAINAN OF AILEACH] + +That ended its earthly glory, but it remains glorious in legend; for it +is beneath its old grey walls that the Knights of the Gael stand +deathless and untiring, each beside his steed with his hand upon the +saddlebow, waiting the trumpet-call that shall break the charm that +binds them, and release them to win back their heritage in Erin. In the +caves within the hill the knights stand waiting--great vaulted chambers +whose entrance no man knows. Nor does any man know when their release +will come, whether to-morrow or not till centuries hence, for 'tis +Kathaleen Ny-Houlahan herself who must choose the day and hour. + + Sore disgrace it is to see the Arbitress of thrones + Vassal to a Saxoneen of cold and sapless bones! + Bitter anguish wrings our souls; with heavy sighs and groans + We wait the Young Deliverer of Kathaleen Ny-Houlahan. + +Glorious is the view from the top of those old walls. To the right is +Lough Foyle, to the left Lough Swilly, with the hills of Donegal, draped +in silver mist, beyond--wild, grey crags, rising one behind the other; +and away to the north, beyond the wide valley, are the hills of +Inishowen--Owen's Island, if you know your Irish. I have never gazed +upon a more superb picture of alternating lake and hill and meadow, of +flashing mountain-top and dark green valley. + +But if I was to get back to Derry that night, I had need to hasten; so I +clambered down, after one long last look. I had still my picture to +take, and made two exposures, but they give only a faint idea of the +majesty of this great fort, standing here on this wild, deserted +hilltop; and then I started downwards, with long steps, past the +cottages, with the beautiful valley before me, back to the highway, down +and down among the trees, past the village and so to the station. The +guard was waiting there. + +"Well," he said, as I sat down mopping my face, for I had covered three +miles in half an hour, "did you see the fort?" + +"I did so," I answered, for I had long since fallen naturally into the +Irish idiom; and I told him what it was like; but I think he was +unconvinced. + +"Was there a man stopped you?" he asked. + +"There was--a man at the end of the lane right under the fort, who made +me pay three-pence before he would let me pass." + +"Ah, that would be O'Donnell," said the guard, convinced at last. "He +has been given the key to keep. Did he give you the key?" + +"He did not. But the iron gate was unlocked." + +"That was by accident, I'm thinking," said the guard. "He is not caring +whether one can enter or not, so long as he has his three-pence." + +So I would advise all wayfarers to the Grainan of Aileach to make sure +that the gate of it is unlocked, or to demand the key, before +surrendering their three-pence to O'Donnell. + +When I got into the train again, I found as a fellow-passenger one of +the men who had come out from Derry with me, and after I had described +the cashel to him--for he had never seen it--we got to talking about +Home Rule. In spite of its militant Protestantism, Derry has a very +large Catholic population, and my companion said that opinion in the +town was about equally divided for and against Home Rule. + +"The result is," he went on, "that whenever we have a meeting, no matter +which side it's on, there's sure to be a shindy, and the police has +their hands full. Most of the fellys who do the fighting don't care a +rap about Home Rule, but they just take pleasure in layin' a stick +against somebody's head. It's all done in a friendly spirit, and next +day they will be workin' side by side the same as ever. The only ones +who are really fighting Home Rule are the big landlords and +manufacturers, who imagine they'll get the worst of it in the matter of +taxation at the hands of a Catholic parliament, and they do everything +they can to keep their people stirred up. That has always been their +policy; and the big Catholic employers in the south--what few of them +there are--aren't a whit better. They're all afraid that if the Catholic +workingmen and the Protestant workingmen once get together they'll fix +up some kind of a union, and demand better wages. As long as they can be +kept fighting each other, there's no danger of that; and the poor idiots +haven't sense enough to see how they're being made fools of. But they'll +see it some day, and then look out!" + +"How about this army of Ulster the papers are so full of?" + +My companion laughed. + +"There isn't any army around here, unless you can call a few hundred +devil-may-care boys an army. I did hear something about some drill going +on, but as far as fighting goes that's all nonsense. The boys are ready +enough to crack a head with a stick, but they're the first to run when +the police arrive, and they'll think a long time before they try to +stand up against the British army. I'll not say that they're not more in +earnest over Belfast way; but even there, a few politicians have stirred +up most of the talk--Sir Edward Carson and the likes of him. It's all a +political game, that's how I look at it." + +I walked around Derry for a time that afternoon, and so far as public +buildings go, Catholicism and Protestantism seem about equally +represented--and with the strangest contrasts. Across the road from St. +Columb's College are the Nazareth Homes; around the corner from St. +Augustine's Church is the Apprentice Boys' Hall; a few steps farther on +is a Presbyterian church, and the Freemasons' Hall, and then St. +Columb's Temperance Hall, and then a convent; and if you walk back again +to the Diamond and make some inquiries, you will find that one of the +radiating streets is the home of militant Catholics, and the next the +home of militant Orangemen, and you will be accommodated with a fight at +any time if you go into the latter and shout "To hell with King Billy," +or into the former and shout "To hell with the Pope!" And if you buy one +of the two papers which the town supports, you will read denunciations +of Home Rule and contemptuous references to "croppies," while, if you +buy the other, you will read denunciations just as fierce of Orange +plots against Ireland. + +I have wondered since how much of this agitation is subsidised and how +much is real. I have heard both Catholics and Protestants complain that +it is kept alive in great part by professional agitators, working in +very diverse interests but to a common selfish end--and that end, as my +friend of the morning pointed out, the continuance and, if possible, the +deepening of the rift between the two religions. On the other hand, +there can be no doubt that Protestants and Catholics alike take a fierce +joy in an occasional fight, as lending a real interest to life. But I am +convinced that religion has really little to do with this--that it is +just the peg upon which the quarrels are hung. If it wasn't that, it +would probably be something else, for Irishmen have been fighting each +other ever since history began. The fights at Donnybrook were as fierce +as any, though there wasn't a Protestant in the crowd! + +The Orange Societies, of course, with their parades and taunting songs +and flaunting banners and praise of Cromwell and "King Billy," do not +make for peace. Usually, on such occasions, blows are exchanged; and so +the name of Orangeman has come to be associated with riots. But, as +another writer has pointed out, in considering these things, "you should +not forget the common pugnacity. Only an Irishman can appreciate the +fierce joy of shouting 'To hell with the Pope!' Many a man who had no +claim to belong to the Orange Society has known the delight of breaking +Catholic heads or of going down in a lost battle, outnumbered but +damaging his foes to the last. And many who are slow to attend Mass, are +quick to seize their cudgels when they hear the Orange bands play the +tune of Boyne Water. Like the Crusaders, the Protestant and Catholic +champions alike feel that by their battles they make amends for the +errors and shortcomings of peace." + +So it is a mistake to take these rows too seriously. To an Irishman +they are never serious; they are rather the innocent and natural +diversions of a holiday, small events which add to the savour of +existence; and, indeed, they are far less numerous and far less deadly +than they once were. In time, if the people are let alone and old sores +are allowed quietly to heal, they will probably cease altogether. + +It is a mistake, too, I think to take the Orangemen too seriously. They +have such a habit of hyperbole that most Irishmen smile at their +hysterics and threats of civil war as at sheer fudge. In fact, the +Ulster controversy is so full of comic opera elements that it is +difficult to keep from smiling at it. For instance, Sir Edward Carson's +elder son is a member of the United Irish League because he believes in +a united Ireland, while John Redmond's nephew and adopted son is +enrolled among the Ulster Volunteers because he is opposed to coercion! +Gilbert and Sullivan never invented anything more fantastic. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE BRIDGE OF THE GIANTS + + +THERE is no busier place in Derry than the stretch of quays along the +river, and one may see ships there not only from England and Belgium and +France, but from Australia and Argentina and India and Brazil. The river +is wide and deep, with the channel carefully marked by a line of buoys +extending clear out into Lough Foyle; but there are no better facilities +here for shipping than at any one of half a dozen ports along the +western coast, all of which are silent and deserted. For a port is of no +use unless there is something to ship out of it in exchange for the +things which are shipped in, or money to pay for them--and there is +neither in the west of Ireland. + +And, just as there is no more dismal sight than a line of deserted +quays, so there is no more interesting sight than a line of busy ones, +and we loitered for a long time, next morning, along those of Derry, on +our way to the Midland station, on the other side of the river. There is +a big iron bridge across the river just above the quays, but that seemed +a long way around, so when we came to a sign-board announcing a ferry we +stopped. My first thought was that the ferry-boat was on the other side; +then I perceived a small motor-propelled skiff moored beside the quay, +and one of the two men in it asked me if we were looking for the ferry, +and I said yes, and he said that that was it. + +So we clambered down into the boat and started off; and I scarcely think +that that trip paid, for we were the only passengers, and the river is +wide, and gasolene is expensive, and somebody had to pay the men their +wages--and the fare is only a penny. + +The part of the town which lies east of the river is industrial and +unattractive. There are some big distilleries there, and a lot of mills +and a fish-market, and row upon row of dingy dwellings; but the biggest +building of all is the workhouse--one point, at least, in which the +towns of the north resemble those of the south. There is another point, +too--the jail, without which no Irish town is complete. Derry has one of +which it is very proud--the latest word in jails, in fact--a great, +circular affair, with the cells arranged in so-called "panoptic" +galleries, that is in such a fashion that the guards stationed in the +centre of the jailyard can see into all of them. + +But we had crossed the river not to see the town which lay beyond it, +but to take train for Portrush, and we were soon rolling northward close +beside the bank of the river, with a splendid view of "The Maiden on her +hill, boys," on the opposite shore, dominated by the cathedral tower and +Walker's white monument. Just before the river begins to widen into the +lough, the train passes the ruins of an old castle of the O'Dohertys, +standing on a point which juts out into the water--a castle which saw +rather more than its share of siege and sally; for this is Culmore, +which was always the first point of attack when any expedition advanced +against Derry. + +Beyond it the water widens, and on the farther shore, which is +Inishowen, there are pretty villas, standing in luxuriant woods--the +homes of some of Derry's wealthy citizens. Then the train turned inland +across a stretch of country so flat and carefully cultivated that it +might have been Holland; and then the hills began to crowd closer and +closer to the shore, until the train was running along its very edge, +under precipitous crags, past grotesque pinnacles of white chalk or +black basalt, and fantastic caverns worn in the cliffs by the +century-long action of the waves. For that stretch of blue water +stretching away to the north, so calm and beautiful, was the Atlantic, +and it thunders in upon this coast, sometimes, with a fury even the +rocks cannot withstand. + +We turned away from it, at last, up the wide estuary of the River Bann, +and so we came to Coleraine, chiefly connected in my mind with that +beautiful Kitty, who, while tripping home from the fair one morning with +a pitcher of buttermilk, looked at Barney MacCleary instead of at the +path, and stumbled and let the pitcher drop; but, instead of crying over +the spilt milk, accepted philosophically the kiss which Barney gave her; +with the result that + + "very soon after poor Kitty's disaster + The divil a pitcher was whole in Coleraine." + +Among the innumerable other laws for which Lloyd-George is responsible, +there is one requiring all the shop-keepers of the United Kingdoms to +close their places of business one afternoon every week in order to give +their employes a short vacation; and in every town the shop-keepers get +together and decide which afternoon it shall be; and if you arrive in +the town on that afternoon, you will find every shop closed tight, often +to your great inconvenience. It was Thursday afternoon when we reached +Coleraine, and Thursday is closing day there; and we found that not only +were the shops closed, but the train schedule was so altered that we had +a long wait ahead of us. + +But we were richly compensated for the delay, for, as we started out to +explore the town, we saw written in chalk on a wall just outside the +station, + + To hell with the pope! + +and under it in another hand, + + To hell with King Billy! + +and then a third hand had added, + + God save King Will! No more pope! + +I had heard, of course, that the accepted retort for Catholics to make, +when the Pope was insulted, was to consign William of Orange to the +infernal regions; but such a retort seemed so weak and ineffective that +I could hardly believe in its reality. Yet here it was, and some +Orangeman had paused long enough to add what is probably the usual third +article of the controversy. What the fourth article is I can't guess; +perhaps it is at this point that the cudgels rise and the rocks begin to +fly. And it seems to me characteristic of Ireland that the Catholic in +this case, instead of erasing the offending sentence, should have let it +stand and answered it in kind. + +Cheered and heartened by this encounter, we walked on to look at +Coleraine, but found it an uninteresting manufacturing town, with +nothing in it of historical importance, for it is one of the plantations +made by the London Companies, some time after 1613. It was closed as +tightly, that afternoon, as on a Sunday, and we soon wearied of looking +at ugly houses and silent factories, and made our way back to the +station, meditating upon that black day for the Irish when this whole +county, having been duly confiscated, was made over by royal edict to +the hundred London adventurers, whose heirs or assigns still own it. Yet +the conquest had one advantage: the O'Dohertys and the O'Cahans knew +only the arts of war; the newcomers brought with them the arts of peace. +One of them was distilling, and the Irish had never drunk such whiskey +as the "Coleraine" which was produced here in the succeeding years. +There is no more popular story in this region than that of the priest +who was preaching a temperance sermon, and, after pointing out the evils +of over-indulgence, continued with great earnestness, "And, me boys, +'tis the bad stuff you be takin' that does the worst of the mischief. I +niver touch a drop meself--but the best Coleraine!" + +We got away from Coleraine, at last, and ran northward toward the sea +again, across uneven sand-drifts, past Port Stewart, where Charles Lever +was once a dispensary doctor and occupied his leisure hours, which were +many, in setting down the adventures of Harry Lorrequer; and then the +road ran on close beside the sea to Portrush, with its pleasant beach +and rock-bound bathing-pool, which was full of people on this holiday. +But Portrush is a place of summer hotels, so we did not linger there, +but transferred quickly to the electric line which runs on to the +Giant's Causeway, fourteen miles away. + +This line was established in 1883, and so is the oldest electric road in +the world; and I judge that it is still using the cars it started out +with. At least, the two which composed the train that day were +exceedingly primitive; one was open and the other was closed, and you +took your choice. We chose the open one, of course, on the side +overlooking the sea; and presently we started through the town, a man +ringing a bell with one hand and waving a flag with the other, preceding +us to make certain the track was clear. The bell, I suppose, is for +blind people and the flag for deaf people, and the fact that the man is +armed with both proves how thorough the Irish can be when they really +put their minds to it. + +Although the line has been in operation for thirty years, it is still +evidently regarded with fear and wonder by the people who live along it. +Time was when the power was conveyed by means of the "third rail," so +common in the United States. With us, however, the rail is only used +along a guarded right-of-way. Here it was exposed close up by the fence +at the roadside, and though it was well out of the way, it was +nevertheless stumbled over by many men and beasts, with the usual +result. There were many protests, and in the course of fifteen or twenty +years, the Board of Trade was moved to investigate. + +The evidence at the hearing was most conflicting. The people of the +neighbourhood asserted that their lives were in constant danger. The +company, on the other hand, claimed that no sober man would ever step +on the rail, since to get to it he had to cross the tracks. The people +of the neighbourhood protested indignantly against this reflection upon +their habits, and asked triumphantly if the horses and cows and other +poor beasts that were killed were also drunk. The company retorted that, +so far as the horses and cows were concerned, it was the practice of the +natives, for miles around, whenever they had an animal about to die, to +lead or, if it was unable to walk, to haul it to the railway, and prop +it against the fence with a foot on the rail, and then to demand +compensation for its death. There was, perhaps, a grain of truth in +this; but the board, nevertheless, ordered the company to take up the +rail and substitute an overhead wire for it, and this has been done. + +The only way the natives can get damages now is to inveigle a car to run +into them, and this is well-nigh impossible, for the cars are run very +slowly and carefully, and at every curve there is a signal cabin, where +a watchful guard, armed with a red flag and a white one, keeps careful +eyes upon the track. + +We were just gathering speed outside the town, when we saw in a near-by +field an aggregation whose bills had attracted our attention, more than +once, in our journeyings about Ireland. It was "Buff Bill's Circus," and +the picturesqueness of its lithographs had made us most anxious to see +it. Here it was, at last, and it consisted of three tiny tents and one +van and three or four horses, and five or six people, who at this moment +were eating their midday meal, seated on the ground about a sheet-iron +stove, while the youngsters of the neighbourhood looked on. I am sorry +we did not get to see the show, for I am sure we should have enjoyed +it. + +Then the road mounted to a terrace high above the sea, and the views +over coast and water were superb. The effects of erosion are especially +fantastic, and the line passes fretted spires, and yawning caverns, and +deep gullies and mighty arches, all worn in the chalk and basalt cliffs +by the ceaseless action of the waves; and at one place there is a +grotesque formation which does indeed, as may be seen from the picture +opposite the next page, resemble a "Giant's Head." + +And there is one most picturesque ruin, for, ten miles out from +Portrush, all that is left of Dunluce castle overhangs the sea from the +summit of a precipitous rock, separated from the mainland by a deep +chasm. The chasm is twenty feet wide, and in days of old there was a +drawbridge over it; but the bridge has disappeared, and now there is +just an arch of masonry about two feet wide and without protection of +any sort. It takes a steady head to cross it, but the Irish are fond of +just such breakneck bridges. The castle itself, with its roofless gables +and jagged walls, seems a part of the rock on which it is built. It is +said to possess a banshee, and one can well believe it! + +Dunluce is interesting because it was once a stronghold of the Scotch +invaders who succeeded in conquering all this northeast coast of Ireland +from here around to Carlingford Lough, away below Belfast. Scotland is +only a few miles away across the North Channel--one can see its coast on +a clear day from the cliffs above Benmore; and it was natural enough +that there should be sailing back and forth. Owen, first lord of +Tyrone, brought a wife from Scotland--that Aileach, after whom he named +his fortress; and they had many children, one of whom went back to +Scotland and became the head of that princedom whose chief afterwards +called himself "Lord of the Isles." In Ireland, the family was +O'Donnell; but in Scotland the members of Clandonnell were not Os but +Macs. Angus MacDonnell married a daughter of the great house of O'Cahan, +and by this means and by that, the Scotch gradually won a foothold on +the Irish coast and built castles up and down it; and finally, in a +pitched battle, defeated the Irish who held the land about Dunluce and +had built this castle here. + +[Illustration: THE "GIANT'S HEAD," NEAR PORTRUSH] + +[Illustration: THE RUINS OF DUNLUCE CASTLE] + +It was besieged and captured after that, once by the Irish under Shane +O'Neill, and once by the English under Sir John Perrot; and during the +troubled times of the Commonwealth and Restoration fell into ruins and +was never restored--partly, no doubt, because it was no longer safe; for +one night in 1639, there was a great party in the castle, and a storm +arose, and the waves dashed against the rock below it, and suddenly part +of the rock gave way and carried the kitchen and eight servants down +into the abyss. + +Just beyond the castle, the road rounds a point and runs down into the +valley of the Bush River, where stands the little town of Bushmills, +known all over the world because of the whiskey which is made there; and +then it passes a great house on a cliff overlooking the sea, Runkerry +Castle; and then high up on the slope ahead loom two big hotels, and the +tram stops, for this is the Causeway. + +Both the hotels at the Causeway are owned by the same man, but each +maintains its runner, and each runner makes a lively bid for your +custom; and then, when you have made your choice and started toward it, +you will suddenly be conscious of a rough voice speaking over your +shoulder, and you will turn to find a man striding at your heels, a man +unshaven and clad in nondescript clothes; and if you listen very +attentively you will presently understand that he is offering to guide +you about the Causeway. + +Everybody in the vicinity of the Causeway makes his living off the +people who visit it, and the favourite profession is that of guide. Now +a guide is wholly unnecessary, for a broad road leads directly to the +Causeway, and once there it is simply a question of using one's eyes. +But from the persistence of the guides, one would think there was great +danger of getting lost, or of falling overboard, or of experiencing some +other horrible misfortune, if one ventured there unattended. Every guide +carries also in his waistcoat pocket one or more fossils, which he found +himself and prizes very highly, but is willing to sell for a small sum, +as a personal favour. When his supply is exhausted, he goes and buys +some more from the syndicate which ships them in in quantity. + +For it should be remembered that the Causeway is as strictly organised +for profit and as carefully exploited as is Killarney. + +As soon as we had arranged for our room, we set off for the Causeway, +running the gauntlet of guides posted on both sides of the road. Then a +man with a pony-cart wanted to drive us to our destination, and one +would have thought, from the way he spoke, that it was a long and +trying journey; then we refused three or four offers of fossils and +postcards; and finally we found ourselves alone on a road which swept +round the edge of a great amphitheatre of cliff; and the face of that +cliff is worth examining, for it is formed of the lava flow from some +long-extinct crater, and the successive flows, separated by the +so-called ochre beds, or strata of dark-red volcanic ash, can be plainly +distinguished. The road gradually drops, until it is quite near the sea; +and then it passes a number of shanties, from which old women issue to +waylay the passer-by with offers of fossils and post-cards and various +curios; and then the visitor is confronted by a high wire fence, beyond +which, if he looks closely, he will see a little neck of land running +out into the water--and that is the celebrated Giant's Causeway. + +[Illustration: THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY] + +[Illustration: THE CLIFFS BEYOND THE CAUSEWAY] + +It is so small and so seemingly insignificant that Betty and I stared at +it through the fence with a distinct shock of disappointment; then we +went on to the gate, paid the sixpence which is extorted from every +visitor, registered ourselves on the turnstile, and entered. + +The misfortune of the Causeway is that its fame is too great. The +visitor, expecting to see something magnificent and grandiose, is rather +dashed at first to find how small it is; but after a few minutes' +wandering over the queer columns of basalt, this feeling passes, and one +begins to realise that it is really one of the wonders of the world. I +am not going to describe it--every one has seen photographs of it, or if +any one hasn't, he will find some opposite this page; and the +photographs picture it much better than I can. + +There are some forty thousand of the pillars, the guide-book says; +five-sided or six-sided for the most part, averaging, I should say, +about fifteen inches in diameter, and so close together that a lead +pencil is too thick to be thrust between them. The pillars are divided +into regular, worm-like segments, some six or eight inches thick, and +there are quite a lot of segments lying about, broken off from the +columns. The whole bed is said by geologists to be nothing but a +lava-flow, which broke up into these columnar shapes when it cooled and +contracted. + +The native Irish have a far better explanation than that. In the old +days, the mighty Finn MacCool, annoyed at the boasting of a Caledonian +rival on the hills across the channel, invited him to step over and see +which was the better man. And the giant said he would be glad to come +over and show Finn a thing or two, if it wasn't for wetting his feet. So +Finn, in a rage, built a causeway right over to Scotland, and the Scotch +giant came across on it; and of course Finn beat him well (for this is +an Irish legend); but with that generosity which has always been +characteristic of Irishmen after they have whipped their opponents, he +permitted his humbled rival to choose a wife from the many fair girls of +the neighbourhood, and to build him a house and settle down; which the +Scotch giant was very glad to do; for every one knows that the Scotch +women are rough and hard-bitten, also that Scotland is a land of mist +and snow, not fair like Ireland, which has always been the loveliest +country in the world. And presently, since the causeway wasn't needed +any more and impeded navigation, Finn gave it a kick with the foot of +him and sunk it in the sea, all but this little end against the Irish +coast. And there it stands unto this day to witness if I lie. + +Whatever you think of the Causeway, you will certainly be impressed when +you pass out between the clustered columns of the Giant's Gateway, and +start on the walk under the beetling cliffs beyond. The narrow path +mounts up and up, under overhanging masses of columnar stone, which all +too evidently crashes down from time to time, for there are great piles +of debris below, and the path is either swept away in places or recently +repaired; so most visitors hurry past with one eye upward, and the other +contemplating the beauty of the scene below. + +At least we did; and then we came out at Chimney Point, crowned with its +chimney-like columns--a mass of basalt on top of a red ochre bed. And +here there was a seat where we sat down to contemplate one of the most +impressive views in Ireland--a combination of blue sea and white surf +and black crag and columned cliff not soon to be forgotten. + +We went on, at last, around the point of the cliff, where the path +overhangs the depths below and is guarded by an iron railing; on and on, +past clusters of columns named looms or organ pipes, or whatever Irish +fancy may have suggested; and at last we turned slowly back, and spent +another half hour at the Causeway, hunting out the wishing-chair, and +the giant's cannon, and Lord Antrim's parlour--all of which may easily +be found; and then we took a drink from the giant's well, a spring of +pure, cold water, bubbling up from among the rocks; and so back to the +hotel and to dinner. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE GLENS OF ANTRIM + + +THERE are some caves at the Causeway which are said to be well worth +visiting, but we found, next morning, that a stiff wind during the night +had kicked up such a sea that it was impossible to get to them. So we +spent the morning walking down to a beautiful beach some distance below +the hotel, and building a driftwood fire there, and watching the waves +roll in. Then, while Betty went in to read some just-arrived letters +from home, I went on along the top of the cliffs above the Causeway. + +There is a path which follows the edge of the cliff closely, and a more +magnificent view I have never seen. At Chimney Point the rollers were +breaking in especial violence over the black rocks, on which one of the +galleons of the Armada went to pieces. Her name was the Gerona, and some +of her guns were rescued from the surf and added to the armament of +Dunluce castle. Legend has it that she brought her disaster upon herself +by running in too near the coast to fire at the chimney rocks, which she +mistook for the towers of Dunluce. The bay where the bodies of her crew +were washed ashore has been called Port-na-Spania ever since. + +A little farther on is the uttermost point of all, Pleaskin, where the +view reaches its greatest grandeur, for one is here four hundred feet +above the sea, and on that bright, clear, wind-swept morning, I could +see the purple peaks of the Donegal coast stretching far to the west, +while to the northeast loomed the misty outline of the Scottish hills, +scarcely discernible against the sky. And all between stretched the +white-capped waters of the North Channel, with a tossing boat here and +there, and at my feet were the last black basalt outposts of Erin, with +the rollers curling over them in regular, heavy rhythm. If Ireland has +anything to show more fair I did not see it. + +I went slowly back, at last, along the path, over the springy heather; +and an hour later we had said good-bye to the Causeway, and were +rattling away along a pleasant road toward Ballycastle. We were the only +voyagers, that day, so instead of the heavy bus, a side-car had been +placed at our disposal. It was the first car we had mounted since our +ride around Lough Gill; and how good it felt to settle back again into +the corner of the seat, and swing along mile after mile! + +Our jarvey was an old fellow who was loquacious enough, at first, and +who stopped to show us, in a ravine not far from the Causeway, a crevice +in the rock which he said was used as a pulpit by the first Presbyterian +preacher in Ulster--for it should be remembered that for many years the +Presbyterians and other nonconformists were treated as harshly by the +established church as the Catholics were. And then we came to a little +village where the children were gathering for school, and our jarvey +stopped to water the horse, which gave us the opportunity to have a word +with the children. + +And fairly surprised we were when they began to talk, for they spoke a +Scotch as broad as any to be heard in the Highlands. Their names were +Scotch, too--Fergus and Angus; and the only thing we encountered on that +drive which astonished us more were the sign-posts at the cross-roads, +the directions on which are all in Gaelic. We had seen Gaelic sign-posts +before, in the west, but they always had the direction in English, too. +Here there was no English. It is a riddle that I have never unravelled, +for I heard no Gaelic spoken here. Of course it is spoken; but so many +wayfarers along this road speak only English that I cannot understand +the contempt for them which the sign-boards indicate. + +I have referred already to the Irishman's love for breakneck bridges, +and the prize one of all is at the village of Ballintoy, into which the +road drops down the steepest of hills. A little distance away along the +cliffs is an isolated rock some sixty feet from the shore, and spanning +the abyss between cliff and rock is the craziest bridge ever devised by +man. Two rings, about eighteen inches apart, have been embedded in the +rock on either side, and between these rings two ropes have been +stretched. These are lashed together at intervals by transverse cords, +and to these cords short lengths of narrow plank have been tied side by +side. For a handrail, a slender rope has been stretched between two +rings some three feet higher than the others--and there you are. It is +hardly correct to say that any of the ropes have been "stretched," for +they hang in a long curve, and in the wind that was blowing that morning +the bridge swung to and fro in the dizziest fashion. There was a crowd +of small boys at its land end, who offered to negotiate the passage for +a penny each, but we refused to pay for the privilege of seeing them +risk their lives. + +And yet, probably, it would not have been risking them, for they were +used to the bridge and thought nothing of crossing it. Nay, more, the +men of the neighbourhood cross it carrying heavy burdens, for they are +fishermen and keep all their ropes and nets and even their boats out on +the rock, round which, at certain stages of the tide, the salmon circle, +so that they can be caught by nets shot out from the rock. There is no +harbour for the boats, so they have to be hoisted up to a terrace in the +rock some twenty feet above the water by means of a windlass; and then, +having made everything snug, the fishermen cross back over the bridge +with the catch on their shoulders. It need scarcely be added that I, who +had balked at the far more substantial bridges at Dromahair and Dunluce, +never for an instant thought of crossing this one. + +We climbed out to the top of the cliffs again, and jogged along with the +beautiful sea to our left, and the beautiful rolling country to our +right, its meadows brilliant with the lush green of the young flax; and +then we turned back inland between high hedgerows; and the bright sun +and the soft air proved too much for our jarvey, who dropped gently to +sleep--a fact we didn't notice until the horse, after a backward glance, +stopped to take a few bites from the hedge. The driver woke with a start +and jerked the horse angrily back into the middle of the road, and then +glanced guiltily at us, but we were gazing far away into the distance; +and then he dropped off again, and again the horse, feeling the +slackened reins, stopped for a bite; and then, for fear that a +motor-cycle or something might run into us, I filled my pipe and offered +my pouch to the driver, and he filled up thankfully, and that kept him +awake until we dropped down into the beautiful old town of Ballycastle, +nestling under the high hills of Antrim. "Bally," which figures in so +many Irish place-names, is from the Gaelic "baile," meaning town or +village, and so Ballycastle is merely the Irish form of what in English +would be prosaic Castletown. + +We had tea at a clean and pleasant inn, and then spent an hour wandering +about the place--to the site of the old abbey, near a sweet little +river, and then down to the shore, which has been desecrated with +golf-links; but the green slopes of Rathlin Island, just off the coast, +are very lovely, and just outside the bay the cliffs culminate in a +mighty bluff called Fairhead; and then back to the town along an avenue +of beautiful trees, for a visit to the "Home Industry Depot," a room +crowded with fantastic toys and some good wood-carving, all done in the +neighbourhood--about the only industry of any kind, so the keeper of the +shop said, now carried on in Ballycastle. + +Time was when Ballycastle fancied it was destined for greatness, for a +seam of coal was discovered in the hill above the town, and an +enterprising Scotchman named Hugh Boyd leased the right to work it from +the Earl of Antrim, and built foundries and tanneries and breweries to +consume it; but unfortunately the seam turned down instead of up, Boyd +died, and nobody was found with sufficient energy to contend against so +many difficulties; so the whole enterprise dropped dead. I don't know +how the inhabitants came to turn to toy-making and wood-carving; perhaps +some expatriated Swiss settled here,--that shop certainly did remind us +of Lucerne! + +There are far older memories which cluster around Ballycastle; for the +stream which ripples past the abbey was in the old days called the +Margy, and it was here, according to the most ancient of Irish legends, +that the children of Lir, King of the Isle of Man, sought shelter after +they had been turned into four white swans by their step-mother. I +should like to tell that story, but there is no space here--besides, it +has already been most nobly told by Mr. Rolleston. It will be found, +with many others, in his "High Deeds of Finn," a book I most heartily +recommend. + +We were not yet at the end of our day's journey, for we had still to go +on to Cushendall, sixteen miles away, and so we went back to the hotel, +to find a long inside-car waiting. There were two other passengers, +women of the neighbourhood, who had come in to town to do some shopping; +and their gossip was most entertaining; but we dropped them before long, +and then the road mounted up and up along the valley of a little river, +which we could see gleaming far below us; and at last we came out upon a +bog as wild and desolate as any in Connemara. There were again the +familiar black cuttings, the piles of turf, and here and there a group +of men and women labouring at the wet, back-breaking work. This bog, so +our driver said, supplied the fuel for the whole district, and nobody +hereabouts ever thought of burning coal. + +The road was quite deserted, save for a cart now and then, loaded high +with turf, lumbering heavily down toward the town; and presently even +these ceased, and there was no single sign of life as far as the eye +could reach--only the silent bog, desolate, vast, impressive, rolling +away into the distance with a beauty all its own--a beauty difficult to +express, but very poignant. + +How high we were upon that moor we did not realise until we came to the +verge of one of the beautiful Glens of Antrim and saw, nestling away +below us, the spires and roofs of Cushendall. They were perhaps half a +mile away, but we travelled at least three miles to get down to them, +winding back and forth along the side of the glen, crossing a great +viaduct eighty feet high, past picturesque thatched houses, past the +fairy thorn which no man in the village would touch for love or money, +past a fragment of ruin which was once the castle where the MacDonnells +stood off the English; and then we turned away to the right and began to +climb again; and presently we had climbed out of Glendun into Glenaan, +and I should hate to have to decide which is the more lovely. + +We emerged, at last, into more open country, with high hills at our +right pierced by shadowy valleys; and then the houses became more +frequent, and we could see the people gathering down from the fields for +the night. Twilight was at hand; but, though it must have been nearly +nine o'clock, we were amused to see that the ducks and chickens were +still pecking cheerfully about the door-steps, apparently with no +thought of retiring. Poultry, in Ireland, leads a strenuous life, for in +summer the sun rises at three and does not set till nine. Perhaps it is +these long hours which give Irish chickens an indolent air, and which +explain the frequent naps one sees them taking on the family doorstep. + +The houses grew more and more frequent, until we were rattling down a +wide street of them, under an avenue of lofty trees, and knew we were at +Cushendall. + + * * * * * + +Some three miles west of the town, on the top of a bare and windy hill +looking down over the Glenaan valley, is a circle of stones placed +there, so legend asserts, to mark the grave of Ossian, son of Finn +MacCool, and sweet singer of the Fianna of Erin; and it was to find this +spot I set out next morning, through fine, windy weather. I knew where +the valley of the Glenaan was, for we had passed its mouth the evening +before, but as to the position of the grave itself I knew nothing. The +guide-book devoted only a vague line to it; but I have a firm belief in +my luck, and I knew I should find it somehow. + +For a mile or more my road lay back over the way we had come, mounting +steadily toward the entrance to the Glenaan Valley; and I met many +little carts coming in to market, for it was Saturday; and every one who +wasn't going into town was taking advantage of the fine day by working +in the fields, or putting new coats of dazzling whitewash upon their +houses, or digging in the little flower-gardens in front of them. And +everybody was in cheerful humour and passed the time of day with the +heartiest good will. + +And then I came to the entrance of the valley, and turned westward along +the road which traverses it. The mountains soon began to close in on +either hand, and the houses strung along the road or perched on narrow +plateaus grew smaller and smaller; slate gave way to thatch, stone +floors gave way to dirt ones, and the windows shrank to a single +immovable sash of four small panes. In a word, as the land grew poorer, +the people grew poorer, too; and the conditions of life seemed not so +very different from those in far Connaught. Indeed it may very well be +that this is one of those "congested districts" which are scattered over +the east of Ireland. + +I stopped, at last, and asked an old man in a blue flannel smock if he +could tell me the way to Ossian's grave; and he told me to fare straight +on till I came to some stepping-stones, and to cross the stones and push +right up the hill. So I went on happily, for the air was very sweet, and +the sun just warm enough, and the great wind was driving white clouds +before it across the sky, and the sunshine in the faces of the people I +met added to the beauty of the day; and at last I came to a cluster of +thatched cottages where the little river turned in close to the road and +rippled between a row of stepping-stones; and I asked a pleasant-faced +woman if that was the way to Ossian's grave, and she said it was; to +cross the stones and go right up the hill, and I would find a house +there where I could get further directions. + +The road beyond the stones ran up the hill and into the yard of a +farm-house; and in the yard there was a dog with a very savage bark; but +there was also a blue-eyed girl who quieted him, while she stared at me +curiously. I asked her the way to the grave, and she pointed up the +hill, with a little motion of her hand toward the right, and I set off +again. The road had dwindled to the merest mountain path, with a wall on +either side of earth and stones, crested with prickly gorse; but I came +to a break in it, at last, opening to the right, and scrambled through; +and then, a minute later, in the midst of a heather-carpeted field on +the very summit of the hill, I saw the grave. + +It is formed of standing stones, covered with lichen and crumbling under +the storms of centuries, and the vestibule, so to speak, is a +semi-circle some twenty feet in diameter opening toward the east. Back +of this are two chambers, one behind the other, divided by two large +uprights, and I suppose it was in one of these that the body of the bard +was laid--if it was laid here at all. My own guess would be that these +weather-beaten stones, like those others on the hill beside Lough Gill, +antedate Ossian by at least two thousand years. But that is an +unimportant detail; and it may be, indeed, that when the great singer +died, his comrades could think of no more fitting place to lay him than +within the guardian circle of this monument of an older race, looking +down across the valley and out toward the sea. + +Fact and fancy have been so mingled in the Ossianic legend that it is +impossible to disentangle them, nor is it profitable to try. It is +fairly certain that he was born somewhere about the middle of the third +century after Christ, and legend has it that he spent two hundred years +in the Land of Youth with Niam of the Golden-hair. When, homesick for +Erin, he returned to it, it was to find his father's courts overgrown +with grass and St. Patrick preaching there, and his disputes with +Patrick are recorded at great length in the tales of the Fenian cycle; +for Ossian bewailed the vanished days of those mighty fighters, and +wished for nothing better than to join them, in whatever world they +might be, while Patrick laboured to convert him from such heathen +fancies and to save his soul. It is to this story reference is made in +the stanza from Lionel Johnson's "Ode to Ireland," which I quoted on +page 221. + +Up there on the bleak hill-top the wind was roaring; but I found a nook +between two of the great stones where it could not reach me, and I +lighted my pipe and sat there and looked down over the valley and +thought of the old days, and so spent a sweet half hour. The valley had +changed but little, I fancied, with the rolling centuries; there were +tiny, high-walled fields and low thatched houses on the lower slopes; +but above them sprang the primal hills, clothed with heather, their +bones of granite gleaming here and there, back and back over the Glens +of Antrim, through which the red tide of tribal warfare had poured so +many times. And over eastward lay Cushendall, nestling among its trees, +with the gaunt, truncated mass of Lurigethan hill overshadowing it, and +beyond that, faint and far and scarcely distinguishable from the blue +sky, lay the blue sea. + +That valley and those hills belong to the Earl of Antrim--his estate +includes some thirty-five thousand acres of Irish soil, around which he +may build walls and post notices and set guards; and as I sat there +gazing out at them, I realised far more keenly than I had ever done the +absurdity of the idea that any portion of this earth's surface can +rightfully belong to any man. Trace any title back, for a hundred years, +or a thousand years, or two thousand years, and one finds that it +started in a theft--theft on the part of an individual from the tribe +which held the land in common; and the solemn farce of sale and transfer +and inheritance after that was merely the passing on of stolen goods. +Perhaps some day we may win through to the ideal of an earth belonging +equally to all men, with private right only in the things man's industry +creates. + +[Illustration: THE GRAVE OF OSSIAN] + +[Illustration: AN ANTRIM LANDSCAPE] + +I knocked out my pipe, at last, reluctantly enough, and took the picture +of the stones which is opposite this page, but which gives a poor idea +of them; and then I started downward, through the break in the hedge, +through the farmyard, going warily for fear of the dog, and so to the +stepping-stones; and when I looked at them, I saw what a perfect picture +they made, with the stream rippling through, and the thatched cottages +beyond, with the smoke whipped from their chimneys, and a single tree +bending before the wind. That picture in miniature is opposite this +page; but I could not snare with my camera the tang of the turf, the +softness of the air, the glory of the sun, nor the murmur of the water. +Those you will have to evoke for yourself, as best you can. + +In the road beyond I found a mail-carrier, who had completed his +morning-round among the hillside dwellings, and who was turning back to +Cushendall; and we went on together. He was a tall, lithe lad, as he +had need to be to get over his daily route among these hills; and, like +every one else, he hoped some day to win his way to America. He knew +many of its towns from the postmarks on the letters he carried. In the +last month, he said, there had been fully a hundred from America, and +welcome letters they were, for nearly all of them contained a bit of +money. Many of the dwellers in these hills--like thousands more all over +Ireland--would find life outside the work-house impossible but for the +help from their sons and daughters in America; and it gives one a good +feeling at the heart to think of those devoted boys and girls putting by +every month a portion of the money which was hard to win and harder +still to save, to send to the old people who were left at home. + +By the side of the road, as we walked along, I saw a hovel more +primitive and comfortless than most--just a tiny hut of a single room, +dark and cold and bare; but against one end of it grew a great fuchsia +bush, clothing it with glory. A wrinkled old woman, clad in filthy +clothes, was standing in the doorway, and my companion passed the time +of day with her, while I unslung my camera, for I wanted a picture of +the tiny house and the great bush. I would have liked a picture of the +old woman, too; but she said she was too dirty, and went in until the +picture was taken which is opposite the next page. Then she came out and +asked if I would send her one. It was the first time, she said, that any +one had thought her houseen worth a picture; so I promised she should +have one, and she gave me her name, and the postman promised it should +reach her. + +We went on together, after that, and I asked him what the people of the +neighbourhood thought about Home Rule. + +[Illustration: A HUMBLE HOME IN ANTRIM] + +[Illustration: THE OLD JAIL AT CUSHENDALL] + +"The truth is, sir," he answered, "that we don't know what to think, +what with this man telling us one thing and that man another; but most +of the poor people about here would be glad to see it, for they can't be +worse off than they are, and a change might better them. Drilling and +arming? Ah, there's none of that around here; there's no army of Ulster +in these parts. That's just talk." + +He left me at the crossroads, for he had still a letter or two to +deliver farther down the road, and I went on by myself toward the town. +There were more whitewashers out, and they were splashing the lime about +in the most reckless fashion, besprinkling the hedges and the shrubbery +and even the road, somewhat to the danger of the passers-by; and at the +first houses of the town I met Betty. She had been talking to the +caretaker of the churchyard about the true shamrock; and he said that it +did not grow wild thereabouts, but that he had some in a pot at home and +would be glad to bring her a spray; and he told her of a ruined church +and an old Celtic cross out along the road above the cliffs, very near, +he said--not over eight minutes' walk at the most. + +So we determined to take a look at it; but first we walked about the +town a little, and found it quite an ordinary town, except for a great +square tower at the intersection of the principal streets--a tower +erected, so the tablet on it says, "as a place of confinement for +rioters and idlers." I suppose the town has a modern jail now--perhaps +even with panoptic galleries! At any rate, the tower is no longer +used. I took a picture of it, and if you will look at the picture +closely, you will see a girl drawing water from the town pump just below +the tower. + +We started off finally for the ruins, first to the cliffs along the sea, +and then on along the path which runs at their very edge. The view was +very lovely, and we didn't notice how the time was flying; but I looked +at my watch presently and found that we had been walking twenty minutes, +with no ruins in sight. We pushed on ten minutes longer, and had about +given them up, when some children directed us which way to go, and we +finally found the few remaining fragments of Layd Church, so overgrown +with ivy and embowered in trees that they were scarcely recognisable as +ruins at all. The cross proved to be a very modern one; and the +graveyard is sadly neglected, with the grass knee-deep among the tombs, +which have fallen into sorry disarray. Most of them cover some long-dead +MacDonnell--they were all MacDonnells, in the old days, who lived in the +Glens of Antrim. + +The "eight minute walk" had taken more than half an hour, and we had +need to hasten if we were to get back to the hotel in time for lunch, +for the car which was to take us to Larne was to start at two; but we +made it, and when the car drove up, we found it was a long outside-car +with room for five people on each side. We chose the forward end of the +side next the sea; and then the car proceeded to another hotel in the +town, where five or six more people were waiting; and the two women who +were condemned to the landward side complained bitterly. They were +making the trip, they said, just to see the sea, and here they would be +compelled to sit the whole way facing the blank cliff. + +"Sure, there's nothing I can do, miss," said the jarvey, who had +listened sympathetically; "I can't make the car any longer, now can I? +Maybe you might be glancin' over your shoulder from time to time; anyway +I'm thinkin' you'll be seein' enough of the sea before you're home +again." + +And with that they had to be consoled. + +The road runs inland for about a mile beyond Cushendall, and then turns +down close to the shore of Red Bay, a vast amphitheatre of red sandstone +cliffs, in whose face the road is cut. At the deepest point of the +circle, where the Vale of Glenariff opens up into the mountains, is +clustered a little village of white houses; and then the road runs on +round the base of towering precipices; and suddenly the red sandstone +changes to chalk, and the water washing against the shore, which has +been a lovely green, turns milky white, with outstanding pinnacles of +chalk, worn to fantastic shapes, keeping guard above it. + +We had noticed an increasing crowd upon the road, all walking or riding +southwards; and presently two barefooted boys jumped up on the footboard +and asked if they might ride a little way; and they told us that there +was a circus at Carnlough to which every one was going; and they each +had the tuppence necessary for admission gripped in a grimy fist, and +were very excited indeed. Carnlough, as we soon found, is a small town +consisting principally of a curving beach, where a few people were +bathing; and the white tent of Duffy's Circus--a much larger affair than +Buff Bill's--was pitched close beside the road. The urchins dropped off +and made for the entrance; and as we passed, we caught a strain of "The +Stars and Stripes Forever," painfully rendered by the circus band. + +We rolled on around another wide bay, and came to Glenarm, where we +paused to change horses; and then on again, under the white cliffs, past +quarries where flint and chalk are mined for the Belfast market; and +always at our feet lay the Irish Sea, stretching away to the dim +horizon, its colour changing with every passing cloud. In and out the +road circled, following the long curves of the coast; past the ruins of +a castle which O'Halloran, a famous outlaw, built for himself on the top +of a small rock with the sea washing round it; past another amphitheatre +where the rocks change back from chalk to basalt; through a short tunnel +and so to Larne. + +The most interesting thing about Larne is its handsome new harbour built +for the express steamers which cross several times daily to Stranrear, +the shortest of the routes to Scotland. Edward Bruce chose this route +when he came over with an army of six thousand men to help the Irish +drive the English from Ireland, as his brother Robert had driven them +from Scotland the year before at Bannockburn. It was in May, 1315, that +the Scotch drew up in battle array along this strand; and a year later +Bruce was crowned King of Ireland; but though at first he drove the +Normans before him, his own army was gradually worn down by privation +and disease, and he himself was killed at the battle of Faughart. So +ended one more Irish dream! + +We changed at Larne from road to rail, and were soon rolling southward, +still close beside the water, past a string of seaside resorts, each of +which added its quota of passengers--perspiring men and women and tired +but happy children; and so we came to the old town of Carrickfergus, +with its magnificent castle overlooking Belfast Lough. Its great square +keep, ninety feet high, looked most imposing in the gathering +twilight--how many assaults had it withstood in the seven centuries of +its existence! Bruce captured it, but the MacDonnells failed. Schomberg, +William's general, had better luck, and it was on the quay below it that +the great Orangeman first set foot in Ireland. It has some American +associations, too; for John Paul Jones sailed his good ship _Ranger_ +under its walls in 1778, and captured the British ship-of-war _Drake_. +Murray, good British guide-book that it is, refers to the founder of the +American navy as "the pirate Paul Jones." But we can afford to smile at +that! + +Carrickfergus is doubtless worth a visit, though the castle is used as +an ordnance depot now, and visitors are admitted only to the outer +court. But even that would be worth seeing; and the town possesses an +old church, and some fragments of its old walls, and doubtless many +interesting old houses. I am sorry we did not spend a day there. + +But our train rolled on, close beside the border of Belfast Lough, and +presently, far ahead, we saw the gleaming spires and clustered roofs of +the citadel of Ulster. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +BELFAST + + +IT had been on a Saturday evening that we first saw Dublin, and it was +on a Saturday evening that we reached Belfast; and we had thought the +streets of Dublin crowded, but compared with those of Belfast, they were +nowhere. Even in our first ride up from the station, along York Street +and Royal Avenue, it was evident that here was a town where life was +strenuous and eager; there was no mistaking its air of alert prosperity; +and when, after dinner, we sallied forth on foot to see more of it, we +found the sidewalks so crowded that it was possible to move along them +only as the crowd moved. + +It was a better-dressed crowd than the Dublin one, but I fancied its +cheeks were paler and its bodies less robust. Indeed, I am inclined to +think the average stature in Belfast an inch or so under the average +elsewhere. Great numbers of the men and women we saw on the streets that +night were obviously undersized. I am by no means tall; five feet eight +inches is, here in America, about the average; but when I walked among +that Belfast crowd, I overtopped it by half a head. It was this strange +sensation--the sensation of being a tall man, which I had never before +experienced--which first drew my attention to the stature of the crowd. + +There must be several regiments of British troops stationed at Belfast, +for soldiers were much in evidence that evening, and in a great +diversity of uniform. They, too, for the most part, seemed undersized, +in spite of their erect carriage; and they were, as is the way with +soldiers everywhere, much interested in the girls; and the girls, after +the fashion of girls everywhere, were much interested in the +soldiers--and there was a great deal of flirting and coquetting and +glancing over shoulders and stopping to talk, and walking about with +clasped hands. + +Next to the crowd, the most interesting feature of Belfast is the shops, +which are very bright and attractive. The Scotch have a genius for fancy +breads and cakes, and the bakers' shops here were extremely alluring. +There seemed to be also an epidemic of auction sales and closing out +sales and cut price sales, announced by great placards pasted all over +the windows; but there were so many of them that I fancy most of them +were fakes. + +One notices also in Belfast the multiplicity of bands. It seemed to me +that night that a band, playing doggedly away, was passing all the time. +Sometimes the band would be followed by a body of marching men, +sometimes by men and women together, sometimes it would be just playing +itself along without any one behind it. Nobody in the crowd paid much +attention, not even when a big company of boy scouts marched past, +looking very clever in their broad hats with the little chin-straps, and +grey flannel shirts and flapping short trousers showing their bare +knees. + +What I am setting down here are merely my first impressions of Belfast. +I do not allege that they were correct impressions, or that they fairly +describe the town, but, as we were fresh from many weeks in the south +and west of Ireland, the sense of contrast we experienced that first +evening is not without significance. + +We went back to the hotel, finally, for we had had a strenuous day; but +for long and long we could hear the bands passing in the street below; +and then the martial rattle of drums and scream of fifes brought us to +the window, and we saw a great crowd of children march past, with +banners waving and tin buckets and shovels rattling. It was a Sunday +School picnic, just back from a day at the seashore; and the air which +the fifes and drums were playing with a vigour that made the windows +rattle was "Work, for the Night is Coming!" I had never before realised +what a splendid marching tune it is! + + * * * * * + +I am sorry we did not go to church, next morning, for the pulpits of +Belfast were thundering against Home Rule, as we saw by the Monday +papers. Instead, we walked down to the river, for a look at the harbour +and custom house, and then about the streets to the city hall, with its +dome and corner towers oddly reminiscent of St. Paul's Cathedral; and +then we took a tram to the Botanical Gardens. The tram ran along a +tree-embowered street, lined on either side with villas set in the midst +of grounds so beautiful that any of them might have been the gardens; +but when we reached the end of the line, we found we had come too far. +The conductor was greatly chagrined that he had forgot to tell us where +to get off, and sternly refused to accept any fare for the return trip. + +The gardens, which we finally reached, are very attractively laid out, +but far more interesting than the flowers and the shrubs was the crowd +which was coming home from church. There seems to be a church on every +square in Belfast, and I judge they were all full that day--as they no +doubt are every Sunday, for church-going is still fashionable in the +British Isles; and the crowd which poured along the walks of the gardens +was as well-dressed and handsome as could be seen anywhere. It was a +crowd made up of people evidently and consciously well-to-do, and one +distinctive characteristic was a certain severity of aspect, a certain +prevalence of that black-coated, side-whiskered, stern-lipped type which +was much more common in America thirty years ago than it is now. Our +type has changed--has softened and grown more urbane; but I should judge +that the cold steel of Calvinism is as sharp and merciless as ever in +Belfast. + +The men walked slowly along in twos and threes, talking over the sermons +they had just listened to; and the sermons, judging from the newspapers, +were all cast in the same mould; and that mould gives so clearly the +Orange attitude toward Home Rule, that I shall try to outline it here, +quoting literally from the newspaper accounts. + +Home Rule, then, according to the Belfast preachers, is a Papal-inspired +movement, whose object is "to thrust out of their birthright over one +million enterprising, industrious, and peaceable citizens, whose only +crime was their loyalty to Crown and Constitution, and to put them under +that Papal yoke from which their sires had purchased their liberty. +Their beloved island home had never been more prosperous. They were +grateful and they were satisfied, but their Roman Catholic fellow +countrymen seemed to have no sense of satisfaction or gratitude. The +Irish Nationalists had entered into a movement to sacrifice +Protestantism upon the altar of Home Rule, but Orangemen and Protestants +had entered into a covenant the object of which was the maintenance of +their rightful heritage of British citizenship, of their commercial and +industrial progress, and of their freedom. In the same spirit of +patriotic Protestantism as was displayed at the siege of Derry, they +would go forth to combat the onslaughts of Rome, and they would show +that the same spirit lived in them as in their illustrious sires." Some +of the services concluded with singing a new version of the National +Anthem: + + Ulster will never yield; + God is our strength and shield, + On Him we lean. + Free, loyal, true and brave, + Our liberties we'll save. + Home Rule we'll never have. + God save the King. + +That last line is so perfunctory that it provokes a smile. + +I am anxious to state the case against Home Rule as fairly as I can, the +more so because, as the readers of this book must have suspected before +this, I have little sympathy with the die-hard Unionists. I do not +believe that they represent Ulster in any such absolute sense as they +claim to do, for in the first place they hold only sixteen out of the +thirty-three Ulster seats in Parliament, and in the second place, even +in the four counties which are largely Protestant, there is a very +strong Nationalist sentiment. My own conviction is that the Orange +Societies are being be-fooled by a clique of politicians and aristocrats +whose quarrel is not with Home Rule but with the Liberal party. Nobody +denies that the funds for the organisation and equipment of the Orange +army have been supplied by the Conservative party, whose campaign chest +has been sadly depleted by the immense sums needed to keep the agitation +going. Certain leaders of that party have done their utmost to foment +religious and racial hatred, not because of any religious convictions of +their own, nor because of any special sympathy for Ulster, but in the +hope of overthrowing the government and stopping the march of social +reform. They might just as well try to stop the march of time--and some +day, perhaps, they will realise it! + + And yet-- + +These fighting preachers, these uncompromising, wrong-headed, upright +old Calvinists, are undoubtedly in earnest. The congregations which sat +in grim-faced silence that day listening to this oratory, were in +earnest, too. But I cannot believe that, in their inmost heart of +hearts, they really dread the subversion of Protestantism. What they +dread is, in the first place, some diminution of their supremacy in +Irish politics, and, in the second place, some diminution of their +control of Irish industry. In other words, the attack they really fear +is against their pocket-books, not against their creed. And it is not +impossible that their pocket-books may suffer; indeed, I think it +probable that when the Home Rule Parliament has made its final +adjustments of revenue, Ulster will be found to be bearing somewhat more +of the burden than she now does, though perhaps not more than her just +share. But this doesn't make the situation any the less serious, for +ever since the world began it has been proved over and over again that +the very surest way to drive men to frenzied resistance is to attack +their pocket-books. As for the religious bogy, I personally believe most +sincerely that it _is_ a bogy. Such danger to Protestantism as exists +comes, not from the Irish Catholics, but from the politicians who are +using it as a football. + +There was a sentence in one of the sermons preached that day to the +effect that Irish Protestants laboured to help Irish Catholics to civil +and religious liberty, when Irish Catholics were unable to help +themselves, and this is a fact which I am sure Irish Catholics will be +the last to forget. A century ago, Ulster was as fiercely Nationalist as +she is fiercely Unionist to-day; it was in Belfast that the Society of +United Irishmen was organised, and its leader was Theobald Wolfe Tone, a +Protestant, and its first members were Presbyterians, and one of its +objects was Catholic Emancipation. And, as a close to these disconnected +remarks, I cannot do better than repeat an anecdote I saw the other day +in the _Nineteenth Century_. Some sympathetic neighbours called upon the +mother of Sir David Baird to condole with her over her son's +misfortunes, and they told her, with bated voices, how he had been +captured by Tippoo Sultan, and chained to a soldier and thrust into a +dungeon. Baird's mother listened silently, and then a little smile +flitted across her lips. + +"God help the laddie that's chained to my Davie!" she said softly. + +And anybody that's chained to Ulster will undoubtedly have a strenuous +time! + + * * * * * + +The _News-Letter_ is the great Belfast daily, and while I was looking +through it, Monday, for fear I had missed some of the pulpit and +platform fulminations, I chanced upon another article which interested +me deeply, as showing the Protestant attitude toward control of the +schools. The article in question was a long account of the awarding of +prizes at one of the big Belfast National schools, as a result of the +religious education examination, and it was most illuminating. + +The chairman began his remarks by saying that "nothing is pleasanter +than to hear a pupil repeat faultlessly the answers to the one hundred +and seven questions in the Shorter Catechism, without a stumble, placing +the emphasis where it is due, and attending to the stops," and he went +on to report that these one hundred and seven questions had been asked +orally of each of 396 children, that there was not a single failure, and +that practically all the children were in the first honour list--that +is, had answered faultlessly the whole one hundred and seven. + +And then another speaker, a clergyman, of course, like the first, told +impressively of the meaning of education. It was, he said, the duty of +every child to store his mind with all manner of knowledge and to seek +diligently to gain information from day to day. But religion was the sum +and complement of all education. Without it, all other acquirements +would be little better than the beautiful flush upon the consumptive's +cheek, the precursor of sure death and decay. He reminded them that even +the very youngest there was guilty in the sight of God, for that awful +word sinner described them all. + +Then a third speaker remarked that while the staff of the school was +doing a fine work in teaching the boys and girls to read and write and +cast up accounts, that that wasn't nearly so fine as teaching them the +catechism and encouraging them to study their Bibles. And then a fourth +speaker emphasised this; and then there was a vote of thanks to all the +speakers, and the prize Bibles were distributed, and everybody went away +happy--at least, the adults were all happy, and I can only hope the +children were. + +From all which it is evident that the Presbyterians will fight for their +schools as hard, if not harder, than the Catholics will for theirs. But +to me, the thought of those poor children being drilled and drilled in +the proper answers to the 107 questions of the Catechism, until they +could answer them all glibly and without stopping to think, is a painful +and depressing one. I suppose that is the way good Orangemen are made; +but the Catechism has always seemed to me a rickety ladder to climb to +heaven by. + + * * * * * + +I was fortunate enough to witness another peculiar symptom of Belfast's +temper, that afternoon, when I went down to the Custom House, which +stands near the river. It is a large building occupying a full block, +and there is a wide esplanade all around it; and this esplanade has, +from time immemorial, been the platform which any speaker, who could +find room upon it, was privileged to mount, and where he might +promulgate any doctrine he could get the crowd to listen to. + +There was a great throng of people about the place, that afternoon, and +a liberal sprinkling of policemen scattered through it; and then I +perceived that it wasn't one big crowd but a lot of smaller crowds, each +listening to a different orator, whose voices met and clashed in the air +in a most confusing manner. And I wish solemnly to assert that the list +which follows is a true list in every detail. + +At the corner of the building, a reformed drunkard, with one of those +faces which are always in need of shaving, stood, Bible in hand, +recounting his experiences. At least, he said he had reformed; but the +pictures he painted of the awful depravity of his past had a lurid tinge +which held his auditors spell-bound, and it was evident from the way he +smacked his lips over them that he was proud of having been such a devil +of a fellow. + +Next to him a smartly-dressed negro was selling bottles of medicine, +which, so far as I could judge from what I heard, was guaranteed to cure +all the ills that flesh is heir to. The formula for this wonderful +preparation, he asserted, had been handed down through his family from +his great-great-grandmother, who had been a famous African voodoo +doctor, and it could be procured nowhere else. The open-mouthed +Belfasters listened to all this with a deference and patience which no +American audience would have shown, and the fakir took in many +shillings. + +Next to him, a company of the Salvation Army was holding a meeting after +the explosive fashion familiar all the world over; and at the farther +corner, a white-bearded little fellow was describing the horrors of hell +with an unction and exactitude far surpassing Dante. I don't know what +his formula was for avoiding these horrors, for I didn't wait to hear +his peroration. + +Just around the corner, two blind men were singing dolefully, with a tin +cup on the pavement before them, and straining their ears for the rattle +of a copper that never came; and farther along, a sharp-faced Irishman +was delivering a speech, which I judged to be political, but it was so +interspersed with anecdote and invective and personal reminiscence, +that, though I listened a long time, I couldn't make out who he was +talking against, or which side he was on. His audience seemed to follow +him without difficulty, however, and laughed and applauded; and then a +little fellow with a black moustache advised the crowd, in a loud voice, +not to listen to him, for he was a jail-bird. I saw the constables edge +in a little closer; but the speaker took the taunt in good part, +admitted that he had done twelve months for some offence, and thanked +the crowd with tears in his voice because they had raised two pounds a +week, during that time, for the support of his family. The crowd +cheered, and the fellow who had tried to start trouble hastened to take +himself off. Thinking over all which, now, it occurs to me that the +speech may have been a labour speech, and not a political one at all. + +I gave it up, at last, and moved on to where a man was making an +impassioned plea for contributions for an orphan asylum. He had a +number of sample orphans of both sexes ranged about him, and he painted +a lively picture of the good his institution was doing; but how he hoped +to extract donations from a crowd so evidently down at heel I don't see. +Next to him, a frightful cripple, who could stand erect only by leaning +heavily upon two canes, was telling the crowd how exceedingly difficult +it was for a rich man to get into heaven. Next to him, a lot of women +were holding some sort of missionary meeting; and just around the last +corner, a roughly-dressed man, with coarse, red-bearded face, whose +canvas placard described him as a "Medical Herbalist," was selling +medicines of his own concoction. + +He had no panacea, but a separate remedy for every ill; and I listened +to his patter for a long time, though obviously he didn't welcome my +presence. He proved that slippery-elm was harmless by eating some of it, +and argued that plantain, "which ignorant people regarded as a weed, +made the best medicine a man could put into his inside," and he proved +this proposition by saying that it must be so because plantain had no +other known use, and it was inconceivable that the Lord would have taken +the trouble to create it without some purpose. He also proved that he +was a capable doctor because he was not a doctor at all, but a +working-man, and it was the working-man who made the world go round. +Inconceivable as it may seem, this ignorant and maudlin talk was +listened to seriously and even respectfully, and he sold a lot of his +medicines. Medicine seems to be one of the dissipations of the Belfast +folk. + +The largest crowd of all was gathered before a man who held the centre +of the fourth side of the esplanade, and who was talking, or rather +shouting, against Home Rule. He was garbed as a clergyman, and he wore +an Orange badge, and he was listened to with religious attention as he +painted the iniquity of the Catholic church and the horrible dangers of +Catholic domination. His references to King Billy and the Boyne and the +walls of Derry were many and frequent, and he had all sorts of newspaper +clippings in his pockets, from which he read freely, and though he was +very hoarse and bathed in perspiration, he showed no sign of stopping. +He intimated that, once Home Rule was established, the revival of the +inquisition would be but a matter of a short time, that no Protestant +would be allowed to own property, that no Protestant labourer could +expect employment anywhere until he had abjured his religion, that their +children would be taken away from them and reared in Catholic schools, +and he called upon them to arm and stand firm, to offer their lives upon +the altar of their country, and not retreat a step before the +aggressions of the Scarlet Woman. I don't know how much of this farrago +his audience believed, but their faces were intent and serious, and I +fear they believed much more than was good for them. I happened upon a +song of Chesterton's the other day which brought those strained and +intent faces vividly before me: + + The folks that live in black Belfast, their heart is in their mouth; + They see us making murders in the meadows of the South; + They think a plow's a rack, they do, and cattle-calls are creeds, + And they think we're burnin' witches, when we're only burnin' weeds. + +Those lines are scarcely an exaggeration; and after I had stood there +listening for half an hour, I began to feel uneasily that perhaps, after +all, there is in Ulster a dour fanaticism which may lead to an ugly +conflict. Those political adventurers who have preached armed resistance +so savagely, without really meaning a word of it, may have raised a +Frankenstein which they will find themselves unable to control. + +[Illustration: THE CITY HALL, BELFAST] + +[Illustration: HIGH STREET, BELFAST] + +As I turned away, at last, sick at heart that such things should be, I +passed close by a little group of men who were standing on the sidewalk +opposite, listening to the denunciations of Rome with flushed faces and +clenched hands. + +"Let's have a go at him!" said one of them hoarsely; and then he caught +my eye, as I lingered to see what would happen. "What do you think of +that, anyway, sir?" he asked. + +"I think it's outrageous," I said. "But I wouldn't raise a row, if I +were you boys; you'll just be playing into his hands if you do." + +Their leader considered this for a moment. + +"I guess you're right, sir," he agreed, at last. "Come on, boys," and +they slouched away around the corner. + +But perhaps, afterwards, when they had got a few more drinks, they came +back again. It is a peculiarity of Belfast that the public houses are +allowed to open at two o'clock Sunday afternoon, and they are crammed +from that time forward with a thirsty crowd. + + * * * * * + +There is nothing of antiquarian interest at Belfast, and its public +buildings, though many and various, are in no way noteworthy. The +sycophancy of the town is evidenced by a tall memorial to Prince +Albert, not quite so ugly however, as the one at London; while in front +of the city hall stands a heroic figure of Victoria. There is a statue +to the Marquis of Dufferin, and one to Harland the ship-builder, and one +to Sir James Haslett; and many militant divines, in flowing robes, are +immortalised in marble. But search the streets as you may, you will find +no statue to any Irish patriot or Irish poet. + +Nor will you find a street named after one--yes, there is Patrick +Street, but it is a very short and unimportant street, and may easily +escape notice. The shadow of the Victorian Age lies deeply over the +place. The greatest quay is Albert Quay, and the ship channel is +Victoria Channel, and the square at the custom house is Albert Square, +and a little farther along is Victoria Square, and just around the +corner is Arthur Square, and the principal avenue is Royal Avenue, and +the broad street which leads into it is York Street, and the street next +to it is Queen Street, and leading off of that is Kent Street, and a +little distance away is Albert Street leading up to Great Victoria +Street, and I am sure that somewhere in the town there is a Prince +Consort Street, though I didn't happen upon it! + +The churches are all modern and uninteresting, though, strangely enough, +the Catholic ones are as large and ornate as any. You wouldn't think it +from the way Ulster talks, but about a fourth of the population of +Belfast is Catholic. There are two small museums, neither of which is +worth visiting; in a word, the whole interest of Belfast is in its +shops, its factories and its commerce. + +The shops are wonderfully attractive, especially, of course, in objects +made of linen. For Belfast is the world-centre of the linen trade, whose +foundations were laid by the Huguenots who found a refuge here after +Louis XIV banished them from France. It was the one Irish industry which +England did not interfere with, because England produced no linen; and +consequently it prospered enormously, until to-day there are single +factories at Belfast where four thousand people bend over a thousand +looms or watch ten thousand spindles, and the annual value of the trade +is more than sixty million dollars. There are great tobacco factories, +too, covering acres of ground; and the biggest rope-walk in the world; +and a distillery which covers nineteen acres and--but the list is +interminable. + +The most interesting and spectacular of all these mighty industries will +be found along the river banks, where the great ship-building yards are +ranged, where such monsters as the _Olympic_ and the fated _Titanic_ +were built and launched, and where the rattle and clangour of steel upon +steel tells of the labour of twenty thousand men. And surely the clang +and clatter of honest toil which rises from Belfast on week days must be +more pleasing to the Almighty than the clang and clatter which rises +from it on Sunday! I should think He would be especially disgusted with +the noises which emanate from about the Custom House! + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE GRAVE OF ST. PATRICK + + +THE shops of Belfast, with their embroidered linens (duty, forty-five +per cent!), proved a magnet too great for Betty to resist, but I hied me +away, next day, into County Down, on a pilgrimage to the grave which is +said to hold the three great apostles of Erin--Saint Brigid and Saint +Patrick and Saint Columba. It is in the churchyard of the village of +Downpatrick that the grave lies, and the thirty mile run thither from +Belfast is through a green and fertile country covered with broad fields +of flax. There are raths and tumuli here and there, and a few ruins +topping the neighbouring slopes, but it is not until one reaches +Downpatrick that one comes upon a really impressive memorial of the old +days. + +The cathedral is visible long before the train reaches the town, +standing on the edge of a high bluff overlooking the valley of the +Quoile, and it was to it I made my way from the station, up a very steep +street, for Downpatrick, following the fashion of Irish towns, is built +on the side of a hill--and also follows the fashion in having an Irish +Street and an English Street and even a Scotch Street, the surviving +names, I suppose, of the quarters where the people of those various +nations once lived close together for mutual protection. + +The cathedral was locked, as Protestant churches have a way of being; +but the caretaker lives near by and came running when his wife told him +that there was a strange gentleman wished to see the church. He was a +very Scotch Irishman, and as he took me around the bare, white interior, +he said proudly: "There's not much high church about this. Not a bit of +flummery will we have here--no candles or vestments or anything of that +sort. Our people wouldn't stand it--it savours too much of Romanism." + +"And yet," I said, "it was Saint Patrick who founded this very church, +and you have him and Saint Brigid and Saint Columba buried in your +churchyard." + +"Yes, and we're proud to have them," he retorted quickly, "for they +weren't Romanists--they were just Christians, and good ones, too. The +Protestants of Ireland can honour Patrick and Brigid just as much as the +Catholics do. It wasn't till long after their day that the Irish church +made submission to Rome." + +There is a modicum of truth in this, for, though it is probable that St. +Patrick was regularly ordained a bishop and is even sometimes asserted +to have been sent on his mission by Pope Celestine himself, the ties +which bound Irish Catholics to Rome were for many centuries very slight +indeed, and it was not until after the Norman conquest that the +authority of Rome was fully acknowledged; and this independence has +persisted, in a way, even to the present day; for while Irish Catholics, +of course, acknowledge absolutely the supremacy of the Holy See in all +spiritual affairs, they have always been quick to resent its +interference in things temporal, and their tolerance toward other +religions than their own stands almost unique in history. It is, +perhaps, a racial characteristic, for the Pagan Irish, during all the +years of Patrick's mission among them, never seriously persecuted him +and never slew a Christian. + +Here at the spot where that mission began it is fitting that I should +say a word of it. Of Saint Patrick himself very little is certainly +known, for he was a man of deeds and not of words, and left no record of +his life; but there seems no valid reason to doubt the traditional +account of him; that he was born at Kilpatrick, in Scotland, somewhere +about 390; that his father was a Roman citizen and a Christian; that, +when about sixteen years of age, he was captured by a band of raiding +Irish, carried back to Ireland as a slave, sold to an Ulster chief named +Milcho, and for six years tended his master's flocks on the slopes of +Slemish, one of the Antrim hills. In the end he escaped and made his way +back to his home in Britain; but once there his thoughts turned back to +Erin, and in his dreams he heard the cries of the Pagan Irish imploring +him to return, bearing the torch of Christianity. + +The voices grew too strong to be resisted, and in 432 he was back on the +Irish coast again, having in the meantime been ordained a bishop of the +Catholic Church; and he sailed along the coast until he came to +Strangford Lough, where he turned in and landed. His purpose was to go +back to Slemish and ransom himself from the master from whom he had +escaped, but he paused at a large sabhall, or barn, and said his first +Mass on Irish soil. It was to that spot he afterwards returned, when the +hand of death was upon him, to end his days; and the little village +that stands there is Sabhall, or Saul, to this day. He went on, after +that, to the great dun, or fort, of the kings of Ulster, which we +ourselves shall visit presently, and from which Downpatrick takes its +name. Then, finding his old master dead, he began his life-work. His +success was so extraordinary that at the end of thirty years, the +conversion of the Irish was complete. + +[Illustration: THE GRAVE OF PATRICK, BRIGID AND COLUMBA] + +[Illustration: THE OLD CROSS AT DOWNPATRICK] + +At last, feeling his end near, he made his way back to the sanctuary at +Saul, died there, and was brought for burial to this bluff overlooking +the great rath below. Legend has it that Saint Brigid wove his +winding-sheet. She herself, when she died, was buried before the high +altar of her church at Kildare; and there are two stories of why her +body was removed to St. Patrick's grave. One is that, in 878, her +followers, fearing that her grave would be desecrated by the Danes, +removed her body to Downpatrick and buried it in the grave with the +great apostle, where the remains of St. Columba had been brought from +Iona and placed nearly two centuries before for the same reason. The +other story is that the bones of St. Brigid and St. Columba both were +brought here in 1185 by John de Courcy, to whom Ulster had been granted +by the English king,--and who had surprised and captured Downpatrick +eight years previously,--in the hope of conciliating the people he had +conquered. Either story may be true; but all that need concern us now is +that there seems to be no question that the three great apostles of +Ireland really do lie at rest within this grave. + +De Courcy enlarged the cathedral, which, before that, had been a poor +affair, dedicated it to Saint Patrick, and caused effigies of the +three saints to be placed above the east window with a Latin couplet +over them: + + Hi tres in duno, tumulo tumulantur in uno + Brigida, Patritius, atque Columba pius. + +The stone which marks the grave is in the yard just outside the +church--a great, irregular monolith of Mourne granite, weatherworn and +untouched by human hand, except for an incised Celtic cross and the word +"Patric" in rude Celtic letters--one monument, at least, in Ireland +which is wholly dignified and worthy. + +One other thing of antiquarian interest there is near by, and that is an +ancient cross, said to have stood originally on the fort of the King of +Ulster, but removed by De Courcy and set up in front of his castle in +the centre of the town, as a sign of his sovereignty, where it was +knocked to pieces when the castle was. The fragments have been put +together, and battered and worn as it is, the carvings can still be +dimly seen--the crucifixion in the centre, with stiff representations of +Bible scenes below. It is ruder than most, as may be seen from the +photograph opposite page 522, for the circle which surrounds the cross +is merely indicated and not cut through. There has been much controversy +as to the origin of this circle, which is the distinctive feature of the +Celtic cross; but I have never yet seen any theory which seemed anything +more than a guess--and not a particularly good guess, either. + +Of the first church which was built here not a trace remains, and even +of the structure of 1137 there is little left. For Downpatrick, with the +priories and monasteries and hospitals and convents and other religious +establishments which had grown up around the sacred grave of the saints, +was one of the first objects of attack when Henry VIII began his +suppression of the religious houses. Lord Grey marched hither at the +head of a regiment of soldiers and plundered the place and set fire to +it, so that only an empty shell was left. The crumbling and blackened +ruin stood undisturbed for more than two hundred years, and when its +restoration was finally undertaken, it was found that only five arches +of the nave were solid enough to be retained. So the present structure +is only about a century old, except for that one stretch of wall and a +recessed doorway under the east window. The old effigies of Brigid and +Patrick and Columba, which Grey pulled down and knocked to pieces, have +been replaced in the niches above the window, but they are sadly +mutilated. In the vestry is a portrait of Jeremy Taylor, who was Bishop +of Down for nearly seventy years, but there is little else of interest +in the church. The most imposing thing about it is its position at the +edge of the high bluff, looking out across the valley of the Quoire to +the Mourne mountains. + +Just to the north of this bluff and almost in its shadow, close to the +bank of a little stream, still stands the enormous rath built two +thousand years ago by Celtchair, one of the heroes of the Red Branch of +Ulster, and here he and the chiefs who came after him had their +stronghold. So great was its fame that Ptolemy, in far off Egypt, heard +of it, and it was gradually enlarged and strengthened until there were +few in Ireland to equal it. The sea helped to guard it, for at high tide +the water flowed up over the flats along the Quoile and lapped against +it; but the erection of sluice-gates farther down the stream has shut +away the tide, and it stands now in the midst of a marsh. + +To get to it, one passes along the wall of the jail--one of the largest +I had seen anywhere in Ireland, and which Murray proudly says cost +$315,000--and scrambles down into the marsh, and there before one is the +rath. My picture of it, the top one opposite the next page, was taken +from close beside the jail, many hundreds of yards away, and gives no +idea of its size, except for the thread-like path which you may perceive +running up one end, which is two or three feet wide, and fully seventy +feet long. + +The rath is an immense circular rampart of earth, nearly three quarters +of a mile in circumference, fifty feet high, and so steep that I had +great difficulty in getting up it, even by the path. Around it runs a +fosse or ditch some forty feet wide and nine or ten feet deep. This, of +course, was deeper in the old days, and would remain filled with water +even when the tide was out. Inside the circular rampart, the ground +drops some twenty feet into a large enclosure, near the centre of which +a great mound, surrounded by a ditch ten feet deep, towers sixty feet +into the air. + +The central mound corresponds to the keep or donjon tower of more modern +forts, the last place of refuge and defence when the outer ramparts had +been forced; and it was on this mound that the dwellings of the chiefs +stood, rude enough, no doubt, though they were the palaces of kings. The +tribal huts clustered in the enclosure about the foot of the mound; and +so perfectly is the whole place preserved--though of course there is +now no trace of hut or palace--that one has little difficulty in +picturing the busy life which went on there--the throngs of men and +women and children, the tribal council gathered on the summit of the +great mound to listen to the chief, the departure of expeditions for war +or for the chase, the arrival of envoys from some other chieftain or +perhaps of some minstrel, his harp slung across his shoulder. . . . + +[Illustration: THE GREAT RATH AT DOWNPATRICK] + +[Illustration: THE INNER AND OUTER CIRCLES] + +[Illustration: THE CENTRAL MOUND] + +I tore myself away, at last, for there was another place I wished to +visit, and it was three miles distant--the Holy Wells of Struell. The +caretaker at the cathedral had pointed out the route, so I climbed back +past the prison, and went down through the town and up Irish Street +beyond, and over Gallows Hill, where some unfortunate Irishmen were +hanged during the rebellion of '98. The road beyond ran between high +hedge-rows and under arching trees, whose shade was very grateful, for +the day was the hottest I had experienced in Ireland; and then it +crossed the white high-road and ran close under a long stretch of wall +which surrounded an enormous and ornate building. I asked a passer-by +what it was, and he answered that it was a madhouse, and big as it was, +was none too big. Murray supplies the information that it cost half a +million. + +There is a workhouse in the town which, from the look of it, must have +cost $300,000--or say a million dollars for the three together, the +jail, the workhouse and the asylum, every cent of it, of course, raised +by taxation from the poorest people in the world! Sadly pondering this, +I went on along the lane, and the heat made the way seem very long. But +a girl I met assured me that I had not much farther to go--only past +the farm at the foot of the hill; and presently I came to the farm, a +handsome one, with the dwelling-house surrounded by well-built barns and +stables, and a man there directed me to the wells, down a little +by-road. Five minutes later, I had reached the rude stone huts which +cover the Holy Wells of Struell. + +Down the middle of a pretty valley, a small stream leaps from rock to +rock, pausing here and there in little pools, and these pools are the +"wells." Each of them is protected by a stone-walled, stone-roofed cell, +built in the old days when the wells were in their glory, and now +falling to decay. Just beyond the wells is a group of thatched cottages, +and a girl of eight or nine, seeing my approach, hurried out from one of +them and volunteered to act as guide, scenting, of course, the chance to +earn a penny. And she took me first to what she said was the +drinking-well, a little grass-grown pool in a fence-corner, and though +she seemed to expect me to drink, I didn't, for the water looked stale +and scummy. + +Then we climbed a wall, and walked over to a stone cubicle, which stood +in the middle of a potato patch. This is the eye-well, and the cell over +it is just large enough to permit a person to enter and kneel down above +the water and bathe the affected parts. I took a picture of it which you +will find opposite the next page. Then she led me to the largest well of +all, the body well, or well of sins, where it is necessary to undress +and immerse the whole body. + +The stone building over the body well is divided into two parts by a +solid wall, and one part is for men and the other for women. The +disrobing is done in the outer chamber, which has a low stone bench +running around three sides, and then the penitent enters a small inner +chamber, descends some six or seven steps into the pool of water, and, I +suppose, places himself below the stream which falls into the pool from +the end of a pipe. As its name indicates, this well was supposed to have +the power of washing away all disease, both physical and moral, and time +was when it was very popular. The effect of the cold bath was so +exhilarating, and the sudden sense of freedom from sin and disease so +uplifting, that the penitents would sometimes rush forth to proclaim +their blessed state without pausing to resume their garments. Naturally +a lot of impious Orangemen would gather to see the fun; and finally both +the secular authorities and the Catholic clergy set their faces against +the practices, with the result that they gradually fell into disuse. +Only single pilgrims, or small companies, at most, come now to bathe in +the magic waters, and their behaviour is most circumspect. The cells, +themselves, are well-nigh in ruins. A chapel to Saint Patrick, from whom +these waters derive their efficacy, was begun during the day of their +popularity, but was never finished, and now only a fragment of it +remains. + +[Illustration: THE EYE WELL AT STRUELL] + +[Illustration: THE WELL OF SINS AT STRUELL] + +While I was manoeuvring for a photograph of the well of sins, a +middle-aged woman came out of a near-by cottage to advise me where to +stand. She had seen many pictures taken of the well, she said, and the +place that made the best picture was on top of the wall around her +garden, and I climbed up on it, and found that she was right. + +"'Tis a warm day," she went on, when I descended, "and your honour must +be tired with the long walk. Will you not come in and sit a spell?" + +"Thank you," I said; "I'll be glad to--it _is_ hot," and I followed her +into a lovely old kitchen, with floor of flags, and whitewashed walls +gleaming with pots and pans, and with a tall dresser in one corner +glittering with a brave array of china. In here it was quite cool, so +that after the first moment, the open grate of glowing coals, with the +usual bubbling pot above it and the usual kettle on the hob, felt very +pleasant. + +I expressed surprise that she was burning coal, and she said the +landlords of the neighbourhood had shut up the peat-bogs, in order to +make every one buy English coal; and it was very hard indeed on the poor +people, who had always been used to getting their fuel for the labour of +cutting it, besides shutting them off from earning a little money by +selling the turf to the people in the town, who would rather have it +than coal. But the landlords were always doing things like that, and it +did no good to complain. She had two brothers in America, she said, and +lived here at Struell and kept house for a third. She and her brother +were both unmarried, and would probably always remain so. Then, of +course, she wanted to know about my condition in life, and I described +it as freely as she had described her own. And then she asked me if I +wouldn't like a glass of milk, and when I said I would, she hastened to +get it from the milk-house, through which a clear little stream +trickled, and very sweet and cool it was. + +And then we got to talking about Ulster's attitude toward Home Rule. +County Down, you should remember, is one of the nine counties which form +the Province of Ulster, and is the most strongly Protestant of all of +them outside of Belfast and Antrim, for only about one third of its +200,000 people are Catholic. + +"God knows what will happen," said my hostess, very seriously. "I have +been hearing a lot of wild talk, but paid no heed to it, for these +Orangemen are always talkin' about this or that, and their talk means +nothing. But I've come to think it may be more than just talk this time. +I heard a few days since that all the Orangemen hereabouts have been +getting together three evenings every week in a meadow over beyont, and +an officer of the army comes there and drills them till it is too dark +to see. And they say, too, that there is a gun ready for each of them, +with plenty of powder and lead to put into it; and they've sleuthered a +lot of poor boys into joinin' with them who have not the courage to say +no. But I'm hoping it will pass by, and that no trouble will come of it. +I am a Catholic myself, but we have never had any trouble with the +Protestants. We get along very well together, and why shouldn't we? Some +of my best friends are Protestants, and I know they wish us no harm. No, +no, we are well-placed here, though them ones in the south do be calling +us the black north." + +I told her something of the destitution and misery I had seen in the +south and west; but she showed no great sympathy--rather a contempt, I +fancied, for people who could be so easy-going and unambitious. She +herself seemed of a very different breed; and the shining kitchen, as +clean as a new pin, proved what a delight and pride she took in her +home and how energetic a housewife she was. Personally she was just as +clean and tidy as her kitchen, with hair neatly brushed and a bit of +white about her throat; and the apron she had on was a fresh one, +newly-ironed--something I never saw upon any peasant woman of the south. +She brought out an album of photographs, presently--photographs of +herself and of her brother, and various photographs of the wells, and I +promised to send her a print of mine, if it proved to be a good one. And +then I bade her good-bye and started back the way I came; but I can +still see her shrewd and kindly face, with the little wrinkles at the +corners of the eyes, and the cool, sweet-smelling kitchen where I spent +that pleasant hour. + +I walked about the steep streets of Downpatrick quite a while, after I +reached the town, and found them unusually quaint. Like so many other +towns in Ireland, this one is all too evidently on the down grade. The +tall houses, which were once the residences of the well-to-do, have been +turned into tenements, and while they are not so dirty and repulsive as +those of Dublin and Limerick, they are still bad enough. Others of the +houses are empty and falling into ruin. One curious thing about the +place is that from any quarter of it the town-hall is visible, standing +in the hollow at the bottom of the hill, for the five principal streets +start from it--Irish Street and English Street and Scotch Street and two +others whose names I have forgotten, but which were, perhaps, the +neutral ground of trade. + +I made my way down to the station, at last, and as the train started, a +young fellow in the same compartment with me bade a tearful farewell to +the relatives and friends who had gathered to see him off, and sat for +some time thereafter weeping unaffectedly into his handkerchief. When he +was a little calmer, I asked him if he was going to America. He said no; +he was going only to Belfast, but that was a long way! + +It is really only about thirty miles; but thirty miles is a great +journey to the average Irishman. For the Irishman is no traveller; he is +quite content to spend his life within the circle of one small horizon, +and never so happy as when sitting at his own fireside. Indeed, he is +apt to regard with suspicion those who have nothing better to do than +wander about the world. Mayo tinkers have always had a bad name in +Ireland, not because they do anything especially to deserve it, but +merely because they make their living in an unnatural fashion by roaming +from place to place. Surely there must be something wrong with a man who +does that! + + * * * * * + +That night, at Belfast, we went to a variety show. The Wild West film +seems as popular here as in the rest of Ireland, for a particularly +sensational one, where the heroine escaped from the Indians by going +hand over hand along a rope above a deep ravine, into which the Indians +were precipitated by the hero, who cut the rope when they started to +cross by it, was received with great enthusiasm. There were also some +scattered cheers when a conjuror, with carefully calculated effect, +produced portraits of the King and Queen from somewhere and waved them +before the audience. But the cheers were thin and forced, and by far the +most of those present sat grimly silent and stared at the pictures with +set faces. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE + + +I HAD one other trip to make in Ireland. That was to the scene of the +battle of the Boyne, to the tombs of the kings at Dowth and Newgrange, +and to the ruins near-by of two of the most famous and beautiful of the +old abbeys, Mellifont and Monasterboice. Readers of this book will +remember that, early in the narrative, Betty and I had journeyed up from +Dublin to Drogheda for the purpose of visiting these historic places, +but had been prevented by a combination of unforeseen circumstances. + +It was, then, for Drogheda that I set out next morning, Betty having +voted for another day in the Belfast shops; and by a singular +coincidence it was the first day of July, the anniversary of that other +day in 1690 when the army of William of Orange defeated the battalions +of Irishmen who had rallied around James--and surely never had braver +men a poorer leader! But it was not really the anniversary, for the +change in the calendar has shifted the date to July 12th, and it is on +that day the Orangemen celebrate. + +It is an eighty mile run from Belfast to Drogheda, and one of the most +picturesque and interesting in the east of Ireland; and the weather god +was kind to the last, for a brighter, sweeter day it would be impossible +to imagine. As the train leaves the city, there are glimpses to the +right of the purple hills of Antrim; and then the train pauses at the +busy town of Lisbun, and continues on over the Ulster canal, past the +battlefield of Moira, past the beautiful woods of Lurgan, and then +through a prosperous and fertile country, with broad fields of grain and +flax, and pretty villages, and so into Portadown, once the stronghold of +the McCahans. + +I was travelling third that day, as always when alone, and the +compartment had four or five people in it; and I had noticed that one of +them, a man poorly clad and with a kit of tools in a little bag, had +been looking anxiously from the window for some time. Finally he leaned +over and touched me on the knee. + +"Can you tell me, sir, if this is the train to Derry?" he asked. + +"No; it's going to Dublin," I said; and just then it rumbled to a stop, +and he opened the door and slipped hastily out. + +What happened to him I don't know, but he was in no way to blame for the +mistake, which was due to the abominable custom they have in Ireland of +starting trains for different places from the same platform, within a +minute or two of each other. That morning, at Belfast, there had been a +long line of coaches beside one of the platforms; no engines were as yet +attached to them, but the front part of the line was destined for +Dublin, and the rear portion for Derry, but there was no way to tell +where one train ended and the other began, and no examination was made +of the passengers' tickets before the trains started. + +I was wary, for I had been caught in exactly the same way once before, +at Claremorris Junction, and had escaped being carried back to Westport +only by stopping the train, amid great excitement, after it had started. +So, that morning at Belfast, I had assured myself by repeated inquiry of +various officials that the carriage I was in was going the way I wanted +to go; but any traveller unwary or unaccustomed to the vagaries of Irish +roads, such as this poor fellow, might easily have been caught napping. +Where it is necessary to start two trains close together from the same +platform, it would seem to be only ordinary precaution to examine the +passengers' tickets before locking the doors. + +From Portadown, the road runs along the valley of the Bann, past the +ruins of the old fortress of Redmond O'Hanlon, an outlaw almost as +famous in Irish history as Robin Hood is in English; and then it passes +Scarva, with a mighty cairn marking the grave of Fergus Fogha, who fell +in battle here sixteen centuries ago. Here, too, are the ruins of one of +General Monk's old castles, and on a neighbouring slope the grass-green +walls of a great rath, the stronghold of some more ancient chieftain. +Indeed, there are raths and cashels and ivy-draped ruins all about, the +work of Irish and Dane and Norman and later English, for here was a pass +across the bog from Down into Armagh, and so a chosen spot for defence +and the exacting of tribute. + +Then the train is carried by a viaduct half a mile long over the deep +and wild ravine of Craigmore, leaves Newry on the left and climbs +steadily, with beautiful views of the Mourne mountains to the right, +plunges at last through a deep cutting, and comes out under the shadow +of the Forkhill mountains, with the mighty mass of Slieve Gullion +overtopping them. Just beyond is Mowry Pass, the only pass between +north and south, except round by the coast, and so, of course, the scene +of many a desperate conflict. + +From this point on, for many miles, the scenery is very wild and +beautiful, and every foot of it has been a battle-ground. Just before +the train reaches Dundalk, it passes close to the hill of Faughart, +topped by a great earthwork, and it was here that Edward Bruce was slain +in battle a year after he had been crowned king of Ireland; and farther +on is another rath, the Dun of Dealgan, where dwelt Cuchulain, chief of +the Red Branch Knights, and one of the great heroes of Irish legend. It +was from Dun Dealgan that Dundalk took its name, and Dundalk was for +centuries the key to the road to Ulster and the northern limit of the +English pale, which had Dublin for its centre. Merely to enumerate the +battles which have been fought here would fill a page; but the train +rumbles on, past a little church which uses the fragment of a round +tower for a belfry, past the modern castle of the Bellinghams, built +from the proceeds of a famous brewery, past a wayside Calvary, and so at +last into Drogheda. And when I arrived there, I had completed the +circuit of Ireland. + +The car which was to make the round of the Boyne valley was waiting +outside the station, at the top of that long, ugly street which looked +so familiar now that I saw it again; and after waiting awhile for other +passengers and finding there was none, we drove down into the town, +where another passenger was waiting--a clergyman with grey hair and blue +eyes and white refined face, Church of England by his garb, and, as I +found out afterwards, Oxford by residence. + +And here again it looked for a moment as though I was to be balked a +second time of seeing Mellifont and Monasterboice, for it was Tuesday, +and on Tuesday, it seemed, the round was by way of Slane; but the driver +left the choice of routes to his passengers, and the clergyman said he +didn't care where we went so we saw the Boyne battlefield; and with that +we set off westward along the pleasant road, and soon, far ahead, we saw +the top of the great obelisk opposite the place where Schomberg fell. +The road dips steeply into King William's Glen, along which the centre +of the Protestant army advanced to the river, and then we were on the +spot where the cause of Protestant ascendency in Ireland triumphed +finally and irrevocably and where the Cromwellian settlements were +sealed past overthrow. + +William, with his English and his Dutch, had marched down from Dundalk, +and James, with his Irish and his French, had marched up from Dublin, +and here on either side of this placid little river, where the hills +slope down to the Oldbridge ford, the armies took their station; and +here, a little after ten o'clock in the morning, brave old Schomberg, +whose tomb, you will remember, we saw in St. Patrick's at Dublin (how +long ago that seems!), led his Dutch guards and his regiment of +Huguenots into the water, across the ford, and up the bank on the other +side. There, for a moment, his troops fell into disorder before the +fierce attack of the Irish, and as he tried to rally them, a band of +Irish horse rushed upon him, circled round him and left him dead upon +the ground. Almost at the same moment, the white-haired Walker, who had +exhorted the defenders of Derry never to surrender, was shot dead while +urging on the men of Ulster. But though the Irish were able to hold +their ground at first, and even to drive their assailants back into the +river, a long flanking movement which William had set on foot earlier in +the day, caught them unprepared, and they gave way, at last, before +superior numbers and superior discipline. + +Long before that, King James had fled the field, and, without stopping, +spurred on to Dublin, thirty miles away. He reached that city at ten +o'clock that night, tired, hungry, and complaining bitterly to Lady +Tyrconnell that the Irish had run faster than he had ever seen men do +before. Lady Tyrconnell was an Irishwoman, and her eyes blazed. "In +that, as in all other things," she said, "it is evident that Your +Majesty surpasses them"; and Patrick Sarsfield, who had been placed that +day in command of the king's bodyguard, and so had got nowhere near the +fighting, sent back to the Protestants his famous challenge, "Change +kings, and we will fight it over again!" + +Well, all that was more than two centuries ago; there is no more +placidly beautiful spot in Ireland than this green valley, with the +silver stream rippling past; but the staunch Protestants of the north +still baptise their babies with water dipped from the river below the +obelisk. And they are not altogether wrong, for that river is the river +of their deliverance; and perhaps, in some distant day, when new justice +has wiped out the memory of ancient wrong, Irish Catholics will agree +with Irish Protestants that it was better William should have won that +day than James. + +[Illustration: THE BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY] + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO DOWTH TUMULUS] + +My clerical companion, guide-book in hand, had carefully noted every +detail of the field, and it was evident from his shining eyes how his +soul was stirred by the thought of that old victory. But our driver sat +humped on his box, smoking silently, his face very grim. This job of +driving Protestant clergymen to Boyne battlefield must be a trying one +for the followers of Brigid and Patrick! But at last my companion had +seen enough, and closed his book with a little sigh of happiness and +satisfaction; and our driver whistled to his horse, and we climbed +slowly out of the valley. + +We had about a mile of hedge-lined road, after that, and, looking down +from it, we caught glimpses of wooded demesnes across the river, with +the chimneys of handsome houses showing above the trees--and they, too, +are the symbols of William's victory, for they are the homes of the +conquerors, the visible signs of that social order which Boyne battle +established, and which still endures. + +And then our driver, who had recovered his good-humour, pointed out to +us a great mound in the midst of a level field--a circular mound, with +steep sides and flat top, and a certain artificial appearance, though it +seemed too big to be artificial. And yet it is, for it was built about +two thousand years ago as a sepulchre for the mighty dead. + +For all this left bank of the river was the so-called Brugh-na-Boinne, +the burying-ground of the old Milesian kings of Tara; and two great +tumuli are left to show that the kings of Erin, like the kings of +ancient Egypt and the kings of the still more ancient Moundbuilders, +were given sepulchres worthy of their greatness. Yet there is a +difference. The tombs of the Moundbuilders were mere earthen tumuli +heaped above the dead; the pyramids of the Egyptians were carefully +wrought in stone. The tumuli of the ancient Irish stand midway between +the two. First great slabs were placed on end, and other slabs laid +across the uprights; and in this vaulted chamber the ashes of the dead +were laid; and then loose stones were heaped above it until it was +completely covered. Sometimes a passage would be left, but that would be +a secret known to few, and when the tomb was done it would seem to be +nothing more than a great circular mound of stones. As the years passed, +the stones would be covered gradually with earth, and then with grass +and bushes, and trees would grow upon it, until there would be nothing +left to distinguish it from any other hill. Only within the last half +century have the tumuli been explored, and then it was to find that the +Danes had spared not even these sanctuaries, but had entered them and +despoiled the inner chambers. Nevertheless, they remain among the most +impressive human monuments to be found anywhere. + +This first tumulus we came to is the tumulus of Dowth, and a woman met +us at the gate opening into the field where it stands, gave us each a +lighted candle, and led the way to the top of an iron ladder which ran +straight down into the bowels of the earth. We descended some twenty +feet into a cavity as cold as ice; then, following the light of the +woman's candle, we squeezed along a narrow passage made of great stones +tilted together at the top, so low in places that we had to bend double, +so close together in others that we had to advance sideways blessing +our slimness; and finally we came to the great central chamber where the +dead were placed. + +It is about ten feet square, and its walls, like those of the passage, +are formed by huge blocks of stone set on end. Then other slabs were +laid a-top them, and then on one another, each slab overlapping by eight +or ten inches the one below, until a last great stone closed the central +aperture and the roof was done. In the centre the chamber is about +twelve feet high. Many of the stones are carved with spirals and +concentric circles and wheel-crosses and Ogham writing--yes, and with +the initials of hundreds of vandals! + +In the centre of the floor is a shallow stone basin, about four feet +square, used perhaps for some ceremony in connection with the +burials--sacrifice naturally suggests itself, such as tradition connects +with Druid worship; and opening from the chamber are three recesses, +about six feet deep, also constructed of gigantic stones, and in these, +it is surmised, the ashes of the dead were laid. From one of these +recesses a passage, whose floor is a single cyclopean stone eight feet +long, leads to another recess, smaller than the first ones. When the +tomb was first entered, little heaps of burned bones were found, many of +them human--for it should be remembered that the ancient Irish burned +their dead before enclosing them in cists or burying them in tumuli. +There were also unburned bones of pigs and deer and birds, and glass and +amber beads, and copper pins and rings; and before the Danes despoiled +it, there were doubtless torques of gold, and brooches set with +jewels--but the robbers left nothing of that sort behind them. + +Nobody knows when this mound was built; but the men who cut the spirals +and circles--and in one place a leaf, not incised, but standing out in +bold relief--must have had tools of iron or bronze to work with; so the +date of the mound's erection can be fixed approximately at about the +beginning of the Christian era. For the rest, all is legend. But as one +stands there in that cyclopean chamber, the wonder of the thing, its +uncanniness, its mystery, grow more and more overwhelming, until one +peers around nervously, in the dim and wavering candle-light, expecting +to see I know not what. With me, that sensation passed; for I happened +suddenly to remember how George Moore and A. E. made a pilgrimage to +this spot, one day, and sat in this dark chamber, cross-legged like +Yogin, trying to evoke the spirits of the Druids, and just when they +were about to succeed, or so it seemed, the vision was shattered by the +arrival of two portly Presbyterian preachers. + +There is another entrance to the tumulus, about half way up, which opens +into smaller and probably more recent chambers; and after a glance at +them, we clambered to the top. Far off to the west, we could see the +hill of Tara, where the old kings who are buried here held their court +and gave great banquets in a hall seven hundred feet long, of which +scarce a trace remains; and a little nearer, to the north, is the hill +of Slane, where, on that Easter eve sixteen centuries ago, St. Patrick +lighted his first Paschal fire in Ireland, in defiance of a Druidic law +which decreed that in this season of the Festival of Spring, no man +should kindle a fire in Meath until the sacred beacon blazed from Tara. +You may guess the consternation of the priests when, through the +gathering twilight, they first glimpsed that little flame which Patrick +had kindled on the summit of Slane, just across the valley. That, I +think, is easily the most breathless and dramatic moment in Irish +history. The king sent his warriors to see what this defiance meant, and +Patrick was brought to Tara, and he came into the assembly chanting a +verse of Scripture: "Some in chariots and some on horses, but we in the +name of the Lord our God." And so his mission began. + +On the other side of the mound, across a field and beyond a wall, I +could see what seemed to be an ivy-draped ruin, and I asked our guide +what it might be, and she said it was the birthplace of John Boyle +O'Reilly. It was but a short walk, and my companion said he would wait +for me; so I hastened down the mound and across the field and over the +wall, and found that what I had seen was indeed a tall old house, draped +with ivy and falling into ruin. Just back of it is a church, also in +ruins, and again its wall is a granite monument to O'Reilly, more +remarkable for its size than for any other quality. There is a bust of +the poet at the top, and on either side a weeping female figure, and a +long inscription in Gaelic, which of course I couldn't read; and which +may have been very eloquent. But if it had been for me to write his +epitaph, I would have chosen a single verse of his as all-sufficient: + + Kindness is the Word. + +Then, as I was wading out through the meadow to get a picture of the +house, I met with a misadventure, for, disturbed by my passage, a bee +started up out of the grass, struck me on the end of the nose, clung +wildly there an instant, and then stung viciously. It was with tears of +anguish streaming down my cheeks that I snapped the picture opposite the +preceding page. + +Dowth Castle is not the ancestral home of the O'Reillys; that stood on +Tullymongan, above the town of Cavan, of which they were lords for +perhaps a thousand years. Dowth Castle, on the other hand, was built by +Hugh de Lacy, as an outpost of the English pale; but it came at last +into the hands of an eccentric Irishman who, about a century ago, +bequeathed it and some of the land about it as a school for orphans and +a refuge for widows. The Netterville Institution, as it was called, came +to comprise also a National school, and of this school John Boyle +O'Reilly's father, William David O'Reilly, was master for thirty-five +years. He and his wife lived in the castle, here in 1844 the poet was +born, and here he spent the first eleven years of his life. What fate +finally overtook the castle I don't know, but only the ivy-draped outer +walls remain. The trim modern buildings of the Institution cluster in +its shadow. + +I made my way back to the car, where my companion, who was not +interested in O'Reilly, was awaiting me somewhat impatiently, and I +think he regarded the bee which had stung me as an agent of Providence. +But we set off again, and the car climbed up and up to the summit of the +ridge which overlooks the river; and presently we were rolling along a +narrow road bordered with lofty elms, and then, in a broad pasture to +our right, we saw another mound, far larger than the first, and knew +that it was Newgrange. + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO NEWGRANGE] + +[Illustration: THE RUINS OF MELLIFONT] + +Four mighty stones stand like sentinels before it. The largest of them +is eight or nine feet high above the ground and at least twenty in +girth; and they are all that are left of a ring of thirty-five similar +monsters which once guarded the great cairn with a circle a quarter of a +mile around. Like the tumulus of Dowth, this of Newgrange is girdled by +a ring of great stone blocks, averaging eight or ten feet in length, and +laid closely end to end; and on top of them is a wall of uncemented +stones three or four feet high. Behind the wall rises the cairn, +overgrown with grass and bushes and even trees; but below the skin of +earth is the pile of stones, heaped above the chambers of the dead. + +The entrance here is a few feet above the level of the ground, and is +the true original entrance, which the one at Dowth is not, for the level +of the ground there has risen. This little door consists of two upright +slabs and a transverse one. Below it is placed a great stone, covered +with a rich design of that spiral ornamentation peculiar to the ancient +Irish--emblematic, it is said, of eternity, without beginning and +without end. The stone above the door is also carved, and my photograph, +opposite this page, gives a very fair idea of how the entrance looks. + +We found a woman waiting for us--she had heard the rattle of our wheels +far down the road, and had hastened from her house near by to earn +sixpence by providing us with candles; and she led the way through the +entrance into the passage beyond. As at Dowth, it is formed of huge +slabs inclined against each other, but here they have given way under +the great weight heaped upon them, and the passage grew lower and lower, +until the woman in front of us was crawling on her hands and knees. The +clergyman, who was behind her, examined the low passage by the light of +his candle, and then said he didn't think he'd try it. + +"Oh, come along, sir," urged the woman's voice. "'Tis only a few yards, +and then you can stand again. If you was a heavy man, now, I wouldn't be +advisin' it; I've seen more than one who had to be pulled out by his +feet; but for a slim man the likes of you sure it is nothing." + +He still held back, so I squeezed past him, and went down on hands and +knees, and crawled slowly forward in three-legged fashion holding my +candle in one hand, over the strip of carpet which had been laid on the +stones to protect the clothing of visitors. As our guide had said, the +passage soon opened up so that it was possible to stand upright again. I +called back encouragement to my companion, and he finally crawled +through too; and then, as I held my candle aloft, I saw that we had come +out into a great vaulted chamber at least twenty feet high. Here, as at +Dowth, the sides are formed of mammoth slabs, and the vault of other +slabs laid one upon the other, each row projecting beyond the row below +until the centre is reached. Here too there are three recesses; but +everything is on a grander scale than at Dowth, and the ornamentation is +much more elaborate. It consists of intricate and beautifully formed +spirals, coils, lozenges and chevrons; and here, also, the vandal had +been at work, scratching his initials, sometimes even his detested name, +upon these sacred stones. There was one especially glaring set of +initials right opposite the entrance, deeply and evidently freshly cut, +and I asked the woman how such a thing could happen. + +"Ah, sir," she said, "that was done by a young man who you would never +think would be doing such a thing. He come here one day, not long since, +and with him was a young woman, and they were very quiet and +nice-appearing, so after I had brought them in, I left them to +theirselves, for I had me work to do; but when I came in later, with +another party, that was what I saw. And I made the vow then that never +again would I be leaving any one alone here, no matter how respectable +they might look." + +We commended her wisdom, and turned back to an inspection of the +carvings. It was noticeable that there was no attempt at any general +scheme of decoration, for the spirals and coils were scattered here and +there without any reference to each other, some of them in inaccessible +corners which proved they had been made before the stones were placed in +position. Evidently they had been carved wherever the whim of the +sculptor suggested; and so, in spite of their delicacy and beauty, they +are in a way supremely childish. + +But there is nothing childish about the tomb itself. Nobody knows from +what forgotten quarry these great slabs were cut. Wherever it was, they +had to be lifted out and dragged to the top of this hill and set in +position--and many of them weigh more than a hundred tons. The passage +from the central chamber to the edge of the mound is sixty-two feet +long; the mound itself is eight hundred feet around and fifty high, and +some one has estimated that the stones which compose it weigh more than +a hundred thousand tons. + +For whom was it built? Perhaps for Conn, the Hundred Fighter, for +tradition records that he was buried here, and he was worthy of such a +tomb. If it was for Conn--and of course that is only a guess--it dates +from about 200 A. D., for tradition has it that it was in 212 that Conn +was treacherously slain at Tara, while preparing for the great festival +of the Druids. Conn's son, Art, was the last of the Pagan kings to be +buried in the Druid fashion, for Art's great son, Cormac, who came to +the throne in 254, chose another sepulchre. He seems to have got some +inkling of Christianity, perhaps from traders from other lands who +visited his court. At any rate, he turned away from the Druids, and they +put a curse upon him and caused a devil to attack him while at table, so +that the bone of a salmon stuck in his throat and he died. But with his +last breath he forbade his followers to bury him at Brugh-na-Boinne, in +the tumulus with Conn and the rest, because that was a grave of +idolaters; he worshipped another God who had come out of the East; and +he commanded them to bury him on the hill called Rosnaree, with his face +to the sunrise. They disregarded his command, and tried to carry his +body across the Boyne to the tumulus; but the water rose and snatched +the body from them, and carried it to Rosnaree; and so there it was +buried. From Newgrange, one can see the slope of Rosnaree, just across +the river; but there is nothing to mark the grave of the greatest of the +early kings of Erin. + + Round Cormac spring renews her buds; + In march perpetual by his side, + Down come the earth-fresh April floods, + And up the sea-fresh salmon glide. + + And life and time rejoicing run + From age to age their wonted way; + But still he waits the risen Sun, + For still 'tis only dawning Day. + +The road to the ruins of the abbey of Mellifont runs back from the +river, up over the hills, past picturesque villages, through a portion +of the Balfour estate, and then dips down into the valley of the +Mattock, on whose banks a company of Cistercians, who had come from +Clairvaux at the invitation of the Archbishop of Armagh, chose to build +their monastery. They called it Mellifont--"Honey Fountain"--and the +buildings which they put up were a revelation to the Irish builders, who +had been contented with small and unambitious churches, divided only +into nave and chancel. Here at Mellifont was erected a great cruciform +church, with a semi-circular chapel in each transept, as at Clairvaux; +and to this were added cloister and chapter-house and refectory, and a +most beautiful octagonal building which was used as a lavatory. It +marked, in a word, the introduction of continental elaborations and +refinements and luxuries into a land where, theretofore, austerity had +been the ruling influence. + +That was in 1142, and there is not much left now of that mighty +edifice--a portion of the old gate-tower, some fragments of the church, +and a little more than half of the octagonal lavatory. Five of its eight +sides remain, and they show how beautiful it must once have been--as +you may see from the photograph opposite page 546. Another thing may be +seen in that photograph--the corner of a huge, empty, decaying mill, +such as dot all Ireland, symbols of her ruined industry! + +A clean, pleasant-faced old woman, who opened the gate for us, intimated +that we could get lunch at her cottage, which overlooked the ruins; but +my companion had brought his lunch in his pocket and presently sat down +to eat it, while I made my way alone up to the cottage. There was a long +table spread in one room, and while the tea was drawing, I told my +hostess and her daughter about my encounter with the bee, and asked if I +might have some hot water with which to bathe the sting. They hastened +to get me a basin of steaming water and a clean towel, and then they +talked together a moment in low tones, and then the old woman came +hesitatingly forward. + +"If you please, sir," she said, "I have often been told that with a +sting or bite or anything of the sort a little blueing in the water +works wonders, and indeed I have tried it myself, and have found it very +good. Would your honour be trying it, now, if I would get my blueing +bag?" + +"Why of course I would!" I cried; "and thank you a thousand times for +thinking of it!" + +Whereupon, her face beaming, she snatched the blueing bag from her +daughter, who had it ready, and gave it to me, and I sloshed it around +in the basin until the water was quite blue, and bathed my face in it; +and whether it was the heat of the water or the blueing I don't know, +but the sting bothered me very little after that, except for the +swelling, and that was not so bad as I had feared it would be. + +I sat down finally to a delightful lunch of tea and bread and butter and +cold meat and jam; and then I got out my pipe and joined my hostess on +the bench in front of the house, and her daughter stood in the door and +listened, and we had a long talk. As usual, it was first about herself, +and then about myself. Her husband was dead and she suffered a great +deal from rheumatism, which seems to be the bane of the Irish; but she +had her little place, glory be to God, and she picked up a good many +shillings in the summer time from visitors to the ruins, though many +that came to see them cared nothing for them nor understood them. +Indeed, many just came and looked at them over the gate, and then went +away again. + +And just then I witnessed a remarkable confirmation of this; for a +motor-car, with two men and two or three women in it, whirled up the +road below and stopped at the gate outside the ruins. My hostess caught +up her keys and started hastily down to open it, but before she had +taken a dozen steps, the man on the front seat spoke to the chauffeur, +and he spun the car around and in another moment it had disappeared down +the road in a cloud of dust. I confess that I was hot with anger when my +hostess, with a sad little smile, came back and sat down again beside +me, for I felt somehow as though she had been affronted. + +I went back to the ruins presently, and my new friend came along, +finding I was interested, and we spent half an hour wandering about +them, while she pointed out various details which I might otherwise +have missed. Next to the lavatory, the most interesting feature of the +place is a beautiful pavement of decorated tiles which is preserved in +St. Bernard's chapel. The whole church was at one time floored with +these tiles, and a few detached ones may still be seen at the base of +the pillars. There also remain many details of sculpture which show the +loving labour lavished on the place when it was built--the individual +work of the artisan, embodying something of his own soul, which gives +these old churches a life and beauty sadly wanting in most new ones. + +The cemetery is near the bank of the river; but potatoes are raised +there now, in a soil made fertile by royal as well as sacred dust; for +here Dervorgilla, the false wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, chose to be laid +to rest, in the hope, perhaps, that in the crowd of holy abbots and +monks which would rise from this place, she might slip into heaven +unobserved. + +Three miles away from Mellifont stand the ruins of another abbey, +centuries older and incomparably greater in its day--an abbey absolutely +Irish, with rude, small buildings, but with a giant round-tower and two +of the loveliest sculptured crosses in existence on this earth. +Monasterboice it is called--Mainister Buithe, the abbey of Boetius--and +the way thither lies along a pleasant road, through a wooded +valley--which, fertile as it is, is not without its traces of +desolation, for we passed more than one vast empty mill, falling to +decay. Then, on the slope of a hillside away ahead, we saw the round +tower, or what is left of it, for the top of it is broken off, struck by +lightning, perhaps. But the fragment that remains is 110 feet high! And +seeing it thus, across the valley, with the low little church nestling +at its base, one is inclined to think that Father Dempsey was not +altogether wrong when he said he cared nothing about the theories of +antiquarians concerning the round towers, for he knew what they +were--the forefingers of the early church pointing us all to God. + +[Illustration: THE ROUND TOWER, MONASTERBOICE] + +[Illustration: THE HIGH CROSS, MONASTERBOICE] + +My companion and I were discussing these theories, when our jarvey saw +the opportunity to spring a joke, which I have since discovered to be a +time-honoured one. + +"Your honours are all wrong," he said, "if you will excuse my sayin' so. +It has been proved that the round towers was built by the government." + +"Built by the government?" repeated my companion. "How can you prove +that?" + +"Easy enough, your honour. Seein' they're no manner of use and cost a +lot of money, who else could have built them?" + +And this, I take it, was his revenge for the Boyne battlefield. + +We stopped presently beside a stile leading over the stone wall at the +side of the road, and here there was waiting another old woman, to +unlock the entrance to the tower. We clambered over the stile and made +our way up through the grass-grown, unkempt graveyard, first to the +tower--one of the mightiest of these monuments of ancient Erin, for it +is seventeen yards around at the base, and tapers gradually toward the +top, and the only entrance is a small doorway six feet above the ground; +and it takes no great effort of imagination to fancy the monks +clambering wildly up to it, clutching the treasures of the monastery to +their bosoms, whenever word came that the raiding Danes were in the +neighbourhood. Ladders have been fixed so that one can climb to the top, +but we did not essay them. + +No trace remains of the monastic buildings which clustered at the tower +foot; for, unlike those at Mellifont and in England and on the +continent, these were not wrought of stone, but were mere shacks, as in +every truly Irish abbey, scarcely strong enough to screen from wind and +weather the groups of scholars who gathered to study here. They lived a +strait and austere life, and the only permanent structures they built +were the churches. Here, as usual, they were small, the largest one +being only forty feet in length; and the walls that remain prove how +bare and mean they must have looked beside the carved and columned +splendours of Mellifont. + +But Monasterboice has one glory, or rather two, beside which those that +remain at Mellifont are as nothing; and these are the huge Celtic +crosses, the most perfect and beautiful in the land. One of them is tall +and slender and the other is short and sturdy, and both are absolute +masterpieces. + +The high cross, as the tall one is called, stands near the tower-foot +and close beside the crumbling wall of one of the old churches. It is +twenty-seven feet high, and is composed of three stones, the shaft, the +cross with its binding circle, and the cap. The shaft, which is about +two feet square and eighteen feet high, is divided into seven compartments +on either face, and in each of them is an elaborately-sculptured +representation of some Bible scene, usually with three figures. +Although much worn, it is still possible easily to decipher some of +them, for there is Eve accepting the apple from the serpent while Adam +looks mildly on, and here they are fleeing from Paradise before the +angel with the flaming sword, and next Cain is hitting Abel on the head +with a club while a third unidentified person watches the scene without +offering to interfere. At the crossing there is a splendid crucifixion, +with the usual crowded heaven and hell to left and right; the binding +circle is beautifully ornamented with an interlacing design; and the +cap-stone represents one of those high-pitched cells or churches, such +as we saw at Killaloe and Glendalough. + +[Illustration: MUIREDACH'S CROSS, MONASTERBOICE] + +Beautiful as this cross is, it is surpassed by the other one, +Muiredach's Cross, from the inscription about its base: "A prayer for +Muiredach for whom this cross was made." That inscription gives us its +date, at least within a century, for two Muiredachs were abbots here. +One of them died in 844 and the other in 924, and as the latter was the +richer and more distinguished, it is presumed that the cross is his. +That would make its age almost exactly ten centuries. + +And yet, in spite of those ten centuries, the sculptures which enrich it +from top to bottom are as beautiful to-day as they ever were. Look at +the picture opposite this page--it is not my picture, though I took one, +but there is an iron fence about the cross now which spoils every recent +photograph--and you will see what a wonderful thing it is. It is a +monolith--one single stone, fifteen feet high and six feet across the +arms--and every inch of it is covered with ornamentation. It is the +western face the picture shows, with the crucifixion occupying its usual +position. Below it are three panels of extraordinary interest, for they +show Irish warriors and clerics in the costumes of the period, all of +them wearing fierce mustachios. In the upper panel are three clerics in +flowing robes, the central one giving a book to one of his companions +and a staff to the other; in the central panel are three ecclesiastics +each holding a book; and in the lower panel a cleric in a long cloak, +caught together at the throat with a brooch, stands staff in hand +between two soldiers armed with Danish swords. At the foot of the shaft +two dogs lie head to head. + +On the other side, the central panel shows Christ sitting in judgment, +with a joyous devil kicking a damned soul into an already-crowded hell. +The method of separating the blessed from the damned is shown just +below, where a figure is carefully weighing souls in a pair of scales--a +subject familiar to every one who has visited the Gothic cathedrals of +France, where almost invariably a devil is trying to cheat by crouching +below the scales and pulling down one side. The lower panels in the +cross represent the usual Scriptural subjects--the fall of man, the +expulsion from Eden, the adoration of the magi, and so on; and again at +the base there are two dogs, only this time they are playing, and one is +holding the other by the ear. All of this sculpture is done with spirit, +with taste and with fine artistry; and another glory of the cross is the +elaborate tracery of the side panels, and of the front, back, inside and +outside of the circle. Of this, the photograph gives a better notion +than any description could. + + Who was he? Was he sad or glad + Who knew to carve in such a fashion? + +Those questions we may never answer. All we can say certainly is that he +was a great artist; and his is the artist's reward: + + But he is dust; we may not know + His happy or unhappy story: + Nameless, and dead these centuries, + His work outlives him,--there's his glory! + +We tore ourselves away at last from the contemplation of this consummate +masterpiece, and drove slowly back to Drogheda, through a beautiful and +fertile country, which, save for the thatched cottages, and +gorse-crowned walls and hedges, did not differ greatly in appearance +from my own. And I was very happy, for it had been a perfect day. +Nowhere else in Ireland is it possible to crowd so much of loveliness +and interest into so short a space. All unwittingly, I had saved the +best for the last. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE + + +I CAN imagine no greater contrast to the quiet and peaceful valley of +the Boyne than was Belfast that night. The Orangemen had already begun +to celebrate King Billy's victory, and were practising for the great +demonstration of the twelfth, when England was to be shown, once for all +and in a manner unmistakable, that Ulster was in earnest. + +As I came up on the tram from the station, we ran into a mob of people, +marching along in the middle of the street and yelling at the tops of +their voices, and we had to wait until they had passed. I asked a +fellow-passenger what was going on, and he answered with a little smile +that the Orange societies had all been given new banners that night and +were flinging them to the breeze for the first time. I asked him who had +given the banners, and he said he didn't know. + +At the hotel, I found that Betty had sought the sanctuary of our room, +and was watching the tumult from the window. She said it reminded her of +the French Revolution, and the comparison was natural enough. The +especial scene she had in mind, I think, was that draggled procession of +shrieking fishwives which escorted the king and his family in from +Versailles. + +I do not know how many Orange societies there are at Belfast, but we saw +at least a dozen march past that night, each of them headed by a band +or drum-corps, and each with a bright new Orange banner flaunting +proudly in the breeze. Each banner bore a painted representation of some +Orange victory; King Billy on his white horse fording the Boyne being a +favourite subject; and the banners were very large and fringed with gold +lace and most expensive-looking; and before them and beside them and +behind them trailed a mob of shrieking girls and women and ragamuffin +boys, locked arm and arm half across the street, breaking into a clumsy +dance now and then, or shouting the lines of some Orange ditty. There +were many men in line, marching along more or less soberly; but these +bacchantes outnumbered them two to one. They blocked the street from +side to side, stopped traffic, and conducted themselves as though they +had suddenly gone mad. + +Presently all the societies, which had been collecting at some +rendezvous, marched back together, with the mob augmented a +hundred-fold, so that, looking down from our window, we could see +nothing but a mass of heads filling the street from side to +side--thousands and thousands of women and girls and boys, all +vociferous with a frenzied intoxication--and in the midst of them the +thin stream of Orangemen trudging along behind their banners. + +I went down into the street to view this demonstration more closely, for +it was evident that here at last was the spirit of Ulster unveiled for +all to see; but at close quarters much of its impressiveness vanished, +for the mob was composed largely of boys and girls out for a good time, +and rejoicing in the unaccustomed privilege of yelling and hooting to +their hearts' content. A few policemen would have been quite capable of +dealing with that portion of it. But the men marching grimly along +behind their banners were of different stuff; they were ready, +apparently, for any emergency, ready for a holy war; and I wondered if +their leaders, who had sown the wind so blithely as part of the game of +politics, were quite prepared to reap the whirlwind which might follow. + +A man with whom I fell into talk said there would be a procession like +this every evening until the twelfth; but I should think the drummers +would be exhausted long before that. I have described the contortions of +the Dublin drummers, but they are nowhere as compared with the drummers +of Belfast. And, though about a fourth of Belfast's population is +Catholic, you would never have suspected it that night, for there was no +disorder of any kind, except the wild disorder of the Orangemen and +their adherents. I suspect that, in Belfast, wise Catholics spend the +early evenings of July at home. + + * * * * * + +We went out, next morning, to Ardoyne village, to see one of the few +establishments where linen is still woven by hand. A beautiful old +factory it is, with the work-rooms grouped around an open court which +reminded us of the Plantin-Moretus at Antwerp; and the Scotchman in +charge of it took us through from top to bottom. I have forgotten how +many looms there are--some thirty or forty; and it was most interesting +to watch the weavers as they shot the shuttle swiftly back and forth +with one hand and worked the heavy beam with the other, while with +their feet they controlled the pattern. Nearly all the weavers were old +men, and our guide told us it was growing more and more difficult to +replace them, because hand-weaving had been so largely displaced by +machine-work that it was rapidly becoming a lost art. Few young men were +willing to undertake the long apprenticeship which was necessary before +they could become expert weavers, and he foresaw the time when +hand-weaving would cease altogether. + +Then we went upstairs, where the pattern mechanism is mounted above each +loom; and though I understood it, in a way, after long and careful +explanation, I am quite incapable of explaining it to anybody else, +except to say that the threads which run down to the loom below are +governed by a lot of stiff cards laced together into a long roll, and +cut with many perforations, so that the roll looks something like the +music-rolls used in mechanical piano-players. + +Last of all we were shown some of the finished product, and very +beautiful it was, strong as iron--far stronger than machine-woven linen, +for the shuttle can be thrown by hand more often to the inch than is +possible by machine; and some of the patterns, too, were very lovely; +one, in especial, from the Book of Kells, the interwoven Celtic +ornamentation, the symbol of eternity. + +Of course we talked about Home Rule, and our Scotch host, who was +evidently a devoted Orangeman, was very certain Ulster would fight +before she would acquiesce. If the fight went against her, he prophesied +that no Protestant industry which could get out of Ireland would stay +to be taxed out of existence by a Dublin Parliament, and he said that +many of the great factories had already secured options on English +sites, and were prepared to move at any time. + +I remarked that it seemed to me the wiser plan would be to wait and see +how Home Rule worked before plunging into revolution; then, if it was +found that Ulster was really oppressed, it would be time enough for her +army to take the field. And I told him something of what I had seen and +heard in the south and west of Ireland--that, among all the people I had +talked with, not one had expressed himself with any bitterness toward +Ulster, and that many had said frankly that the leaders of the Irish +people would be largely Protestant in the future, just as they had been +in the past. But he was unconvinced, and very gloomy over the outlook. + +We came away finally, and took a last look about Belfast--at the busy +streets, the bright shops, the humming factories, the clattering +foundries; and then the hour of departure came. The jarvey who drove us +to the boat was a jovial, loquacious son of the Church, with +good-natured laughter for Orange excesses. + +"Why should we Catholics interfere wid them?" he asked. "We'd only be +gettin' our heads broke, and all the papers would be full of the riots +in Ulster. Sure, haven't I seen them before this treatin' a small fight +at the corner as though it was a revolution? No, no; we'll just stay +quiet and let them have their fun. It does good to them and no harm to +us. They'll settle down again when the Home Rule bill is passed, and +then we'll be Irishmen all, please God!" + +From the bottom of my heart I said I hoped so. Indeed, I can think of no +better watch-word to replace "No Surrender!" and curses on King Billy +and the Pope than "Irishmen All!" + + * * * * * + +There are few busier ports than Belfast, and we made our way down to the +quay through a tangle of drays that would have done no discredit to the +New York water-front; and at last we found our boat and got aboard. And +presently the ropes were cast off, and we steamed slowly down the river, +between long lines of lofty scaffolding shrouding the hulls of scores of +mighty ships, one day to play their part in the commerce of the world. + +And then we were in Belfast Lough, with the grim keep of Carrickfergus +looming on the western shore; and then the bay widened, the shores +dropped away, and we headed out across the white-capped waters of the +Irish Sea. For long and long in the distance, we could see the purple +masses of the Antrim hills, growing fainter and ever fainter, until at +last they merged into the purple of the western sky. And so we looked +our last upon the Island of the Saints. + + +THE END + + + + +INDEX + + + Abbeys, 21-22, 99-102, 108-109, 110-112, 193-196, 199, 229-233, + 266, 269-271, 280, 285-291, 346-347, 379-382, 405, 422-423, + 442-443, 550-558 + + Adare, 226-236 + + Aghadoe, 180, 198-200, 201 + + Aideen, 23 + + Aileach, 465, 480 + + Allen, Hill of, 93 + + Allen, Lough, 242 + + Allingham, William, 428-430 + + Allua, Lough, 141, 144 + + America, Irish Idea of, 24, 170-174 + + Annals of the Four Masters, The, 442, 465 + + Antrim, County, 489, 521, 530, 534, 564 + + Antrim, Earl of, 489, 495-496 + + Antrim, Glens of, 491, 495, 499 + + Arbutus Island, 186 + + Archdeckan, John, 136 + + Architecture, see Irish Architecture + + Ardilaun, Lord, see Guinness + + Ardoyne, 561-563 + + Armada, The, 416, 485 + + Armagh, 103, 536, 550 + + Arran, Earl of, 441 + + Art, see Irish Art + + Ashford House, 347-348 + + Assaroe, Abbey, 422-423, 429 + + Asylums, 180, 240, 266, 375, 526 + + Athenry, 266, 268-272, 292 + + Athlone, 207, 209, 252, 259, 265, 272-285, 292, 390, 454, 456 + + Auburn, see Lissoy + + Avoca, Vale of, 61 + + Avonbeg, The, 60 + + Avonmore, The, 59, 60 + + + Baedeker, Karl, 385 + + Baird, Sir David, 509-510 + + Baker, Henry, 450, 460 + + Balbriggan, 85 + + Ballina, 351 + + Ballintoy, 487 + + Ballintra, The, 432 + + Ballycastle, 486, 489-490 + + Ballysadare, 377 + + Ballyshannon, 419-431, 445 + + Balor of the Evil Eye, 384 + + Banishment to Connaught, The, 331-333 + + Bank of Ireland, 13 + + Bann, The, 447, 474, 536 + + Bantry Bay, 139, 151, 159 + + Barnesmore, Gap of, 444 + + Beggars, 109-110, 144, 173-174, 183-184, 186, 283-284, 310, 364, + 375, 412, 426-427 + + Belfast, 89, 205, 427, 469, 479, 501, 502, 503-519, 530, 532-533, + 534, 535, 536, 559-564 + + Belfast Lough, 502, 564 + + Bird Hill, 251 + + Birmingham, George A., see Hannay, J. A. + + Black Lough, 184 + + Black Valley, The, 185 + + Blackrock, 100 + + Blackwater, The, 138, 164, 203 + + Blarney Castle, 115-127, 190, 205 + + Bogs, 93, 267-268, 315-316, 370, 490-491 + + Book of Kells, see Kells + + Boru, Brian, see Brian Boru + + Boycott, Captain Charles C., 346 + + Boyd, Hugh, 489-490 + + Boyne, The, 85, 221, 454, 537, 538-540, 549, 559 + + Boyne, Battle of the, 31, 85, 274, 453-454, 460, 534, 538-540 + + Bray, 59 + + Breffni, Prince of, see O'Rourke, Tiernan + + Brian Boru, 18-20, 34, 41, 100, 103, 107, 204, 208, 251-259, + 273, 288, 427 + + Bridge End, 461, 462 + + Brigid, see St. Brigid + + Brooke, Sir Basil, 439-441 + + Brown Valley, The, 165 + + Bruce, Edward, 208, 269, 501, 502, 537 + + Brugh-na-Boinne, 540-550 + + Bundoran, 405, 412-419 + + Burgo, Richard de, 271, 293, 354, 447 + + Burial, Ancient Irish, 38, 540-544 + + Bushmills, 480 + + + Cairns, 345-346, 377-78, 384, 392, 417, 536, 540-550 + + Callanan, Jeremiah, 149 + + Cannera, 248 + + Cape Clear, 161 + + Cappoquin, 138 + + Car, see Jaunting-car + + Carleton, Will, 421 + + Carlingford, 21, 479 + + Carnach, Conal, 377 + + Carnlough, 500-501 + + Carrick-a-Rede, 487-488 + + Carrickfergus, 502, 564 + + Carrowmore, 384, 385 + + Carson, Sir Edward, 469, 471 + + Casey, John Keegan, 278-279 + + Cashel, Rock of, 49, 94, 102-112, 148, 178, 229, 253, 254, 279 + + Cashels, 103, 406-408, 461, 462-467, 536 + + Castlebar, 375 + + Castleconnell, 242-251, 263-264 + + Castlemaine, 191 + + Castles, 116-125, 207, 230-234, 243, 265, 268-269, 283-285, + 353-354, 402-403, 438-441, 479-480 + + Catholic Emancipation, 218, 460 + + Cavan, 545 + + Celbridge, 92 + + Celtchair, 524 + + Celtic Crosses, see Crosses + + Champneys, Arthur, 110 + + Charles I, 86, 441, 447, 449 + + Charles II, 86, 210, 448 + + Charleville, 113-114, 461 + + Children, 32, 98, 106, 109-110, 320-321, 358-360 + + Church of Ireland, 30, 75, 411 + + Churches, 21-22, 30-32, 34-37, 87, 131-132, 138, 200, 206, 213, + 233-234, 255-257, 303, 459-460, 519-524 + + Ciaran, see St. Kieran + + Civilization, Ancient Irish, see Irish Civilization, Ancient + + Claddagh, The, 298-300 + + Clandonnell, see MacDonnell + + Clanricarde, Earls of, 269 + + Clara, Vale of, 60 + + Clare, Abbey, 266 + + Clare, Richard de, see Strongbow + + Clare, County, 209, 258, 265-266 + + Claremorris, 375-377, 535 + + Cleeve, The Messrs., 215, 236-239 + + Clew Bay, 371-372 + + Clifden, 324-325, 331, 370 + + Climate, 28, 60, 128, 161-162, 179, 358, 398, 415 + + Clonard, 406 + + Clonbur, 345 + + Clondalkin, 42-57, 67, 75, 92 + + Clonmacnoise, 274, 285-291 + + Clonmell, Lord, 16 + + Clontarf, 18-20, 107, 251, 252, 254, 288 + + Cloyne, 138 + + Coleraine, 447, 474-476 + + Colleen Bawn, 417, 420-422 + + Collooney, 377 + + Colman, Abbot, 289 + + Colman's Leap, 187 + + Columba, see St. Columba + + Cong, 339, 345, 350-352, 354, 358 + + Cong, Abbey of, 39, 290, 346-348 + + Cong, Cross of, 26, 37, 39-40, 100, 204, 346 + + Congested Districts Board, 331-336 + + Conn the Hundred Fighter, 204, 291, 549 + + Conn, Lough, 351 + + Connaught, 17, 19, 27, 178, 258, 267, 269, 274, 293, 306, 314-369, + 375, 493 + + Connell of the Hy-Nial, 427-428, 465 + + Connemara, 200, 292, 293, 300, 314-336, 346, 414, 463, 490 + + Connemara Marble, 306, 316-318 + + Constabulary, see Royal Irish Constabulary + + Convent Schools, 133-134, 163 + + Cook's Tours, 177-178, 182, 382-383 + + Cork, 114-116, 128-138, 139, 147, 149, 151, 174, 205, 214, 331, + 352, 454 + + Cork, County, 19, 162 + + Cork, Earl of, 32 + + Cormac, see MacArt or MacCarthy + + Cormac's Chapel, 107-108, 148 + + Corrib, Lough, 39, 304, 314, 346, 347, 348, 350, 351, 352-354 + + Corrib, River, 298, 300, 303, 314, 347 + + Cottages, 88, 141-144, 181, 195, 225-226, 320-321, 354-355, + 362-363, 384-385, 497 + + Craigmore, 536 + + Cratloe, 265 + + Crime, 55-56, 327-328, 344 + + Croagh Patrick, 372-373 + + Cromlechs, 23, 384, 385, 386, 388-392, 417 + + Cromwell, Oliver, 76, 86-87, 105, 116, 118, 190, 208, 231, 270, + 293, 331-332, 448, 470, 538 + + Cross of Cong, see Cong, Cross of + + Crosses, Celtic, 37, 288-289, 351-352, 523, 553-558 + + Crowe, O'Brien, 351-352 + + Cuchulain, 377, 537 + + Cullen, Joe, 434-436 + + Culmore, 473 + + Curran, John Philpot, 134 + + Cushendall, 490, 492, 495, 496, 498-500 + + Cushendun, 491 + + + Dalcassians, 253 + + Danes, The 17, 18-20, 22, 33, 34, 44, 50, 65, 66, 130, 147, 199, + 204, 207, 242, 252-254, 287-288, 446-447, 465, 522, 536, + 541, 542, 555 + + Dargle, The, 59 + + Dark Rosaleen, 14-15 + + Darrow, Book of, 41 + + Day, Length of Irish, 23, 338, 456-457, 491-492 + + De Courcy, John, 522-523 + + De Dananns, The, 346, 384 + + De Lacy, Hugh, 545 + + De Vere, Aubrey, 259 + + Derg, Lough, 207, 219, 242, 252, 258-259, 406, 413 + + Derry, 76, 397, 443, 446-461, 466, 467-474, 535, 539 + + Derryclare, 319 + + Dervorgilla, 35, 219-221, 402, 405-406, 553 + + D'Esterre, 92 + + Devil's Bit, The, 94, 106 + + Devil's Mother Mountain, 340 + + Diarmuid, 389-391 + + Dillisk, 296-297, 299 + + Dollard, James B., 436 + + Donegal, 413, 431, 432-443, 465 + + Donegal, County, 388, 427, 428, 440, 444, 466, 486 + + Donnybrook, 470 + + Doon, Rock of, 440 + + Doonas, Falls of, 245-246 + + Down, County, 519, 530, 536 + + Downpatrick, 519-532 + + Dowth, 85, 534, 540-544, 546, 547 + + Dowth Castle, 544-545 + + Drogheda, 85-89, 449, 450, 454, 534, 537, 538 + + Dromahair, 403-406, 488 + + Druids, The, 44, 542, 543-544, 549 + + Drummers, 24-25, 561 + + Dublin, 4-41, 56, 58, 59, 85, 86, 89, 92, 102, 104, 114, 115, 128, + 137, 173, 174, 193, 205, 229, 230, 418, 439, 446, 453, 454, + 503, 531, 534, 535, 537, 538, 539, 561 + + Dublin Bay, 17-18, 21 + + Dublin Castle, 18, 32, 33-34, 74, 327 + + Dundalk, 537, 538 + + Dunleary, 137 + + Dunloe, Gap of, 165, 177, 181-186, 192, 201 + + Dunluce Castle, 479-480, 485, 488 + + Dunraven, Earl of, 229, 233-234 + + + Eask, Lough, 444 + + Eask, River, 438, 444 + + Education, see Schools + + Emigration, 131, 138, 330-331, 418-419, 443-444 + + Ennis, 265-266 + + Enniskillen, 412-413, 449, 453 + + Episcopal Church, see Church of Ireland + + Erne, Lough, 413, 414, 420, 427 + + Erne, River, 414, 417-418, 420, 428-431 + + Established Church, see Church of Ireland + + Eugenius, see St. Eugenius + + Eyre, Jane, 303 + + + Famine, 93, 131, 195, 351 + + Faughart, 501, 537 + + Ffolliotts, The, 417, 420-422 + + Fianna, The, 23, 106, 390, 492 + + Fin Barre, see St. Fin Barre + + Fingalla, 443 + + Finn MacCool, 106-107, 184, 204, 275, 389-391, 483-484, 492 + + Firbolgs, The, 299-300, 346, 431 + + Fishing, 169, 178-179, 191, 242-245, 263-264, 303-306, 326, 431 + + Fitzgibbon, Lord, 237 + + Fitzstephen, James Lynch, 301-303 + + Flann, High King of Erin, 288-289, 290 + + Flax, 445, 488, 519, 535 + + Flesk, The, 167, 203 + + Flight of the Earls, The, 440, 447 + + Flowers, 43, 57, 60, 152, 154, 164-165, 418 + + Fogha, Fergus, 536 + + Formorians, The, 384 + + Foyle, Lough, 466, 472 + + Foyle, River, 446, 447 + + Fuchsias, 152-153, 326, 497 + + Funerals, 194-195 + + + Gaelic, 161, 242, 363, 487, 489 + + Gaels, The, 293, 300, 384, 466, 540-544 + + Galtees, The, 106, 113 + + Galway, 102, 292-313, 314, 317, 331, 351, 352, 445, 455 + + Game Preserves, 61, 345, 348-349 + + George II, 14, 105 + + George IV, 137 + + George V, 396, 456 + + Geraldines, see Kildare, Earls of + + Giant's Causeway, The, 477, 480-486 + + Gill, Lough, 219-220, 384, 398-412, 486, 494 + + Ginkle, Gen. Godert de, 209, 243, 274, 285 + + Glenaan, 491, 492-496 + + Glenariff, Vale of, 500 + + Glenarm, 501 + + Glendalough, 59, 62-84, 133, 248, 286, 556 + + Glendining Monument, The, 370-371, 372, 375 + + Glendun, 491 + + Glenealy, 62 + + Glengarriff, 139, 152-162, 174, 326, 382 + + Goldsmith, Oliver, 274-279 + + Goold's Cross, 105, 113 + + Gougane Barra, 139, 145-149 + + Government, The, 34, 54-55, 74, 79, 104, 327-328, 351, 372 + + Grainan of Aileach, The, 461, 462-467 + + Grainne, 107, 389-391 + + Grattan, Henry, 11 + + Graves, Alfred Perceval, 432-433 + + Grazing, 90-91, 93, 335, 419 + + Griffin, Gerald, 213 + + Guinness, Sir Benjamin, 30, 344, 345, 346, 347-349 + + Gwynne, Stephen, 110, 391, 437 + + + Hannay, J. A., 170, 372, 373-374 + + Heather, 60, 399, 400, 402 + + Hen Castle, 353-354 + + Henry II, 33 + + Henry VII, 229 + + Henry VIII, 30, 230, 524 + + Hill of Howth, see Howth + + Hinkson, Katherine Tynan, 57 + + Holy Cross Abbey, 98-102, 178, 440 + + Holy Wells, 147-148, 245-249, 262, 365, 410-411, 526-531 + + Home Rule, 12, 20, 56, 77, 82, 83, 89-91, 155-157, 216-218, 236, + 404, 419, 467-469, 498, 505-510, 514-516, 529-530, 559-564 + + Hore Abbey, 110-112 + + Hospitality, 41, 45-46, 50-57, 95-96, 110, 154-155, 244, 305-309, + 354-355, 551-552 + + Howth, 4, 16-18, 20-23 + + Howth, Lord, 22-23 + + Hy Many, 19 + + Hy-Nial, see Nial, Connell, Owen + + + Idioms, 46, 66-67, 368-369 + + Inagh, 319 + + Inchigeelagh, 141-144 + + Indian Corn, 154-155, 260, 309 + + Industrial Depression, 54-55, 212-213, 215-216, 371-372, 404-405, + 419, 422-424, 489-490 + + Inebriety, 5-6, 33, 114, 196-197, 306-307 + + Inisfallen, 189, 199 + + Inishowen, 466, 474 + + Inis-Saimer, 431 + + Inns, 66-67, 94-98, 164-166, 174-175, 224, 228-229, 242-244, 315, + 322, 326, 346, 371, 378-379, 415-416, 433-434, 480-481 + + Inny, The, 278 + + Insurance, Workman's, 52, 84, 222-223 + + Ireland's Eye, 21 + + Ireton, Gen. Henry, 208 + + Irish Architecture, 21-22, 101, 103, 107-108, 111-112, 193-196, + 199, 231-233, 255-257, 261, 270-271, 285-290, 307-308 + + Irish Art, 26, 37-41, 288-289, 543, 547-548, 555-558 + + Irish Brigade, The, 210 + + Irish Character, 3, 37, 98, 114, 159-161, 196-197, 214-215, + 386-389, 393-396, 404, 458-459, 470-471, 475, 532 + + Irish Civilization, Ancient, 18, 19, 38, 99-100, 204, 286-290, + 525-526 + + Irish Girls, 41, 115, 124, 163-164, 214-215, 315, 323-324 + + Irish Sea, 1, 21, 35, 59, 220, 495, 500, 501, 564 + + + Jails, 55-56, 240, 266, 375, 473, 525 + + James II, 36, 208, 210, 449-455, 534, 538-540 + + Jarvey, The, 29-30, 88, 129, 168, 274-275, 398, 399, 486, + 488-489, 500, 563 + + Jaunting-Car, The, 8, 26-30, 60, 88, 98, 128-130, 400, 486 + + Johnson, Mrs. Hester, 30-31 + + Johnson, Lionel, 221, 495 + + Jones, John Paul, 502 + + Joyce's Country, 79, 339-357 + + + Kathaleen Ny-Houlahan, 466 + + Kearney, Kate, 181-182 + + Keimaneigh, Pass of, 150-151 + + Kells, Book of, 26, 37, 40-41, 193, 204 + + Kenmare, 163, 200 + + Kenmare, Earl of, 198 + + Kenmare, River, 164, 384 + + Kenny, Donal, 278-279 + + Kerry, County, 19, 162, 197 + + Kevin, see St. Kevin + + Kieran, see St. Kieran + + Kilcrea Abbey, 140 + + Kildare, 522 + + Kildare, Curragh of, 89, 92-93 + + Kildare, Earls of, 229-231 + + Killaloe, 207, 242, 248, 250 251-263, 286, 556 + + Killarney, 138, 139, 165-203, 242, 319, 412, 481 + + Killary Bay, 326, 369 + + Killone Abbey, 266 + + Kilpatrick, 521 + + Kincora, 251-263, 273 + + Kingstown, 4, 21 + + Kinsale, 102, 440, 454 + + Knocknarea, 377-378, 384, 385, 392 + + Knocktow, 230 + + Kylemore, Pass of, 326 + + + Labour Problem, 23-25, 54-55, 61-62, 83-84, 90-91, 281, 330-331, + 332-333, 349-350, 468 + + Labourers' Cottages, 342, 408-410 + + Lace-making, 133-134, 163, 239 + + Land League, The, 344, 346, 352, 353 + + Land Problem, 90-91, 266-267, 330-336, 340-342, 348-350, 353 + + Landlords, 332-333, 334-336, 345, 349-350, 529 + + Larne, 499, 501, 502 + + Layd Church, 499 + + Leacht-Con-Mic-Ruis, The, 384, 398-402, 405 + + Leane, Lough, 165 + + Lee, The, 130, 132, 140, 141, 144, 146 + + Leenane, 325, 326-338, 339, 352, 357, 358-369, 445 + + Legends, 48-49, 62-65, 68-69, 70-71, 92-93, 94, 106-107, 117, 120, + 126, 136, 146-147, 159-162, 184-185, 187, 188, 190, 194, + 199, 219-221, 246-247, 248-249, 275, 286-291, 292-293, + 301-303, 346, 351-352, 353-354, 372-373, 377-378, 389-391, + 413, 465-466, 483-484, 485, 490, 494-495, 521-522, 549 + + Leinster, Province, 19 + + Letterfrank, 326 + + Lever, Charles, 214, 395, 476 + + Liffey, The, 5, 18, 33, 59 + + Limerick, 76, 106, 204-227, 236-242, 243, 251, 252, 254, 264, 265, + 274, 402, 454, 531 + + Limerick, Treaty of, 208-210 + + Limerick Junction, 113, 204, 254 + + Limericks, 240 + + Linen, 518, 519, 561-563 + + Lir, Children of, 490 + + Lisbun, 535 + + Lissoughter, 306, 315-320 + + Lissoy, 274-279 + + Lloyd-George, David, 158-159, 474 + + Loe, The, 184 + + Londonderry, see Derry + + Lord of the Isles, The, 439, 480 + + Loughs, see name of each + + Lover, Samuel, 214 + + Loyalty, 396-397, 456, 532-533 + + Ludlow, Gen. Edmund, 190-191 + + Lundy, Robert, 450, 452 + + Lurgan, 535 + + Lynch, James, 301-303 + + Lyons Hill, 92 + + + MacArt, Cormac, 106-108, 389, 549-550 + + MacCarthy, Cormac, 103, 116-117, 126, 204 + + McCarthy, Denis A., 94 + + McCarthy, Dermot, 117 + + MacCool or MacCumhal, Finn, see Finn MacCool + + MacDonnell, Angus, 480 + + MacDonnell, Innen Dhu, 439 + + MacDonnells, The, 491, 499, 502 + + Macgillicuddy's Reeks, 165, 184, 185 + + McKeown, R. H., 326-327, 368 + + MacLiag, 251-252 + + MacMurrough, Dermot, 35, 219-221, 402 + + MacNatfraich, Aengus, 49, 107 + + Maam, 354-355 + + Maamturk Mountains, 314, 319 + + Macroom, 139, 140, 382 + + Magrath, Milar, 104 + + Mahon, King of Munster, 253-254 + + Mahony, Francis Sylvester (Father Prout), 118, 132, 136 + + Mail, 330, 337-338, 496-497 + + Mallow, 204 + + Mangan, James Clarence, 14-15, 251 + + Marconi, Guglielmo, 325 + + Margy, The, 490 + + Markets, 98, 200, 294-297, 311 + + Marriage Contract, 54, 395-396 + + Mask, Lough, 339, 343-345, 346, 347, 350, 351, 384 + + Matthew, Father, 206 + + Mattock, The, 550 + + Maynooth, 3 + + Mayo, County, 375, 377 + + Meath, 19, 543 + + Meave, 377-378, 392 + + Meeting of the Waters, The, 60-61 + + Mellifont, 85, 178, 221, 534, 538, 550-553 + + Milcho, 521 + + Milesians, The, see Gaels + + Milliken, Richard, 116, 118 + + Minogue, John, 105-111, 173, 279 + + Moira, 535 + + Molua, see St. Molua + + Monasterboice, 37, 85, 88, 178, 534, 538, 553-558 + + Monasteries, 18, 19, 21-22, 65-66, 99-102, 103, 108-109, 110-112, + 230-234, 268-271, 285-291, 379-382 + + Monastic Schools, 19, 38, 104, 268-269, 285-291 + + Monk, Gen. George, 536 + + Monkey Trees, 201-202 + + Monkstown, 136 + + Moore, George, 374, 543 + + Moore, Thomas, 14, 19, 60-61, 63-64, 219-220, 221, 248, 406 + + Mount Melleray, 138 + + Mountmorris, Lord, 352 + + Mourne, Lough, 445 + + Mourne Mountains, 524, 536 + + Moytura, 346, 384 + + Moytura, Northern, 384 + + Muckross Abbey, 193-196, 231-232 + + Muckross Lake, 165, 201 + + Muiredach, 556 + + Munster, 19, 20, 103, 107, 116, 253, 254, 465 + + Murray, Adam, 450, 460 + + Murray's Guidebook, 348, 375, 381, 385, 399, 455-456, 461, 502, + 525, 526 + + + Nafooey, Lough, 343 + + Nally, John, 278 + + National Education Board, The, 74-82 + + National Gallery of Ireland, The, 15-16 + + National Museum of Science and Art, The, 15, 37-40, 373 + + National Schools, see Schools + + National University of Ireland, The, 306-307 + + Nationalists, see Home Rule + + Nelson, Horatio, 6, 8, 12, 16 + + Netterville Institution, The, 545 + + Newgrange, 85, 534, 546-550 + + Newry, 536 + + Nial Garv, 439-440, 442 + + Nial of the Nine Hostages, 427, 464 + + Normans, The, 22-23, 33, 35, 38, 65, 130, 199, 207, 208, 220-221, + 274, 288, 293, 354, 379-382, 501, 520, 536 + + + O'Brien, Donall, 206, 255 + + O'Brien, Murtagh, 256, 465 + + O'Brien, Smith, 11 + + O'Cahans, The, 476, 480 + + O'Connell, Daniel, 10, 12, 20, 92, 115, 205, 217, 218, 460 + + O'Conor, Rory, 39, 290 + + O'Conor, Turlough, 39, 40, 220 + + O'Dee, Bishop, 306-307, 352 + + O'Dohertys, The, 473, 476 + + O'Donaghue, The, 187, 188, 190 + + O'Donnell, Hugh, 439 + + O'Donnell, Hugh Roe, 438, 443 + + O'Donnell, Red Hugh, 102, 269, 379, 438-440, 442 + + O'Donnell, Rory, 440 + + O'Donnells, The, 428, 432, 438-439, 480 + + O'Duffy, Gilbert and Nicol, 351 + + O'Echon, Maelisu MacBraddan, 40 + + O'Flaherty, Rory, 325 + + O'Flaherty, The, 293, 314, 339, 353-354 + + O'Gillan, Enoch, 290 + + O'Hanlon, Redmond, 536 + + O'Hurley, Dermot, 104 + + O'Malleys, The, 79, 344, 353-354 + + O'Neill, Hugh, 208 + + O'Neill, Owen Roe, 86 + + O'Neill, Shane, 480 + + O'Neills, The, 428, 440 + + O'Reilly, John Boyle, 544-545 + + O'Reilly, William David, 545 + + O'Rourke, Tiernan, 35, 219-221, 405-406, 553 + + O'Rourke's Table, 403 + + O'Sullivan's Punchbowl, 188 + + Old Age Pensions, see Pensions + + Ormonde, Earl of, 100 + + Orangemen, 197, 458, 469, 470-471, 475, 506-508, 511, 514-516, + 528, 530, 534, 559-564 + + Oscar, 23, 390 + + Ossian, 23, 106, 204, 221, 390, 492-495 + + Oughterard, 323 + + Owen of the Hy-Nial, 427-428, 464, 465-466, 479-480 + + Owengarriff, The, 201 + + + Parades, 23-24, 457, 504, 505, 559-560 + + Parknasilla, 164, 416 + + Parnell, Charles Stewart, 12, 60, 217-219 + + Patrick, see St. Patrick + + Peat, see Turf + + Pembroke, Earl of, see Strongbow + + Pensions, 52-54, 196-197, 223 + + Perrot, Sir John, 480 + + Pettigoe, 413 + + Plantation of Ulster, The, 447-448, 476 + + Pleaskin, 485-486 + + Poor Relief, 363-368 + + Portadown, 535, 536 + + Portrush, 473, 476-477 + + Port Stewart, 476 + + Potheen, 181-182, 184 + + Presbyterians, 75, 486, 506-509, 510-511 + + Price, Archbishop, 104-105 + + Priests, 1-3, 56-57, 74-75, 77, 89, 155-161, 217, 305-309, 395 + + Prout, Father, see Mahony, Francis Sylvester + + + Queen's College, Galway, 306-307, 352 + + Queenstown, 115, 136, 137, 138 + + Quoile, The, 519, 524, 525 + + + Race-meetings, 113-114 + + Rafferty, Mr., 316-318 + + Railroads, 42-43, 59, 88-89, 250, 272-273, 415-416, 461-462, + 535-536 + + Rain, 28, 66-67, 73, 111, 161-162, 179, 180-183, 185, 192, 224, + 227, 406-408, 431-432 + + Raleigh, Sir Walter, 16 + + Rathdrum, 59, 60, 84 + + Rathlin Island, 489 + + Raths, 103, 258, 407, 519, 522, 524-526 + + Recess, 315-325, 416 + + Red Bay, 500 + + Red Branch Knights, 524, 537 + + Red Hugh, 423 + + Redmond, John, 471 + + Ree, Lough, 207, 273, 275, 279, 286, 377 + + Reilly, Willy, 180-181, 417, 420-422 + + Religion, 75-77, 208-210, 216-217, 257-258, 332-333, 447-455, + 458-459, 467-471, 475, 506-509, 510-511, 520-521, 539 + + Repartee, 58, 68, 278, 500, 539, 554 + + Roads, 28, 61-62, 158-159 + + Rock of Cashel, see Cashel + + Roe, Henry, 35 + + Rolleston, T. W., 490 + + Roman Catholic Church, The, 30, 74-75, 155, 508-509, 520-521 + + Roscommon, 279 + + Rosnaree, 549-550 + + Ross Castle, 177, 186, 190-191 + + Rosshill, 345 + + Ross Island, 188-189 + + Round Towers, 42, 43-45, 65, 83, 103, 109, 199, 288, 553-555 + + Royal Irish Constabulary, The, 7, 10, 17, 88, 157, 184, 327-329 + + Ruins, 21-22, 65, 73, 76, 83, 99-112, 115-125, 193-196, 198-200, + 229-234, 265-266, 268-271, 285-290, 346-347, 353-354, + 379-382, 402-403, 422-423, 438-441, 442-443, 479-480, 499, + 536, 550-558 + + + St. Anne Shandon, 131-132 + + St. Brigid, 92-93, 108, 446, 519, 520, 522, 540 + + St. Columba, 436, 446, 460, 465, 519, 520, 522 + + St. Eugenius, 62 + + St. Fin Barre, 130, 139, 145-149 + + St. Finian the Leper, 199 + + St. Kevin, 62-84, 119, 248 + + St. Kieran, 286-291 + + St. Mary's Abbey, Howth, 21-22, 230 + + St. Molua, 259-262, 286 + + St. Patrick, 30, 34, 38, 39, 48-49, 62, 103, 107, 108, 115, 146, + 150, 184, 221, 286, 372, 410, 427, 446, 465, 495, 519, + 520-522, 528, 540, 543-544 + + St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, 26, 30-32, 35 + + St. Patrick's Purgatory, 219, 413, 414 + + St. Petroc, 62 + + St. Senan, 245-249, 410 + + Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 12 + + Salthill, 309, 311-313 + + Sarsfield, Patrick, 204, 207, 208-210, 213-214, 237, 258-259, + 454, 539 + + Saul, 521-522 + + Scarva, 536 + + Scattery Island, 248-249 + + Scenery, 42, 43, 59, 60-62, 65-66, 92-94, 99, 106-107, 113, 116, + 145-146, 150-152, 162-166, 183-187, 195-196, 243, 266-267, + 314-322, 325-326, 343-345, 354, 398-399, 417, 444-445, + 466-467, 479, 482-486, 490-492, 535-537 + + Schomberg, Gen. Frederick Herman, 31-32, 502, 538 + + Schoolbooks, 359, 360-362 + + Schools, 46-47, 74-82, 358-363, 510-511 + + Scotch-Irish, The, 458-459, 479-480, 487, 520, 562-563 + + Shamrock, The, 46, 47-50, 67, 103, 107, 498 + + Shannon, The, 106, 205, 207-208, 212-213, 215, 227, 236-237, 240, + 242-265, 273, 284, 285, 332, 333, 390, 448 + + Sheela-na-gig, The, 279-283 + + Sheen, The, 162 + + Shrines, see Holy Wells + + Side-car, see Jaunting-car + + Silken Thomas, see Kildare, Earls of + + Slane, 538, 543-544 + + Slemish, 521 + + Slievenamon, 94, 106-107, 389 + + Sligo, 378-385, 392, 396, 406, 411-412, 421, 442 + + Sligo, County, 377, 428 + + Sligo, O'Conor, 380 + + Slums, 9, 32-33, 132, 210-214 + + Smoking, 2-3, 194-195 + + Snakes, 111, 146, 184-185, 372-373 + + Statues, 10, 15, 35-36, 213-214 + + Stella, see Johnson, Mrs. Hester + + Stone Circles, 384, 389, 392, 406-408, 492, 494-495, 546 + + Strabane, 445-446, 450 + + Strangford, Lough, 521 + + Stranorlar, 445 + + Stranrear, 501 + + Strongbow, 26, 33, 34, 35-36, 220-221, 288, 447 + + Struell, 526-531 + + Suir, The, 99 + + Sullivan, Timothy, 221-222 + + Swift, Jonathan, 26, 30-32, 34, 92 + + Swilly, Lough, 427, 461, 466 + + + Tara, 41, 107, 389, 390, 540, 543-544, 549 + + Taylor, Jeremy, 524 + + Tenements, 9, 13, 33, 210-214 + + Thomond, 251 + + Thomond, Earl of, 206, 265 + + Thurles, 94-99, 174 + + Tillage, 140, 266-267, 340-342 + + Timony, John, 441-442 + + Tipperary, Vale of, 90, 93-94, 103, 106, 113, 204 + + Tomies, The, 184 + + Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 509 + + Tonna, Charlotte, 453 + + Tore Cascade, 201-202 + + Trams, 16, 17, 28, 309-310 + + Trinity College, 10, 14, 40-41, 193, 307 + + Tristram, Sir Almericus, 22-23 + + Tuam, 2 + + Tullymongan, 545 + + Turf, 98, 142, 267-268, 300-301, 355-357, 388, 490-491, 529 + + Twelve Pins of Bunnabeola, The, 318, 319, 325 + + Tyrconnell, Earl of, 423, 440, 454 + + Tyrconnell, Lady, 539 + + Tyrconnell, Province, 427-428, 447 + + Tyrone, 427-428, 446, 447, 464, 465, 479 + + + Ulster, 36, 86, 87, 155, 157, 197, 216-217, 424, 448, 449, 453, + 455, 458-459, 461, 468-469, 486, 498, 502, 506-518, 521, + 522, 529-530, 537, 539, 559-564 + + Union, Act of, 13, 35 + + Unionists, see Home Rule + + + Vanessa, 92 + + Victoria, Queen, 137, 166, 201, 352, 517 + + + Wages, 61, 84, 90-91, 98, 143, 222, 267-268, 281, 337, 409, 419 + + Walker, Rev. George, 450-451, 460, 538-539 + + Warbeck, Perkin, 131 + + Waterford, 454 + + Weather, see Climate and Rain + + Westmeath, 277, 280, 284 + + Westport, 369, 370-375, 377, 382, 445, 536 + + Wicklow, 18, 21, 59, 62 + + Wild West Films, 24, 396, 532 + + William III of Orange, 12, 76, 208-210, 294, 449-450, 453-455, + 460, 470, 475, 502, 534, 538-540, 559 + + Wilson, Woodrow, 377, 441-442 + + Workhouses, 54-56, 84, 87, 143-144, 180, 375, 473 + + Workman's Insurance, see Insurance + + Wyatt, Henry, 16 + + + Youghal, 138 + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Inconsistent hyphenation has been retained. Obvious punctuation +errors have been corrected. + +Page 215, "enought" changed to "enough" (enough to meet one) + +Page 298, "whereever" changed to "wherever" (have been built wherever) + +Page 425, "celebate" changed to "celebrate" (forbidden to celebrate +Mass) + +Page 517, "visting" changed to "visiting" (which is worth visiting) + +Page 576, "Tyrconnel" changed to "Tyrconnell" (Tyrconnell, Province) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHARM OF IRELAND*** + + +******* This file should be named 35529.txt or 35529.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/5/2/35529 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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