Add files from ibiblio as of 2025-03-07 13:42:01HEADmain

1 files changed, 17992 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/43921-0.txt b/43921-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6711884
--- /dev/null
+++ b/43921-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17992 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43921 ***
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+Certain typographical features, such as italic font, cannot be
+reproduced in this version of the text. Any italicized font is
+delimited with the underscore character as _italic_. Any "small cap"
+text is shifted to all uppercase. The occasional 'oe' ligature is
+given as separate characters. Fractions are formatted as, for
+example, "2-1/4".
+
+Illustrations, of course, cannot be provided here, but their
+approximate positions in the text are indicated as:
+
+[Illustration: caption]
+
+Please consult the more detailed notes at the end of this text for
+the resolution of any other issues that were encountered.
+
+
+
+
+                            ONE IRISH SUMMER
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: AN ANCIENT CELTIC CROSS AT GLENDALOUGH]
+
+
+
+
+                              ONE IRISH SUMMER
+
+                                     BY
+
+                           WILLIAM ELEROY CURTIS
+
+                                 AUTHOR OF
+
+  "_The Yankees of the East_," "_Between the Andes and the Ocean_"
+      "_Modern India_," "_The Turk and his Lost Provinces_"
+            "_To-day in Syria and Palestine_," _etc._
+
+                             _ILLUSTRATED_
+
+                             [Illustration]
+
+                                NEW YORK
+
+                          _DUFFIELD & COMPANY_
+
+                                  1909
+
+
+
+
+                            COPYRIGHT, 1908,
+                          BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS
+
+                            COPYRIGHT, 1909,
+                         BY DUFFIELD & COMPANY
+
+
+                THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+                                CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+         I. A SUMMER IN IRELAND                                        1
+
+        II. THE CATHEDRALS AND DEAN SWIFT                             15
+
+       III. HOW IRELAND IS GOVERNED                                   34
+
+        IV. DUBLIN CASTLE                                             53
+
+         V. THE REDEMPTION OF IRELAND                                 60
+
+        VI. SACRED SPOTS IN DUBLIN                                    77
+
+       VII. THE OLD AND NEW UNIVERSITIES                              97
+
+      VIII. ROUND ABOUT DUBLIN                                       115
+
+        IX. THE LANDLORDS AND THE LANDLESS                           130
+
+         X. MAYNOOTH COLLEGE AND CARTON HOUSE                        143
+
+        XI. DROGHEDA, AND THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE                    159
+
+       XII. TARA, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF IRELAND                     174
+
+      XIII. SAINT PATRICK AND HIS SUCCESSOR                          188
+
+       XIV. THE SINN FEIN MOVEMENT                                   202
+
+        XV. THE NORTH OF IRELAND                                     209
+
+       XVI. THE THRIVING CITY OF BELFAST                             222
+
+      XVII. THE QUAINT OLD TOWN OF DERRY                             237
+
+     XVIII. IRISH EMIGRATION AND COMMERCE                            247
+
+       XIX. IRISH CHARACTERISTICS AND CUSTOMS                        260
+
+        XX. WICKLOW AND WEXFORD                                      268
+
+       XXI. THE LAND OF RUINED CASTLES                               283
+
+      XXII. THE IRISH HORSE AND HIS OWNER                            300
+
+     XXIII. CORK AND BLARNEY CASTLE                                  312
+
+      XXIV. REMINISCENCES OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH                      330
+
+       XXV. GLENGARIFF, THE LOVELIEST SPOT IN IRELAND                343
+
+      XXVI. THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY                                   366
+
+     XXVII. INTEMPERANCE, INSANITY, AND CRIME                        391
+
+    XXVIII. THE EDUCATION OF IRISH FARMERS                           404
+
+      XXIX. LIMERICK, ASKEATON, AND ADARE                            417
+
+       XXX. COUNTY GALWAY AND RECENT LAND TROUBLES                   432
+
+      XXXI. CONNEMARA AND THE NORTHWEST COAST                        443
+
+     XXXII. WORK OF THE CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOARD                    459
+
+     INDEX                                                           475
+
+
+
+
+                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+    An Ancient Celtic Cross at Glendalough                _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                       FACING PAGE
+
+    Queenstown                                                         4
+
+    The Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary                               8
+
+    Holycross Abbey, County Tipperary                                 10
+
+    St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin                                   16
+
+    The Tomb of Strongbow, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin            32
+
+    The Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1906-9        34
+
+    The Countess of Aberdeen                                          36
+
+    The Four Courts, Dublin                                           48
+
+    The Castle, Dublin; Official Residence of the Lord Lieutenant
+      and Headquarters of the Government                              54
+
+    The Customs House, Dublin                                         78
+
+    The Bank of Ireland, Old Parliament House, Dublin                 80
+
+    St. Stephen's Green, Dublin                                       90
+
+    Quadrangle, Trinity College, Dublin                               98
+
+    Main Entrance, Trinity College, Dublin                           102
+
+    Sackville Street, Dublin, showing Nelson's Pillar                116
+
+    Lighthouse at Howth, Mouth of Dublin Bay                         122
+
+    Portumna Castle, County Galway; the Seat of the Earl of
+      Clanricarde                                                    138
+
+    Maynooth College, County Kildare                                 144
+
+    Carton House, Maynooth, County Kildare; the Residence of the
+      Duke of Leinster                                               152
+
+    A Celtic Cross at Monasterboice, County Louth                    166
+
+    Ruins of Mellifont Abbey, near Drogheda, County Louth            168
+
+    Carrickfergus Castle                                             180
+
+    St. Patrick's Cathedral at Armagh, the Seat of Cardinal Logue,
+      the Roman Catholic Primate of Ireland                          194
+
+    Cathedral, Downpatrick, where St. Patrick lived, and in the
+      Churchyard of which he was buried                              196
+
+    The Village of Downpatrick                                       200
+
+    Rosstrevor House, near Belfast, the Residence of Sir John Ross,
+      of Bladensburg                                                 210
+
+    Shane's Castle, near Belfast, the Ancient Stronghold of the
+      O'Neills, Kings of Ulster                                      216
+
+    Queen's College, Belfast                                         226
+
+    Albert Memorial, Belfast                                         228
+
+    The Giant's Causeway, Portrush, near Belfast                     244
+
+    Bishop's Gate, Derry                                             246
+
+    Irish Market Women                                               260
+
+    An Ancient Bridge in County Wicklow                              268
+
+    The Vale of Avoca, County Wicklow                                272
+
+    The River Front at Waterford                                     290
+
+    Lismore Castle, Waterford County; Irish Seat of the Duke of
+      Devonshire                                                     292
+
+    An Irish Jaunting Car                                            308
+
+    Going to Market                                                  310
+
+    Queen's College, Cork                                            314
+
+    Blarney Castle, County Cork                                      322
+
+    Kilkenny Castle; Residence of the Duke of Ormonde                326
+
+    The Ancient City of Youghal, County Cork; the Home of Sir
+      Walter Raleigh                                                 330
+
+    Myrtle Lodge; the Home of Sir Walter Raleigh                     338
+
+    Lake Gougane-Barra, County Cork                                  348
+
+    Chapel erected by Mr. John R. Walsh of Chicago on the Island
+      of Gougane-Barra                                               350
+
+    The Pass of Keimaneigh through the Mountains between Cork
+      and Glengariff                                                 352
+
+    Glengariff Bridge                                                356
+
+    Kenmare House, Killarney                                         372
+
+    Upper Lake, Killarney                                            376
+
+    Ross Castle, Killarney                                           380
+
+    Muckross Abbey, Killarney                                        384
+
+    A Window of Muckross Abbey, Killarney                            388
+
+    Treaty Stone, Limerick                                           422
+
+    Adare Abbey, in the Private Grounds of the Earl of Dunraven,
+      near Limerick                                                  428
+
+    Fish Market, Galway                                              438
+
+    Salmon Weir, Galway                                              442
+
+    A Scene in Connemara                                             444
+
+    Clifden Castle, County Galway                                    448
+
+    A Scene in the West of Ireland; Lenane Harbor                    450
+
+    Barnes Gap, County Donegal                                       460
+
+    An Irish Cabin in County Donegal                                 464
+
+    The Old: A Laborer's Sod Cabin; The New: Example of the
+      Cottages built in Connemara by the Congested Districts
+      Board                                                          470
+
+    Interior and Exterior of One-Story Cottages erected by the
+      Congested Districts Board                                      472
+
+
+
+
+                            ONE IRISH SUMMER
+
+
+
+
+                                   I
+
+                          A SUMMER IN IRELAND
+
+
+For those who have never spent a summer in Ireland there remains a
+delightful experience, for no country is more attractive, unless it be
+Japan, and no people are more genial or charming or courteous in their
+reception of a stranger, or more cordial in their hospitality. The
+American tourist usually lands at Queenstown, runs up to Cork, rides out
+to Blarney Castle in a jaunting car, and across to Killarney with a
+crowd of other tourists on the top of a big coach, then rushes up to
+Dublin, spends a lot of money at the poplin and lace stores, takes a
+train for Belfast, glances at the Giant's Causeway, and then hurries
+across St. George's Channel for London and the Continent. Hundreds of
+Americans do this each year, and write home rhapsodies about the beauty
+of Ireland. But they have not seen Ireland. No one can see Ireland in
+less than three months, for some of the counties are as different as
+Massachusetts and Alabama. Six weeks is scarcely long enough to visit
+the most interesting places.
+
+The railway accommodations, the coaches, the steamers, and other
+facilities for travel are as perfect as those of Switzerland. The hotels
+are not so good, and there will be a few discomforts here and there to
+those who are accustomed to the luxuries of London and Paris, but they
+can be endured without ruffling the temper, simply by thinking of the
+manifold enjoyments that no other country can produce.
+
+And Ireland is particularly interesting just now because of the mighty
+forces that are engaged in the redemption of the people from the poverty
+and the wretchedness in which a large proportion of them have been
+submerged for generations. No government ever did so much for the
+material welfare of its subjects as Great Britain is now doing for
+Ireland, and the improvement in the condition of affairs during the last
+few years has been extraordinary.
+
+In order to observe and describe this economic evolution, the author
+spent the summer of 1908 visiting various parts of the island and has
+endeavored to narrate truthfully what he saw and heard. This volume
+contains the greater part of a series of letters written for _The
+Chicago Record-Herald_ and also published in _The Evening Star_ of
+Washington, _The Times_ of St. Louis, and other American papers. By
+permission of Mr. Frank B. Noyes, editor and publisher of _The Chicago
+Record-Herald_, and to gratify many readers who have asked for them,
+they are herewith presented in permanent form.
+
+About three hundred passengers landed with us at Queenstown. Most of
+them were young men and young women of Irish birth, returning after a
+few years' experience in the United States. Several had come home to be
+married, but most of them were on a visit to their parents and other
+relatives. Among those who disembarked were several older men and women
+who were born in Ireland, but had been taken to America in infancy or in
+childhood and were now looking upon the fair face of Erin for the first
+time.
+
+There is an astonishing difference in the appearance and behavior of the
+steerage passengers who are sailing east from those who are sailing
+west. A few years, or even a few months, in America causes an
+extraordinary change in the dress and the manners of a European peasant.
+You can see it in the passengers that land at Genoa and Naples, and
+those that land at Hamburg and Trieste. But it is even more noticeable
+in the Americanized Irish who land at Queenstown by the thousand every
+summer from New York. The Italian, the Hungarian, or the Pole who goes
+aboard a steamer to America with his humble belongings and his quaint
+looking garments is a very different person from the man who sails from
+New York back to the fatherland a few years later. And the Irish boys
+and girls who went ashore with us just as the sun was waking up Ireland
+were as hearty, well dressed, and prosperous looking as you would wish
+to see. And every young woman had a big "Saratoga" in place of the
+"cotton trunk with the pin lock" that she carried away with her when she
+left the old country for America the first time. I don't know what was
+in those big trunks, although one can get a glimpse of their contents if
+he stands by while the customs officers are inspecting them, but you can
+see the names "Delia O'Connell, New York," "Katherine Burke, Chicago,"
+and "Mary Murphy, Baltimore," marked in big black letters at either end.
+And what is most noticeable, the trunks are all new. They have never
+crossed the ocean before, but will be going back again to America in a
+few months. Their owners will not be contented with the discomforts they
+will find at their old homes. Ireland is more prosperous today than for
+generations, but conditions among the poorer classes are very different
+from those that exist in the new world.
+
+The purser told me that he changed nearly $4,000 of American into
+English money the day before we landed, for third-class passengers
+alone. One man had $400; that was the maximum, but the rest of those who
+disembarked at Queenstown had from $50 up to $250 and thereabouts in
+cash, with their return tickets.
+
+Queenstown makes a brave appearance from the deck of a ship in the bay,
+even before sunrise. It lies along a steep slope, with green fields and
+forests on either side, and the most conspicuous building is a beautiful
+gothic cathedral, with an unfinished tower, that was commenced in 1868
+and has cost nearly a million dollars already. The hill is so steep that
+a heavy retaining wall has been built as a buttress to make the
+cathedral foundations secure, and the worshipers must climb a winding
+road or a sharp stairway to reach it. A little farther along the
+hillside is an imposing marine hospital and group of barracks, from
+which we could hear the bugles sounding "reveille" as we landed. There
+are compensations to those who are marooned at Queenstown before
+daylight, and one of them is the picturesque surroundings of the
+ancient homes of the O'Mahony's, who ruled this part of Ireland for many
+generations long ago.
+
+The harbor is like an amphitheatre, entirely inclosed by hills, three
+hundred or four hundred feet high, that are covered with frowning
+battlements. Every hilltop is strongly fortified. The bay, which is four
+miles long and about two miles wide, contains several islands, upon
+which the government has built warehouses, repair shops, shipyards, and
+the other appurtenances of a naval station, guarded by Fort Carlisle,
+Fort Camden, and other modern fortresses. Upon Haulbowline Island is a
+depot for ammunition and other ordnance stores, and the pilot told me
+that on Rocky Island near by were two magazines--great chambers chiseled
+out of the living rock by Irish convicts who were formerly confined
+there--and that each of them contained twenty-five thousand barrels of
+powder belonging to the British navy.
+
+Queenstown has many handsome estates overlooking the sea and the bay
+from the hills that inclose the harbor. There is an old ruined castle at
+Monkstown that was built in 1636 by Anastasia Gould, wife of John
+Archdecken, while her husband was at sea. She determined that she would
+surprise him when he returned home. So she hired a lot of men to build a
+castle with only the material they found on the estate, and made an
+agreement with them that they should buy the food and clothing necessary
+for their families from herself alone. It is the first record of a
+"company store" that I know of. When the castle was finished and the
+accounts were balanced it was found that the cost of the labor had been
+entirely paid for by the profits of this thrifty woman's mercantile
+transactions, with the sum of four pence as a balance to her credit. Her
+husband returned in due time and was so delighted with his new home that
+he never went to sea again. His estimable wife died in 1689, and was
+buried in the churchyard of Team-pulloen-Bryn, where this story is
+inscribed with her epitaph.
+
+On Wood's Hill, overlooking the bay, is a handsome estate that once
+belonged to Curran, the famous lawyer and orator, whose daughter was
+the sweetheart of Robert Emmet, the Irish martyr. Her melancholy romance
+is related in Washington Irving's story called "The Broken Heart" and in
+one of Tom Moore's ballads.
+
+[Illustration: QUEENSTOWN]
+
+It is 165 miles from Queenstown to Dublin, and the railroad passes
+through several of the counties whose names are most familiar to
+Americans, for they have furnished the greater portion of our Irish
+immigrants--Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Queens, and Kildare. Most of the
+passengers who landed with us took the same train, and they were so many
+that they crowded the little railway station to overflowing and created
+a scene of lively confusion. Some of them had been met by brothers,
+fathers, sweethearts, and friends, who were waiting two hours before
+daylight, and the hearty greetings and enthusiasm they showed were
+contagious. The sweethearts were easy to identify. The demonstrations of
+affection left no doubt, but all the world loves a lover, and we
+rejoiced with them. In the long line that stood before the ticket
+seller's window at the railway station they chattered unconsciously like
+so many sparrows, their arms around each other, with an occasional
+embrace, a sly kiss and a slap to pay for it, tender caresses upon the
+shoulder or the head, and other expressions of a happiness that could
+not have been concealed. The home-bred young men gazed with wonder and
+admiration at the finery worn by their sweethearts from America, who, by
+the way, although they came third class, and were undoubtedly
+chambermaids or shop girls in our cities, were the best-looking and the
+best-dressed women we saw in Ireland. The pride of the parents at the
+appearance and the manners of their sons or daughters showed that they
+appreciated the accomplishments that American experience acquires.
+
+One of the younger passengers, a boy of twenty years, perhaps, told me
+that he had come from Ohio to persuade his father to send his two
+younger brothers back with him. They live in Tipperary, where "there is
+no show for a young man now." Another young man had a tiny American flag
+pinned to the lapel of his coat, and when I said, "You show your
+colors," the lassie who clung to his arm turned at me with a determined
+expression on her face and remarked:
+
+"I'll be takin' that off and pinnin' a piece of green in its place vera
+soon."
+
+"No, you don't, darlin'; none o' that," he replied. "I'm an American
+citizen, and I don't care who knows it. If you don't want to be one
+yourself, I know another girl who does."
+
+The country through which the railway to Dublin runs affords a beautiful
+example of Irish scenery. As far as Cork the track follows the bank of
+the River Lee, which is inclosed on either side by a high ridge crowned
+with stately mansions, glorious trees, and handsome gardens. Several of
+the places are historic, and the scenery has been frequently described
+in verse by the Irish poets.
+
+Father Prout, a celebrated rhymemaker of Cork, has described one of the
+villages as follows:
+
+     "The town of Passage is both large and spacious,
+       And situated upon the say;
+     'Tis nate and dacent and quite adjacent
+       To Cork on a summer's day.
+     There you may slip in and take a dippin'
+       Foreninst the shippin' that at anchor ride,
+     Or in a wherry you can cross the ferry
+       To Carrigaloe on the other side."
+
+We could not see much from the car window, but we saw enough on the
+journey to understand why it is called "The Emerald Isle" and why the
+Irish people are so enthusiastic over its landscapes. The river is
+walled in nearly all the distance to Cork, and there are many factories,
+storehouses, and docks on both sides. Quite a fleet of steamers ply
+between Queenstown and Cork, and trains on the railroad are running
+every hour. Small seagoing vessels can go up as far as Cork, but the
+larger ones discharge and receive their cargoes at Queenstown. We
+couldn't see much of the towns because the railway tracks are either
+elevated so that only the roofs and chimney pots are visible, or else
+they are buried between impenetrable walls or pass through tunnels on
+either side of the station. But when the train passed out into the open
+a succession of most attractive landscapes was spread before us as far
+as the horizon on either side, and the fields were alive with bushes of
+brilliant orange-colored gorse, or furze, as it is sometimes called.
+They lit up the atmosphere as the burning bush of Moses might have done.
+Very little of the ground is cultivated. Only here and there is a field
+of potatoes and cabbages, but the pastures are filled with fine looking
+cattle and sheep, for this is the grazing district of Ireland, from
+whence her famous dairy products and the best beef and mutton come.
+
+Beyond Portarlington we got our first glimpses of the bogs, with which
+we are told one-sixth of the surface of Ireland is covered, an area of
+not less than 2,800,000 acres. Bogs were formerly supposed to be due to
+the depravity of the natives, who are too lazy to drain them and have
+allowed good land to run to waste and become covered with water and
+rotten vegetation, but this theory has been effectively disposed of by
+science. Everybody should know that the bogs of Ireland are not only due
+to the natural growth of a spongy moss called sphagnum, but furnish an
+inexhaustible fuel supply to the people and have a value much greater
+than that of the drier and higher land. The report of a "bogs
+commission" describes them as "the true gold mines of Ireland," and
+estimates them as "infinitely more valuable than an inexhaustible supply
+of the precious metal." The average Irish bog will produce 18,231 tons
+of peat per acre, which is equivalent to 1,823 tons of coal, thus making
+the total supply of peat equivalent to 5,104,000 tons of coal, capable
+of producing 300,000 horse power of energy daily for manufacturing
+purposes for a period of about four hundred and fifty years. With coal
+selling at $2 a ton in Ireland to-day, this makes the bogs of Ireland
+worth $10,000,000,000. The "bog trotter" is an individual to be
+cultivated, for when our coal deposits in the United States are
+exhausted we may have to send over and buy some of his peat for fuel. It
+is proposed to utilize these deposits and save transportation charges by
+erecting power-houses at the peat beds and furnish electricity over
+wires to the neighboring towns and cities for lighting, power, and other
+purposes, "for anybody having work to do from curling a lady's hair to
+running tramways and driving machinery." The writer refers to recent
+installations of electric works in Mysore, India, for working gold
+fields ninety miles distant, and quotes the late Lord Kelvin's opinion
+that the city of New York will soon be getting its power from Niagara,
+four hundred miles away. We saw them digging peat in the fields and
+piling it up like damp bricks to dry in the sun. Freshly dug peat
+contains about seventy per cent of moisture, but when cured the ratio is
+reduced to fifteen or twenty per cent.
+
+A peat bog is not always in a hollow, but often on a hillside, and
+sometimes at considerable height, which contradicts the theory that bogs
+are due to defective drainage. Science long ago determined that Irish
+peat was the accumulation of a peculiar kind of moss which grows like a
+coral bank in the damp soil, and continues to pile up in layers year
+after year, century after century, until it forms a solid mass, several
+feet thick, seventy per cent moisture and thirty per cent fibre, which
+burns slowly and furnishes a high degree of heat. We see bogs on all
+sides of us where the peat is three and four feet thick, and with a long
+straight spade that is as sharp as a knife, it is cut into blocks about
+eight or ten inches long and about four inches square. A sharp spade
+will slice it just as a knife would cut cheese or butter, and after the
+blocks have lain on the ground a while they are stacked up on end in
+little piles to dry. Then, when they have been exposed to the weather
+for three or four weeks, they are stacked in larger piles, from which
+they are carted away and sold or used as they are needed.
+
+[Illustration: THE ROCK OF CASHEL, COUNTY TIPPERARY]
+
+Four tons of peat are equal in caloric energy to one ton of coal. I
+noticed in the papers that a bill is pending before the House of Commons
+to grant a charter to a company to erect a station in a bog near
+Robertson, Kings County, twenty-five miles from Dublin, for generating
+electricity from peat, the power to be transmitted to Dublin and the
+suburban towns for lighting, transportation, and manufacturing
+purposes. Several other projects of a similar sort have been suggested
+for utilizing the peat at the bog instead of carting it into town.
+
+Beyond the peat beds rises a chain of low mountains with a curious
+profile that runs west of the town of Templemore. Like every other freak
+of nature in Ireland, they are the scenes of many interesting legends.
+The highest peak is called "The Devil's Bit," and the queer shape is
+accounted for by the fact that the Prince of Darkness in a fit of hunger
+and fatigue once took a bite out of the mountain, and, not finding it to
+his taste, spat it out again some miles to the eastward, where it is now
+famous as the Rock of Cashel.
+
+Cashel, at present a miserable, deserted village, was once the rich and
+proud capital of Munster. Adjoining the ruins of the cathedral is the
+ancient and weather-worn "Cross of Cashel," which was raised upon a rude
+pedestal, where the kings of Munster were formerly crowned. The ruins
+are more extensive than anywhere else in Ireland, for Cashel at one time
+was the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland and its greatest educational
+centre. Here the Pope's legates resided and here Henry II., in 1172,
+received the homage of the Irish kings. But what gives the place its
+greatest sanctity is the fact that St. Patrick spent much time there and
+held there the first synod that ever assembled in Ireland, about the
+middle of the fifth century. That is supposed to have been the reason
+for the erection of so many sacred edifices and monasteries in early
+days. St. Declan lived there, too, and commemorated his conversion to
+Christianity by the erection of one of the churches. Donald O'Brien,
+King of Limerick, erected another, and his son Donough founded an abbey
+in 1182. Holy Cross, beautifully situated in a thick grove on the banks
+of the River Suir, was built in 1182 for the Cistercian order of monks.
+It derived its name because a piece of the true cross, set with precious
+stones and presented to a grandson of Brian Boru by Pope Pascal II., was
+kept there for centuries, and made the abbey the object of pilgrimages
+of the faithful from all parts of Ireland. This precious relic is now
+in the Ursuline convent at Cork.
+
+Cashel was destroyed during the civil wars. The famous Gerald
+Fitzgerald, the great Earl of Kildare, had a grudge against Archbishop
+Cragh and burned the cathedral and the bishop's palace. He excused the
+act before the king on the ground that he "believed the archbishop was
+in it."
+
+A little beyond Templemore, at Ballybrophy Junction, a branch of the
+main line of the railway leads to the town of Birr, which is famous as
+the seat of the late Earl of Rosse, whose father erected an observatory
+there many years ago, with one of the largest and finest telescopes in
+the world. It is twenty-seven feet long, with a lens three feet in
+diameter. Some of the most important discoveries of modern astronomy
+have been made there, and Birr has been the object of pilgrimages for
+scientific men for more than half a century. The old Birr castle has
+been much enlarged and modernized by the late earl, who died in
+September, 1908, and is surrounded by an estate of thirty-six thousand
+acres, upon which is one of the best built and well kept towns in
+Ireland. He was a scholar and scientist of reputation, president of the
+Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Dublin Society, and interested in
+important manufactories and enterprises. He was especially active in
+developing the steam turbine.
+
+All of that section of Ireland covered by the journey between Dublin and
+Cork is associated with heroic struggles. It has been fought over time
+and again by the clans and the factions that have struggled to rule the
+state. Every town and every castle has its tragic and romantic history.
+Almost every valley is associated with a legend or an important event.
+The woods and the hills are still peopled with fairies, and local
+traditions among the humble folks are the themes of fascinating tales
+and songs. But the natives one sees at the railway stations do not look
+at all romantic. A sentimental person is compelled to endure many severe
+shocks when he comes in contact with the present generation of Irish
+peasants.
+
+[Illustration: HOLYCROSS ABBEY, COUNTY TIPPERARY]
+
+The people of Ireland are more prosperous to-day (July, 1908) than
+they have been for generations. Their financial condition is better than
+it ever has been, and is improving every year. The bank deposits, the
+deposits in postal savings banks, the government returns of the taxable
+property, have advanced steadily every year for the last ten years, and
+in Ireland, during the last ten years, there has been a gradual and
+healthful improvement in every branch of trade and industry. The people
+are more prosperous than in England or Scotland, except in certain
+sections where poverty is chronic because of climatic reasons and the
+barrenness of the soil. Nevertheless, they are not so prosperous as they
+ought to be under the circumstances, and it would require a book, and a
+large book, to repeat the many theories that are offered to explain the
+situation. It is a question upon which very few people agree, and they
+probably never will agree. There are almost as many theories as there
+are people. Therefore a discussion is not only disagreeable but it would
+lead immediately into politics. It is safe to say, however, that every
+Irishman who is willing to take a farm and cultivate it with
+intelligence and industry will prosper if he will let politics and
+whisky alone. Idleness, neglect, intemperance, and other vices produce
+the same results in Ireland as elsewhere, and under present conditions
+industry and thrift will make any honest farmer prosperous.
+
+The moral and intellectual regeneration of the country is keeping step
+with the material regeneration. All religious qualifications and
+disqualifications have been removed; the church has been divorced from
+the state, and each religious denomination stands upon an equality in
+every respect.
+
+The penal laws have been repealed and the tithe system has been
+abolished.
+
+Local representative government prevails everywhere.
+
+Nearly every official in Ireland is a native except the lord-lieutenant,
+the treasury remembrancer, and several agricultural experts who are
+employed as instructors for the farmers and fishermen by the
+Agricultural Department, and the Congested Districts Board.
+
+The primary schools of Ireland are now free; free technical schools have
+been established at convenient locations for the training of mechanics,
+machinists, electricians, engineers, and members of the other trades.
+
+Two new universities have been authorized,--one in the north and the
+other in the south of Ireland,--for the higher education of young men
+and women.
+
+Temperance reforms are being gradually accomplished by the church and
+secular temperance societies, which are working in harmony; the license
+law has been amended so as to reduce the number of saloons, and
+three-fourths of the saloons are closed on Sunday throughout the island.
+The Father Mathew societies are gaining in numbers; the use of liquor at
+wakes and on St. Patrick's Day has been prohibited by the Roman Catholic
+bishops, and the number of persons arrested for drunkenness and
+disorderly conduct is decreasing annually.
+
+Every tenant that has been evicted in Ireland during the last thirty
+years has been restored to his old home, and the arrears of rent charged
+against him have been canceled.
+
+The land courts have adjusted the rentals of 360,135 farms, and have
+reduced them more than $7,500,000 a year.
+
+More than one hundred and twenty-six thousand families have been enabled
+to purchase farms with money advanced by the government to be repaid in
+sixty-eight years at nominal interest.
+
+Several thousand families have been removed at government expense from
+unproductive farms to more fertile lands purchased for them with
+government money to be repaid in sixty-eight years.
+
+Thousands of cottages, stables, barns, and other farm buildings have
+been built and repaired by the government for the farmers, and many
+millions of dollars have been advanced them for the purchase of cattle,
+implements, and other equipment through agents of the Agricultural
+Department.
+
+More than twenty-three thousand comfortable cottages have been erected
+for the laborers of Ireland with money advanced by the government to be
+repaid in small instalments at nominal interest.
+
+The landlord system of Ireland is being rapidly abolished; the great
+estates are being divided into small farms and sold to the men who till
+them. The agricultural lands of Ireland will soon be occupied by a
+population of independent farm owners instead of rent-paying tenants.
+
+The Agricultural Department is furnishing practical instructors to teach
+the farmers how to make the most profitable use of their land and labor,
+how to improve their stock, and how to produce better butter, pork, and
+poultry.
+
+The Agricultural Department furnishes seeds and fertilizers to farmers
+and instructs them how they should be used to the best advantage.
+
+The Irish Agricultural Organization Society has instructed thousands of
+farmers in the science of agriculture and has established thousands of
+co-operative dairies and supply stores to assist the farmers in getting
+higher prices for their products and lower prices for their supplies.
+
+The Congested Districts Board has expended seventy million dollars to
+improve the condition of the peasants in the west of Ireland; to provide
+them better homes and to place them where they can get better returns
+for their labor.
+
+Thousands of fishermen have been furnished with boats, nets, and other
+tackle; they have been supplied with salt for curing their fish; casks
+and barrels for packing them; have been provided with wharves for
+landing places and warehouses for the storage of their implements and
+supplies; and government agents have secured a market for their fish and
+have supervised the shipments and sales.
+
+Thousands of weavers have been furnished with looms in their cottages at
+government expense, so that they can increase their incomes by
+manufacturing home-made stuffs.
+
+Schools have been established at many convenient points in the west of
+Ireland, where peasant women and girls may learn lace-making. The
+government furnishes the instruction free, supplies the materials used,
+and provides for the sale of the articles made.
+
+Work has been furnished with good wages for thousands of unemployed men
+in the construction of roads and other public improvements.
+
+District nurses have been stationed at convenient points along the west
+coast, where there are no physicians, to attend the sick and aged and
+relieve the distress among the peasant families, and hospitals have been
+established for the treatment of the ill and injured at government
+expense.
+
+
+
+
+                                   II
+
+                     THE CATHEDRALS AND DEAN SWIFT
+
+
+St. Patrick's Cathedral is, perhaps, the most notable building in
+Ireland, and one of the oldest. During the religious wars and the
+clashes of the clans in the early history of Ireland it was the scene
+and the cause of much contention and violence. Its sacred walls were
+originally arranged as fortifications to defend it against the savage
+tribes and to protect the dignitaries of the church, who resided behind
+embattled gates for centuries. At one time St. Patrick's was used as a
+barrack for soldiers, and the verger will show you an enormous baptismal
+font, from which he says the dragoons used to water their horses, and
+the interior was fitted up for courts of law. Henry VIII. confiscated
+the property and revenues because the members of its chapter refused to
+accept the new doctrines, and nearly all of them were banished from
+Ireland. He abolished a small university that was attached to the
+cathedral by the pope in 1320 for the education of priests. For five
+hundred years there was a continuous quarrel between St. Patrick's and
+Christ Church Cathedral, which stands only two blocks away, because of
+rivalries over ecclesiastical privileges, powers, and revenues. Finally
+a compromise was reached, under which there has since been peace between
+the two great churches and relations similar to those of Westminster
+Abbey and St. Paul's in London. Christ Church is the headquarters of the
+episcopal see of Dublin, and St. Patrick's is regarded as a national
+church. The chief reason why St. Patrick's has such a hold upon the
+affections and reverence of the people is because it stands upon the
+site of a small wooden church erected by St. Patrick himself in the year
+450 and within a few feet of a sacred spring or well at which he
+baptized thousands of pagans during his ministry. The exact site of the
+well was identified in 1901 by the discovery of an ancient Celtic cross
+buried in the earth a few feet from the tower of the cathedral. The
+cross is now exhibited in the north aisle. The floor of the church is
+only seven feet above the waters of a subterranean brook called the
+Poddle, and during the spring floods is often inundated, but in the
+minds of the founders the sanctity of the spot compensated for the
+insecure foundations.
+
+St. Patrick's little wooden building, which is supposed to be the first
+Christian sanctuary erected in Ireland, was replaced in 1191 by the
+present lofty cruciform edifice, three hundred feet long and one hundred
+and fifty-seven feet across the transepts. It was designed and erected
+by Comyn, the Anglo-Norman archbishop of Dublin, is supposed to have
+been completed in 1198, and was raised to the rank of a cathedral in
+1219. There were frequent alterations and repairs during the first seven
+centuries of its existence, until 1864-68, when it was perfectly
+restored by Sir Benjamin Guinness, the great brewer, who also purchased
+several blocks of dilapidated slums that surrounded it, tore down the
+buildings, and turned the land into a park which not only affords an
+opportunity to see the beauties of the cathedral, but gives the poor
+people who dwell in that locality a playground and fresh air. Sir
+Benjamin purchased several of the adjoining blocks and erected upon them
+a series of model tenement-houses, the best in Dublin, and rents them at
+nominal rates to his employees and others. On the other side of the
+cathedral are several blocks of the most miserable tenements in the
+city, and sometime they also will be cleared away. A bronze statue has
+been erected in the churchyard as a reminder of his generosity.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL, DUBLIN]
+
+Benjamin Guinness was the great brewer of Dublin. In 1756 one of his
+ancestors started a little brewing establishment down on the bank of the
+Liffey River in the center of the city, which has been extended from
+time to time until the buildings now cover an area of more than forty
+acres. The property and good will were transferred by the Guinness
+family to a stock company for $30,000,000 in 1886, and since then the
+plant has been enlarged until it now exceeds in extent all other
+breweries in the world, represents an investment of $50,000,000, and
+turns out an average of two thousand one hundred barrels of beer a day.
+
+Sir Benjamin's son, Edward Cecil Guinness, was elevated to the peerage
+as Lord Iveagh and is the richest man in Ireland to-day. He is highly
+respected, has married into the nobility, is a great favorite with the
+king, is generous and philanthropic, encourages and patronizes both
+science and athletic sports, and is said to be "altogether a very good
+fellow." Another son is Lord Ardilaun, who is equally rich and popular,
+and owns several of the finest estates in the kingdom.
+
+Sir Benjamin expended $1,200,000 in restoring St. Patrick's Cathedral,
+and Lord Iveagh, his son, added $350,000 more. The driver of the
+jaunting car that carried us there told me how many billion of glasses
+of beer those gifts represented, and made some funny remarks about all
+the profit being in the froth. But if all men were to make such good use
+of their money there would be no reason to complain.
+
+St. Patrick's Cathedral is the official seat of the Knights of St.
+Patrick, and their banners, helmets, and swords hang over the choir
+stalls, while in one of the chapels is an ancient table and a set of
+ancient chairs formerly used at their gatherings. Since 1869 they have
+met at Dublin castle. Many tattered and bullet-riddled battle flags
+carried by Irish regiments hang in other parts of the cathedral, and if
+they could tell the stories of the many brave Irishmen who have fought
+and perished under their silken folds, it would be more thrilling than
+fiction. Ireland has furnished the best fighting men in the British
+Army, both generals and privates, since the invasion of the Normans. The
+king's bodyguard of Highlanders is now almost exclusively composed of
+Irish lads. In the north transept is a flag that was carried by an Irish
+regiment at the skirmish at Lexington at the beginning of our
+Revolution and at the attack on Bunker Hill. They brought it away with
+them to hang it here with the trophies of Irish valor of a thousand
+years.
+
+St. Patrick's is the Westminster Abbey of Ireland, and many of her most
+famous men are either buried within its walls or have tablets erected to
+their memory. John Philpott Curran, the great advocate and orator, and
+Samuel Lover, the song writer and novelist, whose "Handy Andy" and
+"Widow Machree," are perhaps the best examples of Irish humor in
+literature, are honored with tablets; and Carolan, the last of the bards
+for whom Ireland was once so celebrated. He died in 1788. M.W. Balfe,
+author of that pretty little opera, "The Bohemian Girl," and many
+beautiful ballads, including "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls," has a
+tablet inscribed with these words:
+
+"The most celebrated, genial and beloved of Irish musicians,
+commendatore of Carlos III. of Spain, Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
+Born in Dublin, 15 May, 1808, died 20th of Oct., 1870."
+
+Balfe was born in a small house on Pitt Street, Dublin, which bears a
+tablet announcing the fact.
+
+The man who wrote that stirring poem, "The Burial of Sir John Moore,"
+which begins,
+
+          "Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
+          As his corse to the rampart we hurried,"--
+
+lies in St. Patrick's. His name was Charles Wolfe, and he was once the
+dean of the cathedral.
+
+In the right-hand corner of the east transept is a monument to the
+memory of a certain dame of the time of Elizabeth, named Mrs. St. Leger.
+She was thirty-seven years old at the time of her death, and, her
+epitaph tells us, had "a strange, eventful history," with four husbands
+and eight children, all of whom she made comfortable and happy.
+
+On the other side is a tablet to commemorate the fact that Sir Edward
+Fitten, who died in 1579, was married at the age of twelve years and
+became the father of fifteen children,--nine sons and six daughters.
+
+The famous Archbishop Whately, the gentleman who wrote the rhetoric we
+studied in college, and who once presided over this diocese, is buried
+in a stately tomb, and his effigy, beautifully carved in marble, lies
+upon it.
+
+The most imposing monument of all, and one which is associated with much
+history and tragedy, was erected in honor of his own family by Richard
+Boyle, the first Earl of Cork, who was a great man in his day. So
+pretentious was the monument that Archbishop Laud ordered it removed
+from the cathedral. This was done by Thomas Wentworth, afterward Earl of
+Strafford, who was sent over by King Charles with an armed force to
+govern Ireland. Boyle, who had himself designed and expended a great
+deal of money upon "the famous, sumptuous, and glorious tomb," which was
+to immortalize him and sixteen members of his family, was so indignant
+that he never forgave Strafford, and afterward caused the latter to be
+betrayed to a shameful death at the hands of his enemies.
+
+The most interesting historic relic in the cathedral is an ancient oaken
+door with a large hole cut in the center of it. It bears an explanatory
+inscription as follows:
+
+"In the year 1492 an angry conference was held at St. Patrick, his
+church, between the rival nobles, James Butler, Earl of Ormonde, and
+Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, the said deputies, and their armed
+retainers. Ormonde, in fear of his life, fled for refuge to the Chapiter
+House, and Kildare, pressing Ormonde to the Chapiter House door,
+undertooke on his honor that he should receive no villanie. Whereupon
+the recluse, craving his lordship's hand to assure him his life, there
+was a clift in the Chapiter House door pearced at trice to the end that
+both Earls should shake hands and be reconciled. But Ormonde surmising
+that the clift was intended for further treacherie refused to stretch
+out his hand--" and the inscription goes on to relate that Kildare,
+having no such nervousness, thrust his hand through the hole and
+without the slightest hesitation. Ormonde shook it heartily and peace
+was made.
+
+For centuries it was said that whoever might be Viceroy of Ireland it
+was the Earl of Kildare who governed the country. A long line of
+Kildares succeeded each other, and their living successor, better known
+as the Duke of Leinster, is now the premier of the Irish nobility,
+although he is still a boy, just twenty-one. Both the Kildares and the
+Earls of Desmond were descended from Gerald Fitzgerald, who in the
+thirteenth century founded that powerful clan known as the Geraldines.
+In the fifteenth, and at the beginning of the sixteenth, century they
+exercised absolute control in Ireland, and Garrett, or Gerald
+Fitzgerald, the eighth Earl of Kildare, known as "The Great Earl," had
+greater authority than any other Irishman has ever displayed in his
+native island since the days of Brian Boru. At one time his daughter,
+wife of the Earl of Clanricarde, appealed to her father from a quarrel
+with her husband. The old gentleman took her part, ordered out his army,
+and met his son-in-law in the battle of Knockdoe, where it is said eight
+thousand men were slain.
+
+Near the entrance to St. Patrick's Cathedral is a long, narrow, brass
+tablet upon which are inscribed the names of the fifty-seven deans who
+have had ecclesiastical jurisdiction there from 1219 to 1902. The most
+famous in the list is that of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, D.D., author of
+"Gulliver's Travels," "The Tale of a Tub," and other equally well-known
+works. He presided here for more than thirty years, and was undoubtedly
+the most brilliant as well as the most remarkable clergyman in the
+history of the diocese of Dublin. He was the greatest of all satirists,
+one of the most brilliant of all wits, and an all-around genius, but was
+entirely without moral consciousness, altogether selfish, inordinately
+vain, and one of the most eccentric characters in the history of
+literature. He was born in Dublin Nov. 30, 1667; educated at Trinity
+College, where he distinguished himself only by his eccentricities; was
+curate of two churches, and dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral for more
+than thirty years, although neither his manners nor his morals
+conformed to the standards that are fixed for clergymen in these days.
+He was more famous for his wit than his wisdom; for his piquancy than
+for piety. He spent most of his life in Dublin, died there, was buried
+in St. Patrick's Cathedral by the side of a woman whose life he wrecked,
+and left his money to found an insane asylum which is still in
+existence.
+
+The house in which Jonathan Swift was born can still be seen in Hoey's
+Court, which once was a popular place of residence for well-to-do
+people, and has several mansions of architectural pretensions, but has
+degenerated into a slum, one of the many that may be found in the very
+center of the business section of the city. He came of a good Yorkshire
+family; his mother had aristocratic connections and was one of those
+women who seem to have been born to suffer from the failings of men. His
+father was a shiftless adventurer, following several professions and
+occupations in turn without even ordinary success in any. Jonathan went
+to the parish schools in Kilkenny for a time when his father happened to
+be living in that locality, and when he was seventeen years old passed
+the entrance examinations to Trinity College, Dublin. He was a willful,
+independent, eccentric person, of a lonely and sour disposition, and
+refused to be bound by the rules of the university. He would not study
+mathematics or physics, but delighted in classical literature, and
+furnished many witty contributions to college literature which gave
+promise of genius. He wrote a play that was performed by the college
+students with great success. His degree was reluctantly conferred by the
+faculty through the influence of Sir William Temple, a famous statesman
+of those days, whose wife was a distant relative of Swift's mother.
+
+Shortly after graduation he became private secretary to Sir William
+Temple and attended him in London during several sessions of parliament.
+While there, under some influence that has never been explained in a
+satisfactory manner, Swift decided to enter the ministry, and took a
+course of theology at Oxford. After his ordination in 1695 Sir William
+Temple got him a living in a quiet, secluded village called Laracor, in
+central Ireland, near Tara, the ancient capital, in a church that long
+ago crumbled to ruins and has been replaced by a modern building. It was
+a small parish consisting of not more than ten or twelve aristocratic
+families, among them the ancestors of the great Duke of Wellington. The
+young curate's congregation was not very regular in its attendance, and
+you will remember, perhaps, an amusing story, how the Rev. Mr. Swift,
+when he came from the vestry one Sabbath morning, found no one but the
+sexton, Roger Morris, in the pews. He read the service, as usual,
+however, and with that quaint sense of humor which cropped out in
+everything he did, began solemnly:
+
+"Dearly beloved Roger, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places," etc.
+
+Coming to the conclusion that he was not fitted for parish work, Swift
+obtained the position of private secretary to Earl Berkeley, one of the
+lord justices of Ireland, but, after a while, got another church, and
+tried preaching again. But he spent more of his time in writing
+political satires than in prayer or sermonizing. He edited Sir William
+Temple's speeches and wrote his biography, and went to London, where he
+became a member of an interesting group of politicians and pamphleteers,
+who supported Lord Bolingbroke. He contributed to _The Tattler_, _The
+Spectator_, and other publications of the time, and soon became
+recognized as one of the most brilliant and savage satirists and
+influential political writers of the day. Through political influence,
+and not because of his piety, he was appointed dean of St. Patrick's,
+the most prominent and famous church in Dublin. He had not been in his
+new position long before he created a tremendous sensation and set all
+Ireland aflame by writing a political pamphlet signed "M.B. Drapier."
+
+In 1723 Walpole's government gave to the Duchess of Kendall, the
+mistress of George I., a concession to supply an unlimited amount of
+copper coinage to Ireland, and she took William Wood, an iron
+manufacturer of Birmingham, into partnership. There was no mint in
+Dublin and no limitation in the contract, so the firm of Kendall & Wood
+flooded the island with new copper pence and half-pence upon which they
+made a profit of 40 per cent. The coins became so abundant that they
+lost their value. Naturally the contract created not only scandal, but
+an intense indignation. Many pamphlets were published and speeches were
+made denouncing the transaction. The most telling attack came from what
+purported to be an unpretentious Dublin dry goods merchant, who told in
+simple language the story of the coinage contract and related anecdotes
+of Dublin women going from shop to shop followed by carloads of copper
+coins from the factory of the Duchess of Kendall. He mentioned a
+workingman who gave a pound of depreciated pennies for a mug of ale, and
+declared that they were so worthless that even the beggars would not
+accept them.
+
+The money was not really so much depreciated as Swift represented, but
+the merchants of Dublin followed the advice of the simple draper and
+refused to accept it any longer in trade. The government authorities
+made a great fuss and arrested many of the repudiators, but the grand
+juries refused to indict them, and on the contrary threatened to indict
+merchants who accepted the shameful money. The printer of the pamphlet
+was arrested, but never punished. The authorship became an open secret,
+but the authorities dared not arrest the dean, whose popularity was so
+great and who exercised such an extraordinary influence over the common
+people that they accepted whatever he said as inspired and paid him the
+greatest respect possible. His influence is illustrated by a story that
+is related about a crowd which blocked the street around St. Patrick's
+Cathedral one night to watch for an eclipse of the moon, and obstructed
+traffic, but promptly dispersed when he sent one of his servants to tell
+them that the eclipse had been postponed by his orders. He wrote
+"Gulliver's Travels" about this period of his life in the deanery of St.
+Patrick's, which was a part of what is now the barracks of the Dublin
+police force. The present deanery, a modern building near by, contains
+portraits of Swift and other of the fifty-seven clergymen who have
+served as deans of St. Patrick's.
+
+About the same time he wrote another masterpiece of satire upon the
+useless and impractical measures of charity for the poor adopted by the
+government. It was entitled:
+
+                          A MODEST PROPOSAL
+                    FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF
+                        POOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND
+                        FROM BEING A BURDEN TO
+                           THEIR PARENTS BY
+                      FATTENING AND EATING THEM.
+
+He wrote several bitter satires on ecclesiastical matters, which would
+have caused his separation from the deanery under ordinary
+circumstances, but the archbishop as well as the civil authorities was
+afraid of his caustic pen. In discussing the bishops of the Church of
+Ireland at one time he declared that they were all impostors. He
+asserted that the government always sent English clergymen of character
+and piety to Ireland, but they were always murdered on their way by the
+highwaymen of Hounslow Heath and other brigands, who put on their robes,
+traveled to Dublin, presented their credentials, and were installed in
+their places over the several dioceses of Ireland.
+
+In 1729 the parliament of Ireland was installed in the imposing
+structure that stands in the center of the city of Dublin opposite the
+main buildings of Trinity College. Although the people had been
+demanding home rule and a legislature of their own for years, the new
+parliament soon lost its popularity. Its action provoked the hostility
+of the fickle people and it was attacked on all sides for everything it
+did. Swift took his customary part in the criticisms and christened the
+parliament "The Goose Pie" because, as he said, the chamber had a crust
+in the form of a dome-shaped roof and it was not remarkable for the
+intellect or knowledge of its members.
+
+One of his lampoons, directed at parliament under the name of "The
+Legion Club," begins as follows:
+
+          "As I stroll the city, oft I
+          See a building large and lofty,
+          Not a bow-shot from the college,
+          Half the globe from sense and knowledge.
+          Tell us what the pile contains?
+          Many a head that holds no brains.
+          Such assemblies you might swear
+          Meet when butchers bait a bear.
+          Such a noise and such haranguing
+          When a brother thief is hanging."
+
+This does not sound very dignified for the dean of a cathedral, but it
+was characteristic of Swift.
+
+He became a physical and mental wreck in 1742 and died an imbecile from
+softening of the brain Oct. 9, 1745. His will, written before his mind
+gave way, was itself a satire, and appropriately left his slender
+fortune to found an insane asylum. The original copy may be seen in the
+public records office in a beautiful great building known as the Four
+Courts, the seat of the judiciary of Ireland, where the archives of the
+government are kept. The insane asylum is still used for that purpose
+and is known as St. Patrick's Hospital for Lunatics. It stands near the
+enormous brewery of the Guinness company. It was the first of the kind
+in Ireland, and was built when the insane were restrained by shackles,
+handcuffs, and iron bars, but more humane modern methods of treatment
+were introduced long ago and it is considered a model institution. The
+corridors are three hundred and forty-five feet long by fourteen feet
+wide, with little cells or bedrooms opening upon them. Swift's writing
+desk is preserved in the institution.
+
+His whimsicalities are illustrated in the cathedral more than anywhere
+else and among them is the "Schomberg epitaph," found in the north aisle
+to the left of the choir, chiseled in large letters upon a slab of
+marble. Duke Schomberg, who commanded the Protestant army of King
+William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne, and was killed toward the
+end of that engagement, July, 1690, was buried in St. Patrick's at the
+time of his death, but his grave remained unmarked. His bones were
+discovered, however, in 1736, during some repairs, while Swift was dean
+of the cathedral. In order that their ancestor's character and
+achievements might be properly recognized and called to the attention of
+posterity, Swift applied to the head of the Schomberg family for fifty
+pounds to pay the expense of a memorial, which they declined to
+contribute. Then Swift, whose indignation was excited, paid for the slab
+himself and punished them by recording upon it in Latin that the
+cathedral authorities, having entreated to no purpose the heirs of the
+great marshal to set up an appropriate memorial, this tablet had been
+erected that posterity might know where the great Schomberg lies.
+
+"The fame of his valor," he adds, "is much more appreciated by strangers
+than by his kinsmen."
+
+Upon the other farther side of the church, between the tombs of the
+Right Honorable Lady Elizabeth, Viscountess Donneraile, and Archbishop
+Whately, the gentleman who wrote the rhetoric we studied at college, is
+buried the body of an humble Irishman, who was Dean Swift's body servant
+for a generation. He was eccentric but loyal, and as witty as his
+master. One morning the dean, getting ready for a horseback ride,
+discovered that his boots had not been cleaned, and called to Sandy:
+
+"Why didn't you clean these boots?"
+
+"It hardly pays to do so, sir," responded Sandy, "they get muddy so soon
+again."
+
+"Put on your hat and coat and come with me to ride," said the dean.
+
+"I haven't had my breakfast," said Sandy.
+
+"There's no use in eating; you'll be hungry so soon again," retorted the
+dean, and Sandy had to follow him in a mad gallop into the suburbs of
+Dublin without a mouthful.
+
+When they were three or four miles away they met an old friend who asked
+them where they were going so early. Before the dean could answer, Sandy
+replied:
+
+"We're going to heaven, sir; the dean's praying and meself is fasting;
+both of us for our sins."
+
+The epitaph of Sandy in St. Patrick's Cathedral reads as follows:
+
+                         HERE LIES THE BODY OF
+                            ALEXANDER MAGEE,
+                       SERVANT TO DR. SWIFT, DEAN
+                      OF ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL,
+                                DUBLIN.
+
+    His Grateful Master Caused This Monument to Be Erected in Memory
+    of His Discretion, Fidelity and Diligence in That Humble Station.
+
+That long-suffering woman known as Stella, whose relations with Dean
+Swift have been discussed for a century and a half, and are still more
+or less of a mystery, was Mrs. Hester (sometimes spelled Esther)
+Johnson, a relative of Sir William Temple, whose private secretary
+Jonathan Swift, her inconstant and selfish lover, was for several years.
+Swift called her "Stella" because her name, "Hester," is the Persian for
+"star," and first met her while he was curate of a little village church
+at Laracor, where she lived with a Mrs. Dingley, a companion or
+chaperon, who seemed to be always by her side, whether she was in Dublin
+or London. From the beginning of their acquaintance she shared the inner
+life of Swift and exercised an extraordinary influence over him. When he
+left Laracor for London to become the private secretary of Sir William
+Temple their remarkable correspondence commenced, and he wrote her a
+daily record of his life, his thoughts, his whims, and his fancies.
+Those letters have been published under the title of "Swift's Journal to
+Stella," and the book has been described as "a giant's playfulness,
+written for one person's private pleasure, which has had indestructible
+attractiveness for every one since."
+
+She followed him to London and, when he became dean of St. Patrick's,
+returned with him to Dublin and lived near the deanery with Mrs. Dingley
+as her chaperon until her death. But Swift was not true to her. This
+eminent author and satirist, this merciless critic of the shortcomings
+of others, this doctor of divinity, this dean of the most prominent
+cathedral in Ireland, had numerous flirtations with other women, and
+Stella must have known of them, although there is no evidence that her
+loyal heart ever wavered in its devotion.
+
+In 1694 he fell desperately in love with a Miss Varing, but seems to
+have escaped without any damage to himself or his reputation, although
+we do not know what happened to her. A few years later he became
+involved in an entanglement with a Miss Van Homrigh, which ruined her
+life and effectually destroyed his peace of mind. The character of their
+acquaintance is shown by a series of poems which passed between them as
+her passion developed, and he allowed it to drift on uninterrupted from
+day to day, evidently giving her encouragement by tongue as well as pen.
+His poetical communications to her were signed "Cadenus," the Latin word
+for dean, and hers were signed "Vanessa," a combination of her Christian
+and surname.
+
+It was not a very dignified situation for the dean of St. Patrick's, and
+the flirtation caused a decided scandal in Dublin. It appears that
+Vanessa expected Swift to marry her and he undoubtedly gave her good
+reasons, while Mrs. Johnson was regarded as his mistress to the day of
+her death and bore the odium with uncomplaining resignation. Long after
+both of them were buried under the tiles of St. Patrick's Cathedral it
+was discovered that they had been secretly married in 1716, but why she
+consented to keep that fact a secret has never been explained except
+upon the theory that she was afraid of what Vanessa Van Homrigh might
+do. The latter, however, having lost her patience and becoming
+hysterical with jealousy, wrote to Stella, inquiring as to the real
+nature of her relations with Swift and demanding that she should
+relinquish her claims upon him. Stella replied promptly by sending
+Vanessa indisputable evidence that they had been married seven years
+before. Vanessa, who lived at Marley Abbey, Celbridge (now Hazelhatch
+Station), ten miles from Dublin, on the railway to Cork, sent Stella's
+letter to Swift and retired to the house of a friend in the country,
+where she died a few months later of a broken heart. Swift never
+replied; he never saw her or communicated with her after that day, and
+seems to have dismissed the affair with the same indifference that he
+always showed concerning the interests of other people.
+
+Five years later Stella died and was buried in the cathedral at midnight
+by Swift's orders, but he did not attend the funeral. She lived in the
+neighborhood of the deanery, and from one of its windows he witnessed
+the passage of the casket to the tomb. "This is the night of the
+funeral," he writes in his diary, "and I moved into another apartment
+that I may not see the light in the church, which is just over against
+the window of my bed chamber." He then sat down at his desk and
+described her devotion and her love for himself and her virtues in
+language of incomparable beauty. His tribute, written at that moment, is
+one of the most beautiful passages in English literature. He preserved a
+lock of her hair upon which he inscribed the words:
+
+"Only a woman's hair!"
+
+"Only a woman's hair!" comments Thackeray. "Only love, fidelity, purity,
+innocence, beauty; only the tenderest heart in the world, stricken and
+wounded, and pushed away out of the reach of joy with the pangs of hope
+deferred. Love insulted and pitiless desertion. Only that lock of hair
+left, and memory, and remorse for the guilty, lonely, selfish wretch,
+shuddering over the grave of his victim."
+
+Swift's extraordinary vanity is illustrated in the inscription he placed
+over Hester Johnson's grave and his selfishness by his neglect to
+vindicate her reputation by announcing their marriage. The mistress of a
+dean is not usually buried in a cathedral over which he presides, but no
+one has ever questioned the right of Stella's dust to be there. Her
+epitaph, which was written by his own pen, runs:
+
+"Underneath is interred the mortal remains of Mrs. Hester Johnson,
+better known to the world by the name of Stella, under which she was
+celebrated in the writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift, dean of this
+cathedral.
+
+"She was a person of extraordinary endowments and accomplishments in
+body, mind, and behavior; justly admired and respected by all who knew
+her on account of her many eminent virtues, as well as for her great
+natural and acquired perfections.
+
+"She died Jan. 27, 1727, in the forty-sixth year of her age, and by her
+will bequeathed £1,000 toward the support of the hospital founded in
+this city by Dr. Steevens."
+
+Although Swift did his best work after Stella's death, he was never
+himself again. He became sour, morose, and misanthropic. His soul burned
+itself out with remorse. The last four years of his life were
+inexpressibly sad, and the retribution he deserved came from inward
+rather than outward causes. He was harassed by periodical attacks of
+acute dementia, to which his wonderful brain gradually yielded, and
+before his death he became an utter imbecile. He seemed to anticipate
+and prepare himself for such a fate, because among his papers was found
+his will, in which he bequeathed his entire estate to found an asylum
+for just such creatures as he himself became. He prepared his own
+epitaph, which reads as follows:
+
+          "Hic Depositum est Corpus.
+          Jonathan Swift, S.T.P.
+          Hujus, ecclesiae cathedrae decani ubi saeva
+          Indignatio ulterius cor lacerare nequit.
+          Abi viator, et imitare, si poteris,
+          Strenuum pro virili libertatis vindiceim."
+
+A liberal translation reads: "Here is deposited the body of Jonathan
+Swift, dean of this cathedral, where cruel indignation can no longer
+lacerate the heart. Go, stranger, and imitate, if you can, his strenuous
+endeavors in defense of liberty."
+
+The vault in which the two bodies rest has been twice disturbed during
+repairs of the cathedral, in 1835, when casts of their skulls were
+taken, and in 1882, when a new floor was laid. It is now marked by a
+modest tablet of tiles near the south entrance to the cathedral. Upon a
+bracket near by is a bust of Swift contributed by Mr. Faulkner, the
+nephew and successor of his original publisher.
+
+Many anecdotes are told of Swift's peculiarities. He must have filled a
+large place in the life of Dublin during the thirty years that he was
+the dean of the cathedral. He was prominent in political, social, and
+ecclesiastical affairs during all that period and always welcome as a
+guest at the houses of the aristocracy in this neighborhood. In the
+suburb of Glasnevin was an estate called Hildeville, belonging to a
+generous but pretentious patron of the arts and sciences, named Dr.
+Delany, where the brilliant minds of that day used to gather for a good
+time. Swift is closely associated with the place and was one of Dr.
+Delany's most frequent and regular visitors. He called it "Hell-Devil,"
+and chose for its motto "Fastigia Despicet Urbis," in which the verb is
+used in a double sense.
+
+Many of his most stinging satires were written there, including his
+ferocious libel on the Irish parliament. A reward was offered for the
+discovery of the author, and although a hundred members of the commons
+knew that it was from Swift's pen, no attempt was ever made to punish
+him and he was never even denounced publicly. And he wasn't above
+ridiculing his host, for here is an extract from an ode addressed to Dr.
+Delany of "Hell-Devil," when he was the latter's guest:
+
+          "A razor, though to say 't I'm loath,
+          Might shave you and your meadow both,
+          A little rivulet seems to steal
+          Along a thing you call a vale,
+          Like tears adown a wrinkled cheek,
+          Like rain along a blade of leek--
+          And this you call your sweet meander,
+          Which might be sucked up by a gander,
+          Could he but force his rustling bill
+          To scoop the channel of the rill.
+          In short, in all your boasted seat,
+          There's nothing but yourself is--great."
+
+"Is it singin' yees want?" said the verger of Christ Church Cathedral,
+Dublin, when we entered that ancient sanctuary shortly before the hour
+for worship on a gloomy, drizzly Sabbath morning. "Then yees have come
+to the roight place. The choir of Christ Church is the finest in all
+Ireland, and mebbe in the whole wurrld, I dunno. Thay's twinty-four
+b'ys and min, and every mother's son iv thim is from the first families
+of Dooblin. The lads has been singin' frum their cradles, and they make
+the swatest music that ears ever heard; blessed be the Lord! Not as if
+they had no mischief in thim, for b'ys will be b'ys, singin' or no
+singin'; and thim that has the medals hangin' on their chists is the
+best behaved and the least mischaveous."
+
+We remained after the service to look about, and when the verger asked
+what I thought of the sermon I told him.
+
+"It's not of much consequence!" observed the cynic. And when I told him
+that the singing wasn't much better than the preaching, and that the
+boys sang out of tune, he replied apologetically:
+
+"I hope your honor won't think the liss of thim for that; they're all
+honest, well-meaning lads, an' what harm is it at all, at all, if they
+do sing out of chune betimes?"
+
+Christ Church is one of the oldest structures in Ireland, was originally
+erected in 1038 by the Danish king Sigtryg, "Of the Silken Beard," and
+in 1152 was made the seat of the archbishop of Dublin. In 1172
+Strongbow, the Welch Earl of Pembroke, leader of the Norman invasion,
+swept away the original building to make room for the present edifice,
+which was fifty years in building. The present nave, transepts, and
+crypt are those that Strongbow erected, having been thoroughly repaired
+and restored by Henry Roe, a wealthy distiller, at a cost of £220,000,
+between 1870 and 1878. In 1178 Strongbow died of a malignant ulcer of
+the foot, which his enemies attributed to the vengeance of the early
+Irish saints whose shrines he had violated, and he is buried within the
+church he built. His black marble tomb is on the south side, with a
+recumbent effigy in chain armor lying upon the sarcophagus. A smaller
+effigy in black marble, representing the upper half of a human form,
+lies beside him and is said to mark the tomb of Strongbow's son, whom
+his father literally cut in half with his mighty sword for showing
+cowardice in battle. Sir Henry Sidney, who discussed the question at
+length in 1571, declares that there is no doubt that the remains of
+Strongbow were deposited here, but there is another tomb, with a similar
+effigy of one-half of his son lying beside it, in an ancient church at
+Waterford, where Strongbow dwelt in a castle and made his headquarters.
+The claims of the Waterford tomb are considered much stronger than those
+of Christ Church in Dublin, because that was where he died and where his
+wife and family lived after him.
+
+[Illustration: THE TOMB OF STRONGBOW, CHRIST CHURCH, DUBLIN]
+
+The interior of the church has many points of beauty, especially the
+splendid stone work of the nave and aisles and the graceful arches
+which, although very massive, are chiseled with such delicacy that their
+heaviness does not appear. The floor is covered with modern tiles which
+are exact copies of the originals, and in the restoration of the
+building the architect has shown similar conscientiousness in all his
+work. The great age of the stone gives it a rich and mellow tone, and
+although here and there one may come across evidences of decay or
+damage, it is in better condition than most of the modern churches of
+Ireland.
+
+Across the street and connected by a bridge with the cathedral is the
+Synod Hall, the headquarters of the general synod, which has control of
+the affairs of the Episcopal Church of Ireland since it was separated
+from the Church of England and made independent of the state by an act
+of parliament July 26, 1869. This was called "The Disestablishment"--a
+long and awkward word--but such words are common in English and Irish
+official literature. It is often difficult for an American to understand
+the meaning of the terms used in acts of parliament and reports of the
+officials of the government.
+
+
+
+
+                                  III
+
+                        HOW IRELAND IS GOVERNED
+
+
+Ireland is nominally governed by a lord lieutenant or viceroy of the
+king, who, since December, 1905, and at present, is John Campbell
+Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen. He occupied the same position in the '90's,
+and has since been governor-general of Canada. Both Lord and Lady
+Aberdeen are well known in the United States, where Lady Aberdeen has
+taken an active interest in the work of the Women's Christian Temperance
+Union and many benevolent enterprises and social reforms. She will be
+particularly remembered as the promoter of the Irish village at the
+Chicago Exposition in 1893, and for her successful endeavors to
+introduce Irish homespun, lace, linen, and other products, and to make
+them fashionable among the American people. She is a woman of great
+energy, executive ability, and determination, and has been applying
+those qualities very effectively in Ireland in local reforms. She has
+organized societies of women throughout the island to encourage the
+virtues and restrain the vices of the people, to relieve their distress
+and advance their welfare, physically, mentally, and morally, by a dozen
+different movements of which she is the leader and director. She started
+a crusade against the great white plague, brought Dr. Arthur Green from
+New York as an organizer, while Nathan Straus of New York has been
+co-operating with her in setting up establishments for the sterilization
+of the milk sold in Irish cities. She is president of almost everything,
+has a dozen secretaries and agents carrying out her orders, and is
+altogether the busiest woman in the United Kingdom.
+
+[Illustration: THE EARL OF ABERDEEN, LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND IN
+               1906-8]
+
+The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland has very little to do except to open
+fairs, lay corner stones, preside at public meetings, give dinners,
+and look pleasant. He is nominally the head of everything as the
+representative of his sovereign, the king, and is supposed to rule
+Ireland in his majesty's name, but, like the Governor-General of Canada,
+the office is a sinecure. Its incumbent is allowed a salary of $100,000,
+a castle in the city, and a country lodge in Ph[oe]nix Park, a liberal
+allowance to maintain them and to expend in hospitality, a staff of
+secretaries and aids-de-camp, a full outfit of servants, and various
+other perquisites which would be appreciated by our President and all
+others in authority. And all this without any responsibilities, except
+to be tactful, amiable, and diplomatic, and to make friends with the
+people.
+
+The actual ruler of Ireland is the Chief Secretary to the lord
+lieutenant, who is a member of the cabinet of the king, and spends most
+of his time in London, where he devises and directs the political policy
+of the government toward that distracted but improving portion of his
+majesty's empire, looks after legislation in parliament, and attends to
+whatever is necessary for the good of the island. He is the Right Hon.
+Augustine Birrell, who is carrying out the lines of policy inaugurated
+by Mr. Bryce at the incoming of the present liberal government. The
+chief secretary is expected to spend a portion of each year in Ireland,
+so that he can keep in touch with affairs and get his cues from public
+opinion. He has a salary of $35,000 and a residence, fully equipped and
+appointed, near that of the lord lieutenant in Phoenix Park.
+
+The man on the ground, the general manager of the government, and the
+_de facto_ head of the executive administration, is known as the Under
+Secretary, who also has a handsome residence in Phoenix Park and all
+worldly comforts provided for him. He presides at the ancient castle in
+the center of the city of Dublin, surrounded by a staff of subordinates
+and clerks, and supervises the work of the several executive
+departments, most of them being scattered in rented quarters in
+different parts of the city. The government has long ago outgrown the
+castle and has appointed many officials and boards of commissioners and
+organized new executive departments without erecting buildings to
+accommodate them. Sir Antony Patrick MacDonnell, who resigned the office
+of under secretary, and was elevated to the peerage as Lord MacDonnell
+upon his retirement, is an Irishman who has spent his entire life in the
+service of his king, the greater part of it in India, where he was
+governor of four different provinces in succession and showed remarkable
+administrative ability. Retiring voluntarily, he came home to Ireland
+and was soon appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of under
+secretary, where he was very active, very positive in his convictions,
+and very determined in his methods. He made numerous recommendations
+that have not been adopted, and attempted to carry out a policy that was
+not acceptable to the politicians of Ireland, who rejected his plans for
+self-government and refused his overtures.
+
+[Illustration: THE COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN]
+
+Sir Antony MacDonnell was the author of what is called the "devolution
+policy." That's a big word and has little meaning in America, but in
+Ireland it is in common use and full of significance; first being
+applied to a certain political project in Ireland by Lord Dunraven in
+1904. If you will look in the dictionary you will see that "devolution"
+means "the act of devolving, transferring, or handing over; transmission
+from one person to another; a passing or falling to a successor, as of
+office, authority, or real estate." In its application to the Irish
+situation devolution means the devolving upon the Irish people of purely
+local affairs, to transfer their management from the British government
+with a string tied to them, and that is what the Irish political leaders
+will not consent to. Their motto is _aut_ home rule, _aut nullus_. With
+the co-operation of the Earl of Dunraven and others, Sir Antony
+MacDonnell prepared a plan of limited home rule in 1907. It gave the
+government of Ireland entirely into the hands of the people with the
+exception of the police, the courts, and the lawmaking power, which were
+retained under British control. The proposition was discussed by the
+largest convention ever held in the country and was unanimously rejected
+on the theory that it did not go far enough. The Irish people will
+never be satisfied until they are permitted to make their own laws.
+There were many grounds of objection from the Roman Catholic
+ecclesiastical authorities and others, who declare that Sir Antony's
+plan of government, which was based upon his experience in India, could
+not be applied successfully to conditions in Ireland. Sir Antony is a
+very positive man, and when his solution of the Irish problem, to which
+he had given years of thought and study, was rejected, he concluded that
+he was not the man to rule that country and sent in his resignation,
+which was accepted with great reluctance by the government and with
+sincere regret by a majority of the people, who admire his ability and
+have confidence in his integrity and intentions.
+
+His successor is Sir John Dougherty, his chief assistant, who has been
+in the office of the under secretary in Dublin Castle all his life, and
+has been promoted grade after grade from an ordinary clerkship to his
+present position because of his ability and his sterling qualities.
+Although he is not a man of marked individuality and initiative, like
+Sir Antony MacDonnell, he is considered a safe, conservative, and
+judicious administrator.
+
+The next in importance, who, perhaps, should be ranked first of all, is
+a mysterious and autocratic official, known as the Treasury
+Remembrancer. He was described to me as "a lord over all, and the best
+hated man in Ireland. Nobody knows him or cares to know him. His fellow
+officials seldom hear or speak his name. He is a spy and a spotter and
+has arbitrary authority to disallow accounts, withhold allowances, and
+lock up the money chest whenever he likes. There is no statute
+authorizing his appointment, and there is no law or regulation defining
+his duties or limiting his authority, which he receives from the
+chancellor of the exchequer in London and to whom alone he reports." The
+office pays $7,500 a year without any known perquisites, although the
+remembrancer is supposed to have mysterious sources of revenue that have
+never been found out. He cannot, however, spend the money of the crown.
+His authority is limited to preventing expenditures. He is "the
+watchdog of the treasury" in Ireland, and combines in one the duties and
+powers which are intrusted to the comptroller and auditors of the
+treasury in the United States. He interprets appropriation bills,
+customs laws, and decides how much money can be expended for this
+purpose and that. He audits all accounts, rejects many, disallows
+overcharges, and makes everybody who has to do with government finances
+a great deal of trouble. Hence his unpopularity and his habitual
+reserve.
+
+In addition to these chief officials there are numerous secretaries and
+assistant secretaries, commissioners and boards of various
+jurisdictions, and executive departments, with corps of clerks similar
+to those in Washington. Each has its functions over some branch of the
+administration and all are subject to the supervision of the under
+secretary and the chief secretary in London. Their commissions are
+signed by the lord lieutenant, who knows nothing about them, has no
+authority over them, and acts only in a formal capacity, as the
+representative of the king. There is a great deal of complaint as to the
+excessive number of "civil servants," as they call them over there,
+although such a term would be resented by the employees of the civil
+service in the United States. All railway officials are called
+"servants" in Great Britain. Every salaried person comes within that
+designation. Any one who will look over the printed register of
+government employees in Ireland will conclude that home rule has already
+been adopted, because the treasury remembrancer is said to be the only
+Englishman on the pay roll, except the lord lieutenant, several of his
+secretaries, and the military officers at the garrison, and several
+Scotch experts in the employ of the Agricultural Department and
+Congested Districts Board. But what spoils it all to the people of
+Ireland is that these officials receive their appointments from what
+they consider an alien authority. The touch of the English giver poisons
+the gift. They will never be satisfied until their commissions are
+signed by an Irish name. Nobody in the employ of the government is
+loyal. Every man hates and loathes England, and doesn't hesitate to say
+so in public and in private, on all occasions, although he draws his
+rations from the British government. And when you remind him of that he
+answers promptly that the money comes from the pockets of the Irish
+rate-payers and England grabs £3,000,000 of it for herself.
+
+Ireland contributes an annual average of £10,500,000 in taxes to the
+imperial treasury and £7,500,000 of it is expended in maintaining her
+government and constructing her public works. The remaining three
+millions is her contribution toward the support of the British empire,
+the wages of the king, the expenses of parliament, the support of the
+army and navy, and the interest upon the public debt, which is not kept
+separately for Ireland, and for various other purposes.
+
+Ireland has twenty-three peers in the House of Lords and one hundred and
+two representatives in the House of Commons, of whom eighty-two are
+nationalists or home rulers. The remaining twenty are conservatives,
+unionists, and anti-home rulers, who believe in maintaining the present
+system of government and the existing relations between Great Britain
+and Ireland. The Irish members of parliament have been a thorn in the
+flesh of John Bull for many years, ever since Daniel O'Connell was
+admitted to the imperial legislature in 1829. They have fought fiercely
+for concessions term after term, have built fires in the rear of the
+government and have attacked it upon all sides until they have
+accomplished a great many reforms and are near to the point of achieving
+final success. If the liberal party wins at the next election every
+patriotic Irishman expects political emancipation, because its leaders
+are pledged to complete home rule on the same basis that Mr. Gladstone
+proposed several years ago, when he was prime minister.
+
+The Irish peerage, like that of Scotland, are not entitled to all the
+rights and prerogatives enjoyed by the British peerage, and have only
+twenty-eight seats in the House of Lords. The total peerage of Ireland
+consists of two dukes, ten marquises, sixty-three earls, thirty-six
+viscounts, and sixty-four barons, a total of one hundred and
+seventy-five nobles, of whom seventeen also have titles in the English
+peerage, nearly all by inheritance.
+
+The Irish peerage are represented in the House of Lords by twenty-eight
+of their members who are elected for life. As soon as one of these
+representative peers dies two or more of his colleagues notify the lord
+high chancellor of England of the vacancy. The latter thereupon issues a
+writ in the name of the king under the great seal proclaiming an
+election. Copies of this writ are served upon every Irish peer through
+the clerk of the crown at Dublin naming a date for an election. Each of
+the one hundred and seventy-five Irish peers has a vote, but they never
+assemble. They merely write to the clerk of the crown at Dublin, naming
+their choice, and forward a duplicate of the letter to the clerk of the
+House of Lords at London.
+
+Scotland has only sixteen representative peers, who are elected by an
+assemblage at Holyrood Palace at Edinburgh when notified of a vacancy.
+There is considerable formality in the proceedings, and every peer is
+required to present himself to answer the roll call before he is allowed
+to vote. There is a good deal of preliminary canvassing in both Scotland
+and Ireland, and that was particularly the case of Lord Curzon of
+Kedleston, who was elected to the House of Lords as an Irish peer after
+his return from India. The candidates for the vacancy usually visit
+their fellow peers personally and solicit their support. Social
+influences go a great way. Lord Curzon was handicapped in many respects,
+but was elected by a large majority because of the high esteem in which
+he is held.
+
+When the ballots are all in the clerk of the crown at Dublin makes up a
+tabulated statement which he sends with his report to the clerk of the
+House of Lords. The latter checks it off from his own records and
+announces the result to the lord high chancellor and to each of the
+Irish peers in person.
+
+The representative peers at present are the Earls of Annesley, Bandon,
+Belmore, Darnley, Drogheda, Kilmory, Lucan, Mayo, Rosse, and Westmeath,
+Viscounts Bangor and Templeton, and Barons Bellew, Castlemaine,
+Clonbrock, Crofton, Curzon, Dunalley, Dunboine, Headley, Inchiquin,
+Kilmaine, Langford, Massey, Musckerry, Oranmore, Rathdonnell, and
+Ventry.
+
+The premier of the Irish peerage is Maurice Fitzgerald, who is the Duke
+of Leinster and also is Marquis of Kildare, and represents the most
+distinguished and celebrated family in Ireland. His dukedom dates back
+to 1766. The second in rank is the Duke of Abercorn, James Hamilton, who
+is also Marquis of Hamilton. The third is James Edward William Theobold,
+twenty-seventh Marquis of Ormonde, and the fourth is Rudolph Robert
+Basil Aloysius Augustine Fielding, Earl of Desmond, who is also Earl of
+Denbigh.
+
+The oldest titles in the Irish peerage are the following:
+
+          Baron Kinsale, created 1223.
+          Lord Dunsany, created 1439.
+          Lord Timlestown, created 1461.
+          Viscount Gormanston, created 1478.
+          Baron Louth, created 1541.
+          Lord Dumboine, created 1541.
+          Baron Inchiquin, created 1543.
+          Viscount Montgarrett, created 1550.
+          The Earl of Fingal, created 1620.
+          Viscount Grandison, created 1620.
+          Earl of Cork, created 1620.
+          Baron Digby, created 1620.
+          Earl of Westmeath, created 1621.
+          Earl of Desmond, created 1622.
+          Lord Dillon, created 1622.
+          Viscount Valentia, created 1622.
+          Earl of Meath, created 1627.
+          Baron Sherard, created 1627.
+          Viscount Lumley, created 1628.
+          Viscount Taffe, created 1628.
+
+All the remaining peerages of Ireland were created later than the year
+1700.
+
+The people as a rule are respectful towards the nobility, and treat them
+with a consideration which is not always deserved. The bitterness of
+politics is more intense in Ireland than in any other country, and, as
+Sydney Brooks in his recent book on "Ireland in the Twentieth Century"
+says, "Class distinctions are not mitigated by political agreement.
+Differences of creed are not assuaged by harmony of economic interests.
+The cleavages of racial temperament are not, as in other countries,
+bridged over by a sense of national unity. On the contrary, all the
+bitterness of caste and creed, of political and material antipathies and
+contrast, instead of losing half their viciousness in a multiplicity of
+cross-currents, are gathered and rigidly compressed in Ireland into two
+incongruous channels. Throughout the country you can infer a man's
+religion from his social position; his social position from his
+religion, and his views on all Irish questions from both; and nine times
+out of ten you infer rightly."
+
+That is strictly true. Nowhere in the world is a man's politics so
+influenced by his religion and his social position as in Ireland.
+Although you will find home rulers in all classes of the English
+population, you will never find them outside one class in Ireland. If
+you are told what business he is engaged in or what church he belongs to
+in Ireland, it is not necessary for you to ask his politics.
+
+While the ancient nobility of Ireland is gradually becoming extinct and
+their estates are being divided up among the farmers who till them, a
+new aristocracy is developing. The sons of what is called the middle
+class are invading the sacred haunts of the ancient aristocracy and are
+taking the places of the dukes and earls as the latter retire. Every
+peer that has been created in Ireland of late years has been a son of a
+manufacturer, a tradesman, or a country gentleman of the middle class,
+and at the present rate the descendants of earls and marquises will be
+compelled to stand back and give the sons of brewers, distillers, and
+other manufacturers their places at the front of the stage.
+
+A century or even half a century ago no Irish trader or contractor,
+lawyer or doctor, unless he could produce the proper sort of pedigree,
+could enter the social world or the best clubs of Dublin and other
+Irish cities or participate in the sports of the gentry and aristocracy.
+But to-day their grandsons have the entrée to that gilded gate which
+hangs upon broken hinges and will soon be entirely removed. This is the
+result of the decadence of one class and the advance of another. A
+brewer or a distiller who can obtain a seat in the House of Lords must
+necessarily be eligible to the clubs where his colleagues meet. Nearly
+all of the twenty-three peers created by the present government in
+England have sprung from families of humble origin and are sons of men
+who made their money in manufacturing and trade. And there is room for
+more of them in the peerage. You hear irreverent people talking about
+"breeding up the peerage of Great Britain," just as they talk about
+improving their cattle, horses, and swine, and in the clubs of London
+this subject is revived every time the son of a decaying family of the
+nobility marries the daughter of a wealthy tradesman, or the daughter of
+an earl weds the son of a wealthy commoner.
+
+In Ireland the shopkeeper now educates his son for a profession. The
+sons of contractors become architects and civil engineers. The sons of
+lawyers and doctors enter the army and navy and diplomatic service.
+Among the large families of the middle class you will find one son a
+lawyer, another a doctor, and the other two in the army and navy. In
+order to keep pace with them and be able to appear properly in the
+society which their brothers enter, and in order that they may be
+considered suitable wives for the sons of similar families who are on
+the upward grade, the daughters of the middle classes of Ireland are
+sent to the best schools and colleges and spend their winters in Paris.
+
+For these reasons very little is said about pedigree in Ireland these
+days. The army that is advancing does not look back. The decaying
+nobility dare not question nor criticise lest they may be trampled upon.
+The only people who talk about their ancestors are the peasants, who
+trace their descent from the Irish kings.
+
+Mrs. O'Leary met Mrs. O'Donahue one day and in the course of
+conversation asked if she had ever looked up her pedigree.
+
+"Phwat's that?" inquired Mrs. O'Donahue.
+
+"The people you sprang from," was the reply.
+
+"I'd have you know that the O'Donahues never sprang from anybody," was
+the indignant retort. "They sprang at 'em."
+
+Every influential leader of the liberal party is a home ruler. The Earl
+of Aberdeen, the present lieutenant governor, Earl Dudley, his
+predecessor, who is now governor-general of Australia, James Bryce,
+recently chief secretary for Ireland and now British ambassador at
+Washington, and many other influential men in high places, are earnest
+in supporting the Irish claims for self-government, and the national
+party, which, after the death of Charles S. Parnell, became demoralized
+and split into factions under the leadership of John Redmond, John
+Dillon, and others, has been a unit since 1900 and is working
+harmoniously. The liberal leaders have promised to make home rule the
+leading issue at the next parliamentary election, which will probably
+occur in two years or so. In the meantime the Irish party in parliament
+will continue to pursue the policy that has already been so successful
+in securing concessions for the relief of the people and the promotion
+of the welfare and prosperity of Ireland.
+
+The city government of Dublin is very much like that of London. The lord
+mayor is second in official rank to the lord lieutenant, and within the
+precincts of the city takes precedence of everybody except that official
+(who is the personal representative of the king), the royal family, and
+foreign ambassadors. He precedes the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is
+the primate of England, the two archbishops of Armagh, the primates of
+all Ireland, the Archbishop of Dublin, the chief secretary for Ireland,
+and even the prime minister of England, while the lady mayoress has the
+right to walk before every duchess, marchioness, and woman of title in
+the kingdom except the royal family. The salary of the lord mayor is
+$15,000 a year, and he has a beautiful old house to live in--one of the
+most attractive in Dublin. It is situated on Dawson Street near
+Stephen's Green and is surrounded by a picturesque garden. Here in olden
+times the lord mayor used to entertain like a prince. It was a matter of
+pride that the Mansion House should never be outdone by the castle in
+the magnificence of its hospitality. But of late years the civic
+entertainments, as they were called, have been abandoned and the lady
+mayoress has not attempted to shine in society.
+
+The Right Honorable Gerald O'Reilly was Lord Mayor of Dublin when I was
+there in 1908, and he managed to look after his private business as
+grocer and liquor dealer at Towns End in connection with his official
+duties. He was elected to office by the nationalists and the labor
+element, who control the politics not only of Dublin but of all Ireland,
+and have elected his predecessors for many years. And they have been men
+of the people without exception. No aristocrat, no landlord, no member
+of the nobility could ever hope to become Lord Mayor of Dublin.
+
+Mr. O'Reilly was born, reared, and educated in County Carlow, where his
+father was a groceryman and liquor dealer like himself. When he became
+of age he came up to Dublin, went into business on his own account and
+prospered. He is not a rich man, but well to do, with a good patronage,
+a good reputation, and a large influence in politics. For twenty years
+he has served as a member of the common council and the board of
+aldermen, where he has proved his usefulness and his right to promotion.
+Mr. O'Reilly's predecessor was an actual workingman, G.P. Nanetti, a son
+of an Italian artist who came to Ireland fifty years ago to engage in
+his profession as a decorator. Mr. Nanetti was born in Dublin, educated
+in the national schools, learned his trade as printer in the office of
+that ancient and well-known paper, the _Freeman's Journal_, and was
+advanced from grade to grade until he became the foreman of the
+composing-room. In the meantime he went into politics, became a leader
+among the workingmen, was elected to the common council and then to the
+board of aldermen, and, after serving two terms as lord mayor, was
+elected to parliament as the representative of the business district of
+Dublin, which surrounds the Bank of Ireland and Trinity College. Before
+him Timothy Harrington was lord mayor for three terms, a longer period
+than any of his predecessors since the creation of the title by King
+Charles I. on the twenty-ninth day of July, 1641. He, too, was a great
+success in the office and was sent to parliament for the district which
+includes the docks.
+
+The Mansion House is well adapted for entertainment. The main room is a
+large circular chamber, adorned with statuary, which was built
+especially for the reception of George IV. when he visited Ireland. The
+Oak Room is entirely sheathed, floor, ceiling, and walls, with a rich
+reddish brown oak, delicately carved. Over the fireplace is a rack for
+the reception of the mace and sword which are the symbols of office, and
+formerly, when the lord mayor went about on official occasions, they
+were carried before him, but Mr. O'Reilly and his recent predecessors
+have abolished many of those interesting old ceremonies.
+
+There are some fine pictures in the Mansion House, portraits of Charles
+II. by Sir Peter Lely, George IV. by Sir Thomas Lawrence, the Earl of
+Northumberland by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and the Earl of Westmorland by
+Romney. In the entrance hall are preserved the mace and sword carried by
+the lord mayor who fought for James II. at the battle of the Boyne. When
+he fled with the rest of James's forces he dropped the heavy insignia,
+which fell into the hands of the Williamites and were retained by them
+until a duplicate set had been furnished, many years after.
+
+Many famous men have been entertained at the Mansion House, including
+General Grant, who visited Dublin during the holidays of 1878; Capt.
+Edward E. Potter, commander of the United States man-of-war
+_Constellation_, which brought a cargo of food to the starving people of
+Ireland in 1880; the Hon. Patrick A. Collins, while he was Mayor of
+Boston, who, by the way, is recorded as a senator from Massachusetts, a
+distinction he never attained. The Hon. Richard Croker, formerly of New
+York, received the freedom of the city of Dublin several years ago, and
+has been a frequent guest at the Mansion House, although he moves about
+very modestly and puts on no airs.
+
+The Lord Mayor of Dublin is elected annually on the 23d of December by
+the aldermen and councilmen and must be one of their number. He has a
+deputy who exercises authority during his illness or absence. There are
+fifteen aldermen and forty-five members of the council, whose authority
+and powers are very much the same as in our cities at home.
+
+The headquarters of the mayor are in the City Hall, which was formerly
+the Royal Exchange, where merchants met daily to make bargains and sign
+contracts. It was used as a prison during the rebellion of '98, and has
+had other experiences. As you enter the building through the vestibule
+you pass into a large circular room, with a dome sustained by many
+columns, which was formerly the trading place, but is now the anteroom
+to the mayor's office and is usually filled with politicians and place
+hunters, which are quite as numerous in Ireland as they are anywhere
+else.
+
+The name of the capital of Ireland is a compound of two Gaelic words,
+Dubh-Linn, which signify "the black pool," and was bestowed upon it more
+than two thousand years ago. There is a complete history of the city
+since the year 150 A.D., when a warlike king called "Conn of a Hundred
+Battles," who had long been the overlord of all Ireland, was defeated by
+his rival, "Mogh of Munster," and compelled to consent to a division of
+territory, the line being drawn from High Street, Dublin, across to the
+Atlantic Ocean near Galway. Three centuries later St. Patrick stopped on
+his way from Wicklow to his home at Armagh. The people complained to him
+of the bad quality of the water they were obliged to drink and he
+relieved them by causing a miraculous fountain to spring up near the
+site of the present cathedral that bears his name. In 1152 Dublin became
+the seat of an archbishopric by a decree of the pope and, shortly after
+the landing of Henry II., became the seat of the English government. In
+1210 King John visited Ireland again and conferred many privileges upon
+the city. In 1394 King Richard came over with an army of thirty-four
+thousand and lived in great splendor in Dublin. All of the Irish
+chieftains submitted to his conciliatory policy. The great O'Neill, King
+of Ulster; MacMurrough, King of Leinster; O'Brien of Munster, and
+O'Connor of Connaught, the four kings of Ireland, were knighted and
+promised allegiance, but no sooner had Richard returned to England than
+the country was again in confusion.
+
+In 1409 the "pale" (or inclosure) of Ireland was established, with the
+city of Dublin as its capital, a narrow strip of land thirty miles long
+by twenty wide, which alone was under English control and whose
+inhabitants alone in all Ireland could be relied upon to respect the
+royal commands. Dublin has been besieged, invaded by pirates, has been
+swept with plague and pestilence, and has been fought over by rival
+princes, but has kept growing, and in Queen Elizabeth's time reached
+such commercial importance that it was necessary to erect a custom-house
+and a lighthouse to show the channel to those who went down to the sea
+in ships. The people were famous for their wealth and fashion. An
+official band of musicians played three times a week through the chief
+streets, there was a city physician, a fire department, an attempt at
+sanitation and waterworks were introduced, each citizen being allowed as
+much water daily as would flow through a quill.
+
+In 1661 the people of Dublin spent $150,000, which was an enormous sum
+in those days, to celebrate the restoration, with banquets, fireworks, a
+pageant, and various other evidences of rejoicing. And the king, as an
+acknowledgment, sent the mayor a gold chain and conferred upon him the
+title of "The Right Honorable, the Lord Mayor of Dublin." Under the
+administration of Ormonde, Dublin expanded on all sides, and has since
+been growing, although from time to time there have been periods of
+distress and disorder.
+
+[Illustration: THE FOUR COURTS, DUBLIN]
+
+Gradually, however, matters settled down into civilization and order.
+Courts were established, and an imposing building called "The Four
+Courts" was erected to accommodate the four divisions of the
+judiciary,--chancery, king's bench, exchequer, and common pleas. In
+early times each term of court was opened by a religious service, when
+the choir of Christ Church would sing an anthem and the dean would offer
+prayer. One of the boundaries of the Four Courts was a dark, narrow
+passage, which a wit, struck with its gloom, nicknamed "Hell," and
+carried out his idea by erecting at the entrance a fantastic figure
+supposed to represent the evil one. A Dublin newspaper of that date
+contains an advertisement reading as follows:
+
+"Lodgings to let in Hell, suitable for a lawyer."
+
+You will remember Burns's line: "As sure 's the deil 's in hell, or
+Dublin city."
+
+Dublin now has 300,000 population, and, although it is not so
+enterprising as Belfast, is one of the few cities in Ireland that shows
+growth. The population is divided as follows: Roman Catholic, 237,645;
+Church of Ireland, Episcopal, 41,663; Presbyterian, 4,074; Methodist,
+2,342.
+
+The means of grace are greater than the hope of glory. Promises of
+salvation are offered from fully eighty churches, as follows:
+
+          Church of Ireland                20
+          Church of Ireland (chapels)      20
+          Roman Catholic                    9
+          Roman Catholic (chapels)          6
+          Presbyterian                      8
+          Wesleyan                          8
+          Primitive Methodists              2
+          Independent                       3
+          Friends' meeting-houses           2
+          Unitarian                         1
+          Baptist                           1
+
+The "disestablishment" of the Church of Ireland, by which is meant the
+separation of the Protestant Episcopal denomination from the government,
+occurred in 1869 under the leadership of Mr. Gladstone as the price of
+peace and the termination of the rebellion in Ireland. It was demanded
+by the Roman Catholic bishops, who saw the injustice of compelling
+people of all denominations, without discrimination, to pay taxes to
+support an official church and the propaganda of a faith which they did
+not profess. So that branch of the Established Church of England which
+was found across St. George's Channel was forcibly divorced and given
+alimony amounting to £8,080,000, or about $39,000,000 in American money.
+This represented a commutation in advance of the stipends to which the
+clergy of that church were entitled under the ecclesiastical laws for a
+term of fourteen years, as well as a vast amount of real estate and
+other property which belonged to the Established Church and was
+transferred to the new organization represented by a commission
+appointed for that purpose. At the same time the Presbyterian church of
+Ireland received £750,000, the Roman Catholic College of St. Patrick at
+Maynooth, £3,372,331, the board of intermediate education for school
+purposes, £1,000,000, the pension fund for teachers in Ireland,
+£1,127,150 and the Congested Districts Board, £1,500,000. Since that
+time these funds have increased in value considerably, and the incomes
+from them are devoted to the purposes named. They were paid in lieu of
+the annual contributions from the Established Church which had been
+enjoyed for many years and were capitalized on the basis of fourteen
+years' income; that is, the government in order to satisfy everybody
+advanced in lump sums what it would have given in annual installments
+for the next fourteen years if the "disestablishment act" had not been
+passed.
+
+The general synod which controls the affairs of the Episcopal Church of
+Ireland is composed of the two archbishops, the bishops, the deans, and
+canons of cathedrals, and archdeacons of diocese. The property of the
+church has advanced in value until it is now estimated at more than
+£12,000,000, or $60,000,000, and the income is now more than $2,000,000
+a year, which is very large in proportion to its numbers.
+
+          Total population of Ireland (1901)      4,386,035
+          Roman Catholic                          3,308,661
+          Church of Ireland                         581,080
+          Presbyterian                              443,494
+          Methodist                                  61,255
+
+These are the figures furnished by the different church organizations,
+but you will notice they exceed the total population by the latest
+census and therefore are only approximately correct.
+
+At the time of the disestablishment in 1889 the adherents of the Church
+of Ireland numbered 693,347, which is a decrease of 112,258 since that
+time. This corresponds very accurately with the general decrease of the
+population of the island.
+
+There are now 1,628 churches and chapels belonging to the Church of
+Ireland, which is an average of one for every 350 people, and from my
+short experience I should say that the members of the church were very
+negligent in attending worship.
+
+The Roman Catholic church is the largest, the most prosperous, the most
+energetic, and has greater vitality than any other denomination, and is
+involved in all the politics and secular affairs as well as the
+ecclesiastical administration of the country, which is perfectly
+natural, because 74 per cent of the entire population belong to that
+denomination, and the number as reported--3,308,661--are divided among
+1,084 parishes with 2,350 houses of worship, churches, and chapels.
+
+The constant stream of emigration which flows from Ireland to the United
+States, Canada, Australia, and other more progressive and prosperous
+countries comes chiefly from the Roman Catholic church, which lost
+238,646 members, or 6.7 per cent of its numbers, between the last two
+official censuses of the country. The Church of Ireland lost 3.2 per
+cent from a total of 13 per cent, the Presbyterians 0.4, while the
+Methodists increased 11.7 per cent, the Jews increased 119 per cent, and
+other religious persuasions 9.1 per cent.
+
+But it is strange to say that the numbers of priests and monks and nuns
+are increasing every year, while the number of parishioners is falling
+off. In 1851, when the island had twice its present population, there
+were 2,291 priests in Ireland; in 1901 there were 3,157, of whom 4 were
+archbishops, 27 bishops, 392 monks, and the remainder parish priests,
+including chaplains and professors in educational institutions. The
+total of priests increased 307 during the last ten years. There are many
+monasteries, nunneries, and other monastic and educational houses in
+Ireland--93 for men and 242 for women.
+
+The Presbyterians are third in numerical strength, wealth, and
+influence, and are found mostly in the northern part of the country. The
+membership represents the manufacturing, mercantile, and commercial
+classes, while the Church of Ireland represents the landowners, the
+government officials, the aristocracy, nobility, and the gentry. The
+Presbyterians have a higher average of wealth than any other
+denomination. Their contributions to benevolent purposes in 1907 were
+$1,040,000, which is very large for a population of 443,494 and 106,000
+communicants. There were 96,000 children on the roll of the Presbyterian
+Sunday schools in 567 churches, which are distributed among 36
+presbyteries and 5 synods. The minutes of the recent general assembly
+show 650 clergymen of that faith.
+
+The Methodists are active and energetic, and ever since John Wesley
+appeared in Ireland in August, 1747, they have been strong in the faith.
+They are mostly in the cities among the middle classes, and the latest
+returns show 250 churches, 248 ministers and evangelists, 358 Sunday
+schools, and 26,000 scholars, for a total population of 61,255.
+
+There are several other denominational organizations. Friends'
+meeting-houses are found in several of the cities of Ireland, and the
+members of that faith have been here for centuries. Macroom Castle, in
+which William Penn was born, is still standing, and the Castle of
+Blackrock, the place where he embarked for America, is now a popular
+Sunday resort for the working people of that city.
+
+
+
+
+                                   IV
+
+                             DUBLIN CASTLE
+
+
+Dublin Castle does not correspond with the conventional idea of what a
+castle should be. It looks more like the dormitory of an ancient
+university or a hospital or military barracks, although there are two
+ancient towers in which many men have been imprisoned and in which
+several patriots have died, and the south side of the pile, which
+overlooks a beautiful lawn in the very center of Dublin, has quite the
+appearance of a fortress. It has been the scene of much bloody history,
+much treachery and cruelty, and many deeds of valor have been done in
+the two courtyards. One of the viceroys of the sixteenth century, in a
+letter to the King of England describing its partial destruction by
+fire, wrote that he had "lost nothing but a few barrels of powder and
+the worst castle in the worst situation in Christendom".
+
+A certain portion of the building is reserved for the official residence
+of the lord lieutenant, and there are long suites of quaint old rooms
+with antique furniture, usually disguised with its summer wrapping of
+pink-flowered chintz, in which kings and queens and dukes and earls have
+been entertained for centuries. In olden times it was the habit of the
+lord lieutenant to permit his guests to go to the wine cellar with
+glasses in their hands and drink from whatever hogshead they pleased,
+and it is recorded that some gentlemen who were imbibing longer than
+usual sent the cellarer to the Duke of Ormonde, who then occupied the
+office, to provide them with chairs. With that true wit that
+distinguishes the Irish race, high and low, the duke replied that he did
+not encourage his guests to drink any longer than they could stand. This
+custom was abandoned by the Earl of Halifax, owing to the carelessness
+of certain bewildered gentlemen who left the wine running out of the
+spigot and lost him many gallons of precious Madeira.
+
+The present lord lieutenant, Lord Aberdeen, spends as little time in the
+castle as possible, because the viceregal lodge, his country residence,
+which is only half an hour's drive distant in Phoenix Park, is so much
+more comfortable and homelike, but all state ceremonies must take place
+at the castle, and their excellencies and the household usually bring in
+their court costumes early in February, for the season commences on the
+second Tuesday with a levee, a drawing-room on Wednesday, a reception on
+Thursday, and on Friday a banquet. During the ensuing week a state ball
+is given, and twice a week thereafter entertainments until the 17th of
+March, when the season is finished with St. Patrick's ball. The
+presentation of guests may be arranged for at the levees or the
+drawing-room, and everybody who has been presented can go to the ball.
+The inauguration of a new viceroy takes place in the throne-room, where
+also a farewell reception is held when he retires.
+
+The castle dates back to the days when it was necessary to have some
+stronghold, as the king said, "to curb the city as well as to defend
+it," and to provide a safe place for the custody of the royal treasure.
+It was located in the center of the present city of Dublin, but at the
+time was outside the original walls of the town, upon what is called
+Cork Hill, because Richard Boyle, the Earl of Cork, had his castle upon
+the slight elevation it now occupies. Meiller Fitzhenry, an illegitimate
+son of Henry II., designed and began the building. It was finished in
+1213, and from that period has been the center of Irish history. Very
+little of the original structure remains--only a portion of the walls.
+The towers have been cut down and modernized. One of them is now used
+for a supper-room for social occasions, and a kitchen is on the lower
+floor. The other, which was originally a prison, and is the most
+complete surviving fragment of the ancient fortress, is a repository for
+historical documents and the records of the government for the last
+four or five centuries. There are three circular rooms, one above the
+other; the walls are nineteen feet thick in places, and four or five
+long, narrow cells are built into them like recesses and lighted only by
+a narrow strip at the far end. One of these cells has a secret chamber
+hidden in the wall, and accessible only by a revolving door, which is
+difficult to distinguish from the rest of the stone.
+
+[Illustration: THE CASTLE, DUBLIN; OFFICIAL RESIDENCE OF THE LORD
+LIEUTENANT AND HEADQUARTERS OF THE GOVERNMENT]
+
+The tower has not been used as a prison since 1798 and 1803, the
+rebellions of Emmet and Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and the documents
+relating to their conspiracy are preserved there in the very cells where
+the men who were convicted by them lay awaiting trial and execution. The
+late Mr. Lecky, the historian, searched them thoroughly, and gave a
+surprising account of the character of the private papers that were
+seized with the effects of the patriots in those days. Love letters,
+poems, reflections on various subjects, rules of conduct, maxims of the
+sages, drafts of speeches, and proclamations in soaring language, and
+many attempts at literary work are mixed up with the reports of spies,
+informers, detectives, and officials,--some of them from comrades whose
+treachery was never suspected and which Mr. Lecky was not permitted to
+publish even at this late day. Some people think these malicious and
+incriminating documents should be destroyed lest they may sometime come
+to light and ruin the reputation of men who are highly esteemed by their
+fellow countrymen. But no one seems willing to give the instructions.
+
+In 1583 a "trial by combat" took place in the courtyard of the castle
+between Connor MacCormack O'Connor and Teague Kilpatrick O'Connor to
+settle the responsibility for the murder of a clansman. The weapons were
+sword and shield. The lord justices and the councillors, the
+governor-general, the sheriffs, and other officials were present to
+witness the trial. As was the custom and usage in trials by combat, each
+man was made to take an oath that he believed his quarrel just, and was
+ready to maintain it to the death. After a fierce struggle Teague cut
+off the head of his cousin and presented it on the point of his sword to
+the lord justices. For many generations the Irish parliament used to
+assemble at the castle. The first was called in 1328, another in 1585,
+another in 1639, and the accounts of the expenses of the lord lieutenant
+show that during the two weeks that parliament was in session the
+viceregal household consumed ten bullocks, forty sheep, sixteen
+hogsheads of beer, and various other refreshments to a similar extent.
+
+Oliver Cromwell, when in Dublin, resided at the castle, and in 1654 his
+youngest son was born there. While Henry Cromwell was viceroy he was
+driven from the castle and went to live at the viceregal lodge. In 1689,
+after the battle of the Boyne, in which William of Orange defeated James
+Stuart, the latter took possession of the castle, but slept there only
+one night.
+
+The court of Dublin has been insignificant but lively, and has reflected
+the characteristics of the Irish nobility, who were as fond of a frolic
+as they were of a fight, and never allowed their sense of decorum or the
+laws of etiquette to interfere with their pleasure. A hundred years ago
+ladies, upon being presented for the first time, were solemnly kissed by
+the viceroy, which was more or less agreeable to him, according to the
+age and attractions of his guests. One of them who was noted for his wit
+remarked that he got his kisses as a spendthrift borrows from a usurer,
+"part in old wine, part in dubious paintings, and part in bright gold
+and silver." With all its wit and brilliancy the court has at times been
+noted for a low state of morality, and at one period that portion of the
+castle which contains the state apartments was nicknamed "hell's
+half-acre" by a satirist.
+
+A figure of Justice which adorns the pediment of the main gate has been
+the object of much wit and satire for two centuries. Dean Swift once
+declared that she sat with her face to the viceroy and her back to the
+people. There are a few good portraits and other pictures in the
+residence portion of the building, including some pretty medallions in
+the wall of the throne-room, which are credited to Angelica Kauffman,
+but nobody knows when or how she happened to paint them.
+
+The mantel of one of the rooms is of black Spanish oak taken from the
+cabin of the flagship of the Spanish Armada which was wrecked on the
+Irish coast after the great sea battle of 1588.
+
+The finest of all the rooms is St. Patrick's Hall, which was designed by
+the great Lord Chesterfield when he was lord lieutenant of Ireland, and
+has always been much admired by architects because of its proportions
+and its lofty painted ceilings representing events in Irish history. The
+banners of the twenty-four knights of St. Patrick are suspended from
+either side, and the crimson draperies and upholstering of Irish poplin
+give the apartment an attractive color. Duplicates of these banners hang
+in the choir of St. Patrick's Cathedral, where the knights used to meet
+before 1869, but they have always had their headquarters in the castle,
+and the Ulster king of arms, the executive officer of the order, is the
+master of ceremonies at the castle, senior officer in the household of
+the lord lieutenant, the highest authority on rank and precedent in
+Ireland, and his seal is necessary to give legal value to patents of
+Irish peerages. He decides all questions of etiquette, nominates the
+persons who are presented at the viceregal drawing-room, arranges for
+all ceremonies, and in processions of state he rides or walks
+immediately in front of the lord lieutenant, carrying the sword of state
+as the emblem of the authority of the king.
+
+The office has been in existence since the Middle Ages. Its incumbent
+was formerly the custodian of the arms, the chief of the heralds, and
+the keeper of the royal jewels. He has an office in what is known as
+Bedford Tower, immediately facing the principal entrance to the
+viceroy's residence, with a large suite of rooms for his own use, and
+two or three clerks to look after his business. Otherwise the office
+carries no compensation except £20 a year and such few fees as are paid
+for searching the records of the Irish peerage and furnishing
+certificates of pedigree and title similar to those that are sought at
+the College of Heralds in London.
+
+The office was held for many years by Sir Bernard Burke, the most
+eminent of modern genealogists, the originator and author of "Burke's
+Peerage," which is authority on all questions affecting the nobility.
+His successor was Sir Arthur Vicar, son of the late Colonel Vicar, who
+commanded the Sixty-first Irish Fusiliers, and is a cousin of half the
+nobility of Ireland. Sir Arthur is a bachelor, a member of the principal
+clubs of London and Dublin, president of the Kildare Archæological
+Society and of the "Ex-Libris Society," whose members follow the fad of
+collecting book plates. He is the highest authority on questions
+affecting the Irish nobility since the death of Sir Bernard Burke, and
+is the editor of "Lodge's Peerage," a volume which relates exclusively
+to them. Sir Arthur has been a great favorite with everybody. He is an
+amiable, gentle, witty man, with winning manner, a charming
+conversationalist, has a keen sense of humor, and has been the confidant
+of half the peers of Ireland in their sorrows and their difficulties.
+
+In October, 1907, when preparations were being made to invest Lord
+Castledown as a knight of St. Patrick, it was discovered that the
+regalia of that order was missing, and no trace has ever been found of
+it, nor have the detectives obtained a single clew to the mystery. The
+jewels have an intrinsic value of quarter of a million dollars, but the
+historical and sentimental value of the articles stolen cannot be
+estimated. They were kept in a safe in the office of Sir Arthur Vicar as
+master at arms at the right of the entrance to his private quarters, and
+the room was usually occupied in the daytime by two clerks and carefully
+locked at night. This valuable property had been kept in that place for
+more than two hundred years, and nobody ever dreamed that it might be
+stolen. The discovery, which was kept secret for several months at the
+request of the police, caused a postponement of the ceremony, and the
+chief secretary for Ireland called for the resignation of Sir Arthur as
+master at arms on the ground that he failed to take proper precautions
+for the safety of the valuables in question. He was not accused or even
+suspected of having participated in the robbery, or having any
+knowledge of it, but there cannot be the slightest doubt that the theft
+was committed by some person familiar with affairs in the castle, and
+hence all the employees, everybody, from Lord Aberdeen down, has shared
+in the humiliation. Sir Arthur Vicar refused to resign, demanded a court
+of inquiry, and selected Timothy Healy, a member of parliament of the
+nationalist party from Dublin, as his counsel, and has ever since been
+appealing for vindication.
+
+
+
+
+                                   V.
+
+                       THE REDEMPTION OF IRELAND
+
+
+While the circumstances of the agricultural class in Ireland are by no
+means ideal, a great deal has been done to improve them. At the present
+rate of progress, however, it will take from twenty to twenty-five
+years, if not much longer, to accomplish the results intended by the
+Wyndham Land Act of 1903, which was expected to bring about the Irish
+millennium. That act provides that an owner of a large estate may sell
+to his tenants the holdings they occupy, and his untenanted land to any
+one who desires to buy it, in such tracts and at such prices as may be
+agreed upon, corresponding to the income now derived from that
+particular property. No landlord can sell a few acres here and there of
+good land under this act, although, of course, he is at liberty to
+dispose of any part of his estate at any time at any price that he may
+consider proper. But the terms and privileges of the Wyndham Act can
+only be enjoyed by a community of tenants in the purchase of the whole
+or a considerable portion of an estate. A board of commissioners which
+sits in the old-fashioned mansion in which the Duke of Wellington was
+born, on Merrion Street, Dublin, is authorized to use its discretion in
+the application of the law and in granting its privileges to those for
+whose benefit it is intended. Nothing can be done without their
+approval. The landlord and the tenants may arrange their own bargains to
+their own satisfaction, but they must be submitted to the board before
+they are carried out.
+
+When such agreements are reached and approved by the commission,
+--including the area sold, the price, and other terms,--the government
+is expected to furnish the purchase money from the public treasury. The
+landlord is entitled to receive the cash in full, and the tenant, who
+pays nothing, gives a mortgage, as we would call it, upon the property
+to the government for sixty-eight years or less, and agrees to pay an
+annual installment of 3-1/4; per cent of the purchase price, of which
+2-3/4; per cent is interest and 1/2; per cent goes into a sinking fund
+to cover the purchase money at the end of sixty-eight years. A purchaser
+may pay off the mortgage at any time he pleases, and receive a clear
+title to the land; or he may sell it whenever he chooses, subject to the
+mortgage, which follows the land and not the person. If he is unable to
+pay his annuities, the government can turn him out and dispose of the
+land, subject to the same terms and conditions, to another person. It
+can make no allowance for crop failures or cattle diseases. It cannot
+extend or modify its credits.
+
+Nearly all of the landlords are willing to sell their estates; many are
+glad to get rid of them, because the average tenantry in Ireland are a
+very determined class, and are always making trouble. There have been
+almost continuous disturbances over land questions of one form or
+another in Ireland since the beginning of time. The rents are low
+compared with the American standard, but have been difficult to collect,
+and when there is a failure of crops they cannot be collected at all.
+The landlords complain that all the laws that have been enacted of late
+years are entirely in the interest of the tenants; that the landlord has
+no show at all. And perhaps that is true, because public sympathy is
+invariably with the tenants, and they cast many votes, while the
+landlord has only one, even if he tries to vote at all.
+
+Since 1881 the land courts have adjusted the rents of 360,135 farmer
+tenants, involving 10,731,804 acres of land. The total rents paid for
+these lands annually before adjustment was £7,206,079. They were reduced
+by judicial order to a total of £5,715,158, a difference of about
+$7,500,000 a year in American money, in favor of the tenants.
+
+Therefore it is perfectly natural that landowners--and especially those
+who have had a good deal of trouble with their tenants--are anxious to
+dispose of their estates for cash, which they can invest to much better
+advantage. The Duke of Leinster, for example, who is a minor, has
+realized more than £800,000 in cash, which his trustees have invested in
+brewery stocks, railway bonds, and other securities which pay regular
+dividends and give him no anxiety.
+
+Mr. Bailey, one of the commissioners, told me that the good estates have
+been disposed of without difficulty. The disposition of the poor land
+has been more difficult, because the tenants are not as eager to get it,
+the owner is not always satisfied with the price, and the commission is
+not willing to make advances upon small bits of land among the bogs and
+rocks and other tracts of unfertile soil that would not be considered
+good security by anybody. The commissioners have treated these
+transactions very much as they would have done if they were mortgage
+bankers. They have refused to make advances on land that a banker would
+not have considered good security. They have not been willing to make
+advances on farms that cannot be made to pay. There have been
+complications in certain cases that have perplexed them, but, as a rule,
+the law has been working out in a most satisfactory and gratifying
+manner. The chief object of the commission and the purpose of the law
+has been to break up the great estates of Ireland so far as possible in
+farms of not more than one hundred acres, and sell them to the
+occupants, so as to create a nation of peasant proprietors, and that, he
+says, is being accomplished more rapidly than any one had reason to
+expect. Of course Mr. Bailey does not pretend that everybody is
+satisfied. That would be impossible. The millennium has not yet come,
+and the Wyndham Act has not brought it, although it has undoubtedly done
+more than any previous legislation to promote peace in this distracted
+country, and offers promises of future prosperity and contentment.
+
+Naturally some of the landowners have not been willing to sell their
+property, and their tenants have been trying to force them to do so.
+That accounts for the "cattle driving" and similar disturbances that you
+read about in the newspaper cablegrams from Ireland. It is to be
+regretted that the tendency of the newspapers is to publish sensational
+occurrences and unfortunate events. If a man commits a great crime it is
+advertised from one end of the world to the other. If he does a good
+deed very little is said about it, and a false impression concerning
+conditions in Ireland has been created by the widespread publication of
+every little outrage or disturbance that occurs over there, while the
+enormous usefulness and the satisfactory application of the Wyndham Land
+Act has been almost entirely neglected by newspaper writers.
+
+There have, however, been a good many little disturbances occasioned by
+the efforts of the tenants of certain estates, particularly those that
+are now devoted to cattle-breeding, to force their landlords to divide
+up the pastures and sell them. At present there is more money in the
+cattle and sheep business than in any other kind of farming in Ireland,
+and, as you drive out into the interior, you can see the loveliest
+pastures in the world filled with fat, sleek animals feeding upon the
+luscious grass. I do not believe there are richer or more beautiful
+pastures in any land, and Irish beef and mutton command a premium
+because of their flavor and tenderness. Hence prosperous cattle-breeders
+cannot be blamed for refusing to sell their pastures and go out of
+business, and there is no law to compel them to do so. But the rough and
+reckless elements in the villages, and in many cases among their own
+tenantry, often try to persecute them by cattle and sheep "driving," as
+it is called, until they are willing to cry quits. The popular method is
+to break down the gates or the hedges,--they do not have fences in
+Ireland,--turn the cattle and sheep into the road, and run them as far
+as possible away from their proper pastures, scattering them over the
+country. This is done in the night, and the next morning the owner is
+compelled to take such measures to recover as many of the strays as he
+can. Various means are adopted to prevent such outrages. Armed guards
+are employed who defend their cattle, sometimes at the cost of life and
+bloodshed, which, of course, provokes bad feeling and greater trouble.
+Hundreds of men have been arrested and punished by long terms of
+imprisonment, but "cattle-driving" still goes on in various parts of
+the country with some serious results. But it is comparatively
+insignificant when compared with the great good that is being
+accomplished by the breaking up of the big estates whose owners are
+willing to dispose of them.
+
+Thus far the Wyndham Act has been carried out without much friction; the
+chief difficulty having arisen from the eagerness of the landlords to
+dispose of their estates, which is so much greater than anticipated,
+that the funds provided have not been sufficient, and the landlords who
+have sold their property have been compelled to wait for their pay. In
+November, 1908, Mr. Augustine Birrell, chief secretary for Ireland in
+the British cabinet, introduced into the House of Commons a bill for the
+appropriation of more than $760,000,000, to be raised by an issue of
+bonds to pay for the estates that have already been sold and for those
+that may be sold in the future. That amount of money he asserted would
+be necessary to carry out the plans of the government under the Land Act
+of 1903.
+
+This proposition of Mr. Birrell is without doubt the most stupendous
+munificence ever offered by any government to its subjects. The money
+thus appropriated does not pay for any service performed. It is a direct
+appropriation from the public treasury to the people of Ireland for the
+simple purpose of relieving their poverty and placing them in
+circumstances which will permit them to enjoy life without the hardships
+and sufferings and fruitless labor which they and their forefathers have
+for generations endured.
+
+The advances of the British government to the Irish peasants, if this
+bill becomes a law, will reach nearly $1,000,000,000, but it is to be
+repaid by them in small installments. Mr. Birrell, in his explanation of
+the purpose of the bill to the House of Commons, stated that up to the
+31st of October £25,000,000 in round numbers (which amounts to about
+$125,000,000 in our money) had already been expended by the estates
+commissioners in purchasing farms from the large landholders in Ireland
+for the benefit of the tenants who occupy them, and that £52,000,000
+(which is the equivalent of about $260,000,000) is due to other
+landowners who have sold their estates under the Act of 1903. These
+transactions have been completed with the exception of payment of the
+price.
+
+The transactions concluded under the Land Act of 1903 up to Oct. 31,
+1908, provide farms for about 126,000 Irish families, at a cost of
+$385,000,000 to the British treasury, which is to be refunded by the
+owners of the farms in sixty-eight years, with interest at 3-1/4; per
+cent. Three-fourths of 1 per cent of this annual interest, to be paid by
+the man who owns the farm, goes into a sinking fund to meet the
+principal of bonds which have been issued to provide the purchase money.
+The remaining 2-1/2; per cent is paid by the farmer in lieu of rent, and
+is used to meet the annual interest upon the bonds. Thus the farmer gets
+his land in perpetuity by the payment of sixty-eight annual installments
+of an amount equal to 3-1/4; per cent of its present value. The average
+cost of the 126,000 farms thus far purchased is $1,790.
+
+The British government advances the money and becomes responsible for
+the payment of the interest and principal. The annual interest is only a
+trifle. In some cases it is only a shilling a week, and it runs up to as
+high as a pound or two a week in special cases, the average being
+estimated at $59 a year for the 126,000 farms, or $5 a month for the
+purchase of a farm, and whatever improvements may happen to be upon the
+land. If these improvements are not adequate, if the house is not
+comfortable, and if barns, stables, fences, and other permanent
+improvements are needed, the government advances the money to provide
+for them upon the same terms,--sixty-eight annual payments of 3-1/4; per
+cent of the cost.
+
+Mr. Birrell in his explanation estimated on Oct. 31, 1908, that the
+additional sum of $760,000,000 will be necessary to complete the work,
+to provide every family in the rural districts of Ireland with a farm of
+their own, and with the intention of doing that he asks an appropriation
+of that amount, which will bring the cost of the Irish land policy of
+the British government up to nearly $900,000,000.
+
+This does not include the expenditures of the Congested Districts Board,
+which have been $440,000 annually for several years, and in the future
+are to be $1,250,000 a year.
+
+Nor does it include several millions of dollars which have been expended
+under previous land acts, to purchase farms for the tenant occupiers.
+
+Nor does it include the $25,000,000 appropriated several years ago upon
+the motion of James Bryce, now British ambassador at Washington, to
+build cottages for the agricultural laborers,--the farm hands of
+Ireland.
+
+Mr. Wyndham, the author of the Land Act of 1903, stated in the House of
+Commons that 159,000 farmers had applied for the assistance of the
+government to purchase their holdings, and that 176,000 more would
+probably apply, out of a total of 490,000 farmers in Ireland. His
+estimates are not so high as those of Mr. Birrell; he believed that
+$600,000,000, or $800,000,000 at the outside, would be sufficient,
+instead of $900,000,000, as estimated by Mr. Birrell. He is convinced
+that 20 per cent of the 490,000 farmers in Ireland would not apply for
+farms, and that the average price of the farms purchased would not
+exceed $1,500.
+
+Of the farms already purchased, the average price in Leinster province
+was £528 ($2,640); in Munster, £452 ($2,260); in Ulster, £242 ($1,210);
+and in Connaught, £211 ($1,055).
+
+Connaught is the poorest of the poor provinces, and in 1908, out of a
+total of 29,000 farmers who applied, only 2,000 came from Connaught.
+Taking the most liberal estimate that he could imagine, Mr. Wyndham
+stated that $800,000,000 would be the maximum required.
+
+The Wyndham Land Act is not the first experiment of the kind. It is not
+the first attempt of the government to break up the big estates of
+Ireland into small farms and homes for the people who are now working
+them under the present system. W.F. Bailey, one of the commissioners who
+are carrying out the provisions of that act, gave me an interesting
+sketch of the history of the movement from the date of the passage of
+what is known as "the Irish Church Act" in 1869, which was the original
+endeavor to create a peasant-proprietor system by the aid of state
+loans.
+
+"Under the Irish Church Act," said Mr. Bailey, "commissioners were
+appointed to sell to the tenants of lands belonging to the church their
+holdings at prices fixed by the commissioners themselves. If the tenant
+refused to buy on the terms offered, the commissioners were authorized
+to sell to the public for at least one-fourth and as much more as they
+could get in cash, and the balance secured by a mortgage to be paid off
+in thirty-two years in half-yearly installments. They sold farms to
+6,057 tenants, and the government loaned the purchasers a total of
+£1,674,841 which was issued by the commissioners of public works.
+
+"In 1870, the following year, what is known as the Landlord and Tenant
+Act was passed by Parliament, under which the commissioners were
+authorized to advance two-thirds of the purchase money agreed upon
+instead of one-fourth, to be repaid in thirty-five years with 5 per cent
+interest, and all agricultural and pastural lands in Ireland were
+included in its provisions. Under this act 877 tenants purchased their
+holdings for a total of £859,000, of which the government advanced
+£514,526.
+
+"This act was amended in 1881 to provide that three-quarters instead of
+two-thirds of the purchase money might be advanced by the government on
+the same terms, and 731 tenants took advantage of it. The advances
+amounted to £240,801.
+
+"What was known as the Ashbourne Act was passed in 1885, appropriating
+the sum of £5,000,000 to enable the commissioners to purchase estates
+for the purpose of reselling them to the tenants and others, and they
+were authorized to furnish the entire purchase money, to be repaid in
+annual installments extending over a period of forty-nine years, with
+interest at 5 per cent. In 1888 an additional sum of £5,000,000 was
+advanced for the same purpose, and 25,368 tenants on 1,355 estates
+purchased their holdings with £9,992,640 advanced by the government.
+
+"These funds having been exhausted, Mr. Balfour in 1891 introduced a new
+system under which the landlord, instead of cash, was paid in guaranteed
+stock exchangeable for consols equal in amount to the purchase money,
+and running for thirty years with interest at 2-3/4; per cent. This stock
+was guaranteed by the Irish probate duty, the customs, and excise taxes,
+and certain local grants. The amount of stock that could be issued for
+any county was limited, however, and when that limit was reached the
+sales had to stop. The advances under this act were £39,145,348.
+
+"The Act of 1891 was amended in 1896 in various respects. The annual
+installments were fixed at 4 per cent, 2-3/4; per cent being for interest
+and 1-1/4; per cent to create a sinking fund for the repayment of the
+capital. The number of purchases arranged under this act was 36,994, and
+the total amount advanced was £10,809,190.
+
+"The following table will give the number of tenants who have purchased
+their holdings from their landlords with the assistance of the
+government under these various acts and under the Wyndham Act of 1903
+from 1869 to the 31st of May, 1908:
+
+                                       No.            Amt.
+                                    purchasers.    advanced.
+    Irish Church Act of 1869           6,057      £1,674,841
+    Act of 1870                          877         514,536
+    Act of 1881                          731         240,801
+    Act of 1885                       26,367       9,992,536
+    Act of 1891                       46,806      13,633,190
+    Act of 1903                       46,576      17,657,279
+                                     -------     -----------
+    Total to date named              127,414     £43,713,183"
+
+The following table shows the number of tenant purchasers under the
+three land purchase acts of 1885-88, 1891-96, and 1903; the amount due
+from them annually, the number who were in arrears, and the amount of
+money unpaid on July 1, 1908:
+
+                     Number     Install-   Number    Amount
+                   purchasers.   ments.    unpaid.   unpaid.
+    Act of
+    1885-88          25,382     £369,130     354     £2,900
+    1891-96          46,837      517,943     374      3,920
+    1903             44,773      561,858     305      3,312
+                     ------   ----------   -----    -------
+        Total       116,992   £1,448,931   1,033    £10,132
+
+This is an extraordinary statement. It shows that 116,992 Irish farmers
+have had farms purchased for them by the government, which they are
+under obligations to pay for by installments amounting annually to
+$7,240,000. Only 1,033, or less than 1 per cent, of them are in arrears
+in their payments, and the amount unpaid is only about $50,000. The
+statement shows that only 120 are in arrears for more than one
+installment. This is conclusive evidence that the peasant farmers of
+Ireland are carrying out in good faith the generous arrangement that has
+been made for them by the British Parliament.
+
+In addition to the actual tenants, the estates commissioners have
+provided farms for 2,647 persons who are not tenants, but are the sons
+of farmers or laborers upon the farms. These are called "landless"
+persons, and they are the ones who are making the trouble for the
+government in several of the counties by driving off the cattle and
+otherwise annoying the landlords and lessees of ranches that are being
+used for pasturage while they are without farms. To such persons 70,326
+acres, an average of 35 acres each, have been allotted and paid for by
+the government.
+
+"The fortunes of the Irish peasantry will soon be in their own hands,"
+said Mr. Bailey. "Ireland is soon to be like Denmark, a peasant state;
+and the wealth-producing capacity of the country will be in the hands of
+small farmers who own their homes and will have the entire benefit of
+the results of their labor.
+
+"It is often complained," continued Mr. Bailey, "that the farmers of
+Ireland are not good cultivators, and perhaps that is true in a measure,
+except down in Wexford and other parts of the east coast south of Dublin
+and in the north of Ireland. But there are very good reasons for it.
+The Irish farmers never had any instruction until lately. Before the
+famine they merely raised enough to supply their own wants and, having
+no interest in the land, did nothing to improve it. Since the famine,
+however, and within the last few years there has been a very great
+advance in agricultural conditions, and as the older generation dies off
+and the younger generation comes on there will be better farming,
+because they will know how to apply their labor. One reason for the lack
+of good farming and the carelessness and neglect was that there was no
+fixed tenure for the tenants, and as they naturally hated their
+landlords, they were not willing to do anything to improve the value of
+the property. Another reason is that they have been raising cattle so
+long that they have forgotten how to cultivate the land. The area of
+pasturage in Ireland has been gradually increasing and the acreage
+plowed has been gradually decreasing, until now, of the 20,000,000 acres
+of land of Irish territory only 2,357,530 are devoted to crops, and no
+less than 14,712,849 are devoted to meadows and pastures. The area under
+cultivation has been growing smaller every year. In 1875 it was
+5,332,813 acres, in 1895 it was 4,931,000, in 1905 it was 2,999,082,
+while in 1907 it was 2,357,530 acres.
+
+"Another reason for poor farming is that the best element, the most
+active and enterprising of our people, have gone to America, which has
+increased the ratio of those who are physically and intellectually
+inferior. Then, again, it has become a matter of fashion to neglect the
+soil. Our people prefer to live in the towns rather than on the farms.
+The Irish are a social race, and, as has been demonstrated by the
+emigrants to America, they prefer a crowded tenement house to plenty of
+room on a farm."
+
+"That the farms of the tenant purchasers have largely improved in all
+parts of Ireland, as regards cultivation and general conditions, is
+unquestionable," said Mr. Bailey. "The exceptions to this rule are so
+few and of such a nature as to emphasize rather than detract from the
+good effect of the land reforms, as shown by the general condition of
+the farms we have been able to visit. In the great majority of cases we
+found that the purchasers have devoted their energies and their savings
+to the improvement of the land and of the buildings. In many districts,
+especially those in the provinces of Leinster and Munster, the tenants
+have hitherto been more anxious to increase the productive power of the
+soil than to add to their comforts or the appearances of their homes, or
+to make permanent improvements. But we found improvements in fencing,
+draining, in the cleaning of fields, in the re-making of farm roads, and
+in other respects, as well as by increasing the fertility of the soil by
+manuring and top-dressing. We found also that the actual productiveness
+of the land in many cases had been increased since its purchase, by
+improved management.
+
+"On some estates conditions have not improved, because of various
+reasons. Some lazy people, unfortunately, have no desire to change. They
+live a dull, commonplace life, without enterprise, energy, or ambition.
+Some of them are affected by their environment, as in the case of small
+farmers who are in the midst of a community of large cattle-growers.
+Again, the cost of labor is so great that many cannot afford to hire
+help to do what they cannot do themselves, and have postponed
+improvements until a more favorable opportunity.
+
+"However, that the dwellings, outhouses, stables, and barns of tenant
+purchasers have materially improved throughout Ireland is certain. The
+testimony on this point from every part of the four provinces is uniform
+and conclusive. A considerable number of new buildings have been erected
+either by home labor or capital already in hand, and many farmers are
+taking advantage of the loans offered by the board of works. This is
+particularly true in the counties of Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary,
+Waterford, and Wexford. On some estates there is a great deal of rivalry
+among the new purchasers as to which shall have the best showing in the
+way of buildings. In other cases, I regret to say, the houses and barns
+continue in a very neglected state.
+
+"It is also gratifying to be able to say that in the large majority of
+cases throughout Ireland the credit of the tenant purchasers has
+improved very considerably since they bought their holdings. Such is the
+universal testimony of local bank managers, shopkeepers, ministers of
+religion, and other representative persons whom we have consulted. And
+this improvement in credit is perhaps most marked in localities where
+farmers were worse off in former times. The explanation is that the
+farmers have now been started on new careers free from obligations, and
+are able to devote all of their attention and energies to improving
+their condition without being worried by financial and other troubles.
+
+"The 'Gombeen man,' the money-lender, the Shylock, who has been the
+curse of Ireland, has actually disappeared from many districts, and in
+others he is rapidly losing his business. The men who have bought their
+farms under the Wyndham Act do not ask for credit. They pay in cash very
+generally, and wherever they do borrow, they are able to get better
+terms, because they have something substantial behind them and are not
+likely to be thrown out into the street at any time as formerly. Those
+who are borrowing money now want it for improvements, and not to pay off
+old mortgages or meet previous obligations.
+
+"The first, and in many respects the most important, consequence of
+owning farms is the contentment that it has given to the people. Their
+minds are at ease. Their anxiety as to their future treatment from their
+landlord or his agent has vanished, and the misfortunes which often
+distressed them have disappeared. In their investigations the
+commissioners and the inspectors employed by them have met very few
+tenant purchasers who have any fault to find with the conditions under
+which they are now living. We have met several men who had lost their
+cattle by disease, and others whose crops had failed; but they seemed to
+be cheerful, and were confident that with care and industry they would
+soon be on their legs again.
+
+"In the poorer districts on the west coast of Ireland little improvement
+has been made, and little more can be expected for a generation; yet
+there has been progress, and the Congested Districts Board is doing a
+great deal by its liberal policy. The people are very poor, but they do
+not complain of their poverty. They freely admit that their standard of
+living has improved of recent years, and more especially since they
+became owners. 'Purchase has brought peace,' said a parish priest.
+'People are more industrious, more temperate, more saving, and more
+cheerful.' In many places which had formerly been troublesome, the
+constabulary report that quietness and order and a supreme feeling of
+contentment and satisfaction with present conditions prevailed. At
+Fermanagh the parish priest said that the consumption of liquor had
+fallen one-half since the farmers had purchased their own farms, and
+that the money which had been spent for drink was now being saved for
+improvements on the farms, and for better clothes, for implements, and
+for other purposes, which show an increased pride in appearances and a
+sense of responsibility.
+
+"There is no question but that the standard of living in every respect
+has been raised since the people of Ireland have been allowed to own the
+farms they till," continued Mr. Bailey. "This appears in their personal
+appearance as well as in the food provided for their tables. It is due
+to the greater self-respect that has been inspired by a sense of
+proprietorship. The most important and fundamental benefit that the
+Irish people are enjoying from the ownership of their farms is the
+elevation of their own opinion of themselves--the self-respect and
+ambition that a proprietor always feels. They wear better clothes, they
+take better care of their persons, and they require better food. On many
+farms in the west of Ireland, where the people lived almost exclusively
+on porridge and potatoes, they now use bread, eggs, American bacon, and
+tea. American bacon is used in preference to Irish bacon because it
+contains more fat and makes a better dish for a large family when boiled
+with cabbage. The improvement in clothing occurs simultaneously with the
+improvement in food and farming tools, and both follow immediately after
+the title to the land is secured. People often explain that formerly
+they 'had to scrape together every penny to pay the rent, but now we can
+live decently.'
+
+"But the sanitary arrangements throughout western Ireland still need a
+great deal of attention. The manure heap is still in unpleasant
+proximity to the dwelling place, and the practice of keeping cattle,
+pigs, and chickens under the same roof and often in the same room with
+the family has not disappeared as rapidly as one might hope. We
+inspected a farm in Mayo where the family and the cow lived in the same
+room, but it was kept remarkably clean and tidy. Every part of the
+earthen floor outside the corner that was alloted to the cow was
+carefully swept, and the 'dresser,' the chief article of furniture in an
+Irish cabin, showed taste and neatness, and was well stocked with very
+good china in which the owner seemed to take great pride. When we
+remarked on the presence of the cow in the cabin he replied, 'Sure, I
+could not leave the poor animal out in the cold.' The tenant purchaser
+of a farm in Galway said she had to keep the cow in the house because
+she could not afford to erect a barn, and if the animal died she would
+be ruined. But the practice is being slowly abandoned, and since the
+land act was enforced many people who formerly sheltered their cattle,
+pigs, and poultry in the same dwelling-place as themselves in their long
+and severe winters have been building separate houses for them. We were
+told that this was the exception before purchase, and that it is now the
+rule. The tendency is undeniably toward neatness, good repairs, and
+sanitary improvements, and although it is slow it is certain.
+
+"The scarcity of farm labor and the high rates of wages that are now
+demanded are keeping back improvements that farmers cannot make without
+assistance, but the people are beginning to realize the advantages of
+co-operation, and are helping each other in such a way that it seldom
+becomes necessary to call outside labor. A holding that can only be
+worked by the aid of paid labor under present circumstances is not
+profitable, and a large farm cannot be worked to an advantage unless
+the owner has a son to assist him. Not only have the wages of farm labor
+increased, but its efficiency has decreased. Hired workmen now insist
+upon better food and better accommodations.
+
+"There was undoubtedly ample room for improvement in the wages, the
+food, and the treatment of farm laborers throughout Ireland. The
+laborers cannot be blamed for demanding it; but a higher standard in
+each of these respects meant an increase in the cost of cultivating the
+soil and a decrease in the profits of the farmer. The labor situation is
+due first to the emigration of the young men to America, and second to
+the migration from the farms to the cities.
+
+"The estates commission has received very little complaint of the
+regulations which require the punctual payment of installments and
+interest money to the government. Here and there a purchaser objects
+because he has to sell cattle or make some other sacrifice at an
+inconvenient time to raise the money, and asserts that under the
+landlord system he would have been allowed time; but such instances are
+extremely rare, and very few persons admitted that they prefer a private
+individual to the government as a landlord. The purchasers of farms
+almost unanimously agree that their annual installments due the
+government are very considerably less than the rents they were paying,
+and they now have to sell a much smaller portion of their produce than
+formerly to meet the rent.
+
+"It is right and proper that I should speak of the almost invariable
+courtesy that has been shown to the commissioners and our inspectors
+when we have visited the farmers," said Mr. Bailey in conclusion. "Very
+rarely has any suspicion been exhibited, and the fullest information has
+been given to us. This courtesy and good feeling was especially
+manifested by the smaller and poorer farmers in the west and south of
+Ireland. There was no spirit of cringing or cowardice. Both men and
+women spoke with dignity and independence, and almost invariably
+expressed themselves as gratified that a great department of the
+government should wish to learn how they were getting along. They were
+pleased that a government official should show sufficient interest in
+their welfare to come and talk with them sympathetically. Many of them
+inquired as to the workings of the new act in other parts of Ireland,
+and asked advice on various small matters, which to them were of
+importance."
+
+
+
+
+                                   VI
+
+                         SACRED SPOTS IN DUBLIN
+
+
+There are many imposing public monuments in Dublin, the most conspicuous
+of which is a massive pillar, one hundred and thirty-four feet high,
+erected in 1808 in honor of Lord Nelson, hero of the battle of
+Trafalgar. In Phoenix Park another native of Dublin, equally famous as
+a fighter, is honored by a stubby sort of square shaft after the pattern
+of the Washington monument in Washington, and a little more than
+one-third of the height. On the four sides of the pedestal the Duke of
+Wellington's greatest victories are illustrated by battle scenes in
+bronze panels. Near this monument is the magazine in which the British
+soldiers keep their ammunition. It was the subject of Dean Swift's last
+epigram:
+
+          "Behold! a proof of Irish sense;
+            Here Irish wit is seen.
+          When nothing's left that's worth defense,
+            We build a magazine."
+
+There is a fine equestrian statue of Lord Gough in Phoenix Park, cast
+from the cannon taken by his command, and a bronze phoenix erected by
+Lord Chesterfield when he was lieutenant-governor.
+
+Daniel O'Connell's great services to Ireland are commemorated by the
+finest bridge over the Liffey River, and an imposing and elaborate
+monument facing it upon the principal street of the town. It is a little
+confusing because of the many figures that surround it. The statue of
+O'Connell is twelve feet high, and is surrounded by fifty small statues,
+all allegorical, the chief being that of "Erin" casting off her fetters
+and pointing to the liberator as if to say, "He told me to do it."
+Father Mathew is represented by a marble figure with a noble pose and
+an unusually expressive face. It was made by a woman, a Miss Redmond.
+There are also statues of Grattan, Curran, Edmund Burke, Thomas Moore,
+Oliver Goldsmith, Sir Robert Stewart the musician, Smith O'Brien, Sir
+John Grey, William of Orange, George I., George II., George III.; and
+Queen Victoria sits in bronze upon a massive pedestal, surrounded by
+famous figures representing the various colonies of the British Empire
+upon which it has been frequently stated that the sun never sets. Of
+modern men, Sir Benjamin Guinness, the brewer, his son, Lord Ardilaun,
+and the late Archbishop Plunkett are honored, and some of the figures,
+particularly the latter, are very good.
+
+At the "top" of O'Connell Street, as they say here, corresponding to the
+O'Connell monument, will soon stand a tall shaft surmounted by a statue
+of the late Charles Stewart Parnell. The money was raised in America by
+John E. Redmond and Daniel Tallon, recently Lord Mayor of Dublin, and
+the monument was designed and the figure cast by the late Augustus Saint
+Gaudens. It was his latest and one of his most effective works. It was
+quite appropriate that Saint Gaudens, who was an Irish boy, should have
+been commissioned for this statue, which many consider the most
+beautiful of all the many monuments in Dublin.
+
+Parnell's grave in Prospect Cemetery is not neglected, although I have
+seen it stated repeatedly that such was the case. It occupies the most
+prominent place in the cemetery, on the western side of the memorial
+chapel, on a spot corresponding with that occupied by the towering
+monument of Daniel O'Connell on the eastern side. The grave is in the
+center of a large circle, surrounded by an iron fence, shaded by
+beautiful trees, and large foliage plants which were in full bloom. The
+turf is well kept, and here and there are memorial wreaths preserved
+under glass globes. In the center of the circle is a high mound,
+protected by a hedge of arbor vitæ, and ornamented by several rose
+bushes. The grave is in the center of the mound. At the head is an iron
+cross six feet high, and at the foot the name "Parnell" is worked out in
+large letters of box.
+
+[Illustration: THE CUSTOMS HOUSE, DUBLIN]
+
+One of the employees of the cemetery, who showed us around, said that it
+was the intention of Parnell's friends to erect a monument to correspond
+with that of Daniel O'Connell on the other side of the chapel, but after
+a discussion of several years they had decided to place the memorial
+downtown at the site I have already mentioned, where it would always be
+before the eyes of the public. O'Connell's body is buried in a crypt
+underneath the monument. His heart is in a casket in the chapel of the
+Irish College at Rome.
+
+Several other famous Irish patriots are buried in Prospect Cemetery, and
+I asked the guide where the body of Robert Emmet was laid.
+
+"That's a great sacret," he answered mysteriously, "an' I wouldn't tell
+it to yer honor avin if I knew; with all respict to yer honor. It woul'
+be the same as me life is worth. The soul of Robert Emmet has gone to
+God. His bones is in the hands of the friends of Ireland, but will
+remain in their prisint sacred hiding place until Ireland is free."
+
+Michael Davitt is buried in the town of Straid, County Mayo, where he
+was born and where his parents were evicted from their home during his
+childhood. The grave is marked with an ordinary stone. There has been no
+movement thus far for a monument in his honor. His widow lives at
+Dalkey, the lovely suburb of Dublin by the sea, which I describe
+elsewhere. She is in excellent circumstances financially, has a
+comfortable home,--much more comfortable than any she had during her
+husband's lifetime,--and is educating her four children, two boys and
+two girls, at the best schools. The oldest son, now a young man of
+twenty-two, is studying law, and promises to show much of the ability of
+his father.
+
+One bright day I made a pilgrimage to the birthplaces and homes of
+famous Irishmen in Dublin. It is to be regretted that the people of that
+city feel so little respect for the memory of their heroes as to permit
+the scenes that were associated so closely with their careers to become
+filthy whisky dives. Several of these sacred places are among the most
+disreputable saloons in Dublin.
+
+Henry Grattan was born in 1746 in a house on Fishamble Street, near the
+old church where Handel first produced his famous oratorio "The
+Messiah," and was baptized in the Church of St. John near by. He was
+educated in Trinity College, Dublin, and the trustees of that
+institution have erected a statue in his honor outside the old house of
+parliament, now the Bank of Ireland, which was the scene of his most
+eminent services. He is represented in the attitude of pleading with
+uplifted hands for the liberty of Ireland. The figure is the
+personification of eloquence.
+
+Grattan spent his early life in Dublin, was admitted to the bar in 1773,
+and entered parliament at the age of twenty-nine in 1775. He immediately
+assumed the leadership of the opposition to the government, and it was
+through his ability and able management that the king and the British
+Parliament were compelled to give Ireland free trade and the
+constitution in 1782. What was called "Grattan's parliament" lasted
+nineteen years, and its activity was tremendous and comprehensive, and
+the results may now be seen in every direction. It conferred innumerable
+benefits upon the city of Dublin and upon the country at large. During
+the nineteen years it was in session it made greater public improvement
+than occurred in any single century before. It built the two greatest
+edifices in Ireland,--the Four Courts and the customs house,--which are
+beautiful examples of the classic school of architecture, and each cost
+several millions of dollars. The Bank of Ireland was founded as the
+financial agent of the government, but Grattan, when he moved its
+establishment, little dreamed that it would store its gold and transact
+its business in the very chamber where the act was passed. The Royal
+Irish Academy was founded to promote "the study of science and polite
+learning and antiquities." Three great hospitals were built; the College
+of Physicians and Surgeons was incorporated and erected, a dignified and
+stately building upon Stephen's Green. The commerce of the country was
+developed and large warehouses and mercantile establishments were
+erected to accommodate it. Many new manufactories were established.
+Highroads were built in every direction, coach lines were inaugurated
+to accommodate travel, and sailing packets to carry passengers and mails
+across the sea. The canal was built, one hundred miles long, to bring
+freight to the city. Penny post was introduced. The Guinness brewery was
+developed, with a great profit to the proprietors, and began to send to
+England the beer it had been selling for local customers for half a
+century.
+
+[Illustration: THE BANK OF IRELAND, DUBLIN]
+
+Grattan was the leader of all this prosperity, and introduced many and
+advocated all of the laws to encourage it. As an acknowledgment of his
+services, Parliament voted him a gift of $250,000, which enabled him to
+settle down as a country gentleman at a seat called "Tinnehinch," near
+the town of Enniskerry, a few miles south of Dublin, near the
+watering-place called Bray. The British government offered him the
+viceregal lodge, now occupied by the lord lieutenant, in Phoenix Park;
+but Grattan declined it, for fear the gift might be misinterpreted.
+
+This period of self-government, which might be called "the golden age"
+of Ireland, lasted nineteen years, when "Grattan's parliament" fell, as
+so many other good things have fallen, because it became "vain of its
+own conceit." It is not expedient, it is not wholesome, for the same
+party to remain in control of affairs too long. Its members become
+corrupt, extravagant, selfish, intolerant, and indifferent to the public
+welfare, and Grattan's parliament acquired all of these faults. The
+great leader--and he was one of the ablest political leaders that ever
+came upon the theater of public affairs--was unable to control his
+followers. They became restless, they favored measures that he could not
+approve, and advocated a radical policy toward the British government
+that he opposed with all his energy and eloquence.
+
+He was soon displaced from leadership by the extremists, who demanded
+absolute separation from England and encouraged the revolutions of 1798
+and 1803. These movements were undoubtedly encouraged by the example of
+the French Revolution, when the hot heads came into control. Ireland
+burst into rebellion, which was put down with the utmost severity, and
+William Pitt, Prime Minister of Great Britain, introduced the act of
+union which was adopted by the Irish house through bribery, bulldozing,
+and other disreputable measures.
+
+Grattan was very ill, but, leaning on the shoulders of two friends, and
+dressed in his old volunteer uniform, he entered the Irish house of
+parliament, now the cash-room of the Bank of Ireland, and made the
+greatest speech of his life. But he failed to change the destiny of his
+country. He did not change a vote, and the bond which now binds Ireland
+to Great Britain, and which the Irish people have been trying to
+dissolve ever since, was passed against his vehement protests. If his
+advice had been followed by the Irish parliament, if its members had
+listened to his pleadings, the disturbances, the distress, the bloodshed
+of a century would have been spared. William Pitt bought a majority of
+the votes and paid for them with pensions, official positions, titles of
+nobility, and other forms of reward.
+
+The debate provoked a duel between Grattan and Correy, chancellor of the
+exchequer. Shots were exchanged and Correy was wounded in the hand.
+
+Grattan pronounced the funeral oration of the Irish parliament in the
+words that are immortal:
+
+"I do not give up my country," he said. "I see her in a swoon, but she
+is not dead. Though in her tomb she lies helpless and motionless there
+is upon her lips a spirit of life, and on her cheek a glow of beauty--
+
+        "'Thou art not conquered; beauty's ensign yet
+        Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
+        And death's pale flag is not advanced there.'"
+
+It is true, as the man of the cemetery told us, that the burial place of
+Robert Emmet is unknown. Many people believe that his body was given to
+the surgeons of Trinity College after his execution, because if it had
+been given to his friends they would have erected a monument to mark his
+grave. No one of all the many people who admired and loved him has ever
+been able to obtain a clew to its disappearance. It is a popular
+belief, which the leaders of patriotic movements encourage, that the
+burial place is known and will be disclosed, as the man at the cemetery
+said, when the flag of freedom floats over "The Ould Sod," but there is
+no good reason for such a romantic hope. Several of those who would be
+informed if there were any foundation for such an expectation have told
+me that it is all romance; that Emmet's grave has never been discovered
+and probably never will be, because it doesn't exist.
+
+I went to the home of Robert Emmet in Marchalsea Lane, near the debtor's
+prison, where he used to meet his fellow conspirators while organizing
+the insurrection of the United Irishmen in 1803. Emmet was a brilliant,
+eager boy, only twenty-four, and had been expelled from the University
+of Dublin for sympathy with the revolution of 1798. He went to Paris,
+remained there for a while until things had quieted down, and then
+returned to Dublin, where he conceived a rash project to seize the
+castle and the fort. The authorities were taken entirely by surprise,
+but the country contingent which had been promised to support him failed
+to arrive, and Emmet, with less than a hundred men, armed with
+pikes--simply spearheads mounted on the ends of poles--marched against
+the castle and, of course, were immediately overcome. Many of his
+followers, who fled to their homes, were killed at their own doors, and
+Emmet became a fugitive.
+
+Robert Emmet was born in Dublin in 1778 and was a playmate and
+schoolfellow of Thomas Moore, the poet. His brother, Thomas Addis Emmet,
+born in 1764, was involved in the revolution of 1798 and fled to
+America, where he became eminent at the bar of New York, serving at one
+time as attorney-general of that State. He left several sons and
+grandsons.
+
+When Robert Emmet escaped, after the failure of his foolish attack upon
+the castle, he took refuge among friends in the Wicklow Hills, south of
+Dublin, to await an opportunity to cross over to France. Against their
+protests he went at night to say good-by to his sweetheart, Sarah
+Curran, daughter of the famous advocate, was arrested and tried for high
+treason. He conducted his own defense with extraordinary ability. His
+closing speech stands as one of the greatest examples of eloquence in
+the English language. He was condemned to death and hanged outside of
+St. Catherine's Church, upon the spot where Lord Kilwarden, an eminent
+judge of the highest integrity, was killed by some of Emmet's men while
+returning with his nephew and daughter from a visit to the country.
+
+Emmet, in his farewell speech, asked that his epitaph should not be
+written until Ireland was free, and that undoubtedly suggested the
+popular belief that his burial place is known and will be disclosed in
+due time.
+
+Sarah Curran died soon after in Sicily of a broken heart, and Tom Moore,
+one of Emmet's most beloved friends and also devoted to Miss Curran,
+enshrined the pathetic story in a touching ballad:
+
+        "She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps,
+          And lovers are round her sighing;
+        But coldly she turns from their gaze and weeps,
+          For her heart on his grave is lying.
+
+        "She sings the wild songs of her native plains,
+          Every note which he loved awaking;
+        Ah! little they think, who delight in her strains,
+          How the heart of the minstrel is breaking."
+
+Near by the place where Emmet and his fellow conspirators planned the
+revolution of 1803, is No. 151 Thomas Street, the house in which Lord
+Edward Fitzgerald, leader of the insurrection of 1798, was captured
+after desperate struggle, and it is a curious coincidence that he and
+Emmet should both have been arrested by the same man, a certain Major
+Sirr, in command of a regiment at the castle. Lord Edward's refuge was
+the house of a tailor who sympathized with the insurrection, as almost
+every other artisan in Ireland did, and sheltered him for several days
+before the arrest. The house is marked with a tablet and an appropriate
+inscription. Lord Edward was wounded in the shoulder by Major Sirr and
+carried away to prison, where he died before he could be brought into
+court.
+
+The Corn Market of Dublin is just beyond the house, and the name of the
+thoroughfare is there changed to Thomas Street, which is customary in
+Dublin. Sometimes there is a different name for every block, and it is
+very puzzling to a stranger. You walk from Clare Street into Merrion
+Street and from Merrion Street into some other; from Dame Street into
+the Corn Market, and from the Corn Market into Thomas Street, all
+unconscious, but the names are plainly posted on the walls of the corner
+houses both in English and Gaelic, so that he who runs may read.
+
+Thomas Street is very wide, and that is understood when you know it was
+formerly an open market-place outside the city walls for the sale of
+country produce. The octroi tax levied by the corporation on the farmers
+who brought in vegetables, butter, chickens, and eggs was paid in kind,
+a measure of corn from each sack, a pound of butter from each firkin,
+and one egg from every twelve, which was the origin of a proverb that
+eleven eggs make a dozen in Ireland. The taxes were farmed out to the
+highest bidder, who exacted every penny possible from the farmers and
+used every means of extortion that could be devised to increase his
+profit. The most odious of all the Dublin tax contractors in history was
+a woman named Kate Strong, and they hated her so that after her death
+the farmers erected a gross caricature of her person holding a large
+toll dish in her hand. It stood for several years.
+
+James Street succeeds Thomas Street on the same thoroughfare and runs
+down upon the river quay, where the enormous brewery establishment of
+the Guinness Company begins.
+
+Across the river from the big brewery is No. 12 Arran Quay, named for
+the son of the Duke of Ormonde, where Edmund Burke was born in 1729 of a
+Protestant barrister and a Catholic mother. He was educated at a Quaker
+school at Ballitore, County Kildare, and at Trinity College, where in
+1747 he organized a debating club, which still exists.
+
+After finishing his course in 1750 he went to London "to keep terms at
+the Temple," that is, to finish his law studies and prepare for his
+examinations; but suddenly, owing to some disappointment, he conceived
+a strong distaste for his profession, and plunged into a wild career of
+dissipation. He was introduced by Goldsmith to that circle of Bohemians
+which gathered nightly at the Cheshire Cheese Inn and similar resorts.
+He was a close companion of Garrick, Johnson, and others, and became one
+of the many devoted attendants of his beautiful countrywoman, Peg
+Woffington, the famous actress.
+
+His dissipation gave his family great distress and caused his father to
+cut off his allowance. This compelled him to do something for himself.
+He went into politics, and soon made a reputation as a speaker and
+writer and political manager. He wrote a great deal that was serious and
+even sublime, and, mending his ways, secured the patronage of the
+Marquis of Buckingham, the prime minister, who opened the doors of the
+House of Commons for him. In a very short time he became the most
+effective debater and the most influential leader of his party. Then his
+abilities were fully recognized and his fame encircled the world.
+
+He was the ablest friend of the American colonies in England during the
+Revolution, and harassed Lord North more than any other man. He reached
+the summit of his influence at the impeachment of Warren Hastings for
+misgovernment and treason while viceroy in India; and then Burke's sun
+began to set. He retired upon a pension, and passed from history with
+the eighteenth century. One of his eulogists has said that
+"notwithstanding some eccentricities and some aberrations, he made the
+tide of human destiny luminous."
+
+Near Burke's birthplace is the oldest and the quaintest church in
+Dublin, built by the Danes before the English came to Ireland and
+consecrated to St. Michan, a Danish saint. Within its walls is the
+penitential stool, where "open and notorious naughty livers" were
+compelled to stand and confess their sins in public and make pledges of
+repentance and reform. The officiating minister, reciting the
+fifty-first Psalm, led the offending sinner from the altar to the foot
+of the pulpit,--barefooted, bareheaded, and draped in a long white
+sheet,--and placed him upon the stool of repentance to hear a sermon
+directed at his particular sins.
+
+The tower of St. Michan's dates from the twelfth century, and is one of
+the most beautiful things in Dublin. The view from the top of it
+includes all the city, which is divided into two almost equal parts by
+the River Liffey and spreads over an uneven surface from the dark green
+woods of Phoenix Park to the dark blue waters of the Irish Sea.
+
+Handel used to play the organ in St. Michan's Church, and it was there
+the public first heard the score of "The Messiah."
+
+The most remarkable feature of St. Michan's, however, is a peculiar
+preservative effect from the soil in the crypt upon the bodies that are
+buried there. They mummify before decay sets in and turn into a leathery
+brown, similar to the mummies of Egypt. The vaults are filled with
+remains that have lain there for centuries. Among them is the body of
+one of the kings of Leinster, and beside him is the corpse of a baby,
+from whose tiny wrists white ribbon has been hanging since its funeral
+in 1679. Every corpse in the crypt is mummified in the same way, and it
+is the only place in Dublin where this phenomenon occurs. Nor is there
+any satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon. The vaults are
+absolutely dry. The popular theory is that a subtle gas arising from the
+peaty soil suspends nature's law of decay.
+
+There will always be a controversy among Irishmen as to whether Edmund
+Burke or Daniel O'Connell was the greater man. They were so different in
+their characteristics that it is difficult to draw a comparison.
+O'Connell was not a native of Dublin. He was born at the humble village
+of Cahirciveen, in County Kerry, one of the most forlorn, impoverished,
+and hopeless sections of the west coast. He was the son of an exile who
+fled to escape arrest and entered the service of France, and from him
+O'Connell inherited an intense prejudice and hatred of everything
+English and Protestant. He was educated in Cork for the priesthood, but
+changed his mind and was called to the bar when he was twenty-three
+years old. He immediately made a reputation, and by the time he was
+thirty was regarded as the ablest advocate in Ireland, without an equal
+in oratory. Probably no man ever surpassed him before a jury.
+
+O'Connell is regarded by many as the ablest of all Irishmen, but, as I
+have said, this claim is disputed in favor of Edmund Burke. He was
+equally strong as a politician and undertook the cause of Catholic
+emancipation in his very youth. In those days all Catholics were
+disenfranchised; they could not hold office or even vote; the schools
+were closed to them, and a Catholic child could only be taught by a
+private tutor or governess. Daniel O'Connell organized the parish
+priests for the movement and was the first to bring the clergy into
+politics. Through them he organized the people, and regular
+contributions were collected in the churches to pay the expenses of the
+campaign.
+
+O'Connell was the first Catholic to enter parliament, and the Duke of
+Wellington confessed that this was permitted only to avert a civil war.
+In 1828 he was elected to the British House of Commons, but was not
+admitted because he refused to take the anti-Catholic oath. He came back
+to his constituents and was elected again, and they continued to elect
+him, just as the merchants and bankers in the city of London continued
+to elect Baron Rothschild, who was refused admission for the same
+reason,--because he would not take the oath. He was the first Jew, as
+Daniel O'Connell was the first Roman Catholic, to obtain a seat upon the
+floor.
+
+O'Connell was elected lord mayor of Dublin in 1841 and was the first
+Catholic to hold that office. At the height of his fame and power he
+might have been a lord protector or the king of Ireland, but he
+advocated peaceful revolutions, and, like Grattan, lost his influence
+because he would not consent to the policy and the methods of the
+radical and revolutionary element. In 1847 he went to address a meeting
+of his sympathizers at Clontarf, a suburb of Dublin, where Brian Boru
+won his great victory over the Danes in the last battle between
+Christianity and heathenism upon the soil of Ireland. The meeting had
+been forbidden by the authorities, and O'Connell was arrested,
+convicted, and sentenced to prison for two months. This broke him down.
+When he was released he left Dublin, started for Rome, and died at Genoa
+on his way. He is buried in Prospect Cemetery under a lofty tower. His
+will may be seen in the public records office in the Four Courts. He
+married his cousin, Mary O'Connell, and had four sons, all of whom were
+men of character and ability and have served in the British parliament.
+
+The anniversary of the birth of Thomas Moore is celebrated in Dublin
+every summer, and a programme of his "Irish Melodies" is sung by local
+musicians--sweet old-fashioned ballads like "The Harp That Once through
+Tara's Halls," "Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms," and
+others like them. The proceeds of the concert are devoted to a fund
+which is to be raised to erect a monument in memory of this most popular
+of Irish poets, whose songs are heard in every cottage in Ireland. His
+most pretentious poem, a Persian epic called "Lalla Rookh," brought
+$15,000,--the highest price ever paid for a poem. Scott's "Lady of the
+Lake" and some of Tennyson's and perhaps Kipling's poems and other
+poets', have received larger sums in royalties, but no other man was
+paid so much for his verses in advance of their publication.
+
+Moore was born in a little house on Aungier Street, Dublin, which is
+unfortunately now a filthy saloon. He was educated in a little grammar
+school in Johnston's Court, off Grafton Street, near the Shelbourne
+Hotel, where Richard Brinsley Sheridan was also a pupil. Petty, the
+first great Irish scientist, who was also a physician and surveyor, was
+educated there. His book of surveys made for Oliver Cromwell is still
+used by the authorities.
+
+Tom Moore was a chum of Robert Emmet at Trinity College. After
+graduation he entered journalism and was connected with the _London
+Times_ and the _London Chronicle_. He went to Bermuda as British consul
+in 1803, and visited the United States before he returned. He was
+lionized everywhere because his plaintive Irish ballads, which he set to
+the music of the oldest peasant airs, were in the portfolio of every
+musician in the civilized world, and his social attractions made him a
+welcome guest. When he returned to England he was given a pension of
+$1,000 a year until his death.
+
+Volumes might be written concerning the literary reminiscences of
+Dublin. Addison was private secretary to the notorious viceroy Wharton,
+and the evidence indicates that his behavior was not so blameless as the
+readers of Macaulay's sketch of his life would infer. His official
+correspondence shows that he was not exempt from the usual weaknesses of
+humanity and not above making an honest penny out of his office. He
+seemed to be avaricious, and, although holding a position of the closest
+confidence to the lord lieutenant, took an interest in several
+commercial ventures that were not entirely beyond criticism.
+
+Samuel Lover and Charles Lever, those two greatest of all delineators of
+Irish character, were both born and educated in Dublin and did most of
+their work there. Their graphic sketches of Irish life may have been
+accurate in their day, and now and then, I am told, appears one of the
+rollicking types of the Irishman they describe; but, while the character
+of the race may not be changed, its habits and customs are quite
+different from those of the period they describe. There's a grammar
+school at which Tom Moore and Richard Brinsley Sheridan both received
+their education. Sheridan was born on the same block, and the house is
+marked by a tablet. Another tablet near the entrance of a house only a
+few steps distant shows where Sir William Hamilton, the great Irish
+mathematician, lived. Mrs. Hemans, that gentle hymn writer, whose lines
+were much more familiar to the reading public half a century ago than
+they are to-day, lived and died in the same neighborhood, and was buried
+in St. Anne's Church, near by. Her epitaph, taken from one of her own
+serene poems, reads:
+
+          "Calm on the bosom of thy God,
+            Fair spirit, rest thee now!
+          Even while with us thy footsteps trod,
+            His seal was on thy brow."
+
+[Illustration: ST. STEPHEN'S GREEN. DUBLIN]
+
+Near by the home of Mrs. Hemans is the Royal Irish Academy, occupying a
+fine old mansion, once the residence of Lord Northland. It is the oldest
+and most influential of the learned societies of Ireland, and possesses
+a large number of ancient manuscripts in the Gaelic tongue, most of
+them, despite their great age, beautifully clear and legible. The
+academy, according to its charter, was founded "for the encouragement of
+science, polite literature, and antiquities." There is a good deal of
+interest in the attempt to revive the Gaelic tongue, but the bitter
+partisanship of politics renders polite literature quite useless.
+
+There is a great deal that is green about Dublin, and the remark is not
+intended as a joke. There are several fine parks and breathing-places
+scattered about the city. Many of the residences have large back yards
+filled with trees and flowers that are hidden from the public by the
+high walls that guard them from the street, but one can see them from
+the tops of the tram cars as he rides about. The suburbs of the city are
+very attractive, with plenty of large trees and vine-clad walls and
+pretty gardens, and here and there a tennis court. As you look down upon
+the city from a tall tower there is almost as much foliage as in
+Washington. Phoenix Park is famous, and one of the largest public
+playgrounds in the world.
+
+St. Stephen's Green is a rectangular inclosure, twenty-two acres in
+extent and corresponding to four city blocks, in the fashionable
+quarter, and is surrounded by the mansions of the nobility and the homes
+of the rich. Lord Iveagh, the representative of the Guinness Brewery
+family, has a residence on one of the sides, and the archbishop's palace
+is on the other side, near the Shelbourne Hotel, which is the best in
+the city, and several clubs. St. Stephen's is handsomely laid out, and
+has what I have never seen before in a city square,--a bridle-path
+nearly a mile long around the interior of the fence, where several
+gentlemen take their exercise on horseback in the morning.
+
+Sir Walter Scott was entertained in what he writes was "a very large and
+stately house in Stephen's Green, which I am told is the most extensive
+square in Europe," and, writing to his wife, he said, "The streets
+contain a number of public buildings of the finest architecture I have
+seen anywhere in Britain."
+
+A few blocks away from St. Stephen's Green is another large park known
+as Merrion Square, which is a private inclosure like many of the small
+parks in the city of London, and is accessible only to the residents of
+the neighborhood, who, I understand, purchased the land and made it into
+a park two or three hundred years ago, so that the public has no rights
+there. Each of the leaseholders who are entitled to its privileges is
+required to pay $5 a year for maintaining it and "half a crown for a key
+to the gates," as I was informed by a policeman on that beat. It is a
+pretty place, with deep, lustrous turf such as you seldom see outside of
+the British Isles, and find in Ireland smoother and richer and greener
+than anywhere else. There are a pond and several tennis courts, cricket
+and croquet grounds, which are occupied every afternoon by the rich
+families in the neighborhood; and it makes you feel a little resentful
+to see the children of the poor, who need that breathing space more than
+the owners, peeking through between the iron pickets. It is said that
+this square plot of ground, which is equal to four ordinary squares in
+area, was formerly a pond, and that the Duke of Leinster in early days
+used to sail a boat upon it. But it was drained two hundred years ago or
+more, and the splendid great trees that are growing there now were then
+planted. Leinster House is in the neighborhood.
+
+The residences around St. Stephen's Green and Merrion Square are built
+of ugly brown bricks, but are spacious in their proportions, and were
+intended for large families of ample means, and the aristocracy have
+always occupied them. The Duke of Rutland has one of the largest, and in
+Merrion Street, just around the corner, at No. 24, in a large house now
+occupied by the land commission, the great Duke of Wellington was born.
+It was the town residence of the Earl of Mornington, his father, and her
+ladyship came in from Dangan Castle, twenty-four miles outside the city,
+and the country residence of the family, a few days before the event,
+which occurred on April 29, 1769. There is nothing either in the castle
+or in the town house to interest people to-day, except that they were
+the birthplace and the home of one of the greatest of Irishmen, and his
+fellow countrymen have raised a shaft, similar to that at Washington, in
+Phoenix Park in his honor.
+
+Across from Merrion Square is the National Gallery of Ireland, which was
+built in 1864, and contains a fine collection of paintings, numbering
+about five hundred, which have been presented and purchased from time to
+time. All of the old masters are well represented, and the Dutch school
+is especially strong. Attached to the gallery is the Metropolitan School
+of Art, which is liberally supported by the British government, and has
+a large number of students. Corresponding to the Art Gallery, on the
+opposite side of a quadrangle known as Leinster Lawn, formerly the
+garden of the Earl of Kildare, is the Science and Art Museum and the
+Museum of Natural History. Both are well arranged and full of
+interesting things, particularly Irish antiquities, historical relics,
+and examples of Irish industries. The most precious object is an iron
+bell shaped like an ordinary cow-bell and riveted on each side, which,
+it is said, St. Patrick used to carry about with him and ring to call
+the people together to hear mass. It is accompanied by a silver "shrine"
+or case for its protection, made in the year 1100 at the expense of
+Donald O'Laughlan, king of Ireland from 1091 to 1105. The "Annals of
+Ulster," written in the year 552, refer to this precious object as "The
+Bell of the Will," and its history is known from that date. It came into
+possession of the Archbishop of Armagh in 1044, and was among the relics
+in the cathedral there until it was brought to the museum in 1869. No
+one here seems to doubt that it is genuine.
+
+In the adjoining case is another "shrine," as the case or covering for
+sacred relics is called, that contains a tooth of St. Patrick, which,
+according to the tradition, was loosened and fell from his mouth on the
+door-sill of St. Brone's Church at Killaspugbrone in County Sligo, and
+can be accounted for all these years.
+
+A brooch formerly worn by the King of Tara is also shown as an example
+of the prehistoric work of the silversmiths of Ireland, with many other
+beautiful pieces of silver and gold which were dug up in the bogs.
+
+Between the museum and the library is a fine old mansion known as
+Leinster House, or Kildare House, erected by the great earls of Kildare,
+the leaders of the Geraldines, who chose this spot four hundred years
+ago for the location of the largest and at that time the most
+magnificent city residence in Ireland. It once stood in the center of
+large grounds, but they have been sold off from time to time, and nearly
+a hundred years ago the residence passed into the possession of the
+Royal Dublin Society, which has made it the center of activity during
+its long and honored career in encouraging and developing the arts,
+science, and industries of Ireland. The membership of the Royal Dublin
+Society for two centuries has included all of the famous men of this
+nation, and they have rendered a very important service. The Royal
+Library, the National Gallery, the Museum of Natural History, and the
+Museum of Antiquities owe their existence to this venerable institution,
+and its influence has gathered the greater part of the pictures in the
+gallery and the articles of interest in the museums.
+
+Kildare House is a severe pile of black stone, and the guide-book says
+that "the White House at Washington is largely a reproduction of its
+main features, though the American building has a semicircular
+colonnaded porch, which rather conceals the likeness." But a resident of
+Washington would find little resemblance between the two buildings,
+except that they are about the same size and both have windows and a
+roof.
+
+The corner stone bears a curious inscription in stilted Latin, which
+illustrates the lofty pride of the earls of Kildare. It is addressed to
+"The Casual Explorer, who may find it among the stately ruins of a
+fallen house, and bids him mark the greatness of the noble builders and
+the uncertainty of all things terrestrial, when the men who raise such
+splendid monuments can rise superior to misfortune."
+
+There are several other fine old edifices in the neighborhood, but
+unfortunately many of the historic houses are passing away from the
+families who built and lived in them, and are now being used for public
+offices or business purposes.
+
+About half a mile from Trinity College, on the road to Phoenix Park,
+is the ancient prison of Dublin, called Newgate, after a similar
+institution in London, and it has had a similar history. It has been the
+scene of horrible incidents; it has detained many of the purest and
+ablest martyrs for Irish liberty within its walls, and a hundred years
+ago it was frequently described in sketches of Irish life, in terms
+similar to those that were written of the Fleet Prison and Newgate in
+London. It was customary to have executions outside the walls in public,
+and the night before they were hung favored criminals were allowed to
+entertain their friends in a reckless, disgraceful carousal. Such a
+scene is described in a ribald song entitled "The Night before Larry was
+Stretched."
+
+          "Then in came the priest with his book,
+            And spoke to him smooth and so civil.
+          Larry tipped him a Kilmainham look,
+            Then pitched his big wig to the devil;
+          Then raising a little his head,
+            To get a swate drop of the bottle,
+          And painfully sighing he said,
+            O, the hemp will be soon round my throttle."
+
+Phoenix Park has about eighteen hundred acres of lawn, flower beds,
+forest, meadow, and pasture, and nineteen miles of perfect roadway. It
+is open to the public at all times and there are no restrictions. A
+horseback rider can gallop over the grass anywhere, cricket matches can
+be played wherever is most convenient to the players. Racing meetings
+are held on the turf several days in each month, the course being laid
+out by movable fences. Polo, hockey, football, and all other kinds of
+outdoor games are going on all the time, and almost the entire working
+population of Dublin may be seen scattered over the park during these
+long summer evenings, when one can read outdoors until after nine
+o'clock. There is no more beautiful park, and no greater enjoyment is
+found in any similar place in the world.
+
+The viceregal lodge, in which the lord lieutenant of Ireland resides
+nine months in the year, is in the center of the park, surrounded by an
+inclosure of fifteen acres with a garden, stables, and cottages for the
+servants. The chief secretary of Ireland and the under secretary have
+official residences in the same neighborhood, provided by the state.
+Immediately before the windows of the viceregal lodge Lord Frederick
+Cavendish, chief secretary for Ireland, and Thomas H. Burke, the under
+secretary, were assassinated in 1882. The assassination was witnessed by
+the occupants of the lodge, but before they could reach the place the
+assassins had escaped. The spot is now marked in an unobtrusive manner.
+
+Phoenix Park was formerly owned by the Knights of St. John. When their
+lands were confiscated by Henry VIII. at the time of the Reformation,
+the monastery was selected as the official residence of the viceroy.
+Additional grounds were purchased later by the Duke of Ormonde, when he
+was viceroy, and the great Chesterfield, when he held the office, did
+the landscape gardening, which illustrates his exquisite taste. The park
+is beautiful always, they say, but it could not be more beautiful than
+it is in May, when the hawthorn trees are white with blossom, the furze
+bushes are blazing with orange, and the rhododendrons, which grow to
+enormous size, are great banks of purple against the rich, deep foliage.
+Every flower that grows in that climate seems to be in bloom, and
+Phoenix Park looks as if it had just left the hands of the Creator.
+
+
+
+
+                                  VII
+
+                      THE OLD AND NEW UNIVERSITIES
+
+
+Imagine a university and a campus of forty-seven acres of lawn and grove
+where Trinity Church stands in New York or where the post office stands
+in Chicago or St. Louis. In Washington we have something like it in the
+mall where the National Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, and the
+Agricultural Department are. Trinity College, Dublin, has an equally
+expansive setting of green grass and grove and flowering shrubs, cricket
+grounds, and tennis courts, surrounded on all sides by business houses,
+clubs, and hotels. It is like an island of verdure in the midst of an
+ocean of trade and commerce. On one side of the campus the outside world
+is kept at bay by a continuous line of dormitories and lecture-rooms
+which overlook a busy street from the windows of one wall and a peaceful
+lawn from the windows of the other. On the south side the barrier is a
+high iron picket fence hidden in a wonderful hedge of hawthorn and
+laburnum bushes. On the other side of that hedge are shops, and a
+street-car line that leads to the more attractive part of the city.
+There are only two entrances to the college green, one at the east end
+and the other at the west, and it is nearly a half mile walk from one to
+the other across the green and among the buildings. The main entrance
+and the main buildings face the Bank of Ireland and look upon Dame
+Street, which is the Wall Street of Dublin. There is a little green
+crescent to divide the entrance from the street, with bronze figures of
+Edmund Burke and Oliver Goldsmith, two of the most distinguished of the
+alumni.
+
+The main building is a fine example of architecture, and the house of
+the provost, which adjoins it, is a gem of the Elizabethan type. The
+other buildings are unpretentious. They are rather low and long and
+plain, in excellent proportions, but without particular individuality,
+although the engineering building, which stands out on the campus, is an
+exquisite example of modern architecture, and Ruskin pronounced it the
+most beautiful modern structure in the United Kingdom.
+
+As you enter through a low archway under the main building you come into
+a quadrangle formed by a dormitory and an examination hall at the right.
+Beyond that is a library. Another dormitory stands on the left, and the
+chapel and the dining-hall (the last two have Grecian porticos), and
+directly before you a bell tower of beautiful and original design
+erected about one hundred years ago. Beyond the first quadrangle is
+another, which is gloomy and uninviting. The buildings are plain, and
+the dark stone of which they are made is not cheerful. The students call
+it "Botany Bay," because of the prison-like style of the architecture
+and its uninviting appearance. The buildings surrounding it are
+dormitories, and in one of them, No. 11, Oliver Goldsmith roomed. He
+wrote his autograph with a diamond upon one of the panes of glass, which
+has since been removed and preserved in the library, where it lies in a
+case beside the original manuscript of Handel's oratorio, "The Messiah,"
+which was given there for the first time in 1745. A portion of it was
+written in England, but it was completed in Dublin and sung by a Dublin
+choral society immediately after.
+
+In "Botany Bay" is a pump of great age and much history. In early days
+it was the focus of academic disorder, and any policeman, sheriff, or
+bailiff who dared violate the sacred precincts of Trinity was purged of
+his guilt by a thorough ducking. The origin of this form of punishment
+is attributed to a famous Dr. Wilder, who for many years was provost of
+the college. He happened to be crossing the campus one day, when a
+bailiff, who had a writ to serve, was being baited by a group of
+students, and called out to them something like this: "Young gentlemen,
+be careful that you do not put him under the pump," and they took the
+hint.
+
+[Illustration: QUADRANGLE, TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN]
+
+Another version of the story is that Dr. Wilder cried out, "Young
+gentlemen, for the love of God don't be so cruel as to nail his ears to
+the pump;" and certain authors have claimed that they interpreted him to
+mean the reverse, and did what he had forbidden them. But I am assured
+by competent authority that the former and more humane version is the
+true one, and all agree that ever since those boisterous days every
+officer of the law who has been caught within the college grounds has
+been given an involuntary bath from "Old Mary."
+
+The war between the students and the police has continued ever since the
+foundation of the college, and as the buildings are situated in the very
+center of the city these conflicts have been unexpected and more
+frequent than they might have been otherwise. In former days "Trinity
+boys" never went out of the grounds without their peculiar weapons,
+which were the massive keys of their rooms, about six inches long and
+weighing a half a pound or more, which they would sling in handkerchiefs
+or in the skirts of their gowns and use very effectively for offense or
+defense, as the case might be. On one occasion several students were
+captured and hustled off from their fellows to a butcher-shop, where
+they were hung from the meat hooks. The rumor ran like a prairie fire
+that the captives had been impaled, but when the rescuing party arrived
+it was discovered that they were hanging only by the waistbands of their
+breeches.
+
+The walls of Examination Hall are hung with portraits of eminent men,
+and in one corner is a full-length painting of Queen Elizabeth, the
+founder. There is a superstition among the students that the picture has
+an evil eye, and that whoever sits within her sphere of influence at
+examinations is bound to fail. Hence the benches in that neighborhood
+are empty. But a certain alcove in the library is quite crowded. Several
+full sets of examination papers are preserved from year to year in that
+particular alcove, and every day during examination weeks it is filled
+with students cramming from them.
+
+Across the quadrangle is the chapel. It is not specially interesting,
+although there is some fine wood-carving in the stalls. The students are
+required to wear surplices, and look very awkward in them, although the
+white gowns light up the room and make it much more cheerful than if
+they wore black. When I attended service Sunday morning two-thirds of
+the stalls were vacant, although attendance is supposed to be
+compulsory. I counted exactly one hundred and four persons present,
+including the preacher, the professors, and ten boys in the choir. These
+boys belong to the choir of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and are loaned to
+the college authorities in order to increase the interest of the Sunday
+services. It is considered the finest choir in Ireland, but that isn't
+saying much.
+
+The organ in the gallery has a curious history. It was made in the
+Netherlands for some church in Spain, and was on its way when the ship
+was captured in 1702. The Duke of Ormonde, serving in the fleet, claimed
+the organ as his part of the prize money, and presented it to the
+college. Many of the old pipes have been replaced, but the case remains
+the same. Another interesting relic is a great chandelier which formerly
+hung in the House of Commons when the Irish parliament occupied the
+building now used for the Bank of Ireland.
+
+Beyond the chapel is a curious-looking recumbent statue made of onyx,
+which has been crumbling so rapidly for years that it now bears very
+little resemblance to a human form, and the features are entirely
+effaced. The students claim that it was intended for Queen Elizabeth,
+the founder, but it was really a figure of Luke Chaloner, one of the
+first promoters of the institution.
+
+The grounds occupied by the college once belonged to All Hallows
+monastery, which was suppressed by Henry VIII. and the property
+confiscated. It stood well outside of the city walls and was unoccupied
+when, toward the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a number of Dublin
+scholars raised a fund of £2,000 to establish an institution for higher
+education. Queen Elizabeth gave the confiscated estates of several rebel
+chiefs and James I. increased the endowment, but it was not until the
+reign of William and Anne that the college was really prosperous. They
+were very generous toward it, and the Irish parliament made liberal
+grants. But many a time the fellows have been compelled to melt up the
+college plate and resort to other desperate means to find money to pay
+for food and fuel.
+
+During the entire history of the institution its faculty and students
+have been loyal to the British government and to the Protestant church.
+It has refused to receive Roman Catholics into the faculty, and for
+centuries Roman Catholics were prohibited from enjoying its advantages
+in education. Therefore it is not strange that it is under the ban of
+that church, and there has not been a Catholic student upon the rolls
+for many years. An Irish Roman Catholic gentleman remarked one day to a
+member of the faculty: "If I had wanted to send my son to Trinity I
+would have to fight first my priest, second my bishop, and third my
+wife. Therefore I sent him to Oxford."
+
+There are now five departments in the university,--the regular academic
+department, and schools of law, medicine, theology, and engineering.
+There are in attendance to-day twelve hundred and forty-one students.
+
+Although the institution is familiarly known as Trinity College, that is
+the title of the academic department, and with its affiliated schools it
+constitutes the University of Dublin. The charter bears date of March
+24, 1591, under the title of "The College of the Holy and Undivided
+Trinity, near Dublin." Previous to 1873 the faculty, the fellows, and
+those who held scholarships must be members of the Church of Ireland.
+Since then all restrictions or disabilities have been removed, although
+the history and traditions of the institution will not permit any
+self-respecting Roman Catholic to send his son there.
+
+Rank is strictly recognized among the students. Noblemen, sons of
+noblemen, and baronets are matriculated as such under the titles of
+nobilis, filius nobilis, and equas; ordinary students are called
+pensioners. Sizars are students of limited means, who must make oath
+that their fathers' incomes are less than $500 a year, which exempts
+them from all fees and gives them their commons or meals free of
+expense. Pensioners pay $60 a year, fellow commoners $150, and noblemen
+$300. When a young man enters in either of these classes he selects his
+tutor and makes application for a room, which is assigned him as
+vacancies occur, and he is recorded. A deposit of from $40 to $150 is
+required as security against any injury to the property. The room rent
+varies from $20 to $100 a year. All students are compelled to attend
+chapel, both in the morning at half-past eight and in the evening at
+nine o'clock, and wear surplices, but upon certificates may be allowed
+to attend one of the Presbyterian churches.
+
+At half-past ten every Saturday morning the junior dean appears at the
+hall and reads out the names of all students who have violated the rules
+or neglected their duties during the week, and those who are present may
+offer excuses, which may or may not be accepted by the dean. If they are
+not accepted the student is fined a sum of money in lieu of other
+punishment, and these fines are added to the commons fund, which goes to
+pay for the meals of the students and is controlled by the "clerk of the
+buttery books."
+
+Fellow commoners pay seven shillings and sixpence a week for board,
+pensioners five shillings, and members of the nobility ten shillings. A
+fine of five shillings a week is imposed upon all students actually
+resident in college who do not take their meals at the commons.
+
+Ten students holding scholarships, called "waiters," are annually
+appointed to say grace before and after meat in the commons hall, which
+must be repeated in Latin in a form prescribed by the statutes of the
+college. All students are required to be in the college grounds before
+nine o'clock for roll-call. After roll-call no one is permitted to pass
+the gates without a written order from the dean. Those who do so are
+severely fined.
+
+[Illustration: MAIN ENTRANCE, TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN]
+
+Trinity College is one of the few great institutions of Europe which
+give full degrees to women on the same terms as to men. There is no
+distinction in rules or conditions or in any other respect. Women are
+admitted to all of the several schools--arts, science, engineering, law,
+and medicine--on an equal footing. There are now about one hundred in
+attendance. At first the university gave degrees to all women who could
+pass the regular examinations, and they came here in droves from Oxford,
+Cambridge, and other institutions where they had been hearing lectures
+but are not given degrees. All they had to do was to enter the
+examinations and fulfill the requirements. But two years ago this
+practice was stopped, and now no degrees are conferred upon young women
+who do not take the full course at Trinity. The fees are the same as for
+men--$50. The women students are mostly Irish, although a few English
+girls, who are not satisfied with the certificates given them at
+Cambridge and Oxford, come over here from Girton and other institutions
+and work for the full degrees of B.A., B.S., Ph.D., and even for
+diplomas in law and medicine. To accommodate them the university has
+recently purchased a fine old mansion in Palmerston Park, where fifty or
+sixty girls are now lodged under the care of a matron, subject to rules
+similar to those which govern the men students in the dormitories on
+University Green. Twenty-two degrees were granted to women in 1908, and
+about the same number in 1907, chiefly in the department of arts, which
+is the same as our academic courses, and most of the recipients are
+intending to be teachers in women's schools and colleges.
+
+The story of the invasion of Trinity College by women is quite
+interesting. The charter, which was granted by Queen Elizabeth,
+recognizes no distinction of sex, race, or religion, and when Professor
+Sylvester, now in the chair of mathematics in one of our American
+colleges, was refused a degree at Cambridge because he was a Jew, he
+came here, passed his examinations, and was given one. This opened the
+gates, and several young women who had been denied degrees at Oxford and
+Cambridge came to test their rights. On June 9, 1903, the senate of the
+university passed a resolution "that it is desirable that the degrees of
+Trinity College, Dublin, shall be open to women, and that his majesty's
+government be requested to obtain a king's letter empowering the
+university to grant degrees to women on such terms and conditions as may
+seem to the board and council, within their respective provinces, on
+full consideration, to be most expedient."
+
+On January 16, 1904, "Edward VII., by the Grace of God of the United
+Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond
+the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, sends greetings to all to whom
+these presents shall come, with information that by the advice of our
+Right Trusty and Right Well Beloved Cousin and Councillor, William
+Humble, Earl of Dudley, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order;
+Lord Lieutenant General and Governor-General of that part of our said
+United Kingdom called Ireland, do by these presents authorize and
+empower the said Provosts and Senior Fellows and their successors in
+office, and the said Senate of the University of Dublin, and the Caput
+of the said Senate and all members thereof and all other persons or
+bodies whose concurrence is necessary for the granting of degrees, to
+interpret the charter and the statutes of said college in such a manner
+that women may obtain degrees in the said University, all previous laws,
+ordinances, and interpretations notwithstanding."
+
+Under this authority on May 5, 1904, the board adopted rules admitting
+women to all lectures, examinations, degrees, and prizes except
+fellowships and scholarships, their fees being the same as those for
+men, and all the rules applying to them equally, except that in the
+medical department "women shall practice dissection separately from men
+and medical lectures shall be given them either separately or in
+conjunction with men, as the professors may think best."
+
+In June, 1904, the senate also passed "a grace" for giving degrees to
+women who had attained a certain prescribed status in the universities
+of Oxford and Cambridge, and had passed all the examinations and
+fulfilled all the other requirements for the granting of degrees for men
+at Trinity.
+
+The regulations require that women shall pay the same fees except those
+for the commons (meals); that "except when entering or leaving college
+they shall wear caps and gowns upon the college grounds unless
+accompanied by a chaperon." They are not expected "to remove their caps
+in the presence of the provost and fellows, and may wear them during
+lectures and examinations." They are not permitted to visit the rooms of
+men students in college unless accompanied by a chaperon. They are
+examined separately; they are not required to attend chapel, and Miss
+Lucy Gwynn was appointed lady registrar to act generally as adviser to
+the women students and to report upon their conduct.
+
+Later it was decreed by the provost and senior fellows that scholarships
+should be established for women upon the same terms as men to the value
+of $150 a year and exemption from ordinary college dues, and several
+women have already obtained them.
+
+The library of Trinity College is one of the most interesting places in
+all Ireland and it has two relics which are incomparable in historic and
+artistic value. One is the harp of Brian Boru, the greatest king in
+Irish history. He ruled all Ireland for forty years, in the tenth and
+eleventh centuries, and it is said that he was the only native that ever
+was successful in keeping Ireland in peace. This is "The Harp that Once
+through Tara's Halls," inspiring that beautiful ballad of Tom Moore. Its
+authenticity has been questioned, and some people assert that it once
+belonged to Henry VIII. of England, but no loyal Irishman will admit the
+possibility of such a thing.
+
+The other relic, which cannot be questioned, is a copy of the four
+gospels, known as "The Book of Kells," because it was made by the monks
+of a monastery founded in 546 by St. Columkills, or St. Columba,--the
+name is spelled both ways,--and the antiquarians think that it dates
+back very nearly to that year. It is often described as "the most
+beautiful book in the world," and one may easily believe such a claim to
+be true. About three hundred pages, eight by fifteen inches in size, are
+covered with the most exquisite pen-work that you can imagine, embossed
+with gold leaf and illuminated in brilliant water-colors with perfect
+harmony and marvelous skill. I have seen all of the great collections of
+missals in the world, but have never found so fine and perfect an
+example as this. There are many equally fine, but of smaller size, in
+the museums in London and the continental cities. Pierpont Morgan has
+several specimens of that sort of work, but the "Book of Kells" is
+unsurpassed both for its artistic perfection and the size of its pages,
+which are two, three, and four times larger than the best of the other
+works of the sort. Each page must have required months to execute; each
+is different in design and coloring, but is harmonious with the rest,
+and it is difficult to say which is the most wonderful and the most
+beautiful.
+
+The book was in the monastery at Kells in 1601 when that institution was
+raided by the Spaniards, and having valuable covers of gold, was stolen
+by some ignorant soldier who stripped it and threw the text into a bog
+where it was found coverless by a peasant a few days later and taken to
+Archbishop Ussher. He recognized it and kept it in his library until his
+large and unique collection of books and manuscripts was purchased by
+Cromwell and presented to Trinity College. There are other remarkable
+books in the collection, including several chronicles of the early
+history of Ireland, which are priceless, and one marvels at the artistic
+skill and labor that they represent. They are also important as
+illustrating the culture and learning of the people of Ireland at a
+period when England and the continental countries of Europe were still
+submerged in the barbarism of the Middle Ages.
+
+The library of Dublin University is one of several government
+depositories, under the Stationer's Act, and receives a copy of every
+book printed in the United Kingdom. By this method its shelves have been
+rapidly filled and the catalogues contain more than a million entries.
+
+There is another, known as the National Library, only a few squares
+away. It occupies a beautiful building erected at a cost of $750,000 to
+correspond with the National Museum, which occupies the other side of a
+quadrangle. It was opened in 1890 and has about three hundred thousand
+volumes. There is a reading-room seventy-two feet square, with a glass
+dome, where many people come daily to consult works of reference, and
+certain persons have the privilege of taking books away.
+
+A bill that had been pending in the British parliament for several years
+was passed in the summer of 1908 authorizing the establishment of two
+new universities, one at Belfast, under the auspices of the Presbyterian
+church, and the other at Dublin, under the control of the Roman
+Catholics, although both theoretically will be non-sectarian, and no
+religious tests will be required or allowed at either.
+
+The enactment of this law is a part of the contract agreed upon between
+the liberal government and the leaders of the Irish party in parliament,
+which is being carried out in good faith, and will be concluded at the
+next general election, when it is hoped that the question of home rule
+in Ireland will be submitted to the people of the United Kingdom.
+
+The Irish Catholics have been demanding a university of their own
+supported by the state for many years. There has been no institution for
+higher education at which a self-respecting Catholic could seek an
+education, because the University of Dublin represents the Church of
+Ireland, just as Oxford and Cambridge represent the Church of England,
+and until a few years ago placed a ban upon Catholics and would not
+permit them to have anything to do or say about the management. It was
+perfectly natural, therefore, that when the trustees of Trinity took off
+the ban, the synod of Maynooth should put it back, and Catholic students
+were forbidden to attend lectures there by what is known as Decree
+XXXVII. of the synod of Maynooth, declared in 1875 and confirmed by Pope
+Pius IX.
+
+Religious tests at Oxford and Cambridge were abolished in 1871, at the
+same time as at Trinity. In 1874 an attempt was made by the famous
+Monseigneur Capel, who is now living in California, to found a Roman
+Catholic university in England, but it failed, and since then the young
+men of that church have attended Cambridge and Oxford, by permission of
+the hierarchy, but the ban has never been removed from Trinity College,
+Dublin. And one cannot blame them for not removing it. They cannot
+forget the past. The Roman Catholics of Ireland were deprived of
+educational privileges for centuries, and under the penal statutes of
+Queen Anne were debarred from the learned professions. There are no
+religious tests in Trinity College to-day, it is true, and students who
+do not belong to the Church of Ireland are not required to attend
+chapel. But the atmosphere and the influences and every tendency at
+Trinity are naturally toward the Church of Ireland, which has a
+theological school as a department of the university.
+
+Three independent non-sectarian institutions, known as Queen's colleges,
+were founded by Queen Victoria about forty years ago, at Belfast,
+Galway, and Cork. These are known as "godless colleges" because they
+have no chapels, no religious exercises, and no religious instruction.
+Queen's College at Belfast, however, is distinctively a Presbyterian
+institution. Nearly all the faculty are prominent and active members of
+that denomination, and students who are intending to enter the ministry
+go from Queen's to Magee College, Londonderry, which is under the care
+of the Presbyterian general assembly. Therefore Queen's College,
+Belfast, occupies a relation to the Presbyterian denomination quite as
+intimate as that of Trinity with the Episcopalians.
+
+The same conditions apply to both the Roman Catholic theological
+seminary at Maynooth and the Presbyterian theological seminary at Magee.
+The students at both of these institutions will be excused from residing
+in the new universities, and may continue their studies exactly as at
+present, going up to Dublin and to Belfast only to receive their
+degrees. Several of the Roman Catholic colleges and the two "godless
+colleges" now supported by the state at Cork and Galway are to be made a
+part of the Roman Catholic university at Dublin, but Section 3 of the
+bill provides that "no test whatever of religious belief shall be
+imposed upon any person as a condition of his becoming or continuing to
+be a professor, lecturer, fellow, scholar, exhibitioner, graduate, or
+student of, or of his holding any office or emolument, or exercising any
+privilege in, either of the two new universities or any constituent
+college. Nor in connection with either of the new universities or any
+such constituent college shall any preference be given or advantage
+withheld from any person on account of his religious belief." It will be
+permitted, however, for religious denominations to erect chapels or
+other houses of worship in connection with either of the new
+universities with their own funds for the accommodation of students
+professing their faith, but no students shall be required to attend
+religious exercises or religious instruction, and they shall be entirely
+voluntary. It is well understood, however, and the bill is intended
+precisely for that purpose, that one of the universities shall be Roman
+Catholic and that the other shall be Presbyterian, just as the present
+University of Dublin represents the Protestant Episcopal Church of
+Ireland.
+
+Education and religion have always gone hand in hand both in ancient and
+modern Ireland. The history of one is the history of the other.
+Instruction has always been given either by or under the supervision of
+priests and monks, and there have been regular teaching orders, like the
+Christian Brothers, which combine religious with secular instruction,
+with the catechism as their chief text-book. As early as the middle of
+the sixth century the monastery schools of Ireland were famous all over
+the world, and even at that date there were three thousand students at
+Clonarde College, and an equal number at Bangor, at Monasterboice, and
+several other centers of learning. The sons of kings, chiefs, nobles,
+and other favored classes lived in the monasteries with their
+instructors, but usually each ordinary student had a little hut of sod
+built by himself, and often those from the same locality or the same
+clan built houses for their common use.
+
+All of the more important schools had students from foreign lands. An
+English bishop, writing in the year 705, says that they came in "fleet
+loads" from Great Britain and the Continent. Many of them were princes
+of royal houses. Several of the early kings of France and other
+countries were educated in Ireland, which was for three or four
+centuries the most learned country in the world. Great numbers of
+Irishmen were employed as professors and teachers in the schools and
+colleges of England and the Continent. Charlemagne, Charles the Bold,
+and other monarchs of the Middle Ages called learned men from Ireland as
+guests and as tutors in their courts, and the influence of Irish
+scholars was greater than that of those from any other country. For four
+or five hundred years after the time of St. Patrick the monasteries of
+Ireland were the center and source of science, and art and learning of
+every kind and the literature of the Gaelic reached its highest glory.
+The Danish invasion destroyed these conditions and threw everything into
+disorder. The monasteries were sacked, the monks were scattered, the
+students fled to their homes, and the development of learning and art
+suddenly was arrested. There was another revival during the reign of
+Brian Boru, but that was interrupted by the Anglo-Norman invasion, and
+Irish learning never again reached its previous fame.
+
+During the Reformation all the monasteries throughout Ireland except in
+a few remote districts were suppressed. More than four hundred were
+entirely destroyed and their inmates were turned out upon the world by
+the agents of Henry VIII. Cromwell's governors were even more severe and
+cruel, and the parliaments of 1692 and 1695 passed penal laws forbidding
+the Catholic children of the country to be educated, either in schools
+or in private houses. Education practically came to a standstill,
+although many Irish Protestants all through the country did a great deal
+in a quiet way to provide instruction for the children of Catholic
+friends and neighbors.
+
+The Relief Act of 1782 allowed Roman Catholics to open schools of their
+own, and the present national system, inaugurated in 1831, afforded
+means of education for children of all denominations under the
+supervision of their own priests, although members of different
+denominations are required to receive religious instruction separately
+and interference with the religious principles of any child is
+forbidden. From that time to the present the number of schools has been
+gradually extended, their efficiency has been improved, and the
+government appropriations for education have been slowly increased from
+year to year.
+
+The schools of Ireland are now governed by an act of parliament passed
+in 1892, and Dr. W.M.J. Starkie, national commissioner of education,
+explained the system to me as follows:
+
+"We have eight grades of primary schools," he said, "from kindergartens,
+which receive pupils three years of age, up to the eighth grade, which
+corresponds very nearly to that of the public schools in America, with
+pupils fourteen or fifteen years of age. We have a compulsory education
+law, but it is enforced according to the local conditions of different
+districts,--a sort of local option which is applied where the people of
+the counties of the districts desire it. The schools are practically
+free. By the reorganization of 1892 certain schools were permitted to
+charge fees, but no more than 1 per cent of them do so, and they are all
+Protestant. No Catholic school collects tuition.
+
+"The schools of Ireland are controlled by a national board of twenty
+members, appointed nominally by the lord lieutenant, one-half Protestant
+and one-half Catholic, and an executive council in charge of
+administration, also appointed by the lord lieutenant, one of whom, that
+is myself, is always on duty at the headquarters of the board in Dublin.
+
+"Funds for the support of the schools are voted by parliament every year
+with the usual budget, which are absolutely controlled by the board, who
+make an annual report of their disposition. This year we have
+£1,600,000, which is equivalent to about eight million dollars in your
+money. The larger amount, which is about £1,250,000, goes to the payment
+of the salaries of teachers; the next for the construction of new
+buildings and repairs; the next item is for the maintenance of central
+model schools, which are object lessons. The rate of expenditure per
+pupil is about £3, or $15, a year, and has been gradually increasing
+from time to time with the allowances that have been given us by the
+government. Ten years ago the allowance for primary education was about
+£1,250,000 or $6,250,000 in American money, and the _per capita_ was
+about $12.50.
+
+"There are now about 8,600 primary schools in Ireland, with 16,000
+teachers and an average daily attendance of 490,000 out of a school
+population enrolled of 730,000.
+
+"The following table will show the number and the average daily
+attendance at the different schools:
+
+                                         No. Schools.    Av. Attend.
+
+  Ordinary schools . . . . . . . . . . .   8,100          401,000
+  Model schools . . . . . . . . . . . . .     73            6,955
+  Convents and monasteries . . . . . . .     384           80,712
+
+"The money is divided among these different schools as follows:
+
+                                           Amount.    Per Capita.
+
+  Ordinary schools . . . . . . . . . .    £1,038,854  £2 13s 10d
+  Model schools . . . . . . . . . . . .       27,755   3 19s 10d
+  Convents and monasteries . . . . . .       164,048   2  7s  6d
+
+"The average daily attendance seems very small, and is due to several
+reasons: first, the lack of accommodations and the long distances
+between schoolhouses in the thinly settled sections along the west coast
+of Ireland, where some families are many miles from a schoolhouse, and
+where the children have no means of conveyance to reach them. In all the
+poorer sections of the country, where the men of the family go off to
+England or Scotland to do labor, the children have to stay at home and
+look after the place. They take care of the cows and the sheep and the
+pigs. Many parents make their children work where the compulsory
+education law and the child labor laws are not enforced. In the factory
+towns of northern Ireland the laws prohibit children under eleven years
+old working, and they are pretty well enforced.
+
+"The following table will show the number of children of the different
+religious denominations enrolled in the national schools:
+
+  Roman Catholic   . . . . . . . . . .  541,638, or 74.4 per cent
+  Church of Ireland  . . . . . . . . .   87,904, or 12.1 per cent
+  Presbyterian . . . . . . . . . . . .   82,434, or 11.3 per cent
+  Methodists . . . . . . . . . . . . .    9,387, or  1.3 per cent
+  Others   . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    6,794, or  0.9 per cent
+
+"Of the Catholic children a large number, perhaps 112,000, are in the
+convents. The Catholic families prefer to send their girls to be taught
+by the nuns. And about 10,000 boys are in the monasteries.
+
+"Every teacher is required to pass an examination prepared by the
+commissioner of education as a test of his or her qualifications, and
+the teacher is responsible to the educational department for the
+enforcement of the rules and the application of the methods of
+instruction that have received its indorsement. But, as a rule, teachers
+are nominated by the priests of the Roman Catholic church or the clergy
+of the Church of Ireland or those of the non-conformist churches, as the
+case may be. The consequence is that there have to be separate schools
+for each denomination, which naturally adds to the cost of maintenance.
+In two-thirds of the schools, however, you will find both Protestant and
+Catholic children. Any sect that can furnish twenty pupils can have a
+school of its own, to run it as it likes at the expense of the
+government and select its own teachers, provided the persons selected
+demonstrate their qualifications by submitting to the regular
+examinations.
+
+"Religious instruction, prayer, and other exercises of worship may take
+place before and after the ordinary school hours, during which all the
+children of whatever denomination may attend, but the regular school
+business cannot be interrupted or suspended for any religious
+instruction or worship or any arrangement that will interfere with its
+usefulness or cause any pupils inconvenience in attendance.
+
+"No pupil who is registered as a Protestant is permitted to remain in
+attendance during the time of religious instruction in case the teacher
+is a Roman Catholic, and no pupil who is registered as a Roman Catholic
+can remain in attendance during religious instruction by a teacher who
+is not a Roman Catholic, and further, no pupil can remain in attendance
+during any religious instruction whatever if his parents or guardians
+object. A public notification of the hours of religious instruction must
+be made in every school and kept posted in large letters for the
+information of the public as well as the pupils. No schoolroom can be
+connected with any place of worship; no religious emblems or emblems of
+a political nature can be exhibited in any schoolroom, and no
+inscription which contains the name of any religious denomination.
+
+"Thus we have, as you will see, all points guarded against religious
+proselyting. Monks and nuns are eligible as teachers if they pass the
+examinations, and any convent or monastery can be made a national school
+by accepting the regulations and observing them.
+
+"The salaries for men teachers range from £77 to £175, and for women
+from £65 to £141, according to length of service, experience, the grade
+of the school, and the number of pupils.
+
+"We are introducing some modern ideas similar to those you have in
+America. We have already introduced cooking into a thousand schools and
+are introducing Gaelic as fast as the teachers can be found, but they
+are very scarce. We furnish special instruction in the teachers'
+colleges, or normal schools as you call them, and to excite the interest
+of the children special prizes are offered for proficiency in Gaelic.
+
+"We are improving our school buildings generally, and parliament has
+allowed £40,000 a year for three years for building new primary
+schoolhouses.
+
+"Our secondary or intermediate schools are under the supervision of a
+different board, also appointed by the lord lieutenant, and they
+distribute £85,000 a year in grants to about four hundred different
+institutions, preparatory, collegiate, and university."
+
+"What is the ratio of illiteracy in Ireland?"
+
+"It has gradually been reduced from 53 per cent of the population in
+1841, the first census taken after the establishment of the national
+school system, to 18 per cent in 1891 and 14 per cent in 1901. The ratio
+of illiterates is being reduced nearly 1 per cent per year, and it is
+calculated from five years old and upward. If the minimum age were made
+seven years the ratio would be very much less. It is the old people and
+the little ones under seven years who cannot read and write, and many
+adults claim that they are unable to do so for their own reasons."
+
+
+
+
+                                  VIII
+
+                           ROUND ABOUT DUBLIN
+
+
+The street-car system of Dublin is excellent. It reaches every part of
+the city and all the lovely suburbs, and every line starts at a lofty
+column, which was erected many years ago in the middle of the principal
+street in honor of Horatio Nelson, the greatest of Irish sailors, the
+hero of the battle of Trafalgar. The cars are large and neatly kept, the
+conductors and motormen are very polite and love to give information to
+strangers, although they are paid only thirty and thirty-six shillings a
+week, which would certainly make men of their occupation very reticent
+in America. The roofs of the cars are arranged with comfortable seats,
+from which one can see everything within the range of human vision and
+gratify his curiosity about what is behind the high stone walls, green
+with lichen and ivy and overhung with lustrous boughs. There isn't much
+satisfaction going about in an automobile in the immediate vicinity of
+Dublin, because the roadways are mere tunnels between walls eight feet
+high and overhung with foliage, which makes a perpetual twilight, a
+damp, cool atmosphere, a dustless ride, and a picturesqueness that an
+artist would admire. The owners of suburban homes have shut themselves
+in so successfully that nobody can see what they are doing or enjoy the
+wondrous beauties of their private parks. But the seats on the top of a
+tram car permit the public to penetrate their secrets, give an abundance
+of fresh air, gratify the love of motion that we all inherited from our
+savage ancestors, and enable us to look beyond the barriers into
+beautiful gardens and groves.
+
+The River Liffey, as I have told you in a previous chapter, divides all
+Dublin into two parts and empties into a bay about four miles below the
+business limits of the town. The bay is famous for its beauty, and is
+closely embroidered with history, legend, and romance. One street-car
+line follows the river and the north shore as far as the ocean, and then
+turns northward to accommodate the population of several pretty
+watering-places and fishing-towns. Another line, also starting from
+Nelson's Pillar, follows the south bank of the Liffey and the bay and
+encircles a most picturesque and romantic landscape. It takes three
+hours to make a round trip by either of these routes, and one can spend
+an entire afternoon or indeed a whole day with profit on both of them.
+
+We will take the south side first. The track runs through the best
+residence section of the city and several of the prettiest suburbs down
+to the port of Kingston, where all deep-draft steamers have to receive
+and discharge their passengers and cargoes because the water is too
+shallow for them above. The turbine ferries that cross St. George's
+Channel from England land their passengers there and send them by rail
+into the city.
+
+Between the frequent villages along the train line are comfortable and
+spacious mansions surrounded by beautiful grounds owned and occupied by
+the wealthy citizens of Dublin, and occasionally there is a long row of
+"semi-detached villas" occupied by "the prosperous middle
+classes,"--brick houses of two and three stories built in pairs, with
+strips of lawn on either side and quite a little space for a garden at
+the back. Every house has a name painted on the gatepost as well as a
+number, and that is a matter of great importance, because, when Miss
+Genevieve says she lives at Heatherhurst, Princes' Crescent, it sounds a
+great deal more aristocratic than No. 1660 Rockville Road. Princes'
+Crescent is a long block of two-story brick houses on a curve in the
+street; Heatherhurst is one of them, situated about the middle, twenty
+feet front and sixty feet deep, with thirty feet of lawn in the
+foreground and a garden at the rear. And these houses are much more
+comfortable than any the city can furnish, and I do not know of any town
+so well provided with suburbs as Dublin.
+
+[Illustration: SACKVILLE STREET, DUBLIN, SHOWING NELSON'S PILLAR.]
+
+There are several historical places on the road. Beyond Booterstown
+is Blackrock, where an ancient granite cross in the center of the main
+street marks the limit of jurisdiction of the lord mayor. Many years ago
+it was customary for that official after his installation to ride out
+there and fling a dart into the waters of the bay, as a symbol of his
+right of admiralty; but these old-fashioned demonstrations of power and
+prerogative have been abandoned for stupid parades and long speeches.
+
+Just before entering Blackrock the tramway passes the entrance of a
+lovely estate christened "Frascati," after a favorite resort of Rome. It
+formerly belonged to the Duke of Leinster, and was an early seat of the
+Kildare family, and one of the strategic rendezvous of the Geraldines,
+for two centuries the strongest clan in Ireland. Frascati has a pathetic
+interest to every one, and particularly to all Irish patriots, because
+for several years it was the home of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Pamela,
+his mysterious French bride. It was there they spent their honeymoon and
+there he left that fascinating little person while he was off on
+political missions preparing for the Revolution of 1798. Her letters,
+full of domestic details and loving prattle, written during this period,
+have been preserved, and give us a charming impression of the character
+of a woman who suffered much for the cause of Irish liberty, even
+poverty and shame.
+
+Edward Fitzgerald was a brother of the Duke of Leinster and the Earl of
+Kildare, an amiable, high-minded, warm-hearted, gallant fellow of
+learning and culture and fine manners. He served as a major in the
+British forces during the American Revolution, and for a time was an
+aid-de-camp on the staff of Lord Howe. He was dismissed from the British
+army, however, for active sympathy with the French Revolution, went to
+France, and took refuge among the friends he had made there. There he
+met and married Anne Syms, better known as "Pamela," a woman of great
+personal and mental attractions, whose origin was involved in a mystery
+that was never revealed, and concerning whom many romantic stories have
+been written and told. It is generally believed that she was an
+illegitimate daughter of Philippe Égalité, Duke of Orleans, sometimes
+called "Philip the Handsome," by an Irish woman named Syms, and was,
+therefore, a half-sister of King Louis Philippe of France. By Edward
+Fitzgerald she had three children: Edward Fitzgerald, who was an officer
+in the British army; Pamela, who became the wife of Sir Guy Campbell;
+and Lucy, who became the wife of Captain Lyon of the Royal Navy. Several
+years after Fitzgerald's tragic end she married John Pitcairn, an
+American, with whom she came to the United States, and lived in
+Philadelphia until her death in 1831.
+
+While he was in Paris Lord Edward met Wolfe Tone, the leader of the
+Revolution of 1798, Arthur O'Connor, Thomas Addis Emmet, an elder
+brother of Robert Emmet, and other fellow countrymen, who were
+conspiring with the French directoire for an attack upon Ireland. He
+joined the movement with great earnestness and enthusiasm, and finally
+arranged with the French government to send a fleet of forty-three
+vessels with fifteen thousand troops under General Hoche, Wolfe Tone
+being attached to the commander's staff, to attack the Irish coast
+simultaneously with an uprising of the people. Ireland was taken by
+surprise and thrown into a panic, but Providence intervened. A violent
+gale arose, the landing was postponed, the French fleet became
+separated, and each vessel found its way back to the Continent.
+
+Lord Edward remained in France until March, 1798, when he returned to
+Dublin, was betrayed by a man named Mangan, and a guard of soldiers was
+sent to arrest him in 151 Thomas Street, just below the Bank of Ireland.
+A tablet with an inscription now marks the house. There was a desperate
+struggle, in which the captain of the guards was killed by Lord Edward,
+and the latter received a bullet in the shoulder, from which he died in
+prison a few days later at the age of thirty-two. As everybody knows,
+the rebellion was a failure, and nearly all the other leaders were
+captured and executed. Wolfe Tone was betrayed by an old school friend
+and sentenced to be shot. He tried to kill himself in prison. The
+wound, though fatal, was not immediately so, and he lay ill for several
+months before death rescued him. Poor Pamela lived in poverty and
+distress for several years before she was able to return to her friends
+in France. "Frascati," her home, now belongs to a prosperous Dublin
+tradesman.
+
+A little farther down on the shore of the bay is a monument marking the
+spot where the transport _Rochdale_, carrying the entire Ninety-seventh
+Regiment of Foot, went ashore a hundred years ago, and the names of an
+entire regiment, officers and men, were instantly erased from the
+British army list. Since then an artificial harbor has been inclosed by
+long breakwaters of masonry, giving a place of refuge for ships in
+distress.
+
+The tram line terminates in a pretty and picturesque village, called
+Dalkey, which was a medieval stronghold and the scene of many fierce
+fights, first between the earls of the Pale of Dublin and invading
+Danes, and after that with the pirates who haunted this coast for a
+century. It was a Danish settlement for several centuries, and afterward
+the most important outpost of Dublin, defended by seven great castles,
+three of which still remain in partial ruins. One of them is now
+remodeled for use as a town hall. They are imposing piles of masonry,
+and thick mats of ivy conceal the ancient wounds.
+
+We took an "outside car" at the end of the tram line at Dalkey to drive
+around the shore of the bay, which the driver assured us was the most
+beautiful in the world and even surpassed the Bay of Naples, which it is
+said to resemble, and for that reason many of the names are the same.
+The resemblance might possibly be detected by a person with a vigorous
+imagination. Killiney Bay, however, is a lovely sheet of water,
+surrounded by high bluffs that are clad in June with glowing garments of
+gorse and hawthorn. The first is a low bush which has a brilliant yellow
+flower, and the hawthorn trees are as white as banks of snow. The land
+is divided into meadows and pastures on the slopes by hedges of
+hawthorn, and the turf is concealed by millions of buttercups as yellow
+as gold. It is a rocky coast. Rugged crags that break out give a stern
+expression to the picture, and sometimes rise a hundred feet or more in
+frowning precipices of black granite.
+
+Here and there the towers of a castle or the chimneys of a villa arise
+from banks of foliage, and, perched along the bluff above the seashore,
+like the chalets of Switzerland, are comfortable cottages and mansions
+in which rich people from Dublin dwell. Clinging to the side of the
+bluff and protected by a stone wall is a splendid roadway encircling the
+entire bay, quite as beautiful, although on a smaller scale, as the
+Corniche road from Nice to Monte Carlo. The deep blue of the water, the
+vivid green of the foliage, which seems more pronounced in Ireland than
+anywhere I have ever been, the great white banks of hawthorn, the yellow
+of the buttercups and the gorse give a brilliancy to the landscape that
+does not appear anywhere on the Riviera or anywhere else I know.
+
+The winding road with this wonderful panorama always before you leads
+finally through a glen into a park named after the late Queen
+Victoria,--a wild stretch of rocky woodland and pasture, which in
+ancient days was one of the principal meeting places of the Druids, and
+it was well chosen. The land was purchased by subscription to
+commemorate the queen's jubilee in 1897, and has been thrown open to the
+public ever since. From the number of people who are present every
+Sunday afternoon one would think the money was well invested.
+
+A winding path leads to the summit, which is cleared of trees, and in
+the center a shaft of stone rises about sixty feet, which, the
+inscription tells us in quaint and laconic manner, was erected by John
+Mapas, Esquire, June, 1742, in order to give employment to his less
+fortunate neighbors, "last year being hard with the poor." A hundred
+yards distant is a round, conical tower marked, "Mont Mapas." Nobody
+seems to know who erected it or what it is for. And there is a pyramid
+of seven tiers of stone thirty feet square at the base and eighteen feet
+high, with a flat stone at the top.
+
+There is a monument to mark the spot where the Duke of Dorset was killed
+by being thrown from his horse in 1815, and what is more interesting,
+four Druid judgment seats, formed of rough granite blocks about twelve
+feet long, two feet high, and three and a half feet wide at the top.
+They are situated in pairs some distance from each other, and tradition
+says that the Druid chiefs in prehistoric times sat in judgment upon
+them to settle disputes between their people and to receive petitions
+from the members of their tribes. Of course, we know that Ireland was
+held by the Druids once, and it is very certain that they could not have
+found a more appropriate or a lovelier place than this for their
+assemblies.
+
+We took our luncheon at the Washington Inn at Dalkey, where a large and
+familiar engraving of George Washington, a picture of Sulgrave Manor,
+the English home of the Washingtons, a pedigree of the family, and a
+representation of its coat of arms, showing its development into the
+Stars and Stripes, hung upon the wall. I asked the landlady the whys and
+wherefores of all this, and she told me that her name is Martha
+Washington and that she is very proud of it. Her ancestors came from
+Sulgrave, where they trace their relationship to the Father of our
+Country.
+
+Another trolley line, with cars marked "Howth" (pronounced Ho-th),
+starting from the same place, Nelson's Pillar, on Sackville Street, will
+take you entirely around the great island hill at the north entrance of
+the harbor of Dublin and for a mile or two on the shore of the Irish
+Sea. For the first fifteen or twenty minutes the car runs through the
+busy streets of the city, past the Amiens railway station, which, a
+friendly priest who occupied the adjoining seat told me, occupies the
+site of the house in which Charles Lever wrote "Harry Lorrequer,"
+"Charles O'Malley," and other famous novels, and the good father sighed
+when he said that the reckless gayety and the jolly folks that Lever
+painted with his pen existed no longer. He was a most interesting
+companion was this friendly priest, and talked incessantly of the scenes
+and associations through which our little journey led.
+
+We passed a monumental gate supported by two classic columns. One of
+them was marked in large letters "Deo Duce" and the other "Ferro
+Comitante" (With God for my guide and a sword by my side), which, he
+told me, was the motto upon the coat of arms of the great Lord
+Charlemont, who had taken so active a part in the history of Ireland. It
+was a famous family, he said, although the present earls are decadents
+and have no place in public affairs.
+
+This ancient family seat, called "Marino," was built at a tremendous
+cost by a _dilettante_ earl who never allowed his expenditures to
+trouble him, but left the anxiety entirely to his creditors. The
+interior of the villa at the time it was built was the perfection of art
+and luxury. The floors, the ceilings, and the wainscoting were of
+mosaic. The walls were hung with the finest Irish poplin and decorated
+by the most noted artists of the time. The villa has been the scene of
+ghastly carousals and assemblies of the finest intellects in Ireland.
+The grave and the gay have gathered and dined beneath its roof, but the
+estate was sacrificed to the extravagance of the family, and its
+splendor, somewhat tarnished and rusty, to be sure, is now enjoyed by
+the students of the Christian Brothers, who occupy the beautiful villa
+for a school.
+
+On one side of the car line high walls shut out to the ordinary
+passer-by the beauties they are intended to protect, but from the top of
+the tram cars any one can share them for "tuppence." On the other side
+is the water, the Bay of Dublin, and, running parallel with the shore,
+is a long spit of land called the North Bull, which was formerly a
+terrible menace to the commerce of the coast. Nearly every winter's gale
+sent a ship or two to destruction, and the bodies of hundreds of poor
+seamen have been washed up where the children are now playing in the
+sand. Here and there the skeletons of dead vessels may yet be seen, but
+the North Bull is no longer dangerous. Modern devices protect
+navigation, and in the midst of the heather and the glowing yellow gorse
+golf links have been laid out and a clubhouse has been erected,
+surrounded by lilacs, laburnums, and hawthorns, now in the full glory of
+their bloom. It is only twenty minutes' ride by street car from the
+center of Dublin, and the business men can come out here to spend the
+long summer evenings at their sport.
+
+[Illustration: BAILEY LIGHT AT HOWTH, MOUTH OF DUBLIN BAY]
+
+A little farther on is a beautiful mansion built in 1835 upon the site
+and with the materials of Clontarf Castle, one of the oldest and most
+famous within the English Pale--which was an area sixty miles long and
+thirty miles wide around the city of Dublin. The castle originally
+belonged to the Knights Templar, and from them passed to the Knights of
+St. John. In 1541 it was surrendered to the crown by Sir John Rawson,
+prior of Kilmainham, who was created Viscount of Clontarf as
+compensation.
+
+The famous battle of Clontarf, the final struggle between Christianity
+and heathenism on the soil of Ireland, was fought here on Good Friday in
+the year 1014 between the Danes under Sigtryg, the Viking, and the Irish
+under Brian Boru. Eight thousand men were slain on one side and four
+thousand on the other, including every prominent chief. The Irish were
+victorious, and, although the Danes were not immediately driven from the
+island, it was the end of their domination. They came in a thousand
+boats all the way from Denmark, from Scotland, the Orkneys, and from the
+many islands of the north, and when their leaders were killed they fled
+to the water to regain their ships, which lay at anchor or were beached
+on the shore of Dublin Bay. The Irish warriors followed and continued to
+slay them until the sea was crimson with heathen blood.
+
+Brian Boru was not a myth, although we commonly associate him with fairy
+tales. He was the real thing, and it is often said that he was the only
+Irishman that ever did rule successfully over all Ireland. He was the
+first of the O'Briens and was King of Munster. His early career was very
+much like that of Alfred the Great, who lived but a short time before
+him in the middle of the ninth century, and he was not only the greatest
+warrior, but the greatest lawgiver and executive, and the greatest
+benefactor of his native country in the semi-savage days. His rival was
+Malachi the Great, the first of the O'Neills, who became king of Meath
+in 980 and reigned at Tara. To keep the peace Brian Boru and Malachi
+agreed to divide Ireland between them; but they did not get along well
+together, and Brian drove Malachi from his capital far into the north.
+Malachi finally submitted, and then all Ireland, for the first time in
+its history, was at peace under a single monarch for nearly forty years.
+
+Brian devoted himself to the development of the industries, the
+encouragement of agriculture, and the education of the people. He made
+wise laws and enforced them with justice. He founded schools and
+colleges. He encouraged art and science, he built roads in every
+direction, and he gave the distracted country the blessings of peace and
+prosperity. Instead of fighting among themselves, the people gave their
+attention to farming, cattle-breeding, trade and manufacturing,
+literature and the polite arts, and the historians say that another
+twenty years of Brian's reign would have changed the entire history of
+the country. Rare Tom Moore has given us a picture of Ireland in those
+days, when, according to his verses, a beautiful young lady, "Rich and
+rare were the gems she wore," traversed the entire country, from north
+to south and from east to west, without being molested.
+
+When Brian became an old man, Mailmora, king of Leinster, conspired with
+the Danes, the Manxmen, the chiefs of the Orkneys, and the Scots to
+overthrow him. Sigtryg of the Silken Beard arranged with them to
+consolidate their forces to overcome the Irish. Sigurd, Earl of Orkney,
+brought an army ten thousand strong. Broder, the great Viking of the
+Isle of Man, brought a fleet of two hundred ships and ten thousand men,
+covered with mail from head to foot, to meet the Irish, who always
+fought in tunics. Broder had once been a Christian, but had fallen from
+grace. He was the tallest and the strongest man of his time. His hair
+was so long that he had to tuck it under his belt. He wore a coat of
+mail "on which no steele could bite," and he had "no reverence for God
+or for man, for church or sanctuary."
+
+The venerable Brian Boru, then seventy-three years of age, was camped in
+what is now Phoenix Park, surrounded by twenty thousand warriors
+representing the different Irish clans. His sons prevailed upon him not
+to engage in the battle, and he gave the command to his son Morrough.
+But he led the column to the Hill of Clontarf on the morning of Good
+Friday, and when the invaders were in plain sight Brian Boru, holding
+aloft a crucifix, rode from rank to rank reminding his men that on that
+day their Lord had died for them, and exhorting them to smite the
+heathen hip and thigh for their religion and their homes. Then, giving
+the signal for the onset, he withdrew to his tent at the top of the
+hill, where he could observe the conflict.
+
+Battles in those days were a series of hand-to-hand encounters. The
+commanders selected each other for single combat. The fighting extended
+for two miles along the shores of the Bay of Dublin, and human beings
+were cut down like stalks of corn. The aged king remained in his tent
+engaged in earnest prayer for victory while the air was filled with the
+clash of steel, and the Danes and his own soldiers were dying by
+thousands around him. Toward nightfall the heathen gave way and began to
+retreat. Their commanders were all slain or desperately wounded. Brian's
+grandson, Thorlough, smote the Earl of Orkney with his battle-axe and
+cleft his head down as far as his neck. Broder, the great Viking,
+desperately wounded, was flying from the field when he recognized Brian
+of the Long Beard at the door of his tent. He rushed upon the old man
+with a double-edged battle-axe. Brian seized his trusty sword and they
+struck together. Brian's head was amputated and Broder's legs, one at
+the knee and the other from the ankle. At sunset when they returned from
+the battle, Brian's servants found their king dead and Broder stretched
+by his side.
+
+The body of Brian and that of his son Morrough were conveyed with great
+solemnity to Armagh and laid at rest in the cathedral, but their tombs
+have disappeared. The funeral ceremonies lasted for a fortnight, and all
+Ireland was filled with lamentation. Every petty chief and prince in the
+island tried to grasp the power. As the old song runs--
+
+              "Each man ruled his own tribe,
+              But no man ruled Erin."
+
+And that condition continued for a century and a half, all Ireland being
+distracted by the rivalries of the several chiefs, the O'Briens, the
+O'Neills, the O'Connors, and the O'Loughlins.
+
+That part of the battleground lying on the shore of the bay has been
+built over, and behind it the land has been divided into small country
+places where the rich men of Dublin spend their idle hours. Their homes
+are encircled with high fences, and are divided by a maze of roads and
+lanes concealed by canopies of green foliage that overhangs the walls.
+
+A little farther on are the ruins of a church surrounded by a silent
+battalion of gravestones. It was the Abbey of Kilbarrack, and one of the
+tombstones, badly defaced, marks the burial place of Francis Higgins, a
+detested government spy who betrayed Lord Edward Fitzgerald to the
+government in the insurrection of 1798. He is known as "The Sham
+Squire," because for a time he succeeded in passing himself off as a
+country gentleman of wealth and was married to a lady of good family.
+When the fraud was detected he was sent to jail, and she died of shame
+and mortification. Being boycotted by all honorable men, he became a spy
+and informer, and popular hatred pursued him to the graveyard, which had
+to be watched because the people resented his burial in consecrated
+ground and would have thrown his body into the bay.
+
+The car line follows the curves of the coast down to the shore of the
+Irish Sea, where a monstrous mass of rocks, covered with heather and
+rhododendrons and gorse, now as yellow as gold, rises five hundred or
+six hundred feet, with here and there a dense mass of foliage. It is
+known as the Hill of Howth, and is considered one of the most
+picturesque places in Ireland. At its foot is the village of Howth, and
+on either side are the ruins of ancient strongholds, located so as to
+command the entrance to the harbor.
+
+The title of the Earl of Howth dates back to 1177, and was bestowed in
+battle. It has been held honorably by the Lawrence family, one of the
+oldest in Ireland. They won their name and their lands by the sword.
+The founder of the house was Amory Tristam, a Norman adventurer, who
+followed Strongbow to the conquest of Ireland, and has been immortalized
+in Wagner's opera, "Tristam and Isolde." While Tristam, loyal knight and
+true, was attending a red-haired Irish princess to her destined husband,
+the King of Cornwall, they drank by mistake a love potion which bound
+them forever in a frenzied romance. It ended with Tristam dying in his
+castle and Isolde coming over the sea to perish like Juliet upon her
+husband's lifeless form.
+
+Amory Tristam assumed the name of St. Lawrence, because of a great
+victory that he won over the Danes on the anniversary of that saint; and
+Howth Castle has been the seat of the family from the beginning. A long
+line of overlords lie under the shadow of a ruined old abbey, and the
+present earl, William Ulick Tristam St. Lawrence, must join them soon,
+because he is more than eighty years of age. He was a member of
+parliament in his younger days, succeeded to the earldom in 1874, and
+until he became too feeble was a famous sport. His son and heir, Thomas
+Tristam St. Lawrence, is a man of fifty, who married the daughter of
+Benjamin Lee Guinness, the great brewer of Dublin, and inherited many
+millions from her father.
+
+Many interesting legends are told of the hill and the Castle of Howth
+and of events that have occurred during the eight hundred years since it
+became a center of activity. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the
+Princess of Connaught, Grace O'Malley, landed at Howth on her return
+from England and found the gates of the castle closed. The warder
+refused her entrance because the family were at dinner. Indignant at
+this breach of hospitality she returned to her ships, and meeting on the
+way the heir of the house, she picked him up and carried him off to
+Mayo, where she held him until she had obtained a pledge from the earls
+of Howth that they would never again close the doors of their castle
+against hungry travelers. And they have faithfully kept the vow.
+
+The Howth family holds the almost unique distinction in Ireland of
+perpetual loyalty to the English crown.
+
+Another trolley line runs out to Donnybrook, the scene of the famous
+fair, which was abolished, however, nearly one hundred years ago, even
+before the time of Sir Walter Scott's visit to Ireland in 1825, for he
+says: "We dined at Walter's, and in the evening drove to Donnybrook--the
+scene of the noisy fair which is now dissolved and abolished. It was a
+charming ride, thick with villas and all the insignia of ease and
+opulence; in fact, not to be distinguished from the innumerable hosts of
+jaunting cars plowing the fine road in every direction at a speed
+apparently most cruel." Sir Walter's description holds good to-day.
+Donnybrook is the most respectable and aristocratic of all the suburbs
+of Dublin. The tract of land where the cattle fair was formerly held in
+the fall of each year is still vacant and is used for a pasture. A
+"merry-go-round," or a "whirl-about," as they call it here, was the only
+diversion that we could find in the silent and orderly surroundings, but
+every year in August on the adjoining land and reached by parallel roads
+the Dublin horse show is held, and it is the great event of the season
+socially, and otherwise. It brings over from London and other parts of
+England large crowds of fashionable people, it draws the sporting
+element from every part of the kingdom, and all Ireland is represented.
+
+Donnybrook, originally Dombenach Broc, in Gaelic, is a small but rapid
+stream, which comes down from the hills of Wicklow and empties into the
+Bay of Dublin. The cattle-dealers of Ireland for two hundred years used
+to meet upon its banks for the sale, exchange, and exhibition of animals
+for eight days in the month of August annually, and drew around them
+saloon and restaurant keepers, peddlers of every sort, and shopkeepers,
+who went out from Dublin with stocks of goods and exposed them as a
+temptation to the men who had sold their cattle and had the money in
+their pockets. In addition to the tradesmen, itinerant shows gathered to
+entertain the ranchmen, strolling players, jugglers, Irish bards with
+harps and songs, bagpipes, and other public entertainers made it their
+rendezvous. Naturally these attractions called together the lads and
+the lasses, who flirted, danced to the music, and had a good time
+generally.
+
+          "Donnybrook capers, that bothered the vapors,
+          And drove dull care away."
+
+But the entertainments were not entirely innocent, and the fair finally
+became such a scene of disorder, thievery, and murder that the
+authorities were compelled to abolish the annual festivities. It
+attracted all the toughs and roughs and the desperate characters in
+Ireland, and the old rhyme says:
+
+                    "Such crowding and jumbling,
+                    And leaping and tumbling,
+                    And kissing and grumbling,
+                    And drinking and swearing,
+                    And stabbing and tearing,
+                    And coaxing and snaring,
+                    And scrambling and winning,
+                    And fighting and flinging,
+                    And fiddling and singing."
+
+More misery and madness, more crime and unhappiness, more devilment and
+debauchery, vice, and treachery was crowded into that little space for a
+fortnight annually than might have occurred during an entire year in any
+country of Europe. In those days fighting was a common pastime. But the
+"broth of a boy" with his "shillelah" of black bog thorn wood, is no
+longer seen dragging his coat over the ground at Donnybrook and inviting
+any gentleman present to step on the tail of that garment. Those days,
+as I say, are over, and Dublin is one of the most orderly cities on
+earth, except for the drunkenness.
+
+
+
+
+                                   IX
+
+                     THE LANDLORDS AND THE LANDLESS
+
+
+The population of Ireland by the census of 1901 was 4,450,456, a falling
+off of 248,204 in ten years since the previous census. In 1848, before
+the great famine, the population was 8,295,000, which shows that it has
+decreased nearly one-half since that time, during the last sixty years.
+
+The area of Ireland is 20,157,557 acres, including bog and mountain. Of
+this area only 2,357,530 acres are under the plow, 14,712,849 acres are
+devoted to hay and pasture, of which it is estimated that 12,000,000
+acres could be cultivated to crops. But it is a question whether such a
+thing would be desirable, considering the great demand and the high
+price for hay and cattle, beef and mutton. It would give employment to a
+large number of people if 12,000,000 acres more were plowed and planted,
+no doubt, but the experts assert that the profits on hay and cattle are
+larger than on grain and potatoes.
+
+Next to hay, the largest area, something more than 1,000,000 acres, is
+planted to oats and only 590,000 acres to potatoes, which is surprising
+when you consider that potatoes are the principal food of the Irish
+peasant, and, as some one has remarked, "are his food and drink and
+clothing."
+
+William F. Bailey, one of the gentlemen intrusted with the work of
+settling the land question and distributing the population of the island
+more evenly than at present, estimates that thirty acres of average land
+in Ireland is necessary to support a family, but the tax returns show
+that the 20,000,000 acres are divided among 68,716 owners; that is, one
+person in sixty-four is a landowner, with an average of 300 acres each,
+counting men, women, and children, although that is not a fair basis of
+calculation in Ireland, because so many of the young and middle-aged
+people emigrate and leave more than a natural proportion of old men and
+young children on the island.
+
+The tax returns show that the land in 1907 was actually divided among
+the 68,716 owners as follows:
+
+          Owning 100,000 acres or more                      3
+          Between 50,000 and 100,000                       16
+          Between 20,000 and 50,000                        90
+          Between 10,000 and 20,000                       185
+          Between 5,000 and 10,000                        452
+          Between 2,000 and 5,000                       1,198
+          Between 1,000 and 2,000                       1,803
+          Between 500 and 1,000                         2,716
+          Between 100 and 500                           7,989
+          Between 50 and 100                            3,479
+          Between 10 and 50                             7,746
+          Between 1 and 10 acres                        6,892
+
+The changes in the size of Irish farms has been remarkable. In 1841, 81
+per cent of the holdings were less than ten acres. To-day, as you will
+see by the table, out of 68,000 farms, only 6,892 are of ten acres and
+less.
+
+The following is a list of Irish landlords who owned more than 30,000
+acres each, and the average annual rentals collected from their tenants
+prior to the passage of the Wyndham Land Act of 1903, which authorizes
+the purchase with government funds of their estates, and the division
+into small farms for the tenants who occupied them:
+
+                                                       Annual
+                                             Acres     Revenue
+
+          Law Life Assurance Company        165,804    £6,384
+          Marquess of Lansdowne             123,634    32,412
+          Marquess of Sligo                 122,902    16,018
+          Marquess of Downshire             107,828    86,269
+          Earl of Kenmore                   105,359    26,951
+          Lord Ventry                        91,505    15,282
+          Earl Fitzwilliam                   89,468    45,568
+          Viscount Dillon                    78,898    16,933
+          Sir Roger W.H. Palmer              74,857    12,829
+          Earl of Bantry                     73,360    11,628
+          Duke of Leinster                   71,581    48,841
+          Marquess of Waterford              71,056    33,412
+          Lord O'Neil                        65,857    45,308
+          Marquess of Hertford               63,265    75,699
+          Earl of Lucan                      59,478    12,194
+          Earl of Kingston                   54,165    32,565
+          Duke of Abercorn                   51,919    26,689
+          Marquess of Clanricarde            51,006    18,472
+          Sir Charles H. Bart Coote          48,739    18,691
+          Viscount Powerscourt               47,551    13,563
+          Marquess of Ely                    47,076    22,126
+          Earl of Bandon                     46,129    20,438
+          Trustees of Kilmorrey Estate       46,054    20,663
+          Earl of Annesley                   45,263    22,297
+          Capt. Henry A. Herbert             42,939     9,695
+          Thomas S. Carter                   41,406     2,138
+          Earl of Leitrim                    39,382     9,890
+          Lord Laconfield                    39,048    16,558
+          W.H. and John T. Massey            37,241     9,001
+          Viscount Lismore                   37,137    14,113
+          Lord Stuart DeDecies               36,788    15,473
+          Earl of Bessborough                36,372    22,649
+          Viscount Clifden                   36,166    19,705
+          George Clive                       35,513       836
+          Marquess of Londonderry            34,949    30,617
+          Lord of Antrim                     34,493    12,600
+          H.L. Barry                         34,376    26,464
+          Marquess of Conyngham              33,693    18,373
+          Lord DeFreyne                      33,120    12,719
+          Earl of Devon                      33,100    12,764
+          Duke of Devonshire                 32,776    19,441
+          T.C. Bland                         32,540     2,638
+          Hon. H.L. King-Harman              32,531    17,090
+          Sir George V. Colthurst            31,993    11,042
+          Lord Annaly                        31,826    13,740
+          Marquess of Ormonde                31,794    17,457
+          Earl of Erne                       31,069    16,758
+          Earl of Granard                    30,725    15,816
+          Lord Digby                         30,627    13,409
+          Earl of Caledon                    30,502    15,725
+          Earl of Arran                      30,346     7,111
+          Lord Farnham                       30,191    19,347
+          Earl of Enniskellen                30,146    13,883
+
+The owners of other large tracts and the persons who own between 10,000
+and 30,000 acres are also nearly all noblemen. It would seem that
+titles of nobility and large estates go together over here. That is the
+rule in other countries, and is perfectly natural, because a poor man
+has no use for a title of nobility and a rich man is usually anxious to
+get one.
+
+A peer has just as much right to own land as anybody, and the complaints
+heard in Ireland are not on account of the rank or the station of the
+landlords, but because of their neglect of their interests and their
+tenants, especially because most of them do not spend the incomes from
+their estates in making improvements or for the benefit of their own
+people; they do not spend it in Ireland, but reside in London most of
+the time and spend the money there, where the people who earn it receive
+no benefit from it directly or indirectly. It is unnecessary to discuss
+the evils of large estates. They are too numerous to mention, especially
+when they are owned by people who live outside of the country. That is
+the great obstacle to the development of Mexico, where millions of acres
+in large tracts, granted to Spanish grandees before independence, still
+remain in the ownership of their descendants, who live in Spain or
+Paris, and spend the revenues there. It is true, also, of Russia,
+Poland, Austria, and of many other countries, and to a certain extent of
+Cuba, where a number of the valuable and productive plantations belong
+to families who are living in Spain, Paris, or New York, and never even
+visit them.
+
+A few years ago, by order of Parliament, an investigation was made to
+ascertain the habits of the large Irish landowners in connection with
+their estates, and the following table shows the result:
+
+                                                       Acres       Rents
+                                        Landlords    owned     collected
+
+  Resident on or near the property        5,589   8,880,549   £4,718,497
+  Residing elsewhere in Ireland,
+    occasionally on property                377     852,818      371,123
+  Residing elsewhere in Ireland           4,465   4,362,446    2,128,220
+  Residing out of Ireland but
+    occasionally on property                180   1,368,347      601,072
+  Never resident in Ireland               1,443   3,145,514    1,538,071
+  Owned by charitable institutions or
+    corporations,                           161     584,327      234,678
+  Not ascertained                         1,350     615,308      331,633
+
+No country ever suffered so much from absentee landlordism as Ireland,
+and many great estates here have been entirely neglected, or practically
+abandoned and allowed to go to ruin by the owners who intrusted them to
+dishonest or incompetent managers and took no interest in their own
+property. No one can blame the tenants upon such estates for their
+enmity and resentment toward the proprietors, or condemn them for their
+refusal to pay rent when they received very little or nothing in return.
+But the system in Ireland has been very much improved of late years by
+various acts of parliament, and many people think that the tenants now
+have the advantage in every respect. Fifty years ago the landlord was
+the owner and autocrat of the soil and everything that stood upon it.
+The tenant had no legal rights beyond what was written down in his
+lease, and when that expired the landlord could raise or lower his rent
+or drive him off the land at pleasure.
+
+Nearly every one of the peers who has sold his estates in Ireland under
+the land act has taken the cash and has gone to London to live, and if
+home rule is ever granted to the Irish people there will be little room
+left for those who remain. Most of the Irish peers spend the greater
+part of their time in London. Some of them never come to Ireland at all
+except for the shooting season or horse show. Several prominent English
+peers have estates in Ireland inherited from ancestors who have
+intermarried with the Irish nobility. The Duke of Devonshire, for
+example, owns one of the largest and finest estates in the kingdom at
+Lismore, a few miles north of Cork. The late duke, who died in 1907,
+took a great interest in the property and spent a great deal of time
+there.
+
+Forcible evictions are things of the past. Several years ago the demands
+for "The Three Fs"--free sale, fair rent, and fixed tenure--were
+complied with, and to-day the farms in Ireland are subject to what is
+called "a dual ownership," peculiar to this country. No landlord can rob
+a tenant any longer. Disputes concerning rent are now settled by a
+tribunal which takes all the circumstances into consideration and
+decides upon the equities rather than the technicalities of the case.
+This has revolutionized the land system of Ireland, and by a succession
+of acts of parliament during the past few years the government has gone
+a great way toward equalizing ownership and creating a nation of peasant
+proprietors, which, according to their ideas over here, is the ideal
+condition.
+
+During the last quarter of a century from six thousand to eight thousand
+farmers have been evicted from farms in Ireland because they refused or
+were unable or neglected to pay their rent. Some of them have remained
+in the neighborhood and have squatted where they could, and waited their
+chance to recover their holdings; others have emigrated to America;
+others have gone into different parts of Ireland; others have engaged in
+business of various sorts. Between five thousand and six thousand have
+already applied for restoration under the Act of 1907, most of them
+through the agency of the United Irish League. Of these, 1,595 families
+had been restored up to July, 1908, most of them to the actual farms
+from which they were expelled, not as tenants, however, for they will
+never be asked to pay any more rent, but as the owners of the property
+and improvements, purchased for them by the government, with money to be
+repaid, not by them unless they choose to do so, but by their posterity
+in the year 1975, or thereabouts. The only financial obligation imposed
+upon them is to pay an interest of 3-1/2; per cent upon the purchase
+money, which has been borrowed by the government upon bonds running for
+sixty-eight years, at 3 per cent interest. The additional one-half per
+cent goes into a sinking fund to pay the bonds at maturity.
+
+About 75 per cent of the claims that have been filed under the Evicted
+Tenants Act have been genuine; the remainder are apparently fraudulent
+or in doubt, and some of those that have been already allowed are
+questionable. I heard of a case in which a tenant who was evicted in
+1889 for refusal to pay his rent was restored to his old home under
+rather peculiar circumstances. His misfortunes were voluntary, and due
+to political reasons rather than from the lack of means, and when he was
+thrown off his farm he went into business as a cattle broker and became
+rich. But, in common with his former neighbors, he filed his claims
+under the act, was restored to his old home, and the generous agents of
+the estates commission bought a couple of cows, a few sheep, and hogs
+from his own pastures, paid him for them, and then gave them to him. He
+is now occupying the place and cultivating it by hired labor, and will
+be asked to refund the money the government has advanced for him in the
+year 1975.
+
+In the application of the provisions of the act no distinction is made
+between those who were evicted because of their poverty and those for
+political reasons. About one thousand evictions were the result of what
+is known as the "Plan of Campaign" adopted in 1887, when the National
+League determined to force the issue and organized a general strike
+among the farmers against the payment of rent upon certain estates
+selected because their landlords were habitual absentees, who spent the
+revenues they derived from their estates outside of Ireland and were
+oppressive to their tenants and generally offensive. As a rule, the
+tenants paid half a year's rent to the agents of the league for a war
+fund, so far as they were able. Most of them were able to pay, although
+there was a great deal of suffering and privation among about a thousand
+families who were thrown out of their homes during one land war which
+lasted for two or three years. Practically all of them have already been
+restored to their former farms.
+
+In 1901 another land war was inaugurated, under the direction of Dennis
+Johnston and John Fitzgibbons of the United Irish League, in Roscommon
+and neighboring counties, and a large number of tenants who had
+voluntarily agreed not to pay their rents were thrown off their farms as
+voluntary martyrs in a campaign which finally resulted in the enactment
+of the act of 1907, which was prepared and introduced into parliament by
+George Wyndham, chief secretary for Ireland under the late conservative
+government. This act authorizes the estates commission having in charge
+the administration of the Land Act of 1903 to acquire by force if
+necessary eighty thousand acres of land wherever they consider it
+expedient, to be sold under mortgages of sixty-eight years at 3-1/2; per
+cent interest to families who have been evicted from their former
+homes. The commissioners are required to investigate the claims of those
+who have been evicted, through their staff of inspectors, and if found
+genuine to serve notice upon the owner to vacate the farms from which
+they were evicted within a certain time. The landlord has the right of
+appeal, but every one of the owners of lands from which tenants were
+evicted has voluntarily consented to their restoration except the
+Marquess of Clanricarde, and a Mrs. Lewis who has a large estate in
+County Galway and has been one of the most vindictive and oppressive of
+all the landlords. She is a woman of very determined character, and will
+not even answer letters addressed to her by the officials of the
+government.
+
+The Marquess of Clanricarde is nearly eighty years old, very eccentric,
+a miser, dresses very shabbily, lives like a recluse and pays no bills.
+He has visited his Irish estates but once since he inherited them in
+1874, He was in the diplomatic service as a young man during the
+'fifties, and at one time was a member of parliament. His name is Hubert
+George de Burg Canning, Marquess of Clanricarde, Viscount Burke and
+Baron Dunkellin, and he has several other titles, but has no family--a
+childless widower.
+
+The Clanricarde estates lie directly west from Dublin in Galway County
+and were obtained by his ancestor, William FitzAnselm de Burg, the
+founder of the Burke family, under a grant from Henry I., and he founded
+the town of Galway. To this day the whole province of Connaught is
+dotted with the ruined castles of the De Burg family, monuments of four
+or five centuries of uninterrupted fighting with the O'Neills, the
+O'Donnells, the O'Flahertys, the O'Connors, and other powerful clans in
+the early history of Ireland. The battle of Knockdoe, fought in the
+fourteenth century between an undisciplined horde of native clansmen
+under the Earl of Clanricarde, was provoked by an insult he offered to
+his wife. She was the daughter of Gerald Fitzgerald the Great, Earl of
+Kildare, and her affectionate father in vengeance attacked his
+son-in-law with a disciplined force loaned him by his neighbors, the
+lords of the Pale of Dublin. It is said that eight thousand dead bodies
+were left upon the field. Those were strenuous days, and the earls of
+Clanricarde have been reckoned among the fiercest fighters from the time
+they came over from England in the fourteenth century. Sometimes they
+have been on one side and sometimes on the other, but like most genuine
+Irishmen, they have usually been "agin the government," whatever, policy
+it represented. There have been several earnest patriots in the line. An
+old Irish ballad begins with the line, "Glory guards Clanricarde's
+grave!" but the present earl is not the one referred to.
+
+The late earl was very popular with his tenants, and so liberal and
+lenient was he, according to the gossip, that they got into bad habits,
+and when the present earl came into the property in 1874 he pulled them
+up very sharply and demanded a prompt and full payment of all their
+obligations. Being unaccustomed to such stern measures, they were
+resentful, and a quarrel began which has lasted until now, and
+Clanricarde, convinced that he has right and justice on his side, has
+used the mailed hand. There have been more trouble and disturbance upon
+his estates than upon any other in Ireland. Every one of his tenants has
+been evicted, and sometimes a succession of them, and their farms have
+been let to what are called "planters,"--a term used in Ireland to
+describe families imported from a distance and planted upon land which
+no person in the neighborhood will rent because the previous tenant has
+been evicted from it. Every man on the Clanricarde estates is a
+"planter." After the passage of the act of 1907 the estates
+commissioners requested him to sell his entire holding under the act of
+1903, but he not only rejected the proposition, but has declined even to
+discuss the subject, and has maintained that uncompromising attitude
+from the beginning, an embittered, relentless, vindictive old man.
+
+[Illustration: PORTUMNA CASTLE, COUNTY GALWAY; THE SEAT OF THE EARL OF
+CLANRICARDE]
+
+When the commission undertook to apply the compulsory clause of the
+Evicted Tenants Act and published the notice in the _Dublin Gazette_,
+the earl filed a protest. Mr. Justice Wiley of the Lower Court sustained
+the commission, but the Court of Appeals, composed of twelve judges,
+unanimously reversed the decision and decided that the estates
+commission has no power to forcibly dispossess any _bona fide_ "planter"
+from land already under lease.
+
+This decision technically justified the position that the earl has
+taken, and it applies to the estates of Mrs. Lewis also, so that the
+commissioners cannot go any farther in their work of restoring the
+evicted tenants upon those two properties. As soon as the decision was
+rendered a bill was introduced in parliament confiscating the entire
+Clanricarde estates. It is not expected to pass, but was intended to
+advertise the situation and create public opinion. The government,
+however, took the matter promptly in hand, and the Earl of Crewe
+introduced a bill authorizing the estates commissioners to take by
+force, after the usual legal proceedings, any occupied land they may
+think necessary and proper for the restoration of evicted tenants,
+provided they can obtain the consent of the occupant. This act was
+passed, and notice was immediately given in the _Dublin Gazette_ that
+the estates commissioners intend, under the Evicted Tenants Act, to
+acquire compulsorily upwards of eighteen hundred acres of land on the
+estate of Lord Clanricarde in County Galway. This means that the owner
+of the property is to have nothing to say about the matter, but a _bona
+fide_ tenant, who in good faith is occupying a farm from which his
+predecessor has been evicted, cannot be ejected without his consent. We
+are familiar with the methods of "persuasion" that have been used for
+years by the United Irish League and other patriotic organizations, and
+it is entirely probable that they will prove sufficient in all cases
+that will arise under this new provision. Therefore, as soon as the
+proposed act is passed, the tenants upon the Clanricarde estates will be
+looking for trouble.
+
+The Earl of Clanricarde cannot expect to live a great while longer. He
+is already an infirm old man and his heir, Lord Sligo of Westport, a
+nephew, is almost as old as he. Lord Sligo is one of the largest land
+holders in Ireland. He owns 114,000 acres in the north, which is mostly
+grazing land, and his tenants are miserably poor, living in squalid
+hovels scattered over the estate. He does nothing for them, and exacts
+the last halfpenny of his rent. His heir, who will soon come into both
+the Clanricarde and Sligo estates, is his son, Lord Henry Ulick Browne,
+of whom very little is known. He is fifty-eight years of age and lives
+at Westport Castle, Westport, Ireland. As he has had the management of
+much of his father's property for many years, it is generally believed
+that he is responsible for the harsh policy that has been followed
+toward the tenants, and that they can expect no better treatment when he
+becomes their lawful lord.
+
+The British Parliament has published a return (No. Cd. 4093) covering
+all the proceedings under the Act of April, 1907, to restore evicted
+tenants in Ireland; giving particulars in each case in which an evicted
+tenant, or a person nominated by the estates commissioners to be a
+personal representative of the deceased evicted tenant, has with the
+assistance of the commission been reinstated, either by the landlord or
+by the estates commissioners, or provided with a new parcel of land
+under the Land Purchase Act.
+
+It is a quarto pamphlet of forty-seven pages, and gives in fine type the
+names of all the farmers in Ireland who have been evicted since 1876,
+with the dates of the evictions, the area they formerly occupied, the
+rent they formerly paid, the arrears of rent due at the time of the
+eviction, the value of the property, the name of the landlord, the name
+of the estate, the name of the town and the county, the date of
+restoration, the price paid by the estates commissioners for each tract,
+the valuation of the buildings and other improvements on the property,
+and the compensation given to outgoing tenants who surrender their
+holdings under the law, to those who were formerly evicted from them.
+
+This report shows that forty tenants have been restored to the
+Blacker-Douglass estates in Armagh, thirty-two have been restored on the
+Charlemont estates in the same county; forty-four of those evicted from
+1887 to 1889 by Lord Massareene in County Meath have been restored, and
+thirty-nine on the estate of the Marquess of Lansdowne in Queen's
+County. On the estates of Sir G. Brooke, in Waterford, seventy-eight
+families, evicted in 1887 and 1888, have been restored; twenty-six on
+the estate of A.L. Tottenham, Leitrim; thirty-four on the Vandaleur
+estates in Leitrim; thirty on the estates of C.W. Warden in County
+Kerry; thirty-three on the estates of the Earl of Listowel, and similar
+numbers elsewhere.
+
+So far as is known, every family in Ireland that has been evicted from a
+farm during the last fifty years for non-payment of rent, or for
+political reasons, has been restored wherever they are living, and, if
+the head of the family at the time of the eviction is dead, his heirs
+have been placed in possession of the place. And all this has been done
+by the government at the expense of the taxpayers as a vindication of
+the policy of the Irish Land League, the United Irish League, and other
+organizations which have conducted the land wars.
+
+The restoration of the evicted tenants was not voluntary on the part of
+the British government. It was forced upon the parliament by the Irish
+agitators. In a debate on this act in the House of Lords, the Marquess
+of Lansdowne, who had evicted a large number of tenants from his
+estates, admitted that he and other landlords accepted the proposition
+with great reluctance, and "only because the government had represented
+to them very earnestly, indeed, that the measure formed an integral part
+of a policy of pacification which they desired to bring about in
+Ireland, and if the landlords took the responsibility of rejecting this
+particular item, the entire programme was destined to failure. It is on
+the strength of these representations," said the Marquess of Lansdowne,
+"that we ask the House of Lords to agree to the restoration of all Irish
+tenants who have been evicted at any time for political reasons as well
+as for failure to pay their rents."
+
+The members of the National Party in Ireland concede this point
+cheerfully. They willingly admit that they insisted upon the restoration
+of all evicted tenants as the first and the most important proposition
+in the programme of pacification in Ireland, and they agreed with the
+Marquess of Lansdowne that it would have been a failure otherwise. It
+should also be stated that all arrears of rent for which families have
+been evicted from Irish farms have been cancelled, and the restored
+tenants have become the actual owners of the land, the houses, and all
+improvements. Instead of paying rent to a landlord, they become the
+landlords themselves. The purchase money in every case has been advanced
+by the government, and is to be repaid by the purchaser in sixty-eight
+years with interest at three and one quarter per cent per annum. This
+sum represents two and one-half per cent interest upon bonds issued to
+raise the funds and three-fourths of one per cent for a sinking fund to
+meet the bonds at maturity.
+
+
+
+
+                                   X
+
+                   MAYNOOTH COLLEGE AND CARTON HOUSE
+
+
+Two-thirds and perhaps as many as three-fourths of the Roman Catholic
+priests in Ireland were educated at the College of Maynooth, which turns
+out one hundred and fifty or more earnest, zealous, able young clergymen
+every year, and is the most conspicuous and influential educational
+institution in Ireland. Comparatively few of the graduates go to the
+United States. Dr. Hogan, professor of modern languages and literature,
+explained that nearly all of the Irish priests who emigrated to America
+were educated at the missionary college of All Hallows, near Dublin, for
+the United States was until recently counted as a mission field by the
+holy see and was under the jurisdiction of the prefect of the propaganda
+of the holy faith at Rome. There are quite a number of Maynooth
+graduates in America, and during the recent visit of Cardinal Logue they
+gave a dinner in his honor in New York.
+
+Dr. Hogan took us through the buildings, which are spacious and surround
+two large quadrangles. They are built of stone, four stories in height,
+are entirely modern and fitted up with all the conveniences and
+accessories that belong to an up-to-date institution of learning. The
+chapel is also modern, built within the present generation and entirely
+conventional. It is not large enough to accommodate all of the students,
+and the underclass men attend mass elsewhere.
+
+Beyond the second quadrangle is a campus of seventy acres of lawn and
+garden and grove, where five hundred young men were engaged in taking
+their daily supply of fresh air and exercise when we passed through the
+archway. Almost every kind of game was going on, from croquet to
+football. There were several cricket contests in progress; others were
+playing at hockey and basketball; others were on the track running, and
+the lazy ones were lying stretched out on the velvet grass. There are
+now five hundred and sixty-two students, nearly all of them theologs,
+and one hundred and twenty graduated in 1908. They come chiefly from
+Ireland, a few from Irish families in England, a few more from
+Australia, but at present there is no representative of the United
+States. When I asked a group of young men how they got along without any
+Americans, one of them illustrated the quick wit of his race by replying
+promptly: "We hope never to have them here, sir; they are altogether too
+smart for us. If they keep on, the Americans will run the world."
+
+It costs very little to get an education at Maynooth. The fees are
+small,--$20 for matriculation, $25 for tuition, $150 a year for board,
+and other small fees for electric light, rent of furniture, etc., which
+brings the total up to about $225 a year. There are two hundred and
+seventy scholarships which have been founded by friends of the
+institution and societies in the different parishes, and they pay an
+average of $150 a year. There is a fine library with forty thousand
+volumes, and a gymnasium and everything else that is needed.
+
+The ancient castle of Maynooth, built by the Earl of Kildare in 1427,
+stands at the gateway of the college, and occupies the site of the
+original stronghold of the family, built in 1176 by the first Maurice
+Fitzgerald, who came over with the Strongbow at the time of the
+Conquest. It has been a ruin since 1647, and a beautiful ruin it is--one
+of the largest and most picturesque in the kingdom.
+
+[Illustration: MAYNOOTH COLLEGE COUNTY KILDARE]
+
+Until 1895, when the centenary of Maynooth College was celebrated, six
+thousand priests and prelates of Irish birth had been educated within
+the walls of that "mother of love, and of fear and of knowledge, and of
+holy hope," as her alumni call her. And now the number exceeds
+seventy-five hundred. Most of them have been, and those now living are
+still, doing pastoral work in Ireland, and nearly two thousand of the
+alumni have gone abroad into the United States, England, Scotland,
+Australia, South Africa, and other English-speaking countries. During
+the first three-quarters of the eighteenth century and for several
+hundred years before Catholic education was prohibited in Ireland, but
+it was not possible for the British authorities to prevent young men
+from crossing the sea, and during the sixteenth and seventeenth
+centuries a number of Irish colleges were founded in the Peninsula, in
+France, and in Flanders, and there most of the Irish priests of that
+long period received their education. It has been often asserted that
+the Catholic faith might have disappeared in Ireland but for the ardent
+piety and ambition of these young students, who found the preparation
+they needed for parish work from the Irish faculties of divinity schools
+on the Continent. In 1795, at the time Maynooth College was founded,
+about four hundred young Irishmen were attending such institutions, and
+in 1808 a printed report names twelve colleges with four hundred and
+seventy-eight Irish students.
+
+Most of these institutions were in France, and they were closed and
+desecrated by the French Revolution, which expelled their inmates,
+profaned their altars, and confiscated their possessions. The Irish
+bishops, in consequence, found themselves confronted with an alarming
+situation. The foreign supply of priests was entirely cut off and the
+laws of Parliament prohibited their education at home. In this extremity
+they applied to the government, asking permission to found seminaries
+for educating young men to discharge the duties of Roman Catholic
+clergymen in the kingdom. William Pitt, then prime minister, was
+persuaded that it was safer for England to grant this request than to
+permit the young priests to imbibe the hatred of England and the
+democratic and revolutionary principles that pervaded society on the
+Continent. Edmund Burke and Earl Fitzwilliam acted in behalf of the
+bishops, and the latter was instructed by the prime minister to
+supervise the establishment of a new institution. Dr. Hussey,
+confidential agent of the English government in Dublin, was appointed
+the first president. He is described as a scholar, statesman,
+diplomatist, and orator; he had a checkered and eventful career; he
+undertook many things and excelled in them all. He was a fellow of the
+Royal Society, a preacher of remarkable power, and the intimate friend
+of such statesmen as Edmund Burke. He had the confidence of William Pitt
+and was the trusted agent of princes and statesmen. He was a native of
+County Meath, was educated at the ancient University of Salamanca of
+Spain, and originally entered a Trappist monastery, but left it shortly
+after and became chaplain of the Spanish embassy in London. The British
+government, recognizing his ability and integrity, sent Dr. Hussey on
+two confidential missions to the court of Spain, and rewarded his
+success by granting him a liberal pension for life and appointing him as
+confidential agent of the government in its negotiations with the
+bishops, and afterward to be president of the first Catholic theological
+seminary in Ireland. After two years at the head of the institution he
+was appointed bishop of Waterford, where he remained until his death in
+1803.
+
+Instruction was commenced in a private house belonging to an agent of
+the Duke of Leinster. The foundations of a new building were laid on the
+20th of April, 1796, and seven months later it was opened with fifty
+students on the roll. The Duke of Leinster, although a Protestant,
+anxious to have the college on his estate, made very liberal terms, and
+successive generations of the house of Kildare, of which he is the
+representative, have been not only friendly but generous to the
+institution.
+
+Everything about the college reminds the student of the famous class of
+Geraldines. The ancient castle of the Kildares, built by Maurice
+Fitzgerald the Invader, and enlarged by John, the sixth earl, in the
+year 1426, stands at the gate, and on either side of the main walk are
+fine old yew-trees planted more than seven hundred years ago. According
+to local legends that vain and reckless youth, "Silken Thomas," sat
+beneath its spreading branches and played his harp three hundred and
+seventy-five years ago, on the evening before he started for Dublin to
+relinquish his trust as temporary viceroy and assault the castle. His
+five uncles were hanged at Tyburn mainly because they were Catholics.
+At the fall of the house the sole surviving heir was saved by his tutor,
+a Catholic priest, who afterward became Bishop of Kildare. Several
+generations later the earls of Kildare and the dukes of Leinster became
+Protestants, but they always advocated the emancipation of their
+Catholic fellow-countrymen, and have always been fair and honorable in
+their dealings with the institution.
+
+It was a difficult task to get a faculty in those days, as there had not
+been a Catholic college in Ireland for centuries. But the French
+Revolution had cast upon the shores of Ireland many competent exiles,
+who were placed in charge of the various departments, and among the
+clergy of Ireland were found a sufficient number of scholars to complete
+the staff of instructors. The Revolution of 1798 broke out two years
+after the college was opened, and many of the students were stirred by
+aspirations which caused their expulsion. It was a test that many felt
+to be very severe; but the faculty were determined to keep faith with
+the government, and sixteen students were expelled. In 1803, the year of
+Emmet's insurrection, there was a good deal of insubordination, which
+has been described as a "ground swell from the outside agitation." Six
+students were expelled, one of whom, Michael Collins, afterward became
+Bishop of Cloyne.
+
+The original grant of Parliament was $40,000 a year. In 1807 this was
+increased to $65,000, which was expended in buildings. It was afterwards
+reduced, and until 1840 was about $50,000. At that time there were four
+hundred students, who could not be properly accommodated. In 1844 the
+trustees drew up and forwarded to the government a strong memorial,
+which was read in the House of Commons by Sir Robert Peel, who declared
+that such a state of things was discreditable to the nation and that
+Parliament should either cut Maynooth College adrift altogether, or
+maintain it in a manner worthy of the state. In the face of resolute
+opposition of a majority of his own party, he carried through a proposal
+to give the sum of $30,000 for new buildings and an annual grant of
+$26,360 for the maintenance of the college. Mr. Gladstone supported the
+prime minister, Mr. Disraeli, then leader of the opposition, attacking
+the bill fiercely. Thomas Babington Macaulay and Dr. Whately, the
+rhetorician, both made eloquent and convincing speeches in its support.
+In 1869, when the bill to dissolve the relations between the Protestant
+church in Ireland and the government was passed, Mr. Gladstone, then
+prime minister, was compelled to treat Maynooth College on the same
+terms that he gave the Irish Episcopal branch of the Established Church,
+and the Presbyterian, giving each a sum of money equal to fourteen
+installments of its annual grants.
+
+The interest upon that sum at three and one-half per cent is not
+sufficient for the proper support of so large an institution, but the
+college has had many generous friends, and with economy has been able
+not only to maintain itself but to strengthen its position, enlarge its
+facilities, and give its students better accommodations and greater
+advantages year by year. The several bishops of Ireland have raised
+funds to endow many scholarships, so that the expenses incidental to
+student life have been very much reduced for those who are unable to pay
+the full fee. Nevertheless, there is great anxiety among the trustees
+and the professors to extend the buildings, add several chairs to the
+faculty, and obtain more endowments.
+
+Maynooth is the rendezvous of the Catholic hierarchy of Ireland, being
+conveniently located and accessible to all the bishops. They meet here
+frequently to discuss ecclesiastical matters and determine upon church
+policies. His Eminence Cardinal Logue is president of the board of
+trustees. His Grace the Most Rev. William J. Walsh, D.D., Archbishop of
+Dublin, is vice-president. The Archbishop of Cashel, the Archbishop of
+Tuam, and twelve bishops make up the board. The president of the college
+is the Right Rev. Mgr. Mannix, D.D.; the vice-president is the Very Rev.
+Thomas P. Gilmartin, D.D., and the deans of the different schools are
+the Rev. Thomas T. Gilmartin, D.D., Rev. James Macginley, D.D., and the
+Rev. Patrick Morrisroe.
+
+Religion is a live thing in Ireland, and the Roman Catholic churches are
+always filled to overflowing at every service with as many men as women,
+which is unusual in other countries. In Ireland the situation seems to
+be different, and the congregations are invariably composed about
+equally of the two sexes. The Church of Ireland is comparatively weak in
+numbers, and has more houses of worship than it needs, having inherited
+many of them from the confiscation edicts of the English kings.
+Naturally they are not so well filled, but the Roman Catholics are
+compelled to have three or four services every Sunday in order to
+accommodate the worshipers, and the priest is invariably the most
+influential man in the parish. He enters directly into the life of his
+parishioners, the parish boundaries are sharply divided, and his
+jurisdiction is so well defined that he knows all the sheep and all the
+goats that belong to his flock, over whom he exercises a parental as
+well as a spiritual care. They come to him in all their troubles and in
+their joys. He advises them about social, political, commercial,
+domestic, and personal as well as spiritual affairs, and is the court of
+highest resort in all disputes and family matters. No other authority
+reaches so far or is rooted so deep in the community, and this peculiar
+relation grows closer with years.
+
+I formed a high opinion of the Irish priesthood from the examples I was
+able to meet and to know. They impressed me as an unusually high class
+of men intellectually as well as spiritually, and every one must admire
+their devotion, their sincerity, and their self-sacrifice. Some of them
+naturally become dictatorial, for it is often necessary for them to
+assume an air of authority to preserve discipline in their parishes, but
+I think that is more or less the rule in other countries and in all
+denominations. You cannot talk back to a judge or a school-teacher or a
+parson. And that is undoubtedly the ground for the charge so frequently
+made that Ireland is "priest ridden." But the average of intelligence,
+culture, and efficiency among the Irish priesthood is probably higher
+than it is in any other country, and their influence is correspondingly
+greater. There is a great deal of criticism in certain quarters about
+the activity of the Irish priests in politics and that I found to be
+largely a misrepresentation. Many of the priests do take an active part
+in political affairs, but it is entirely a matter of individual taste
+and inclination, and the proportion is probably no larger than it is
+among ministers of all denominations in the United States. Those who are
+well posted on this subject assured me that about one-third of the total
+number of Catholic priests habitually interest themselves in political
+affairs, local as well as national; a still larger number take an active
+part in educational matters, and about one-half of them let politics
+entirely alone. This is probably a fair estimate and will apply to the
+clergy of the Church of Ireland and the nonconformist denominations with
+equal accuracy, although they are much less numerous than the Roman
+Catholic clergy.
+
+It is always interesting to attend mass at a Roman Catholic church on
+Sunday in Ireland, particularly in the smaller towns and country
+parishes, where everybody except those who are too infirm to come out is
+present in his best clothes, and, no matter how poor he may be, no one
+passes the man who stands with a box at the entrance without dropping in
+something, most of them only a penny or a halfpenny, but none without an
+offering. The appearance of the people, and particularly the women, is
+in striking contrast to that on week-days, and I am told that this
+depends very largely upon the priests, many of whom insist that every
+man, woman, and child shall have a suit of Sunday clothes and "wash up"
+before coming to the house of God.
+
+The Christian Brothers Educational Order of the Roman Catholic Church of
+Ireland was organized in Waterford in 1802 by Edmund Rice, a wealthy
+merchant who lamented the number of neglected boys he saw in the streets
+and consulted Bishop Hussey, the first president of Maynooth College, as
+to what he could do to rescue them. Mr. Rice sold his business and
+opened a free school in his residence while a large building was being
+erected for his use. The cornerstone was laid June 1, 1802. It was
+finished the next year, was called Mount Zion, and is still in
+operation, although very much enlarged. It has been the father house
+and headquarters of the Irish Christian Brothers from the beginning.
+Within a few years similar schools were opened in Dungarvan, Limerick,
+Cork, Dublin, and later in every city and town in Ireland. In 1820 the
+order was chartered by the Pope, and it has grown until there are now
+more than one thousand brothers, all engaged in teaching day schools of
+various standards, from primary instruction up to colleges. They have
+technical and trade schools, commercial schools, orphanages, and schools
+for the deaf and dumb and the blind all over the world, in Australia,
+New Zealand, Africa, India, Gibraltar, and one house in New York. It is
+independent of the American order of Christian Brothers, which was
+founded in France in the seventeenth century by St. John Baptiste de la
+Salle, a French abbé who was canonized by the Pope about four years ago.
+
+In Ireland the Christian Brothers receive no grant from the government,
+and all their primary schools are free. Tuition is charged at the
+secondary and technical schools and the remainder of the support comes
+from legacies, private and public contributions, collections in
+churches, and other sources.
+
+Edmund Rice died in 1844 at the age of eighty-two, and is buried in
+Waterford cemetery, with this simple epitaph:
+
+                     BROTHER EDWARD IGNATIUS RICE,
+                      Founder of Christian Schools
+                        In Ireland and England.
+
+Carton House, the seat of the earls of Kildare, is on the opposite side
+of Maynooth from the college. It is the present home of Maurice
+Fitzgerald, Duke of Leinster, a young man who came of age in March,
+1908. He carries more rank and titles than any other person in Ireland,
+and has more money than any Irishman except Dublin's titled brewer. He
+spends much of his time at Carton House, which looks like a Florentine
+palace, but is completely modernized and fitted up with electric light,
+telephones, and elevators, and stands upon an eminence in the center of
+a park inclosed within eight miles of stone wall ten feet high. It is a
+drive of three miles from his front gate to the threshold of his front
+door, and there are more than thirty miles of macadamized roadway within
+the demesne. There are hills and dales, twelve lakes, and four
+waterfalls, one of them thirty-nine feet high. There is a garden of
+sixty acres laid out in the French style, with fourteen or fifteen
+fountains and many arbors, kiosks, and pergolas. There are meadows,
+pastures, vegetable gardens, and fields of oats and other grain, but
+three-fourths of the park is primeval forest, that has never heard the
+sound of an axe, and most of the trees are as old as history. I am told
+that no private park in the world surpasses the grounds of Carton House.
+Among other curiosities is a cottage built entirely of shells, to
+commemorate a visit of Queen Victoria, who describes her experiences in
+"Leaves from Our Life," and tells of jaunting cars, Irish jigs, and
+bagpipes. The shell cottage is now used as a museum to contain the
+family relics.
+
+The young duke has several other residences. One of them is Kilkea
+Castle, County Kildare, which came into the family in the thirteenth
+century, with ninety thousand acres of farm land, which has just been
+sold to his tenants under the Wyndham Land Act for more than $6,000,000.
+The Duke of Leinster has also disposed of his farming lands in the
+neighborhood of Maynooth for more than $800,000. The estates commission,
+which has the responsibility of carrying out the provisions of the land
+act, has purchased more land from him than from any other landlord, and
+he has received from them in payment nearly one-fourth of the entire
+amount of money that has been paid under the act by the government. He
+has a plain but spacious town house on Dominick Street, Dublin, and Mrs.
+John W. Mackay now occupies his London residence, 6 Carlton House
+Terrace, under a long lease. His wealth is estimated at $50,000,000. He
+is unmarried, and has no attachments so far as known. His accumulation
+of titles is even greater than his wealth. He is the sixth duke of
+Leinster, which title dates from 1761, and was bestowed by Queen Anne;
+he is the twenty-fifth earl of Kildare, which title dates from 1316; and
+the thirty-first baron of Offlay, a title that has been in the family
+since 1168. He is the premier duke, the premier marquis, the premier
+earl, and the premier baron; the head of the Irish nobility. And all
+this rank and responsibility is borne by a frail boy of twenty-one.
+
+[Illustration: CARTON HOUSE, MAYNOOTH, COUNTY KILDARE; THE RESIDENCE OF
+THE DUKE OF LEINSTER]
+
+He spent the winter of 1907-8 in America, incognito, under the name of
+Maurice Fitzgerald. He and his tutor visited Quebec, Montreal, and
+Ottawa, and all the principal cities in the United States. They
+inspected Harvard, Yale, the University of Chicago, and Stanford
+University, for the young duke has recently taken a degree at Oxford,
+and was naturally curious to see some American institutions. He spent
+some time in New York, and was in Washington for a couple of days
+without disclosing his rank. He enjoyed himself immensely during the
+entire journey and escaped all the matchmakers, the lion hunters, and
+the society cormorants. He was not in search of a wife, but was seeking
+health and completing his education. I am told that he is an exceedingly
+sensible young fellow, modest, intelligent, thoughtful, and studious. He
+does not need to marry for wealth nor for position. He can pick his own
+wife, and has plenty of time to consider the choice.
+
+The duke has been very carefully brought up and educated. His mother
+died when he was nine years old. She was Lady Hermione Duncombe,
+daughter of the Earl of Faversham. His father died at the age of
+forty-two, when he was fourteen. The present duke inherits his delicate,
+frail constitution, and has symptoms of tuberculosis, which has been the
+death of many Geraldines. To preserve himself from its dreaded grasp he
+has lived an outdoor life under the care of a physician, and every
+preventive that medical science can devise has been used for his
+protection. Since the death of his mother he has been under the care of
+three aunts,--Lady Cynthia Graham, Lady Ulrica Duncombe, and Lady Helen
+Vincent,--his tutor, Rev. the Marquis of Normanby, and his trustee, the
+Earl of Faversham. He has had governesses and tutors, spent two years at
+Eton and three years at Oxford, although his studies have been
+frequently interrupted by sea voyages and camping tours in the mountains
+for his health. He has a brother, Desmond, two years his junior, and
+another, Edward, who is fourteen years old.
+
+The Duke of Leinster is prepared to take his proper place in public
+life, and has recently been appointed master of the horse to the Earl of
+Aberdeen, lord lieutenant of Ireland. His acceptance of this post
+indicates that he is a liberal in politics and a home ruler; and,
+indeed, the tendency of his education has been in that direction. His
+tutors and trustees are all home rulers and liberals. He is in training
+for the viceregal throne of Ireland, which so many of his ancestors have
+occupied, and that is his ambition. If Ireland should be granted
+autonomy under the plan proposed by Mr. Gladstone twenty-five years ago
+and demanded as their ultimatum by the Irish national party, the Duke of
+Leinster will be the most available candidate for lord lieutenant, and
+for many reasons his selection would be agreeable to those most
+interested on both sides of St. George's Channel. His advent in politics
+is an event of great importance, and therefore will be watched with
+anxiety.
+
+The mansion at Maynooth is an immense building of more than two hundred
+rooms, sumptuously furnished. There are fourteen drawing-rooms, and the
+banqueting hall will seat three hundred people. The library contains one
+of the largest and most valuable collections of books in Ireland, and
+the pictures are of great value as well as artistic interest.
+
+The Leinster coat of arms is a monkey stantant with plain collar and
+chained; motto, "Crom-a-boo" ("To Victory"). This is the only coat of
+arms, I am told, that has ever borne a monkey in the design, and it was
+adopted by John Fitzthomas Fitzgerald in 1316 for romantic reasons.
+While an infant he was in the castle of Woodstock, now owned by the Duke
+of Marlborough, which caught fire. In the confusion the child was
+forgotten, and when the family and servants remembered him and started a
+search they found the nursery in ruins. But on one of the towers was a
+gigantic ape, a pet of the family, carefully holding the young earl in
+its arms. The animal, with extraordinary intelligence, had crawled
+through the smoke, rescued the baby and carried it to the top of the
+tower. When he grew to manhood the earl discarded the family coat of
+arms and adopted a monkey for his crest, which has been retained to this
+day, and wherever you find a tomb of a Fitzgerald you will see the
+figure of a monkey at the feet of the effigy or under the inscription.
+
+Fitzthomas Fitzgerald, the child thus miraculously saved, was the hero
+of many romances and adventures, and for his eminent services to the
+crown King Edward II. created him the first Earl of Kildare, May 14,
+1316. He was the ancestor of the famous earls, dukes, and marquesses of
+Ormonde and the earls, dukes, and marquesses of Desmond, although those
+branches of the family afterward became the rivals and the foes of the
+Kildares. The Duke of Leinster, by reason of the marriages of his
+ancestors and collateral members of the family, is related to almost
+every noble in the kingdom.
+
+The Fitzgeralds are descended from the Gherardini family of Florence,
+one of whom passed over into Normandy in the tenth century and thence to
+England, where he became a favorite of Edward the Confessor, and was
+appointed castellan of Windsor and warden of the forests of the king. In
+1078 he is mentioned in Doomsday Book as the owner of enormous areas of
+land in England and Wales. In 1168 Maurice Fitzgerald, whose name was
+anglicized and who was the father of the Irish branch of the family,
+accompanied Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, better known as
+Strongbow, in the invasion of Ireland and was granted large estates. He
+died at Wexford in 1177 and was buried in the Abbey of the Grey Friars
+outside the walls of that town. One of his sons became Baron of Offlay,
+another became Baron of Nass, and Thomas, the third, was the ancestor of
+the earls of Desmond. The next earl was a man of great piety. In 1216 he
+introduced into Ireland the Order of the Franciscans and built them an
+abbey at Youghal. In 1229 he induced the Dominicans to send a band of
+missionaries and built them an abbey at Adair. And his son was equally
+devoted to the church.
+
+The castle at Maynooth, which for several centuries was one of the
+largest and strongest in Ireland, was built by Gerald, the fifth earl,
+in 1427, whose second son was the founder of the house of Ormonde and
+was created earl of that name.
+
+For sixteen generations the earls of Kildare were the most active men in
+Ireland, and the history of their adventures would fill a book as big as
+a dictionary. There was always "something doing" wherever they went;
+they were on all sides of all questions and were sometimes fighting each
+other as fiercely as the family foes. They led rebellions against their
+sovereign, have suffered imprisonment, and have been executed at Tyburn
+and the Tower. They have been the boldest and most powerful defenders of
+British authority in Ireland and several times have saved the island to
+the British throne. More lords lieutenants have come from the Kildares
+than from any other family, and among the long list of earls have been
+some splendid characters.
+
+The eighth earl subdued all the native chieftains and made them submit
+to English authority. An early historian describes him as "A mightie man
+of stature, full of honoure and courage, who has bin Lord Deputie and
+Lord Justice of Ireland three and thirtie yeares. He was in government
+milde, to his enemies stearne, he was open and playne; hardley able to
+rule himself, but could well rule others; in anger he was sharp and
+short, being easily displeased and easily appeased."
+
+Thomas Gerald, the twelfth earl, having incurred the enmity of Cardinal
+Wolsey, was called to England and committed to the Tower for treason.
+When he left Ireland he intrusted his official authority and
+responsibilities to his son and heir, familiarly known as "Silken
+Thomas," because of the gorgeous trappings of his retinue. The boy was
+then but twenty-one, bold, brave, patriotic, and generous, and became
+the victim of a plot devised by agents of Cardinal Wolsey, who spread a
+report that his father had been beheaded in the Tower. The impetuous
+young lord left the Castle of Maynooth, rode into Dublin, and, entering
+the chamber where the council sat, openly renounced his allegiance to
+the King of England, gave his reasons and laid mace and sword, the
+symbols of office, upon the table. Archbishop Cromer, the lord
+chancellor, besought him to reconsider, explaining that the rumor from
+London might be false, and the young earl was about to yield when the
+voice of the family bard, who had followed him to Dublin, was heard
+through the window singing the death song of the Kildares. "Silken
+Thomas" seized his sword, summoned the Geraldines, the family clan,
+which was the mightiest and most numerous in Ireland, assaulted the
+castle, and soon involved the entire country in a desperate revolution.
+When the old earl heard the news in his cell in the Tower he sent a
+message to Henry VIII. asking pardon for the rashness of his son and
+then died of a broken heart.
+
+All Ireland was in flames; three-fourths of Kildare County and the
+greater part of Meath was burned; thousands of innocent people died of
+starvation and thousands in battle before the rebellion was suppressed.
+Finally Kildare, who was then but twenty-four, surrendered upon a
+promise that he should receive full pardon when he arrived in London and
+renewed his allegiance personally to the king. This pledge was
+shamefully violated. Henry VIII. refused to receive him, and sent him to
+the Tower, where for eighteen months he lay neglected and in great
+misery. He wrote an old servant asking money for clothes, saying: "I
+have gone shirtless and barefoot and bare-legged divers times, and so I
+should have done still but that poor prisoners of their gentleness hath
+sometimes given me old hosen and shirts and shoes."
+
+Five of his uncles, although it was well known that three of them had
+remained stanch adherents of the crown, were hanged, drawn, and
+quartered at Tyburn, Feb. 8, 1537, and orders went forth from Henry
+VIII. that the house of Kildare should be exterminated.
+
+Gerald, the baby heir, the only survivor of his race, was wrapped in
+warm flannels by Thomas Leverus, afterward Bishop of Kildare, carried
+across bog and mountain, and committed to the protection of the
+O'Brians, who by sending the infant from place to place were able to
+save its life. The O'Brians passed the child over to the MacCarthys, and
+Lady Eleanor MacCarthy, a widow, disguised as a peasant, conveyed him
+to St. Mels, France, upon a fishing boat. Even there he was pursued from
+one place of refuge to another, by detectives and adventurers in hopes
+of the great reward, until finally he obtained a safe retreat in Rome,
+where Cardinal Pole, a distant relative, protected and educated him.
+When he grew to manhood he entered the service of Cosmo de Medicis, the
+great Duke of Florence, with whom he remained until Henry VIII., the
+vindictive enemy of his family, was dead. He could then return in safety
+to his native country, and Queen Mary soon after pardoned him and
+restored his hereditary titles and estates. Fourteen generations of
+Kildares have passed across the stage since then, and the present Duke
+of Leinster represents a family that has had more exciting experiences
+than any other in the United Kingdom.
+
+
+
+
+                                   XI
+
+                 DROGHEDA, AND THE VALLEY OF THE BOYNE
+
+
+One of the loveliest railway or automobile rides in Ireland is from
+Dublin northward to the ancient town of Drogheda (pronounced Drawdah).
+The railroad runs parallel with the highway along the shore of St.
+George's Channel. Both touch several popular seaside resorts, fishing
+settlements, and busy manufacturing towns, which alternate with
+beautiful pastures filled with sleek cattle and unshorn sheep, and here
+and there ivy-clad towers and little groups of chimney pots rise above
+the foliage. The pastures and meadows, when we saw them, blazing with
+yellow buttercups, looked like the Field of the Cloth of Gold. They are
+divided into small plots by hedges of hawthorn twelve and fifteen feet
+high, which in the early summer are as white as banks of snow, and so
+fragrant that the perfume floated into the car windows.
+
+Between the meadows and the pastures along the coast are plots of
+cultivated ground, gardens of potatoes, cabbages, and other vegetables
+and glorious groves. It isn't a bit like the Ireland one expects to see
+after reading newspaper accounts of the terrible conditions that the
+politicians complain of. It is not a country of downtrodden peasants and
+a wretched tenantry crushed under the heels of oppressive landlords.
+Right is not upon the scaffold in that section of Ireland, nor is wrong
+upon the throne. On the contrary, every evidence of prosperity and
+contentment and happiness abounds. The neatly whitewashed,
+straw-thatched cottages are surrounded with gay gardens filled with
+old-fashioned flowers, such as you see in Massachusetts and New
+Hampshire. Large stables and storehouses are attached to almost every
+cottage, which indicates that the farmer has something to put in them.
+The traveler cannot see the mansions of the rich, because they are
+hidden in glorious parks and protected by high walls. Occasionally in
+the distance, however, he can catch glimpses of the towers of ancient
+castles, each having a romance or a tragedy, and sometimes several of
+both, contained in their history.
+
+At Malehide forty or fifty golf players alighted from the train, with
+kits of clubs over their shoulders, for there are two links near that
+village--one for an exclusive club of rich Dubliners, and the other for
+any one who is able to pay half a crown for the privilege of chasing a
+little gutta-percha ball over the grass. Malehide is a lovely place,
+situated on the seashore at the mouth of a little stream called Meadow
+Water, with hotels of all grades and prices, fashionable and
+unfashionable, and some of them are open for health seekers the year
+around.
+
+The chief attraction to tourists is the ancient castle of the Talbot
+family, who have owned and occupied it continuously for seven hundred
+years, an unusual record for Ireland or for anywhere else. The original
+castle, built about 1180, in the reign of Henry II., is still standing,
+although modern restorations and additions have changed it much. The
+exterior has suffered more than the interior. The dining-hall, a very
+large apartment, is considered one of the finest rooms in Ireland. The
+wainscoting and the ceiling are of oak, richly carved, and mellowed by
+exposure for more than six centuries. The chimney-piece, an exquisite
+example of fourteenth century carving, represents the Conception. From
+1653 to 1660 the castle was inhabited by Miles Corbet, the regicide, and
+the very day he took possession of the place, according to tradition,
+the figure of the Blessed Virgin was mysteriously detached from the rest
+of the carving and disappeared until the night after the unholy tenant
+fled from the place, when it was miraculously restored.
+
+There is a fine collection of paintings in the castle, including
+portraits by Van Dyck and other famous artists, three panels of
+scripture subjects by Albert Dürer, which formerly belonged to Mary,
+Queen of Scots, and were purchased by Charles II. for $2,000. The
+library is a treasure-house of old tomes and manuscripts, and upon the
+wall, in a heavy oaken frame, hangs the original patent by which the
+estate was granted to the Talbot family by King Edward IV.
+
+Within the roofless walls of an ancient abbey near by is the altar-tomb
+of Maud Plunkett, whose husband, Sir Richard Talbot, according to the
+epitaph, "fell in a fray immediately after the wedding breakfast, thus
+making her maid, wife, and widow in a single day."
+
+The village of Swords, three miles distant, has another ancient castle,
+where the bodies of Brian Boru and his son Morrough rested the first
+night after the battle of Clontarf while they were being carried to
+their final tomb at Armagh.
+
+All the little towns along the coast of the Irish Channel are associated
+with St. Patrick and St. Columba, who spent more or less time there,
+founding monasteries and building churches. One of the monasteries,
+called "the Golden Prebend" because it was so rich, was held by William
+of Wykeham in 1366 and was the seat of a cardinal for a century or two.
+
+A mile and a half from the main line, beyond Swords, is the village of
+Portraine, where Dean Swift's "Stella" lived for several years, and
+where a branch of the insane asylum he founded in Dublin has since been
+erected. It stands upon lands given by Sigtryg of the Silken Beard, the
+Danish king of Dublin, for the endowment of a Christian church. The
+house was occupied for many years by the nuns of St. Augustine, where
+"the womankind of the most part of the whole Englisher of this land are
+brought up in virtue, learning and in the English tongue and behaviour."
+
+The little town of Rush, famous for its early potatoes and its tulip
+bulbs, is called "Holland in Ireland." It has an old church, with
+beautiful pointed arches, which dates back to the sixteenth century, and
+contains a richly decorated monument to Sir Christopher Barnwell and his
+beloved wife, who died in 1607.
+
+Skerries is a fishing-town, where St. Patrick lived for several years,
+and a quaint little chapel, like many others in Ireland, is attributed
+to him, although it could not possibly have been built for several
+centuries after his time. But in the history of these ancient
+sanctuaries a few hundred years do not count.
+
+While ruins are picturesque and ivy-clad castles that date back beyond
+the Middle Ages have a fascination for tourists from a new world like
+ours, it was a relief when the chauffeur brought us up to the entrance
+of an old-fashioned factory in the compact little town of Balbriggan,
+which has given its name to a certain kind of knitted goods that are
+worn the world over. It is a quaint mass of high houses, built of stone
+and brick on both sides of narrow but neatly kept streets, which seems
+unnecessary when miles of green fields and glowing gardens encircle them
+and give them every chance to spread out. But you will find the same
+tendency to snuggle up as closely as possible in all the manufacturing
+communities of Europe.
+
+The men folks at Balbriggan fish and farm the soil, and the women work
+in the mills, but the law, which is strictly enforced there, prohibits
+child labor and compels the children to attend school for at least one
+hundred and twenty-eight days in the year until they pass their
+fourteenth birthday. The superintendents of the mills tell the same
+story that I heard in the cotton factories of South Carolina and
+Georgia, that they prefer adult operatives; that the children are
+careless and inefficient and seldom earn their wages, but they are
+compelled to employ them or lose the services of the parents. There are
+two factories in Balbriggan for the manufacture of knitted hosiery and
+underclothing by machinery invented here more than one hundred and fifty
+years ago and since imitated everywhere. Both factories still remain
+under the control of the families which founded them, but the shares are
+distributed among a larger number of people by inheritance from
+generation to generation.
+
+Scattered along the coast at intervals of two or three miles, and
+generally at the summits of hills overlooking the sea, are "martello
+towers," fifty, sixty, and sometimes ninety feet high, and from forty to
+a hundred feet in diameter. They were erected early in the nineteenth
+century as defensive watch-towers, when the country was in dread of an
+invasion by Napoleon. The name was taken from similar towers in Corsica
+and Sardinia, where they were erected for protection against pirates in
+the time of Charles V. These towers are said to have originally had
+bells which were struck by hammers to alarm the people in case of
+danger; hence they were called "martello" towers, that being the Italian
+word for "hammer."
+
+It makes a Protestant ashamed when he reads the history of Drogheda and
+sees the ruins that Cromwell left there. Thousands of men and women and
+children were butchered in the name of the Lord by Cromwell's soldiers
+when he took that quaint old town by storm in September, 1649. It was a
+ferocious massacre, and Cromwell admitted the facts while proclaiming
+himself the agent of the Almighty to punish a rebellious people. This is
+what he wrote with his own hand:
+
+"The governor, Sir Arthur Aston, and divers considerable officers being
+there, our men, getting up to them, were ordered by me to put them all
+to the sword, and, indeed, being in the heat of action, I forbade them
+to spare any that were in arms in the town; and I think that night they
+put to death about two thousand persons. Divers officers and soldiers
+being fled over the bridge into the other part of the town, where about
+a hundred of them possessed St. Peter's Church steeple, some the West
+Gate, and others a strong round tower next to the gate called St.
+Sundays. These being summoned to yield for mercy refused. Whereupon I
+ordered the steeple of St. Peter's Church to be fired. The next day the
+other two towers were summoned. When they submitted their officers were
+knocked on the head and every tenth man of the soldiers was killed. The
+rest shipped for the Barbadoes. The soldiers in the other tower were all
+spared as to their lives only and shipped likewise for the Barbadoes.
+
+"I am persuaded that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these
+barbarous wretches who have imbued their hands in so much innocent
+blood; and that it will tend to prevent the effusion of blood for the
+future."
+
+Two of the towers have remained these two hundred and fifty years just
+as grim old Oliver left them, and there is much else of interest to the
+antiquarian in the town, although today it is given up to linen
+factories, flour mills, tanneries, and soap works, and has a large
+provision trade with England. It is the center of a prosperous
+agricultural community, and everybody seems to be doing well.
+
+The greatest attraction is the ruins of Monasterboice, an extensive
+monastery, founded by St. Patrick, like every other ecclesiastical
+institution in this country, and three magnificent crosses which arise
+among them, about six miles from town. We tried to get a carriage
+instead of a jaunting car for the drive, because the latter allows you
+to see only one side of the roadway, but Mrs. Murphy, who has a livery
+stable and a tongue that is hung in the middle, could furnish us nothing
+else. It is a delightful drive. On the outward journey we saw what there
+is to see on one hand, and coming back we saw everything on the other.
+
+The ruins of Monasterboice cover a large area, for five hundred monks
+and several thousand students were there eight or nine hundred years
+ago. It was one of the largest educational institutions in the world, as
+well as a religious retreat. It dates back to the fifth century, and was
+probably founded by St. Patrick,--certainly by one of his
+disciples,--although there is no tangible evidence to prove that fact. A
+"round tower" still in good condition, dates from the ninth century. It
+is one hundred and ten feet high and fifty-one feet in diameter at the
+base. It was intended for observation, for signaling to the country
+around, for the storage of valuables and military supplies, and for
+defensive purposes. Strangely enough, it sits in a hollow, in the lowest
+part of an amphitheater, surrounded by hills, but the Irish monks as
+well as the Irish warriors of ancient times always built beside streams
+of running water and not upon the heights, like the Goths, the Huns,
+the Teutons, and the Romans.
+
+There are similar "round towers" at Cashel, Glendalough, Kildare,
+Antrim, and other places in the interior of Ireland which have long been
+subject of an irreconcilable dispute among archæologists. While no one
+knows definitely who built them, or what they were for, the most
+credited theory is that I have given above.
+
+Dr. Petrie, who is a high authority, believes that they were built
+between the years 890 and 1238, when the Danes were in the habit of
+invading Ireland and plundering the ecclesiastical establishments. One
+of the most perfect of these towers, at Antrim, is ninety-two feet in
+height and forty-nine feet in circumference at the bottom; the summit
+terminates in a cone twelve feet high, which, with the tower itself, is
+of undressed stone, the walls being two feet nine inches in thickness.
+The door is on the north side at a height of seven feet nine inches from
+the ground. The tower was apparently divided into four stories by timber
+floors, which, of course, vanished long ago. Each of the three lower
+stories is lighted by a square window, and the upper story by four
+square perforations opening to the cardinal points. It stands in the
+grounds of a mansion. The turf between the two shows the dim outline of
+buildings, supposed to be those of a monastery founded by Aodh, a
+disciple of St. Patrick, the earliest notice of which occurs in the year
+495. It was destroyed during the Danish incursions.
+
+The walls of the chapel at Monasterboice are standing firm and strong,
+but without a roof, and the grounds surrounding them and the ruins of
+the monastery are still used for the burial of the families of the
+parish. It is a free cemetery and belongs to the government and not to
+the Catholic Church. Anybody--Protestant, Quaker, or Jew--can lay his
+tired bones down under the hospitable trees by application to the
+secretary of the board of public works. The oldest grave is that of
+Bishop O'Rourke, who was buried there in 982; the latest, marked by a
+clumsy wooden cross, was made in 1907.
+
+What people go there to see are three splendid Celtic crosses, the
+finest specimens of the kind in Ireland, and that means the universe.
+They are believed to have been erected in the fifth century in honor of
+St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Bridget. This, however, is
+questionable. One of them bears the inscription, "A prayer for
+Murriduch, by whom was made this cross." From the Irish Annals it may be
+learned that two men of that name have lived in this neighborhood, both
+of wealth and distinction, and they died, one in the year 844 and the
+other in 924. It is entirely probable that either of them may have
+erected the splendid monoliths. The largest is twenty-seven feet high,
+and all of them are covered with carvings of religious subjects. The
+crosses of Monasterboice have been photographed and reproduced many
+times, and models have been shipped to all parts of the world. Perfect
+replicas may be found in the museum at Dublin.
+
+Four miles further on are the ruins of Mellifont Abbey, which was
+founded in the twelfth century, and has had an important part in the
+political as well as the ecclesiastical history of Ireland.
+
+There are several drawbacks to motoring in Ireland, the chief of which
+is that the country is so short on good hotels and so long on showers.
+The next is the inability to see through or over walls of stone and
+hedges that rise twice as high as one's head. Nevertheless, wherever
+there is much to see and little time to see it in, one has to put up
+with some annoyances, and an automobile is no longer a luxury or a mere
+convenience, but an actual necessity.
+
+The Irish climate is like the Irish character. A witty native once said
+of his fellow countrymen, "They smile aisy and they cry aisy," and that
+describes the habits of the heavens also. Clouds assemble and do
+business in quicker time than in any other place I have ever been, but,
+although it will "rain cats and dogs" for fifteen or twenty minutes, the
+sun will be shining almost instantly afterward, as if nothing had
+happened.
+
+[Illustration: A CELTIC CROSS AT MONASTERBOICE, COUNTY LOUTH]
+
+Unfortunately the hotel proposition is not so easily disposed of. Most
+of the inns of the country districts and in the small cities are
+absolutely intolerable. It isn't so much because of a lack of luxuries
+and modern conveniences that the traveler finds in England, Scotland,
+and on the Continent at similar places, as it is the excess of dirt and
+bad smells. In the average country hotel in Ireland everything is in
+disorder and out of repair. The bells don't work; the furniture is
+crippled and decrepit; the mattresses are lumpy and half the springs are
+broken or out of joint; the bedrooms are seldom swept, the table cloths
+are seldom washed; sheets and pillow-cases, are seldom changed, and if a
+guest should call for a clean towel the landlord would be likely to ask
+what is the matter with the one he gave him a few days ago. The only
+alternative to stopping at a dirty hotel is to ride on until you come to
+a clean one, and that may be as far as the ends of the earth. The more
+practical, and indeed the only, way is to accept the situation good
+naturedly and get the best you can out of it. Any person who takes an
+interest in this subject can find further and accurate information in
+that charming book, "Penelope's Irish Experiences," by Kate Douglas
+Wiggin. It is asserted by those who know that there are only five good
+hotels in Ireland. We found nine, but did not keep count of the other
+kind. They are too numerous to mention.
+
+The road from Drogheda to Tara, the ancient capital of Ireland, follows
+the valley of the famous Boyne River, and passes through the famous
+battlefield where William of Orange, with thirty thousand men, in 1690,
+overcame James II. with twenty-three thousand, and deprived the latter
+of his dominion and his crown and gave the Protestants control of
+Ireland for the next two hundred and fifty years. A stately monument has
+been erected upon the field, and various small markers have been placed
+about to show where important incidents took place.
+
+The Valley of the Boyne is extremely beautiful. The banks are densely
+wooded for miles, and the river flows through many fine estates owned
+and occupied by rich people from London, Dublin, and other cities. The
+climate is agreeable and healthful for nine or ten months in the year.
+Only February, March, and April are unpleasant, because of the winds.
+The scenery is peaceful and attractive, the foliage of the groves and
+forests is rich beyond comparison, and it is difficult to conceive of
+more desirable surroundings for a summer home for men of wealth and
+leisure. To the antiquarian and the archæologist there is an unlimited
+field for exploration that has only been touched thus far.
+
+Only a few miles from Drogheda, and on the direct road to Tara, is a
+collection of tumuli which are unsurpassed in Europe or any other part
+of the world. They mark the location of Brugh-Na-Boinne, the royal
+cemetery of ancient Ireland, the burying-ground of the kings of Tara for
+centuries before the history of the country began. Although they do not
+show the same architectural skill or artistic taste or mechanical
+mysteries, and do not compare in magnitude with the pyramids and other
+tombs of the kings of Egypt, they nevertheless have an entrancing
+interest to those who love archæology and prehistoric lore. The tumuli
+are scattered over a large area, and, according to the theories of
+scientists who have explored them, contained the bodies of successive
+royal families of Ireland until the invasion of the Danes, when they
+were desecrated, looted, and nearly destroyed, just as the tombs of the
+kings of Egypt were stripped of their treasures by the Assyrians and
+other invaders.
+
+[Illustration: RUINS OF MELLIFONT ABBEY, NEAR DROGHEDA, COUNTY LOUTH]
+
+The most remarkable tumulus, at New Grange, has been described at length
+by several eminent antiquarians. It stands on elevated ground, and
+covers about three acres, the main part being two hundred and eighty
+feet in diameter and about one hundred and twenty feet high. It is now
+covered with dense vegetation. It is a vast cairn of loose stones,
+estimated at one hundred thousand tons, those at the base being very
+large--from six to eight feet long and four or five feet thick. They are
+arranged in a circle without masonry; simply laid in order and smaller
+stones placed inside and on top of them until an artificial cavern was
+created, which was reached by a passage sixty-two feet long, formed of
+enormous upright stones from five to eight feet high and roofed with
+flagstones of great size. This passage leads to a low dome-roofed
+chamber, nearly circular, whose ceiling is supported by eleven upright
+pillars. The ceiling is nineteen and a half feet from the ground. There
+are three other chambers, measuring eighteen by twenty-one feet in size,
+which at one time were doubtless filled with the bodies of the royal
+families. The archæologists compare them to the beehive tombs of Mycenæ,
+known as "The Treasury of Atreus," and find many resemblances. The
+surfaces of some of the stones are rudely carved with cryptographs and
+ornamental designs.
+
+There are several other tumuli in the neighborhood of different dates
+and dimensions and of absorbing interest to science; and all of them we
+know, from that accurate and comprehensive chronicle, "The Annals of the
+Four Masters," were plundered by the Danes in the year 801. Those
+vandals left nothing but bones and cinerary urns; they took away or
+destroyed everything else. The tumuli are now in the custody of the
+board of works, which is taking care of them, and is having careful
+scientific excavations and other examinations made by competent
+authorities.
+
+There are several other cemeteries in the neighborhood that are not so
+old, and they also are supposed to contain the dust of kings; but few of
+the graves have been identified. One of them, marked with two tombstones
+set with their tops together like the gable of a house, has been
+declared to be of greater antiquity than any other Christian tomb in
+Ireland, and is supposed to contain the remains of St. Eric, the first
+bishop consecrated by St. Patrick. He died toward the end of the fifth
+century. It is said that his custom was to stand immersed in the Boyne
+River up to his two armpits from morn till evening, having his psalter
+lying before him on the strand where he could read its pages, and
+continually engaging in prayer.
+
+In another grave lie the bones of Cormac, the greatest of the kings of
+Tara, who was a Christian, having been converted by St. Patrick. His
+death was brought about by the Druid priests, who cast a spell over him
+and caused a bone of salmon to stick in his throat. He commanded his
+people not to bury him at Brugh-Na-Boinne among his royal ancestors,
+because it was a cemetery of idolators, but to place his body humbly in
+consecrated ground, with his face to the east. These injunctions were
+clear and positive, but the king's servants required a miracle to induce
+them to obey. Three separate times they started from the palace at Tara
+for the royal burying-ground at Brugh-Na-Boinne, when the river
+miraculously rose to such a height that they could not cross. After so
+many warnings their stupid brains finally saw the light and they laid
+his majesty's ashes in consecrated ground, as he had commanded.
+
+The little antiquated village of Kells, with pleasant surroundings and
+glorious foliage, sleeps unconscious of its fame. It is of the greatest
+interest to Christian archæologists, because it was the home of St.
+Columba (or Columbkill), second only to St. Patrick in influence and in
+the work of evangelizing Ireland. He was born in Donegal in 521, of
+royal blood, being the great-great-grandson of King Niall of the Nine
+Hostages, founder of the O'Neill family. Having heard the truth of the
+gospel, he gave up his princely heritage for the service of his Master
+and became a monk. He traveled for sixteen years, preaching from place
+to place, founding churches and monasteries all over the country, which
+are still venerated by the people, and are among the most interesting
+ruins in Ireland. At Kells he built a famous monastery in the year 550,
+and the cost was paid by Dermot, son of Fearghus, king of Tara, at that
+time.
+
+St. Columba made his headquarters there for many years and then crossed
+the channel to the little Island of Iona, on the west coast of Scotland,
+which had been granted him by his relative, the king of that country. He
+founded a monastery there, from which he and his disciples traversed all
+Scotland and the Hebrides, preaching the gospel, baptizing the people,
+building churches and monasteries, until half the Scotch were converted
+to Christianity. The rest of Great Britain was converted from paganism
+by the missionaries he educated and sent out. After a life of
+extraordinary activity and usefulness he died at Iona in the year 597
+at the age of seventy-six years and was mourned by every one on the
+shores of the four seas. His funeral lasted three days and three nights,
+and he was buried within the walls of the monastery of Iona, whence his
+remains were afterward removed to Downpatrick and buried in the same
+grave as those of St. Patrick and St. Bridget.
+
+A portion of the house of St. Columba still remains at Kells, half
+concealed by a cloak of wonderful ivy. There is a tower one hundred feet
+tall, and in the neighboring churchyard are several crosses of the
+Celtic fashion, similar to, but not so large or so fine as those at
+Monasterboice. They are, however, sacred in the eyes of all Irishmen and
+date back to the tenth century.
+
+The "Annals of the Four Masters" record many exciting incidents and
+important events that have occurred in the history of the town of Kells.
+It has been invaded and looted by Irish clansmen, Norwegian hordes, and
+Danish Vikings. It has been devastated many times by fire, sword, and
+pestilence. Sigtryg of the Silken Beard burned it to the ground in 1019,
+and Edward Bruce in 1315, but it has arisen serene and smiling as often
+as it has been destroyed, and prosperity has been restored again. It was
+in the great monastery founded by St. Columba that the famous
+illuminated "Book of the Gospels," preserved in the library of Trinity
+College, Dublin, was made by the monks in the eighth century. Mr.
+Westwood, a very high authority, pronounces it "the most elaborately
+executed monument of early Christian art in existence." Kells was also
+noted for its metal work in the Middle Ages. At present it is merely an
+agricultural market and the seat of the Marquess of Headfort, who has a
+large estate and a beautiful chateau surrounded by a wooded demesne and
+a hunting preserve. There are several other delightful residences in the
+neighborhood, and if there were a decent hotel within walking or driving
+distance, Kells might have many visitors, but those who go there are
+compelled to hurry away to find some place to stay overnight.
+
+Navan, a neat little manufacturing town with a woolen mill and other
+industries, has a reasonably good hotel, but you have to come back about
+ten miles from Kells. There is another neat little town called Trim,
+where it is possible to stay overnight and even to pass a day or two.
+The country around Trim is lovely. The landscapes in every direction
+would fascinate an artist, and the ruins of "King John's Castle," built
+on the banks of the Boyne by Hugh de Lacy, are among the most extensive
+and beautiful in the world. The walls, four hundred and eighty-six yards
+long, with ten circular towers at nearly equal distances, are still well
+preserved and there is a lofty keep, seventy feet high, with beautiful
+turrets and flanked on either side with rectangular towers. There is
+nothing to surpass it in Ireland for picturesqueness, and its
+associations give it additional interest, for King John, Edward II.,
+Richard, Earl of Ulster, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and other
+famous characters, have lived there. Henry of Lancaster, afterward Henry
+IV. of England, was imprisoned there; the parliament of Ireland met
+within its walls, year after year, and it was once the mint of the
+kingdom. In later days it was occupied by the Duke of Wellington, who
+received his early education in the diocesan school within the grounds.
+
+His name, you know, was Arthur Wellesley. He was a son of Lord
+Mornington, of an old Irish family. His mother was a daughter of the
+Earl of Dungannon of Tyrone, and she lived to see four of her sons
+elevated to the peerage of Great Britain, not because of wealth or
+political influence, but because of their ability and usefulness.
+Richard, the eldest, was that celebrated statesman, the Marquis of
+Wellesley; the second, William, was also eminent in politics and civil
+affairs as Lord Mayborough; the third, Henry, Lord Crowley, spent his
+life in the diplomatic service and made an enviable name, while Arthur,
+hero of Waterloo and of the Spanish campaign, the man who broke the back
+of Napoleon the Great, was the fourth and most famous of them all.
+
+Arthur Wellesley was born May 1, 1769, in Merrion Street, Dublin, in a
+house now occupied by the commissioners that are carrying out the land
+act, and he died Sept. 18, 1852. It may be said that no other Irish
+subject of a British king ever received greater honors or better
+deserved them.
+
+Dungan Castle, the home of the Wellesleys, is near Trim, about twenty
+miles from Dublin, and the nearest railway station is Summer Hill.
+Laracor, a secluded little village where Dean Swift was once curate and
+where Stella lived with Mrs. Dingley, is only a mile or two distant.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XII
+
+                  TARA--THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF IRELAND
+
+
+In prehistoric times, before the conversion of Ireland to Christianity
+by St. Patrick, the clan system prevailed there, as it did in other
+countries of Europe. A "clan," or "sept," consisted of a number of
+families and was ruled by a patriarch, the greatest warrior, or the
+oldest man. A "tribe" was a larger group, consisting of several clans or
+septs more or less related to each other and occupying a distinct and
+separate territory under the command of a chieftain. Several tribes
+composed a nation, as the word is used among the North American Indians,
+ruled by a "ri," or king, while the "ard-ri," or over-king, a supreme
+monarch with jurisdiction extending to the remotest shores of Ireland,
+reigned and resided at Tara until the sixth century, with the province
+of Meath as his own exclusive demesne for the use and support of his
+family and his court. He received tribute from the local kings or "ri"
+and was elected by their votes. Occasionally at his call, or at stated
+intervals, the kings and chiefs would assemble at Tara to consider
+matters of importance to all, to adopt laws and regulations for
+preserving peace and promoting the welfare of their subjects and
+protecting their common interests. Several feasts, held there annually,
+were attended by the minor kings, chieftains, and nobles who were
+followed by large retinues. Their warriors engaged in games, sports, and
+tournaments to encourage the physical development of the race and teach
+the arts of war. From the throne of the ard-ri decrees were announced,
+laws proclaimed, justice dispensed, and prizes awarded. According to the
+annals of those early days, one hundred and forty-two kings reigned at
+Tara during a period of two thousand five hundred and thirty years,
+when the place was abandoned in consequence of a curse pronounced by St.
+Ruadhan of Lorrha for the failure to punish Hugh Garry for the murder of
+a monk. Until the time of Cormac Mac Art, greatest and most luxurious of
+all the ancient kings of Ireland, the rulers who sat at Tara were
+pagans, but he was converted to Christianity, and the annalists in
+glowing lines describe his piety and his devotions.
+
+According to the ancient laws, the king of Ireland could not have a
+blemish upon his person, and Cormac was obliged to abdicate power and
+authority and retire to the top of the Hill of Skreen, across the valley
+from the Hill of Tara, because his left eye was put out by an arrow shot
+by Ængus, a rebellious chieftain, who is believed to have been under the
+influence of Druid priests, to punish Cormac for accepting Christianity.
+
+Cormac's administration was the golden age at Tara, and although there
+was no pretense of architectural display in the wicker palaces that were
+thatched with straw, nevertheless he and other kings of that period
+possessed great wealth and made gorgeous displays at the ceremonies of
+their courts. An early writer describes a banquet given by Cormac Mac
+Art to one hundred kings, chieftains, astrologers, bards, and other
+distinguished men, who were seated at twelve tables, sixteen attendants
+at each table, and two oxen, two sheep, and two hogs were consumed,
+besides other and many varieties of food.
+
+  "Beautiful was the appearance of Cormac," says the ancient
+  manuscript, "flowing slightly, curling golden hair upon him;
+
+  "A red buckler with stars and animals of gold and fastenings of
+  silver upon him;
+
+  "A crimson cloak in wide descending folds upon him;
+
+  "Fastened at his breast by a golden brooch set with precious stones;
+
+  "A torque of gold of curious design and richly graven around his
+  neck;
+
+  "A white shirt with a full collar intertwined with red gold thread
+  upon him;
+
+  "A girdle of gold inlaid with precious stones around him;
+
+  "Two wonderful shoes of gold with runnings of gold upon him;
+
+  "Two spears with golden sockets in his hand."
+
+In such attire did the king appear at the banquet given in honor of his
+chieftains:
+
+              "The feis of Temur each third year,
+              To preserve the laws and rules
+              Was then convened firmly
+              By the illustrious King of Erin."
+
+The last _ard-ri_, or king of all Ireland, was Roderick O'Conor, who
+died in 1198.
+
+The archæologists, judging by the ruins and the traces of the walls,
+find that the great banqueting hall was 759 feet long by 90 feet wide;
+the other buildings were circular or oval; and it is apparent that they
+were surrounded by walls of stone intended both for privacy and
+protection.
+
+No doubt the royal residences and other buildings at Tara were of wicker
+construction. Furthest to the south, on the ridge or hill of Tara, is
+the Rath Laoghaire (Leary), built by an old king whom St. Patrick tried
+to convert, but without success; and somewhere in the rampart on the
+southern side of this are the bones of Laoghaire. He was buried as he
+ordered--in the bank of his rath, standing erect, with his shield and
+weapons, with his face turned southward toward his foes, the Lagenians
+(Leinstermen). Next northward is Rath na Riogh (Rath of the Kings),
+probably the oldest structure at Tara, and the royal residence. It is
+oval, and 853 feet long from north to south. Within its inclosure are:
+Teach Cormaic (Cormac's House), a rath with an outer ring, probably
+built by Cormac Mac Art. Its diameter is about one hundred and forty
+feet. Next to the northwest, and joined to Teach Cormaic by a common
+parapet, is the Forradh ("place of meeting"). Its greatest diameter
+being 296 feet and the diameter of the inner circle 88 feet. To the
+north of these, but still within the Rath na Riogh, is a mound called
+Dumha na n-Giall (Mound of the Hostages), on the flat summit of which
+was probably a house wherein dwelt the hostages often required by the
+ard-ri of minor kings, of whose fealty he might have doubts. No doubt
+the hostages of Niall of the Nine Hostages were kept here. To the west
+of this mound are the remains of another, the Dumha na Bo, or Mound of
+the Cow. Outside the inclosure of the Rath na Riogh, on the north, is
+Rath na Seanaidh, or Rath of the Synods, so called because of the synods
+held there by St. Patrick and his successors, though it is of much older
+date.
+
+Upon the summit of the hill is a rude statue of St. Patrick carved in
+granite by Mr. Curry, a stone cutter in one of the neighboring towns,
+and erected at the expense of local contributors many years ago. It
+bears no likeness to any human being, but the motive which erected it
+was pure and patriotic, and in a measure it is appropriate because on
+Easter morning in the year 433 St. Patrick proclaimed the gospel of
+Jesus Christ to the pagan priests and the King of Tara and his court,
+standing upon the very spot now occupied by his statue. Father Mathew
+once delivered a temperance speech from that holy spot, and in 1843
+Daniel O'Connell addressed a monster meeting, attended by a quarter of a
+million people, many of whom came fifty miles or more to hear him
+advocate the political emancipation of the Roman Catholic population of
+Ireland. The meeting lasted two days and O'Connell spoke twice. It was
+one of his last meetings before his arrest and imprisonment at Dublin.
+On or near the Mound of the Hostages, according to the best authorities,
+stood the "Lia Fail," or "Stone of Destiny," upon which for ages the
+monarchs of Ireland were crowned. This stone, according to tradition,
+was the pillow of Jacob when he dreamed his dream and when the angels
+descended and ascended a golden ladder at his head. It was preserved by
+fugitive Israelites at the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion
+of the tribes, was brought to Ireland with the Ark of the Covenant, and
+passed into the possession of the early kings. This stone was carried to
+Scotland and preserved at Scone until Edward I. took it to London for
+his coronation, and ever since his day it has been the seat of the
+coronation chair. All of the kings of England have sat upon it while the
+crown of sovereignty was placed upon their heads, from Edward I. to
+Edward VII., and any one may see it in the coronation chair at
+Westminster Abbey.
+
+Petrie, one of the highest authorities on Irish history, denies that the
+coronation stone of Scone, now in the coronation chair at Westminster
+Abbey, is the Lia Fail. He asserts that it never left Tara. And he
+believes it is now there--a stone pillar, standing erect on the Forradh,
+marking the place of the interment of a number of Irish who were killed
+in the rebellion of 1798. It is about eleven feet long, and about half
+of its length is in the ground, so that it appears but a rough, unhewn
+pillar, five feet three inches high.
+
+A similar stone was used by the Ulstermen to inaugurate The O'Neill. It
+was in a rath at Tullyhogue, near Cookstown, County Tyrone, and was
+broken up by an English expedition in the time of Queen Elizabeth. The
+Clannaboy O'Neills used an inauguration chair, a fragment of gray
+sandstone in the shape of a chair with a high back, without the mark of
+chisel upon it--evidently found somewhere just as it was. It was kept at
+Castlereagh, on the hills overlooking Belfast on the southeast. It was
+found among the ruins of the castle about seventy-five years ago, and is
+now in the Museum at Belfast.
+
+Joyce's "History of Ireland" gives an interesting story of the taking of
+the Lia Fail to Scotland: The Irish, or Gaels, or Scots, of Ulster, from
+the earliest ages were in the habit of crossing over in their currachs
+to the coast of Alban, as Scotland was then called; and some carried on
+a regular trade therewith, and many settled there and made it their
+home. The Picts often attempted to expel the intruders, but the latter
+held their ground, and as time went on occupied more and more of the
+western coast and islands. About A.D. 200, a leader named Riada (meaning
+the long armed), a grandson of Conn of the Hundred Battles, and first
+cousin of Cormac Mac Art, settled among the Picts of Alban with a large
+following of Munster fighting men and their families. From him all this
+western portion of Scotland was called Dalriada (Riada's portion). There
+was also an Irish Dalriada named for him, comprising what is now the
+northern portion of County Antrim. The Venerable Bede, in his
+"Ecclesiastical History," also gives an account of Riada and his colony.
+
+About A.D. 503, three brothers, Fergus, Angus, and Loarn, sons of a
+chief named Erc, and all Christians (Erc was a direct descendant of
+Riada), led a large body of colonists over to Alban. They united with
+the previous settlers from Ireland, and took possession of a large
+territory, which they formed into a kingdom, of which Fergus, the son of
+Erc (hence called Fergus Mac Erc), was made the first king. The Lia Fail
+was taken over from Tara in order that Fergus might be inaugurated king
+upon it, and was never brought back. So, if this is true, the Stone of
+Destiny had been taken from Tara a generation before the curse of St.
+Ruadhan caused Tara to be abandoned as a royal residence.
+
+This Fergus is the reputed ancestor of the Scottish royal family, and
+from him, through the Stuarts, descended, in one of his lines of
+pedigree, King Edward VII. of England. Gradually the name of Scots,
+which was originally that of the people of Ireland, was transferred to
+the people of Alban, and the country of the latter finally assumed the
+name of Scotland.
+
+Carrickfergus (the Rock of Fergus) takes its name from this Fergus, the
+first Scottish king. He was troubled with some ailment, and went over to
+Ireland to use the waters of a well (presumably considered holy). He was
+wrecked off the coast, and his body drifted ashore on the strand by the
+rock on which the castle is now built; so the rock was named for him.
+
+Across the valley on the Hill of Skreen, where Cormac took refuge after
+his abdication, Father Mathew lived for several years, and the ruins of
+an abbey may be found there still.
+
+So firmly convinced were some antiquarians who have investigated this
+place of the truth of the traditions of the coronation stone that they
+have dug up the ground in various places and searched for the Jewish Ark
+of the Covenant, which they believe was buried here by the Irish priests
+to escape capture at the time the palaces of Tara were looted and
+destroyed. But they have never been able to find any traces of it.
+
+In 1798, during the rebellion, a battle was fought on Tara Hill between
+a body of about four thousand insurgents, composed chiefly of young
+farmers and peasant lads from the neighborhood, against nearly three
+thousand well-armed troops, who easily overcame them and put them to
+flight.
+
+The Tara of to-day is a cluster of cottages, a post office, a police
+station, a blacksmith shop, a general store, and the inevitable "public
+house"--the curse of Ireland. The usual group of loafers were sitting
+inside chatting with a slattern behind the bar. It was a filthy place,
+and smelled of spilt liquor and bad tobacco, but, as usual, everybody
+was very polite to us, and, when we climbed out of the automobile a
+lame, round-shouldered, toothless old man came hobbling up to us crying
+in a wheezy voice:
+
+"I'm the guide! I'm the guide! I'm the lawful guide, yer honors, and
+I'll show yez around."
+
+[Illustration: CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE]
+
+He was so deaf that he couldn't understand us, and he mumbled his words
+so that we couldn't understand him, except now and then a word, but he
+was so anxious to be of service, so eager to earn a tip, that he would
+repeat everything he said again and again, until we were able to
+comprehend it. With his crooked stick he pointed the way across the
+fields and we followed him. We wouldn't have got much information,
+however, had not Mr. Wilkinson, the first citizen of Tara, come to our
+rescue. He saw us as we passed his house, which stands a little way down
+the road, and, as he explained, "Having nothing better to do, and always
+enjoying an opportunity to meet Americans," he fortunately came over and
+joined our party and gave us intelligent and interesting explanations.
+He is a rugged old gentleman, is Mr. Wilkinson. Although more than
+eighty years of age, he "can do as big a day's work, six days in the
+week, and enjoy the Lord's day for rest as much as he did when he was
+only forty." His great-grandfathers as far back as he knows, like
+himself, were born in the cottage in which he lives, and "I've seen
+things come and go for many a day," he said. When Mr. Wilkinson had
+passed beyond hearing with the ladies, the old guide seized me by the
+arm, drew me anxiously to shelter and then in a whisper repeated several
+times until I was able to comprehend:
+
+"'E's the richest man in Tara and in all the country round about. 'E's
+worth three thousand pun if he's worth a penny, and he got it from his
+father before him. He's a good man, too, and I dunno what we'd do here
+without Mr. Wilkinson."
+
+They led us to the top of the hill, where we could stand beside the spot
+once occupied by the coronation stone and admire all Ireland, spread out
+like a cyclorama around us. It is one of the most beautiful landscapes
+in the universe. There are no mountains, except in the far distance;
+there are no rocks or other ungainly objects in view, but as serene and
+peaceful and fertile a tract of territory as can be found upon God's
+footstool. Ireland is the greenest country that ever was. The turf and
+the foliage have a brighter color and a richer luster than those of any
+other country. That, however, is not news. The fact was discovered
+centuries ago and has been disclosed by every son of old Erin who ever
+wrote poetry or prose. But nowhere is there such convincing proof that
+the Emerald Isle was appropriately named as is offered from the top of
+the Hill of Tara. You cannot transfer the testimony of the fields and
+the forests to paper, either with a pen or a brush, and certainly not
+with a typewriter. There are no words in the English language sufficient
+to convey to another mind what the eyes can see of this glorious
+landscape, and it is useless to multiply adjectives.
+
+"Some sez it's the place of the coronation chair," mumbled the guide, as
+we stood on the crest of the hill. "Some sez it's the king's chair; but
+I calls it a very commandin' spot. Two years ago," he continued, "some
+friends of Lord Dunsany came here. May be they have a son married to his
+daughter, I dunno, but she was a very dacent lady. She wouldn't walk any
+further than the hall, and she sez, sez she, 'Me man, bide here with
+me,' and I sez, sez I, 'Have no fear, me lady, sit here on the soft sod
+and I'll go with his lordship, for people are always comin' from
+Scotland and Ameriky, and I always shows them about.' There's none else
+that can do it so well as meself, and when they came back his lordship
+gave me two shillin', and he's a vera dacent man."
+
+Mr. Wilkinson gave us some interesting history, and repeated many
+traditions and legends of the place. He told us how many parties of
+archæologists had been here digging for the Ark of the Covenant and had
+found nothing but dirt and stone. He took us through the modern
+churchyard and opened to us the little sanctuary where Rev. Mr. Handy
+preaches every Sunday morning and baptizes into the Church of Ireland
+the babies of Tara, that are very numerous in the short, narrow street.
+He told us that Mr. Briscoe was the largest landowner in the
+neighborhood, and had inherited from several generations the sacred hill
+upon which we stood. He had fenced in the remains to keep the cattle out
+and kept down the grass so that the outlines of the ruins could be
+followed. Mr. Briscoe has recently disposed of nearly all his holdings,
+under the new land act, to his tenants, who occupy them, and now nearly
+every acre within the range of human vision from the Hill of Tara
+belongs to the man who tills it.
+
+After we had thanked Mr. Wilkinson for his attentions and parted with
+him on the roadside, a woman put her head out of one of the cottage
+windows and in a stage whisper said:
+
+"He's the best and richest man in Tara. He's worth every penny of ten
+thousand pounds."
+
+Cambrensis, one of the oldest and earliest writers of Ireland, says:
+"There is in Mieth a hill called the Hill of Taragh, whereon is a plaine
+twelve score long which was named the King his hall; where the countrie
+had their meetings and folkmotes, as a place that was accounted the high
+place of the monarch. The historians hammer manie fables in this forge
+of Fin Mac Coile and his champions."
+
+While Tara was the seat of authority for all Ireland, and the center of
+military education and display, it was also the place where the bards
+used to assemble in early times for competitions in poetry and melody.
+Each year the troubadours of Ireland gathered there to recite heroic
+epics in praise of their patrons and sing the ballads they had composed
+for prizes. These musical and literary tournaments reached their
+greatest fame and influence during the days when Cormac Mac Art was
+king. He was not only the greatest warrior, but the greatest scholar and
+legislator and judge that the Irish knew during the period of which Tara
+was their capital. The poems and chronicles of his time describe him as
+a model of majesty, magnificence, and manly beauty. He founded three
+colleges in the neighborhood of Tara, one for the teaching of law, one
+for poetry, literature, history, and music, and the third for military
+science. He organized what was known as the "Fena of Erin," a body of
+militia remarkable in many respects, which was under the command of Fin
+Mac Cool, his son-in-law, who of all the ancient heroes of Ireland is
+best remembered in tradition and combined the qualities of Hercules,
+Julius Cæsar, and Solomon.
+
+But no reference in literature to this sacred place is more familiar
+than one of the ballads of Tom Moore. Indeed, the great majority of
+people never heard of Tara from any other source:
+
+          "The harp that once through Tara's halls
+            The soul of music shed
+          Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls
+            As if that soul were fled.
+          So sleeps the pride of former days,
+            So glory's thrill is o'er,
+          And hearts that once beat high for praise
+            Now feel that pulse no more!
+
+          "No more to chiefs and ladies bright
+            The harp of Tara swells;
+          The chord alone that breaks at night
+            Its tale of ruin tells.
+          Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes,
+            The only throb she gives
+          Is when some heart indignant breaks
+            To show that she still lives."
+
+The history of Tara, the proceedings of the nobles, kings, and learned
+men who met there at intervals, with the ard-ri at their head, to devise
+laws and promote the welfare of the kingdom, and to transact other
+important business, were all written down in a book called the Psalter
+of Tara. This book also contained a record of the "fes," or tournaments,
+both military and athletic, that were held there, and contained a list
+of the prize winners, but, although the Psalter of Tara is frequently
+quoted by early writers the original of the book was lost or destroyed
+ages ago.
+
+There are, however, many venerable tomes, epic poems, as well as
+history, that illuminate what are usually termed the prehistoric times
+in Ireland. The history of this country does not fairly begin until the
+time of St. Patrick and the introduction of Christianity and modern
+learning. Since then the records are practically complete. The many
+monasteries were filled with scriveners who kept a record of events with
+considerable detail and probable accuracy. But the more interesting
+period lies farther back, when the kings of Tara were in their glory and
+the sun shone upon the exploits of half-savage clans that lived by the
+chase and not by agriculture, as their descendants do. It is a familiar
+joke to say that one's ancestors were kings of Ireland, but there is
+more truth than witticism in such remarks.
+
+There is no reliable authority for the existence of any national
+military organization of professional or fighting men in Ireland other
+than chiefs, down to the reign of "Conn of the Hundred Battles," who was
+monarch at Tara from 123 A.D. to 157 A.D., in which year he was slain.
+Still, it is stated that Conn himself came to the throne from the
+command of the celebrated national militia, popularly known as the
+"Fianna Eireann," of whom the great Finn, Mac Cumhaill, and his father,
+Cumhaill, were the most famous commanders, just as many of the Roman
+emperors rose to the purple through the backing and from the command of
+the Prætorian Guards. This militia of ancient Ireland were accomplished
+athletes to a man, and their preparation and competition for enlistment
+were most arduous and remarkable. The name Fianna (hence the modern
+"Fenians") is explained in an antique glossary preserved in a volume of
+the famous "Brehon Laws." There were several severe conditions which
+every man who was received into the Fianna was obliged to fulfill.
+
+The first was that he should not accept any fortune with his wife, but
+select her for her beauty, her virtue, and her accomplishments.
+
+The second was that he should not insult any woman.
+
+The third was that he should never deny any person asking for food.
+
+The fourth was that he should not turn his back on less than nine
+foemen.
+
+No man was received into the Fianna until a wide pit had been dug for
+him, in which he was to stand up to his knees, with a shield in one hand
+and a hazel stake the length of his arm in the other. Nine warriors,
+armed with spears, came within a distance of nine ridges of ground of
+him and threw their spears at him all at once. Should he be wounded,
+despite the shield and hazel staff, he was not received into the order
+of the Fianna.
+
+No man was received into the Fianna until his hair was first braided. He
+was then chased by selected runners through a forest, the distance
+between them at the start being one tree. If they came up with him he
+could not be taken into the Fianna.
+
+No man was received into the Fianna if his weapons trembled in his
+hands.
+
+No man could be received if a single braid of his hair had been loosened
+by a branch as he ran through the forest.
+
+No man was received into the Fianna whose foot had broken a withered
+branch in his course. (This to insure light and careful as well as swift
+runners, who left no trail.)
+
+No man was received unless he could jump over the branch of a tree as
+high as his head and stoop under one as low as his knee.
+
+No man was received unless he could pluck a thorn out of his heel
+without coming to a stand.
+
+And finally, no man could be received until he had first sworn fidelity
+and obedience to the king and commander of the Fianna.
+
+It's a sin that there is no place for visitors to stay at Tara. The
+nearest hotel is seven miles away, and the lord of the manor cannot
+entertain every American tourist that comes along. I know of no lovelier
+landscape or more attractive site for a summer hotel, but I suppose the
+patronage would be limited, because Tara is a long way from the railroad
+and an automobile costs five guineas a day with an allowance of seven
+shillings for the board and lodging of the chauffeur and whatever
+gasoline may be used.
+
+We were sorry to leave the historic place. One is sorry to leave almost
+every place in Ireland. It is such a fascinating country. But the next
+stop will develop something else quite as novel and interesting as it
+did to us at Castle Dunsany, the ancient home of the Plunkett family.
+
+The "Annals of the Four Masters" relate that there were fierce lords
+upon the road from Dublin to Tara, and that if the traveler was not
+robbed by the Lord of Dunsany Castle he would be robbed by the Lord of
+Killeen, and if he managed to escape Killeen he was sure to be robbed at
+Dunsany. These two famous places stand on both sides of the highway not
+more than a mile apart, and, although both have been restored and
+remodeled for modern occupants they are still very old and associated
+with much interesting history. Dunsany Castle was built by Hugh de Lacy
+about the middle of the twelfth century. Killeen Castle was the seat of
+the Earl of Fingal. Both are surrounded by magnificent demesnes or
+wooded parks inclosed with high walls and filled with game, according to
+the Irish custom. Near by Castle Dunsany, in the midst of a glorious
+grove of trees that have been growing there for centuries, are the
+roofless walls of the ancient Church of St. Nicholas, rebuilt upon the
+site of an older sanctuary by Nicholas Plunkett in the fifteenth century
+and named in honor of his patron saint. His sarcophagus is in the center
+surrounded by other tombs of the Plunkett family for several
+generations. At Killeen is another church of similar age and in similar
+condition, and that also contains the monuments of the founder and his
+family for many generations.
+
+Hugh de Lacy was the original owner and occupier of the Abbey of
+Bective, one of the finest of the many ruins in this section, and in its
+time a very important establishment. He was a Norman knight of ancient
+French family, who came over with Strongbow at the first English
+invasion of Ireland and was given the Province of Meath for his
+possessions. Although not the greatest fighter, he was the wisest and
+best governor of all the barons who served Henry II. in Ireland. He
+built strong castles in all parts of Meath, including Castle Dunsany and
+Castle Killeen, and greatly increased his power and influence by
+marrying a daughter of the old king of this province, Roderick O'Conor.
+He was accused of conspiring to make himself King of Ireland, and did
+not live to clear himself of the charge. One day while he was
+superintending the building of a new castle at Durrow a young Irishman
+drew a battle ax that was concealed under his cloak, and with one blow
+cut off the great baron's head. The murderer afterward explained that it
+was done to revenge the desecration of a venerated oratory that had once
+been occupied by St. Columba and had been torn away by De Lacy.
+
+Hugh de Lacy's son and namesake, after his father's death, attempted to
+seize the throne of Connaught and was betrayed and killed in the
+Cathedral of Downpatrick on Good Friday in the year 1204, where,
+barefooted and unarmed, he was saying his prayers and doing penance for
+his sins. When he was attacked he seized the nearest weapon, a large
+brass crucifix, and dashed out the brains of thirteen of his assailants
+with it before he was overpowered. When the elder Hugh de Lacy was
+murdered his head was taken to the Abbey of St. Thomas, in Dublin,
+according to the terms of his will, made several years previous. The
+monks demanded the remainder of the body, but the abbot of Bective would
+not surrender it until he had been commanded to do so by the pope.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIII
+
+                    SAINT PATRICK AND HIS SUCCESSOR
+
+
+The little cathedral city of Armagh (pronounced with a strong accent
+upon the last syllable) is the most sacred town of Ireland. It is the
+ecclesiastical headquarters of both the Roman Catholic and the
+Protestant churches, the seat of the most ancient and celebrated of
+Irish schools of learning; the burial place of Brian Boru, the greatest
+of all the Irish kings; the home of St. Patrick for the most important
+years of his life, and the cradle of the Christian church in the United
+Kingdom. It was from Armagh that the message of the gospel was sent to
+the people of Scotland and England, and there was the genesis of the
+faith that is now professed by all the nation.
+
+Armagh is a quiet, well kept town of about eight thousand inhabitants,
+built on a hill around the cathedral founded by St. Patrick in the year
+432, and the streets are steep and rather crooked. It resembles an
+English university town, and looks more like Cambridge or Winchester
+than the rest of Ireland. More than twelve hundred years ago it was the
+greatest educational center in the civilized world, and it still has
+several important schools, including a Roman Catholic theological
+seminary, a large convent for young women, a technological school, an
+astronomical observatory, a public library of twenty thousand volumes
+and a little old-fashioned Grecian temple of a building with a sign to
+advertise it as the rooms of the Philosophical Society. The houses are
+packed together very closely, as is the custom in all Ireland, although
+there is plenty of room for the town to spread out, if it were the
+fashion to do so. There are ranges of green hills all around, and their
+sunny slopes are closely planted to grain, and other crops. We saw them
+at harvest time when the song of the reaper and the mower was heard in
+the land. There are several linen factories in the neighborhood which
+furnish employment for the wives and daughters of the town, and a small
+automobile factory. The population is about equally divided between
+Protestant and Roman Catholic faiths. There are three Presbyterian
+churches and one Methodist, which assert themselves boldly even in the
+presence of an ecclesiastical see that is nearly fourteen hundred years
+old.
+
+'Way back about the year 444 St. Patrick came to Armagh and built a
+church and a monastery upon the summit of a beautiful hill overlooking a
+most delightful country, where he established his ecclesiastical
+headquarters as Primate of Ireland. The land was given him by the King,
+whose royal palace stood there for centuries, and that estate has
+remained in the possession of the church ever since and is now occupied
+partly by the demesne that surrounds the palace of the Protestant
+archbishop and partly by the residences and business houses of the town,
+and the ground rents furnish a handsome endowment. The ancient episcopal
+palace is now occupied by the Rev. Dr. Alexander, Protestant Archbishop
+of Armagh and Primate of the Episcopal Church of Ireland.
+
+Across the valley, upon a similar hill, is another cathedral, also
+dedicated to the glory of God and St. Patrick, and behind it, in a much
+more modest mansion, is the residence of Cardinal Logue, Roman Catholic
+Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of Ireland and a member of the sacred
+college of Rome. Thus in the same little town we have two cathedrals of
+St. Patrick, two archbishops of Armagh, and two primates of the Holy
+Catholic church, both claiming ecclesiastical authority inherited from
+St. Patrick, founder of the Christian church in Ireland, and first
+archbishop of Armagh, through one hundred and fourteen generations of
+archbishops who have lived and prayed and reigned in this picturesque
+little place.
+
+In several cities there are two archbishops or bishops, one Roman
+Catholic and one of the Church of Ireland, and the duplication is often
+the cause of embarrassment and confusion. If you are seeking or even
+mentioning one of them it is necessary to make yourself clear by giving
+the name of the church or the name of the man as well as the title. I
+once addressed a letter to "His Grace, the Archbishop of Dublin," and it
+was returned to me from the post office for more definite address. The
+post-office authorities would not take the risk of delivering it to the
+wrong man.
+
+Archbishop Alexander and Cardinal Logue are the best of friends and see
+each other frequently, co-operating in works of charity and movements of
+public interest with cordiality and mutual esteem. When I was in Armagh
+Cardinal Logue had recently returned from a visit to America, where he
+went to assist in the celebration of the anniversary of the founding of
+the diocese of New York. He was enthusiastic about his reception and
+what he saw and did in the United States. He is a man of great dignity,
+ability, and usefulness, but with all has a keen sense of humor and a
+jolly disposition.
+
+The town of Armagh is surrounded by scenes of transcendent historic and
+ecclesiastical interest. On a lovely hillside is a holy spring where St.
+Patrick baptized his first converts. A little farther away is a large
+artificial mound, about eleven acres in extent, covered with aged
+hawthorn trees, where stood the royal palace of Ulster, and it was
+occupied for a century after the arrival of St. Patrick. Within the
+grounds of the Protestant archbishop are the remains of a Franciscan
+monastery and a well beside which St. Bridget lived for several years.
+Eastward of the town, upon the hills, was located the ancient Catholic
+University of Armagh founded by St. Patrick in the year 455, where as
+many as seven thousand students gathered for instruction in literature,
+the arts, and theology, and until the Reformation it was one of the
+greatest schools of Europe.
+
+Emania, now called the "Navan Fort," the residence of the kings of
+Ulster, was founded by Queen Macha of the Golden Hair, whose legend is
+most interesting. It was founded about 300 B.C. It was a royal residence
+for six hundred years or more. It was then destroyed by the three
+Collas, and has remained a waste ever since. St. Patrick came nearly a
+century after its destruction. The petty king, Daire, who gave a site to
+St. Patrick, was probably king of Oriel, or possibly of one of the
+tribes which composed the kingdom of Oriel, or Oirgialla. Professor
+Bury, in his "Life of St. Patrick" says:
+
+"King Daire ... dwelt in the neighborhood of the ancient fortress of
+Emania, which his own ancestors had destroyed a hundred years agone,
+when they had come from the south to wrest the place from the Ulidians
+[Ulidia is Ulster] and sack the palace of its lords. The conquerors did
+not set up their abode in the stronghold of the old kings of Ulster;
+they burned the timber buildings and left the place desolate."
+
+Patrick's first foundation was not on the hill where the old cathedral
+now stands. He asked that site of Daire, but the latter refused, and
+gave him a site at the foot of the hill instead. The original church of
+St. Patrick is believed to have stood somewhere about the spot whereon
+the branch Bank of Ireland now stands in Armagh. Bury says of the
+original structures of Patrick:
+
+"The simple houses which were needed for a small society of monks were
+built, and there is a record, which appears to be ancient and credible,
+concerning these primitive buildings. A circular space was marked out
+one hundred and forty feet in diameter, and inclosed by a rampart of
+earth. Within this were erected, doubtless of wood, a 'great house' to
+be the dwelling of the monks, a kitchen, and a small oratory."
+
+Ultimately, King Daire gave Patrick the hill he coveted, then called
+Drum-saileach, the "ridge of the willows." The story is quaintly
+interesting. Daire brought to Patrick a bronze cooking-pot, as a mark of
+respect. Patrick merely said in Latin, "Gratias agamus" ("I thank
+thee"). This sounded, in the unlearned ears of the king, like
+"gratzacham." Daire was annoyed that the pot should be received with no
+greater sign of satisfaction. So, when he reached home, he sent
+servants to bring back the cooking-pot, as something which the monk was
+not able to appreciate. When they came back with the pot, Daire asked
+what Patrick said, and was told "Gratzacham." "What," said Daire,
+"'gratzacham' when it was given, and 'gratzacham' when it was taken
+away! It is a good word, and for his 'gratzacham' he shall have his
+cooking-pot." Then he went himself with the pot to Patrick, and said,
+"Keep thy cooking-pot, for thou art a steadfast and unchangeful man."
+And he gave Patrick, besides, the hill on which the old cathedral
+stands.
+
+The name Armagh is derived from that of Macha of the Golden Hair. It is
+"Ard-Macha," that is, "Macha's Height." The legend is that she was
+buried on the hill where the cathedral stands, and that it was named for
+her in consequence. But some seven hundred years passed before Patrick
+obtained the hill; its name had been changed to "Drum-saileach"; but
+Patrick seems to have revived the old name. A spurious derivation is
+given by some--"Ardmagh," the high plain; but there is no "high plain"
+there, and the "Four Masters" give it Ard-Macha.
+
+Naturally, the object of supreme interest at Armagh is the ancient
+Cathedral of St. Patrick, the cradle of the Christian church in Ireland.
+The present building, however, dates back only to the seventeenth
+century, although portions of the walls were built as long ago as 830,
+when "the great stone church of Armagh" is described in detail in the
+"Annals of Armagh," one of the oldest of human records. The church was
+partly destroyed by fire in 1268 and rebuilt. In 1367 it was restored
+again. During the rebellion in the reign of Queen Elizabeth it was used
+as a fortress by Shane O'Neill and burned by him. In 1613 it was
+thoroughly rebuilt, and in 1834 was restored to its present condition by
+Lord George Beresford, the wealthy archbishop of that date.
+
+Although it has often been asserted that St. Patrick is buried in
+Armagh, no such claim is made here, and the authorities of both the
+Irish and the Roman Catholic churches accept the tomb at Downpatrick as
+genuine. But the old cathedral is the burial place of several other of
+the early saints, and somewhere under the tiling on the north side of
+the high altar lies the moldering dust of Brian Boru, the greatest of
+all the Irish kings, whose bleeding body was brought there after the
+battle of Clontarf in 1014, in obedience to his dying request. There is
+no trace of his tomb, which was destroyed centuries ago. All of the
+tombs within the church are comparatively modern. The oldest epitaph in
+the churchyard dates back to 1620, and most of the graves contain the
+dust of archbishops who have presided over this diocese. In the east and
+west aisles, in the center of the cathedral, are two beautiful
+sarcophagi of white Italian marble, carved by an eminent artist with
+effigies of two Beresfords, John George and Marcus Servais Beresford,
+father and son, who were successive archbishops of Armagh. The principal
+windows contain artistic memorials to their wives, Lady Catherine and
+Lady Anne Beresford.
+
+After the Reformation the few Roman Catholic residents of Armagh who
+remained true to the church of Rome worshiped in "the old chapel," as it
+is called, a humble structure erected in the seventeenth century to mark
+the site of the house where St. Malachi was born in 1094. And when the
+primatial see was revived at Armagh by the pope that old church was made
+the cathedral of Ireland. In 1835 Archbishop Crolly undertook to raise
+funds for a more appropriate building, and obtained two acres of land on
+the other side of town, adjoining Sandy Hill Cemetery, which is the
+oldest Christian burial place in the United Kingdom. His successors have
+since obtained seven acres more, and hope ultimately to secure a larger
+area. In 1840 Mr. Duff, a native architect, prepared plans for a
+cathedral of massive proportions, and the corner stone was laid on St.
+Patrick's day of that year. A building committee of laymen was formed
+and priests were sent through the length and breadth of the land, and,
+indeed, throughout the world, to collect funds. Generous gifts came from
+the United States, from Canada, from Australia, and from every other
+country where Irish emigrants have gone, and a great bazaar was held in
+1865 at which $35,000 was raised. The exterior was not completed until
+1873, when the finishing touches were added to the spires, and on the
+24th of August the temple was dedicated, as the inscription over the
+entrance reads, "To the One God, Omnipotent Three in Person, under the
+invocation of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland." Dr. M'Gettigan was
+archbishop then, and he lived until 1887, when he was succeeded by
+Michael Logue, who had been chosen as his coadjutor by the parish
+priests of Armagh.
+
+Cardinal Logue was born in County Donegal in 1840, graduated from
+Maynooth College and was ordained in 1866. For several years he was
+professor of theology and belles lettres in the Irish College at Paris.
+In 1876 he was made dean of Maynooth and professor of dogmatic and moral
+theology. The following year, at the age of thirty-nine, he was
+consecrated Bishop of Raphoe and for eight years labored among the
+people of his native county with great energy and usefulness until he
+came to Armagh. In January, 1893, he was elevated to the college of
+cardinals, a dignity never before attained even by the greatest of the
+long line of one hundred and fourteen primates since St. Patrick that
+have presided over this see.
+
+Immediately after going to Armagh in 1887 to assist his venerable
+predecessor, Cardinal Logue began to raise funds to complete the
+interior of the cathedral, which was then undecorated and fitted with
+temporary altars and seats. His appeals to Irish patriotism were
+responded to with great generosity, and in 1899 he organized the
+National Cathedral Bazaar, as it was called, which continued for two
+years and resulted in raising $150,000 to complete the cathedral, so
+that on July 24, 1904, the building was again solemnly dedicated with a
+great pageant and impressive ceremonies at which his Holiness, the Pope,
+was represented by his Eminence, Cardinal Bishop Vincente Vanuetelli.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL AT ARMAGH, THE SEAT OF CARDINAL
+LOGUE, THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIMATE OF IRELAND]
+
+Cardinal Logue resides in a modest mansion in the rear of the cathedral,
+between the synod house and the theological seminary. Many a parish
+priest in Ireland and America lives in greater style. His manner of life
+illustrates the simplicity of his character and tastes. His lack of
+ostentation is one of his most charming traits.
+
+It seems very remarkable that St. Patrick, St. Bridget, and St. Columba,
+the three saints most venerated by Ireland, should be buried in the same
+grave in an obscure little churchyard at the village of Downpatrick,
+about twenty miles south of Belfast. There is nothing in the way of
+documentary evidence to prove that the bodies of St. Bridget and St.
+Columba were placed in St. Patrick's tomb, but the fact is stated in the
+earliest histories of the church in Ireland, and is frequently referred
+to by writers in the tenth century and later. And the claims of
+Downpatrick to this great honor are not seriously disputed.
+
+The "Annals of the Four Masters" refer to the death of St. Bridget in
+525 as follows: "On February first, St. Bridget died and was interred at
+Dun [Down] in the same tomb with St. Patrick, with great honor and
+veneration."
+
+St. Patrick died in the year 465 at the Monastery of Saul, which he had
+founded at Downpatrick. It was his wish to be buried at Armagh, then, as
+now, the ecclesiastical headquarters of Ireland, and during the twelve
+days given up to mourning and funeral ceremonies a controversy arose
+between the monks of Armagh and those of Downpatrick, who claimed the
+body and insisted upon its burial in their cloisters. A wise old friar
+suggested that the decision be left to heaven, and after saying mass the
+coffin was placed upon a wagon and two young oxen were taken from the
+field and yoked for the first time. It was agreed that they should be
+started along the road to Armagh, and that wherever they stopped the
+grave of St. Patrick should be made. The oxen commenced their journey
+and the rival bodies of monks retired to their cloisters to pray.
+
+The "Book of Armagh," written in the year 802, and now in the library of
+Trinity College, Dublin, duly relates that, after proceeding for two
+miles down the road slowly, the oxen turned from the main thoroughfare
+and rested at Dundalethglass, the site of the present Cathedral of Down.
+The monks from Armagh submitted to the will of heaven, and there the
+sacred dust was laid. Shortly after this, about 495, a church was built
+upon the site now occupied by the present edifice. It was rebuilt in the
+twelfth century, a considerable portion of the original walls being
+retained and several interior arches. And those walls and arches remain
+to-day. It is therefore the oldest structure in Ireland and is entitled
+to the veneration it receives. It stands in a grove upon the summit of a
+hill, a plain, dignified pile of perfect proportions, with a square
+tower and four spires--in no way imposing, but beautiful in its
+simplicity.
+
+[Illustration: DOWN CATHEDRAL, DOWNPATRICK, WHERE ST. PATRICK LIVED, AND
+IN THE CHURCHYARD OF WHICH HE WAS BURIED]
+
+The interior of the church is said to be precisely as it was originally
+built, there having been no change in the arrangement. And most of the
+columns which sustain the arches and several of the arches were a part
+of the original building. The "Annals of Ulster" give the names of the
+abbots who had charge of the monastery that was built in connection with
+the church, as far back as the year 583, although there are several wide
+gaps in the records of the eighth, ninth, and thirteenth centuries. The
+abbey was plundered and partially destroyed on no less than eight
+occasions, between the years 824 and 1111, and the "Annals of Ulster"
+give the particulars of each invasion. In 1177 Sir John de Courcy, the
+most powerful and able lieutenant of Strongbow, who assumed authority
+over the kingdom of Ulster, made Downpatrick his principal residence and
+erected there a strong castle, the greater portion of which remained
+until about half a century ago. At his time the church and the monastery
+were occupied by Augustinian monks, who were driven out by De Courcy and
+replaced by Benedictines from the Abbey of Chester, England, and the
+church was rededicated in honor of St. Patrick, having previously borne
+the name of the Holy Trinity. And De Courcy gave the abbey a liberal
+endowment. He also erected a Celtic cross, which is believed to be the
+same that was recently recovered in fragments, carefully mended and
+placed in the churchyard. Among the endowments of the Downpatrick abbey
+were four of the principal ferries across the rivers of Ulster,
+forty-seven "town lands," which probably correspond to our townships,
+and every tenth animal upon the farms of Ulster. Of the extensive
+monastic building erected by De Courcy's generosity not a trace remains
+except the foundations, and these are covered with the accumulated
+débris of four centuries. The inhabitants of Downpatrick and all the
+country around have used the ruin as a quarry for building material.
+Nearly all of the old houses in the village are made of materials from
+that source.
+
+The monastery was plundered and burned by Edward Bruce, brother of
+Robert Bruce, the Scottish chieftain, who caused himself to be
+proclaimed King of Ireland in 1315. It was rebuilt and burned again in
+1512. Lord Grey, who was sent over by King Henry VIII. to quiet Ireland,
+profaned and destroyed it, as he did everything else in this section, in
+his attempts to exterminate the O'Neills. Lord Grey was executed in the
+Tower of London in 1541. The fourth charge in the indictment against him
+was that "He rased St. Patrick's, his church, in the old ancient citie
+of Ulster and burnt the monument of Patricke, Brided and Colme, who are
+said to have been there intoombed. That without onie warrant from the
+King or Councill he profaned the Church of St. Patrick in Downe, turning
+it into a stable after plucked it down and ship the notable ring of Bels
+that did hang in the steeple, meaning to have sent them to England, had
+not God of His Justice prevented his iniquitie by sinking the vessels
+and passengers wherein the said bells should have been conveied."
+
+The "Annals of Ulster," under date of 1538, record that "the monastery
+of Downe was burned and the relics of Patrick, Columcille Briget and the
+image of Catherine were carried off."
+
+The oldest inscription in the church is on a tombstone erected to the
+memory of Edward, Lord Cromwell and Baron Oakham, no relative of Oliver
+Cromwell, but a great-grandson of Thomas Cromwell, the famous minister
+of Henry VIII., who, after the pacification of the country obtained
+possession of the Downpatrick estates, which continued in his family
+until 1832, when they were purchased by David Kerr, and in 1874 sold to
+the late Lord Dunleath, who now owns the largest part of the surrounding
+country.
+
+At the time of the Reformation, the monks of Downpatrick refused to
+subscribe to the new ordinances and were driven out of the monastery.
+The history of Downpatrick is quite vague from that time until affairs
+quieted down, but from 1662 the records are complete.
+
+Rev. John Wesley visited Downpatrick in 1778, and in his diary he
+describes the ruins of the Abbey of Saul as "far the largest building I
+have ever seen in the kingdom. Adjoining it is one of the most beautiful
+groves which I have ever beheld with my eyes. It covers the sloping side
+of the hill and has vistas cut through it every way. There is a most
+lovely plain very near to the venerable ruins of the cathedral." Wesley
+visited Downpatrick on four different occasions between 1778 and 1785,
+and during each visit preached in the grove he describes, using as a
+pulpit the pedestal upon which a statue of St. Patrick formerly stood.
+
+Perhaps the most celebrated resident of Downpatrick was Rev. Jeremy
+Taylor, who, while bishop of this diocese, wrote his famous book, "Holy
+Living and Holy Dying."
+
+Nothing but the irregular surface of the ground upon a hill about two
+miles from Downpatrick marks the site of the ancient Monastery of Saul,
+which from the time it was founded by St. Patrick in 432 was for several
+centuries one of the most celebrated and influential educational
+institutions in the world. Like the monastery at Armagh, only twenty
+miles away, which was also founded by St. Patrick about the same time,
+it was attended annually by thousands of students from England,
+Scotland, France, Spain, and other countries of the continent to hear
+and absorb the learning of the Augustinian and afterward the Benedictine
+monks. Unfortunately, however, no records remain of the institutions
+farther than an occasional reference in the "Annals of Ulster."
+
+The sanctity of the place, however, is recognized by Christians of every
+race and sect, although the grave of St. Patrick--and of two other
+saints--which is a hundred feet from the entrance to the old cathedral
+church, is marked only by an enormous granite bowlder, almost as nature
+made it, bearing no inscription except the word "Patric" in celtic
+letters beneath a celtic cross chiseled on the surface of the stone. It
+is a most appropriate monument in its simple dignity, and one that you
+might imagine that St. Patrick would have preferred rather than a lofty
+and ornate tower. It is rather curious, however, that no movement has
+ever been started to erect an imposing memorial here; there is no
+evidence that any monument of size ever marked the grave, although the
+three most venerated saints in the Irish calendar lie here together. A
+distich, said to have been written by Sir John de Courcy in 1185, says:
+
+          "Hi tres Duno tumulo tumulantur in uno;
+          Brigidam, Patricius atque Colomba Pius";
+
+which is liberally translated as follows:
+
+          "Three Saints in Down, one grave do fill;
+          Saints Patrick, Bridget and Columbkill."
+
+Downpatrick is visited annually by thousands of pilgrims. The town is
+practically supported by them, and the tomb has to be guarded against
+vandalism, particularly on Sundays, Good Friday, Easter, and other
+religious holidays. Relic hunters have carried away tons of earth from
+about the grave, which they dig up with their fingers or trowels or
+sticks and consign to bottles, boxes, or baskets. As soon as the
+cavities become too large, the custodian hauls a cart of soil from the
+nearest field and fills them up.
+
+It is asserted in the guide book that St. Patrick was never canonized by
+the pope, and that he is recognized as a saint only by the Irish people.
+This is a singular assertion. The Roman Catholic prayer book used in
+Ireland mentions March 17, the feast of St. Patrick, as one of the holy
+days upon which there is strict obligation to attend mass and to
+refrain from all unnecessary labor.
+
+According to the best authorities, St. Patrick was born at Nemthur (the
+Holy Tower), now known as Dumbarton, Scotland, in the year 387, and his
+father, Palpurn, was a magistrate in the service of the Romans. When he
+was sixteen, in the year 403, Patrick was taken captive and sold as a
+slave. A rich man named Milcho brought him to Ireland and employed him
+to herd sheep and swine in County Antrim. At the end of six years of
+slavery he escaped, returned to his home and family and then went to a
+monastic school at Tours, France. After receiving his education and
+being ordained he went to Rome, where he was blessed by Pope Celestine
+and commissioned to go to Ireland as a missionary. He landed at the
+mouth of a little stream called the Slaney, only about two miles from
+Saul, and settled at Downpatrick, where the chief gave him the use of a
+sabhall or barn for divine service, and upon that site was erected the
+famous monastery which took its name, Saul, from the barn. He remained
+there for several years, teaching and training disciples, and then
+visited every part of the island, preaching the gospel to the kings and
+chiefs as well as to the poor half-civilized habitants of the mountains.
+He founded many churches and monasteries in different places and finally
+settled down at Armagh as Bishop of Ireland in 457, where he remained
+for eight years. In March, 465, when he was seventy-eight years old,
+while paying a visit to the monastery of Saul, the scene of his first
+ministrations in Ireland, he was seized with a fatal illness and
+breathed his last. The news of his death was the signal for universal
+mourning in Ireland, and thousands of the clergy and laity came from the
+remotest districts to pay their last tributes of love and respect to the
+greatest of missionaries.
+
+[Illustration: THE VILLAGE OF DOWNPATRICK]
+
+St. Bridget, who ranks next to St. Patrick in the veneration of the
+Irish, was the daughter of a nobleman, and was born at Fochard, a
+village near Armagh, in the year 453. Her great beauty and her father's
+wealth and position caused her to be sought in marriage by several of
+the princes of Ireland, but early in life she became a convert to the
+new religion, consecrated herself to its service, and retired to a
+forest near Kildare, about twenty miles from Dublin. She built herself a
+cell in the trunk of a great oak, around which grew a great religious
+community. She died Feb. 1, 525, at the age of seventy-two years. For
+many years the nuns of Kildare kept a light burning constantly in her
+memory. "The bright light that shone in Kildare's holy flame" was
+suppressed, however, by the Archbishop of Dublin for fear it would be
+interpreted as a pagan practice.
+
+The body of St. Bridget was originally buried at Kildare, but in the
+year 1185 was translated with great solemnity to Downpatrick, attended
+by the pope's legate, fifteen bishops, and a great number of clergy. Her
+head was carried to the convent of Neustadt, Austria, and in 1587 was
+removed to the Church of the Jesuits in Lisbon.
+
+St. Columba, or St. Columbkill, died while kneeling before the altar of
+his church on the Island of Iona, a little after midnight, Jan. 9, 597.
+He was originally buried in his monastery, and his body was removed to
+Downpatrick the same year as that of St. Bridget.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIV
+
+                         THE SINN FEIN MOVEMENT
+
+
+The Sinn Fein movement (pronounced "shinn fane") which promised so much
+is not making great progress. Some of its principles are admirable, and
+from a sentimental standpoint appeal to the patriotism of every
+Irishman, but the management is in the hands of impractical amateurs who
+have antagonized the Roman Catholic church, and that would be fatal to
+any movement in Ireland or any other country where three-fourths of the
+population profess that faith and the priesthood are as powerful as in
+Ireland. Furthermore, the young men who are directing affairs have gone
+into politics and have attempted to buck against the nationalist party,
+which controls three-fourths of the Irish vote. For these reasons the
+movement has suffered a setback, and it is doubtful whether it will ever
+recover the impetus it acquired two or three years ago. If it had been
+kept out of politics and out of religion like the Gaelic League, for
+example, which is aiming at a portion of the same objects, it might have
+done an immense amount of good. The leaders are earnest but
+inexperienced; they are long on ideas but short on common sense, and
+have more principles than votes, as has been illustrated at recent
+elections in Ireland. The leaders of the national party, bearing the
+scars of many political contests and familiar with all the tricks of
+their trade, regard the Sinn Fein advocates as enthusiastic schoolboys
+and play with them as a mastiff plays with a puppy.
+
+The Sinn Feiners have formally demanded that the nationalist party shall
+abandon its present policy and adopt their platform--a proposition which
+its leaders consider very amusing, but when you can persuade them to
+discuss it seriously they say that they have accomplished too much and
+are too near the goal of home rule to abandon the present programme and
+adopt one that is new and untried.
+
+Sinn Fein means "for ourselves," and those two Celtic words describe the
+policy and the purpose of the organization. It demands that Ireland
+stand alone and work out her salvation by her own efforts, absolutely
+boycotting the British government, which they declare is the only enemy
+of Ireland and the cause of all the evils and the ills that afflict the
+Irish people. It is an imitation of the policy adopted by Ferencz Deák
+in the contest with Austria for Hungarian independence from 1849 to
+1867. He organized a vast movement of passive resistance. Under his
+leadership the Hungarians refused to pay taxes unless levied and
+collected by their own officials; they refused to send Hungarian
+representatives to the imperial parliament; they built up an educational
+and administrative system of their own, and in less than twenty years
+achieved practical independence for Hungary, the right to make their own
+laws and administer their own government. The chief weapon was a
+national boycott, and it was successful.
+
+In 1903 a young newspaper man named Arthur Griffith conceived the idea
+of applying the Hungarian policy to Ireland and boycotting the British
+government. He wrote a good deal for the newspapers, went around the
+island holding public meetings, organizing local societies, appealing to
+the patriotic sentiments of the young men of the country, and started a
+weekly newspaper as an organ of the cause. At first it was understood
+that the Sinn Feiners would abstain from politics like the Gaelic
+League, but the refusal of the politicians to join or assist them
+provoked animosities, and in retaliation the Sinn Feiners nominated
+candidates for several offices, who were in sympathy with them. This
+developed a positive contest, the Sinn Fein movement was placed under
+the ban by the Irish parliamentary leaders and soon became an
+independent political party.
+
+A similar collision occurred with the Roman Catholic church chiefly
+because the ardent young leaders did not consult the priests and obtain
+the indorsement of the hierarchy, which might have approved the
+programme with some revision. The misunderstanding was allowed to grow
+until now the Sinn Feiners are under the ban of the church as well as
+that of the United Irish League and the parliamentary party, and the
+opposition of those three powers cannot be overcome or even resisted.
+Therefore the movement is doomed to failure. Nevertheless, the Sinn
+Feiners have succeeded in electing several of their number to office on
+their own platform. They now have twelve out of eighty members of the
+Dublin common council and board of aldermen, and in other cities of
+Ireland they have representatives in official positions. Not long ago
+they nominated a candidate for the House of Commons in the North Leitrim
+district, notwithstanding the fact that the first plank in their
+programme demands the complete boycott of the British parliament. It was
+an Irish bull and naturally excited much ridicule, but the Sinn Feiners
+succeeded in polling 1,100 out of a total of 6,000 votes, which was a
+great deal more than any one expected.
+
+Some time ago the national council of the party devised a scheme for
+raising money to establish a daily newspaper. They printed and offered
+for sale very pretty postage stamps and asked everybody to buy them and
+place them on their letters in addition to the portrait of King Edward,
+which is required by act of parliament. It was a fatal error, because it
+was an absolute failure and disclosed the weakness of the movement and
+the insincerity of its members. I am told that less than five per cent
+of the stamps printed were ever disposed of.
+
+Some of the propositions in the programme of the Sinn Fein party, as I
+have already said, appeal very strongly to the patriotism of the Irish
+people; others are so fantastic as to destroy confidence in the judgment
+of its leaders. For example, they issued an urgent appeal to the
+newspapers and to the public to use no paper or stationery except of
+Irish manufacture, which might have been to the advantage of the country
+if there were any paper mills in Ireland. Again, they advocate Irish
+ownership of all public utilities. They want Irish capitalists to buy up
+the stock of all the railways and street car lines and other public
+enterprises and employ none but Irishmen in their administration, which
+might be done if there were a good deal more capital in the country; but
+as long as the Irish people are too poor to pay for the stock, it would
+seem a little premature for them to undertake to carry out the Sinn Fein
+recommendations.
+
+The first plank in the programme of the Sinn Fein platform is a national
+Irish legislature endowed with moral authority to enact laws and
+recommend policies for the adoption of the Irish people. This
+legislature is to be composed of the members of the county councils, the
+poor-law boards and harbor boards of all Ireland, to sit twice a year in
+Dublin, and to form a _de facto_ Irish parliament. Associated with and
+sitting with this body would be the present Irish members of the House
+of Commons and their successors representing the constituencies as at
+present defined. Before taking this step, however, it is proposed that
+the Irish members of the House of Commons should make a dramatic
+demonstration in parliament, to emphasize the significance of their
+retirement. They are to rise in their seats and formally decline any
+longer to confer on the affairs of Ireland with foreigners in a foreign
+city.
+
+Among other functions of the proposed Irish legislature shall be the
+assessment of a tax of one penny to the pound--that is, two cents for
+every five dollars' worth of property--without regard to present
+taxation, and thus acquire a fund "to serve and strengthen the country
+in bringing about the triumph of the Sinn Fein policy." This fund would
+be used in the payment of bounties to develop Irish industries, to
+establish libraries of Irish literature and museums of arts and
+antiquities; to establish gymnasiums for the physical training of the
+young people and schools for their moral training and discipline and
+instruction in Irish history.
+
+The first laws to be passed by the legislature would exclude all goods
+of English manufacture from Ireland, prohibit the use of foreign
+articles by the government, forbid the appointment of any but natives of
+Ireland to public positions, withhold support from newspapers which
+publish emigration advertisements, require the study of the Celtic
+language in all the schools for certain hours and prepare text-books so
+that no other language would be necessary in instruction, raise the
+standard of wages among workingmen, increase their proficiency by
+technical instruction, develop the resources and industries of the
+country, and extend the area of tilled soil and the planting of forests.
+
+After having accomplished these objects the Irish legislature, according
+to the programme of the Sinn Fein, should establish a national
+university, open and free to the poor as well as the rich, with none but
+Irish instructors and the Celtic language substituted for the English.
+
+Next a union of manufacturers and farmers for co-operation, both
+pledging themselves to use none but Irish goods and products so far as
+possible. In cases where an Irish manufacturer cannot produce an article
+as cheaply as it is produced in England or other countries he is to be
+paid a bounty or protected by a tariff similar to that which has
+advanced the prosperity of the mechanical industries of the United
+States.
+
+The next step is to establish an Irish mercantile marine similar to that
+of Scotland and Norway. Ireland has no steamers; Scotland has many and,
+according to the Sinn Feiners, there is no reason why there should not
+be as large a fleet sailing from that country.
+
+It is proposed to establish an independent consular service of Irishmen
+in the principal capitals and commercial centers of the world where a
+market may be found for Irish produce. These consuls are to act
+independently of the regular representatives of Great Britain and devote
+themselves entirely to Irish interests.
+
+The proposed parliament shall take immediate steps to plant trees all
+over the island, which, it is asserted, will result in raising the mean
+temperature at least four degrees and thus render the soil doubly
+fruitful. The tree planting is to be done under the direction of the
+poor-law boards, which are to employ the inmates of the poor-houses so
+far as their physical condition will permit, in planting, watering, and
+looking after the young trees.
+
+The parliament is to establish national courts of law entirely
+independent of the present courts which are to be entirely boycotted by
+the people. It is declared to be the duty of every Irishman to submit
+all disputes to the arbitration of his neighbors who are to serve
+without pay. The national courts are to be composed of the justices of
+the peace already elected by the people, who shall sit outside the
+regular legal hours and terms of court, so as to avoid complications.
+
+A national stock exchange is to be established which shall deal only in
+Irish securities, and a system of banks which shall limit their dealings
+to natives of Ireland and encourage the transfer of the $250,000,000 of
+Irish money alleged to be now deposited in the English banks and
+invested in English securities, to Irish banks and Irish securities, and
+to encourage its investments in active industries and public works, to
+develop the resources of Ireland and to give employment to Irish labor.
+
+One of the principal planks in the Sinn Fein platform is to boycott the
+British army and navy. It is asserted that Ireland supplies more
+fighting men for the British empire than England; that 354 Irishmen out
+of every 10,000 of its population are British soldiers, while only 276
+out of every 10,000 in England go into the army. If the Irish would
+refuse to enlist it would paralyze the military service of the empire,
+and deal a serious blow to British prosperity by drawing a large number
+of the employees of the shops and factories into the army and navy.
+
+Another form of boycott recommended is for all Irishmen to refuse
+appointments in the British civil service and the constabulary on the
+theory that every Irishman who accepts employment from the British
+government takes up arms against Ireland and becomes the active enemy of
+his country, "being employed to keep a hostile country up, and to keep
+his own country down."
+
+A plank in the platform in which we are directly interested advocates an
+invitation of the natives of Ireland in America to invest their money in
+the development of Irish industries and resources. It says: "There are
+in the United States to-day thirty Irishmen or men of Irish blood whose
+names on a cheque would be good for £50,000,000. Few of these men take
+any public part in affairs, but all of them profess in private a desire
+to help Ireland. We invite them as men of business to undertake a work
+which will be mutually profitable to themselves and to Ireland."
+
+These propositions are embodied in a manifesto which has been printed
+and widely circulated throughout Ireland to explain the purpose of the
+Sinn Fein movement, and they have attracted a large number of active
+adherents to the cause and many silent sympathizers. But, as you may
+imagine, some of them do not appeal very strongly to practical men. If
+the Sinn Feiners had undertaken to do less, had kept out of politics and
+had avoided the enmity of the church they might have become a powerful
+and useful agency in promoting Irish industries and stimulating Irish
+patriotism, but the leaders have gone too far to retrace their steps.
+They cannot retract the unkind words they have said about the Irish
+parliamentary party or their bitter criticism of the interference of the
+bishops and the priests. It would be fatal for them to amend their
+programme by omitting the impractical portions. Hence it is not probable
+that the movement will gain much strength in the future, and, indeed, it
+is already on the decline.
+
+
+
+
+                                   XV
+
+                          THE NORTH OF IRELAND
+
+
+The traveler from the south or west enters a zone of prosperity when he
+comes within forty miles of Belfast. The northern counties look like an
+entirely different world. The beautiful rolling landscape, with an
+occasional grove and flowering hedges, is similar to the rest of the
+east coast of the island, but the farms are larger and more thoroughly
+cultivated; very little of the land is given up to grazing, few cattle
+are seen, but fields of grain, flax, potatoes, turnips, and other
+vegetables take the place of pastures, and the large farmhouses are
+surrounded by well-kept gardens and big barns. There are no more filthy
+one-room cabins, with manure piles in front of the doors, and few signs
+of poverty or neglect. The people live in two-story houses and sleep in
+beds instead of on the mud floors; they have cook stoves and ranges
+instead of boiling their food in pots over a peat fire out of doors.
+There are no barefooted women; none with blankets over their heads.
+Every one seems to be well dressed and to have a pride of appearance as
+well as habits of neatness and bears evidences of comfortable
+circumstances. Tall chimneys rise from the centers of the towns. We see
+large factories in every village and square miles of linen cloth spread
+out upon the turf to bleach.
+
+The north of Ireland is as different from the rest of the country as New
+England is from Alabama, and there is a corresponding difference in the
+character of the people. They are not so genial and gentle and obliging
+in the North; they are not so poetic, but are more practical, and they
+are looking out for themselves. The manners of the people of Belfast
+are said to be the worst in the world. They are often offensive in their
+brusqueness and abruptness, and a stranger is sometimes repelled by
+their gruff replies. The Belfasters make no pretensions to politeness,
+and speak their minds with a plainness and directness that are sometimes
+disagreeable. But they have a reputation for honesty, enterprise,
+industry, and morality, which they consider virtues of greater
+importance and of a higher value than the art of politeness.
+
+There is a series of beautiful villages and towns along the coast south
+of Belfast, and one of them is called Rosstrevor because a gentleman by
+the name of Ross married an heiress by the name of Trevor, a younger
+daughter of the Viscount of Dungan. It is situated upon a height, with a
+background of wooded hills, plentifully sprinkled with villas. The
+village shows evidence of the fostering care of its late owner, Sir
+David Ross, and its present owner, Sir John Ross-of-Bladensburg, who is
+commissioner of police for Ireland, and is a person of great importance
+in his own estimation as well as that of others. He takes an active part
+in political and ecclesiastical affairs and is always occupying a front
+seat when anything is going on. He signs himself John Ross of
+Bladensburg, because his grandfather, Major General Ross, commanded the
+British troops at the battle of Bladensburg, and after one of the most
+bloody and important conflicts in the history of human warfare he led
+them triumphantly into the capital of the United States and destroyed
+the palace of the President, the parliament house, and the navy yard!
+All this and more appears in the much published biographies of the Ross
+family, and because of the glory thus acquired they added the word
+"Bladensburg" to their name when they were elevated to a baronetcy.
+
+[Illustration: ROSSTREVOR HOUSE, NEAR BELFAST, THE RESIDENCE OF SIR JOHN
+ROSS OF BLADENSBURG]
+
+The Ross family have erected an obelisk to the memory of their famous
+ancestor upon a promontory above the sea at Rosstrevor, and have
+inscribed upon it the following epitaph:
+
+                    The Officers of a Grateful Army,
+                Which, Under the Command of the Lamented
+
+                       MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT ROSS,
+
+               Attacked and Defeated the American Forces
+              at Bladensburg on the 24th of August, 1814,
+                          And on the Same Day
+                    Victoriously Entered Washington,
+                   The Capital of the United States,
+                       Inscribe Upon This Tablet
+               Their Admiration of His Professional Skill
+                    And Their Esteem for His Amiable
+                           Private Character.
+
+There are three other inscriptions of similar purport, one on each face
+of the pedestal. General Ross, it appears, is buried in Halifax.
+
+Belfast is the center of a great manufacturing district. Each factory is
+surrounded by groups of neat two-story brick cottages, with gardens,
+churches, schoolhouses, and shops, which are very different from the
+rest of Ireland, and are similar to those in the suburbs of
+Philadelphia. Belfast ranks high among the manufacturing cities of the
+world. It is proud of the title of "The Chicago of Ireland." The people
+are as boastful of their progress, their wealth, and their prosperity as
+those of its namesake. But for the strong Scotch accent one might
+imagine himself in Kansas City, Seattle, or Los Angeles because of their
+civic pride. Every man you meet tells you that a hundred years ago
+Belfast had only fifteen thousand population, while to-day it has nearly
+four hundred thousand; that its wealth has doubled six times in the last
+twenty-five years; that it has the largest shipyards, the largest
+tobacco factory, the largest spinning mills, and the largest rope walk
+in the world. When they take you up on the side of a high mountain and
+show you a view of the city spread out on both sides of the River Lagan,
+they defy you to count the chimneys and the church spires, which are as
+numerous as the domes of Moscow. Belfast is the most prosperous place
+in Ireland and an example of matchless concentration of power, industry,
+and ability.
+
+The people have good ground for their vanity, and while their claims are
+somewhat exaggerated, few cities have so much to boast of. One of the
+shipyards has produced more than four hundred ocean steamers, another
+built the first turbine that ever floated on the ocean, and together
+they employ fifteen thousand hands. The machine shops of Belfast are
+also famous. They provide spinning and weaving machines for all the
+linen mills in the world, and ship them even to the United States. The
+engines, boilers, and other machinery that is turned out from the shops
+of Belfast are shipped to every corner of the world, and the product of
+the linen factories' trade now amounts to more than sixty million
+dollars a year. The largest mill covers five acres, with 60,000
+spindles, 1,000 looms, and more than 4,000 hands. A single tobacco firm
+pays $4,000,000 in taxes every year and a distillery has an annual
+output of $7,500,000.
+
+Belfast has sixteen factories for the production of ginger ale,
+lemonade, soda, and other aërated waters, which are famous the world
+over. It manufactures agricultural implements and machinery for every
+kind of industry, and much of the machinery is the invention of its own
+citizens.
+
+Belfast is no relation to the rest of Ireland. It is a Scottish town,
+and most of the people are of Scotch ancestry--all except the lowest
+class of labor, which has drifted in from the neighboring counties. The
+city lies at the head of a bay, or lough, as they call it there, nine
+miles long. The headlands at the mouth of the bay are only eighteen
+miles from the shores of Scotland, which may be seen very plainly on a
+clear morning.
+
+The shortest distance between Ireland and Scotland is only twelve and
+three-quarter miles--between Torrhead and the Mull of Kintyre. The
+shortest practicable crossing, between Larne, a few miles north of
+Belfast, and Stranraer, Scotland, is thirty-nine miles, and is made in
+two hours by steamer. The crossing from Belfast is sixty-four miles, and
+it is five hours to Glasgow. There are steamers several times a day--in
+the morning, afternoon, and at night--and the largest part of the
+business as well as the sympathies of the people are with the Scots.
+Since the tunnel under the Hudson River has been completed between New
+York and Hoboken, the plan for an "under sea railway" between Larne and
+Port Patrick has been revived. The engineers have reported that they can
+make a tunnel from Ireland to Scotland, less than forty-five miles, one
+hundred and fifty feet below the sea level, at a cost of $60,000,000,
+and some day, perhaps, it will be possible to cross by train under the
+Irish Channel, rather than by boat over it.
+
+The racial, religious, and political antagonisms between the north and
+south of Ireland are well known, and can never be removed. Three-fourths
+of the population in this section of the island are Protestants, mostly
+Calvinists of the sternest kind, and the portraits of John Knox and
+Oliver Cromwell hang on the walls of the houses rather than those of the
+popes. The religious feeling, however, is not so intense as formerly. A
+generation ago, the 12th of July (the anniversary of the battle of the
+Boyne, in which the Protestant army of William of Orange overcame and
+dispersed the Roman Catholic forces under James II.) never used to pass
+without a riot and many broken heads, but of recent years there have
+been very few collisions. Formerly, the Roman Catholics used to lie in
+wait at a certain bridge to attack the procession of Orange societies as
+it passed over, with shillalahs and stones. The Orangemen, who are
+mostly mechanics from the shipyards and machine-shops, always armed
+themselves with iron bolts and nuts for the fray, and missiles flew
+freely, leaving many unconscious and sometimes dead men on the ground.
+And on other holidays, whenever the representatives of either religious
+faith came out in force, the other usually attempted to interfere with
+them. But those days have passed. The rival religionists glare at and
+taunt each other now, but do not strike.
+
+One cannot blame the Roman Catholics for their bitterness. In the
+middle of the sixteenth century, in consequence of the rebellion of the
+earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, the heads of the great clans of O'Neill
+and O'Donnell, against the authority of Queen Elizabeth, the territory
+belonging to them and their followers was confiscated by the crown and
+sold to Protestants, chiefly from Scotland, just as the southern
+counties were distributed among the "undertakers" from England, but with
+a difference. The "undertakers" who were granted the estates of the
+rebellious earls in southern Ireland were mostly adventurers and
+speculators. Many of them never came to Ireland at all. Few of them
+settled permanently upon their grants, while nearly all of those who
+undertook to carry out the contract of colonization were indifferent to
+the class of settlers they brought in. In Ulster Province, however,
+which is the northern third of Ireland, after the "flight of the earls,"
+their confiscated lands were taken up in small parcels by actual
+settlers from Scotland, whose descendants have occupied them until this
+day--a sturdy, thrifty, industrious, and prosperous race, and the
+children of these "Scotch-Irish" Protestants have borne as important a
+part in the settlement and development of the United States as the
+children of the Pilgrims have done.
+
+The "planters," who came over from Scotland, brought with them their
+morals and their religion, and most of them were Presbyterians. In 1637
+the surveyor-general of the Ulster plantations reported to the king that
+there were forty Scots to one English, and fifteen Presbyterians to one
+of all the other sects combined. And the Presbyterians have ever since
+been the leading religious body in the north of Ireland. They are a
+stern, stolid, conservative race, stubborn of opinion, persistent of
+purpose, and fully conscious of their own rectitude. When William,
+Prince of Orange, invaded Ireland in 1689, after James II. abdicated his
+throne and fled from England, he landed at the little town of
+Carrickfergus, about six miles below Belfast, where he was received with
+great rejoicing. Here he unfurled his flag and displayed his motto, "The
+Protestant Religion and the Liberties of England I will maintain," and
+the people of Belfast have endeavored to maintain them with vigor ever
+since. The term "Orangemen" has ever since been applied to organizations
+of Protestants of a political character, and they have received more or
+less support from the church. Most of them are semi-benevolent, like the
+Hibernian societies among the Catholic population of southern Ireland,
+and they are found in every town and village in the province of Ulster.
+There are Orange halls in every parish of Belfast and the surrounding
+country. They embrace in their membership representatives of all the
+Protestant denominations, the Church of Ireland and the Methodists as
+well as the Presbyterians--but the latter are most numerous and in some
+districts you will find none but Presbyterians.
+
+The O'Neills were kings of Ulster in ancient times and their coat of
+arms was a red hand, whereby hangs a startling tale. According to
+tradition, the original O'Neill came over from Scotland with a party of
+invaders, among whom it was agreed that he should be king whose hand
+first touched the soil of Ireland. The boats were all stranded on the
+beach, and the captains and the crews were striving desperately to make
+the shore, when "The O'Neill," with the nerve that has always
+distinguished his clan, drew his sword, chopped off his own left hand at
+the wrist, threw it upon the beach and claimed the throne, which was
+accorded him. Hence a red hand or "Lamh dearg" is on the coat of arms of
+Ulster, being placed upon a small shield in the center of a large
+shield, upon which appears the red cross of St. George, thus signifying
+England's domination over Ulster.
+
+Neill of the Nine Hostages, who reigned from A.D. 379 to 405, was the
+most warlike and adventurous of all the pagan kings, and, with two
+exceptions, all the overkings of Ireland, from the time that Red O'Neill
+tossed his amputated hand upon the shore, to the accession of Brian
+Boru, belonged to this illustrious family. And they gave England a great
+deal of trouble. In 1551, Conn O'Neill was created Earl of Tyrone, and
+Mathew, who claimed to be his son, was given the right of succession.
+"Shane, the Proud," the legitimate son and heir, was a mere boy at that
+time, but when he grew to manhood he disputed his half-brother's
+parentage and apologized for his father's conduct with the remark that,
+"Being a gentleman, he never refused a child that any woman named to be
+his."
+
+After the death of Henry VIII. Shane O'Neill inaugurated a rebellion
+which cost England more men and more money than any struggle that has
+ever occurred in Ireland; an expenditure equal to $10,000,000 of our
+present money, besides tens of thousands of lives and millions of
+private property destroyed. After peace was restored in 1558, Shane was
+elected "The O'Neill," in accordance with the ancient Irish custom, and
+in 1561 he accepted the olive branch from Queen Elizabeth and went to
+London at her invitation, followed by his gallowglasses in their strange
+native attire--loose, wide-sleeved, saffron-colored tunics, reaching to
+their knees, with shaggy mantles of sheepskin over their shoulders,
+their heads bare, their long hair curling down on their shoulders and
+clipped short in front, just above the eyes.
+
+The last of the earls of Tyrone was Hugh O'Neill, a son of Shane, who
+organized another rebellion in 1584, and, being defeated, fled to his
+castle in the dense woods of Glenconkeine, and there awaited anxiously
+for Philip of Spain or Clement VIII., the reigning pope, to succor him.
+One by one O'Neill was deserted by all the Irish chieftains except Rory
+O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, and as they saw no hope of relief they
+made peace with England. Several years later, in 1607, being accused of
+a plot, they fled from the shores of Ireland with a party of ninety-four
+kinsfolk and retainers. They finally found their way to Rome, where Paul
+V., the reigning pontiff, gave them shelter and expressed his deep
+sympathy with the Irish exiles. The following year Rory O'Donnell, Earl
+of Tyrconnell, died of Roman fever, and in 1616 the last of the Irish
+kings bearing the name of O'Neill was laid to rest in the Church of San
+Pietro on the Janiculum, the same which claims the dust of St. Peter.
+
+[Illustration: SHANE'S CASTLE, NEAR BELFAST, THE ANCIENT STRONGHOLD OF
+THE O'NEILLS, KINGS OF ULSTER]
+
+The misfortunes which always followed Hugh O'Neill's footsteps continued
+to pursue his sons. Henry, the eldest, died in command of an Irish
+regiment in the Netherlands; John, his next brother, succeeded him and
+died in battle in Catalonia; Bernard was assassinated when but seventeen
+years old; Hugh died of Roman fever, and Conn, the youngest, who, for
+some unaccountable reason, was left in Ireland in the hurry of his
+father's flight, was arrested, taken to London, and imprisoned in the
+Tower, where he was lost sight of, and the male line of the O'Neills
+became extinct. The living representative of the family, Baron Edward
+O'Neill of Shane's Castle, Antrim, is descended in the female line. His
+name was Chichester until he was created baron in 1868, when he assumed
+that of his ancestors. He lives in the old castle, about fourteen miles
+north of Belfast.
+
+The lord of the county, however, is the young Earl of Shaftesbury,
+grandson of the famous philanthropist, who inherits many of his
+grandfather's traits and takes an active part in religious,
+philanthropic, political, and municipal affairs. He is very
+public-spirited, is always willing to do his part in charitable
+movements, has served as alderman and lord mayor of Belfast with great
+credit, and has held several other important positions. He was educated
+at Eton and Sandhurst Military School, was elected alderman in Belfast
+in 1905 and lord mayor in 1907. In 1899 he married Lady Constance
+Grosvenor, granddaughter of the late Duke of Westminster. He inherited
+Belfast Castle, the former seat of the Donegal family, which they have
+occupied ever since. It is about three miles from Belfast, and entirely
+modern. The state apartments and picture galleries on the main floor are
+very fine. A short distance from the castle is a beautiful little
+private mortuary chapel erected by the late Marquis of Donegal, as a
+burial place for the family.
+
+On the opposite side of Belfast Lough is the seat of the late Lord
+Dufferin and Ava, one of the ablest and most useful men in the British
+empire for many years. His figure in bronze under a marble canopy in the
+City Hall Park reminds the people of Belfast of his ability, his
+patriotism, and his public services. He was Viceroy of India,
+Governor-General of Canada, ambassador to France, Italy, and Turkey, and
+held other important positions and received unusual honors, but he died
+here in 1902 broken hearted because his reputation had been used by a
+swindler, named Wright, in promoting an enterprise that seemed to him
+proper and promising, but turned out to be the worst kind of a fraud.
+His situation was similar to that of General Grant after the Grant-Ward
+failure in New York. Lord Dufferin gave up all his property as
+restitution to the victims of the scheme and retired to the seclusion of
+his ancestral home here. Wright was convicted and sentenced to twenty
+years in prison, but committed suicide before he was sent to the
+penitentiary. The dowager marchioness still occupies the family mansion
+with her younger children and is actively engaged in charitable work.
+
+The young earl occupies an important position in the foreign office at
+London. He was born in 1866, and in 1903 married an American girl, Miss
+Florence Davis, daughter of John H. Davis, 24 Washington Square, New
+York City.
+
+Upon the loftiest eminence overlooking Belfast Lough is a tall, round
+structure known as Ellen's Tower, which the late marquis erected in
+memory of his late mother, Ellen Sheridan, a granddaughter of Richard
+Brinsley Sheridan, the dramatist. She was a woman of great ability and
+exercised a wide influence. She wrote books and poetry and songs and was
+the author of the old-fashioned ballad that was very popular in your
+grandmother's time: "I'm Sitting on the Stile, Mary."
+
+On the north side of the Bay of Belfast, about six miles below the city,
+is the ancient town of Carrickfergus, which is of peculiar interest to
+Americans, because the father of Andrew Jackson was born there and from
+there emigrated in 1765 and found a farm in the wilderness of North
+Carolina.
+
+It was there also that John Paul Jones, with the _Ranger_, fought the
+_Drake_, a British sloop of war, April 24, 1778. The _Drake_ was in the
+harbor near the Castle of Carrickfergus, when the _Ranger_ came in
+sight, and coaxed her out for an engagement, which occurred promptly in
+midchannel, and for a while there was very lively action on both sides.
+The _Drake_ carried twenty 4-pound guns and 142 seamen. The _Ranger_
+carried eighteen 6-pound guns and 155 seamen, several of whom were
+Irishmen from Belfast and one from Carrickfergus. The _Drake_ was the
+larger vessel, but was not handled as easily as the _Ranger_. The fight
+lasted an hour and fifteen minutes when the _Drake_ struck her colors.
+Her captain, Burder, by name, was killed; Lieutenant Dobbs, the next in
+command, was mortally wounded, and her deck was covered with the dead
+and the dying. The _Ranger_ had only three killed and five wounded.
+Captain Jones remained in the bay for several days, making repairs, and
+sent all the wounded ashore to Carrickfergus. Lieutenant Dobbs died the
+morning after the battle and is buried in the churchyard of the little
+village of Lisburn near by, where he lies beside the great and good
+Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Armagh, who died in 1667.
+
+It was on the day before the battle that Captain Jones made his raid
+upon the castle of Lord Selkirk at Kirkcudbright, Scotland, across the
+Irish Channel, and carried away with him the family plate, which was
+surrendered by Lady Selkirk to avoid a mutiny among the crew. But
+Captain Jones, after five years of persistent work, recovered the entire
+collection and restored it safely to its original owners, even paying
+for its carriage to Scotland. Captain Stockton, the American military
+attaché at London, sent to the Navy Department at Washington, copies of
+several characteristic letters written by John Paul Jones to Lady
+Selkirk and to Lord Selkirk, concerning the matter.
+
+Belfast has had many distinguished sons in addition to those whom I have
+already named, but none more eminent and useful than James Bryce,
+British ambassador to Washington, who was born there May 10, 1838, and
+shares with Lord Kelvin the honor of being the most famous of all
+Belfasters. He went from there a young man to the University of Glasgow
+and there developed his extraordinary mental and physical energy. From
+Glasgow he went to Oxford, where he took his degree in 1862, and then to
+Heidelberg to perfect himself in German, of which he is a thorough
+scholar. We next find him studying law in London where he was called to
+the Bar in 1867 and immediately was recognized for his legal ability and
+learning. Only three years later he was invited to accept the Regius
+professorship of law at Oxford, which he held from 1870 to 1893. In the
+meantime he was the busiest man in England and engaged in the greatest
+variety of activities. He was writing history, exploring Iceland,
+climbing Mount Ararat, making records in the Alpine Club, studying
+Ireland, running for parliament, serving as parliamentary secretary for
+foreign affairs, and afterward as chief secretary for Ireland in the
+British cabinet and chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
+
+And all this time, when he was not doing anything else, he was writing
+books, and almost all of his works are regarded as the best books ever
+written upon the subjects of which they treat. "The American
+Commonwealth" is acknowledged to be the best account of our institutions
+ever penned by a foreigner. "The Holy Roman Empire" is a model of
+historical literature, while Mr. Bryce's other books, on a variety of
+subjects, are of equal rank in scholarship and in literary merit.
+
+The late Rev. Dr. John Hall, in his day the most eminent Presbyterian
+divine in America, was born at Armagh, where Cardinal Logue, the Roman
+Catholic Primate of Ireland, presides over the ancient see of St.
+Patrick. Dr. Hall was born in 1829, entered Belfast College when he was
+only thirteen years old, and although the youngest in his class, ranked
+first in scholarship and took the largest number of prizes. He studied
+theology at the Presbyterian Seminary here, and when he was only
+twenty-two years old became pastor of the First Church at Armagh, his
+native town. In 1856 he was called to Dublin as pastor of the Rutland
+Presbyterian Church, and was appointed commissioner of education for
+Ireland. In 1867 he was sent to the United States as a delegate to the
+general assembly, and created such a favorable impression that he
+immediately received a call to the pulpit of the Fifth Avenue Church,
+Presbyterian, of New York, which he accepted and occupied the rest of
+his life.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XVI
+
+                      THE THRIVING CITY OF BELFAST
+
+
+Belfast has a population of 380,000, according to the most reliable
+estimates. The latest enumeration, in 1901, showed a population of
+349,180, which is just double that returned by the census of 1871. Of
+this population 120,269 are Presbyterians, 102,991 are Episcopalians,
+84,992 are Roman Catholics, 21,506 Methodists, and the remainder are
+divided among a dozen different religious denominations. It is
+distinctively a theological town.
+
+You hear workingmen discussing theology in the street cars instead of
+politics, comparing the eloquence of their ministers and their soundness
+in the faith.
+
+There is a remarkably large attendance at church. All the churches are
+crowded every Sunday. There is a difference of terms, however, with the
+several denominations. Catholics go to "mass" where a priest officiates;
+members of the Church of Ireland attend "service" which is performed by
+a parson; while the Presbyterians and other nonconformists go to
+"meeting" and hear the gospel expounded by a minister. The Presbyterian
+services are very long and heavy. They begin at 11 o'clock on Sunday
+morning and last till 1:30, and the Sunday school continues two hours.
+The congregation is never satisfied with a sermon less than an hour
+long, while an hour and a quarter is preferred, and they insist that
+their ministers shall expound doctrinal texts to their satisfaction or
+they criticise them freely and fiercely.
+
+The Irish are the most old-fashioned kind of Presbyterians, being
+stricter than the Scotch. Few churches allow musical instruments or
+hymns that rhyme, and the congregations follow a precentor with a tuning
+fork in chanting Rouse's version of the Psalms of David.
+
+The people remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy only until
+afternoon. There are no railway trains or street cars running in the
+morning, and you cannot find a cab or a jaunting car on the street. No
+boats arrive or depart from the docks on Sunday, and when I took a walk
+along the river front one Sunday I found the men who were accustomed to
+work there all sitting around eating "willicks," or periwinkles--a sort
+of water snails which are picked up on the beach of the bay and are
+peddled about by old women and small boys like chestnuts. You can buy
+half a pint of them for a penny. The peddler has a paper of long pins in
+his basket and gives one to each purchaser to pry the snails out of
+their shells. That seems to be the Sunday morning occupation. But Sunday
+afternoon everybody comes out for a good time, the streets fill up with
+promenaders and the cars are crowded with excursionists.
+
+The Belfast directory gives a list of sixty orthodox Presbyterian
+churches, and they are numbered from the First Presbyterian Church
+consecutively to the Fifty-eighth Presbyterian Church, with two extras,
+called the Strand Presbyterian Church and Albert Hall Presbyterian
+Church. In addition to these are five "nonsubscribing" Presbyterian
+churches whose members have refused to subscribe to some article of the
+confession of faith, but are otherwise orthodox and are numbered with
+the elect; four "Reformed Presbyterian churches," one "Original
+Secession Church Presbyterian," one "East Reformed Presbyterian Church,"
+and one "United Free Presbyterian Church," making altogether seventy-two
+Presbyterian churches in a city of three hundred and eighty thousand
+inhabitants, an average of one Presbyterian church for every five
+thousand inhabitants.
+
+As I was passing under the archway of Queen's College with a
+Presbyterian doctor of divinity from Cincinnati he intercepted an old
+gentleman and inquired the name of the church with the handsome spire
+across the street.
+
+"That's the Fifth Presbyterian Church," was the polite reply.
+
+"And what church is that over yonder, whose spire we see beyond the
+college?"
+
+"That's the Twenty-seventh Presbyterian Church."
+
+"You seem to have an abundance of Presbyterian churches in Belfast; you
+ought to feel certain of salvation."
+
+"I'm not so sure of that," was the reply. "I'm not convinced that a
+Belfast Presbyterian is any more certain of salvation than the rest of
+us. We once had here a famous doctor of divinity. He was a great man and
+a good man, and you will see his statue in bronze down beyond the
+railway station in the middle of the square--Rev. Dr. Cooke. He was
+highly respected and revered by the community, but his son was a
+scapegrace and gave the old gentleman a great deal of trouble and
+anxiety. One Sunday morning the good doctor found Harry at breakfast and
+remarked pleasantly:
+
+"'I hope you are going to meeting this morning, Harry?'
+
+"'Well, I'm not,' replied Harry with a grouch.
+
+"'And why not?' asked his father.
+
+"'I'm never going to meeting any more; I never got any good from
+meetings.'
+
+"'You'll find no meetings in hell, sir!' said the doctor, solemnly.
+
+"'It'll not be for the lack of the ministers!', was Harry's reply."
+
+And the genial old gentleman smiled grimly and passed on.
+
+At least two of the public monuments in Belfast have been erected in
+honor of Presbyterian divines,--Rev. Dr. Cooke, of whom the above story
+is told, and Rev. Hugh Hanna; and one of the largest and most beautiful
+buildings in the city is the Presbyterian House, where there is an
+assembly hall that will seat twenty-five hundred people, smaller halls,
+and committee rooms, and the offices of the various missionary societies
+and other organizations belonging to that denomination. It was erected
+by private subscription and dedicated with great ceremony two years ago.
+It is the headquarters of Presbyterianism in the north of Ireland and
+its noble tower can be seen for a long distance.
+
+On the second floor of the building are clubrooms, reading-rooms, and
+amusement halls, and other attractions for the young men of Presbyterian
+families, a sort of denominational Y.M.C.A.; and, strange to say, the
+amusement-room is fitted up with two billiard tables, which I am told
+are in great demand every evening. The janitor in charge admitted that
+some of the stricter members of the sect had made urgent objections
+against this form of entertainment, but the committee "was not willing
+to let the devil have all the fun."
+
+The general assembly of the Presbyterian church holds its annual
+sessions in the big hall of the new Presbyterian building, and all the
+other denominational gatherings are held there. At the last assembly
+Rev. Dr. McIlveen, the moderator, reviewed the progress of that
+denomination during the last forty years. It was true, he said, that its
+numbers, as reported by the official census, had not increased. In
+common with other religious denominations, the Presbyterians had lost
+largely by emigration. Many of their members, especially the young and
+vigorous, had gone forth to seek homes in the colonies of the empire, or
+the great republic of the West. In the period to which he was referring
+the population of Ireland had decreased more than a million, and while
+in comparison with the other large denominations the Presbyterians had
+suffered less proportional loss, yet their membership had decreased
+fifty-five thousand. Yet they had four thousand more families than they
+had forty years ago and six thousand more contributors to the stipend
+fund. The givings of the people to various objects had more than
+doubled. There had been an annual increase of $100,000 in the stipend
+fund; $75,000 in the ordinary Sabbath offerings, and more than $90,000
+annually to missions. During the same time there had been invested more
+than $5,250,000 in the erection and repair of churches, manses, and
+other Presbyterian buildings; the Church House at Belfast had been
+erected at a cost of $400,000, and $5,250,000 had accumulated in the
+hands of the boards of trustees of different benevolences as capital.
+
+In addition to the seventy-two Presbyterian churches in Belfast, the
+directory notes thirty-seven under the care of the Church of Ireland,
+thirty Methodist, eighteen Roman Catholic, seven Congregationalist, six
+Baptist, two Moravians, one Friends' meeting-house, one Jewish synagogue
+and two societies called Plymouth Brethren, who announce "breaking of
+bread at 11:30 A.M. and gospel at 7 P.M."--making a total of one hundred
+and seventy-six houses of worship.
+
+The working people of Belfast do not live in tenement houses as is the
+custom throughout the rest of Europe, but every family has its own
+separate cottage, and there are long streets of neat brick, two-story,
+five-room houses very similar to those that you find in Philadelphia,
+only the rents are very much lower there. For ten dollars a month a
+Belfast mechanic can get a neat and comfortable six-room dwelling, 20
+feet front and 36 feet deep, with a garden 100 feet in depth. For five
+dollars and seven dollars and fifty cents a month he can get four or
+five roomed cottages that are equally comfortable. And the mechanics
+there take a great deal more interest in their homes than those in the
+rest of Ireland. If you will look through the windows as you pass
+through the streets you will see them draped with neat Nottingham lace
+curtains and linen shades. There are shelves of books and pictures, neat
+carpets and center-tables with a family Bible and photograph album and
+religious newspapers and periodicals. There are often books on
+theology,--more than anything else,--commentaries on the Bible and other
+denominational works, for the well-to-do Belfast mechanic is a
+Presbyterian and always prepared to defend the doctrines of that faith.
+The manufacturers, the merchants, and the middle classes generally are
+Presbyterians. The land owners, the professional men, the nobility, and
+the aristocracy are nearly all members of the Church of Ireland, while
+the common laborers are Roman Catholics.
+
+[Illustration: Queen's College, Belfast]
+
+When the Scotch "planters" came to the north of Ireland they brought
+their love of learning and their scholarship with their religion, and
+Belfast has always been an educational as well as a denominational
+center, more noted than any other city in Ireland for the excellence
+of its schools. Queen's College, founded nearly sixty years ago by Queen
+Victoria as a state institution, is at the head of the system and will
+soon be a university. Queen's is one of the "godless" colleges that we
+hear so much about in ecclesiastical circles, because there is no
+chapel, no religious exercises or instruction. But the atmosphere of the
+institution is thoroughly Presbyterian, and Rev. Dr. Hamilton, the
+president, who will also be president of the proposed university, is one
+of the most eminent ministers in that denomination. The buildings of
+Queen's College, six hundred feet long, are imposing in appearance and
+of solid construction, after the Tudor school of architecture, with a
+central tower and two wings, inclosing quadrangular courts. There is a
+school of law and a school of medicine, with more than four hundred
+students, and one of the most important in Ireland.
+
+Just behind Queen's College is the General Assembly's Theological
+Seminary, founded in 1853 to train men for the Presbyterian pulpit. It
+occupies a massive building of red sandstone that is simple and severe.
+Across the way from Queen's is a Methodist college with two hundred and
+fifty students, the building being after the same general plan as
+Queen's. These three institutions are entirely in sympathy and are
+working together, although they have no legal or official relation.
+
+The City Hall of Belfast is an imposing building, which cost a million
+and a half of dollars, and is very ornate for its purpose. It stands in
+the center of a large square, admirably located so that its fine
+proportions may be admired from all sides. The interior is very
+ornamental, the walls and stairways being of Carrara marble elaborately
+carved. On either side are handsome monuments. The building is 300 feet
+long and 240 feet deep; the façade is of the same design on each of the
+four sides, and there is a dome 175 feet high. There is a great hall for
+official ceremonies and public assemblies that will seat a thousand
+people, and several other state apartments handsomely decorated.
+
+In front of the City Hall is a recent statue of Queen Victoria in
+marble, and a very good one it is. On another side the late Lord
+Dufferin is represented in bronze wearing the robes of a Knight of St.
+Patrick, while Sir Edward J. Harland, founder of the great shipyards at
+Belfast, is honored in a similar manner. Not far away is the Albert
+Memorial, a clock tower, 143 feet high, of Gothic design, which was
+erected to the memory of the Prince Consort in 1870. There are several
+other statues of local dignitaries in different parts of the city and a
+soul-stirring memorial to the members of the Royal Irish Rifles who died
+in the Boer war.
+
+The business architecture of Belfast is unusually fine and in striking
+contrast to the rest of Ireland, where there has been very little
+building for a century. Belfast, however, is a distinctively modern city
+and up-to-date. There are no skyscrapers, and the limit of height seems
+to be six stories, but there is considerable architectural display; and
+the shopping streets are entirely modern, with large and attractive show
+windows.
+
+You hear a great deal about the weather of Ireland, and I have already
+quoted an old and common joke that it never rains on the 31st of
+February. People never go out without an umbrella or a mackintosh,
+because it is always safer to carry them. It rains in the most
+unexpected way. The clouds gather very suddenly and the predictions of
+the weather bureau cannot be taken seriously. But the natives don't seem
+to mind it. They are so used to getting soaked that it is a matter of no
+consequence, and over in the shipyards and elsewhere we saw men working
+on through a pouring rain without taking the slightest notice of it.
+Women who are compelled to weather the storms frequently line their
+skirts with rubber cloth or leather so as to keep their underclothing
+dry, and every man carries his mackintosh over his arm when he leaves
+home in the morning.
+
+[Illustration: Albert Memorial, Belfast]
+
+The official reports show that in the year 1907 rain fell on 232 out of
+the 365 days, and in 1906 there were 237 rainy days. In October, 1907,
+there were twenty-nine rainy days; in December, twenty-seven; in May,
+twenty-two; but in September there were only nine rainy days, which
+might be called a drought. In 1906 January had twenty-nine rainy days,
+August twenty-four, April twenty-three, and November and December
+twenty-two each. The average annual rainfall for the last forty years
+has been 33,523 inches.
+
+The highest temperature in 1907 was 79.8 degrees in the shade, and
+lowest, on the 30th of December, was 19 above zero.
+
+Belfast is a very healthy city, however, the death rate averaging about
+twenty per one thousand. It has been very much reduced during the last
+fifteen or twenty years by the improvement of the water supply and
+sewerage. The birth rate is very high and has sometimes run up to
+thirty-seven per one thousand of population. Last year it was thirty-one
+per one thousand.
+
+On Saturday and Sunday nights we saw a good many drunken men upon the
+streets. But I am told that there is a great improvement in this respect
+in recent years. The Orange associations of Protestants and the
+Hibernian and other friendly societies of Roman Catholics are both
+taking an active part in temperance work, from economical as well as
+moral motives, because they realize how much misfortune, poverty,
+sickness, and death--all of which increase their assessments--are due to
+drink.
+
+I have not been able to find out how much money is spent for whisky in
+the Protestant counties. There is no way to ascertain or estimate it
+accurately, but the sum must be very large. But everybody agrees that it
+is diminishing. There is a less number of saloons by twenty-five or
+thirty per cent than there was ten years ago, and a corresponding
+decrease in the amount of drunkenness. The number of arrests for
+drunkenness and disorder have fallen off noticeably during the last few
+years. This has given a great deal of encouragement to the temperance
+advocates.
+
+There is a much higher degree of intelligence and mechanical skill among
+the working people in Belfast than in any other part of Ireland, and
+the ratio of illiteracy is much lower in County Down and County Antrim
+than in any other part of the island. The highest degree of skilled
+labor is required in the machine shops and shipyards and commands the
+best wages that are paid to any artisans in Ireland. The women work in
+linen mills and shirt and collar factories.
+
+A technical school for the specialized training of boys for mechanics
+was established here in 1902, evening instruction in the applied
+sciences, drawing, sketching, and the other arts, and in mathematics,
+mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering, having been given for
+several years in classes maintained by voluntary subscriptions from
+citizens. Five such institutions were in existence at that time, having
+between seven and eight hundred students on their rolls. An act of
+parliament passed in 1899 authorized the consolidation of these schools,
+and a beautiful building in the very center of the city, admirably
+adapted to the purpose, was erected and equipped at the expense of
+$750,000. The school now has a stated income of $96,000 from regular
+taxation. In 1902 classes were opened with the total of 3,381 students.
+At present this number has been increased to 5,064 men, women, and
+children between fifteen and sixty-five years of age, representing all
+classes and castes, who are studying everything in the way of useful
+arts and trades. Thirty teachers are exclusively employed, with one
+hundred and thirty experts from different factories and machine shops,
+who give evening instruction or have special classes on certain days.
+Nothing is free. Everybody who enjoys the benefits of the institution is
+required to pay a fee ranging from one dollar a term upward to sixty
+dollars, according to the amount of attention required. The largest
+classes are in engineering, drawing, electricity, and the commercial
+occupations, but nearly every trade is taught in connection with the
+ordinary rudiments of English, mathematics, and geography in the evening
+classes to those whose early education was neglected.
+
+The municipality owns the building and supports the school. Sir James
+Henderson, editor of the _Daily News-Letter_, who was lord mayor of
+Belfast at the time that the school was established, is the chairman of
+the committee in charge, and is to be congratulated upon a great
+success. The attitude of the labor unions, which at first regarded the
+enterprise with distrust, is becoming more friendly, and they permit
+their members to avail themselves of the facilities provided by the
+school. The education of apprentices to trades without limitations is
+still a question of controversy. The attitude of the employers is more
+favorable, because nearly all of them recognized increased efficiency
+among their journeymen who have attended the school, and many of them
+are paying a part or the whole of the fees of all their workmen who will
+attend regularly the classes in their respective trades. The investment
+is, therefore, a good one for the city of Belfast. The technical school
+will certainly result in the improvement of the efficiency of the
+mechanics of the city.
+
+Belfast has quite a number of municipal utilities. The city owns the gas
+works, the electric lighting plant, and all the street car lines, as
+well as the water supply. The gas works have proven to be a very
+profitable undertaking, and gas is furnished for sixty-seven cents a
+cubic foot, with a fair profit to the city. A municipal electric plant
+lights the streets and furnishes power for the street railway lines and
+also pays a profit. The street railway line, however, is not a
+profitable investment and is running behind under municipal management
+for several reasons.
+
+The municipality also owns a large hall that will seat 2,097 persons,
+and a smaller hall that will seat 330. Each of these halls is rented for
+concerts, lectures, assemblies, exhibitions, conventions, balls, and for
+other purposes at a rate of twenty dollars per night for the smaller one
+and sixty dollars for the larger one, including light, heat, and
+attendance, and there is a good income from both. It also has a series
+of organ recitals in the large hall every winter, which are attended by
+audiences varying from six hundred to two thousand, who pay a nominal
+price for admission--from six to twelve cents, according to the
+seat--and thus the entertainments support themselves. The city also
+owns a number of private bathing houses, situated in different parts of
+the town, for which tickets can be bought for two cents and four cents,
+according to the accommodations. These are largely patronized by the
+working people, and are self-supporting. Altogether the municipal
+management of Belfast is admirable and affords examples which other
+cities may study with profit.
+
+The advantages of Belfast for the manufacture of linen goods, the very
+damp climate which softens the thread so that it does not snap in the
+spindles or the looms and enables the fabric to be woven closer and
+softer, and the purity of the water for bleaching, were recognized long
+ago; and, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, when six
+hundred thousand Protestants fled from France, a party of Huguenot
+refugees under Louis Crommelin were invited to come over and introduce
+that industry. Crommelin belonged to a family that had woven linen for
+four hundred years. He was a man of great business ability, common
+sense, energy, and perseverance, and they called him "Crommelin the
+Great." Belfast certainly owes him a heavy debt, and it has not been
+paid. Although the Irish parliament passed a resolution thanking him for
+his services in 1707, his grave in the little churchyard at Lisburn, a
+suburban village, is marked only by an ordinary slab of stone. There is
+no monument to remind the people of the north of Ireland what they owe
+to his ability and devotion.
+
+The business grew rapidly for the first century and a half, and as early
+as 1833 Belfast had eighty mills and was producing $25,000,000 worth of
+linen fabrics annually. In 1840 there were 250,000 spindles buzzing
+about this town, but the trade reached its maximum in the '70s, and has
+not increased much since. There are in all of Ireland about 35,000 looms
+and 900,000 spindles, all of them in this immediate vicinity, except two
+factories at Dublin, one at Cork, and one at Drogheda.
+
+These are divided among about two hundred factories with about one
+hundred and twenty thousand operatives, of whom two-thirds are women.
+Their wages range from three to four dollars a week, and for men from
+six to seven dollars a week, the week's work under normal circumstances
+being fifty-five hours the year around, beginning at six o'clock in the
+morning, with an hour off for breakfast from eight to nine; another hour
+from one to two for lunch, and then they remain at work until six
+o'clock. An act of parliament does not permit operatives in textile
+factories to remain in the buildings where they work during the
+breakfast and lunch hours for any purpose whatever. If they bring their
+meals with them, they must eat them outside of the factory, for the
+purpose is to give them a change of air and require them to take a
+certain amount of exercise. Many of the companies here feed their hands
+in dining-halls connected with, but apart from, the workrooms.
+
+Even these small wages have been increased from ten to twenty per cent
+within the last five years, and it is remarkable how people can live and
+support families upon such limited incomes. The wages are paid on
+Saturday noon--when a half-holiday is allowed, and the money is given to
+the hands in tin boxes. Each operative has his own number. As they pass
+the paymaster's window they call out their number, receive their box,
+take out the change, and throw the empty tin into a bin that is placed
+near the door for that purpose.
+
+There are not less than 78,000 persons employed in the linen trade and
+its allied industries in the city of Belfast, and not less than 130,000
+people are dependent directly or indirectly upon that industry for
+support. The situation is quite different there from many cities,
+because the fathers and husbands can find work in the shipyards and
+foundries, and thus the whole family is able to get employment. The law
+does not allow children under fourteen years of age to work in the
+factories, but a large number of boys and girls between fourteen and
+seventeen are engaged at wages from one dollar to two dollars a week,
+and much is done in the way of embroidery, hemstitching, and other forms
+of finishing in the households. The patterns are stamped on the cloth
+and the pieces are given out to women and girls to finish in their
+homes.
+
+The employers exercise personal interest and have a paternal policy for
+the treatment of their employees, which does not occur often in the
+United States and other countries. This is largely due to the fact that
+generations have worked in the same mills for the same companies. Our
+manufacturing industries are not old enough for such an experience.
+Labor is not migratory as it is in the United States. It is customary
+for sons to follow the trades of their fathers, and when the daughters
+are old enough to go into the mill, the mothers leave it. The workmen
+there are satisfied with small wages; their standard of living is so
+much lower than in the United States that they can get along very well,
+as their fathers and ancestors have done for generations, upon their
+scanty earnings. Very few of them save any part of their wages. Not five
+per cent of the wage-earners of Belfast patronize the savings banks.
+They live from hand to mouth, and, knowing this fact, their employers
+are compelled to look after them in hard times. If they did not, the
+operatives who are out of employment would scatter and when work was
+resumed it would be difficult to fill their places.
+
+The work of the operatives in linen factories is very trying on the
+health, because the atmosphere of the rooms is kept as damp as possible
+in order to soften the threads and make them more pliable. Few of the
+operatives live past middle life unless they have unusually strong
+constitutions.
+
+More than half of the flax used in Belfast comes from Russia. Only about
+twelve thousand tons is raised in Ireland, and that entirely in Ulster
+Province, where fifty-five thousand acres are devoted to its
+cultivation. An average of forty thousand tons a year is imported from
+Holland, Belgium, and other countries, as well as Russia. S.S.
+Knabenshue of Toledo, the American consul, attempted to induce farmers
+in the Northwest of the United States, who grow flax for the seed, to
+ship over here the straw they throw away, but he has not succeeded in
+arousing any interest, although they might find a permanent and
+profitable market.
+
+Until recently the spinning of the flax into thread was done by separate
+companies and the thread was sold to the weavers, but several years ago
+a combine was organized and many of the spinning plants went into a
+trust, which has enabled them to command better prices and be more
+independent. The linen manufacturers, however, are practically dependent
+upon the United States. We take more than half the products of Irish
+linen. The average for the last forty years has been 51.1 per cent sold
+to the United States, 19.3 to the British possessions, and 29.6 per cent
+to other foreign countries.
+
+In 1907 the value of the linen shipped to the United States was
+$14,970,051 out of a total export of $26,895,014. In 1906 our purchases
+were about $1,000,000 less, but the proportion remains about the same,
+and American buyers may be always found at the Belfast hotels, although
+most of the big manufacturers have their agencies in New York.
+
+Belfast has the largest ropewalk in the world, which employs three
+thousand hands, and for years was under the management of the late W.H.
+Smiles, a son of Samuel Smiles, author of "Self-Help" and other
+well-known books. It is a model institution, and among other features
+the firm maintains a large cookhouse and dining-room, where the
+employees and their families can obtain wholesome meals much cheaper
+than they could be supplied at their own homes. Such a benevolence would
+serve to decrease the drunkenness of Ireland and Scotland more than any
+other measures that could be adopted. Medical authorities agree that the
+principal cause of alcoholism is insufficient nourishment and ill-cooked
+food, which creates a craving for stimulants, and argue that if the
+working people could have better food they would spend less money for
+drink.
+
+Belfast is the greatest producer of ginger ale, bottled soda, lemonade,
+and other aërated waters in the world, and ships them to every corner of
+the globe. There are sixteen factories engaged in that business. It is
+asserted there that soda water was invented in Belfast. Although there
+is no positive evidence to that effect, there is no doubt that ginger
+ale was first made by a druggist named Grattan in 1822, who started a
+factory here that is still running and has had many imitators. The great
+advantage found there is in the quality of the water, which is
+especially adapted to aëration, just as that at Burton-on-Trent is
+adapted to the manufacture of ale.
+
+Belfast has two celebrated shipyards which launched 137,369 tons of
+steamers in 1907 and 150,428 tons in 1906. The firm of Harland & Wolff
+launched 74,115 tons, and Workman, Clark & Co., 63,254. Harland & Wolff
+ranked fourth in the order of British shipyards and Workman, Clark & Co.
+stand ninth in the list.
+
+The latter firm built the first ocean turbine steamers and Harland &
+Wolff the first ocean greyhound, the _Oceanic_, in 1870, which was the
+pioneer of fast sailing on the Atlantic and a notable advance in the
+science of navigation. She was an epoch-making vessel from the point of
+view of naval architects, because of her general design and
+construction, being of much greater length in proportion to her beam
+than any that had ever been built up to that time, and she represented
+the first attempt to insure the maximum of comfort and luxury in ocean
+travel by sacrificing freight space to passenger accommodations and
+locating the saloons and cabins amidship. Since then all of the
+steamship companies have adopted the same plan, and the comfort and
+conveniences that are now found upon vessels have no doubt enormously
+increased the passenger traffic.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XVII
+
+                      THE QUAINT OLD TOWN OF DERRY
+
+
+Londonderry, usually called Derry, is an ancient burgh, in which much
+history has been enacted, and is unique in several respects among all
+the cities of the earth. It does not look like an Irish city at all. It
+resembles Plymouth, England. If you were dropped down from a balloon you
+might easily imagine yourself in that driving seaport, which is
+perfectly natural because everything in Derry is English and there is no
+sympathy with the rest of Ireland, or relationship either in race,
+religion, commerce, or customs. And the town is the property of the city
+of London, which accounts for the name.
+
+It was called Derry in ancient times until King James I., in 1612, for
+money advanced him by the guilds of the city of London when he was hard
+up, gave them an area of two hundred thousand acres, confiscated from
+the O'Dohertys and the O'Neills for disloyalty. The grant includes every
+inch of land upon which Londonderry stands, "and the liberties thereof,"
+which means jurisdiction over everything within a radius of two miles
+around. The aldermen of the city of London, that small but wealthy
+community which surrounds the Bank of England and the Mansion House in
+the world's metropolis, formed what is known as the Honorable Irish
+Society, composed of representatives of the different guilds, to hold
+the charter, and they hold it still. The aldermen of the city of London
+elect the governor of the society, who is now Sir Robert Newton, lord
+mayor of London, and the deputy governor, who is now a Mr. Gardiner, a
+resident of Londonderry, as is customary. The lord mayor's functions are
+nominal. The deputy governor exercises full authority, assisted by a
+council of twenty-four members, selected from among the most prominent
+residents. The municipal expenses are paid by the ordinary forms of
+taxation and the government is conducted like that of any other city in
+Ireland, but the Honorable Irish Society collects ground rent from every
+house within a radius of two miles. It also owns the fisheries in the
+River Foyle. The money is not devoted to the payment of ordinary
+municipal expenses, but goes into the treasury of the society in London,
+and a portion of it is devoted to public objects here. Magee College,
+the Presbyterian institution, receives a generous grant. Foyle College,
+a nonconformist institution, and the Roman Catholic college, each gets
+something, and liberal subscriptions are made for the benefit of
+hospitals and other charities and the churches of the city. The Irish
+Society was purely Protestant at the time of its organization, and is
+Protestant still, but it is impartial in its contributions to the
+different religious sects. There are two cathedrals, two bishops, one
+Roman Catholic, and one Church of Ireland, and the latter holds the
+ancient cathedral which, with an abbey, was founded by St. Columba in
+the year 546 and still is called by his name. In the pedestal of a group
+of statuary, known as "the Calvary," at St. Columba's Roman Catholic
+Church, is a famous relic known as St. Columba's stone, although his
+name is a misnomer. It is a massive block of gneiss, about six feet
+square, made with the prints of two feet, left and right, each about ten
+inches long.
+
+This stone has been improperly associated in some way with St. Columba
+by the common people, but it has an equally interesting history, having
+been the crowning stone of the O'Neill clan for centuries. At his
+installation the newly chosen king was placed upon this stone, his bare
+feet in the footmarks, a willow wand was put into his hands as an emblem
+of the pure and gentle sway he should exercise over his people, an oath
+was administered to him by the chief ecclesiastic that he would preserve
+inviolable the ancient customs of the clan; that he would administer
+justice impartially among them, that he would sustain the right and
+punish the wrong, and that he would deliver the authority to his
+successor without resistance at the command of the tribe. Having taken
+this oath, "The O'Neill" turned his face to the four corners of Ireland
+to signify that he was ready to meet all foes from whatever quarter they
+might come; kissed his sword and his spear to signify that he was ready
+to use them wherever necessary, and then descended from the stone and
+was hailed with wild acclamations as the chief of the O'Neills, while
+his knights knelt before him pledging their loyalty and devotion.
+
+At the time of Ireland's conversion to Christianity by St. Patrick that
+holy man visited Londonderry, where Owen O'Neill, the King of Ulster,
+was converted from paganism to the new faith and baptized. And, at the
+same time, St. Patrick consecrated this stone and blessed it for ever.
+
+The long line of the O'Neill ancestry was terminated in 1607 by the
+flight of Hugh, Earl of Tyrone, after his unsuccessful rebellion against
+Queen Elizabeth, and the O'Dohertys, who were not so powerful, were
+compelled to surrender to the English. They were expelled from their
+lands, with all the followers of the Earl of Tyrone. All of the county
+was confiscated and sold or granted to Englishmen and Scotchmen, who
+came in and took possession and hold it still. Large areas still belong
+to the guilds of London, to whom it was granted for money loaned by them
+to King James I. The Tailors' Guild owns the city of Coleraine, a clean,
+busy town of seven thousand population, famous for its whisky and linen.
+It is governed by officials appointed by the Tailors' Guild in London,
+which collects ground rents from all the inhabitants and derives a
+considerable revenue from the salmon fisheries. The Fishmongers' Guild
+owns the town of Kilrea, the Drapers' Guild owns Draperstown, and other
+ancient organizations of merchants in the city of London own other towns
+and villages in this country which they obtained in a similar manner.
+
+Londonderry is unique for being the only city in Ireland where the
+ancient walls and fortifications are preserved in the most careful
+manner and kept in perfect order with the antique guns mounted as they
+were at the time of the siege 225 years ago. They do not inclose the
+entire city, but only the ancient part of it, and are about a mile in
+length, twenty-four feet high and nine feet thick. The top of the walls
+between the bastions is laid out as a promenade and is the favorite
+resort of the inhabitants, who may be found there in large numbers every
+day after the close of business hours. Some of the business houses and
+residences open upon the top of the walls, as do several popular
+resorts. The walls are pierced by several monumental gates, which remain
+precisely as they were in ancient times, and the old guns, which date
+back to 1635 and 1642, are kept as relics, precious as the Declaration
+of Independence in Washington. The bastions have been turned into little
+gardens, and here and there in the angles shrubs and flowers have been
+planted.
+
+One of the guns which bears the name of "Roaring Meg" was presented to
+the city of Londonderry by the fishmongers of London and is the most
+precious object in the town, because of its effective work in the siege
+of 1689, when King James II., with an Irish army, besieged the city for
+105 days, but its determined defenders succeeded in preventing his
+entrance. They suffered famine and pestilence, and were reduced to
+eating hides, tallow, and the flesh of cats and dogs. During the siege
+only eight of the defenders were killed by the enemy, but ten thousand
+persons perished from hunger, disease, and exposure in three and a half
+months. When the siege was lifted by the appearance of a squadron of
+ships laden with arms, ammunition, and provisions, King James and his
+army retired from one of the most important episodes in the history of
+Ireland. You can still see evidences of that terrible struggle. The
+cathedral is decorated with relics and trophies, including a bombshell
+which came over the wall, containing the terms of capitulation offered
+by King James. The laconic reply of the Rev. George Walker, rector of
+the Episcopal church, who was in command of the citizens, was "No
+surrender."
+
+A statue of Rev. Mr. Walker, whose courage, fortitude, and apostolic
+influence saved the city, was long ago erected upon the bastion which
+bore the heaviest fire during the siege. His noble figure stands upon
+the top of a shaft ninety feet high in the attitude which he is said to
+have assumed in the most terrible emergency, to revive and sustain the
+faltering courage of his parishioners. In one hand he grasps a Bible;
+the other is pointing down the river toward the approaching squadron of
+deliverance in the distant bay. At another point upon the walls is a
+Gothic castellated structure erected by public subscription as a
+clubhouse for the boys and young men of Londonderry. It is known as
+Apprentices' Hall, and was erected as a memorial to the courage and
+foresight of a group of thirteen young apprentices who, during the
+excitement caused by the approach of the king's army, had the presence
+of mind to drop the heavy gate without instruction from their elders,
+and thus made it possible to defend the city against the assault.
+
+Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Lundy, who was in command of the garrison at
+the time, was a coward, and insisted upon surrendering the city to the
+king's army, but was prevented from doing so by Rev. Mr. Walker, rector
+of the Episcopal church, and Adam Murray, an elder in the Presbyterian
+church. Lundy persisted in his purpose, carried on secret negotiations
+with the enemy, and was preparing to open the gates when his intentions
+were discovered. He escaped in disguise by climbing down the branches of
+a pear tree which grew against the wall on the east side.
+
+Twice a year, on the 18th of December and the 12th of August, the dates
+of the beginning and the end of the siege, the apprentice boys of the
+city lead a procession of all the Protestant organizations to attend
+divine service at the Episcopal Cathedral and then pass the rest of the
+day as we celebrate the Fourth of July. At nightfall an effigy of
+Colonel Lundy is always burned in a prominent place. These celebrations
+are deplored by thoughtful people, as keeping alive religious
+animosities, but of recent years the collisions which used to occur
+between the Orange societies and the Roman Catholics have been avoided.
+The population of Londonderry is very largely Protestant.
+
+The cathedral is an ugly old building, but quite interesting because of
+its historic associations and the relics it contains.
+
+Magee College, the leading Presbyterian institution of Ireland, occupies
+a beautiful site about fifteen minutes' walk from the center of the
+city. It was built and endowed by the widow of Rev. William Magee of
+Lurgan, was opened in 1865, and is under the care of the general
+assembly of the Irish Presbyterian Church. There are several
+departments, a staff of seven professors, and an average of two hundred
+and fifty students, most of whom are studying for the Presbyterian
+ministry. Magee is the only college in Ireland which has been founded
+and supported entirely by private benefactions. It has never received a
+dollar from the state, although there is an annual grant from the Irish
+Society, which owns the city of Londonderry. Under a recent act of
+parliament it is united with Queen's College, Belfast, on equal terms in
+the new university bill. There is no religious test for students or
+professors, although the latter, upon accepting appointment, are
+required to sign a pledge that they "will not do, write, or say anything
+which might tend in any way to subvert the Christian religion or the
+belief of any person therein." Magee has always taken a high stand for
+scholarship, and although the building is small it is noble in design,
+massive in construction, and well equipped for its purpose.
+
+The principal business of Londonderry is to make shirts, collars, and
+cuffs, which are shipped to Australia, South Africa, India, and other
+British colonies. There are several large factories which employ about
+two thousand men to do the heavy work and twenty thousand women who do
+the stitching and laundering by old-fashioned methods. An American buyer
+I met in Belfast spoke rather contemptuously of the Londonderry shirt
+factories, which, he declared, "are not in it for a minute" with those
+of the United States. He insists that a single factory in Troy makes
+more shirts and collars than all the factories in Londonderry combined,
+and that by their modern machinery and processes the Troy factories can
+make and finish half a dozen shirts while they are making one there.
+
+Londonderry is unique for another reason. The ordinary relations of
+husband and wife and their domestic responsibilities are reversed here.
+Many women work in the shirt factories whose husbands stay at home, keep
+the house, do the cooking and washing and take care of the children,
+because there is nothing else for them to do. There is a large excess of
+women in the population. They number two to one man, which is not due to
+natural causes, but because women are attracted here from the
+neighboring towns and counties to obtain work in the factories, and the
+young men have to leave Londonderry and go elsewhere to find employment.
+
+Many of them go to the United States and Canada. Three lines of American
+steamers touch here every week--the Anchor Line, the Allan Line, and the
+Dominion Line--which offer low rates of transportation and carry many
+third-class passengers away.
+
+The Giant's Causeway, of which much has been written, for it is one of
+the wonders of the world, lies on the north coast of Ireland, about two
+hours by rail from Belfast, and there are several trains daily to the
+nearest town, called Portrush. There is an excellent hotel there, owned
+by the railway company, which ranks as one of the best in Ireland, and
+several other smaller hotels, inns, and boarding-houses innumerable for
+the accommodation of the crowds of people who go there every year as
+"trippers" and to spend their holidays.
+
+The Giant's Causeway, about five miles from Portrush, is reached by an
+electric railroad, which, I am told, was the first ever successfully
+operated in all the world. It was built in 1883, designed by the late
+Sir William Siemens, the celebrated electrician, and operated with power
+generated by the water of the Bush River. It was originally on the
+third-rail system, but was changed into an ordinary overhead trolley
+seven or eight years ago. The first trolley railroad was built in
+Richmond, Va., three years later than this.
+
+The most interesting object at Portrush is an ancient but well
+preserved Irishman of the type you see in pictures and formerly on the
+stage, who stands at the street corner, where the railway tracks take a
+curve, with a big dinner bell and rings it with almost superhuman energy
+whenever the cars approach from either direction. This occupation
+engages him from some unknown hour in the morning until some unknown
+hour in the night, and if he ever eats or sleeps or rests that fact is
+not easily ascertained by a stranger. There are no bells on the cars, no
+alarm can be given for some reason, but nobody ever complained that he
+was not warned of danger at the crossing by the bell ringer, who seems
+to have a profound sense of his responsibilities.
+
+It is a delightful ride along rocky cliffs that have been worn into
+fantastic forms by the incessant pounding of the ocean, and, although
+many people express their disappointment at the Giant's Causeway, it is
+well worth a visit because it is unique in geology. A stream of lava, at
+the most twenty-six hundred feet wide and about fifteen miles long, was
+arrested by some means upon the extreme north coast of Ireland, and in
+cooling took the form of detached columns from six to thirty feet long
+and from eight to twenty-four inches in diameter. There are more than
+forty thousand of these columns in three parallel terraces, standing
+upright and presenting a smooth surface, but they are all separate and
+no two of them are of the same size or shape. There is said to be only
+one triangle, only one nonagon, and only one of diamond shape in all the
+forty thousand. Most of them are pentagons and hexagons and octagons.
+
+[Illustration: THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY, PORTRUSH, NEAR BELFAST]
+
+In one place on the cliff there has been a landslide, which has thrown
+the pillars in that locality into horizontal positions, but elsewhere
+along the coast they are upright. At what is called the Giant's Loom the
+columns are exposed for about thirty feet, but the rest of them form a
+curious and extraordinary mosaic flooring, stretching out into the sea
+and extending for several miles with remarkable regularity. Each column
+is absolutely distinct from the rest of the forty thousand; none of them
+are monoliths so far as can be seen, but they are divided into drums
+about two feet in thickness, which fit into each other like a ball and
+socket. The geologists generally agree that these extraordinary forms
+are the result of the contraction and division of the lava in cooling,
+and the process may be illustrated by the experiments with ordinary
+laundry starch, which takes the form of similar miniature columns when
+it cools.
+
+Mr. S.S. Knabenshue, American Consul at Belfast, has been searching out
+the ancestry of the late President McKinley, who lived in the village
+Conagher in County Antrim in the north of Ireland. The family were
+Scotch Presbyterians and came over at some date unknown, and settled
+upon a little farm of forty-two acres. Generation after generation were
+born and lived and died there, leaving no record but that of honest,
+hardworking, God-fearing tillers of the soil. The family burying lot is
+in Derrykeighan Churchyard, where, among others, rest the remains of
+Francis McKinlay, who was executed for participation in the Revolution
+of 1798, and those of his wife and daughter. Francis J. Bigger, a widely
+known Irish archæologist and historian, has traced the descent of the
+late President from a great-great-grandfather who emigrated in 1743 and
+settled in York County, Penn. His son David McKinley emigrated to Ohio
+in 1814, and had a son named James whose son, William McKinley (Senior),
+was the father of the late President.
+
+The cabin in which the family lived for generations is now used as a
+cow-shed, the present owner of the property having built himself a more
+pretentious residence. It has three windows and a door facing on the
+street. The door opens directly into a large room, which was the dining
+room and kitchen; the two bedrooms on each side of the fireplace have
+been turned into cow stables, the windows being cut down and replaced by
+doors so that the animals can enter from the outside.
+
+In the Irish village at the recent Franco-British Exposition in London
+the McKinley cottage was reproduced, and the original doors, door
+frames, windows, attic floor, staircase, and the iron crane and the big
+pot from the fireplace all came from the real cottage, having been sold
+to the owner. Consequently there is nothing left of the original cottage
+except the stone walls and the thatched roof.
+
+[Illustration: BISHOP'S GATE, DERRY]
+
+
+
+
+                                 XVIII
+
+                     IRISH EMIGRATION AND COMMERCE
+
+
+A gentleman from Erie, Penn., who had been traveling about Ireland for
+several weeks made a suggestion which seemed to me to be worth adopting,
+and I proposed it to several organizations for promoting the welfare of
+Ireland without exciting much enthusiasm. There seems to be an
+apprehension that somebody will make political capital out of it, and
+very little is done without such motives. Politics and whisky are the
+curses of Ireland. However, the plan is to apply to Ireland the
+principle of "the old home week" that has been so popular and successful
+in New Hampshire and other parts of New England, only it is proposed to
+make it a month instead of a week and have special days set apart for
+reunions in the different counties, at which as many natives of those
+counties and children of natives as possible may come over from the
+United States to visit their old homes and birthplaces. They can thus
+renew their acquaintances with their former neighbors and the playmates
+of their childhood, revive their interest in Irish affairs, and
+stimulate the patriotism and love of "the ould sod" which are marked
+characteristics of the race.
+
+It would be easy to make arrangements with the different steamship lines
+to give low rates, not only those which touch regularly at Queenstown,
+but also the Holland, Antwerp, Italian, Scandinavian, and other lines
+which go by but do not stop at Irish ports. The tide of emigration is
+westward and there are comparatively few steerage and second-class
+passengers going east on the Cunard and White Star steamers that touch
+at Queenstown. The steamship companies would make a low rate for the
+round trip which would give an opportunity for thousands of Irish-born
+citizens of the United States to spend a short vacation across the sea
+visiting their old homes and the homes of their fathers. The fact that
+everybody is doing the same would be a great incentive, and for a few
+weeks Ireland would be crowded with her former sons and daughters.
+
+A very important result of such a visitation would be to leave in
+Ireland large sums which would quicken business, increase the demand for
+labor, create a market for everything that is made or grows, and flood
+Ireland with money. Each visitor would contribute his share, although it
+might be a little, but the total of the expenditures of such pilgrims
+would be enormous and create a condition of prosperity greater than
+Ireland has ever seen. Five million dollars has been expended in New
+Hampshire by visitors from other States since the Old Home Week
+celebrations and the advertisement of abandoned farms were first
+undertaken. If that amount of money should be spent in Ireland it would
+be of everlasting benefit to the people. If ten thousand visitors came
+from the United States and spent only a hundred dollars each, which is a
+very low average, it would leave a million dollars in circulation here.
+
+It might be natural also, as has occurred in New Hampshire, that many
+natives who went to the States in their childhood and have become
+wealthy and are now approaching the period of their rest and leisure
+would purchase homes in Ireland and spend their declining years in the
+scenes of their youth as Mr. Croker is doing, and three or four other
+persons I met. There was a man at the hotel from Chicago looking for a
+country place. He expects to invest a hundred thousand dollars in an
+Irish home somewhere near Dublin. Then, think of the contributions that
+would be made in aid of the churches, the benevolent institutions, and
+other charities as well as to insure the comfort and happiness of
+individuals in whom the visitors might be interested. One might suggest
+many other ways in which Ireland might be benefited by such
+celebrations, and those who participate in them will certainly have a
+deep sense of gratification for their share. Perhaps the most important
+result would be to correct the misapprehensions that are almost
+universal concerning the material condition of Ireland. Things are much
+different in many respects from what Irish-Americans have been led to
+believe by newspaper articles and other publications, and it is right
+and necessary that misapprehensions should be corrected.
+
+If the month of July, three or four years ahead, were selected for
+reunions of the sons of Ireland, it would give sufficient time to make
+the necessary arrangements, and local organizations in the different
+countries could fix their own dates most convenient for reunions of
+those who would come from those particular localities. Irishmen in
+Australia, Canada, South Africa, and other parts of the world would be
+glad to join their American cousins in carrying out such a plan. I met
+an American priest at Cork who was enthusiastic over the suggestion and
+declared that twenty families in his own parish would undoubtedly come
+over on such an occasion to visit their old homes. And he expressed the
+surprise that I felt about the improved conditions of the Irish people
+and the prospects for peace and happiness and prosperity in the island.
+
+There are now nearly two million natives of Ireland in the United
+States, and nearly six million people whose parents were born there or
+who were born there themselves.
+
+The following statement will show the number of natives of Ireland in
+the United States as returned by each census since 1850:
+
+                    1850     961,719
+                    1860   1,611,304
+                    1870   1,855,827
+                    1880   1,854,571
+                    1890   1,871,509
+
+The census of 1900 shows 3,991,417 citizens of the United States both of
+whose parents were born in Ireland.
+
+Since the census of 1900 was taken the average arrivals from Ireland
+have been about thirty-eight thousand per year, which has added at least
+three hundred thousand to the total of 1900, and, making due allowance
+for deaths and departures, increased the number of natives in the
+United States to nearly two millions.
+
+The improved conditions in Ireland during the last few years have caused
+a considerable decrease in emigration. At the present time a smaller
+number of people are seeking work in other countries than ever before
+since the famine of the '40s. This is the most significant evidence of
+the prosperity of the country and the success of the government in
+promoting contentment and improving the condition of the peasants by the
+enactment of the land laws and the work of the Congested Districts
+Board, of which I have written at length in previous letters.
+
+Low tide in emigration was reached during the first six months of 1908,
+when the total number departing from Ireland was only 13,511, being a
+decrease of 8,713 in comparison with the corresponding period of 1907.
+Of these 9,974 went to the United States and 1,598 to Canada; 1,868 went
+from Leinster Province, 3,762 from Munster, 4,611 from Ulster, and 3,270
+from Connaught.
+
+The total number of emigrants from Ireland in 1907 was 39,082, but
+unless something extraordinary happens the total for this year will fall
+below 25,000.
+
+During the last fifteen years the population of Ireland has decreased
+292,370, and during the last fifty years it has fallen off three and one
+half millions. During the last fifteen years the population of Scotland
+has increased 689,825 and that of England and Wales has increased
+5,461,197. The birth rate in Ireland is larger than it is in either
+England or Scotland, and the death rate is about the same, so that the
+decrease in population has been entirely due to emigration.
+
+Since the distribution of the great estates in Ireland among the tenants
+in small farms there is a growing complaint concerning the lack of
+labor; and the emigration of young men to the United States and the
+migration of farm laborers who spend from five to nine months in
+Scotland every year where wages are higher than in Ireland are creating
+a very serious problem.
+
+There are in Ireland about 400,000 farms, of which 165,000, embracing
+three-fourths of the total area, average more than thirty acres, and
+that is all one man can cultivate. All farms more than thirty acres in
+extent, and many of smaller area, require hired labor, which has usually
+received about 12 shillings per week until the last two or three years,
+when farm wages were advanced to 14 shillings and 16 shillings a
+week--that is, $3.50 and $4. The recent census shows that 217,652 men
+are employed as laborers upon these 165,000 farms and that an average of
+76,870 extra hands are employed during the harvest. During the last
+three years, although the area under cultivation has been growing
+smaller annually, it has been difficult to obtain a sufficient amount of
+labor to carry on the harvests, and wages, in many cases, have advanced
+to 18 shillings a week.
+
+Notwithstanding the demand for home labor, 24,312 persons, including 750
+women, left Ireland in May, 1907, and went to England and Scotland,
+where they remained to work on the farms until the following November.
+Most of them went from the northwestern part of Ireland, from counties
+Mayo, Roscommon, Donegal, Galway, and Sligo, which have the least land
+under cultivation in the country.
+
+An investigation made by the estates commissioners showed that 3,245 of
+these persons had holdings of five acres, 987 had holdings of between
+five and ten acres, 912 between ten and fifteen acres, 458 between
+fifteen and twenty acres, 471 between twenty and twenty-five acres, 93
+between twenty-five and thirty acres, 102 between thirty and forty
+acres, and 75 had farms of more than forty acres. Most of them left
+their little farms to be cultivated by their wives and sons and
+daughters during their absence. Among the migrants were 9,308 sons of
+farmers, who work on their father's farms when they are in Ireland, but
+go to England and Scotland because they are able to make more money than
+by staying at home.
+
+The average wages of these migrants was 26 shillings a week, and they
+varied from 20 to 30 shillings, according to intelligence, with food,
+lodging, and in many cases their traveling expenses one way. It is
+customary for the Scotch and English farmers to pay the railway fare
+over and leave the migrant to buy his ticket home in the fall. Most of
+the migrants save the larger part of their wages. It is estimated that
+the average net savings was £12, or $60 per person, and that the total
+amount taken back to Ireland at the end of the season was about
+£275,000, or $1,375,000 in American money. These savings are sufficient
+to keep their families through the rest of the year with the aid of
+their small farms, fishing, weaving, lacemaking, and other home
+industries.
+
+According to the reports of the estates commission, the number of farm
+hands employed in 1871, in addition to the owners of the land and their
+families, was 446,782, or more than twice as many as are employed at
+present. In 1881 the number was 300,091. The number of occasional
+laborers or extra harvest hands employed in 1871 was 189,829, as against
+76,870 employed in 1907, which indicates in a striking manner the decay
+of agriculture in Ireland.
+
+At the same time wages have increased 30 per cent and the cost of
+boarding farm hands has increased 40 per cent. The hands now demand
+better accommodations and better food, and everything they require is
+much more expensive than it was thirty years ago. The average wages for
+steady farm hands in Ireland with board, according to the official
+statistics, is $12 a month, while ten years ago labor was plenty at $9 a
+month. Wages of household servants are about the same and have advanced
+as rapidly.
+
+The census statistics of Ireland are quite interesting and show that for
+the last ten years the population has remained fairly stationary, the
+excess of births over deaths making up the loss by emigration. The
+latest vital statistics available are for the year 1905, which show a
+population of 4,391,565, an excess of births over deaths of 27,671; an
+emigration of 30,676, and a net decrease in population of 2,915. The
+following table shows the number of births, deaths, and emigrants for
+ten years:
+
+          Years         Births     Deaths   Emigrants
+
+          1895          106,113    84,395    48,703
+          1896          107,641    75,700    39,995
+          1897          106,664    83,839    32,535
+          1898          105,457    82,404    32,241
+          1899          103,900    79,699    41,232
+          1900          101,459    87,606    45,288
+          1901          100,976    79,119    39,613
+          1902          101,863    77,676    40,190
+          1903          101,831    77,358    39,789
+          1904          103,811    79,513    36,902
+          1905          102,832    75,071    30,676
+                        -------    ------    ------
+              Average   103,811    80,731    39,549
+
+Through the efforts of Mr. Boland, M.P., the foreign commerce of Ireland
+is now given independently in the statistical reports of the United
+Kingdom, and the following table shows the imports and exports for
+recent years:
+
+                        Imports        Exports
+
+          1904        £53,185,523    £49,398,536
+          1905         54,793,183     51,174,318
+          1906         56,365,299     55,598,597
+          1907         60,521,245     61,617,225
+
+It will be noticed that there was a considerable increase every year in
+both columns, but the increase in exports was considerably greater than
+in imports. This increase was particularly noticeable in live stock
+shipments to England. In 1905 there were 1,852,423 head of horses,
+mules, cattle, sheep, and swine shipped from Ireland to England, and in
+1907 the shipments had increased to 2,025,292 head.
+
+The exports of butter also increased, and Ireland now has the lead among
+the nations that contribute to the British poultry market. In 1907 the
+value of the poultry exported from Ireland to Great Britain was
+£725,441.
+
+Ireland ought to furnish all the bacon that the British people eat.
+Irish bacon is the best in the world, and brings the highest prices,
+but, notwithstanding that fact, more bacon was imported into England
+from the United States, from Denmark, and from Canada than from Ireland.
+
+The exports of manufactured goods--linens, woolens, and other
+textiles--from Ireland during the fiscal year 1907, exceeded
+£20,000,000. The imports of similar articles amounted to £27,000,000.
+The Irish import a vast amount of bacon from the United States when they
+ought to supply their own market.
+
+The following table will show the commerce between the United States and
+Ireland during the last three years:
+
+                      Imports from      Exports to
+                        Ireland          Ireland
+
+          1906        $11,456,739      $10,824,350
+          1907         12,023,469        9,593,658
+          1908          8,899,799       10,101,065
+
+The falling off of the exports from Ireland in 1908 was due entirely to
+the panic of that year in the United States, which caused an almost
+total stagnation of trade for several months.
+
+There is no limit to the demand for Irish agricultural produce at good
+prices, but the cultivated area of the island continues to diminish
+annually, and the area given up to pasturage and the breeding of cattle
+and sheep increases. The Irish farmer has an unlimited market for bacon,
+hams, butter, eggs, poultry, potatoes, and other vegetables in London,
+Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, and other great
+manufacturing cities which are now very largely fed by Holland and
+Denmark. More eggs and poultry, more butter and bacon, are imported into
+England from Denmark than from Ireland, notwithstanding the difference
+in distance and cost of transportation. The provision dealers of the
+great manufacturing cities of England always have agents in Ireland, and
+the Department of Agriculture and the Irish Agricultural Organization
+Society are both active and efficient in securing and cultivating
+markets for Irish products. They are advancing large sums of money to
+establish co-operative dairies and to improve the dairy cattle, the
+swine, and poultry of Ireland, but many of the farmers are indifferent
+to their opportunities and with the happy-go-lucky characteristic of the
+Irish race are happy and satisfied so long as they have enough to feed
+their own mouths.
+
+Sir Horace Plunkett, who has been especially active in trying to improve
+the condition of the farmers of Ireland, says: "The settlement of the
+land question and the new system of governmental aid to agriculture are
+proceeding rapidly and doing great good, but along neither of those two
+lines of national advancement, nor along both combined, is agricultural
+prosperity to be attained. The result depends entirely upon voluntary
+individual effort and co-operation. The British market will take all the
+produce we can send, and the more we send of uniform quality--and this
+can be done by co-operation--the more it will pay for our produce. It
+follows that every dairy farmer in Ireland is not only interested in
+seeing that every farmer in his district forwards the best butter he can
+produce, but he is also concerned to see that farmers in other districts
+do the same. The ownership of the land by the occupier, which has been
+brought about by legislation, will not of itself give the Irish farmer
+the prosperity he hopes for. It is not only the farms, but the habits of
+the people upon the land which need improvement. Capable under certain
+influences of surprising industry, they lack the qualities which secure
+the fruits of industry, because their education and economic
+circumstances have not developed the industrial habit. They are surely
+clever in their resourcefulness and shrewd in their bargainings, but as
+a rule in the management of their farms and commercial dealings they
+display a total lack of the most elementary principles of either
+technical or business knowledge. In spite of a passionate devotion to
+their country, they emigrate to America whenever they can obtain the
+money to pay their passage, and seem to have no fixed purpose or
+ambition to develop the resources that lie around them."
+
+The factories of Ireland are confined almost entirely to the northern
+province of Ulster, although a few mills and other textile
+manufactories are scattered in other parts of the island. The textile
+and other manufacturing industries have enjoyed unprecedented and
+extraordinary prosperity for eight or ten years.
+
+Household industries, particularly the manufacture of handwoven tweeds
+and various kinds of lace, received a gratifying impetus from the
+advertising obtained at the Irish village at the Columbian Exposition at
+Chicago in 1893, under the patronage of Lady Aberdeen, who for twenty
+years had interested herself in the practical and successful development
+of lacemaking and hand weaving of woolen fabrics. Her energetic efforts
+have been supplemented by the Royal Irish Industries Association and the
+Royal Dublin Society, both of which hold annual exhibitions, offer
+prizes for excellence of design and workmanship, and provide agencies
+for the sale of homemade and convent-made products in London and other
+cities.
+
+The Congested Districts Board has given much practical aid and
+encouragement by loaning money to people who cannot afford to buy looms,
+by sending teachers in industries throughout the island into the
+households, by establishing fixed schools at central points, and by
+furnishing thread and other materials to lacemakers and weavers, for
+which it collects payments after the product is sold. All through the
+poor districts of Ireland, where for centuries there has been a
+desperate struggle for existence, thousands of looms and spinning-wheels
+may now be found in the cottages of the poor peasants, where both the
+parents and the children have been instructed in spinning and in weaving
+by government teachers. And in almost every village on the west coast
+there is a lace school attended by from twelve to fifty young women
+under the instruction of a patient and tactful teacher working with
+thread advanced to them without payment by the Congested Districts
+Board. The lace produced is sold for them at the agencies of the board,
+and they are thus enabled to contribute several pounds a month to the
+incomes of their families.
+
+It is a familiar joke that our principal imports from Ireland are
+priests, politicians, policemen, and baseball pitchers, but they are not
+all by any means. I do not know what other country has furnished so many
+famous Americans--generals, admirals, statesmen, politicians,
+financiers, merchant princes, actors, writers, lawyers, and other
+professional men too numerous to mention. If you will look through the
+list of the generals during our Civil War, if some one will make up a
+catalogue of millionaires and mining kings and empire-builders and
+captains of industry they will realize that all the Irishmen who have
+come to the United States have not gone into politics or pugilism or
+baseball teams. I must say, however, that the Irish have almost the
+monopoly of the prize ring and the baseball diamond.
+
+Cardinal Logue made a speech upon his return from America in 1908, in
+which he discussed this subject at length and related what he had
+himself seen of Irish millionaires and other successful business men in
+the United States. He spoke particularly of New York City, and alluded
+with gratification to the fact that the subway of New York City and the
+new tunnel under the Hudson River were both built by Irishmen.
+
+"I was proud to know," he said, "of the vast number of our countrymen
+who were honored citizens of the United States. They have asserted
+themselves, especially in New York, and occupy the leading positions
+there. You find Irishmen prominent in every walk of life, you find them
+among the most distinguished of the judges on the bench, you find them
+among the most successful barristers, you find them among the most
+eminent in medicine and in the other learned professions, and then I
+found that the largest contracts in New York [and he might have said in
+the entire country] had been allotted to Irishmen, because of their
+ability to organize and carry out great works. I visited the tunnel
+under the Hudson and was proud to think that that great work had been
+carried out by an Irishman who had carved out his own advancement and
+had made his own way in life by his native talent and genius. Then,
+again, when they were undertaking the stupendous work of building
+subways under the city of New York they gave that contract to an
+Irishman, who succeeded in completing it to the satisfaction of
+everybody, and it was one of the greatest works ever undertaken by man.
+
+"And they succeed in other branches of life also, equally well,"
+continued the cardinal. "As I was sailing up the Hudson River one day we
+passed a city called Hoboken, and I was told that it was inhabited
+exclusively by Germans with the exception of two solitary Irishmen, and
+one of them, Lord, is mayor of the city and the other is prefect of
+police. That is an indication of how our people are going ahead in
+America. And even in the humbler walks of life I found them hard
+working, well educated, and giving every sign of having retained their
+own faith and that love for Ireland which is the characteristic of our
+race in every part of the world. Some of them of the third and fourth
+generations were as warm and as strong in their love for Ireland as
+those born in this dear old land of ours."
+
+Cardinal Logue forgets that the ancestors of the men he speaks of in
+America were once kings of Ireland, and they have the right to success;
+but I often wonder what would have happened if all the great Irishmen we
+read about--the Duke of Wellington, Lord Roberts, Lord Kitchener,
+General Sheridan, A.T. Stewart, John W. Mackey, John McDonald, Thomas F.
+Ryan, and the thousands of other famous Irishmen--had remained here
+instead of going out into a wider field of fame and usefulness. The
+result would be incomprehensible.
+
+And there is a good deal of truth in the joke about the kings of
+Ireland. At the time of St. Patrick and up to the Norman invasion in the
+twelfth century Ireland was divided into many little kingdoms in
+addition to the four grand divisions which correspond to the provinces
+to-day. The O'Connors were kings of Connaught, the O'Brians of Munster,
+the O'Neills of Ulster, the McMurroughs of Leinster, the Kavanaughs of
+Wexford, the O'Carrolls of Tipperary, the MacCarthys of Cork, the
+O'Sullivans and the O'Donaghues ruled in the southwest, the O'Flahertys
+in Galway--and so on through a long list. What is a county now was a
+kingdom then, and the descendants of the rulers still bear their names.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XIX
+
+                   IRISH CHARACTERISTICS AND CUSTOMS
+
+
+If any one should write a book on Irish characteristics, I think he
+should rank good humor as the most prominent, and that makes up for a
+great many defects. We were on the island for nearly three months and
+visited more than half the counties, seeing a good deal of both city and
+country life, and coming in contact with all classes of people, and it
+is safe to say that no one uttered a cross or an unkind word to us, but
+everywhere and under all circumstances and from everybody we received a
+most cordial welcome and the most courteous treatment. And when we asked
+questions which many times must have seemed silly and unnecessary to the
+people to whom they were addressed, the replies have always been polite
+and considerate.
+
+Irish retorts are proverbial. For "reppartay" the race is famous, and we
+have had numerous illustrations. Wit is spontaneous. It doesn't take an
+Irishman long to frame an answer, and it is generally to the point.
+"Blarney" is abundant. Every old woman calls you her "darlin'," and
+every man calls you "me lud" or "yer honor." The insidious flattery that
+is used on all occasions does no harm to the giver or the receiver. It
+makes the world brighter and happier, though it may be flippant and
+insincere.
+
+[Illustration: IRISH MARKET WOMEN]
+
+The man who "always said the meanest things in such a charming way" must
+have been an Irishman, although I do not remember to have heard a mean
+thing said of anybody over there. The Irish race are not diplomatic in
+their actions; history demonstrates that, but no race is so much so in
+conversation, and the tact and taffy shown in the treatment of strangers
+are admirable. Nor does the Irish peasant wear his heart upon his
+sleeve. He may be frank and sincere in his expressions, but it is quite
+as probable that he is otherwise. He has the faculty of concealing the
+bitterest malice under the gentlest smiles and flattering compliments.
+
+It is always difficult to get a serious answer from a native in Ireland.
+The peasant is always suspicious, and, while he will make himself
+agreeable and amuse a stranger with his wit and humor, it is difficult
+to get deeper into his confidence and seldom safe to place any reliance
+upon what he says. This, I am told, is the result of centuries of
+persecution, treachery, and danger, so that the Irish race from
+necessity learned to wear the mask, until it is now a habit.
+
+Notwithstanding their ready replies and their apparent frankness, you
+are never satisfied with the information they give you when you question
+them upon serious topics. You are convinced that they are not expressing
+their real opinions. I make it a rule to discuss the land laws and
+political policies with car drivers and other people I meet of the
+working class, but have never been able to get an opinion from them. I
+have never yet heard an Irish peasant express an unkind opinion of
+anybody. After talking with them about politicians, landlords, and
+others, I feel like the child in the cemetery who asked where bad people
+were buried.
+
+But what you most admire is the witty and ingenious way in which they
+turn a mistake. A young Irishman stepped up to a gentleman the other
+day, and with a musical brogue inquired:
+
+"I'm thinkin', sir, that you are Mr. Blake."
+
+"You're thinkin' wrong," was the surly reply.
+
+"I beg yer honor's pardon; I sez to mysilf, when I seen you, sez I, that
+must be Mr. John Blake for whom I have a missage; but if it's not, sez I
+to mysilf, it's a moighty fine upsthanding young gintleman, whoiver he
+may be."
+
+Sometimes there is a tinge of sarcasm, as when an old hag asked: "Won't
+yer lordship buy an old woman's prayers for a penny; that's chape."
+
+"The hivins be your bed, me darlin'," was the way an old beggar woman
+expressed her thanks.
+
+Sir Walter Scott says: "I gave a fellow a shilling on one occasion when
+a sixpence was the proper fee.
+
+"'Remember you owe me a sixpence, Pat,' I said.
+
+"'May yer honor live till I pay ye!'"
+
+When he was leaving the ruins of the Seven Churches at Glendalough, Lord
+Plunkett, his escort, whispered to the custodian:
+
+"That's Sir Walter Scott; he's a great poet."
+
+"Divil a bit," was the reply, "he's an honorable gintleman, an' he gave
+me half a crown"--when the fee was a shilling.
+
+Very often we hear poetic expressions from the most unexpected sources.
+As we were driving down to Ballyhack from Waterford, the jaunting car
+driver pointed at a mile stone with his whip and remarked:
+
+"The most lonesome thing in Ireland; without another of its kind within
+a mile of it."
+
+The common use of the name of the Creator is often shocking to strangers
+and seems blasphemous, but it is an unconscious habit. The word is
+constantly on the tongue of the poor and not always in a profane sense.
+You hear, "God bless you," "God prosper you," "Praise God," and similar
+expressions continually. One neighbor seldom greets another good morning
+or good night, without an appeal to the Almighty or the Redeemer or the
+Holy Virgin. "Howly Mother" is the commonest of ejaculations, but Irish
+profanity is always associated with blessings and not with curses. You
+never hear the anathemas that are so common in the United States. Nobody
+ever damns you; if the name of the Almighty is appealed to it is always
+for his blessing and not for condemnation.
+
+Everybody in Ireland does not speak with a brogue. It has often been
+said that the purest English is spoken in Dublin and Aberdeen, but that
+is true to a very limited extent among the highly educated and the
+cultured classes with whom strangers do not often come in contact. In
+some places the brogue is so dense that a stranger requires an
+interpreter. It is difficult to understand an ordinary remark. And you
+hear the brogue in the pulpit as well as in the slums. There is no form
+of speech richer or more musical than the brogue of an eloquent
+Irishman, and his natural gifts of oratory enable him to convey the
+meaning of his words to the fullest degree by his accent. I never heard
+the service of the Episcopal church read in a more eloquent and
+impressive manner than by a young curate with a brogue "that you could
+cut with a knife," as the saying is. There is nothing to compare with it
+except the "sweet, soft, southern accent in the United States." When you
+inquire where the Irish got their brogue, the answer will be, "At the
+same shop that the Yankee got his twang."
+
+We know that one of the most conspicuous and charming traits of the
+Irish race is to have a pleasant word for everybody, no matter what is
+in their hearts, on the theory attributed to St. Augustine that a drop
+of honey will attract more flies than a barrel of vinegar. The Irish
+call it "deludering" and "soothering," both very expressive words.
+
+The pleasant way in which questions are answered is very gratifying,
+especially to a stranger. You never hear a gruff word in Ireland. An
+Englishman is brutally abrupt, but the Irish are always agreeable. The
+other day when I asked the guard of a railway train how soon it would
+start he replied promptly:
+
+"Not till yer honor is aboard, sir."
+
+When I complained to the hotel porter that it was raining all the time
+in Ireland he replied apologetically:
+
+"But it's such a gintle rain, sir."
+
+Some of the retorts you hear from the common people are highly poetic.
+When I bought a bunch of flowers from an old woman in the street the
+other day she replied:
+
+"God bless your kind heart, sir; your mother must have been a saint."
+
+"Good luck to your ladyship's happy face this morning," was the greeting
+of an old hag to my daughter.
+
+"Oh, let me poor eyes look at ye, me lady, and your voice is as swate as
+your face."
+
+In a little book I picked up one day, I found a dialogue between a
+farmer and fox, as follows:
+
+"Good morrow, Fox."
+
+"Good morrow, Farmer."
+
+"And what are ye ating, my dear little fox?" said the farmer
+insinuatingly. "Is it a goose you stole from me?"
+
+"No, my dear farmer, it is the leg of a salmon."
+
+One day I was speaking to the jarvey who was driving us about in the
+jaunting car, of a neighbor I had met, who had spent some years in
+America. He had returned to his native place with a "tidy purseful" of
+money, and was looking around for some business in which to invest his
+little capital.
+
+"He seems to think very well of himself," I suggested.
+
+"He acts as if he came over with Cromwell a thousand years ago, and he
+looks down on thim of us who was kings of all the counthry, even before
+the mountains was made."
+
+An American tourist said to his driver: "Why do you speak to your horse
+in English, when you talk Celtic to your friends on the road?"
+
+"Sure, an' isn't the English good enough for a beast?" was the reply.
+
+The term "himself" is used to describe the boss, the head of a family,
+the chief man in an association, the commander of a ship, or the colonel
+of a regiment. It is applied in the same way as the term "old man" that
+we are accustomed to in the United States. When a subaltern in the army
+speaks of "himself," you may understand that he means the colonel of the
+regiment. When an employee of a railway company alludes to "himself," it
+is the general manager. And when a sailor uses that term he means the
+captain of the ship. Wives use it to describe their husbands; children
+refer to their fathers in that manner and workmen to their
+superintendent or the boss of the gang:
+
+"Did himself give yez the order?"
+
+"I will not take any directions except from himself."
+
+"You'll have to wait till himself comes in," said a young boy behind the
+counter in a Dublin shop.
+
+"We're waiting for himself to come home to dinner," was the remark of a
+good wife, when I inquired for her husband.
+
+"Himself has not been very well lately."
+
+The word "Himself" is frequently written upon envelopes, where it has
+the same significance as the word "Personal" or "Private" with us, and
+is a warning that no one should open it but the person to whom it is
+addressed.
+
+But these ancient customs are being abandoned, and most of the
+superstitions are dying out. The Irish people are the most highly
+imaginative and superstitious in the world, and the national schools are
+blamed for the change that is taking place among them in this respect.
+John Dillon told me in Dublin that he was not quite satisfied in his own
+mind whether this was a good thing for the country. Personally, he would
+much prefer that the people would adhere to the customs and preserve the
+superstitions of their ancestors. But there is more than one opinion on
+that subject. The superintendent of the insane asylum at Killarney
+asserts that the most prolific causes of insanity here are the
+imagination, the superstitions, and the habitual use of strong tea. But
+the national schools and the Christian religion have not been able to
+banish some of the most baneful spirits like the Banshee, which still
+gives notice of approaching death, sorrow, and misfortune, and still
+commands the faith and confidence of the great majority of the Irish
+people. Even those who ridicule the Banshee and deny its omens hate to
+hear the cry. The superstition is inborn. It is like the evil eye in
+Italy. People who do not believe in it will nevertheless dodge a person
+who is accused of carrying such a curse.
+
+There is a great deal of regret, which all of us must share, that the
+common people of Ireland have abandoned many of the quaint and odd
+customs that gave them their individuality, and are taking up modern
+English notions instead. The old sports and games which were inherited
+from the Gaelic ancestors are becoming obsolete. The peasants never
+dance in the fields nowadays, and their festivals are very like those of
+the English yeomen. They are taking up cricket, golf, tennis, and other
+English games, which you see them playing in the parks and on the
+commons, instead of the distinctively Irish amusements that were so
+common in the past generation. The Celtic League is working for a
+revival with a little success.
+
+A newcomer is always puzzled by the large number of names on the map
+beginning with the word "Bally." In that amusing book called "Penelope's
+Experiences in Ireland," one of the girls suggested that in making up
+their itinerary they should first visit all the places called "Bally,"
+and after that all the places whose names end or begin with "kill." That
+is the Gaelic word for a grove or a clump of trees.
+
+The word "Bally" means "town," and corresponds with the word "ville" in
+our geographical nomenclature. The map of Ireland is spattered with
+names with such a prefix. Here are some of them:
+
+          Ballybain      Ballybunion   Ballyhiskey
+          Ballybarney    Ballycumber   Ballyhu
+          Ballybeg       Ballydehob    Ballyhully
+          Ballybully     Ballydoo      Ballyknockane
+          Ballybought    Ballyduff     Ballylug
+          Ballyboy       Ballygammon   Ballymoney
+          Ballybrack     Ballygasoon   Ballyhack
+          Ballynew       Ballyroe      Ballywater
+          Ballywilliam   Ballydaniel   Ballyragget
+
+
+Each of these names has a significance. Ballyragget means a town where
+there is a ford, Ballyroe is a red town, Ballysallagn is a dirty town.
+Ballybunion was named in honor of a man called Bunion, Ballydoo is a
+black town, Ballykeel is a narrow town, Ballykill is the town of the
+wood or the town of the woods.
+
+Kilcooly is the church of the corner, Kilcarne is the church of the
+carne or glen, Kilboy is a yellow church, Killduff is a church of black
+stone, Killroot is a red church, and so on. Almost every name in Ireland
+has some significance.
+
+I saw only one harp during the three months we were in Ireland, and that
+was being played by a man in the street, who had an excellent touch and
+good expression. Street singers have almost entirely disappeared. The
+love of music and the love of fighting, however, cannot be eradicated
+from the race that has possessed them since creation, and the Celtic
+League is doing much to revive the ancient popular airs like "Home,
+Sweet Home," "Annie Laurie," and "Way Down on the Suwanee River." All of
+these are adaptations from melodies that have been sung by mother and
+child among the peasants of Ireland for centuries. General Sherman used
+to tell of a joke on himself when he was visiting Ireland shortly after
+the war. Hearing a band coming down the street playing "Marching through
+Georgia" he naturally assumed that it was a serenade in his honor. He
+put on his other coat, brushed his hair and whiskers and sat down to
+await a summons which did not come. After the music had passed beyond
+hearing he asked his aid-de-camp to find out what had happened. Colonel
+Audenreid, who was with him, quickly returned to explain that a local
+military company had marched down the street to the music of an old
+Irish air which had been plagiarized for one of our war songs.
+
+The last of the bards was Carolan, who died in 1788, and whose memory is
+preserved by a tablet in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. The ancient
+bards were more influential than warriors or priests or statesmen, and
+stood next in rank to the king. The praise or the censure of a bard was
+alike potent. Their satire was as much to be feared as the malediction
+of a priest, and their approval was as precious as the gifts of the
+gods.
+
+
+
+
+                                   XX
+
+                          WICKLOW AND WEXFORD
+
+
+South of Dublin, along the coast, is a string of summer resorts and
+bathing places which are attractive in their way, but ought to be very
+much more so. They are very different from what we are accustomed to.
+They look more like factory towns than summer resorts. Although land is
+cheap and there is plenty of it, the hotels and houses are built in
+solid blocks usually facing upon a highway that runs along the shore.
+There is no shade, no glorious groves like those which surround the
+country houses half a mile away; no lawns, no cozy green nooks; only
+masses of brick and mortar divided into tenements twenty-five feet wide,
+in the presence of the majesty of the sea. Across the roadway, on the
+beach, are rows of little frame houses painted dove color, that are
+called "bathing machines." Each is independent of the other and is about
+four feet square, with a narrow door and, inside, a seat made of board
+resting on cleats nailed to the side, and hooks fastened above it on
+which the bather hangs his or her garments. When the bather is properly
+clad in the bathing suit, the "machine" is picked up by two stalwart
+attendants, who run poles through the sides of the house and carry it
+down to the edge of the water, where my lady may step into the surf.
+
+[Illustration: AN ANCIENT BRIDGE IN COUNTY WICKLOW]
+
+Back from the seashore all the way down to Waterford on the coast of St.
+George's Channel is a succession of beautiful villas and mansions and
+farms, each surrounded by lawns and groves and, in some cases, primeval
+forests. It is the "Garden of Ireland" and there is no sign of poverty
+or oppression or unhappiness visible to the human eye. There is no
+lovelier land on earth. "The Fair Hills of Holy Ireland" are
+unsurpassed in gentle natural beauty, and about forty miles south of
+Dublin, in the Wicklow hills, is a little patch of Switzerland
+surrounded by mountains that rise as high as three thousand feet. You
+can go there by train from Dublin three or four times a day, taking a
+jaunting car at Rathdrum or Rathnew station. In the tourist season
+coaches await the arrival of every train and carry "trippers" through on
+excursion tickets and at very low rates.
+
+The more enjoyable way, however, is to hire an automobile at Dublin
+(five guineas or $26.25 a day) and run down to Glendalough by one route,
+stay over night at the hotel on the lake and return the next day by
+another. In the meantime circle around through the country and catch its
+beauties as you go. The only drawback, as I have said before, is the
+high walls that hide the beautiful estates. These were erected,
+generations ago, I suppose, because the proprietors were afraid of
+losing their property. But notwithstanding these massive protections
+many an Irish estate has slipped out of the hands of its owner. It is a
+habit they formed about the time of the conquest and the invasion of the
+Normans.
+
+Some of the most beautiful and valuable property in Ireland has been
+lost at the gambling table or at the race course; more has been
+sacrificed for political partisanship and more for religious causes. In
+the early days kings used to have a funny way of taking a man's property
+from him because he didn't go to the same church and confess the same
+creed. Half the land in Ireland has changed owners for this reason, and
+some of it several times. Henry VIII., as the newspapers might say, was
+a prominent real estate dealer along about 1540, and Queen Elizabeth did
+a large business about 1584, at the time of the "flight of the earls,"
+and nearly half the island changed hands by her majesty's grace without
+the payment of a dollar. When the earls who had resisted her authority
+ran away to France, she calmly wiped their noble names off the books of
+the recorder of deeds and transferred their property to English
+"undertakers," as they were called, because they "undertook" to drive
+off the rebellious Irish occupants and repopulate the land with loyal
+English colonists. Many of the great landlords of Ireland of to-day
+obtained their property and their titles at this time.
+
+And then a gentleman named Oliver Cromwell went into the real estate
+business over in Ireland about the middle of the seventeenth century. He
+drove the inhabitants of a vast area from their farms and the towns in
+which they lived and compelled them to take refuge in other parts of the
+country, while he issued scrip that could be located upon the farms they
+left and paid his soldiers with it because he was short of cash. Many of
+his soldiers remained here and married and were the ancestors of the
+present population. Others sold their scrip to speculators who located
+upon large tracts and eventually disposed of them to men who had the
+money.
+
+These real estate transactions of Henry VIII., Elizabeth, and Cromwell
+have been severely criticised, but they must have been right because we
+did very much the same thing with our Indians, the original owners of
+the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." Whenever an Indian
+tribe has rebelled about something, just as the Irish have rebelled from
+time to time since the conquest of Henry II., we have driven them from
+the homes of their forefathers; have penned them up in reservations, and
+have sold their lands to immigrants from Ireland, Sweden, and other
+European countries, precisely as the English sovereigns disposed of the
+homes and the farms of the Irish. We did it in the name of civilization;
+they did it, very often, because they could not worship the same God in
+the same way.
+
+About an hour by automobile from Dublin, beyond Bray and Greystone and
+other summer resorts, is a lovely place that you will be pleased to hear
+about because there is a pretty story attached to it. It is an old Tudor
+mansion of the seventeenth century, covered with luxuriant ivy and half
+concealed by ilex, arbutus, hawthorn, and rhododendron bushes that are
+all in bloom in May. They call it "Hollybrook" and it is the seat of Sir
+Robert Adair Hodson, whose great-grandfather, Sir Robert Adair, a
+dashing soldier, was knighted by his king on the field of battle for
+the handy way he had of amputating the heads of his majesty's enemies.
+He afterward became a lieutenant-general and one of the most famous
+soldiers in the United Kingdom. But what interests us more is that he
+was the young gentleman for whom the song "Robin Adair" was written by
+Lady Katherine Keppel. She loved him very much, they say, and broke her
+heart for him.
+
+Just beyond the railway station of Rathdrum is the Avondale estate, the
+seat of the family of the late Charles S. Parnell, the Irish political
+leader, which has recently been purchased by the new Irish department of
+agriculture, as a school for the training of foresters. Here we enter
+that romantic region known as the Vale of Avoca, which has been
+described in a pretty ballad by Tom Moore, called "The Meeting of the
+Waters"--the rivers Avonbeg and Avonmore. Here was a meeting place of
+the Druids in ancient times. Their altars and seats of judgment remain,
+and you can see the hurling stone of the great Finn McCool, which is
+fourteen feet long, ten feet wide, and seven feet thick, but he was so
+strong that he had no trouble in tossing it about like a football.
+
+Beyond "The Meeting of the Waters," seven or eight miles over a very
+attractive road, are the Woods of Shillelagh, which gave their name to
+the traditional weapon of offense and defense, formerly carried by every
+Irishman, but long ago obsolete. You can buy genuine shillalahs at the
+curio stores, those that have been in actual use and "have cracked many
+a head," as the dealer will tell you. You will find them also put away
+in the cabins with other heirlooms, with the christening clothes of the
+gossoons and the confirmation dresses of the colleens, but that
+interesting and typical weapon of the Irish peasant has entirely
+disappeared. It was a blackthorn stick, about eighteen inches long, from
+an inch to an inch and a half thick and a knot at one end of it. The
+best material in Ireland was found in the woods that surround the
+ancient little village of Shillelagh--hence the name.
+
+Wicklow is especially fascinating to the artist and the antiquarian. The
+scenery is not so wild nor on so large a scale as that of the Alps, but
+bits of Switzerland in miniature are scattered about among the Wicklow
+hills and, indeed, several other very respectable mountains. Douce is
+2,384 feet high, Duffhill 2,364, Gravale, 2,352, and Kippure 2,473 feet,
+and they rise immediately from the level of tide water within a few
+miles of the sea, so that they seem much higher. There are twenty-one
+mountains more than two thousand feet high, three more than two thousand
+five hundred, and one more than three thousand (Lugnaynilla) in this
+immediate neighborhood and within twenty miles of the coast. Concealed
+among them are several charming little lakes and rugged canyons and
+glens and dense forests. Nearly all of these are associated with
+religious history, with the lives of several saints who went there in
+retreat for meditation or lived like hermits in the caves and dells and
+prayed for the salvation of the world.
+
+This was the home of Laurence Sterne, author of "Uncle Toby" and
+"Corporal Trim." The record of his baptism is inscribed upon the
+registry of a quaint old church, and in 1720, according to the local
+traditions, he accidentally fell into a mill race and narrowly escaped
+being crushed to death by the water wheel which was working at the time.
+This was the land of the O'Tooles. The ruins of Castle Keven, the
+stronghold of the clan, are visited daily in the summer by hundreds of
+people.
+
+[Illustration: THE VALE OF AVOCA, COUNTY WICKLOW]
+
+Glendalough is known as "the ancient City of Refuge," and the weird,
+mysterious, somber scenery is associated with one of the strangest
+manifestations of human piety that may be seen anywhere. For there,
+within the shadow of gaunt and gloomy mountains, St. Kevin, "The Fair
+Born," a prince of the House of Leinster, which produced five saints in
+a single generation, three brothers and two sisters, built seven tiny
+churches in a group. It is known as the Valley of the Seven Churches.
+Each of them has its own individuality. Each of them is dedicated to a
+different saint, and all have been the homes and the places of worship
+and the object of pilgrimage for holy men and devout Christians for
+thirteen hundred years. As Sir Walter Scott says, they are probably
+the oldest buildings now surviving in any country in which the Christian
+religion was taught, and naturally have a corresponding interest and
+sanctity to all who love their Lord.
+
+St. Kevin died in 618 after a remarkable experience. The date of his
+birth is unknown. He stands in fame and sanctity among the Irish saints
+after St. Patrick, St. Bridget, and St. Columba only. His uncle, the
+Bishop of Ardstrad, was his preceptor, and, having renounced his claims
+to the throne of Leinster, and to all the pomps and vanities of the
+world, he retired to this retreat and here spent the rest of his life.
+His biography has been written several times, and as far back as the
+ninth century. It has recently been rewritten and published at the
+expense of the Marquis of Bute. One of the early writers calls him "A
+soldier of Christ in the land of Eire, a high name over sea and wave,
+chaste and fair, living in the glen of the broad line, in the valley of
+the two lakes."
+
+              "Kevin loves a narrow hovel.
+              It is a work of religious mortification
+              To be everlastingly praying
+              But a great shelter against demons."
+
+St. Kevin lived in a hollow tree for seven years and afterward in a
+narrow cave in a precipice of great height overhanging the lake, to
+which there is no access but by a boat. According to tradition he came
+here to escape from "Eyes of Most Unholy Blue," worn by a maid named
+Kathleen with whom he fell in love in spite of his monastic vows. The
+legend says that she traced him out, and when St. Kevin woke from his
+sleep one morning he found her sitting beside his bed. He rose and
+hurled her into the lake, afterwards whipping himself with nettles as
+penance. There are many other legends concerning him, but most of them
+are romance. There is no doubt, however, of his piety, and that he
+founded the Seven Churches. His feast is celebrated on June 3, the day
+on which he died, with great ceremony.
+
+The Seven Churches are all small and stand in a group around a
+cathedral, within sight of each other, except for the foliage. They are
+roofless and partially ruined, but of late years the board of public
+works has taken possession of them, repaired them, and is keeping them
+in order. Several monasteries have been maintained there from time to
+time, and a thousand years ago Glendalough was one of the most famous
+seats of learning in the world. Scholars and students went there from
+all parts of Europe to study.
+
+The cathedral, which is the center of interest, is probably the smallest
+sanctuary of that dignity in existence. The nave is only 48 feet long by
+30 feet wide, and the chancel is 25 by 22 feet, but the masonry is
+massive. The Church of the Trinity has a chancel only 13 feet 6 inches
+long by 9 feet wide and a nave 29 by 17 feet. It contains the tomb of
+Mochuarog, son of Brachan, King of Britain, who was a disciple of St.
+Kevin and administered the last rites to him when he died. The Church of
+St. Savior is 45 by 19 feet; the Church of Our Lady has a nave 32 by 20
+and a chancel 21 by 19; St. Chalaran's has a nave 18 by 15 feet and a
+chancel 8 feet 8 inches by 8 feet 4 inches; Reefert Church has a nave 29
+by 18 feet and a chancel 14 by 9 feet. This was the burial place of the
+O'Tooles and contains several tombs dating as far back as 1010. What is
+called "Kevin's Kitchen" is an oblong oratory, 23 by 15 feet in size.
+There is a tower of imposing dimensions, 110 feet high and 52 feet in
+circumference, standing in the center of an ancient cemetery and
+surrounded by tombstones. There are several fine Celtic crosses of great
+age and sanctity before which pilgrims are constantly kneeling, and many
+other objects of great interest.
+
+What was once a beautiful interlaced cross has been half carried away by
+vandals in chips as "mementos" from the grave of a "rale oulde Irish
+king." One of the tombs has an inscription in Celtic, reading, "The body
+of King Mac Thuill, in Jesus Christ, 1010"; another is inscribed, "Pray
+for Carbre ma Cahail," but most of the inscriptions are obscure.
+
+A few miles down to the south of Glendalough, on the other side of the
+divide, is the village of Ennisworthy, where the great Grattan lived
+between the sessions of the Irish parliament, and where many scenes are
+associated with his memory. It was near Ennisworthy or Vinegar Hall that
+one of the fiercest battles was fought between the British troops and
+the Irish rebels on the 21st of June, 1798. The rebels threw up hurried
+earthworks around a ruined windmill and defended them with pikes,
+scythes, and other agricultural implements, for those were all the arms
+they had. The British assaulted the hill and massacred or captured the
+entire force. Five hundred are said to have been killed in the
+engagement.
+
+The little place is called Ferns, is a favorite resort of rich Dublin
+people, and has many interesting historical associations. It was the
+seat of government of Leinster in early times, and the home of Dermot
+MacMurrough, who betrayed Ireland to the Normans. His castle, which
+stood upon an eminence overlooking the town, is believed to date back to
+the sixth century and was besieged and burned and partially destroyed
+several times. Near by is the ruin of an Augustinian monastery, with a
+tower seventy-five feet high, which was founded by MacMurrough in 1160,
+and in which he is buried. The Protestant Church of Ireland has a
+cathedral here and an Episcopal palace built in 1630 by Bishop Ram, then
+in charge of the ecclesiastical affairs of this diocese. Being of very
+advanced age when he built the house, he placed the following
+inscription over the entrance:
+
+        "This house Ram built for his succeeding brothers:
+        Thus sheep bear wool, not for themselves, but for others."
+
+We walked from the station at Wexford along a very narrow street to a
+deceptive hotel called the White's. It has a dark, narrow, uninviting
+entrance, but extends back into the middle of the block like the roots
+of a tree, and contains comfortable beds, neat sitting-rooms, and a
+dining-room, wherein toothsome, orange-colored salmon just from the
+river and most excellent gooseberry tarts are served.
+
+Wexford is very different from Dublin and every other place in Ireland
+that we saw, because of its narrow streets, which are more like those of
+a Spanish or oriental town, some of them so narrow that you can almost
+shake hands through the windows with your neighbor across the way. And
+it is a very clean town. And furthermore, all the children we met looked
+as if they were just from a bath. We saw troops of them in the street on
+their way to school with "shining morning faces" and neat jackets and
+frocks and wearing shoes and stockings, which is a rare sight in
+Ireland, therefore a welcome one to see. The contrast in the dress and
+general appearance of the people of Wexford and those of Dublin is so
+striking as to cause comment.
+
+In a large plaza in front of the railway station is a monument in honor
+of John Edward Redmond, uncle of John and William Redmond, the present
+leaders of the Irish party in the British parliament. He represented
+this district in the House of Commons for many years and did a great
+deal for the town and the neighborhood. He got a breakwater, which makes
+the harbor safe, a bridge across the River Slaney, and an appropriation
+to construct a macadamized road along its banks. The Redmond family have
+lived here for generations and have been prominent in local affairs.
+Most of them have been engaged in the leather business and have had
+large tanneries. The inscription upon the monument to John Edward
+Redmond reads:
+
+  "My heart is with the town of Wexford. Nothing can extinguish that
+  love but the cold sod of the grave, and when the day comes, I hope
+  you will pay me the compliment I deserve of saying that I always
+  loved you." Last words of J.E. Redmond, 1865!
+
+A deputation of farmers which appeared before Mr. Russell, the secretary
+of agriculture, at Dublin, asserted that Wexford is "the most
+agricultural county in Ireland."
+
+There is every appearance of prosperity about Wexford. The people are
+well dressed, the cattle are sleek, the horses are the best we have
+seen, and we are quite prepared to believe the assertion that this is
+the "Garden of Ireland." There is a good deal of commerce at Wexford
+also, going out as well as coming in from a fine harbor which is formed
+by an estuary from the sea at the entrance to the Irish Channel. There
+is a long breakwater to protect the ships against storms; and quays,
+three thousand feet long, with double lines of railway track, and modern
+machinery for loading and unloading vessels. There are steamship lines
+to Liverpool, Bristol, and other markets in that hated and despised
+territory called England. Several sailing ships are now tied up at the
+dock which bring over coal and take back barley to make the British
+beer, for this is the headquarters of the barley trade in Ireland.
+
+Wexford has been the scene of much political disturbance. The people are
+intense in their hatred of England, and every baby in the cradle is a
+violent home ruler. Perhaps this unanimous sentiment is in a measure due
+to the influence of the Redmond family, which belongs here.
+
+On the site of an ancient bull ring is a bronze figure of a young man in
+a belligerent attitude with a long pike. He is called "The Insurgent"
+and the figures "1798" are on the pedestal--nothing more.
+
+"It's one of the patriots of '98," said the jaunting car driver. "They
+are putting up statues like that everywhere in Ireland now, to keep the
+events of the past in the memory of the people."
+
+There is a great deal of significance in that statue, and even more in
+the photographs and post cards of it which are hung for sale in the
+windows of every stationer and news stand and cigar-shop. Under the
+picture is printed in plain letters the words, "Who fears to speak of
+'98?"
+
+What are called "the twin churches" are two fine Roman Catholic houses
+of worship, exact duplicates of each other, within two or three blocks,
+with beautiful spires two hundred and thirty feet high. They cost
+$250,000 each and were paid for by the congregations of this city and
+neighborhood. It is astonishing how much money the people of Ireland
+spend upon their religion, and the twin churches of Wexford are
+illustrations of the display that is found in every part of the
+country. It is a common subject of comment and criticism that the
+bishops should permit such extravagance, but they reply that no man is
+ever poorer because of what he gives for his religion. It may be said,
+also, that all of the Roman Catholic churches are crowded on Sunday,
+early and late.
+
+St. Sellskar's Church is built upon the foundation of the Abbey of the
+Holy Sepulchre, which was established here a thousand years ago, and
+within it was signed the first treaty ever made between the English and
+Irish races. This was signed in 1169 by Dermot McMurrough, King of
+Leinster, and Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, better known by the
+name of Strongbow. And it was in this abbey that Strongbow resided, and
+in this church his sister, Bassilia de Clare, was married to Raymond le
+Gros in 1174. The Princess Eva, daughter of Dermot McMurrough, King of
+Leinster, who married Strongbow on the field of battle, is buried in a
+stone coffin at Bannow, in the suburbs of Wexford, down on the coast. It
+was formerly a populous and prosperous city, of which no traces can now
+be seen except the ruins of the church that contains her tomb. The rest
+of the town has been buried under the encroachments of the sea, and sand
+now lies ten and twenty feet deep upon the tops of the houses. Until a
+few years ago Bannow returned two members of parliament, although for
+many generations there was nothing for them to represent except the
+ruins of this church and a solitary chimney. However, for the loss of
+this franchise the British government paid £15,000 to the late Earl of
+Ely, whose seat is in the neighborhood. His ancestor, Rev. Adam Loftus,
+was lord high chancellor of Ireland during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
+He was one of the founders of Trinity College and the first provost. The
+romantic story of this extinct city is related in a novel entitled,
+"Eva, or the Buried City of Bannow," and contains a good deal of
+interesting history mixed up with the fiction.
+
+I suppose that sooner or later the energetic Normans would have found
+their way across the St. George's Channel, but their invasion was
+invited in 1169 by Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster, who is thus
+responsible for the loss of his country's freedom, and subsequent
+centuries of bloodshed and distress. He was a good soldier, but the
+Christian influence under which he was educated did not remove all the
+savage traits from his system and he was guilty of many wicked, brutal,
+treacherous acts of tyranny and violence against his neighbors and his
+subjects. He kidnapped the wife of Ternan O'Rourke, King of Leitrim, and
+the latter persuaded the other kings in southern Ireland to join with
+him to punish the insult. McMurrough was driven from pillar to post and
+finally fled to the court of Henry II. in London, where he offered to
+betray Ireland to the English monarch.
+
+The latter declined to give Dermot any personal assistance, but
+permitted his vassals to do what they liked, and a number of British and
+Welsh barons of broken fortunes, under the leadership of Richard de
+Clare, Earl of Pembroke, organized an invasion. In May, 1169, they
+landed at Wexford with a force of two thousand well armed Normans,
+Englishmen, Welshmen, and renegade Irishmen. Strongbow was given the
+leadership of the expedition with a promise of the hand of Dermot's
+daughter in marriage and the succession to the throne of Leinster.
+Before the invaders landed Dermot returned quietly to his castle at
+Ferns, and during the winter of 1168-69 pretended to do penance for his
+sins in the Augustinian monastery he had founded there, in order to
+throw his Irish enemies off their guard.
+
+The King of Connaught, Roderick O'Conor, who was the acknowledged
+suzerain of all Ireland at that time, collected a large army and marched
+against the invaders, and he might easily have crushed them, but he was
+a weak and credulous man, without the ability or vigor of Brian Boru,
+and Dermot fooled him completely, promising to expel the foreigners
+provided he was restored to his kingdom. As soon as Roderick had marched
+away, however, and Dermot felt himself strong enough to break his
+promises, he led his allies with fire and sword into the city of Dublin
+and the English have occupied it ever since.
+
+Strongbow's wedding with Eva took place Aug. 25, 1170, upon the battle
+field near Waterford, among the corpses of the slain. There is a
+striking picture of the scene in the National Gallery at Dublin. And the
+bridegroom continued his career of massacre and devastation until he
+"had made a tremblin' sod of all Ireland."
+
+Henry II., having heard of the conquest of Strongbow, became nervous for
+fear he might become too powerful, and prepared an expedition with which
+he landed at the little town of Crook, or at the still smaller town of
+Hook, near the mouth of the River Suir. Some said that he landed by Hook
+and some said he landed by Crook, and that was the origin of the saying
+that is heard to this day, "either by hook or crook." Henry II. had
+about ten thousand fighting men and they were so well organized and
+armed that resistance was impossible. Almost all the Irish kings and
+chieftains came promptly to make submission, and the Irish bishops,
+presided over by Lawrence O'Toole, met in synod and acknowledged him as
+their sovereign. Their action was based upon a bull issued by Pope
+Adrian IV., authorizing Henry II. to take possession of Ireland. Adrian
+IV. was an English monk named Brakespear, and he was influenced by an
+unfair and exaggerated account of the influence of the Church in England
+and by misrepresentations of the state of religion in Ireland. Some
+historians have questioned the genuineness of this edict; others have
+declared that it was a myth, but there seems to be no reason to doubt
+that Adrian IV. did authorize Henry II. to invade Ireland, believing
+that a strong centralized government there would be for the advancement
+of religion and for the good of the people.
+
+Troubles with the Holy See resulting from the assassination of Thomas à
+Becket called the king back to England before he had completed his plans
+of settlement, and he left Ireland in April, 1172, after remaining there
+less than six months. He had intended to erect a string of Norman
+castles at frequent intervals throughout the island and garrison them
+with English troops in order to overawe the native kings and
+chieftains, and so that his own earls might watch and check each other.
+But he left that work to his subordinates and rewarded them with grants
+of enormous area without regard to the rights of the native owners.
+Leinster was given to Strongbow with the exception of Dublin and two or
+three other towns on the coast; the province of Meath was given to Hugh
+de Lacy, and the province of Ulster to John de Courcy, and other tracts
+to the ancestors of many of the noble families of Ireland to-day.
+
+Under Strongbow, after Henry II. left, Ireland fell into a state of
+anarchy and confusion. He was tyrannical and unreasonable. The native
+princes rebelled and almost overcame him. They drove him to Waterford
+and besieged him there, where he was rescued by Raymond le Gros, who
+demanded the hand of his sister Bassilia as his reward. They were
+married here, as I have told you, in the Abbey of the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+Strongbow took up his headquarters at Dublin. He built Christ Church
+Cathedral and other churches and endowed several large religious
+establishments, although he had shown very little veneration for the
+relics of St. Patrick and other Irish saints. In 1176 he died of a
+malignant ulcer in his foot, which his enemies ascribed to a miracle of
+the Irish saints whose shrines he had desecrated. His sister Bassilia,
+who was a woman of strong character, concealed the fact of his death
+until she could communicate with her husband, Raymond le Gros, who was
+besieging an Irish king at Limerick, and prepare him to take advantage
+of the situation. As a letter might be captured and read, she sent him a
+courier with the message:
+
+"The Great Jaw Tooth, which used to trouble us so much, has fallen
+out--wherefore return with all speed."
+
+Raymond understood the meaning and returned to Dublin, took charge of
+the government and buried Strongbow with great pomp in Christ Church
+Cathedral, which he had founded, the famous Lawrence O'Toole, Archbishop
+of Ireland, conducting the ceremonies. But King Henry had had enough of
+the Strongbow family, and when he heard of the great earl's death
+appointed William de Burgo, founder of the Burke family, as viceroy.
+
+Raymond le Gros, with Bassilia, retired to their castle in Wexford,
+where he resided quietly until his death in 1182.
+
+And that is the way the English obtained possession of Ireland.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXI
+
+                       THE LAND OF RUINED CASTLES
+
+
+Waterford is a busy, clean, dignified old town with large shipping
+interests, which are conducted upon a wide quay that follows the bank of
+the River Suir and is faced with substantial walls of stone. The cargoes
+of the vessels are loaded and unloaded from the roadside. The commercial
+business consists of the export of bacon, which is famous, barley, and
+other agricultural produce. A good many live cattle are sent over the
+channel to feed the enemies of Ireland. The stores and shops are upon
+streets that run at right angles with the river. The professional men
+occupy blocks of former residences in the neighborhood of an ancient
+courthouse which faces a park, usually filled with babies and blue-eyed
+children playing on the grass. Back in the city the ground rises from
+the river to a hill that was once crowned with a castle, a cathedral, a
+monastery, and several other institutions of warfare, charity, learning,
+and religion. A "Home for the Widows of Deceased Clergymen of the Church
+of Ireland" occupies the site of the palace of King John. When I dropped
+a penny in the lap of an old crone, who squatted at the gate, she looked
+up at me with the winning smile of her race and said:
+
+"May you have a happy life, sor, and a paceful death and a favorable
+joodgment."
+
+There are few beggars in the Irish cities to-day, such as you read about
+in the tales of travelers who were here twenty or even ten years ago.
+There are two or three in Dublin hanging around the entrance of the
+hotel, usually with flowers for sale or something else to offer as
+compensation for your money, and when one goes into the slums he is apt
+to be approached by drunken men and drunken women. But outside of
+Dublin we didn't see a single beggar.
+
+Besides being famous for the best bacon in the United Kingdom, Waterford
+is the ancestral home of Field Marshal Lord Roberts and that intrepid
+sailor, Lord Charles Beresford, who was annexed to the United States at
+a Gridiron dinner during a visit to Washington several years ago. It has
+a population of about thirty thousand, was founded by the Danish King
+Sigtryg of the Silken Beard, and for centuries was the seat of the
+McIvors, the Danish kings, who arrived in 870 and ruled until Strongbow
+and the other Norman adventurers came over from England in 1169. At the
+principal corner in the town are the remains of a castle built by
+Reginald McIvor in 1003, and it still bears his name. The city has
+endured many sieges and attacks. At one time it was almost entirely
+destroyed. For centuries it was the most important city in Ireland after
+Dublin, and is now the fourth seaport. It was loyal to the king when the
+pretender Perkin Warbeck claimed the throne of England, and Cromwell was
+unable to reduce it even after a long siege. It was the only city in
+Ireland that Old Ironsides did not conquer, and thereby it earned its
+motto, "Urbs Intacta." Beside Reginald's Tower very few of the ancient
+walls remain, but there are two old churches of great interest. One of
+them, the Protestant Cathedral, stands upon the site of a church built
+in 1050 and the bishop's palace and deanery adjoin it. The present
+structure was erected in 1774 by John Roberts, architect, the
+great-grandfather of "Bobs," the hero of Kandahar, now Earl Roberts of
+the British peerage. He was the architect of several other important
+buildings in the city.
+
+In 1693 a colony of refugee Huguenots came to Waterford from France.
+They were kindly received and the bishop gave them the choir of an
+ancient monastic church as a place of worship. It became known as "the
+French Church" for that reason. Among the immigrants was a family named
+Sautelles, whose daughter married John Roberts, a rising young
+architect, in 1744. They had twenty-four children, and both are buried
+within the roofless walls of the chancel of the old church. One of the
+sons, Rev. John Roberts, rector of St. Nicholas' parish, married the
+daughter of his associate, Rev. Abraham Sandys. Sir Abraham Roberts,
+their son, married Miss Sleigh, the daughter of a family prominent among
+the gentry of the neighborhood, and died in 1874, leaving issue
+Frederick Sleigh Roberts, the present earl, who spent his happy boyhood
+in an old manor-house in the suburbs of the city.
+
+All of the Roberts family for several generations have been buried
+within the walls of the old French Church, and it is still used for the
+tombs of the passing generation of a few old families who possess that
+enviable privilege. The latest monument bears the date of 1881, and
+"siveral places are bespoke," the custodian told me. The ruin is kept
+with the greatest care. The ivy mantle that covers the walls is tenderly
+trimmed each spring and fall, the turf is cut frequently, the gravel
+walks are raked every day, and when I remarked upon this peculiarity not
+often observed in the crumbling castles and churches of long ago, the
+custodian exclaimed with pride:
+
+"It's all thrue, as yer honor has said, ivery wurrd of it, an' it's as
+dacent a ruin as you'll find in all Ireland."
+
+Several illustrious characters in Irish history are buried in the
+cathedral. Among them are Strongbow and his son who was carved in twain
+by his amiable father on the field of battle because he acted as if he
+was afraid of the enemy. It is entirely appropriate that so energetic
+and comprehensive a person as the first Earl of Pembroke should have two
+tombs, and no one has any right to complain. He is buried in Christ
+Church Cathedral in Dublin, as well as in the cathedral at Waterford,
+and lies quietly in both places. And only a few days ago I noticed that
+Edward VII., King of England, was paying a week's-end visit to his
+descendant, the present Earl of Pembroke, at his country seat, Wilton
+House, in Wiltshire.
+
+Everything in Waterford seems to be inclosed by high stone walls--even
+the bishop's palace and the poorhouse--and when I asked a man I met on
+the street why it was so, he answered:
+
+"They're old walls, sir, very old, and were put up when they were
+needed. They're not taken down, for they may be needed again. The poor
+guardians are afraid they'll lose a pauper, and the bishop some of his
+prayers."
+
+The jarvey who drove our jaunting car told us that there are nine
+hundred people in the poorhouse and nine hundred more in the insane
+asylum, the latter "bein' mostly women who came there from drinkin' too
+much tay"--and the excessive use of that herb is destroying the nerves
+of the feminine population.
+
+I have often been told to "Go to Ballyhack," and many a time I have
+heard people wish that somebody they were offended at might go there,
+but I never had an opportunity to do so until I reached Waterford.
+Ballyhack is quite an attractive place, a pretty little fishing village
+of about one hundred people on the bank of the River Suir, eight miles
+south of the city and nine miles from the sea. It is not considered
+profane to condemn a person to Ballyhack any more than to Halifax,
+although you may have a warmer place in your mind. It is a delightful
+excursion from Waterford in a jaunting car, through fertile farms and
+velvety meadows, to the town of Passage, whence a boatman will take you
+across the river to Ballyhack, which is a group of stone buildings,
+fish-packing houses, and tenements of the fishermen, with a tall,
+picturesque old tower rising from their midst by the roadside. The top
+is crumbling, the stones are loose, but the walls for sixty feet or more
+from the ground are yet perfectly solid and quite as firm as they were
+when they were erected by the Knights Templar a thousand years ago to
+defend one of the most convenient landing places on the river.
+
+It is believed that the tower of Ballyhack was intended as an outpost
+for the protection of these two monasteries against pirates and other
+marauders and that the monks stored their arms and munitions there and a
+supply of provisions. There is no dock. The fishboats are hauled up on
+the gravel beach and their cargoes are carried across a narrow roadway
+in big baskets to the packing-houses, where they are cleaned and salted
+or shipped fresh to London and Liverpool.
+
+Curragmore, the seat of the famous Beresford family, is twelve miles in
+the opposite direction from Waterford, over hill and down dale, and
+through a most delightful country. It is an ancient place, for the
+Beresfords are a very old family, descended from Sir Robert la Poer, who
+landed with Prince John at Waterford in 1185 and was given a vast tract
+of land that had belonged to an Irish earl who refused to submit to the
+sovereignty of the Norman king. That was the fashion in those days when
+people were not so particular about the rights of others as at present.
+In this highly moral and righteous generation there's a court sitting
+regularly to hear any complaints that a tenant may wish to make
+concerning the rent exacted for his farm or his cottage. A difference of
+opinion over a bed of turnips or a rabbit or "any other kind of bird" is
+argued one side and then the other by the lawyers, and many people are
+questioned to ascertain who is wrong and who is right. But at the date
+when the first Beresford arrived at Waterford from over the channel, his
+majesty the king decided the ownership of the territory in Ireland
+according to his whims. A frown could cost a man a farm and a smile
+could win him one. But life has not been all sunshine and taffy for the
+Beresfords. They have had their troubles like the rest of us. In 1310
+the wife of John la Poer was burned as a witch--one of the grandmothers
+of that much beloved and hearty old sailor, admiral of the North
+Atlantic fleet of Great Britain, who visited us only a few years ago and
+made so many friends among the people of America.
+
+The motto of the Beresford family is not exactly what one would expect,
+knowing the character and disposition and habits of the men. It is: "Nil
+Nisi Cruce" (No Dependence but the Cross). I suppose it is all right for
+Lord Charles Beresford, the "Fighting Bob" Evans of the British navy, to
+wear those words upon his crest, but his words and his acts do not
+always conform to such a pious phrase. The people round here are very
+proud of him and of Earl Roberts also--"Both fighters from their very
+cradles," as a gentleman said.
+
+"And there was Bill Beresford," he continued, "a gallant soldier and the
+best horseman in Ireland--good, old 'Ulundi Bill,' as he was fondly
+known. There isn't a man between the four seas to-day that can compare
+with him, either for a fight or a frolic. Bill Beresford overtopped them
+all. He did more to improve and encourage horse racing in Ireland than
+any man that ever lived except it was his father, Lord Henry Beresford,
+the third Marquis of Waterford. They called him the Nestor of the Irish
+turf, and he did deeds of daring and devilment in every corner of the
+world. His lordship was killed in the saddle, the place where he would
+prefer to die, for he loved horses as much as men, and there was
+mourning in all Ireland. His son Bill took closely after him. As colonel
+of the Ninth Lancers, Bill saved the British forces at the battle of
+Ulundi and was given a big jeweled star and a Victoria Cross for the
+job. But Charley is just as good a man as Bill. The Beresfords are all
+fighters. No family in Ireland has drawn the sword so often or so
+effectively, even if you go back to the invasion of the Normans when
+they first came into the country. And what's the matter with the motto,
+'No dependence but the cross'?"
+
+Lord "Bill" Beresford was laid to rest on the first day of the twentieth
+century and his obituaries said that he was the most popular man in
+Ireland. He was the third husband of that beautiful American woman,
+Lillian Warren-Hammersley-Churchill-Beresford, originally of Troy, N.Y.,
+and afterward of Washington, widow of the late Duke of Marlborough and
+still one of the most charming women in London society. There was
+another brother, who recently died in Mexico, where he lived for many
+years as a ranchman, and left a large family of half-breed children.
+
+The present Marquis of Waterford, Henri de la Poer Beresford, was born
+in 1875 and married Lady Beatrice, daughter of the Marquis of Lansdowne,
+in 1897. He is a lieutenant in the Horse Guards at London, is said to be
+a fine young fellow, and is developing the hereditary traits of the
+family. He has a son--the Earl of Tyrone, born in 1901--and three
+daughters who are younger.
+
+Carrick Castle, which stands on the banks of the Suir not far from
+Waterford, is another beautiful place, built in 1309 by the great Earl
+of Ormonde. The Carricks were originally Butlers, and trace their
+descent as far back as Rollo, Duke of Normandy, grandfather of William
+the Conqueror. Edmund Butler was created Earl of Carrick in 1315, and
+his descendants have owned this estate ever since his time. The
+beautiful but unfortunate Anne Boleyn, wife of Henry VIII. and mother of
+Queen Elizabeth, was born in Carrick Castle and lived there until she
+was fifteen years old, when she went to England with Sir Thomas Boleyn,
+her father, and Lord Rochford, her brother, who was executed upon the
+same scaffold with herself.
+
+The Province of Munster might be called properly "the Land of Ruined
+Castles," for they are more numerous here than on the banks of the
+Rhine. You are scarcely ever out of sight of a crumbling tower or a
+useless gigantic wall wearing a mantle of ivy. Nearly all of these ruins
+are attributed to Cromwell and his army, who have no defenders, and the
+religious historians and local guides tell us that they were destroyed
+by that man of mighty prejudices and purposes in order to plant
+Protestantism upon the ruins of the papal power in Ireland. Cromwell was
+undoubtedly guilty of atrocious cruelty and devastation at the cost of
+thousands of innocent lives and hundreds of millions of property, but he
+could not have destroyed all these castles and monasteries if he had
+remained in Ireland ten times as long as he did, because many of them
+were in ruins when he arrived and many were not built until after his
+departure.
+
+Torna, the Druid, prophesied that a wind from the southeast would fell
+the tree that covered Ireland. And that was always a vulnerable shore.
+Agricola planned to cross with his legions from the Cornish coast and
+add Eire, as this country was then known, to the Roman Empire. The
+southeastern corner, the counties of Wexford and Waterford, with their
+harbors open and undefended, were the gates through which many foreign
+invaders came and brought death and devastation with them. The harbor of
+Waterford was called the Haven of the Sun until the Danes came, but was
+afterward known as the Valley of Lamentation, because of the mourning
+that followed the battles that were fought there. And even the invaders
+did not do so much damage as domestic strife. The kings and the clans,
+the Desmonds and the Geraldines, the O'Briens and the O'Donoghues, the
+MacCarthys, the O'Connors, the O'Sullivans, and other local chiefs who
+occupied the southern third of Ireland, were always attacking each
+other, besieging the castles of their rivals and often leaving them as
+we see them now--green wrecks and grassy mounds. And they spared not the
+monasteries that were built near all the homes of the great. This was a
+form of munificence as well as piety which prevailed also in Italy and
+France in the Middle Ages, where every robber baron kept a small army of
+friars and monks to do his praying, just as he kept squadrons of knights
+to do his fighting. Hence you will invariably find in southern Ireland
+the ruins of an abbey or a monastery beside the ruins of a castle, and
+most of them are the result of duels and feuds between the native
+chieftains and their clans, although many were left in flames and gore
+by the forces of William of Orange, Henry VIII., and Queen Elizabeth, as
+well as Cromwell.
+
+[Illustration: THE RIVER FRONT AT WATERFORD]
+
+Ireland has never been at peace until now. No soil has been fought over
+so often. The mysterious round towers that we see on the hilltops and in
+the glens in their lonely majesty are evidence that it was necessary for
+the overlords to build places of refuge for their servants, and provide
+means for lighting signal fires to warn them against the enemies that
+surrounded them.
+
+        "In the Island o' Ruins remembrance o' grief
+          Hallows the hills as, when summer is slowly
+        Fadin' in darkness, the fall o' the leaf
+          Makes the woods holy.
+
+        "Green are the woods though the mountains are gray;
+          Spring is too young to remember old doin's.
+        Ah! but I wish I was roamin' to-day
+          In the Island o' Ruins!"
+
+The little station of Doneraile is the getting-off place for visitors
+who would see one of the most attractive ruins in Ireland, both for its
+picturesque beauty and for its historical associations. A solitary
+tower, standing by a small river in a lonely and deserted glen, is all
+that remains of Kilcolman Castle, one of the greatest strongholds of the
+Geraldines, afterward and at the time of its destruction the home of
+Ireland's greatest poet, Edmund Spenser. He came here in 1580 as private
+secretary to Earl Grey, then lord lieutenant, and after one of the many
+rebellions he was given a little more than three thousand acres which
+surrounded this castle, confiscated from the Earl of Desmond, as one of
+the "undertakers," as certain speculators and adventurers were called
+who agreed to colonize the country with English settlers. It was here
+and in the neighboring town of Youghal, the home of Sir Walter Raleigh,
+in 1589 and 1590, that Spenser wrote the "Faerie Queene," which was
+published at the expense of Raleigh and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth.
+For this honor the queen proposed to give him quite a liberal pension.
+Lord Treasurer Burleigh remonstrated, saying:
+
+"What? So much for a rhyme?"
+
+"Well, then, give him what is reason," said her majesty.
+
+Nothing further was heard of the matter, however, until Spenser sent the
+Virgin Queen the following epigram:
+
+              "I was promised on a time
+              To have reason for my rhyme.
+              From that time, until this season,
+              I've had neither rhyme nor reason."
+
+Elizabeth was so pleased that she instantly ordered Spenser's name to be
+put upon the pension rolls at fifty pounds a year.
+
+Spenser married an obscure relative of the famous Earl of Cork, a Miss
+Boyle, and lived in the old castle until 1598, when it was sacked and
+burned by the rebels in the Tyrone uprising. His youngest son perished
+in the flames and, heart-broken and beggared, he took the rest of his
+family to London and died within a few months from starvation and grief.
+He was buried in Westminster Abbey at the expense of the Earl of Essex.
+
+It is said that the sins of the fathers are sometimes visited upon their
+children and children's children, and this prophecy applies with
+singular aptness to the Spenser family, for the poet's grandson was
+driven from his home at Kilcolman by Cromwell's men, just as the
+Desmonds had been driven from the same place by Earl Grey.
+
+It was a cheerful change to find a castle without a scar or a crumbling
+stone and all the modern improvements at Riding House, the Irish estate
+of the late Earl of Devonshire. He was one of the wealthiest, the
+ablest, and the most influential of the British nobility, and a
+conservative leader in the House of Lords, and died, universally
+lamented, a year or so ago. He was one of the largest landowners in
+Ireland, having more than a hundred thousand acres rented to tenants,
+and managed to get along with them without much friction, which is the
+highest proof that he was a just, honorable, tactful, and conscientious
+man. There are good landlords in Ireland; there are many of them, and it
+is not true in every instance that the tenants show little or no
+appreciation of their generosity, although, unfortunately, there have
+been some conspicuous cases of that kind. Several large property owners,
+who have endeavored to treat their tenants with kindness, have lowered
+their rents and made generous concessions to them, have been accused of
+cowardice by the very people they tried to please, and have been treated
+very badly. But the Duke of Devonshire was not one of those. He had
+honest, brave, fair-minded agents on the ground and looked closely
+after the management of his Irish property himself.
+
+[Illustration: LISMORE CASTLE, WATERFORD COUNTY; IRISH SEAT OF THE DUKE
+OF DEVONSHIRE]
+
+Riding House is near the town of Lismore, and, on the principle that to
+him who hath shall be given, it was inherited by the Duke of Devonshire
+in 1753 through his wife, Charlotte, daughter of Richard Boyle, fourth
+Earl of Cork, who was a munificent patron of literature and the arts and
+the friend of Pope, the poet. The Cork family is one of the most famous
+in the history of Ireland, although not one of the oldest. The first
+earl lived on Cork Hill, where the Castle at Dublin stands. He was a
+native of Hereford County, England, and was born in 1566. He studied law
+at the Middle Temple, London, and was called to the Bar, but, having no
+clients, he embarked for Ireland as an adventurer. After a while he
+obtained the favor and protection of Queen Elizabeth, which enabled him
+to amass considerable wealth and won him his title. His brother Michael,
+who went to Ireland with him, became Bishop of Waterford. Richard, a
+nephew, became Archbishop of Tuam, and his son, Michael, became
+Archbishop of Armagh.
+
+The second Earl of Cork was a distinguished figure in camp, court, and
+in the literary world. He was lord lieutenant of Ireland under Cromwell.
+He was known as "the great Earl of Cork," and lies in the old Church of
+St. Mary at Youghal with his figure at full length in marble in the
+center of an enormous monument that covers a quarter of an acre of wall.
+There is a duplicate quite as large in St. Patrick's Cathedral in
+Dublin.
+
+The present Earl of Cork was the largest landholder in this section
+except the Duke of Devonshire, but has sold most of his estate under the
+provisions of the Wyndham Land Act of 1903. The Devonshire estate is
+still intact, and, as the late duke had no sons, was inherited by Victor
+Cavendish, his nephew. The late Earl, Richard Edmund St. Lawrence Boyle,
+was an aid-de-camp to Queen Victoria, with whom he had a warm
+friendship. He was devoted to her all his life and was her master of
+horse and master of buckhounds for many years. He married in 1853 a
+sister of the present Earl of Clanricarde, who is fighting the Wyndham
+Land Act so bitterly. His eldest son and heir, late the Viscount
+Dungarvin, was born in 1861, served in the army for several years, and
+commanded the Twenty-second Battalion of Yeomanry against the Boers in
+South Africa. The second son of the late earl, Robert John Lascelle,
+born in 1864, married Josephine Hale, daughter of J.P. Hale of San
+Francisco, and the son of this American girl is the heir presumptive of
+the great Cork estate. One sister of the present earl married Francis
+Henry Baring of the famous London banking house, and another married
+Walter Long, one of the leaders of the unionist party in parliament. He
+represents a district of the city of Dublin, although he is an
+Englishman and never lived there.
+
+"Tipperary is the deadest town in all Ireland," said a bookseller of
+that place, of whom we were buying some postcards. "I don't believe
+there was ever a deader town than Tip-rar-ry [for that is the way they
+pronounce it] and everybody is going to America who can get away." And
+that seemed to be the prevailing sentiment among the people I talked
+with. It is the most pessimistic community I found in the country,
+without even a single good word for their own town. "There's no business
+outside of cattle and dairying," said another merchant. "Trade is so
+dull that the shopkeepers are loafing half the day." But the people seem
+to keep up their interest in politics, and that they have some money
+left is evident, because at a meeting here, the day before my arrival,
+£95 was collected in a few minutes for the expense fund of the
+parliamentary Irish party. Outside, in the streets, there was a good
+deal of activity. It was market day and the farmers from all the
+surrounding country were in town to sell their produce and buy a stock
+of supplies for the ensuing week, but there was no vehicle, not even a
+jaunting car, at the railway station to take us to the hotel, and
+evidently nobody was expected. So we had to do the best we could and
+succeeded in persuading a farmer who was there with an "inside car" to
+carry us and our luggage, which he managed to do by sitting on the
+shafts himself. And afterward when we wanted to see the town we
+couldn't find a vehicle in the street, although Tipperary is a town of
+six thousand population, and the hotel proprietor sent out to a livery
+stable for one.
+
+Tipperary lies in the midst of a lovely country, more level than that we
+had been traveling through for the past three weeks, but there are only
+a few patches of timber and a few gentle slopes and no peat bogs so far
+as we could see from the railway train. The landscape reminded me of the
+Western Reserve of Ohio, with the exception that the Silievenarmick
+Hills rise in the background to the height of nine hundred and one
+thousand feet. The Aherlow River waters the plain and runs through the
+town. There doesn't seem to be much cultivated ground in the
+neighborhood, but there are long stretches of meadow in which the
+farmers were cutting the hay, and we can perceive the perfume as we pass
+through them if we stand at the open window of the car. Alternating with
+the meadows are fine pastures, where large herds of sleek and fat cattle
+and many yearling colts and foal mares are feeding. There are several
+large stock farms in the neighborhood, and, as it was the season for
+county fairs when we were there, the Tipperary farmers are raking in
+prizes for all kinds of stock. In the town is a creamery which, we were
+told, is the largest in Ireland. It employs one hundred and twenty hands
+and its butter is shipped almost entirely to London.
+
+The most interesting feature of Tipperary is the new town lying on the
+outskirts of the old, which represents an exciting incident in Irish
+history. During the land war of 1887 the leaders of the Irish party
+selected several landlords as examples for boycotting for the purpose of
+attracting attention to the conditions in the country and creating
+public opinion. This was called "The Plan of Campaign." Among the places
+selected as storm centers were the Ponsonby estate near Cork, the
+Vandaleur estate in County Clare, the Defrayne estate in Roscommon, the
+Massaure estate in County Louth, and the Smith Barry estate in
+Tipperary. These estates were selected as battle grounds because the
+landlords were treating the tenants badly, were very exacting and
+oppressive, and furnished excellent examples to illustrate the evils of
+the Irish land and tenantry system. Some of the tenants were behind in
+their rents and, being unable to pay, were threatened with eviction
+unless they settled on or before a certain date.
+
+Arthur Hugh Smith Barry, the landlord who was selected as an awful
+example at Tipperary, is descended from the Earl of Barrymore, whose
+title expired when the direct male line became extinct forty or fifty
+years ago. He came into possession by inheritance of a large tract of
+land near Cork and another tract covering between eight and nine
+thousand acres in this vicinity, which paid him an annual revenue of
+£7,368. His first wife was a sister of the present Lord Dunraven. His
+second and present wife was Elizabeth Wadsworth Post, a sister of former
+Congressman James Wadsworth of Geneseo, N.Y., and was the widow of a Mr.
+Post at the time of her marriage with Mr. Barry in 1889. They have a
+beautiful home at Fota on Fota Island, in Cork Harbor, near Queenstown,
+and a town residence in Berkeley Square, London. Mr. Barry has been a
+member of parliament and has served the government in different
+capacities with great credit to himself and usefulness to his country.
+For that reason the old title of his family was revived in 1902 and he
+was elevated to the peerage as Lord Barrymore.
+
+The courage and determination he exhibited during the fight that was
+made upon him by the Land League was one of the reasons for giving him
+the honor. The boycott was managed on behalf of the Land League by
+William O'Brien, then, as now, member of parliament for that district.
+Under the latter's direction between five and six hundred tenants of Mr.
+Barry stopped paying rent. Some were actually too poor to do so; others
+were perfectly able, but they all went in together and made a common
+cause and boycotted their landlord, who promptly took steps to evict
+them. Mr. O'Brien and other leaders of the Land League appealed to
+patriotic Irishmen all over the world and raised between £40,000 and
+£50,000--nearly $250,000--in America, Australia, Ireland, and
+elsewhere, with which they started to build a new town upon land
+belonging to Stafford O'Brien, who, by the way, is no relation of the
+member of parliament of the same name. Several blocks of tenement-houses
+were built of substantial materials and attractive appearance, and are
+models in their way. But when Mr. Barry got the machinery of the law in
+motion and wholesale evictions commenced, the managers put up cheap
+barracks of wood as rapidly as possible to accommodate those who were
+turned out of their homes.
+
+There was a general and generous response to the appeal to the
+patriotism of Ireland, and people in this country who had no money gave
+material and labor to help the cause. Carpenters and stone masons,
+bricklayers, and other mechanics came to Tipperary from all parts of
+Ireland to work on the buildings, without wages, and within a short time
+all of the evicted tenants of the Barry estate were comfortably housed,
+free of rent, while his revenues ceased entirely and the boycott was
+complete. It was a significant illustration of the unity of purpose of
+the common people of Ireland; but, unfortunately, the leaders of the
+party quarreled before the demonstration was complete. The death of
+Charles S. Parnell in 1891, about eighteen months after the boycott was
+undertaken on the Barry estate, caused a split in the Irish party which
+continued until a few years ago. The effect of this division was to
+demoralize their followers at Tipperary, and the tenants of the Barry
+estate began gradually to slip back to their old homes and resume paying
+their rents. The houses at New Tipperary which were built at that time
+now belong very largely to Stafford O'Brien, who furnished the land upon
+which they were built. Others are still the property of the Land League,
+and the rent, which is collected by a committee, goes into the
+parliamentary fund.
+
+Many people at Tipperary now declare that the "kick-up," as they call
+the quarrel between the leaders of the Land League, ruined the town,
+because it broke the boycott and compelled the tenants to surrender to
+the landlords, who have had them under their heels ever since. Several
+people told me that the "kick-up" ruined the butter business, but I
+could not get anyone to explain why. At any rate, Tipperary lost a great
+deal of its prosperity as well as its commercial importance immediately
+after that trouble, especially because it was followed by a large exodus
+to the United States. As many of the Barry tenants as could raise the
+money emigrated when the support of the Land League was withdrawn from
+them. They refused to stay and surrender to the landlords. All the young
+people in the county caught the emigration fever and left for the United
+States as fast as they could get money enough to buy steamship tickets.
+I was told that several of them had come back, bringing a good deal of
+money with them, and had bought farms in the neighborhood, but they soon
+became discontented. The experience of a few years in the United States
+unfits people for the primitive methods and the monotony of life in
+Ireland; and the eagerness of everybody to get to the United States is
+very significant. The jaunting car drivers, the hotel porters, the
+dining-room waiters, the chambermaids at the hotels, and everybody of
+the working class that a traveler comes in contact with, always ask
+questions about the expense of the journey, the probabilities of
+securing employment in the United States, and express their
+determination to emigrate as soon as they can.
+
+Tipperary also claims the authorship of that ancient and beautiful old
+air, "The Wearing of the Green." It is one of the oldest of Irish
+melodies, but only modern words are sung to it now, and there are
+several versions. That which Henry Grattan Curran, who is an excellent
+authority, claims to be the original, was written at Tipperary and runs
+as follows:
+
+              "I met with Napper Tandy,
+                And he took me by the hand,
+              Saying how is old Ireland?
+                And how does she stand?
+              She's the most distressful country
+                That ever yet was seen,
+              And they're hanging men and women
+                For the wearing of the green.
+
+              "I care not for the thistle,
+                I care not for the rose,
+              When bleak winds round us whistle
+                Neither down nor crimson shows;
+              But, like hope to him that's friendless,
+                When no joy around is seen,
+              O'er our graves with love that's endless
+                Blooms our own immortal green."
+
+The late Dion Boucicault used to sing another version in one of his
+plays, which he said was made over from a street ballad that he once
+heard in Dublin. He was not able to get all of the words and filled in
+what was lacking himself, as follows:
+
+  "Oh, Paddy, dear, an' did ye hear the news that's goin' round?
+  The Shamrock is by law forbid to grow on Irish ground:
+  No more St. Pathrick's Day we'll keep, his color can't be seen,
+  For there's a bloody law agin' the wearing of the green.
+  I met with Napper Tandy and he tuk me by the hand
+  And he said, 'How's poor ould Ireland and how does she stand?
+  She's the most disthressful counthry ever yet was seen,
+  For they're hangin' men and women there for wearing of the green.'
+
+  "Oh, if the color we must wear is England's cruel red,
+  Let it remind us of the blood that Ireland has shed.
+  Then pull the shamrock from your hat and throw it on the sod,
+  Ah, never fear, 'twill take root there, though under foot 'tis trod.
+  When the laws can stop the blades of grass from growin' as they grow.
+  And when the leaves in summer time their color dare not show,
+  Then I will change the color, too, that I wear in my caubeen;
+  But till that day, plaze God, I'll stick to wearing of the green."
+
+The Earl of Lismore is the Lord of Tipperary, and the head of the
+O'Callaghan family, who were formerly kings of Munster and are descended
+from a famous Milesian prince. The various generations have taken an
+active part in the affairs of Ireland since history began. They have
+been bishops, statesmen, lawyers, soldiers, sailors, and priests; they
+have married the daughters of the most prominent houses in the kingdom
+and their sisters have been the wives and mothers of dukes. They live at
+Clogheen, in the famous Sharbally Castle, and occupy land which has been
+in the family for many centuries.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXII
+
+                     THE IRISH HORSE AND HIS OWNER
+
+
+We attended the races at Leopardstown, about forty minutes south of
+Dublin by rail toward the picturesque Wicklow hills. The gate is at the
+railway station and the embankment upon which it stands gives an
+opportunity to see the entire panorama, and a beautiful one it is. One
+could not easily imagine a more peaceful, yet picturesque landscape, the
+race course being in the center of an amphitheater surrounded by wooded
+hills of lustrous green. I have said several times and will be apt to
+keep on saying--for it is the most interesting and the truest thing in
+Ireland--that the fields are greener and the foliage has a deeper tint
+than anywhere else I have been. And although it rains half the time and
+showers are more plentiful than sunshine, they make the grass and the
+leaves and the flowers more beautiful and rich in color and give old
+Mother Earth a brighter robe.
+
+The horses run on the turf, and there is no such thing as a trotting
+race. All of the entries are from breeding farms, not from sporting
+stables. The winner cares more for the cup than the money, for he enters
+his horses to increase the reputation of his stud rather than the size
+of his purse. There is a great deal of betting, both by owners and by
+the general public, but that is a secondary consideration. The chief end
+of a race is glory, and not gain.
+
+The course at Leopardstown is a perfect oval; the track runs between
+hedges instead of rails and is shaven like a lawn, but the grass is
+quite long in the infield, and cattle and sheep are grazing in bunches
+here and there. At one end is a group of vine-clad buildings, covered
+with red tiles, almost entirely hidden by overhanging boughs. A large
+stone house which used to be occupied by the farmer who owned this
+place is now the home of the caretaker, who sets a table for the
+trainers and the jockeys, and they sleep in the stables with their
+horses. I don't know exactly where or how they make their beds; perhaps
+they lie on the straw in the mangers, but it is the practice over here,
+and a groom seldom leaves his horse. There is little trickery on the
+Irish race course, because it is patronized by men of the highest social
+standing and integrity. They not only frown upon all forms of sharp
+practice, but there is no penalty too severe for a man that cheats or a
+jockey or a groom that violates the regulations. You read in novels of
+English and Irish life about horses being dosed with "knockout drops"
+and various other disreputable proceedings to make the situations more
+dramatic and startling, but it is asserted that there hasn't been a
+scandal of any consequence upon the Irish turf for the last ten years.
+As one enthusiastic horseman expressed himself, "It's run as honestly as
+the church, and more so than the government."
+
+The admission to the grounds is a shilling for all comers, but after the
+spectators enter they are classified according to the dimensions of
+their purses. Anybody can get a seat upon the bleachers for another
+shilling, and the larger part of the crowd go that way, because the
+grand stand prices are almost prohibitive to the working classes, being
+$1.50 for ladies and $2.50 for gentlemen. The grand stand is small and
+is not patronized by many people because the cheaper seats attract the
+crowd and the members' pavilion and clubhouse on the other side are open
+to all subscribers to the Jockey Club. As the privilege of membership
+can be had for a couple of guineas, nearly every gentleman of affairs
+who ever attends the races subscribes and that gives him admission to
+all the meetings and the privileges of the clubhouse. There were many
+carriages, motor cars, jaunting cars, and saddle horses in the infield,
+because the course is within driving distance from Dublin, and those who
+can prefer to come down that way. Under the grand stand is a restaurant,
+a tea-room, and a bar, all small and cozy and well kept, and the
+attendants are women,--cashiers, barmaids, waitresses, and cigar
+venders,--dressed in pretty liveries. The accommodations at the
+clubhouse are quite attractive as well as convenient, although they are
+closed to strangers like the ordinary clubs of the English and Irish
+cities. A member may invite a friend to luncheon or dinner, but he
+cannot put him up at a club in England and Ireland as we do in the
+United States. They are very selfish about such privileges.
+
+Behind the grand stand and the clubhouse is a large shaded inclosure
+accessible to the occupants of both, where the horses are brought before
+the races and the jockeys are weighed. The horses are brought there
+after the races also and the people stand in large circles around them
+to see them rubbed down. The paddock looks more like a garden party than
+a stable yard, for it is filled with ladies and gentlemen chatting
+gayly, promenading, and sometimes drinking tea, eating ices, or taking
+other refreshments on the benches, under the trees between races, or
+standing at the scales discussing the horses and talking to their
+owners. You have read descriptions of such scenes in society novels, no
+doubt, for many authors introduce the races as a feature. Here and there
+you can see a party with their lunch spread on a white cloth that covers
+the grass, and I have no doubt a good deal of flirting is going on,
+although it is more interesting to watch the horses and the crowd.
+
+There are many queer-looking people to be seen, in the oddest sort of
+clothes, from cap to boots. You cannot tell the rank of a person by
+looks, however. I have seen duchesses whose dresses didn't fit them at
+all, and countesses whose faces are so plain that they would stop a
+clock. I worshiped beside the wife of a "belted earl" at St. Patrick's
+Cathedral one Sunday, and her hat looked very much as if some one had
+sat upon it just before she started for church. The late Duke of
+Westminster, who was the richest man in the British Empire, had also the
+reputation of being the most slovenly. Dukes often look as if they were
+wearing "hand-me-downs," and the smartest-looking man in an assembly may
+be the worst rascal of the humblest rank. And that rule, I was told,
+applies to the race track as well as to other gatherings of mankind.
+
+I saw people who looked as if they had stepped out of the pages of
+Dickens or Thackeray, so old-fashioned were their garments, their hats,
+and their behavior. There were tall, gaunt farmers with fiery red faces;
+solid-looking burghers wearing silk hats and fringes of whiskers under
+their chins; jaunty military men, dashing young sports in riding habits,
+and hundreds of farmers in tweed and heavy woolen knickerbockers, nearly
+every one of them smoking a pipe. The stature of the men was noticeable.
+There are giants in Ireland in these days. Many of the women were very
+pretty and wore bright-colored gowns and sunshades that enlivened the
+scene. And several hideous old dowagers were very keen on betting, and
+pushed rudely to the front when the horses were running. You can always
+recognize a coachman, a groom, or a jockey in England or Ireland, and
+they were so numerous that they didn't interest us.
+
+The races were conducted very much like ours at home, and in the last
+one, as is usually the case, the horses were ridden by their owners.
+There was a field of sixteen, which caused confusion and delay at the
+starting post and a helter-skelter scramble along the track. Some of the
+gentlemen riders didn't come in at all, others were distanced, and the
+winners were greeted with tremendous applause by their friends and
+acquaintances, although very little enthusiasm was shown over the
+ordinary races. In no case did the winner receive a demonstration such
+as we consider essential in the United States.
+
+Mr. Richard Croker had two entries and should have won the second race,
+but Lucius Lyne, his Kentucky jockey, as the papers declared the
+following morning, went to sleep. He led the field easily all the way
+around and was cantering toward the wire without any show of speed when
+another horse under whip and spur overtook and overlapped him by a nose.
+As Croker's horse was the favorite with long odds, considerable
+indignation was expressed. He could have won the race without an effort;
+or at least that is what the men who lost their money on him say.
+
+Everybody bets on the races in Ireland, and the way in which the pink
+sporting supplements to the newspapers are grabbed on the streets by
+people in shabby garments indicates that the submerged section of the
+population feel an eager interest in the results of the races. An
+ordinary observer would infer that an equal number of people stake a
+similar amount of money in the United Kingdom and in the United States,
+but there seems to be no harm done there, or at least not enough to
+provoke the ban of the law. On the contrary, betting is "regulated."
+Bookmakers are all licensed by the government, and if they do not
+conduct their business honestly, or if they transgress the proprieties
+in any way, their privileges are taken away from them.
+
+They were scattered here and there among the spectators on the
+Leopardstown course, but there is evidently a rule requiring them to
+occupy a fixed place, because each of them stood upon a mat or a little
+wooden platform or a wagon cushion and never stirred from the spot. Some
+of them were dressed in a very conspicuous manner--indicating their
+individuality, I suppose, or carrying out some fad. One wore a bright
+orange suit that could have been seen a mile or two; another was in
+brilliant blue, a peculiar shade of that color I had never seen before,
+and his cap was of the same material. Another was in white duck, with
+his name painted in large, fancy red letters across his shoulders and
+across his breast. Each bookmaker wore a sash, upon which his name was
+plainly printed for identification, as well as the number of his
+license. Hence we knew that Mike Kelley, Joe Matterson, Timothy Burke,
+Patrick Sarsfield, George Bevers, and others, no doubt famous in their
+profession, were present. They were all in the open air in front of the
+stand, and each bookmaker had a book, a large one, in which he noted
+every bet as it was made and gave the bettor a ticket to identify it
+which corresponded with the number in the book. There is considerable
+clerical work in every transaction; and each bookmaker had a cashier
+beside him, wearing a leather pouch over his abdomen that hung from a
+strap around his neck. These pouches seemed to be uniform, and also bore
+the name and number of the man to whom they belonged. The cashier takes
+the money and makes the change while the bookmaker is booking the bet,
+and he cashes the tickets of the winners at the close of each race.
+
+When the bookmaker wasn't booking bets he was yelling like a lunatic to
+attract attention. When his lungs were exhausted his cashier relieved
+him, and in stentorian tones shouted his judgment as to the result of
+the next race. "Put your money on Cathie," one of them would yell. "Put
+your money on Desmond," came from a red-faced bookmaker a little
+distance away. "Bet your pile on the field," roared a third. "Even money
+on Baker's Boy." "I'm giving five to one on Sweet Sister." "I'm offering
+three to one on Silver Bell," and so on. The air was filled with similar
+cries, which were unintelligible, or at least without significance to a
+stranger, but we assumed that each bookmaker had favorites that he was
+booming to the best of his ability.
+
+Well-dressed, respectable-looking women were booking bets as well as
+men, and mingling with the crowd on even terms. There was no distinction
+of age or sex or rank or previous condition. And we were told that it
+was no sign of immorality and no violation of the laws of propriety for
+a lady to participate in the pools. Some of them, perhaps from a dislike
+to be jostled by the crowd, sent their escorts to book their bets, but
+messengers are evidently not allowed. I should judge that the stakes
+were small. I watched the cashing in of the winning tickets after
+several of the races, and it was mostly silver and a few pieces of gold
+that changed hands. I saw but one paper note passed, and you know that
+the lowest denomination of the paper money is £5. There was perfect
+order, although there seemed to be a great deal of drinking. There was
+always a large crowd before the bar between races, but no disturbance at
+all. The excitement seemed to occur just after the jockeys were weighed
+and while the horses were trotting slowly to the starting post. When the
+tapping of a bell told us they were off everybody was silent, and the
+victor received no applause when he passed under the wire. The winners
+turned their faces from the race track toward the bookmakers, cashed
+their checks, and the rest of the crowd strolled off toward the paddock
+to look over the candidates for the next running.
+
+Richard Croker, late of New York, lives on a beautiful farm of five
+hundred acres overlooking the Irish Channel, about nine miles south of
+Dublin, about two miles from the coast and four miles north of the
+ancient town of Bray, which has been celebrated so many times in song
+and story. It is an ideal country seat. He has shown the highest degree
+of taste in selecting the site and improving the property. He calls it
+Glencairn, and the name is chiseled upon the massive pillars that
+support a pair of iron gates. These gates are usually open, for he
+retains his democratic habits and is an excellent exemplar of Irish
+hospitality. Following a short drive between masses of rhododendrons,
+laburnums, and hawthorn trees, with friezes and wainscotings of glowing
+flower beds, one soon reaches a handsome and well-proportioned miniature
+castle of white granite of pleasing architectural design. And from a
+flagpole that rises at the top of the tower Mr. Croker sometimes unfolds
+the Stars and Stripes.
+
+Several people told me that there is no finer place for its size, and
+Mr. Croker's home is estimated among the first dozen of country seats in
+Ireland. It was a rough tract of land when he bought it from one of the
+judges of the Irish courts, and had been neglected for many years. At a
+large expense and a great amount of labor he has turned it into a little
+paradise. What was formerly a wild waste is now one of the loveliest
+landscapes you can imagine. The house is surrounded by a lustrous lawn
+and a garden of flowers and foliage plants, and behind it is a series of
+large hothouses in which he is raising orchids and early fruits and
+vegetables. About one hundred acres are in wheat, oats, potatoes, and
+other crops, about ten acres in garden, and the remainder of the five
+hundred acres is meadow and pasture.
+
+The interior of the mansion is handsomely furnished according to the
+conventional requirements of a wealthy country gentleman, and the walls
+are hung with paintings representing racing incidents and famous race
+horses of the present and the past. At one end of the portico at the
+main entrance is a large screen of white canvas covered with cryptograms
+of Egypt, cartouches of the Pharaohs and other designs which Mr. Croker
+brought back with him from his visit to the Nile last winter. And in the
+main hall are several other Egyptian souvenirs.
+
+All of the work upon the place has been done by local artisans, and all
+of the employees of the stock farm belong to families in the
+neighborhood, for Mr. Croker believes in practical home rule. His chief
+trainer is an Irishman, like all his grooms, but Lucius Lyne, a
+Kentuckian, has ridden his horses since 1906. John Reiff, a famous
+American jockey, rode Orby when he won the Derby, and Mr. Croker will
+not trust any but American jockeys in his saddles. Every one else about
+the place, however, is Irish. And Mr. Croker has been a veritable fairy
+godfather to the poor people in his neighborhood, although his old
+friends in New York will agree that he does not look the part. He has
+not only given employment at good wages to almost every man in that
+locality, but has assisted several families in a substantial manner. His
+generosity seems to be boundless. He gave every dollar of his winnings
+at the Derby to Archbishop Walsh of Dublin for the charities of the
+church, and it would amuse you to hear the enthusiastic terms in which
+his neighbors praise him for his good heart and his good works.
+
+He takes no part in local politics, although his sympathies are very
+strongly with the nationalist party, and at the last parliamentary
+election in 1906 he contributed generously to the campaign fund, and on
+election day loaned his automobile and his carriage to haul infirm and
+lazy voters to the polls. The contest was between Walter Long, an
+Englishman, who had been defeated for parliament by one English
+constituency and was sent over there by the conservative leaders in
+London to contest one of the Irish seats, and a labor leader named
+Hazelton, who had been nominated by the nationalist party. Mr. Croker
+took an unusual interest in the fight because, from his point of view,
+it was not only an impertinence but an indignity to set up an
+Englishman for the votes of an Irish constituency. And he was even the
+more indignant when Long was elected, as he claims, by the votes and
+influence of the officials and pensioners of the government and the
+soldiers of the garrison. He criticises the management of the
+nationalist committee for not looking after the registration of their
+voters. The registration laws are very strict over here and many of the
+poorer classes are disfranchised for not complying strictly with them.
+Mr. Croker says that if the contest had been in New York the Tammany
+leaders would have got out every vote and Long would have been defeated.
+Next time he will undoubtedly give the nationalist campaign managers
+some hints as to how an election should be conducted. Mr. Croker is an
+earnest home ruler, although he would prefer to see Ireland a republic,
+but he says that he does not intend to get mixed up in Irish politics.
+He considers his political career as finished and he intends to spend
+the rest of his life in the quiet seclusion of his present home with his
+horses and intimate friends.
+
+He says that the Tammany people in New York do not bother him much with
+political matters. Occasionally he receives a cablegram, or a letter
+asking his advice or his influence, and occasionally somebody comes over
+to confer with him, but he considers himself "entirely out of it and
+does not want to be bothered."
+
+Mr. Croker showed us around the place in his silent, matter-of-fact
+manner, but could not suppress the pride he feels in his horses and his
+satisfaction with the record he has already made upon the turf in
+Ireland and England with his own colts, for he doesn't own or race any
+but those that are foaled and bred and trained in his own stables. That
+is what he is here for, and that is his greatest gratification, and he
+likes it a great deal better than politics. He brought with him to
+Ireland a famous Kentucky mare named "Rhoda B.," which we did not see
+because she was down in the pasture, and from her he has been breeding a
+string of colts that have had remarkable success. Every one of them has
+been foaled at Glencairn. He has won the English Derby and two Irish
+Derbys, and the English Newmarket, which is the third in order of the
+great events on the English turf. Rhodora won the thousand-guinea race
+in the Newmarket, and Mr. Croker is confident that another colt called
+"Alabama" will win the Derby just as Orby did.
+
+[Illustration: AN IRISH JAUNTING CAR]
+
+Back of his mansion and his flower garden and his hothouses is a
+quadrangle of box stalls. In the center is a statue of Dobbin, the first
+horse Mr. Croker ever owned and for which he had great affection. There
+are a dozen stalls, and in the first he showed us Orby, a beautiful
+creature, as vain and conscious as a prima donna, that seems to realize
+the supreme importance of a Derby winner. Nailed upon the door is a gold
+plate properly inscribed and inclosed by one of the shoes worn in that
+race.
+
+Across the quadrangle were a number of two-year-olds named Lusitania,
+Fluffy Ruffles, Lady Stepaside, Lotus, Lavalta, and one or two others,
+all foaled on the place, and six yearlings which Mr. Croker exhibited to
+us with the pride of possession, and one or two others which he said
+"were no good." At the stable of Alabama he showed more animation and
+did more talking than those who know him would suppose him capable of.
+Mr. Croker has the reputation of being one of the most reticent and
+unemotional men in the world, as all American politicians know, and I
+never saw him warm up over anything before. He has a face like a
+bulldog, perfectly expressionless, and no one can ever tell whether he
+is pleased or displeased from the lines in his face or the tone of his
+voice, which is always low and deliberate. But when he showed us
+Alabama, the son of Americus and Rhoda B., he woke up and actually
+became animated as he described the fine points of the colt and told us
+what he had been doing and what he is expected to do.
+
+Mr. Croker has an even dozen horses and colts in training, and he showed
+us some yearlings of great promise. His two-year-olds and
+three-year-olds are all entered for races in Ireland, and those that do
+well will be sent over to England. In 1907 his horses won forty races in
+both countries, and his stable has altogether about three hundred to
+its credit since he came to Ireland.
+
+The horse show at Dublin in August is the greatest event in Ireland, and
+draws from the entire kingdom as well as from the Continent, thousands
+of horse breeders and horse owners and fashionable people. It is
+probably the most brilliant and important horse show in the world.
+
+There are three kinds of jaunting cars,--"outside cars," in which the
+passengers sit back to back with their feet on shelves over the wheels;
+"inside cars," in which they sit face to face with their feet in the
+middle, and "single cars," which have one seat accommodating two persons
+facing the horse. The latter are the most comfortable of all, but give
+the passengers a good shaking up, which we are told is excellent for the
+liver.
+
+It is a curious fact that the jaunting car, although it is distinctively
+Irish, and would not be tolerated in any other country, was invented and
+introduced by an Italian, Charles Bianconi, a native of Milan, who
+arrived in Ireland about the year 1800 and set up at Clonmel as an
+artist and picture dealer. Being struck by the absence of vehicles in
+the country, for everybody went on horseback in those days, he built a
+conveyance of his own design which immediately became popular and was
+imitated by every one who had the means to build or buy a box and a pair
+of wheels.
+
+Only in Dublin can you hire a covered carriage--four-wheelers or
+"growlers," as they are called in London; but in Waterford, Cork, and
+Limerick are "covered cars," which are without doubt the most
+uncomfortable vehicles that anybody ever rode in, unless it be a Chinese
+cart. They are "inside cars," with a hood of canvas or leather over
+them, supported by an iron frame or hickory bows. Imagine a large,
+square box with one end knocked out of it, and replaced by a step or two
+for the passengers to enter; two seats, one on either side, upon which
+the passengers sit _vis-a-vis_, clinging to straps suspended from the
+roof. There are no windows, no place for ventilation except the open
+back, which is covered with a curtain that may be raised or not,
+according to the state of the weather.
+
+[Illustration: GOING TO MARKET]
+
+Two things which everybody can commend in Ireland are the horses and the
+donkeys--the style, strength, beauty, and speed of the one and the
+uncomplaining endurance of the other. An Irish horse never gets tired,
+is never lazy, and never vicious--at least, that is what his breeders
+and owners say of him, and, of course, the Irish hunters are the best in
+the world. But the Irish donkey, who does the humble and insignificant
+traffic, who hauls the vegetables to market and does the teaming for the
+small farmers, is an object of universal admiration. Not for his beauty,
+of course, but for those higher qualities that make up character, for
+his strength of purpose, his untiring industry, his patient fidelity.
+They are the mainstay of the Irish poor, and, although the object of
+ridicule and wit, I think the people appreciate them, because they treat
+them so much better than the Italians and Spaniards and the peons of the
+Spanish-American republics of America.
+
+"Go back to your brother!" said a street urchin the other day to a
+costermonger who left his donkey by the roadside for a few moments. "Go
+back to your brother!" said the chauffeur of our automobile to a woman
+who was driving a donkey cart and came across to inspect our machine.
+"Go back to your brother!" said a policeman to a young boy who was
+driving a donkey cart and had jumped off his ordinary seat upon the
+whiffletree to resent the attack of some street urchin. And when I asked
+the policeman about the use of that phrase, which one hears continually,
+he explained that it was common all over Ireland for a donkey driver to
+call his beast "brother," and it deserves that name for its fidelity if
+for nothing more.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXIII
+
+                        CORK AND BLARNEY CASTLE
+
+
+Cork is a neat but an ugly town, which had a hundred thousand population
+twenty years ago and now has only eighty thousand. The missing ones,
+they tell me, have gone to the United States. It is one of the most
+prosperous and one of the cleanest cities in Ireland, and, although in
+former years strangers complained of pestiferous beggars, we have not
+seen a single one. The common people are much better dressed and the
+children are much neater in their appearance than those of the similar
+class in Dublin. They don't buy their clothing at a slopshop. They are
+more cheerful and happy, and the women show more pride and better taste
+in their apparel.
+
+The River Lee, which rises over on the west coast, in Lake
+Gougane-Barra, near Killarney, divides into two streams just as it
+reaches the city of Cork, and embraces the business section of the town
+between the two channels. They are walled up with masonry, and wide
+quays on either side furnish plenty of room for handling the commerce,
+which seems to be considerable. Large sums of money have been spent to
+deepen the channel and furnish conveniences for handling the trade, and
+vessels drawing twenty feet of water can come up to the very center of
+the city at low tide, where they discharge Welsh coal and English
+merchandise and receive agricultural produce, bacon, woolen goods,
+hides, and leather, and various other products of Ireland. The walls of
+the quay are hung with unconscious artistic taste every morning with
+fishing nets. The fishermen bring their catch up the river to the very
+door of the market and spread their nets over the gray stones to dry.
+The entire distance from these quays to the Atlantic Ocean at
+Queenstown, about twelve miles, is a panorama of beauty. For the river
+on both sides is inclosed between high bluffs that are clad with the
+richest of foliage and flowering plants, among which you can catch
+glimpses of artistic villas. Tom Moore called it "the noble sea avenue
+of God."
+
+All tourists like Cork. It is a cheerful city. The atmosphere is
+brighter and the streets are more attractive than in Dublin. The shops
+are large and the show windows are well dressed, and on St. Patrick's
+Street, which, of course, is the principal thoroughfare, there are
+several windows full of most appetizing buns and cakes and other things
+to eat. But the tradesmen are remarkably late about getting around in
+the morning. When I go out for my walk after breakfast, between eight
+and nine o'clock, most of the shops are still closed, the doors are
+locked, and the shutters are up. None of the retail merchants expect
+customers until after nine, and then they open very slowly. The markets
+do not commence business until nine o'clock and wholesale dealers and
+their clerks do not get down until ten. A gentleman of whom I inquired
+about this indolent custom declared that it was as ancient as the ruins
+of Fin-Barre Abbey. He declared, however, that although they lie abed
+late in the morning the business men of Cork made things hum when they
+once got started.
+
+Cork is a city of churches and some of them are modern, which is a
+novelty. The Roman Catholic Cathedral is an imposing structure and the
+interior is magnificent.
+
+One of the "Godless colleges" is in Cork--Queen's College--which
+occupies a beautiful situation upon a bluff on the outskirts of the
+city, entirely hidden among venerable trees and flowering plants, with a
+swift flowing brook at its feet. It was the site of a monastery
+established here by Fin-Barre, the patron saint of Cork, who came here
+about the year 700, built a chapel, and started a monastic school that
+became famous and attracted many students from the continent of Europe.
+The city grew up around that monastery and was first composed of
+students who lived in huts and cabins of their own construction while
+they carried on their studies. Then business men and farmers began to
+come in and Cork became a place of sufficient importance to attract the
+attention of the Danish sea-rovers who, after plundering it again and
+again, took a fancy to the place and settled down here themselves. St.
+Fin-Barre was buried in his own church and his dust was afterward taken
+out of the tomb and enshrined in a silver reliquary which was carried
+away by one of the O'Briens when he drove the McCarthys, who happened to
+be a power in 1089, out of his stronghold and looted the place.
+
+Over the arched entrance to the Queen's College are the significant
+words:
+
+"Where Fin-Barre Taught, Let Munster Learn."
+
+It is a modern college founded by Queen Victoria in 1849, together with
+two others of the same sort at Belfast and Galway, and the three are
+affiliated under the title of "The Royal University of Ireland." That
+gives the degrees bestowed upon their graduates a higher character and a
+greater value according to the notions of the people here. The buildings
+are pretentious and of the Tudor order of architecture. They look very
+much like those of the Washington University at St. Louis, and are
+arranged in a similar manner, only the damp atmosphere here gives the
+stone a maturity of color that no college in the United States is old
+enough to acquire. There are no dormitories. The students room and board
+where they like. There are only lecture-rooms, examination halls, a
+library, and a museum. There is no chapel, no religious services, and no
+bishops or other clergymen are upon the board of trustees. That is why
+the institution is under the ban of the Catholic church, and is not
+patronized by the people of the Church of Ireland. There are departments
+of art, science, engineering, law, and medicine, but no theology. There
+is a school, at which the applied sciences and the trades are taught,
+occupying the old building of the Royal Cork Institute and attended by
+many ambitious young men and women. It is a sort of Cooper Institute,
+founded by a brewer named Crawford, who made his money here. There is
+also an agricultural and dairy school, with an experimental farm of
+one hundred and eighty acres on the hills about half a mile from the
+city, where instruction is given in butter and cheese making and in
+general agricultural science. Cork is the center of the dairy trade of
+Ireland and exports a great deal of butter to London.
+
+[Illustration: QUEEN'S COLLEGE, CORK]
+
+There are several Catholic seminaries and convents and Protestant
+boarding-schools for boys and girls and preparatory institutions of
+various grades attended by children from all parts of southern Ireland,
+which make Cork an educational center. There is a handsome library
+presented by Mr. Carnegie, adjoining the City Hall, with twelve thousand
+volumes and about three thousand ticket-holders, who, according to the
+report of the librarian, borrowed 85,406 books last year, of which
+63,902 were works of fiction. There is another library belonging to a
+chartered association that is available only to its members. There is an
+opera-house and several theatres, and all the advantages and attractions
+that one would expect in a city of this size, with a race course of two
+hundred and forty acres on the banks of the river, just outside the city
+limits.
+
+There is an attractive promenade, a mile long, called the Mardyke,
+sheltered by splendid old trees which form a natural arch overhead,
+which was fashionable for gossip and flirtation as long ago as 1720, but
+is now given up chiefly to servant girls and their lovers and nurses and
+children.
+
+The birds sing more sweetly in Cork than any place we have been, or
+perhaps we have noticed them more readily than we have done elsewhere.
+Irish birds are as cheerful and happy as Irish people. When we were
+wandering through the campus of Queen's College, just after a shower,
+the trees were alive with larks and thrushes. They had come out of their
+hiding places and were bursting with song.
+
+I met an old woman, bent and gaunt and gray, with bright blue eyes and a
+canny expression, and asked her the way to the house I was seeking. She
+answered with politeness, and I gave her a penny.
+
+"God welcome you to Ireland," she said. "An' may yer honor's visit be
+prosperous. Yer honor is from America. I kin tell that by yer fine looks
+and yer fine manners, and I've a son over there meself. I'm nothin' but
+a poor widdy on the edge of the grave, or I'd be follering him there at
+all, at all."
+
+And it is astonishing how many people we meet here, who have sons and
+brothers and sisters in the United States. Most of them seem to be in
+Chicago, Boston, and Brooklyn. Even a rosy-cheeked little newsboy from
+whom I bought a paper on the street recognized my nationality and
+remarked, "An' I've a brother in Brooklyn, meself, sor." At least
+one-fourth of the population of Cork have emigrated to the United States
+since the census was taken in 1891, and more are going by every steamer.
+
+The Protestant Cathedral is a fine, modern building with a lofty central
+tower and four smaller towers of the same design surrounding it. It was
+finished only a few years ago and cost half a million dollars, most of
+the money being derived from legacies. It stands on the site of an
+ancient church built by St. Fin-Barre. The grounds are large and
+beautifully shaded, with here and there a tomb of some distinguished
+man. The service and the singing are quite impressive, and we heard the
+best choir we have found in Ireland.
+
+But the church where everybody goes, which every tourist must visit, is
+St. Anne's, on the other side of the river, on Shandon Street, which was
+built in 1722, and is remarkable for an extraordinary-looking tower one
+hundred and twenty feet high, faced on two sides with red stone and on
+the other sides with white stone. It is exceedingly ugly, but the people
+of Cork are very much attached to it, and particularly to the chime of
+eight bells which hang in the tower and have been immortalized in a
+simple little poem by "Father Prout," who was the Rev. Francis Mahoney,
+and is buried in the churchyard in the tomb of his ancestors.
+
+"Father Prout" was the _nom de plume_ of this witty and sentimental
+clergyman, who was most prolific with his productions. He wrote odes to
+almost everything in Ireland--plain, simple, homely lines, but full of
+sentiment and the true poetic spirit. The common people admire them
+above all other literary works except the ballads of Tom Moore, and
+indeed Father Prout's verses rank with Moore's melodies in popularity.
+He also published a great deal of prose, stories and satires and
+anecdotes illustrating the thoughts and the habits of his fellow
+countrymen, and occasionally a political satire which involved him in a
+controversy with his bishop or some political leader. Father Prout in
+his famous lyric described the peculiar appearance of the spire of his
+church:
+
+          "Parti-colored like the people,
+          Red and white, stands Shandon's steeple."
+
+               "With deep affection
+               And recollection
+               I often think of
+                 Those Shandon bells,
+               Whose sounds so wild would
+               In the days of childhood
+               Fling round my cradle
+                 Their magic spells.
+                 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."
+
+Most of the streets of Cork are wide and well paved, although they are
+entirely devoid of architectural features and, with the exception of the
+cathedral, Queen's College, and the courthouse with a stately Grecian
+portico, there are no buildings in the city worthy of special mention.
+On the Parade, as one of the principal streets is called, is a
+conspicuous pile of carved granite that is intensely admired by
+everybody. It is designed like a shrine, and under a granite canopy is a
+rude statue of "Erin," leaning upon a harp. Outside, at each corner of
+the pedestal, are still ruder figures intended to represent Wolf Tone,
+Davis, O'Neill, Crowley, and Dwyer, heroes of the continuous struggle
+against British domination. The faces of the pedestal are closely
+inscribed with names, with these lines in English and Gaelic:
+
+  "Erected through the efforts of the Cork Young Ireland Society to
+  perpetuate the memory of the gallant men of 1798, 1803, 1848 and
+  1867, who fought and died in defense of Ireland, and to recover her
+  sovereign independence. To inspire the youth of our country to
+  follow in their patriotic footsteps and to imitate their heroic
+  example.
+
+          "And righteous men will make our land
+                A nation once again."
+
+The breakfast-room at the Imperial Hotel one morning was filled with a
+lively and noisy crowd of gentlemen of all ages wearing red coats,
+waistcoats of startling pattern, jockey caps, leather leggings, and
+heavy brogans. I was told that they represented the nobility of County
+Cork, and had gathered to hunt otter along the River Lee and the creeks
+that feed it west of the city. There was one woman in the party, who
+wore a short skirt of gray tweed, a red jacket, a jockey cap, and high
+boots. In the stableyard was a pack of hounds in leash which had been
+brought in from the country. The Marquis of Conyngham was master of the
+hunt. Otter hunting in the summer along the swampy, muddy banks of the
+creeks of Ireland takes the place of fox hunting in the winter. The
+elusive otter is tracked to his hole by the hounds and is then stirred
+out by gallant gentlemen with pikes--long poles shod with iron
+tips--after they have chased him through the mud. They keep the skins
+for robes, stuff the heads for ornaments, and mount the tails for
+brushes. These hunts take place at least twice a week during the summer
+season and are sometimes attended by forty or fifty noblemen and gentry.
+
+Cork is a very orderly city. The laws are strictly enforced. I noticed
+by the newspaper reports of the police courts that people are fined for
+profane swearing and for boisterous behavior. We didn't see a drunken
+man or woman in Cork, and in Dublin they were common. This is largely
+due to the work of Bishop O'Callahan and the priests of his diocese and
+the influence of Father Mathew, the great apostle of temperance, who led
+a movement that reached every corner of the world about fifty years ago.
+There are monuments to Father Mathew in many of the cities of Ireland.
+There is one in Dublin on the principal street, between that of Daniel
+O'Connell and that now being erected to Parnell, while in Cork the
+statue of Father Mathew on St. Patrick's Street is the center and focus
+of all activity. It faces the entrance to the principal bridge over the
+River Lee and all the street-car lines terminate there. A memorial
+church has been erected to his memory here, and the Church of the Holy
+Trinity, of which he was the pastor, has been restored and enlarged.
+Father Mathew is buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery, on the outskirts of
+the city, which was formerly the Botanic Gardens, and was obtained by
+him for a burial place for his congregation in 1830. His precious dust
+is inclosed in a fine sarcophagus surmounted by the figure of an angel
+in white marble.
+
+Theobold Mathew was a Capuchin friar, born in Cork, and was attached to
+the Church of the Holy Trinity in that city. In 1838 he joined a
+temperance society that had been started by some Protestant gentlemen,
+chiefly Quakers, for the purpose of offering an example to young
+mechanics in his parish. He soon became the leading spirit of the
+organization, was made its president, and finally started upon a mission
+throughout Ireland to organize similar societies and to promote total
+abstinence among the people. From that time he devoted his life to the
+work, and being an orator of remarkable power and possessed of
+extraordinary energy, zeal, and devotion, he excited the interest of
+every class of people and of every community on the island. The
+influence of his agitation was felt in England, Scotland, Australia,
+America, and in every other part of the world until his name became a
+universal synonym for temperance. Father Mathew's Total Abstinence
+societies are still found in almost every city and town in which the
+English language is spoken. He addressed immense audiences and spoke
+twice on Tara Hill, which was the throne of the kings of Ireland before
+Julius Cæsar ruled at Rome. He administered total abstinence pledges to
+half the people in the country, and intemperance in drink, with its
+attendant evils and misery, almost disappeared from Ireland. The famine
+that followed his crusade destroyed much of the good effect, because it
+demoralized the people and many tried to drown their sorrows in drink.
+It has been said that Father Mathew died of a broken heart, because so
+many of his converts violated their pledges, but, since the days of
+Peter the Hermit, no individual has exercised such a moral influence.
+
+"Now, Terence, me b'y, tell the loidies and gintlemen all ye know, an'
+kape the rist to yoursilf," was the parting injunction of the porter of
+the Imperial Hotel to the jarvey of the jaunting car, as he tucked the
+rugs around our legs and started us off for Blarney Castle, which is
+five miles from town. It is a delightful drive, for the suburbs of Cork
+are surrounded by fertile farms and the pastures are illuminated with
+buttercups in summer, and inclosed in hedges of hawthorn that are bright
+with blossoms. All nature seems to be in a cheerful mood these days, and
+the frequent rains, which interfere considerably with motoring, give an
+appearance of freshness to all the vegetation and a vitality to the
+trees and plants and flowers and everything growing. That is peculiar to
+Ireland. It is true that showers come down and cease with surprising
+suddenness and frequency, and the rain falls as if it was very heavy and
+had dropped a long distance, but if you carry an umbrella, and that is
+the universal custom, you are none the worse for it.
+
+A narrow-gauge baby railway starts from outside the campus of Queen's
+College in Cork and runs to Blarney, a town of about eight hundred
+inhabitants, mostly farmers, who cultivate the surrounding soil and
+breed cattle, while their wives and daughters work in a woolen factory
+belonging to the Mahoney brothers, which is said to produce the best
+tweed in the kingdom. And you can buy suitings at the shops in Cork.
+Nothing is sold at the factory.
+
+Blarney Castle, as everybody knows, is one of the best preserved and
+most beautiful of the many ruins of Ireland, and is probably better
+known throughout the world than any other because of the marvelous
+qualities of a famous stone which forms a part of its walls. As Father
+Prout in one of his verses expresses it:
+
+              "There is a stone there
+              That whoever kisses,
+              Oh, he never misses
+                To grow eloquent.
+              'Tis he that may clamber
+              To my lady's chamber,
+              Or become a member
+                Of parliament."
+
+The castle stands on the banks of a dashing stream called the Comane,
+full of trout and well protected, and is surrounded by a wonderful
+forest of cedar, birch, and beech trees that are centuries old. Their
+trunks are entwined with ivy, and the rocks and ledges upon which the
+castle stands are cushioned with the same material. I don't know that I
+have ever seen such luxurious ivy or such sumptuous vegetation out of
+the tropics, or such fragrant shade. There are natural caves and
+grottoes in the cliffs, all of which have served a useful purpose in
+ancient times, and are associated with various fascinating legends.
+There is a difficult ascent to a natural terrace that is called "The
+Witch's Stairs." A thoughtful owner of this glorious forest has placed
+benches at easy intervals, where visitors may sit and read the history,
+traditions, and legends of the place and imagine that he can see the
+fairies that dance by moonlight on the carpet of ivy that conceals the
+earth. Every step is haunted by a goblin or a ghost, and every dark and
+gloomy corner has been the scene of a tragedy.
+
+The castle is well kept, and Sir George Colthurst, the owner, makes it
+as pleasant as he can for the thousands of tourists who come here every
+year from all parts of the world, and of course a large majority of
+them are Americans. No tourist thinks of visiting Ireland without seeing
+Blarney Castle, and aside from the legends and the satisfaction of
+having been here it is well worth the trouble. The tower or "keep,"
+which was the fortified part of the building, is almost intact except
+the floors, but the residential portions have crumbled and fallen away.
+The castle was built by Cormack MacCarthy, Prince of Desmond, who ruled
+all of Ireland south of Cork, in 1173. The Desmond clan fought the
+Geraldines (the followers of the Earl of Kildare, whose territory
+adjoined them on the north) until 1537, when a league was formed between
+the two clans, with other princes, against the English, who were kept
+pretty busy within the Pale, as the territory immediately around Dublin
+was called.
+
+Lady Eleanor MacCarthy saved the life of Gerald Fitzgerald, the son of
+Silken Thomas, Earl of Kildare, who rebelled against English authority.
+She succeeded in escaping from the country with him and taking him to
+Rome, where the babe, the only survivor of the vengeance of Henry VIII.,
+was concealed and cared for by a cardinal who happened to be a distant
+relative. And it was thus, through the devotion of a brave woman, from
+its hereditary enemies, that the house of Kildare escaped extinction.
+
+In the time of Queen Elizabeth, however, upon the suppression of what is
+known in history as the Geraldine rebellion, the vast estates of the
+Earl of Desmond and those of the MacCarthys and one hundred and forty
+other chiefs and landowners in Munster were confiscated by a parliament
+that met in Dublin, and were given to English adventurers for two pence
+and three pence an acre and sometimes for no price at all, upon
+agreements that they would colonize the lands with Englishmen. The head
+of the house at that date was imprisoned in the Tower of London with Sir
+Walter Raleigh, accused of treason, and it was he who outwitted Queen
+Elizabeth with his "deludering" until she coined the word "blarney" to
+describe his fluent conversation.
+
+[Illustration: BLARNEY CASTLE, COUNTY CORK]
+
+The famous Blarney stone is as well known as the King of England, and
+the superstition is that whoever kisses it becomes instantly endowed
+with wonderful persuasion of speech. But very few people and only the
+most daring athletes have ever tried the experiment. The miraculous
+stone is the sill of a window, which projects from the main wall near
+the top of the tower. As it is eight or ten inches below the level of
+the floor and across an open space of about twenty or twenty-four
+inches, it is not only difficult, but dangerous to attempt to reach it.
+A slip would send you head first to the ground, one hundred and twenty
+feet below. The only way in which it can be done is for the person who
+tries to support himself over the edge of the wall by straps from the
+top, and, with his face upward, draw himself across until his lips can
+reach the stone. Almost everybody that visits Blarney Castle comes home
+with a tale of the time he had in kissing the Blarney stone, but no one
+has seen him doing so for years, and it can only be done by carrying
+tackle to the castle. Mrs. Hanna Ford, a gentle and considerate old
+lady, who has been custodian of the place for more than thirty-six
+years, told me that she had never known but half a dozen people to kiss
+the stone in all that time.
+
+Sir George Colthurst, the owner, charges a sixpence of every visitor and
+collects scarcely enough to pay the expenses of keeping the place in
+order. The visitors average about one hundred a day during the summer
+months, but nobody ever goes out there during the winter.
+
+Kilkenny is one of the prettiest and most interesting little cities of
+the kingdom, and is simply loaded with historical associations,
+political, personal, military, and religious. No town has more
+fascination for a student of the history of Ireland, because here was
+enacted that extraordinary and outrageous code known as the statute of
+Kilkenny of 1367, which was intended to exterminate everything Irish
+from the face of the earth. According to this law intermarriage, trade,
+and relations of every kind between the English settlers in Ireland and
+the natives was forbidden as high treason, and the punishment was death.
+It was intended to separate the two races entirely and forevermore. If
+any man wore Irish clothing, or used the Celtic language, or rode a
+horse without a saddle, as the Irish were accustomed to do, his lands
+and houses were forfeited and he was sent to prison. The Irish were
+forbidden to follow their ordinary customs and habits, and were
+commanded to speak only English, a language they did not know. It was
+forbidden them to speak Celtic, it was forbidden them to sing native
+songs or to receive or listen to Irish bards or pipers; no native could
+become a clergyman, a lawyer, or enter any of the professions, and every
+possible connection with the past was obliterated. All Irish books and
+manuscripts were ordered to be destroyed, and if the intention of the
+parliament which passed that law in Kilkenny in 1367 had been obeyed,
+every event, tradition, and legend concerning the Irish race would have
+been forgotten. But it soon became a dead letter. It could not be
+enforced, and the English and the Irish continued to live in a friendly
+way, and intermarry and enjoy themselves as much as ever before.
+
+Then Kilkenny was the scene of the famous "Irish confederation," which
+met here in 1642 with the intention of reconciling all the conflicting
+interests in Ireland and doing exactly the reverse of what was proposed
+by the statute of 1367. It was desirable to unite the Irish with the
+English to sustain King Charles I., and to defend the Roman Catholic
+religion against Cromwell and the parliament. Therefore Kilkenny became
+the object of resentment and vindictiveness to the parliamentary army
+when it invaded Ireland. The destruction committed by that army may be
+seen all through this part of the country. Kilkenny is in the midst of a
+land of ruins, and this county has been fought over for ages--one of the
+most frequent scenes of conflict in all the universe ever since history
+began.
+
+There is an Irish town and an English town, as in Limerick, and the two
+are engaged in an eternal controversy, the racial prejudice being
+intense. This controversy, which at one time had nearly impoverished
+both communities, was illustrated by a writer two centuries ago by the
+famous story of the "Kilkenny Cats," which, by the way, is said to be
+true. In the sixteenth century, during the time of Queen Elizabeth, some
+soldiers of the English garrison at Kilkenny Castle amused themselves
+one day by catching two vagrant cats, tying their tails together and
+hanging them over a line. An indignant officer coming up in the midst of
+their hilarity endeavored to separate the animals, and, being unable to
+do so, released them by slashing off the tails of both with his sword;
+and as their paws touched the ground, they fled into oblivion. The
+waggish soldiers preserved the remnants of the tails and showed them as
+evidence of the combative abilities of the cats of Kilkenny, which
+fought until nothing was left but their tails.
+
+Kilkenny claims the most beautiful church in Ireland--the Cathedral of
+St. Canice, formerly Roman Catholic, but since the Reformation belonging
+to the Church of Ireland. It dates back to 1251, but was thoroughly
+restored in 1865, and is now in almost perfect condition. It is
+particularly rich in medieval monuments, and no other church in the
+country can compare with this for number, variety, artistic beauty, and
+historic interest. The Roman Catholic cathedral is also a gem and
+entirely modern, having been completed and consecrated in 1857. It is
+greatly admired for the symmetry and chasteness of its details.
+
+Kilkenny is also famous as an educational center, having several noted
+schools. One of them, known as The College, has had Dean Swift, Bishop
+Berkeley (who went to America in 1728, and established schools and
+missionary stations), Congreve, and other famous Irishmen as pupils.
+
+The Castle of Kilkenny, which was erected by William Le Mareschal,
+son-in-law of Strongbow, in 1191, is still in excellent condition, but
+has been added to and repaired from time to time during the centuries.
+It was thoroughly altered and restored about fifty years ago by the
+father of the present Duke of Ormonde, and has since been occupied the
+greater part of the year by the family. Fortunately, in the extensions
+and restorations, the original character of the structure has been
+preserved and its individuality has not been impaired. It forms three
+sides of a large quadrangle with three round towers, castellated in the
+style of the twelfth century. The dining-hall is one of the finest rooms
+in Europe and contains many pieces of gold plate, antique ivory, and
+china that have been in the family for centuries. The picture gallery is
+a splendid apartment, one hundred and twenty feet long and thirty feet
+wide, and contains more than one hundred and eighty pictures, including
+family portraits by Van Dyck, Holbein, Lely, Kellner, Reynolds, and
+others, and gems of Murillo, Correggio, Salvatore Rosa, Claude Lorrain,
+Tintoretto, and other great masters. In the drawing-room is a picture of
+the Virgin and Child, by Correggio, which was presented to the second
+Duke of Ormonde by the Dutch government in recognition of his services
+in the Low Countries during the reign of Queen Anne. The garden and the
+park are superb and the family are generous enough to permit the public
+to share in their enjoyment of them.
+
+The Ormonde family stands next to the Geraldines at the head of the
+nobility, and the two have always been rivals in power and equals in
+renown. Their history has been the history of Ireland and fills many
+interesting pages from the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. The
+surname of the family, Butler, originated in the appointment of Theobold
+Fitzwalter, who accompanied Henry II. as chief butler to the king and
+was granted the prisage of the wines of Ireland--a very valuable
+monopoly. He returned to England with his sovereign but afterward
+accompanied Prince John into Ireland in 1185, and was granted large
+tracts of land for his services. The family grew in numbers and in power
+and wealth and the rivalry with the Kildares began in 1300, although
+they were intermarried in several generations. James Butler was created
+the first Earl of Ormonde by Edward I. in 1321, and married a daughter
+of the king. He was granted the regalities, libraries, etc., of County
+Tipperary and built his castle there. James, the second Earl of Ormonde,
+was also a man of great importance. He was called the noble earl,
+because he was a grandson of King Edward I. and was Lord Justice of
+Ireland from 1359 to 1376.
+
+[Illustration: KILKENNY CASTLE; RESIDENCE OF THE DUKE OF ORMONDE]
+
+The Castle of Kilkenny was built by James, third Earl of Ormonde, in
+1391. His daughter married the Earl of Desmond. James, the fifth Earl of
+Ormonde, was created Earl of Wiltshire in the peerage of England by
+Henry VI., and was lord high treasurer of England for many years, but
+was beheaded at Newcastle by the Yorkists. His titles and estates were
+confiscated, but were restored to John, sixth Earl of Ormonde, who was
+ranked the first gentleman of his age. He was a complete master of all
+the languages of Europe, was sent as ambassador to all of the principal
+courts, paid a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and King Edward IV. once said
+that if good breeding and liberal qualities were lost to the world, they
+might all be found in the Earl of Ormonde.
+
+Thomas, the tenth in line and called from his complexion "The Black
+Earl," was lord treasurer for Queen Elizabeth, with whom he was a great
+favorite. James, the twelfth earl, was made Duke of Ormonde in 1610 and
+was for many years lord lieutenant of Ireland, administering that high
+office with consummate ability during the civil war. He was known as the
+Great Duke of Ormonde and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
+
+His son James was one of the first to join the standard of the Prince of
+Orange and, when the latter ascended the throne, was appointed high
+constable of England. He attended William to Ireland, fought by his side
+at the battle of the Boyne, and entertained his sovereign most
+sumptuously at the family castle at Kilkenny. He was made
+commander-in-chief of the army sent against France and Spain by Queen
+Anne in 1702; he destroyed the French fleet, sank the Spanish galleons
+in the harbor of Vigo, and remained as captain-general of the British
+forces until the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Two years later, after
+George I. succeeded to the throne, Ormonde was impeached of high
+treason, his estates were declared forfeited, all his titles and honors
+were extinguished, and a reward of fifty thousand dollars was offered by
+the British parliament for his apprehension if he should attempt to
+return from France, where he had fled for refuge. His wife was the
+daughter of the Earl of Rochester, and, unfortunately, he had no sons,
+but one of his daughters married the Duke of Somerset and the other the
+Duke of Beaufort, two of the most eminent men in England. Ormonde
+resided in seclusion at Avignon until his death, in November, 1745, when
+his remains were brought to London and deposited in Henry VII.'s chapel
+at Westminster Abbey. His brother, the Earl of Arran, claimed the estate
+and the title, but it was decided that no proceedings of the English
+parliament could affect Irish dignities, and he never enjoyed them, but
+lived in Scotland.
+
+In 1791 the House of Lords restored the ancient rights and estates to
+the eldest son of the eldest daughter. Walter, the eighteenth earl, in
+1810 disposed of the prisage of the wines of Ireland granted to the
+fourth earl by Edward I., to the crown for £216,000, and the contract
+was approved by parliament. It was not until the coronation of George
+IV. that the family was entirely reinstated. James, the nineteenth earl,
+was then installed a knight of St. Patrick, was advanced to the dignity
+of a marquis of the United Kingdom, and was made lord lieutenant of
+Ireland. He had a large family and his sons and daughters married well.
+His son John, born in 1818, married the daughter of the Marquis of
+Annesley, and died Sept. 25, 1854, leaving two sons--James Edward
+William Theobold, the present marquis, and James Arthur Wellington Foley
+of the Life Guards, who in 1887 married Ellen Stager of Chicago,
+daughter of the late General Anson Stager, formerly president of the
+Western Union Telegraph Company. As the present duke has no direct heir,
+Nellie Stager's son will inherit the titles and estates of one of the
+oldest and most famous families of Ireland.
+
+At Clonmel, which claims to be the cleanest town in Ireland, is another
+fine castle over which an American girl presides--the wife of Lord
+Doughnamore. She was a Miss Grace of New York, a niece of the late
+William R. Grace and a daughter of Michael P. Grace, who owns and lives
+in that famous castle known as "Battle Abbey" in Kent County, England,
+near the city of Canterbury. Mr. Grace and Lord Doughnamore were
+partners for many years in what was known as the Peruvian Corporation--a
+company which assumed all of the foreign indebtedness of that republic
+and took over all of its railroads as compensation.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXIV
+
+                  REMINISCENCES OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH
+
+
+In the year of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne a terrible
+rebellion broke out in Ireland, led by the Earl of Desmond, chief of the
+Geraldines, the most powerful of all the clans, which was put down by
+Lord Grey of Wilton, who came over from England and laid the Kingdom of
+Munster in ashes. The great Earl of Desmond who had been master of
+almost half of Ireland and the owner of numerous castles, was defeated
+in many battles, his forces were scattered, his stronghold destroyed,
+and he was proclaimed an outlaw and hunted from one hiding place to
+another. In order to repopulate the country the vast estates belonging
+to him and one hundred and forty of his adherents were confiscated, and
+proclamation was made throughout all England inviting gentlemen to
+"undertake the colonization of this rich territory at the rate of two or
+three pence an acre." None but English settlers were allowed, and tracts
+of land of four thousand acres and upward were granted to favorites of
+the throne, to enterprising English noblemen, and to worthless
+adventurers, very few of whom ever saw the property, but some of them
+organized colonies and sent them over to Ireland in charge of agents.
+
+[Illustration: THE ANCIENT CITY OF YOUGHAL, COUNTY CORK; THE HOME OF SIR
+WALTER RALEIGH]
+
+Edmund Spenser, the poet, author of that famous poem, "The Faerie
+Queene," was private secretary to Lord Grey, and received twelve
+thousand acres in County Cork, including Kilcolman Castle, the ruins of
+which, near the town of Buttevant, are visited by tourists still. Sir
+Walter Raleigh got forty-one thousand acres, also from the Desmond
+estate, in the counties of Cork and Waterford, and made his home in what
+is now known as Myrtle Lodge in the ancient town of Youghal. His
+house still stands very much as it was when he left it, and is owned and
+occupied by Sir Henry Blake, recently retired from the governorship of
+the British Colony of Hong-Kong. Lady Blake is a relative of the Duchess
+of St. Albans, whose husband is descended from the illegitimate son of
+Charles II. and Nell Gwynne. He is one of the most influential peers in
+the United Kingdom and kindly looks after his kin. The previous owner of
+the property, curiously enough, was Sir John Pope Hennessy, the
+predecessor of Sir Henry Blake as governor of Jamaica, of Ceylon, and of
+Hong-Kong.
+
+Sir Walter Raleigh called Youghal his home from the time he first came
+to Ireland, twenty-eight years old, as a captain in the command of Lord
+Grey, and, according to the records, received a salary of four shillings
+a day for himself, two shillings a day for his lieutenant, fourteen
+pence a day each for four non-commissioned officers, and eight pence a
+day for every common soldier, all of whom were also provided with "good
+furniture," that is, suitable armor and trappings, at the expense of the
+government. They were mostly Devonshire men, like their captain, full of
+reckless courage and energy, like their captain, and the amount of
+damage they committed under Sir Walter's leadership was entirely out of
+proportion to their numbers and their pay. Sir Walter lived at Myrtle
+Lodge where he studied the chronicles of the Spanish and Portuguese
+explorers of South America, and started from there upon his ill-fated
+expedition to Virginia. He returned to this home whenever he could
+escape from the presence of his affectionate but fickle queen, and it
+was there that he wrote most of his poems and his letters and commenced
+his "History of the World." After he lost his power and influence and
+was committed to the Tower as a traitor, his property was confiscated.
+Lady Raleigh was deprived of everything he left her, including an estate
+called "Tivoli," in the neighborhood of Cork, and was actually in want
+of bread when James I., in response to a touching petition, gave her a
+pension of £400 per annum and a home for life. She was granted another
+special favor which she valued very highly. After Sir Walter's execution
+his head was sent to her. She had it embalmed and carried it about with
+her wherever she traveled. At her death the ghastly relic was left to
+Carew Raleigh, who treasured it as highly as his mother had done, but,
+fortunately for subsequent generations, stipulated that it should be
+buried in his coffin with him when he died. Raleigh's confiscated
+estates fell into the hands of Sir Richard Boyle, the second Earl of
+Cork, and were retained by that family after his death.
+
+Lady Desmond, the widow of the great earl, who until his treason, was
+the richest man in Ireland, and was known as "Queen Elizabeth's
+wealthiest subject," was also compelled by her poverty to apply for a
+pension. Upon the recommendation of Sir Walter Raleigh Queen Elizabeth
+allowed twenty-two pounds a year to "this lady of princely castles and
+fair gardens," whose gowns of cloth of gold are referred to in one of
+Raleigh's letters. The royal warrant granting the pension, above the
+bold autograph of Elizabeth, is now among many other interesting relics
+in the old house at Youghal. Lady Desmond is buried in the ancient
+Church of St. Mary's, which occupies the adjoining ground. She lies in a
+recess in the south wall with her effigy carved upon her sarcophagus.
+Her liege lord, the great Earl of Desmond, lies in a similar tomb in a
+similar recess in the opposite wall, although he lost his head in the
+Tower of London. Why the husband should rest on one side of the church
+and the wife on the other has never been explained. She must have been a
+very remarkable old lady, for, according to the records, she lived more
+than one hundred and forty years. She was born in 1502, married Thomas
+Fitzgerald, eighth Earl of Desmond, in 1520. His estates were
+confiscated in 1585; Raleigh first met her in 1589, and her pension was
+granted in 1598. Robert Sydney, second Earl of Leicester, refers to her
+about 1640, when he was ambassador at Paris, as follows: "The old
+Countess of Desmond was a marryed woman in Edward IV.'s time in England,
+and lived till toward the end of Queen Elizabeth, so she must needes be
+neare 140 yeares old. She had a new sett of teeth, not long afore her
+death, and might have lived much longer had she not mett with a kinde of
+violent death; for she would needes climbe a nut tree to gather nuts;
+so, falling down, she hurte her thigh, which brought a fever and that
+fever brought death. This, my cousin, Walter Fitzwilliam, tolde me."
+
+The wealth of the Earl of Desmond at the time of his rebellion may be
+judged from the fact that eight hundred thousand acres of his property
+were confiscated in County Cork, five hundred and seventy thousand acres
+in County Limerick, and over a million acres in Tipperary. All of this
+area, by virtue of a proclamation, reverted to the crown and was divided
+by Queen Elizabeth among her favorites and among the "undertakers" who
+agreed to settle the lands exclusively with Englishmen and to drive out
+the Irish from them entirely. There were other conditions, also. They
+were to encourage the English and discourage the Irish in every way
+possible and no natives of Ireland were to be allowed upon their
+possessions.
+
+The Earl of Desmond is said to have owned thirty castles and fled from
+one to another, accompanied by his faithful wife, who never left him
+except occasionally when she went to intercede for him with his enemies.
+His grandson, William Fielding, was made Earl of Denbigh, in the English
+peerage, by Charles I., as a reward for his loyalty, and the family have
+been known since by the latter title. He was mortally wounded in a sharp
+skirmish at the head of the king's forces against Cromwell in a battle
+near Birmingham and died soon after. His son attended Charles I. to the
+scaffold and received from his sovereign a few moments before his
+execution a ring in which his majesty's miniature was set. That ring is
+now in possession of the family.
+
+The present earl is Rudolph Robert Basil Aloysius Augustine Fielding,
+who was born in 1859 and married in 1884 to the daughter of Lord
+Clifford. He was a lord-in-waiting to Queen Victoria for several years,
+until her death, and is now a lord-in-waiting to his majesty, King
+Edward. He served as aid-de-camp to the Marquis of Londonderry when the
+latter was lord lieutenant of Ireland.
+
+Canon Hayman, who was curate of St. Mary's Church at Youghal for many
+years and made a thorough investigation of the history of the town and
+the church and all the remarkable incidents that have occurred here from
+the beginning of time, tells us that the Countess of Desmond was one
+hundred and thirty years old when she went to see Queen Elizabeth about
+her pension, and that she walked all the way from Bristol to London
+because she was too poor to hire a conveyance. And the young man who
+showed us about St. Mary's Church added another interesting item to the
+already interesting story,--that her daughter, who was ninety years of
+age, made the trip with her, but became so weak and weary that the
+countess had to carry her on her back--which seems to be spreading it on
+a little thick.
+
+In the garden of Myrtle Lodge Sir Walter Raleigh planted, probably in
+the year 1586, the first potatoes that were brought to Ireland. Potatoes
+are natives of Peru and their merits were discovered there by the
+Jesuits, who accompanied Pizarro during the conquest. They sent samples
+back to Spain, as they did with quinine or cinchona bark, which was
+named in honor of the Countess of Cinchona, wife of the Spanish viceroy
+of Peru. They also sent potatoes to the Spanish colonies in the West
+Indies, where Sir Walter Raleigh obtained the seed that he planted in
+his garden at Youghal, and the fruit of that seed has fed the population
+of Ireland for nearly three centuries. The garden is also interesting
+because the first cherry tree in Europe was grown there. Sir Walter
+Raleigh brought the seed of the affane cherry from the Azores Islands,
+whence it is believed to have been transplanted to America. The cherry
+orchards throughout the United Kingdom can nearly all be traced to this
+source.
+
+You can run down to Youghal from Cork by rail in an hour, for the
+distance is only thirty miles and the train passes through a very pretty
+country. Shortly after leaving the station it dashes by Black Rock
+Castle, now a lighthouse and a storehouse for extra buoys and cables and
+lights for the harbormaster, the place from which William Penn embarked
+for America. His father, an admiral in the navy, lived at Macroom, about
+thirty miles west of Cork, where the great Quaker was born. On the other
+side, a little farther down, as we follow the banks of the River Lee, is
+Tivoli, an amusement resort, which was once the home of Sir Walter
+Raleigh, and Lady Raleigh lived there while he was off on his final
+expedition to America.
+
+"Wood Hill" was the home of John Philpott Curran, the great orator and
+barrister, whose daughter was the sweetheart of Robert Emmet.
+
+Youghal is a summer resort. There is sea bathing and boating and
+delicious salt air which gives one a lazy feeling and takes away his
+eagerness for antiquities and history. The only thing in the town to
+attract strangers is the home of Sir Walter Raleigh and St. Mary's
+Protestant Church, which is said to be the oldest house of worship in
+which service is regularly held in all the world. It remains practically
+unaltered from the eighth century, and one of the transepts dates from
+the sixth century. There are tombs dating back to the eighth and ninth
+and tenth centuries, and a slab of marble upon the altar is said to have
+been taken from a Druid temple which stood on the same site.
+
+Four holes about five inches in diameter have been made in the walls
+each side of the chancel about two-thirds of the way to the roof opening
+into large chambers within the walls. The verger told us that this was
+an invention to relieve an echo and had been entirely successful. I have
+never seen it anywhere else, and he insisted that it is unique.
+
+He also pointed out Masonic emblems on tombs of the twelfth century and
+several quaint epitaphs. One of them was as follows:
+
+              "A burial for Cristas Harford
+                Here is made,
+              Where he and his intend
+                For to be laid.
+              His life is known
+                Both what he was and is.
+              Who hopes to end the
+                Same in Heavenly Bliss.
+                         1618.
+              Mayor of Youghal and Knight,
+                Knight of the Garter."
+
+The tomb of Sir Edward Villiers, brother of the great Duke of
+Buckingham, is decorated with his lance and his banner. He died "Lord
+President of Munster, Anno Domini 1620," and his epitaph reads:
+
+              "Munster may Curse
+                The time that Villiers came
+              To make us Worse.
+                While leaving such a Name
+              Of noble Parts
+                As none can Imitate.
+              But those whose Harts
+                Are married to the State.
+              But if they Press
+                To imitate his Fame
+              Munster may Bless
+                The time that Villiers Came."
+
+Mrs. Charles Fleetwood, daughter of Oliver Cromwell and widow of General
+Ireton, who died from wounds during the siege of Limerick, is buried in
+the center of the chancel. Cromwell had his headquarters here for some
+time and appointed his son-in-law, Fleetwood, lord deputy in 1649.
+
+Raleigh was twenty-eight years old when he came to Ireland from
+Devonshire in 1579 as captain of a levy of troops, and Youghal is the
+only home he ever had so far as we know. He sailed from there upon his
+last and fatal voyage on Aug. 6, 1617.
+
+There is still another association which will appeal with force to the
+majority of the masculine readers of these lines. From Myrtle Lodge Sir
+Walter Raleigh introduced tobacco into the United Kingdom, having
+brought it home from the West Indies where the Spaniards found the
+natives smoking it at the time of the discovery of America. Columbus and
+his followers carried it back with them to Spain. Fifty years afterward
+Sir Walter Raleigh introduced it at the court of Queen Elizabeth and
+brought to Youghal the first tobacco ever seen in Ireland, which he
+smoked under a group of four wonderful yew trees while he read the
+manuscript of Edmund Spenser's "Faerie Queene," which had been submitted
+for his criticism by the author. A considerable part of the fourth book
+of the poem was written at Myrtle Lodge while Spenser was Sir Walter's
+guest, and the remainder at Kilcolman Castle on the River Blackwater.
+The poem was never finished, but its publication is due to Sir Walter,
+for he took the manuscript to London, placed it with the printer, and
+provided the means to pay the expense. He thought so highly of the poem
+that, in a double sonnet, composed while Spenser was visiting him at
+Youghal, he says:
+
+          "All suddenly I saw the Faerie Queene,
+          At whose approach the soul of Petrarch wept."
+
+It is therefore very natural that Spenser should reply in these lines:
+
+          "Thou only, fit this argument to write,
+          In whose high thoughts pleasure hath built her bower,
+            And dainty love learnt sweetly to indite."
+
+Spenser was a man of delicate sensibilities and great refinement of
+character, but lacked the masterful spirit, the ambition, the energy,
+and the dominating will of Raleigh. The latter, however, had rare
+literary taste. He is better known as soldier, adventurer, sailor, and
+explorer. Spenser called him the "shepherd of the seas," but some of his
+sonnets are immortal. They rank with those of Shakespeare in poetic
+fancy, delicacy of expression, and sublimity of thought, and his prose
+work, especially his history of the world, which was begun at Myrtle
+Lodge and finished while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London,
+ranked among the literary triumphs of his day and generation.
+
+Sir John Pope Hennessy, to whom I have already referred as the former
+owner of the home of Raleigh at Youghal, spent several years in an
+investigation of state papers and other historical material relating to
+the administration of Irish affairs during the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
+and does not leave a fragment of Raleigh's reputation as a man of honor.
+He has written a book entitled "Raleigh in Ireland," which is begun and
+finished in an unfriendly spirit, and holds Raleigh responsible for all
+the troubles that occurred in Ireland at his time and since.
+
+If one-half that Hennessy tells of Raleigh's work in Ireland is true, he
+was a man of treachery, untruth, unbridled passion, and monstrous
+cruelty, but this is no place to discuss that question. Raleigh was a
+prisoner in the Tower of London with James, Earl of Desmond, successor
+of the man whose estates he confiscated and occupied. The death of the
+earl prompted Raleigh in a letter from the Tower to say:
+
+    "Wee shal be judged as wee judge--and bee dealt withal as wee deal
+    with others in this life--if wee beleve God Hyme sealf."
+
+[Illustration: MYRTLE LODGE; THE HOME OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH]
+
+Myrtle Lodge remains very much as it was when Raleigh lived there. Few
+historical houses have been altered so little or have been preserved
+with greater care. Sir Walter's study is hung with an original painting
+of the first governor of Virginia and a contemporary engraving of
+"Elizabeth, Queen of Virginia." The long table at which he wrote, an oak
+chest in which he kept his papers, a little Italian cabinet filled with
+old deeds and parchments, some bearing his seal; two bookcases of
+vellum-bound volumes of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; and all
+of the furniture dates from his time. We are assured that there is
+nothing in the room that was not in the house at the time he occupied
+it. The dining-room is one of the choicest examples of fifteenth century
+domestic architecture that can be found, having a deep projecting bay
+window and porch, an orieled closet, a wide, arched fireplace, and
+walls wainscoted with rich, ripe Irish oak. The drawing-room has a
+carved oaken mantelpiece which rises to the ceiling. The cornice rests
+upon three figures representing Faith, Hope, and Charity. In the
+adjoining bedroom is another mantelpiece of oak, and the fireplace is
+lined with old Dutch tiles. Behind the wainscoting of this room, while
+repairs were being made fifty years ago, an ancient monkish library was
+found, which, it was thought, was hidden there to escape the Covenanters
+at the time of the Reformation.
+
+A gentleman on our train to Youghal made the interesting statement that
+Sir Walter Raleigh was the first patron of Protestant foreign missions.
+He contributed £100 to start the Society for the Propagation of the
+Gospel in Foreign Lands. I had never heard of this fact before, but my
+informant said that it came out at the three hundredth anniversary of
+the organization of that society which was celebrated in London in 1906.
+
+Until the Congested Districts Board undertook the work, lacemaking was
+practically confined to the convents. There are two classes of true
+Irish lace--needle-point, which is made by the needle, and the bobbin
+lace--the threads of which are twisted around small bobbins of bone,
+wood, or ivory. Both of these laces are made entirely by hand, which is
+not true of the Limerick and Carrickmacross laces. Needle-point lace was
+first introduced into Ireland by the sisters of the Presentation Convent
+of Youghal, as a means of helping the famine-stricken inhabitants to
+earn money in the terrible years of 1847-50. It was imitated from
+Italian models, but has since been much developed and enriched both in
+design and execution so that it may be considered original. Irish point
+lace has its individuality as strong as Brussels point.
+
+The Presentation Convent was founded in 1833 by Rev. Mother Mary
+Magdalene Gould, a wealthy Irish woman, who had lived many years in
+foreign countries. She was distinguished for her benevolence and love
+for the poor, and consecrated her life and her property to the
+education of the children of the poor. When the famine occurred in 1847
+she admitted to the convent every child that could be accommodated, and
+also gave asylum to many widows who were left homeless and destitute. In
+order to furnish her _protégés_ some occupation and and enable them to
+earn a little for their own support, she decided to teach them the art
+of lacemaking, which had been carried on for centuries in the convents
+of Italy. She took some of her own lace, examined the process by which
+it had been made, unraveled the threads one by one, and put them back
+again over and over again until she at last succeeded in mastering the
+intricacies of the construction of needle-point. She next selected the
+brightest and most deft-fingered children and women in the convent and
+taught each separately what she herself had learned. Most of the women
+and girls displayed an aptitude for the work, and after the necessities
+of the occasion were over and the emergency passed, she had about her
+many well-trained lacemakers. Some of them developed considerable
+ingenuity and taste, inventing new designs and easier methods of
+handling the needle. Other convents throughout Ireland imitated the nuns
+of Youghal, and the same lace is now made in every part of the island.
+
+Limerick lace is of two kinds, known as the "tambour" and "run lace."
+"Tambour" is made on net and the pattern is formed by working with a
+tambour needle in white or colored thread. "Run lace" is made with an
+ordinary needle and a more open stitch. Limerick lace is in disfavor at
+present, owing to the large amount of miserable specimens that have been
+hawked about the streets of Limerick and forced upon the London markets.
+
+Carrickmacross lace has been made in the neighborhood of that town, in
+County Monaghan, since the year 1820, when it was brought from Florence
+by Mrs. Grey-Porter, wife of the rector of the parish church, and
+introduced among the peasant women as a means of earning a livelihood.
+It is made upon a foundation of net. There are two varieties. In
+appliqué the pattern is traced out on fine muslin and sewed down round
+the edges to the net. So far it is not strictly a lace, but rather a
+sort of embroidery or net. Open spaces, however, are generally provided
+for, which leaves the effect and which are filled with lace stitches
+like those of flat point. In Carrickmacross guipure, much the same
+procedure as in appliqué is adopted, only that instead of the foundation
+being allowed to remain it is ultimately cut away, the figures of the
+pattern, which, as in appliqué, are wrought on muslin, being joined to
+each other by lace stitches known as "brides." A very interesting and
+striking development of Carrickmacross lace is found in a combination of
+appliqué and guipure, the main design being appliqué, while the panels
+of guipure are introduced into it.
+
+A little to the northward of Cork is the famous Trappist Monastery of
+Mount Mellery. It was founded here about thirty years ago upon the site
+of an ancient monastery by Cistercian monks who were expelled from
+France. They have about seven hundred acres of rich woodland, fertile
+pastures, and vegetable gardens, with large and comfortable buildings
+which they erected with their own hands. They maintain two schools, one
+free for poor children, and another for boarding pupils whose parents
+pay moderate fees for the instruction. There is a guesthouse in
+connection with the monastery, where all travelers are welcome to
+shelter, saint and sinner, Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Gentile, and
+no questions asked and no bills presented. Any person can have a bed
+with clean, sweet linen and a hard but comfortable mattress, coffee and
+rolls for breakfast, cold meat and milk for luncheon, soup and a roast
+and a tart or pie for dinner, without charge, although there is a box at
+the door where the guest at his departure is expected to drop a coin,
+large or small according to his means and disposition. There are limited
+accommodations for women, which are sparsely but comfortably furnished,
+and, what is more important, as clean as a Danish dairy--an unusual
+condition for Ireland.
+
+There are seventy monks who dress in white and maintain perpetual
+silence, living entirely upon a vegetable diet with water and skimmed
+milk as their only drink. About twenty lay brothers, dressed in brown,
+do the heavy labor and the menial work about the place. The white monks
+rise at two o'clock in the morning and spend four hours in the chapel in
+silent devotion. Then they take a light meal and go to their work in the
+fields, the gardens, or the schoolroom, where the rule of silence is
+relaxed only enough to permit of imparting instruction. At six o'clock
+they have dinner, consisting of vegetable soup, boiled vegetables,
+bread, and skimmed milk, after which they spend two hours at prayer in
+the chapel, and retire at nine. This is the only Trappist community in
+Ireland, but there are two in the United States.
+
+There has been very little trouble with the landlords in County Cork.
+Perhaps that is due to a considerable degree to the fact that the soil
+is rich and the harvests are good, and because the farmers are able to
+get a satisfactory return for their labor and their money. Nearly all
+the large estates are being broken up, however, and have been purchased
+by the tenants under the Act of 1903. Very soon County Cork and all the
+southern section of Ireland will be owned by the men who till the soil.
+Each farmer will have his own permanent home.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXV
+
+               GLENGARIFF, THE LOVELIEST SPOT IN IRELAND
+
+
+It isn't far across the southern counties of Ireland and from Cork to
+Glengariff, the loveliest place in the United Kingdom and one of the
+loveliest spots on earth, only seventy-five miles. There are two routes.
+You can go by rail to the little old-fashioned town of Bantry at the
+head of Bantry Bay, which is the rendezvous of the British fleet and the
+place of their regular annual maneuvers, and from there by coach around
+the shore of the bay or by a little steamer across its matchless blue
+waters; or you can take the more interesting and picturesque route by
+rail as far as Macroom, and then by coach or carriage over the
+mountains, through the most picturesque canyon in Ireland and up and
+down the mountain sides. Glengariff is 'way down in the southwesternmost
+corner of Ireland, and as a gentleman said the other day in describing
+its location: "If you go jist one step further, there'll not be a dry
+spot to rist yer foot on till you enter the harbor of New York, bedad,
+or maybe Boston."
+
+The best route in every respect and one of the most interesting journeys
+that can be found anywhere is by way of Macroom, and it is such a
+favorite with tourists that during the summer season there is an almost
+continuous procession that way. The arrangements for taking care of
+travelers are perfect, and all you have to do is to buy your tickets and
+let the attendant look after the rest. The railroad carries you about
+thirty miles, an hour's ride from Cork, and there is a good deal of
+interest to be seen from the car windows on the way. The conductor
+sticks his head in the window every now and then and warns the
+passengers what to look out for. There is a castle on one side or a
+ruined abbey on the other or some sign of the devastation committed by
+Cromwell and his Covenanters when they were trying to convert the Irish
+to Protestantism, two or three centuries ago.
+
+I became very skeptical about the Cromwellian ruins. Every time we came
+across an abandoned limekiln or the roofless walls of some cabin from
+which a family has been evicted and burned out, they told us that the
+damage was done by Cromwell's soldiers. Kate Douglas Wiggin satirizes
+that situation in "Penelope's Irish Experiences" by having her party
+occupy rooms in Irish hotels where Cromwell, in the confusion of his
+departure, forgot to sweep under the bed.
+
+You can't convert people from one religion to another by the use of the
+sword, by burning houses and sacking monasteries, and murdering innocent
+women and children. That has been clearly demonstrated by the Duke of
+Alva in the Netherlands, by Philip II. in Spain, and by Cromwell in
+Ireland. It partially restores one's cheerfulness to be able to realize
+that such means of evangelization have been abandoned.
+
+There are ruined castles and monasteries all the way from Cork to
+Glengariff, and nature has done her best to hide the shame and cruelty
+that are associated with them by the glorious mantles of ivy which cover
+their crumbling walls. Kilcrea Abbey, founded by Cormac MacCarthy, the
+king of this country in 1465, for the Franciscan friars, was the burial
+place of the MacCarthy family, the owners of Blarney Castle for two
+centuries or more. Several of the tombs are well preserved. A little
+farther along, at Crookstown, is another of the MacCarthy strongholds
+called Castlemore, and still farther are the ruins of Lissardagh and
+Clodagh, where they kept their forces and received the tribute of their
+dependents as they did at Blarney Castle, near Cork. Those ancient kings
+had strings of castles through their territories, each one of them in
+charge of a seneschal, who kept the place with a guard of retainers and
+received tribute from the peasant farmers of the surrounding country as
+payment for protection and blackmail. Within the thick walls the loot
+they brought from battle was stored; their prisoners were held for
+ransom, and there they entertained their allies and their friends,
+reveling for days and nights together in the spacious halls. The
+MacCarthys were energetic citizens and ruled the south shore of Ireland
+with a despotism that had no parallel in Ireland at the time. But they
+were as generous to their friends as they were vindictive to their foes.
+
+This country used to abound in fairies, gnomes, koboles, pixies, and all
+kinds of queer little people, but they are all gone now. Our jarvey, as
+the driver of a jaunting car is called, insists that they have emigrated
+to America, but when I asked him where we could find them over there, he
+confessed that he didn't know. He had no acquaintance with the place.
+
+There are all kinds of fairies, or rather there used to be in Ireland,
+friendly and unfriendly, good and bad, and they formerly appeared in a
+great diversity of form and for a variety of purposes, but they are
+seldom seen nowadays, even among the ivy-draped ruins of the castles and
+among the moss-covered rocks where they used to make their homes.
+
+Sidheog is a friendly fairy and Sidhean and Sheeaun are places where
+fairies live. Certain hills and forests which were thickly peopled with
+fairies in the early days can be identified by such names as Shean,
+Sheaun, and similar variations of the terms that are applied to haunted
+hills. There are "good people" and "bad people" who invade the privacy
+of those who dwell in mountain cottages and bring them blessings or
+treat them badly, as the case may be. At one time they were numerous up
+in these woods. The best known fairy, however, the busiest of them all,
+and an odd mixture of merriment, mischief, and malignity, is "Pooka,"
+who is known in England, in Germany, and other places under the name of
+"Puck." Shakespeare describes him as "a merry wanderer of the night,"
+who boasts that he can "put a girdle round about the earth in forty
+minutes." This capricious goblin is known to every child in the
+mountains, and stories are told of him in every cabin. Carrig-Peeka, the
+Pooka's home in a great rock, can be seen two miles west of Macroom. It
+overhangs the Sullane River near the ruins of one of the MacCarthy
+castles. This rock is well known as the place where Daniel O'Rourke
+started on his celebrated voyage to the moon on the back of an eagle,
+and for generations Pooka made it his headquarters and used to play all
+kinds of pranks upon the peasants in that neighborhood.
+
+There is a hideous kind of hobgoblin called a dullaghan who can take off
+and put on his head at will; in fact, people generally see him with that
+useful member under his arm or absent altogether, and on such an
+occasion it is well to pass on as quietly as possible without disturbing
+him. Sometimes giddy and frivolous bands of dullaghans have been seen in
+graveyards at midnight amusing themselves by flinging their heads at one
+another and kicking them about like footballs. Down in this neighborhood
+there is a little lake called Lough Gillagancan, which means "the Lake
+of the Headless Man," because they are in the habit of haunting it
+during the long winter nights and playing their ridiculous games there.
+
+Cleena is the queen of the fairies, and once exercised a powerful spell
+over the peasants around Glengariff, but she is losing her influence.
+The national school board is opposed to her. The teachers have disputed
+her power and authority with such persistence that she cannot exercise
+them among the present generation as she did among those of the past. It
+is only among the schoolless communities, far back in the rocky glens
+along the seashore, where the people cannot read or write and do not
+have candles to illuminate their lonely cabins during the long winter
+nights, that she is remembered at all. In more thickly settled parts of
+the country where the national schools stand at three-mile intervals,
+the children even scoff at her and ridicule her and say that she may
+play all the pranks she likes with them and welcome. Cleena has been a
+favorite of the Irish poets for ages, and appears in many old-fashioned
+love stories.
+
+      "God grant 't is not Cleena, the queen that pursues me;
+      While I dream of dark groves and O'Donavan's daughter."
+
+Cleena often did a kindly act, and when Dooling O'Hartigan, the bosom
+friend of Murrough, the eldest son and heir apparent of Brian Boru, was
+on his way to the battle of Clontarf, she met him and tried to persuade
+him to stay out of the fight. But nothing could induce him to abandon
+his friends in such an emergency, particularly as the aged king had
+given Murrough the command of the army that day. Having failed to
+persuade him, Cleena placed a magic cloak around O'Hartigan and warned
+him solemnly that he would certainly be slain if he threw it off. He
+fought fiercely all day by the side of his friend and made fearful havoc
+among the Danes. The field was strewn with the bodies of the men he
+slew, and Murrough, observing the slaughter, but being unable to
+recognize the cause of it, cried out:
+
+"I hear the blows of O'Hartigan, but I cannot see him!"
+
+In order to console and encourage his friend, O'Hartigan threw off the
+cloak that made him invisible. The moment he stood unprotected an arrow
+from the bow of a Dane smote him in the temple, and he died for
+neglecting Cleena's words of warning.
+
+It is only occasionally that the fairies interfere with people nowadays.
+Then it is to make trouble for innocent men who are out later than they
+should be and get bewildered in their brains or suffer other lapses that
+they are not responsible for. A friend of mine told an amusing story of
+his coachman, who frequently suffered from the mischievousness of a
+fairy not long ago, and explained in the morning:
+
+"If yer honor will belave me, it's the most mystarious thing that ever
+happened to a mortal man. I was coming p'aceably home along the roadside
+when I saw the strangest sight that mortal eyes ever looked upon, an'
+the ground seemed to go away from me and funny little cr'atures were
+dancing from one side of the road to the other. Thin all at once I fell
+down, and I didn't know another thing until I picked myself up from out
+of the ditch in the morning.
+
+"Dhrinking, was it, ye say; divil a bit did I taste a drop at all, at
+all, that day, barring a few glasses I had wid me frinds on the way
+home."
+
+Macroom is a pretty village with a castle, of which Admiral Penn, father
+of the founder of Pennsylvania, was once in command, and where William
+Penn is said to have been born. The venerable old pile was built
+originally in the time of King John, more than seven hundred years ago,
+has been burned down no less than four times, and was besieged and
+plundered in the wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries again
+and again. It now belongs to Lord Ardilaun, one of the sons of Benjamin
+Guinness, the greatest brewer in the world, who has erected a beautiful
+modern residence near by and occasionally occupies it. Lord Ardilaun
+owns so many castles that he would find it difficult to live in all of
+them the same year. He would be kept moving about like a commercial
+traveler. He has a beautiful estate on one side of Glengariff and a
+shooting lodge on the other, and his favorite residence is a stately
+château near Muckross Abbey on the shores of the Lakes of Killarney. He
+has a shooting lodge at Ashford, and another at Ross Hill in Central
+Ireland, a fishing lodge at Kylemon Pass in Connemara, and city
+residences on Stephens Green, Dublin, and at No. 11 Carleton House
+Terrace, London.
+
+The traveler bound for Glengariff changes from the railway train to an
+open coach at the railway station of Macroom. The coach is built for
+mountain travel, strong and heavy, and the seats, which extend from side
+to side, accommodate four people of ordinary dimensions. The handbags
+are stowed away under the seats and in a cavern which opens from the
+rear. A couple of steamer trunks can be taken along also. There is a
+roof to the stage, which is very much needed to keep off the rain, and
+it can be rolled up into a ridge in the middle of the supporting hoops
+in the sunshine.
+
+[Illustration: LAKE GOUGANE-BARRA, COUNTY CORK]
+
+The driver of a stage in Ireland doesn't flourish and crack his whip
+like the gentlemen who pursue that line of business in Montana and
+Colorado. He is usually a talkative chap, and tells interesting stories
+with a deep, rich brogue and quaint wit that is charming, but he drives
+quietly through the villages and pulls up at his destination as
+modestly as if he were on a cart instead of a coach full of tourists. In
+the Rocky Mountains the stage driver always "shows off" at the end of
+his journey, but he never tries to do anything of that sort in Ireland.
+
+The road follows along the banks of the Sullane River until it reaches a
+string of lakes called Inchageela, which are dotted with lovely little
+islands, and are said to be full of fish. There is not a tree to be
+seen, but the ground is covered with a rich, thick, velvet turf, and
+myriads of wild flowers of all colors and all varieties--a crazy quilt
+of bloom. No one ever imagined that there could be so many wild flowers
+or such beautiful ones.
+
+The little town of Inchageela is the lunch station, where we were served
+with a wholesome meal of roast mutton, potatoes, lettuce, and gooseberry
+tart that tasted as good as anything I ever had at the Waldorf, and the
+buxom, red-faced landlady gave us a hearty, cordial blessing as we
+climbed back into our seats to continue the journey. We passed several
+ruined castles, some of them near the roadside and the others
+picturesquely situated on the mountain slopes among the rocks. They all
+once belonged to the MacCarthys, who were kings in this country until
+they lost their power by foolish fighting, and to-day I have been
+assured that not one foot of sod in the County of Cork or in the County
+of Kerry is owned by a man of that name or clan.
+
+After a while we turned from the main road at a little village called
+Carrinacurrah, which is hardly as big as its name, and slowly climbed a
+picturesque hill to the mystic lake of Gougane-Barra, and stopped to
+rest the horses and ourselves at a neatly kept inn. As it was a holiday,
+all the people in the neighborhood were gathered at Cronin's Inn when
+the two coachloads of passengers drove in from Macroom, and several of
+them accompanied us across to Gougane Island and told us the history of
+that sacred place. There was an old man with bog-oak walking sticks to
+sell, and boys with post cards, for there isn't a spot in Ireland that
+hasn't been photographed and transferred to a post card in hideous
+colors. Mr. Benjamin Shorten, a man of importance in the community, had
+hailed the coach when it passed his house, and was therefore not only an
+entertainer but a fellow-passenger of the strangers within his gate. And
+it was a strange story that he told us of the restoration of the ruins
+and the erection, by Mr. John R. Walsh of Chicago, in memory of his
+parents, of the little shrine on the site of St. Fin-Barre's oratory
+which had been blessed by St. Patrick fourteen hundred years ago.
+
+Mr. Walsh could not have chosen a more beautiful or a more appropriate
+place for a memorial to his parents, and the work has been well done. It
+is a sacred as well as a most romantic spot. Gougane-Barra is what they
+call a "tarn," a jagged glen in the mountains nearly a mile long and
+about a quarter of a mile wide, almost entirely filled with water like a
+Norwegian fiord and entirely inclosed with walls of rock rising to a
+height of nearly eighteen hundred feet. The principal peaks are called
+Conicar (1,886 feet), Bealick (1,762 feet), and Foilasteokeen (1,698
+feet). The cliffs cast a deep shadow over the water and add to the
+solemnity and mystery with which the place has been invested from its
+association with the patron saint of the city of Cork and one of the
+earliest apostles in Ireland. After heavy rains each mountain side
+becomes a foaming cataract, and the natives say that the sound of the
+water pouring down the rocks may be heard for miles. The lake is very
+deep and is the source of the River Lee, which runs sixty-five miles
+from here to the Bay of Cork.
+
+The island is approached by a narrow, artificial causeway, at the head
+of which is an arched tomb built into the side of the mountain, in which
+Father Mahoney, a recluse, was buried in 1728. He was the last of the
+monks to live in the little abbey. He is regarded by the peasants as
+next to St. Fin-Barre in holiness, and Fin-Barre is ranked next to St.
+Patrick, only a little below him in their veneration. When the old women
+passed Father Mahoney's tomb they knelt and kissed it and said their
+prayers.
+
+[Illustration: CHAPEL ERECTED BY MR. JOHN R. WALSH OF CHICAGO ON THE
+ISLAND OF GOUGANE-BARRA]
+
+The ruins of St. Fin-Barre's hermitage, which has been carefully
+restored, consist of a quadrangle of stone about thirty-six feet square,
+and there are eight cells with arched entrances in which the monks used
+to live. Over the entrance to each cell are modern plaster casts of the
+stations of the cross, and in the center, upon a pyramid of five steps,
+a plain wooden cross has been erected.
+
+The little chapel erected by Mr. Walsh upon the foundation of St.
+Fin-Barre's Oratory is thirty-six feet long by fourteen feet broad with
+a simple little altar and an altar rail. The remainder of the space is
+filled with wooden seats. There is no organ or other musical instrument,
+and the services that are held there every third Sunday in the month by
+an itinerant priest are of the simplest order. But the celebration of
+the anniversary of the saint on the 24th of September brings the
+peasants from all the country around and is attended with great
+solemnity. The people carry their rations with them, and camp upon the
+shore of the lake and along the roadway that leads down from the tarn.
+When we were there in June the entire island was a mass of rhododendrons
+in the fullness of their purple glory. If you searched the world over
+you could not find a more beautiful abode for a saint in peace and
+retirement. It has been the theme of many poems, and a native bard has
+painted with graphic lines the scene that is hallowed by so many pious
+associations and surrounded with so much natural beauty.
+
+It is one of the holiest places in Ireland, and the consecrated waters
+of a spring called St. Fin-Barre's Well, which has been carefully walled
+in, have the power to heal all kinds of diseases except those that have
+been caused by dissipation. At the annual festival of St. Fin-Barre the
+peasants bring their sick children and even their ailing animals to be
+cured. And the neighboring bushes that surround the well and the wooden
+crosses that have been erected there in recognition of relief are hung
+with votive offerings. A penitent who comes to be cleansed of his sins
+may find full instructions engraven upon a large slab of brown stone. It
+is said to be more than two hundred years old, but records the good
+deeds of Rev. Dennis Mahoney, who died in 1728. It is necessary to say
+five "aves" and five "paters" at the first station of the cross within
+the ruins, and add five more at each as they are passed, making forty
+"aves" and forty "paters" at the last cell.
+
+Of course, there is a legend connected with the well--there always
+is--and in this case St. Patrick, after banishing the reptiles from the
+country, overlooked one hideous snake. It crawled into the Well of
+Gougane to escape him, and it created serious depredation in the
+surrounding country, coming out at night to attack the flocks of sheep
+and the herds of goats and cattle, until St. Patrick came here and drove
+it out by sprinkling the well with holy water. "The ould enemy" vanished
+and has never since ventured to leave his loathsome slime upon the green
+banks of the island. In order to prevent his return St. Patrick sent St.
+Fin-Barre here to watch the well and exterminate the monster if it came
+again. But it has not reappeared, and as a token of gratitude St.
+Fin-Barre erected the Cathedral of Cork and founded a great monastery
+beside it, leaving several devoted priests here in his hermitage to keep
+watch of things.
+
+The driver gave us an hour to see this lovely and sacred place, and then
+we returned to the main road, resumed our journey, and soon entered the
+Pass of Keimaneigh, which divides these savage mountains in twain and
+permits people to pass from the former kingdom of the MacCarthy clan to
+that of the outlawed O'Sullivans. The mountains were split by some
+terrible cataclysm ages ago, but Nature has done what she could to heal
+the wound. The almost perpendicular walls were clothed with wild ivy,
+arbutus, hawthorn, laburnum, rhododendron, and other trees and shrubs,
+which were glorious in color and light up the gloom of the gorge with
+wonderful beauty. We have many grander canyons in the Rocky Mountains,
+and several of the fiords on the Norwegian coast are grander and
+inclosed by loftier peaks and more precipitous walls, but none of them
+that I have seen are anywhere near as beautiful.
+
+[Illustration: THE PASS OF KEIMANEIGH THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS BETWEEN CORK
+AND GLENGARIFF]
+
+Nor do I remember a panorama where the fiercer and the gentler moods
+of nature are expressed in such striking contrast. The eagles and hawks
+that soar in the narrow skyline, directly above our heads, and encircle
+the rugged and irregular peaks that rise on either side, look down upon
+an exhibition of wild flowers that was never surpassed, and the colors
+seem to be more brilliant than elsewhere.
+
+People always ask, How did they come there?--these blotches of scarlet
+and purple and pink and blue and gold against the dark gray surface of
+the rock. The wind was the landscape gardener here, and a wonderful
+artist he is. The dust that gradually accumulated in the crevices and
+scars of this mountain wall was carried, storm by storm, from some dry
+spot, upon the wings of the wind. And the same messenger carried the
+seeds, perhaps for many miles, and dropped them in the nest that he had
+already provided, where the sun and the rain could reach them and they
+could germinate and their souls could awaken. The germs of life that lay
+hidden in their tiny cells then reached out for air and began to grow
+and bloom and illuminate this stern and gloomy canyon with their smiles.
+As the journey continues the gorge grows wilder, the walls higher, and
+the vegetation less, except in the turf beside the roadway, where the
+violet, the forget-me-not, the belated shamrock, and that other modest
+little flower called "London Pride," sing a silent song of praise to
+Heaven.
+
+They call Glengariff "the Madeira of Great Britain," because its climate
+varies only a few degrees, winter and summer, and is about the same as
+that of the Madeira Islands, without a trace of frost or snow except up
+among the rugged mountains that protect it from the cold winds and make
+it an ideal resort for those who seek health, rest, or solitude. The
+name signifies "a rough glen," and that describes it exactly--a deep
+cleft in the mountains, a gash which some irresistible glacier made ages
+ago in the rugged rocks, about three miles long and a quarter of a mile
+wide, which terminates upon an exquisite little sheet of water, a branch
+of the Bay of Bantry, on the far southwestern coast of Ireland. The glen
+is filled with wonderful trees and wonderful flowers, which seem to
+bloom perennially. The surrounding mountains are of the wildest
+description, being naked moorlands covered with heather and gorse and
+huge gray bowlders and peaks which project into the air. Among them, it
+is said, there are no less than 365 little lakes, that number having
+suggested to the pious peasants, who attribute everything to apostolic
+interposition, that some holy saint prayed effectually for a separate
+one to supply water for each day of the year. The rocks reach far away
+to the westward and down into the cold blue of an uneasy ocean, which
+beats impetuously upon the outer walls, but the water is seldom
+disturbed by more than a ripple within the bay. For a combination of
+ocean, mountains, lakes, rocks, waterfalls, forests, and flowers I have
+never seen the like, and any one can easily understand why Glengariff is
+called the most beautiful spot in Ireland.
+
+The town of Glengariff is composed of fourteen houses, six saloons, a
+post office, a vine-covered headquarters for the constabulary, which
+looks altogether too picturesque and beautiful for such a practical
+purpose, a Catholic church, brand new and built with money from America,
+an old church where the Catholics formerly worshiped, now used as a
+school for teaching lace making, a pretty little Church of Ireland
+chapel, an ivy-clad rectory adjoining, and several comfortable hotels.
+There are four hundred inhabitants in the parish, mostly farmers,
+scattered within the glen and upon the surrounding rocks. They are
+mostly Harringtons, Sullivans, Caseys, and O'Sheas, and are nearly all
+related. All the population are Roman Catholics, except twelve families
+who belong to the Church of Ireland and are ministered to by the Rev.
+Mr. Harvey, who is paid a salary of £200 a year and is given a
+picturesque old manse in the midst of one of the loveliest gardens and
+groves you can imagine.
+
+Eccles Hotel has been famous for more than a century. You will find a
+flattering account of it in Mrs. Hall's book on Ireland, published in
+the '50s. And, by the way, that work contains a charming description of
+the country, although so much in detail that it fills three ponderous
+volumes that weigh four or five pounds each. There have been many
+changes since the book was written, but they concern only the people and
+their customs. Its historical references, its legends, and descriptions
+of scenery hold good to-day.
+
+The hotel, not the book, is a rambling, irregular structure with many
+gables and many chimneys, and is almost completely covered with a
+lustrous robe of English ivy. It sits at the foot of the glen where the
+rocks and the ocean meet and the prospect from the front windows is
+unsurpassed. The bay is enclosed like a wall with mighty mountains.
+Titanic rocks have rolled down into the water in some great cataclysm
+and now lie in picturesque shapes, here and there, as a tasteful artist
+would have arranged them, clad in vivid green. The outlines of the bay
+are irregular. Little arms of water reach up among the rocks that
+inclose it, and, when the tide goes out, it discloses deep beds of
+wondrous seaweed, curious vegetable and animal forms that Nature in her
+fantastic moods has designed in her studio under the waters of the sea.
+In the foreground at the right is a landing place for the little steamer
+that comes over from Bantry twice a day, and beyond it, rising from a
+rocky eminence, are the ruins of an ancient castle with a tower intact
+that was once a stronghold of the O'Sullivans, when they were kings in
+these parts. Now it belongs to the estate of the late Earl of Bantry.
+
+On the other side of the bay a long point of land protrudes across the
+horizon, and there it was that the French troops intended to land under
+Wolfe Tone and General Hoche on Dec. 26, 1796. There were 17 ships of
+the line, 13 frigates, 5 corvettes, 2 gunboats, and 6 transports, with
+about 14,000 men and 45,000 stands of arms, and it was expected that the
+news of their landing would be the signal for an uprising of the Irish
+people. Simon White, who lived near the point where the landing was to
+be made, was a man of quick movements and energy, and as soon as the
+fleet was sighted he saddled his horse and rode direct to
+Cork--sixty-five miles--in half a dozen hours to notify the military
+commander and other authorities of the invasion. For that the king made
+him the Earl of Bantry and gave him a strip of land around the bay
+twenty-two miles on one side and twenty-two miles on the other,
+stretching back into the mountains an average of six miles. The title
+has lasted through three generations, but has expired because the third
+Earl of Bantry left no son to wear it when he died a few years ago.
+
+Providence intervened, however, on the side of the English, and averted
+what might have been a disastrous struggle with France, with Ireland as
+the battlefield, as well as a civil war for the overthrow of British
+authority. A storm came up and dispersed the fleet. When the wind
+subsided, a dense fog overspread Bantry Bay and the ocean. When the air
+cleared the ships were so scattered that each sailed away on its own
+account during the next fortnight, and one by one they returned to the
+harbors of France. General Hoche, in the _Fraternitie_, finally reached
+Rochelle, after several narrow escapes, with his ship in a sinking
+condition. Several of the largest ships went upon the rocks, and about
+eighteen hundred sailors and soldiers perished. No Frenchman trod upon
+Irish soil with the exception of a lieutenant and seven seamen, who were
+sent out in a small boat from one of the ships during the fog to
+reconnoiter, and, running aground, were captured by James O'Sullivan.
+
+Bantry Bay is a magnificent inlet twenty-one miles long, and with an
+average breadth of four miles and an average depth of sixty fathoms,
+without a shoal or sandbank or any other peril to navigation. It is
+completely sheltered from the weather and is considered the finest
+harbor in Ireland. It is the rendezvous of the British North Atlantic
+fleet and the fleet of the channel, which come here regularly to
+practice maneuvers, to correct their compasses and regulate their range
+finders and do light repairs. The only town on the bay is a village of
+the same name, which has been described as a seaport without trade, a
+harbor without shipping, and a fishery without a market. There is a
+convent, a monastery, and a factory for the manufacture of Irish tweeds.
+
+[Illustration: GLENGARIFF BRIDGE]
+
+Adjoining the village is Bantry House, a stately mansion surrounded
+by a beautiful lawn and grove, which was the residence of the late Earl
+of Bantry, and was inherited by his nephew, Leigh White. Another nephew,
+Simon White, occupies the ancient Glengariff Castle, which is nearer the
+head of the bay--a large and gloomy-looking structure almost entirely
+hidden by the surrounding trees. Thirty-one thousand acres of land
+around the bay was inherited by these two young men, but it is very poor
+land. Three-fourths of it is bare rock, and the entire population upon
+their holdings is only about four hundred men, women, and children. A
+daughter of the late Earl of Bantry married Lord Ardilaun, who was
+Arthur Edward Guinness, a son of the great brewer of Dublin and probably
+the richest man in Ireland. The hotel is inclosed in a beautiful hedge
+of fuchsias, which flourish in this climate, and are commonly used for
+hedges. The grounds of the hotel extend over two hundred and fifty
+acres, mostly dense forest, with a beautiful garden of twelve acres or
+more. All the vegetables, poultry, eggs, and other produce are raised on
+the place, and the milk and cream and butter come from a private herd of
+cows, which is a great luxury.
+
+There is splendid fishing, both in the bay and in two small lakes, one
+hour's walk from the hotel, also boating, swimming, and any number of
+beautiful walks and drives through the woods and along the mountain
+roads. The only antiquity in the immediate neighborhood is a picturesque
+ruin called Cromwell's bridge. While the grim old Covenanter was passing
+up the glen with an escort to visit the O'Sullivans, citizens of
+Glengariff who had heard of the devastation he had created elsewhere
+tore down a bridge over a mountain gorge, hoping that it would turn him
+back. But after much trouble he and his men succeeded in crossing the
+canyon into the village, and there he summoned the inhabitants and told
+them that if they did not restore the bridge by the time he returned
+from his visit he would hang a man for every hour's delay. The bridge
+was ready for him, "fur they knew the auld villain would kape his
+word."
+
+The surrounding country is sparsely settled by a hardy, stubborn race,
+who fish in the winter and farm in the summer, like the people who live
+on the bleak New England coast. The children herd cattle, sheep, and
+goats upon the mountain sides; the pigs and the poultry share the
+ancient stone hovels occupied by their owners; the women cultivate a
+little spot of soil wherever they can find it in the crevices among the
+rocks, raising a few potatoes and cabbages, and look after the chickens
+and the babies. Scattered over the mountain side and reached by steep
+but perfect roads, are the roofless walls of what once were the homes of
+neighbors who have emigrated to America. The fate of those who remained
+seemed hopeless until recently, but the benevolent purposes of the
+government are brightening the lives and improving the condition of many
+of them. At Glengariff I got my first chance to observe the work of the
+Congested Districts Board through which the government is trying to
+relieve the distress of the poor and make life worth living for those
+wretched but courageous souls who dwell always in the mists of the
+mountains and among the moorlands and the peat bogs on the west coast of
+Ireland. They are the poorest, the least nourished, and the most
+helpless portion of the population. They are scattered widely. The
+arable soil is so scarce that they cannot live in communities and
+survive. Here and there among the rocks, where the kindly winds have
+dropped grains of earth during the ages, they are cultivating little
+patches of potatoes and cabbage. They follow a few cows and goats that
+nibble at the blades of grass that grow in the cracks of the rock and
+keep a few chickens, which share with them the roof shelter of a leaky,
+straw-thatched cabin built of rough stone and with a mud floor.
+
+The cabins are as comfortless as one can imagine, but they are no worse
+than thousands that may be found in our southern States, in the
+mountains of Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia.
+Thousands of "crackers" in Georgia have no better homes and no more
+consolations in life, but their cabins are more neatly kept and are not
+situated among such filthy and loathsome surroundings as those of the
+poor "bog-trotters" of Ireland.
+
+The interior of the cabins is quite as repulsive as the exterior. The
+chickens run in and out with the children, and they "kape the pig in the
+parlor" because that is the only room in the house and there is no other
+pen. The inevitable baby--you never enter a cabin without finding
+one--is always in its mother's arms and another is generally clinging to
+her skirts, while two or three more are playing in the filth around the
+door. There is only one room, where they all sleep, the elder ones upon
+rough benches, covered with pallets of straw, and the younger ones on
+the floor--grandparents, parents, children, pigs, and chickens--young
+and old, both sexes, lying side by side, with whatever covering their
+scanty earnings enable them to provide. There are no sheets or
+mattresses; no pillows, only comfortables that have been used for
+generations, and tattered blankets that are never washed. There is no
+furniture but a table and two or three stools. There are shelves, and a
+few nails and hooks driven into the walls. There is no stove, but a peat
+fire under the chimney where the mother cooks in pans and kettles when
+the weather is stormy and uses a rock outside for a kitchen when it
+doesn't rain or blow. There are few dishes, mostly broken china, and the
+covers of tin cans. The walls are windowless; there is no light but that
+which comes through the door, and during the long winter nights, when,
+in this latitude, it becomes dark at four o'clock, the family hibernate
+in the darkness because candles are beyond their means and burning peat
+gives no light. You can understand why so many of these poor wretches
+lose their wits. The insane asylums of Ireland are filled with
+unfortunates from this coast, most of them are hereditary and chronic
+cases caused by melancholia, nervousness, and starvation. I have been
+trying in vain to find out how they spend their time during the long
+winter evenings, but have been unable to get any satisfactory
+information on that point.
+
+Notwithstanding these conditions a stranger always receives a polite and
+a cordial welcome and usually an invitation to come in and rest and
+drink a cup of milk. There is no apology for poverty, or the appearance
+of things; there is no obsequiousness and no insolence, but a dignified,
+hearty handclasp at the coming and at the going and a cheerful
+invitation to call again. The Children of the Mist are invariably well
+behaved and polite. Although their clothes are ragged and their bodies
+are filthy with dirt, they have the same manners you would expect among
+the nobility. They are always obedient, deferential, and unselfish. They
+are kind and attentive to their younger brothers and sisters, and show
+perfect respect to their parents and elders. We have seen them in the
+cabins, in the fields, and in the schools. I have asked everybody where
+they get their manners, and who teaches them deportment in this barren
+wilderness of filth and bad smells. I asked Miss Walshe, the medical
+officer of the district, who goes from cabin to cabin as an angel of
+healing; I asked Miss O'Donnell, who has charge of the lace school; I
+asked the head constable at the police station; I asked the
+school-teachers and others, and they all say that the politeness of the
+Irish peasants, like their pride, is inborn and final proof that they
+are the descendants of kings. This pride is a strange thing, and it is
+most surprising. Every woman you find in a soiled and ragged dress in a
+wretched cabin receives you as her equal and talks with dignity and
+without restraint, and Mr. Duke, manager of the Eccles Hotel, told me
+this morning of a mountain peasant whose raggedness aroused his
+sympathy, but who would not accept a suit of clothes.
+
+Miss O'Donnell, the lace teacher, and Miss Walshe, the nurse, told us
+that the pretty young women we saw in the lace school and the boys and
+girls we saw in the national school, all come from such cabins as I have
+described. Some of the blue-eyed, bare-footed urchins have complexions
+that society belles would give their souls for, and long, beautiful
+coal-black hair, yet they sleep on a mud floor with pigs and chickens,
+and many of them walk three and four miles and back for the privilege of
+attending school. With a little training these children make excellent
+servants, faithful, obedient, and tactful, and almost without exception
+they go to mass and confession regularly, and they have a high standard
+of morals and a conscientious devotion to duty. Although it costs as
+much to get married as it does to buy a ticket to America, there are no
+unmarried people living together here; illegitimate births are extremely
+rare and chastity is the commonest of virtues.
+
+There is no compulsory education law, but the priests drive the children
+to school until they are fourteen and will not confirm them until they
+have passed a certain grade. A gentle, soft-voiced woman in a rude cabin
+in the mountain side told us the other day that her greatest trouble was
+that her daughter had been kept from school by sickness and she was
+afraid that the priest would not confirm her because she was so far
+behind the other girls in her lessons.
+
+The same rule applies to the lace school which has been established by
+the government through the Congested Districts Board in the old building
+used by the Catholic church before the new one was erected. The
+government pays a teacher and advances the material. The girls get the
+price their lacework brings when sold in the shops of London or Dublin
+or at the Eccles Hotel here at Glengariff. Miss O'Donnell tells me that
+Mrs. Duke, the wife of the manager of the hotel, is their best sales
+agent, and a stock of samples is always kept where the guests can see
+them. Fifty-one girls are now attending the school, and some of them
+walk seven miles and back every day. Father Harrington will not allow
+them to attend the lace school until after they are confirmed, and it is
+a great inducement to join the church because they are able to earn
+forty, fifty, and some of them sixty pounds a year, which secures them
+better clothes, better food, and some comforts for their families. Last
+year this little school sold nearly three thousand dollars' worth of
+lace, and the money was divided among fifty-one girls who made it.
+
+Every young person who can get money enough goes to America. And if it
+were not for the money they send back here many of their parents and
+younger brothers and sisters would starve. A gentleman who handles the
+postal orders in one of the most forlorn and wretched villages of
+Ireland told me that the Christmas gifts of money that came from America
+kept many a family in food during the winter. It is the ambition of
+every young man and woman to go to the United States, and only the lack
+of steamship fare keeps them in Ireland. A sturdy lad of eighteen who
+guided us across the moor to the roadway this morning told me
+confidentially that he was going to Arizona as soon as his uncle, who
+was doing very well out there, was able to send him the price. He asked
+many questions about that part of the country. His uncle is working in a
+gold mine near Tombstone and is "earning more than a pound a day,
+steady, six days in the week, and they pay him double wages if he works
+on Sunday." To a lad whose life is so barren and whose horizon is so
+narrow and who sees his father and his neighbors trying to wrest a
+scanty sustenance partly from the sea and partly from the land, and who
+scarcely catch enough fish or raise enough potatoes to feed the mouths
+of their own families, a pound a day looks like the income of an earl.
+
+The Catholic church at Glengariff is a brand new building of stone, and
+looks large enough for ten times the population of this parish, which
+has only about four hundred souls, men, women, and children. It was
+built with American money raised by Father Brown, the late priest, who
+went to Brooklyn, Boston, and several other cities of the United States,
+hunted up the relatives of the people who live here and those who went
+from these parts, and obtained £3,000. He was a good man and took a
+great interest in the temporal as well as the spiritual welfare of his
+people. Since his death Father Harrington has succeeded him and serves
+four churches in a radius of seventeen miles.
+
+We attended mass on Sunday. The church was crowded. All the aisles were
+filled with kneeling worshipers, up to the very feet of the altar and in
+the vestibule, or the steps, and around outside were forty or fifty men
+and women kneeling reverently upon the sod, although they couldn't hear
+the voice of the priest. One of the men told me that he believed every
+person in the parish was present and that they always came unless they
+were too ill to move, that no storm could stop them. As a rule they came
+from mountain cabins five and six miles away, in carts and on foot, and
+some of them carried children in their arms the entire distance.
+Notwithstanding their poverty they were better dressed than the working
+people of Dublin. Their clothes were neat and well brushed and mended.
+However ragged the garments they wear on week days may be, they always
+have a decent suit to wear to the house of God. The solemnity of the
+service was very impressive. To these people the church is the gate of
+heaven. Its decorations and ceremonies appeal to their imagination, to
+their senses of color and sound, and the mystic rites sink into their
+souls.
+
+Although there are six saloons for a parish of four hundred people the
+chief constable tells me there is very little drinking or disorder, and
+practically no crime. He hasn't had a case of robbery for a year, and
+except upon convivial occasions like weddings and wakes the people are
+very orderly. Most of the saloons, he tells me, sell very little liquor,
+and some of their licenses run back for years, being renewed annually to
+the same family for generations. A liquor license in Ireland cannot be
+taken away except for serious reasons, as long as the annual fee is
+paid. They can be sold or transferred, but if they lapse they are
+cancelled.
+
+In a neat stone cottage, surrounded by a well kept garden, among the
+rocky mountain sides that overlook Bantry Bay, lives Lacia Walshe,
+strong in body, strong in mind, and strong of purpose. She goes among
+the wretched hovels in this locality attending maternity cases which
+occur with amazing frequency, for the poorer the family the more
+children is the rule. Miss Walshe does not give her entire attention to
+midwifery, however, but treats every case of illness that comes within
+her ken, from sore fingers to delirium tremens. That is not a figure of
+speech, but an actual fact, for many a time at midnight has she been
+called from her cottage to some miserable stone hovel in the mountains
+to quiet with opiates a drunken ruffian who is haunted with reptiles and
+raving in his dreams. Miss Walshe belongs to the poor, and is kept here
+by a society with a name of fifteen words--"Lady Dudley's Scheme for the
+Establishment of District Nurses in the Poorest Parts of Ireland." She
+wears a badge the shape of a heart supporting a crown and in the center
+is a shamrock leaf encircled with the words of Another One who went
+about doing good as she does: "By love serve one another."
+
+The Countess of Dudley organized this work in 1903, beginning with two
+nurses in Geesala and Bealadangan, County Galway. And they did so much
+good that the number has now been increased to fifteen and they are
+located at as many places in the poorest districts of Ireland, where
+there are no physicians and where the people are too poor and the
+population too scattered to support a doctor if one could be induced to
+go there.
+
+The most distressing cases are those of confinement in cabins of only
+one room, into which sometimes six, eight, and ten men, women, and
+children are crowded, sleeping upon the floor. We went into a hut of
+only one room, not more than twelve by fourteen feet in size, which is
+occupied at night by nine persons,--father and mother, and grandmother
+and six children, the oldest being eighteen years of age. We visited
+another hut where there were eight children living, and were told of one
+where there were seventeen, the births of most of them not more than a
+year apart. To relieve conditions that may be easily imagined, Lady
+Dudley's society with the long name was formed, and is now doing an
+immense amount of good. Fifteen courageous and conscientious women are
+comfortably placed in localities where their services are most needed,
+at a cost of not more than a thousand dollars per year each, which
+includes a bicycle, the most convenient means of locomotion they can
+find, and an allowance for the hire of horses and jaunting cars when
+they can be obtained. Because it is impossible to find lodging and
+boarding places, it has been necessary to build cottages for the nurses,
+and in some cases the demands upon them are so great that they are
+allowed to employ assistance. They are equipped with surgical implements
+and medical stores. Each of the nurses has taken a course in surgery
+for emergency cases for they are frequently called upon to set bones and
+dress wounds and even to perform operations. They are also furnished
+with baby clothes, old linen, warm garments, stores of condensed milk
+and beef extract, and other delicacies, and although Florence
+Nightingale relieved thousands, her work did not compare in peril or
+privation or fatigue with the almost daily experience of some of these
+noble women.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXVI
+
+                         THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY
+
+
+The big stages that cross the mountains from Glengariff to Killarney are
+chiefly loaded with Americans. It is singular how few other
+nationalities are represented in the passenger traffic. The morning we
+crossed there were four great vehicles carrying twenty-four persons
+each, and every passenger, except one German bridal couple and a funny
+acting Englishman, was from the United States. In our coach were
+representatives from Cincinnati, Washington, St. Louis, Omaha, Texas,
+and Minnesota, and I suppose other sections were equally represented
+upon the three other coaches. Everybody who comes to Ireland takes this
+ride because it offers the grandest scenery and one of the most
+delightful experiences that tourists can enjoy. The coach begins to
+climb slowly through the beautiful glen as soon as it leaves the Eccles
+Hotel and continues climbing, up and up, for six miles through a dense
+forest of glowing green, until it emerges into a wilderness of rock and
+moorland, wild, picturesque, and almost entirely uninhabited. There is
+very little vegetation, only a few streaks and bunches of grass that
+grow along the cracks in the rocky surface, or in wind-carried soil that
+has been caught in crevices. It is one of the wildest places you can
+imagine, and as we go upward it becomes more so. The stage winds around
+the brow of a mountain that seems a solid mass of stone, and as far as
+one can see there is nothing else in the universe except a ribbon of
+silver that winds at the foot of the slope where we left a river when we
+began the journey. One has the sensation of awe that solitude often
+produces, but it is disturbed by the chatter of the passengers. It is as
+dreary and desolate and lonesome a place as the world contains.
+
+This is a comparatively new road. It was not built until 1838, but, like
+all the roads of Ireland, it is solid and perfect and made to last
+forever. The old road, and the principal line of communication between
+the counties of Cork and Kerry for centuries, ran along the slope of
+Hungry Mountain, so called because it is so devoid of vegetation that a
+goat would have to take his luncheon if he went up there. And from there
+it crossed to the mountain of the "Priest's Leap," which was named from
+a legend that grows out of persecution of the Catholics in Cromwell's
+time. The driver told it in this way:
+
+"Ye see, yer honor, in Cromwell's time there was a bounty of five pun'
+fer the head of a wolf and five pun' for the head of a priest; an' a
+dale of money was made o' both o' 'em. Well, bedad, one foine day a
+priest was ridin' over the hill, whin the Tories caught sight o' him (we
+called thim Tories in those days, the blaggards that did be huntin' o'
+the priests), and them that purshued him were jist to lay their bloody
+hands upon his blessed robe, whin he prayed to St. Fiachna. The blessed
+saint heard him, and the donkey he was ridin' gave a lape siven miles
+from one mountain to the ither, and yees can see the marks of the
+baste's hoofs in the solid rock to this day."
+
+It takes but little encouragement and a minimum of material to supply
+legends in this desolate and weird region, where every sound seems
+unnatural and the trembling of a leaf causes the nerves to tingle. The
+road resembles Brünig Pass in Switzerland more than any other that I
+have seen, with the Lakes of Killarney corresponding to Lake Lucerne,
+but it is less civilized and there are very few human habitations.
+
+The coach keeps climbing until we come to the grand divide, 1,233 feet
+above the sea, where the passage from the "Kingdom of Cork" to the
+"Kingdom of Kerry," as once they were called, is made through a tunnel
+about six hundred feet long and two smaller ones that are cut through
+the peak of the Esk Mountain. Until these tunnels were built travelers
+were carried over the rocks to the other end of the road on the backs of
+men. The country improves a little after the divide is crossed, and
+there is a gradual descent into a rather good grazing country which
+belongs to the Marquis of Lansdowne, but even here it is a good deal of
+a job for a cow to make a living, and there is a proverb that "A Kerry
+cow never looks up at a passing stranger for fear it will lose the
+bite."
+
+The Earl of Lansdowne, who has been governor-general of Canada,
+governor-general of India, lord of the treasury, secretary of war,
+minister of foreign affairs, and has held other important offices in the
+British cabinet, is one of the largest landowners in Ireland, although
+he spends very little of his time there. He has a long list of Irish
+titles inherited from his ancestors. In addition to being Earl Wycombe,
+Earl of Kerry, and Earl of Shelburne, he is Viscount Clanmaurice,
+Viscount Fitzmorris, Baron of Lixnaw, Baron of Dunkerron, and Viscount
+of Calstone, and his eldest son is the Earl of Kerry. He traces his
+lineage to Maurice Fitzgerald, who came over with Strongbow, who also
+was the ancestor of the earls of Kildare and the Duke of Leinster. The
+Lansdowne family have intermarried with the Leinsters, the MacCarthys,
+the Desmonds, the Ormondes, and other of the great families of Ireland,
+and, near or far, the marquis can claim relationship with nearly all the
+Irish nobility.
+
+Occasionally we saw a stone cabin in the far distance, from which a pale
+stream of smoke was arising, but until noonday, when we dropped into the
+valley and approached the little village of Kenmare, there was scarcely
+a human habitation. At Kenmare is an attractive hotel, at which a
+bountiful lunch is served for two shillings, and a little time is given
+the passengers to rest. Those who wish to do so can take a railway train
+here and run over to Killarney in three-quarters of an hour, but they
+will lose the most attractive part of the ride and some of the sublimest
+scenery in Ireland. The stage commences to climb again shortly after we
+leave Kenmare, and crawls along the mountain sides between the rocks and
+the heather all the afternoon. This country was fought over again and
+again ages ago. The mountain range was a sort of barrier between the
+warlike clans of MacCarthy and O'Sullivan, who met upon its rocky
+slopes and slew each other for any pretext, less for reason than for the
+love of fighting.
+
+The war cries of all the clans of southern Ireland, however, have been
+heard upon these rocks. "Shannied-Aboo" was the cry of the earls of
+Desmond; "Crom-Aboo" was the cry of the Geraldines, and the Duke of
+Leinster has it for the motto upon his coat of arms. The word "aboo" is
+the Gaelic equivalent to our "hurrah." The cry of the O'Neills was
+"Lamh-Dearg-Aboo" (Hurrah for the Red Hand, which was the crest of the
+O'Neills). The O'Brien cry was "Lamh-Laider-Aboo" (Hurrah for the Strong
+Hand). The Burkes cried "Galraigh-Aboo" (Hurrah for the Red Englishman).
+The Fitzpatricks, "Gear-Laider-Aboo" (Hurrah for the Strong and the
+Sharp).
+
+In the tenth year of the reign of Henry VII. an act passed by parliament
+prohibited the use of these war cries in the following quaint terms:
+
+"Item; Prayen the commons in this present parliament assembled; that for
+as much as there has been great variances, malices, debates and
+comparisons between divers lords and gentlemen of this land, which hath
+daily increased by seditious means of divers idle, ill-disposed persons,
+utterly taking upon them to be servants to such lords and gentlemen; for
+that they would be borne in their said idleness, and their other
+unlawful demeaning, and nothing for any favor or entirely good love or
+will that they bear under such lords and gentlemen. Therefore be it
+enacted and established by the same authority; That no person nor
+persons, of whatsoever estate, condition or degree he or they be of,
+take part with any lord or gentleman or uphold any such variances or
+comparisons in words or deeds as in using these words, Com-Aboo,
+Butler-Aboo, or other words like, or otherwise contrary to the King's
+laws, his crown, his dignity and his peace; but to call on St. George in
+the name of his sovereign lord, King of England for the time being. And
+if any person or persons of whatsoever estate, condition or degree he or
+they be of, do contrary so offending in the premisses, or any of them be
+taken and committed to ward, there to remain without bayle or maiprixe
+till he or they have made fine after the discretion of the King's Deputy
+of Ireland, and the King's Counsail of the same for the time being."
+
+The above is a sample of British legislation at the period that act was
+passed, and that conglomerate of words means simply that enthusiastic
+Irishmen were forbidden to excite their own emotions and the emotions of
+others by the cries of their clan and were admonished to use only the
+war cry of the King of England, who in battle is supposed to appeal to
+St. George.
+
+The first glimpse of the Lakes of Killarney is obtained as the coach
+comes around the point of a mountain, and a great green amphitheater
+with a body of glimmering water at the bottom is suddenly spread out
+before the passengers. The outlines are fringed with forests and the
+lakes are studded with tiny islands of different sizes and shapes, but
+all glow with a vivid color that is not found anywhere else. And this
+picture is before the vision until the stage plunges into a tunnel of
+foliage at the foot of the slope, near the ancient ruins of Muckross
+Abbey, and follows along through a tunnel made of high stone walls and
+overhanging boughs until the village of Killarney is reached.
+
+Long, long ago there were two giants, the giant of Glengariff and the
+giant of Killarney, and they were very jealous of each other. They kept
+up a continual controversy, each boasting of his own strength and valor
+and daring the other to cross the mountains. Finally, after everybody
+got tired of these threats and challenges, just as people do nowadays
+about the talking matches of pugilists, the giant of Killarney decided
+to go over to Glengariff and see what sort of a person his foe might be.
+Disguising himself as a monk, he crossed the divide, came down into the
+village, and was shown the way to his enemy's cabin. The giant of
+Glengariff, having heard of the approach of his rival, became very much
+frightened and hastily made a cradle big enough to hold his enormous
+carcass, and, lying down in it, ordered his wife to tuck him up with a
+blanket. And there he lay, pretending to be asleep, when the giant of
+Killarney approached the door and politely offered the compliments of
+the season to the lady he saw sitting on a three-legged stool with her
+knitting in her lap. Her hand was on the edge of a cradle twelve feet
+long, and she rocked it gently, crooning an old lullaby.
+
+"Hush, you spalpeen, lest ye wake the baby!" and she continued to sing
+the slumber song in a soft, sweet voice.
+
+"Let's see your baby," whispered the giant of Killarney, and she lifted
+the blanket gently from her husband's face.
+
+His enemy looked at him in amazement for an instant, and then, begging
+the good lady's pardon for the intrusion, started back over the mountain
+trail as fast as his big legs could take him.
+
+"If the baby's as big as that, how big must the ould man be!"
+
+Valentine Charles Browne, Earl of Kenmare, owns all of the Lakes of
+Killarney, all the land that surrounds them, and, according to the grant
+of James I., Feb. 16, 1622, "all the islands of, or in the same, and the
+fisheries of said lakes, and the soil and bottom thereof." He owns all
+the mountains round about, and one of his stewards told me that they
+comprised 999,000 acres. He owns the village and everything within it,
+even the ground on which the railway station stands. All of the hotels
+occupy his soil under lease, and the insane asylum, with its six hundred
+patients, and the poorhouse for County Kerry, with four hundred
+friendless and destitute creatures within its walls.
+
+Sir Valentine Browne, Knight of Totteridge, Lincolnshire, England, was
+constable, warden, victualler, and treasurer of Berwick in the reign of
+Queen Elizabeth, who sent him with Sir Henry Wallop in 1583 to survey
+escheated lands in Ireland. He remained on the island, was subsequently
+sworn of the privy council, represented the County of Sligo in
+parliament in 1588, and in June of the same year purchased from
+MacCarthy More, Earl of Glencare, certain lands, manors, etc., in
+counties Kerry and Cork, and obtained by patents from Queen Elizabeth
+all the remainder of the Glencare estates. He was afterward quite useful
+to her majesty, as his posterity have been to her successors.
+
+Sir Valentine Browne, his grandson, was created Baronet of Kenmare in
+1622 and received a grant, from which I have quoted, of all the lakes
+and all the lands and mountains round about them to the very bottom
+thereof. In 1689 these estates were forfeited by his son because of his
+fidelity to the unfortunate James II., but were restored to the family
+in 1720, and in 1724 Valentine, the fifth viscount, was made an earl.
+The late earl was one of the most devoted councilors and confidential
+advisers of the late Queen Victoria. She was very much attached to him,
+and he had charge of her household as vice chamberlain and lord
+chamberlain from 1872 to 1886, and was one of her lords in waiting until
+her death. His mother was Gertrude Thynne, a niece of the Earl of Bath,
+and is still living. The father died in 1905 at the age of eighty, after
+a useful and honorable career.
+
+The present earl was educated at Eton and Oxford, served for a time in
+the army, went to Australia as an aid-de-camp to the Governor of
+Victoria, was state steward to the Earl of Aberdeen during the first
+term of the latter as lord lieutenant of Ireland, and married Elizabeth
+Baring, daughter of Lord Revelstoke of the famous firm of Baring
+Brothers, bankers, London. He has a brother-in-law in New York. The Earl
+of Kenmare is the most prominent and influential Roman Catholic in the
+Irish peerage. He is devoted to the interests of the church, is devout
+in his habits, maintains a private chapel in his London residence and at
+his mansion here, and a family chaplain in the old-fashioned way. He
+never leaves his house in the morning without prayers at which all the
+household and guests are present and the servants are called in from
+their tasks. There is a cathedral of pretentious architecture upon his
+grounds in the village to which his father contributed a quarter of a
+million dollars. It has been built within the last few years by Bishop
+Mangan of this diocese, and is already being enlarged, although to a
+stranger it seems to be big enough as it is.
+
+[Illustration: KENMARE HOUSE, KILLARNEY]
+
+Kenmare House has one hundred and nine rooms. The grand reception salon
+is 135 feet in length and 42 feet in width, with a deep recessed
+fireplace and a massive oak mantel; the library is 48 by 42 feet, the
+state dining-room 52 by 30 feet, the drawing-room 36 by 24 feet, the
+smoking-room 25 by 17 feet, the family dining-room 21 by 16 feet, the
+earl's study 24 by 16 feet, her ladyship's boudoir 18 by 30 feet, the
+state bedroom 33 by 24 feet, and nine other state apartments of similar
+dimensions. There are sixteen family bedrooms, each with a bath
+attached, on the second floor, and twenty-six double and single bedrooms
+on the third floor, with a bachelor's wing of fifteen rooms entirely
+separate from the rest of the house and reached by a long corridor.
+There is a nursery and schoolroom 36 by 18 feet, a servants' hall 30 by
+20 feet, and fifteen bedrooms for servants. Altogether there are eighty
+living-rooms, amply furnished, besides the kitchens, bakery, storerooms,
+pantries, and servants' quarters. There is a garage, and stabling for
+seventeen horses, a dairy, a fish hatchery which stocks the brooks with
+trout and the lakes with salmon; seven thousand acres of forest preserve
+with deer and other game, and, altogether, more than one hundred
+thousand acres of shooting upon the hills and mountains, the bogs and
+forests surrounding the Lakes of Killarney. In 1907 the game bag
+included 2,500 rabbits, 470 pheasants, 400 woodcock, 200 grouse, 150
+hares, 100 snipe, and 40 teal ducks, 14 stags, 6 hinds, and 4 does. No
+account was taken of the trout and the salmon which abound in the lake
+and in the several rivers and brooks which feed it. It is undoubtedly
+one of the most beautiful and attractive estates in all the United
+Kingdom.
+
+The fishing is very good in the spring. An Englishman at our hotel
+brought in several beautiful ten and twelve pound salmon, which he
+caught with a fly, although it was warm weather and the poorest time of
+year for the fishing. His lordship charges a fee of five dollars for the
+privilege of fishing in his lake. That pays for a license of one year,
+but is not transferable. A transient guest at a hotel, however, can go
+out with licensed fishermen as often as he likes. In the spring, when
+the salmon are running, nets are used, and his lordship gets the
+proceeds of the catch. The fish are shipped to Dublin and London, and
+the returns are $3,000 and $4,000 a year. His lordship allows none but
+rowboats upon the lakes. He will not permit a steamer or motor launch or
+even a naphtha launch, and every one who has a boat has to take out a
+license, for which he collects ten shillings. But the boatmen make it up
+during the tourist season.
+
+The Earl of Kenmare will share his blessings, so far as his park is
+concerned, with you or any one else for a sixpence, and they are well
+worth it. I do not know any place where a lover of nature or one who is
+fond of strolling through the woods can get as much for his money. The
+demesne or park contains about nineteen hundred acres of forest and
+garden with many miles of walks and drives. The lodgekeepers at every
+one of the six gates are always alert to collect the sixpence and give
+you a ticket, numbered and stamped and good for that day only. But you
+can pass the gates with it as often as you like until they are closed at
+night, and a wise man will spend as much time as he can spare within the
+demesne every day. When we were there in June the trees were glorious;
+hundreds of acres of rhododendrons were in flower and made great banks
+of purple blossoms; the hawthorns, arbutus, laburnums, and other
+flowering trees and the woodbine were in their greatest glory. And when
+they fade we can admire the oaks and beeches that have been growing
+there for hundreds of years. Many of the trees were planted after
+designs. There are long avenues that are completely roofed by boughs,
+and at one place a magnificent cathedral of beeches has been devised of
+foliage, three wide aisles made by five rows of venerable beech trees
+more than three hundred years old, which were trimmed almost to the top
+when young and the branches trained to overlap so that they are almost a
+rain-proof roof. The trunks are smooth and almost straight, like the
+columns of a basilica, and the ground is covered with half decayed
+shells of beech nuts that have fallen during the centuries.
+
+But the most glorious part of the demesne is the garden, which surpasses
+any that I have seen for years. It occupies a terrace surrounding
+Kenmare House upon the highest eminence in the demesne and overlooks the
+lakes. It is laid out in the Italian style, and the gardener told us
+that it was designed by the Dowager Lady Kenmare when she was a bride.
+If that is true her ladyship must have been a very clever landscape
+gardener. The most striking feature is a tennis court inclosed within a
+hedge of cypress ten feet high and six feet thick, with the top trimmed
+to represent the wall of a castle, with arches for entrances and bays
+and recesses where benches have been placed to accommodate spectators.
+This unique wall of cypress is so dense that a tennis ball will rebound
+from it. Adjoining the tennis court is a croquet ground, and just behind
+them an exquisite little cottage where her ladyship serves tea every
+summer afternoon to her guests.
+
+I was told that no other garden in Ireland compares with this, and the
+only ones that approach it are those of the Duke of Devonshire at
+Lismore and the Duke of Ormonde at Kilkenny. Although those at
+Versailles and Fontainebleau are much more extensive, they are not so
+artistic.
+
+The Lakes of Killarney are three in number and, strangely enough, have
+no romantic names. They really are only one lake, the Lower, Upper, and
+Middle lakes being connected by narrow channels only a few yards long.
+The three are thirty miles in circumference and the extreme end of Upper
+Lake is eleven miles from the extreme end of Lower Lake. The Lower Lake
+is the largest, being about five and a half miles long and two and a
+half miles wide at the widest place; Middle Lake and Upper Lake are each
+about two miles long at the greatest length and about three-quarters of
+a mile wide at the widest point. They all contain numerous islands of
+different sizes. Somebody has counted them, and I think has found
+sixty-five, large and small. One of them, Innisfallen Island, was
+occupied by a monastery back in St. Patrick's time, and the famous
+"Annals of Innisfallen," one of the earliest and most authentic of the
+ancient Irish histories, was written there by the monks, who began the
+manuscript at least twelve hundred years ago. The original is now in the
+Bodleian Library at Oxford, and is one of the most valuable manuscripts
+in the world, with fifty-seven leaves, closely covered with beautiful
+penmanship. The earlier portion consists of extracts from the Old
+Testament and a history of the world down to the arrival of St. Patrick
+in 432. From that time it treats exclusively of Irish affairs,
+terminating with the year 1319. It is evidently a record of certain
+facts which came to the knowledge of the monks of Innisfallen Abbey
+during a period of nearly seven hundred years until, in 1320, the abbey
+was plundered and the monks massacred by Maolduin O'Donaghue and the
+MacCarthys. It has since remained in ruins, a few broken walls covered
+with ivy, which are visited regularly by Augustinian brothers who come
+here on pilgrimages.
+
+The lakes are surrounded almost entirely by a range of mountains, except
+on the north, where they break into low hills. There are six peaks
+rising over two thousand feet, including Carran-Tuel (3,314 feet), the
+highest mountain in Ireland; Mangerton (2,756 feet), Purple Mountain
+(2,739), Devil's Punch Bowl (2,665), Toomies (2,500), and Torc (2,100).
+There are several other mountains which approach these in height,
+forming a mighty barrier between County Cork and County Kerry, and
+protecting Killarney from the cold southwest winds of the ocean. The
+Devil's Punch Bowl is an extinct volcano, and gets its name from an
+enormous crater near its summit which is filled with water and fed from
+subterranean springs. There is no bottom so far as people have been able
+to discover. The crater reaches down into the bowels of the earth
+somewhere and furnishes an inexhaustible reservoir of pure, cold water,
+which is now piped down to the village of Killarney.
+
+[Illustration: UPPER LAKE, KILLARNEY.]
+
+By a curious freak of nature these mountains are all detached and
+separated by narrow valleys and gorges, although at a distance they seem
+to be in a cluster. The passes are watered with streams that fall
+over precipitous rocks and form numerous cascades. We came through one
+of them on our way from Glengariff, and nearly all the others have hard,
+smooth roads which are utilized for excursions on coaches, and in
+jaunting cars. Some of them are impassable except on horseback. They
+furnish delightful diversions for tourists and people who are spending
+the summer at the hotels, and give a good opportunity to see the scenery
+and Irish life. The excursion system is well organized. It is only
+necessary to buy a ticket and to "follow the man from Cook's." There are
+many short drives also and visits can be made to the islands by
+rowboats. There are several romantic old castles and the Earl of Kenmare
+has built tea houses at different points which are greatly appreciated.
+
+There is no more delightful place in the world for rest and mild forms
+of enjoyment, but sporty people will find Killarney "beastly dull." It
+is not in the least bit exciting; there is no dressing and there is no
+dancing, and some of the hotels are without barrooms. The most thrilling
+excitement is found in tennis, golf, fishing, walking, driving, and
+listening to a phonograph in the evening. There is an active rivalry
+between the worshipers of the Scotch and the English lakes and the
+admirers of the Lakes of Killarney. They all have a certain resemblance,
+and the latter are like Alpine lakes in miniature--not so much mountain,
+not so much water, but a similar canopy of blue sky and green settings.
+The mountains were grouped by a competent Artist and are embroidered and
+fringed with foliage, but are bare as a bone on their slopes and peaks.
+They are good for nothing but scenery. The grass is so scarce that it
+doesn't pay to pasture cattle over them, and a goat would have nervous
+prostration from loneliness. There are said to be plenty of deer, but
+that is doubtful.
+
+But as features of a picture the mountains around Killarney, with their
+shifting lights and shadows as the sun rises and declines, are exquisite
+pictures. They appear at their best when the sun goes down and the mist
+rises and softens their outlines. The lingering twilight leaves deep
+shadows of purple and blue, and every evening we sit on a bench in the
+hotel garden and watch them fade away like a scene in a theater when
+curtains of gauze are dropped one after another.
+
+The vivid Irish imagination has furnished a volume of legends and
+superstitions about the lakes. Some of them have been handed down from
+the earliest generations. These attractions drew to them the lovers of
+the beautiful ages ago and they were originally known as "The Lakes of
+Learning," because at one time there were three monasteries there,
+attended by multitudes of students from all over the world. They have
+been a favorite theme of all the Irish poets, and the scene of
+innumerable romances. The legends, which account for the origin of the
+lakes, are not consistent. Some one neglected to close the entrance to
+an enchanted fountain in the mountains, which caused a flood and covered
+fair and fertile fields and splendid palaces with water. One of the
+ancestors of the O'Donaghues, who originally owned all the water and all
+the mountains, as the Earl of Kenmare does at present, full of
+skepticism and wine, defied the gods, who threatened destruction if a
+stone from a certain sacred well should be disturbed. With the bravado
+that was characteristic of his descendants, he carried the stone to his
+castle. When the people heard of this impiety they fled to a neighboring
+mountain, and in the morning when the sun rose they looked down and saw
+that the valley in which their homes had been was covered with water.
+
+The O'Donaghue is the hero of most of the legends. He is identified with
+almost every island and with almost every glen. The legends all agree
+that the men and women who inhabited the lovely valley did not perish
+with him, but The O'Donaghue lives at the bottom of the lake in a
+gorgeous palace, surrounded by congenial friends and enjoys feasting and
+folly as much as he did before the flood. Every seven years in the
+summer he comes to the surface, and makes a journey from one end of the
+lakes to the other, riding a splendid white stallion, in an armor of
+gold and a helmet that glitters with diamonds. He gallops through the
+town and around the mountains just as he did when he was the lord of
+the land, and will continue to do so until the silver shoes on the hoofs
+of his stallion are worn out. Blessings are showered upon every one who
+is fortunate enough to see him. If a girl can catch a glimpse of this
+brilliant knight as he makes his midnight journey she is sure to be
+married before the end of the year.
+
+O'Donaghue's horse, his prison, his stable, his library, his cellar, his
+pulpit, his table, his broom, and various other things that belonged to
+him are pointed out among the rocks upon the islands of the shore. Every
+freak of nature has some association with him.
+
+Scores of peasants may be found who have actually seen him, and half the
+population believe in his seven-year visits. Many curious stories of
+which O'Donaghue is the hero have been invented in the generations that
+have passed by imaginative mothers to entertain their children. When I
+asked a thoughtful jaunting car driver if he believed in the periodical
+appearance of the ancient lord of the lake, he answered:
+
+"Wall, I dunno', I dunno'; me mither tould me the tale wid her own
+blessed lips; me wife has tould it jist the same to our own children,
+and I am shure The O'Donaghue isn't in Killarney the rist of the toime,
+and why shouldn't he have the pleasure of comin' for one noight?"
+
+St. Patrick never came to Killarney, but the legend is that he climbed
+up to the top of the tallest mountain, stretched out his hands over the
+lakes and said: "I bless all beyint the reeks" (mountains).
+
+Fin MacCool kept his tubs of gold in the lake near Muckross Abbey and
+his dog Bran watched them. "One day a brute of an Englishman, an' a
+great diver intirely, came over to git the goold, and when he wint down
+into the wather the dog Bran sazed him by the trousers and shook the
+life out of him until he died, and his ghost has been wanderin' around
+there ivir sence."
+
+The shore of the lake under the windows of Ross Castle is strewn with
+curious-looking flat stones. They are the books of his library which
+The O'Donaghue threw out of the window when he was mad one day, and they
+turned to rocks.
+
+When The O'Donaghue was a slip of a boy and was sitting in front of the
+castle an old woman came running along shrieking that the O'Sullivans
+had come through the pass from County Cork and were stealing the cattle.
+"The O'Donaghue, thin only thirteen years old, bedad, seizes an oulde
+sword and kills every mother's son of the thaving blaggards, an' sticks
+their bodies up agin the wall as a warning to all the ruffians of the
+clans beyant the mountains.
+
+"When The O'Donaghue was a young man and went into his first battle he
+slew six hundred of his enemies in a single day. He fought so long and
+became so tired that his legs and arms would have fallen off his body if
+they hadn't been held together by his armor.
+
+"One day when Ossian, the poet, came to Killarney he met an old priest
+trying to carry a sack of corn on his back. Ossian relieved him of the
+burden. The priest called on the Holy Virgin to bless him, whereupon
+Ossian said, 'I help you because you are an old man and not for the sake
+of virgins or married women or widdies,' for Ossian was a hathen and he
+didn't know any better, an' how could he know what the holy father meant
+when he sphoke of the Blessed Virgin? But, nevertheless, the curse was
+on him, and in a minute he was an ould shrivelled, crippled crater, a
+dale oulder than the priest whose sack of corn he was carrying. And all
+this for takin' the name of Blessed Virgin in vain, and not knowing any
+better. But the priest, with a few words of prayer, relaved the
+enchantment and converted Ossian to Christianity on the sphot."
+
+[Illustration: ROSS CASTLE, KILLARNEY]
+
+Ross Castle was the stronghold of the O'Donaghues. It was built
+somewhere about the twelfth century by the celebrated Hugh O'Donaghue,
+who lives in the lake and rides about the country every seven years. It
+is an historic fact that he lived there once, although the legends that
+are told of him go back for centuries before its foundation. There is a
+massive tower or keep, about one hundred feet high and one hundred
+feet square, "and ivy clasps the fissured stones with its entwining
+arms." The walls of the tower are almost perfect. There is a long
+extension, however, entirely in ruins, but it gives an idea of the
+enormous dimensions of the castle. It was surrounded by outworks of
+great strength, and you can see traces of the round watch towers at the
+angles. A stone staircase leads to the top of the tower, where a
+beautiful view of the country can be obtained. Few ruins in Ireland are
+so extensive and so well kept.
+
+Everybody has to pay a sixpence to see Ross Castle, and the money goes
+into the empty pocket of the Earl of Kenmare. You have to pay to see
+everything in this country, however, and sometimes the petty hotel
+charges are exasperating. They are insignificant, but everything goes in
+the bill; every time you draw a breath or ask a question it costs
+twopence. If the hotel managers would make a straight rate per day to
+cover all these trifles they would make a great deal more money and save
+a great deal of temper. The only free ruins are those of the ancient
+Abbey of Agahadoe, which occupy a conspicuous site on the ridge back of
+the town where they were built in the eighth century by Finian, the
+leper saint.
+
+Ross Castle has withstood many a siege in its time, but was finally
+captured, dismantled, and left in its present condition during the civil
+war in 1652. It was attacked by General Ludlow with an army of four
+thousand footmen and two hundred horse, and defended by The O'Donaghue
+of that time. Finding it impregnable by land, Ludlow left a portion of
+his force to hold it in a state of siege, while he retired to
+Castlemaine and built a fleet of boats with which he made an attack by
+water. There was an ancient proverb that "Ross Castle will never fall
+until ships float in the Lake of Killarney," hence, the garrison
+remembered that saying when they saw Ludlow's flotilla approaching, and
+were so demoralized by the superstition that they abandoned it and laid
+down their arms. It was the last of the O'Donaghues. Their power and
+glory have never been regained.
+
+The village of Killarney is unattractive and untidy, but it is a busy
+place. One doesn't understand why in a country where there is so much
+room to spare, the villages should not be made up of detached cottages
+with gardens and lawns, hedges and shade trees, instead of sections of
+solid blocks that look as if they had been cut out of the tenement house
+districts of crowded cities. Killarney is a solid mass of brick and
+mortar, with stuccoed fronts, painted a dingy yellow, without the
+slightest thing to relieve the monotony until you suddenly pass the last
+house and the green fields begin.
+
+It is a great tourist center, and there are a dozen hotels and
+boarding-houses of different pretensions and prices. There are "licensed
+houses" and "unlicensed houses" and some of them are licensed for seven
+days in a week, which means that the proprietor has permission to sell
+whisky and beer from two to five o'clock on the Sabbath day. Cook's
+excursion parties come in like swarms of bees, buzzing around the hotels
+and shops where laces and other curiosities are for sale and carry off
+loads of queer things as souvenirs. They breakfast at seven o'clock in
+the morning and are piled into great four-horse coaches by nine and
+start off on excursions with their luncheons in baskets under the seats.
+They return at sunset completely tired out, but the next morning are off
+for Dublin or Glengariff. It is about as hard work to travel with an
+excursion party as anything I know of, for every moment must be
+economized and everybody feels under obligations to see everything.
+
+Killarney is quite an educational center also. There are several popular
+schools there and several monasteries. The Franciscans conduct a
+theological seminary and the Christian Brothers have a college in
+connection with the cathedral. There are two or three convents where
+young ladies are educated, and a large institution in which two hundred
+and ten girls are being taught by the nuns to make lace, which is one of
+the most profitable occupations an Irish woman can engage in. And they
+have a School of Housewifery, conducted by the British government under
+the supervision of the minister of agriculture at Dublin. Paternalism is
+carried farther in Ireland than in Switzerland, Germany, or any other
+place I know of, as you will admit when you hear that twenty-three
+rosy-cheeked, blue-eyed mavourneens are being educated at the expense of
+the taxpayers as domestic servants. They are rescued from the filthy
+cabins in the mountains, washed, and clothed in neat liveries, natty
+little muslin caps are pinned to their raven tresses, frilled muslin
+aprons are fastened to their frocks, and they are taught how to wash
+dishes and cook and make beds and do plain sewing, and dust the
+bric-a-brac in the drawing-room and say, "Yes, me lady," and "Yes, me
+lord," and courtesy when they are spoken to. They learn to mend and
+embroider, to do up hair, to fasten dresses and other duties pertaining
+to the jurisdiction of a lady's maid, and, after a year or so of this
+training, they are found positions in the households of the nobility,
+where they will spend their lives as servants and marry a footman or a
+gamekeeper, as will their children and grandchildren generations to come
+after them, because domestic service is a profession in Great Britain,
+and is followed by families who are trained for their work.
+
+This school is a great thing for the Irish girls in the mountain cabins,
+whose lives might otherwise be hopelessly sunk in squalor and filth that
+seem to be inseparable from the peasant population. I have never been
+able to find anybody to explain why an Irish farmer piles his manure in
+front of the only door to his cabin. It is an habitual subject of
+witticism, just as it is in Switzerland, where similar customs prevail,
+but with thousands of acres of bare ground all around the cabin, it
+would seem that some other place might be found.
+
+It occurred to me, too, as I was going through the School of
+Housewifery, that our government might do worse than establish similar
+schools in the Southern States for training colored girls in the same
+way, but I suppose the Supreme Court would pronounce such a scheme
+unconstitutional.
+
+A house by the roadside now occupied by a farmer named McSweeny is
+pointed out as the birthplace of Robert Emmet.
+
+Lord Kitchener was born about nineteen miles from here, at Crotto
+House, Tralee, where his father and mother were stopping for the summer.
+His father was a colonel in the army and was on leave from his regiment
+at the time of Kitchener's birth.
+
+The great Daniel O'Connell was also born in the neighborhood, and his
+nephew, Sir Maurice O'Connell, lives in a stately mansion that overlooks
+the lower lake in the middle of a beautiful grove.
+
+Muckross Abbey ranks with Melrose Abbey in Scotland and Kenilworth
+Castle in England as among the most picturesque and interesting ruins in
+the world. The walls and the Gothic windows, the tower and several other
+distinctive features are well preserved, and the ivy drapery makes it an
+exquisite picture. The abbey stands within the park of two hundred and
+ninety acres that surrounds Muckross House and is the property of Lord
+Ardilaun, who has many beautiful places in different parts of Ireland,
+and cannot possibly enjoy them all; but none is so beautiful as Muckross
+House.
+
+[Illustration: MUCKROSS ABBEY, KILLARNEY]
+
+He purchased the property of the Herbert family who inherited it from
+Florence MacCarthy More, who, in 1750 married Agnes, daughter of Edward
+Herbert of this county, and they had one son who was the last MacCarthy
+More in the direct line, and that famous family became extinct, for he
+died without issue in 1770, and the estate passed into the possession of
+his mother's family, being the nearest relatives. The Honorable Arthur
+Herbert died in 1866, and a beautiful Celtic cross has been erected to
+his memory upon the highest hill in the neighborhood, overlooking the
+park that he prized so highly, and where he enjoyed so much pleasure.
+His widow and daughters lived there for thirty years until they expired,
+when the place was offered at auction and Lord Ardilaun bid it in for
+£63,000 for the estate, and paid £10,000 more for furniture, pictures,
+live stock, and other property, making it cost him altogether about
+£73,000. And now he offers it for sale--the whole thing, a house of
+thirty-two rooms, a park of two hundred and ninety acres, the ruins of
+Muckross Abbey, and history and legends galore--for £75,000. And
+perhaps he would take less from the proper person. In 1907 a syndicate
+was organized to purchase the place and turn it into a Monte Carlo. They
+proposed to make the handsome old mansion a gambling-house and erect a
+large hotel with all possible allurements near by; but when Lord
+Ardilaun learned of the scheme, he instructed his solicitors to insert
+in the deed a clause stipulating that it should be used for residential
+purposes only, and that made it worthless to the syndicate. So Muckross
+Abbey and its beautiful surroundings are still in the market.
+
+The abbey dates back to the dawn of Christianity in Ireland, and its
+site was originally occupied in the fourth or fifth century by a
+monastery founded by St. Finian of Innisfallen and his monks. The
+present building, however, was erected by Donald MacCarthy More, Prince
+of Desmond, in 1330, and was finished by his son in 1340 for the
+Franciscan friars, who occupied it as a monastery and as a college.
+There was some kind of an institution on the same site between the
+monastery of St. Finian and the present one, for an ancient manuscript
+in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, gives an account of its
+destruction by fire in the eleventh century. The founder, Donald
+MacCarthy More, built the beautiful chapel as a burial place for himself
+and his posterity. It is also the burial place of the O'Donaghues of the
+Glens, and in the very center of the choir is a large square tomb in
+which was deposited the body of "The Great O'Donaghue," the chieftain of
+the lakes, of whom Mr. Maurice R. Moriarity, the custodian, gives many
+interesting legends in his history of the ruins.
+
+The O'Donaghues were connected by marriage with the MacCarthys, kings of
+Munster, and had their headquarters at Blarney Castle, near Cork. Twelve
+generations, so far as the inscriptions can be deciphered, of that proud
+family are lying there, and more than twenty generations of O'Donaghues.
+The last MacCarthy buried here was Florence, husband of Agnes Herbert,
+who lived in Muckross House until his death in 1770. The last O'Donaghue
+buried here was Donal, a direct descendant of The O'Donaghue of the
+Glens, who was a member of parliament and died in 1889. His son Jeffrey,
+"The O'Donaghue," as the head of the family is always called, is a
+barrister living in Dublin, a gentleman of high reputation and much
+influence, although he has lost almost everything but his proud name and
+a lineage that is interwoven with the history of Ireland since human
+actions were recorded.
+
+The grandfather of "The O'Donaghue" was a captain in the Munster
+Fusiliers, which were recruited in County Kerry and was stationed at
+Chester, near Liverpool, the home of Gladstone, in 1860, during a
+religious agitation. A band of rioters were making ready to burn an
+effigy of the pope when Captain O'Donaghue warned the leaders that if
+such an insult to the holy father was offered the Kerry men of his
+regiment would burn the city of Chester to the ground. When this threat
+became known the mob dispersed, and there were no more religious
+demonstrations while Captain O'Donaghue and the men of Kerry were in the
+Chester barracks.
+
+"The O'Donaghues were ginerally prayin' when they woren't foightin' or
+dhrinkin'," said the ancient oracle who gave me this information. "They
+feared none but God, and since Maolduin O'Donaghue burned the monastery
+of Innisfallen and murdered the monks in 1158 they have spint much toime
+doin' pinnance for his sins."
+
+It is customary for the heads of these old families to use the word
+"The" as a prefix to their names to indicate their rank, and I have seen
+letters signed in that way, without the initials of the writer. For
+example, "The MacDermott" is a barrister of importance in Dublin. "The
+O'Donivan" lives at Cork and retains a part of the ancestral estates.
+"The O'Shea" is a clergyman of the Church of England stationed at
+Manchester and makes much of his position as the head of the clan. "The
+O'Neill" is the Lord of Londonderry, and "The O'Connor" lives at
+Sligo--a brother of the late Sir Nicholas O'Connor, who was British
+ambassador at Constantinople at the time of his death. "The O'Flaherty"
+is a justice of the peace near Galway, and a man of importance. And
+members of other old families recognize the head of their clan in a
+similar manner, although it carries nothing but glory and gratification
+with it.
+
+"The O'Sullivans, the MacCarthys, and all the old families loike the
+O'Donaghues, are gone; played out, as ye moight say," remarked the
+oracle. "For tin cinturies the O'Sullivans ruled whole counties in
+Ireland, but they have lost their proid as well as their property, and
+are now contint to kape pooblic houses [saloons] and sit around
+complaining of the hard toimes. The whole country south of here is full
+of O'Sullivans. There's more of thim than of any other name. If anny wan
+were to sail across County Kerry in a balloon and cast out a bag of
+corn, ivery kernel would hit an O'Sullivan, but they are only proivates
+in the clan. The ruling line is extinct and no O'Sullivan now owns an
+acre of the old estates. Nor do the O'Donaghues; they're as poor as
+church mice, having lost all but the name and the spirit of the race.
+
+"Look at that grave there; it's filled with the bones of Black Jeffery
+O'Donaghue. They called him the Black Prince of the Glenflesk. He lived
+at Killaha Castle, situated five moiles from here and built on a rock
+standin' in the middle of a bog, and nobody could find the way but those
+who knew it. His spirit nothing could contain. He hated the English as
+no man ever hated thim before or since, and whin he saw an Englishman
+his temper would rise like the hair on the back of an angry dog. No
+Englishman ever came within soight of Killaha Castle and got home
+aloive. But Black Jeffery died in his bed after all, of tuberculosis; ye
+kin see the date on the tomb--1756, age 36.
+
+"Did yez ivir hear about the midnight marriage of the master of Blarney
+Castle which took place here in the ruined abbey in the year 1590, which
+Quane Elizabeth an' the intire parlymint did their best to prevint? It's
+a great story. The heads of the two branches of the MacCarthy family
+were thin united in the persons of Florence MacCarthy of Blarney Castle,
+the same gintleman that deludered Quane Elizabeth with his soft words
+and caused the invintion of the word 'blarney' that is used so much
+these days. Waal, he was in love with Aileen MacCarthy, his cousin,
+daughter of Donal MacCarthy Mor, Earl of Glencare. The two factions had
+been inemies, and it was the policy of the English to kape thim apart,
+because a reconciliation would bring them togither an' make thim more
+dangerous to British authority. And that was what Quane Elizabeth was
+trying to prevint. She feared that if the MacCarthy factions made frinds
+they would join Hugh O'Neill and the great Earl of Desmond, thin in
+rebellion, and so the marriage was forbidden by her majesty. An' that
+made Florence MacCarthy all the more determined to wed Aileen, who had
+been his sweetheart in sacrit for several years, and one day he crossed
+the lake wid Lady Aileen and her mother in a boat rowed by four lusty
+gallowglasses with their battle-axes lyin' where the oars had been.
+
+"They landed at midnight at the abbey, thin half in ruins, solemn and
+mournful, in silence and decay. The moon shone through the roofless
+walls and the broken windows of the crumbling shrine of Irrelagh, upon
+the blissed head of a vinerable friar, Florence MacCarthy's chaplain,
+who was awaiting thim himself--one of thim who, in the dark days of
+Henry VIII. was expelled from the abbey at the point of a Protestant
+sword. Wid him was O'Sullivan Mor, MacFinian, the Countess of Glencare,
+and the beautiful Lady Una O'Leary, and that was all. No bard was there
+to sing the bridal song, no harp to give swate sounds, no banner to
+wave, no clansmen to raise a joyous cheer, an' no spear or battle-ax
+gleamed in the moonlight, but the Blissed Virgin and all the saints were
+lookin' down all the while, approvin', through the roofless aisles, when
+Florence MacCarthy and Aileen MacCarthy pledged their vows.
+
+[Illustration: A WINDOW OF MUCKROSS ABBEY, KILLARNEY]
+
+"This sacred marriage was proclaimed an act of treason by Quane
+Elizabeth, and for that Florence MacCarthy went to the Tower, but he got
+the bist of it after all."
+
+The windows of Muckross Abbey are the most perfect of any ruin in
+Ireland, and the moldings of several of the doorways are in a fine
+state of preservation, so that the carving can be carefully studied.
+There is a cloister thirty-three feet square, encircled by a vaulted
+corridor seven feet wide and lighted by twenty-two arched windows, which
+is as good as if it were built yesterday. And in the center of the
+quadrangle is a venerable yew tree, said to be the largest in the world,
+having been planted by the monks at the foundation of the abbey in 1340.
+It was usual, so I am told, for Franciscan monks to plant yew trees in
+the courtyards of their monasteries, and they are found frequently in
+ruins. The trunk of this tree is smooth and straight to a height of
+twenty feet, and is about twelve feet in circumference at the base. The
+branches spread over the inclosing walls like an umbrella and darken the
+entire quadrangle, which never had any other roof.
+
+Several legends are woven around this majestic tree which, in the eyes
+and hearts of the people of Killarney, is an object of great veneration.
+If any one should injure it, even by breaking off a twig, he would
+excite popular indignation. They believe that such sacrilege will be
+punished by the death of the guilty person within a year, and it is a
+remarkable coincidence that such things have occurred several times.
+
+The kitchen, the refectory, the chapter-rooms, and several other
+apartments are in an excellent state of preservation and are well cared
+for, but the cells of the dormitory have almost disappeared. The tower
+stands as it was five hundred years ago, but is an empty shell, having
+no roof, flooring, or staircase, and visitors are prohibited from
+climbing the walls.
+
+Some of the graves are quite modern. Muckross Abbey is still open for
+the burial of members of four families, who have ancient rights. The
+latest grave was made in 1902. Several of the epitaphs are quite
+interesting, particularly those which bear testimony to the virtues and
+the happiness and usefulness of the women of the O'Donaghue and
+MacCarthy families. For example, one of them describes a beloved wife,
+"who, in her progress through life, fulfilled all its duties with
+uniform and exemplary prudence, whose respectful love as a daughter,
+whose affectionate kindness as a sister, whose fond and provident care
+as a mother, and whose endearing tenderness as a wife, were eminently
+conspicuous. Combining the discharge of social obligations with piety,
+edifying yet unobtrusive, she lived and died a Christian. To rescue her
+memory from oblivion, to preserve a remembrance of her virtues for the
+instruction and imitation of the young, this stone is erected by her
+disconsolate husband."
+
+If you want a description of Muckross Abbey that is worth reading you
+will find it in the works of Sir Walter Scott, who was there in 1825,
+and if you are pleased with that, and would like a little more of the
+same sort, read Lord Macaulay's account of his visit in 1849; in which
+he says that one of the boatmen on Lake Killarney "gloried in having
+rowed Sir Walter Scott and Maria Edgeworth about the lake when they were
+here twenty-four years ago, and said it was a compensation to him for
+having missed a hanging which took place in the village that very day."
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXVII
+
+                   INTEMPERANCE, INSANITY, AND CRIME
+
+
+There is a great deal of drunkenness in Ireland. There is more in Dublin
+than anywhere else, but not so much as in Scotland. In Ireland a saloon
+is called "a public house" and a saloon-keeper is called a publican. All
+liquor selling is done under licenses granted by the justices of the
+peace upon petitions signed by the people of the community in which the
+saloon is to be located. There is no limit to the number of licenses;
+and there seems to be no particular rule about granting them, except
+that the fee of one pound must be paid annually. A license once granted
+is perpetual as long as the annual fee is paid and the police do not
+show cause why it should be revoked. Licenses are held chiefly by
+ordinary merchants, at what we would call country stores, by the
+wayside, at "four corners," where the peasants go to trade, and along
+highways frequented by teamsters, jaunting cars, bicyclers, and other
+people with vehicles. The publican usually puts a watering trough in
+front of his place, and thus affords refreshment for man and beast. In
+most of the rural districts licenses are held in families and handed
+down from generation to generation of storekeepers, who keep bottles on
+the shelves and manage to sell enough liquor to pay the fees. If the
+business is sold or inherited the license goes with the place, and many
+have been running for a hundred years or more.
+
+Until recently anyone could get a license by obtaining a few signatures
+of political influence, but a recent act of parliament prohibits the
+issue of new licenses except for hotels, genuine clubs, and new villages
+of a certain population. The effect of this legislation will be to
+gradually reduce the number of liquor sellers and prevent the extension
+of the traffic except as new towns may be started, which is not common
+in Ireland, as it is in the United States.
+
+In the five principal cities of Ireland, Dublin, Belfast, Cork,
+Limerick, and Waterford, special licenses are necessary, and the fees
+vary from one pound to sixty pounds per year, according to the amount of
+business done. There are "six-day licenses" and "seven-day licenses."
+The latter permit liquor selling between two and five o'clock on Sunday
+afternoons and require an additional fee. The Sunday closing law is said
+to be well enforced throughout all Ireland, but in Dublin crowds of men
+and women can be seen standing around the "publics" during the open
+hours on Sunday afternoons.
+
+For the year ending March 31, 1907, a total of 23,835 licenses were
+issued in Ireland, of which 17,496 were granted to publicans, 2,510 to
+wholesale dealers, and 1,022 to wholesale grocers who handle wine, beer,
+and spirits to be consumed off the premises; and 2,807 special licenses
+were issued for temporary privileges.
+
+The public houses show a slight decrease. Ten years ago, in 1898, there
+were 17,407 licenses granted for them; in 1900 there were 17,596; in
+1903 there were 17,749; in 1905 there were 17,571, and in 1907 there
+were 17,496, or an average of one to every 250 people. The licenses for
+the wholesale and grocery traffic also remain about the same.
+
+W.R. Wigham, a Quaker, who is secretary of the Irish Association for the
+Prevention of Intemperance, told me that there is less private drinking
+and less habitual drinking in Ireland than is generally supposed. The
+Irish are a convivial people, but comparatively few men or women drink
+for the love of the liquor. Most of the drunkenness is seen at the fairs
+and cattle sales, the festivals and wakes, although the use of liquor at
+the latter has been forbidden by the bishops and is now much less
+frequent than formerly.
+
+In England and Scotland drinking is more regular and general for the
+sake of the stimulant, while an Irishman very seldom drinks alone. In
+order to lessen intemperance from conviviality an anti-treating
+movement was started a few years ago. It was popularly known as "The
+League of the Lonely Pint," and for a couple of years was quite
+successful, but it did not last.
+
+The quantity of spirituous liquors consumed in Ireland is much less than
+in England or Scotland because the population is less, but the average
+is greater than in Scotland. The _per capita_ consumption in England for
+1906 of alcoholic liquors was 2,090 gallons, in Scotland, 1,430 gallons,
+and in Ireland 1,614 gallons.
+
+The drink bill _per capita_ is less in Ireland. Taking all liquors into
+the calculation the expenditure _per capita_ for liquor in England last
+year was £3 19_s._ 9_d._, in Scotland £3 3_s._ 1_d._, and in Ireland £3
+2_s._ 10_d._
+
+The number of arrests for drunkenness and for crimes and offenses which
+may be attributed to liquor have been decreasing in Ireland for several
+years. In 1902 in all Ireland, 80,054 men and 11,163 women, making a
+total of 91,217, were arrested for drunkenness. In 1906 the figures were
+68,656 men and 8,606 women, making a total of 77,262. This is a decrease
+of 11,398 men and 2,557 women and a total decrease of 13,955 in four
+years.
+
+In 1902 one person out of forty-eight was arrested for drunkenness in
+Ireland, in 1906 one in fifty-eight, which is a decided improvement; but
+think of 8,000 and 11,000 women being arrested for drunkenness!
+
+The number of arrests for assault during the year 1907 in all Ireland
+was less than ever before, being only 16,055, in comparison with 24,027
+in 1896, 22,065 in 1900, and 16,666 in 1904, while the number of persons
+arrested for disorderly conduct decreased from 90,233 to 77,262 during
+the same years. There is a terrible side to the picture. Of the women
+arrested for drunkenness in Ireland last year more than one thousand
+were under twenty-one years of age, 118 between sixteen and eighteen
+years of age, while 156 were over sixty.
+
+The Sunday law is pretty well enforced, and during the last year,
+outside of the five principal cities, 2,289 persons were arrested for
+its violation. That is about the average for the last ten years.
+
+In Dublin there has been a decided falling off in the arrests for
+drunkenness on Sunday; the total in 1898 was 1,280, while in 1907 it was
+only 404. The number of arrests for drunkenness on Sunday in Cork
+decreased from 265 to 193 during the same period, and those in Belfast
+from 537 to 434.
+
+In the city of Dublin alone 1,772 women were arrested for drunkenness in
+1907 and 2,941 men. In 1904, 1,976 women were arrested for drunkenness.
+
+I don't suppose there is any city in the world where there is so much
+drunkenness among women as there is in Dublin, except it be Glasgow and
+Edinburgh, although the number of drunken men arrested is not so much
+larger than the average in other cities of Europe and the United States.
+And what is even more lamentable, the public is so hardened to the
+repulsive spectacle that it does not attract as much curiosity as the
+appearance of an ordinary drunken man upon the streets of Chicago or New
+York. Women stagger from the doors of saloons along the sidewalks with
+disheveled hair and disordered garments without attracting any attention
+whatsoever.
+
+The Roman Catholic clergy are doing a great deal to suppress disorder
+and promote temperance by prohibiting the use of liquor at wakes.
+Cardinal Logue and the several archbishops and bishops are determined to
+abolish the disgraceful orgies that have been so common on such
+occasions, and have forbidden priests to officiate at funerals or even
+to say masses for the souls of the dead where liquor is offered to the
+neighbors and mourners who sit up with the corpse. Some of the bishops
+require the remains to be brought to the church on the day before the
+funeral. As a consequence, the scandalous custom of holding a carousal
+the night before the funeral is almost entirely obsolete except in the
+slums of the large cities and in remote rural districts. As a rule
+throughout Ireland, where friends now gather to "sit up" with the corpse
+as a token of respect and sorrow, they are furnished with no stronger
+refreshments than tea. The teapot is placed upon the stove or upon the
+peat fire and the mourners help themselves as they desire; but if a
+bottle of liquor is passed around it is done with the greatest caution
+for fear the priest will hear of it.
+
+Like the colored people of the United States, the peasants of Ireland
+are possessed with an ambition to have "a fine funeral." Among the poor
+this form of extravagance has been the cause of a great deal of distress
+and privation, and formerly poor families often deprived themselves of
+food to supply liquor that was consumed at the wake. This hospitable
+custom, however, is rapidly passing away.
+
+The Irish Association for the Prevention of Intemperance is composed of
+delegates from nearly all of the many temperance societies in Ireland,
+both Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Nonconformist, and Independent.
+There are many mutual benefit societies among workingmen which
+affiliate, and various associations of women and children. For the
+purpose of co-operation and economy and to avoid friction and
+duplication of labor, this central organization has been formed, and
+consists of one representative from every contributing society. The
+general council meets three times a year, has a complete organization,
+sends lecturers into the field, issues literature, makes investigations,
+and has committees to look after legislation that concerns the liquor
+traffic.
+
+The special work of the council is to secure temperance legislation and
+the enforcement of laws that are already on the statute books,
+especially the Sunday closing act and the law which forbids the sale of
+liquor to minors. Another object is to encourage the formation of
+temperance clubs throughout the country, to organize opposition to
+applications for licenses, to promote meetings, to educate the people as
+to the evils of the liquor traffic, and to create public sentiment
+against it. It also has committees to encourage the establishment of
+restaurants at which liquor is not sold, to encourage healthful
+recreation, and to provide local amusements that will keep the men out
+of the public houses.
+
+The president of the council is a Roman Catholic barrister; the
+secretary is a Quaker; the vice-presidents include all of the Roman
+Catholic and all of the Church of Ireland archbishops and several
+bishops of both denominations, the president of the Methodist
+conference, the president of the Maynooth College (Roman Catholic), the
+provost of Trinity College, the moderator of the Presbyterian general
+assembly, several earls and other members of the nobility, the leaders
+of the Irish party in parliament, and several other gentlemen of equal
+prominence and influence.
+
+"The Church of Ireland has a very strong organization," said Mr. Wigham,
+"but, of course, it is not so strong or so extensive as that of the
+Roman Catholics, because they constitute at least three-fourths of the
+population of Ireland. The Presbyterians and Methodists are also well
+organized and have a temperance society in every parish and connected
+with every chapel. Our central organization is supported by them all,
+and is entirely nonsectarian, as you will perceive upon examining our
+list of officers.
+
+"Nearly all the temperance work in Ireland is done by religious
+organizations, and whatever may be the differences of the denominational
+leaders over theology and other matters, they are united and harmonious
+in their opposition to the liquor traffic. I should say that the
+influence of Maynooth College is greater than that of any other
+institution. The temperance sentiment under the influence of President
+Mannix is very strong there, and the students have a society called 'The
+Pioneers,' the members of which take a pledge that they will abstain
+from all intoxicating liquors during their entire life. No man can join
+'The Pioneers' until after two years of probation, in order that he may
+take the vows with his eyes wide open and with plenty of reflection; but
+more than two-thirds of the priests that come out of that institution
+are 'Pioneers.'
+
+"There has been a decided change in the habits of the priesthood of
+Ireland during the last generation or two. Formerly it was not
+considered improper, and, indeed, it was customary, for a priest to set
+out a bottle and a glass for the refreshment of all visitors of
+importance, and his parishioners would feel very much mortified if they
+could not offer similar hospitality to the priest when he came to see
+them. It was common for a priest to have wine and whisky on his table
+and to linger with the rest of the guests at a dinner party when the
+ladies had left the dining-room. But that is the exception nowadays.
+Those customs are obsolete and most of the priests would as soon think
+of offering a dose of poison to a parishioner as to hand him a bottle of
+liquor. The old-fashioned rollicking parson has entirely disappeared
+from both the Roman Catholic church and the Church of Ireland, and the
+priesthood is at present composed almost entirely of earnest, devout
+men, who abstain entirely from liquor and try to promote habits of
+temperance among their parishioners. A majority of the bishops have
+forbidden the use of liquor at wakes and will not allow anything
+stronger than tea on those occasions. A majority of them will not
+confirm a child that will not take a pledge of total abstinence until it
+is twenty-one years of age. Some of them put the limit at twenty-five. A
+great work is also being done by the Jesuits, the Capuchins, and the
+Franciscans, who have been asked by the bishops recently to co-operate
+in a great propaganda that is to include the entire island.
+
+"Dr. Walsh, the archbishop of Dublin, and other archbishops, have
+recently undertaken to secure the closing of all saloons on St.
+Patrick's day, and it is proposed to boycott the publicans who keep open
+doors. Last year Archbishop Walsh published a pastoral in his diocese in
+which he said, 'In certain districts, not a few of the licensed houses
+for the sale of intoxicating drinks are still kept open on that day.
+This continues to be done, although a number of the proprietors of
+licensed houses, indeed the majority of them, closed their
+establishments in honor of the holy festival of our national apostle. In
+so doing they did their part toward securing the observance of the
+national holy day that should not be marred by intemperance among the
+people. It is lamentable that the efforts thus made in so good a cause
+should be frustrated to a large extent by the selfish actions of those
+members of the licensed trade who are setting the healthy public opinion
+of the city at defiance and seem to make the praiseworthy action of
+others an occasion of profit to themselves. A vigorous combined effort
+should be made by the clergy to secure a general closing of licensed
+houses on St. Patrick's day.'
+
+"This patriotic action of Dr. Walsh has had a decided effect upon the
+celebration of St. Patrick's day," continued Mr. Wigham, "and it is now
+more of a religious festival than an occasion for carousing. Several
+other bishops have taken the same stand with similar results.
+
+"The labor party has also taken an advanced position in favor of
+temperance legislation," continued Mr. Wigham. "At the annual meeting of
+the labor unions last year a resolution was adopted in favor of local
+option. The resolutions declare that 'the liquor traffic is a frightful
+source of poverty, crime, and lunacy,' and demand a law 'giving the
+inhabitants of every locality the right to veto any applications for
+either the renewal of existing licenses or the granting of new ones,
+seeing that public houses are generally situated in thickly populated
+working class districts.'
+
+"The vote on the adoption of this resolution was 666,000 against
+103,000.
+
+"The local option bill now pending before parliament applies to England
+only," continued Mr. Wigham. "It does not affect Ireland, but we expect
+to see the passage of a law prohibiting liquor to be taken from the
+premises on which it is sold and also forbidding a man to use the wages
+of his wife and children or to pawn the property of his family for
+drink."
+
+"What is the drink bill of Ireland?" I asked, and in reply Mr. Wigham
+gave me the following table showing the total expenditure and the _per
+capita_ expenditure of the people of Ireland for liquor annually for the
+last six years:
+
+                       Total.      Per capita.
+          1902      £14,257,751     £3 4s  5d
+          1903       14,311,034      3 4s 10d
+          1904       13,816,318      3 2s 10d
+          1905       13,340,472      3 0s 10d
+          1906       13,787,970      3 2s 10d
+          1907       13,991,314      3 3s 10d
+
+The consumption of liquors in Ireland last year was as follows:
+
+          Distilled spirits (gallons)      2,391,595
+          Beer (barrels)                   4,574,263
+          Wine (gallons)                      92,465
+          Other liquors (gallons)             25,000
+                                           ---------
+             Total                         7,083,323
+          Average gallons per capita           1,614
+
+"The people of Ireland are drinking less spirits," continued Mr. Wigham,
+"and more beer. Ten years ago, for example, they consumed 4,713,178
+gallons of spirits, which has been reduced to 2,391,595. During the same
+time the consumption of beer has increased from 2,903,915 barrels to
+4,574,263 barrels.
+
+"Last year, by the official statistics, the Guinness brewery in Dublin
+produced 2,136,629 barrels of beer and other malt liquors, and paid
+£2,092,000 duty to the government, an average of £3,000 a day. Alsopps
+Company produced 1,125,178 barrels, another company 887,175 barrels,
+still another 827,997 barrels; so you see that the manufacture of malt
+liquors is very large and is increasing. Some people consider this a
+great improvement, but it is still very harmful, and it is a startling
+fact that the population of Ireland pay more money for whisky and beer
+than they pay for rents or for food or for clothing. The total income of
+the population of Ireland is given at £70,000,000, and, as you have seen
+from the table I have given you, they spent last year £13,991,314 for
+intoxicating drinks."
+
+The Guinness brewery is the largest establishment of the kind in the
+world. The buildings cover fifty acres of ground; 3,240 men are employed
+in them, and 10,000 people are dependent upon the wages paid. The
+brewery was founded in 1759 by an ancestor of the present owner, and did
+a purely local business until 1825, when the managers began to seek
+trade in England and Scotland. They undertook to secure a foreign market
+in 1860. At present the foreign trade is much larger than local
+consumption. Last year the total sales amounted to 76,540,000 gallons,
+which is an average of nearly two gallons _per capita_ for every
+man, woman, and child in the kingdom. An average of 3,600 barrels
+of stout are produced daily in one brewery and a new brewery has a
+capacity of 2,100 barrels daily. The duty paid in 1907 was more than
+$10,000,000--one-fourteenth of the entire revenue collected on liquor in
+the United Kingdom. The cold storage capacity of the establishment is
+200,000 hogsheads of beer of fifty-two gallons each. One vat will hold
+1,700 hogsheads. The main warehouse contains an average of 1,000,000
+bushels of malt and similar amounts of other supplies are required. From
+eight to ten thousand empty casks arrive at the wharf of Guinness & Co.
+daily, chiefly from London, where all the beer, ale, stout, and porter
+is sent by steamer in the wood to be bottled, and the fifteen hundred
+new casks, required each week, are supplied by cooper shops on the
+premises. The life of a cask averages ten years.
+
+Although there is a deplorable amount of intemperance in Ireland, and
+according to the estimates of those who have made a study of that
+subject, at least one-fifth of the earnings of the people are spent for
+liquor, there is comparatively little crime. If the offenses growing out
+of the land troubles were deducted the criminal statistics would be very
+small and Ireland would rank, with Switzerland, Norway, and Denmark,
+among the most orderly and peaceful countries on the globe.
+
+It may be said also that in comparison with the United States the
+criminal statistics are very much in favor of Ireland. For example,
+during the year 1906 there were only four murders in Ireland to eleven
+in the District of Columbia, and only eleven assaults with dangerous
+weapons in Ireland to fifty-three in the District of Columbia. During
+the year 1907 there were eight murders in Ireland and eighteen in the
+District of Columbia and only seventeen assaults with dangerous weapons
+in Ireland to fifty-one in the District of Columbia, notwithstanding the
+difference in population. The population of Ireland is 4,398,565, and
+that of the District of Columbia is 317,380.
+
+During the year 1905 there were 9,728 persons indicted for crimes in
+Ireland; in 1906 the total was 9,465, and in 1907 it was 9,418, or 2.2
+per 1,000 of the population. The same ratio is reported for 1897, and
+the average for the ten years was 2.5 per 1,000.
+
+During the year 1906 there were 372 persons indicted for crime in the
+District of Columbia, or 1.17 per 1,000 of population, and in 1907 there
+were 381 indictments, or 1.20 per 1,000.
+
+During the year 1906 there were 4,922 indictments found in Chicago (Cook
+County), with a population of 2,166,055, or less than one-half that of
+Ireland, the ratio to population being 2.27 per 1,000. For the year 1907
+there were 4,699 indictments found in Chicago, which was 2.16 per 1,000
+of the population.
+
+In Ireland, however, at least one-fifth, and usually more of the
+indictments, are for cattle driving, for attempts to burn crops,
+hayricks, and stables, for killing and maiming cattle, and for writing
+threatening letters. The authorities are very severe in their efforts to
+suppress the land troubles, and sometimes half the population of a
+village will be indicted for using popular methods of persuasion to
+compel the large landowners to sell their farms. A great many
+threatening letters are written, for which there is a heavy penalty, and
+when some ranchman who has refused to divide up his pastures into farms
+and sell them to the "landless" finds his fences broken down and his
+cattle scattered all over the country, every suspected person is
+indicted for moral effect. There are very few convictions. The people
+who are engaged in the outrage will not testify against each other and
+there are no other witnesses.
+
+In Ireland there are very few cases of robbery or burglary. Petty
+larceny is the principal item in the list of offenses. Grand larceny,
+embezzlement, forgery, and similar crimes are infrequent.
+
+The largest buildings in the county towns of Ireland are workhouses,
+almshouses, and insane asylums, and they are always well filled. I
+visited an insane asylum at Killarney, which is an enormous building,
+well arranged and equipped with all modern conveniences, under the
+direction of Dr. Edward Griffin, and surrounded by a beautiful garden
+and hedges in the midst of an estate of sixty acres. It was opened in
+1852. The number of inmates in 1908 was 619, of whom 299 were women and
+320 men. During the last six or seven years the number of women has
+largely increased. The average age of the inmates is about thirty years.
+There are more young men than old men in the institution. Dr. Griffin
+told me that many causes lead to insanity. Whisky, however, has little
+to do with the condition of the inmates. In 1907 only five men and two
+women were there for that cause. Tea has a large number of victims,
+destroying the nervous system by excessive use. The largest proportion
+come from the country districts, especially from the seacoast,
+comparatively few from the towns and cities. The greatest number are of
+the farming and laboring classes, who made up three-fourths of the
+inmates received last year--common laborers and poor farmers with two
+acres of land and two cows. Those from certain districts are generally
+related, predisposition to insanity being manifest in many families. The
+farming class, coming from the moors and mountains with their barren
+soil and great privations, are inclined to insanity because of their
+impoverished conditions of life. Their only food is often tea, bread,
+and tobacco. The first treatment at the asylum is to give them plenty of
+nourishing food and build them up. They are furnished meat every day
+except Friday. Religious delusions have disturbed the minds of many who
+fear that they are damned forever and cannot enter heaven. They are hard
+to cure and the slowest of recovery. The influence of the chaplain in
+these cases is most beneficial. Under his ministration they receive
+temporary consolation, but after he has left they often relapse into
+their former melancholy.
+
+The principal cause of insanity among those who come from the barren
+moors and desolate mountains is not so much their isolated condition or
+impoverished life, but their strange delusions. The mountain peasants
+are very superstitious and imaginative. They believe in fairies and
+bogies and hear strange voices in the air around them. They believe in
+leprecawns, which are little men that come out of the ground. They
+imagine that the fairies and goblins can come through the key-holes of
+their rooms in the asylum; they are ever hearing strange voices and
+seeing strange specters as they did upon the moors and mountains.
+
+Of both men and women now in the institution at Killarney more than two
+hundred have come back to Ireland after a sojourn in America. The
+superintendent says that the dissipations and excitement of their
+experience in the United States have caused their mental breakdown after
+the quiet life and habits of the early days in Ireland. But hereditary
+predisposition exists in almost every case and in time would have caused
+the same affliction even though they had remained at home. Hereditary
+influence and generations of poverty and privation are the general
+causes of insanity. Very few recoveries are found among those who have
+been born of insane parents. Most of those dismissed are soon back
+again, broken down as before by poor nourishment, poverty, and want. The
+number of readmissions is very large. There are two chaplains, one of
+whom is Rev. Mr. Madden of the Protestant Church of Ireland. There are
+very few Protestant patients, however, only twenty being in the asylum
+at present, the population of the district being largely Roman Catholic.
+The Roman Catholic chaplain, Rev. D. O'Connor, is in constant
+attendance.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXVIII
+
+                     THE EDUCATION OF IRISH FARMERS
+
+
+In connection with the breaking up of the big estates into small farms
+and the introduction throughout Ireland of the system of peasant
+proprietorship, the government has wisely provided for the education of
+the farmers so that they may enjoy a larger reward for their labors.
+There was some scientific farming on the large estates, but until
+recently 95 per cent of the tenants throughout the country have been
+simply scratching the land to raise a few potatoes and vegetables to
+supply their tables and "laving the pig to pay the rint," as the saying
+goes. But now things are different. A department of agriculture has been
+organized, in some respects upon the lines of that in the United States,
+and after frequent consultation between Sir Horace Plunkett, who was the
+leader of the movement, and our own Secretary Wilson at Washington. The
+question of agricultural education was taken up seriously, and what is
+known as the "recess committee," formed by Sir Horace Plunkett, during
+the winter of 1896, suggested a definite plan. The committee consisted
+of himself, Lord Mayo, Lord Monteagle, John Redman, T.P. Gill, and
+others.
+
+They presented to the government a project for state aid toward the
+development of agriculture and mechanical industries with a minister
+responsible to parliament in charge, assisted by two councils--one for
+agriculture, the other for technical instruction, composed of gentlemen
+in touch with public opinion and familiar with the weaknesses and the
+requirements of the farmers and the small manufacturers. The act was
+passed by parliament in 1899 and a capital sum of $1,000,000 and an
+annual appropriation of $830,000 was made for its support.
+
+The department was promptly organized with Sir Horace Plunkett, the
+leader of the movement, at its head, and various other branches of the
+public administration not originally contemplated were placed under his
+jurisdiction, including the quarantine of animals, the regulation of
+railway freights on agricultural products, county fairs and markets, the
+enforcement of the pure food and drugs laws, the fisheries, the
+collection and publication of statistics, the suppression of frauds in
+weights and in the sale of agricultural requirements and products, the
+colleges of science and art, the art galleries, the Royal Museum and
+library, and all technical education throughout the island. The
+department very naturally took up first the work of aiding the
+development and introducing improvements in agriculture, horticulture,
+forestry, dairying, the breeding of horses, cattle, sheep, swine,
+poultry, and bees; the protection of game and fish, the cultivation of
+flax, home and cottage industries, such as spinning, weaving,
+lace-making, and similar household arts; the improvement of cooking and
+household economy, nursing, and various other occupations and industries
+pertaining to the common people and of the utmost importance for their
+health, happiness, and prosperity.
+
+An advisory council of one hundred and four members was formed, composed
+mostly of landowners and farmers, with a few merchants and clergymen,
+including the bishops of both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church
+of Ireland, and a board of technical instruction of a similar character,
+with several professional educators, the provost of Trinity College, the
+Roman Catholic archbishop of Dublin, and representatives of the clergy
+of the Presbyterian and other nonconformist churches.
+
+After considering the problem of technical education, which had never
+been undertaken in Ireland to any extent, it was decided to commence by
+introducing ordinary instruction in the common schools, and the sum of
+$275,000 has annually been distributed, in proportion to population,
+among the various counties to train children in the secondary schools of
+the rural towns in trades and in the simple principles of the
+cultivation of the soil, the breeding of cattle, and other practical
+duties of farming life. In order to qualify teachers to give this
+instruction summer schools were established at Dublin, Belfast, Cork,
+and other central points, and in the cities evening schools were
+provided for those who could make use of them. Faculties of experts were
+employed for all these schools, and inspectors were sent about the
+island inquiring into the methods and reporting upon the competency of
+the teachers.
+
+The Metropolitan School of Art and the Royal College of Science, which
+have been in existence at Dublin for many years, were re-organized on a
+practical basis, inspired with new vitality, and brought into full
+activity for the instruction of young men and women in various forms of
+arts and handicrafts which were practiced by their ancestors for
+centuries, but have long since been lost sight of or neglected. The
+Science and Art Museum on Kildare Street, which was seldom visited
+except by tourists, is now a live place, and every morning is filled
+with young men and women eager to learn lace-making, designing,
+decorating, and other arts and industries which have been allowed to
+languish in Ireland.
+
+In connection with these schools instruction is given in domestic
+economy, in the chemistry of cooking, in nursing, in dressmaking,
+millinery, laundry work, and various other branches of domestic economy
+which have never before been taught in Ireland. For the benefit of those
+who cannot attend these schools twenty-nine itinerant instructors are
+sent throughout the country to give instruction to the wives and
+daughters of farmers and laborers, how to make the best use of foods and
+how to practice other economies in household administration; how to
+raise poultry and bees, do cottage gardening, the culture and the
+preserving of fruit, and other practical domestic sciences.
+
+This is something entirely new in Ireland, and the reports of the
+itinerant instructors and of the inspectors who have followed them to
+observe their work have been most encouraging as regards the interest
+taken by the younger women and girls and the improvement that has
+already been made in the conditions of the households of the working
+classes in the country, for these efforts are confined to the rural
+districts. There has been some attempt at reforming the sanitary
+conditions of the tenement houses of Dublin and other cities, but they
+have scarcely gone beyond the experimental stage, for the task is
+greater than the department would dare undertake at present.
+
+A large staff of itinerant instructors who are thoroughly posted and
+trained in agricultural science are employed among the farmers, and
+especially among those who have recently become the owners of small
+farms under the Land Act of 1903. A sense of the responsibility of
+proprietorship is being gradually developed. Heretofore those who have
+occupied rented lands have had no incentive to improve them or even keep
+them in good condition, because they never knew when they might be
+evicted. But to-day one-third of the farmers in Ireland own the soil
+they till, and when the government is able to furnish the money to pay
+for purchases that have already been arranged one-half of the entire
+number will have permanent homes and land of their own. Realizing this,
+they are willing and in many cases eager to learn how to make the best
+use of their possessions, how to get the largest returns for their
+labor, and how to increase the value of their property. The demoralized
+condition of the farming population caused by the frequent political
+agitations has made instruction in these lines of economy useless until
+recently; but now that the land wars are over and the causes for
+agitation are being removed, and the farmers of Ireland are coming into
+their own, they take a different view of life, and welcome every offer
+of instruction that will enable them to improve their situation.
+
+The itinerant instructors are practical men. They work among the farmers
+in the fields in the summer, and during the winter deliver lectures with
+practical illustrations in the schoolhouses, the town halls, and other
+convenient places. There have never been any agricultural schools in
+Ireland, and it would be difficult to persuade the farmers to attend
+them, even if they were established. Therefore the officials of the
+department have undertaken their work with the children of the farms in
+the secondary rural schools with the hope and confidence that the next
+generation can be persuaded to follow up this rudimentary learning by
+taking advanced courses in agricultural science. Indeed, many of them
+have already done so. There are to-day one hundred and twenty-eight
+young men, all of them sons of poor farmers, studying agricultural
+science in different institutions of Ireland, and many of them are being
+assisted financially to gain a technical as well as a practical
+education. The department has provided a system of pecuniary aid so that
+boys who have shown special aptitude in the secondary schools may pass
+on to the agricultural college, and the reorganized college of science,
+and even to the university.
+
+The itinerating instructors are introducing better varieties of
+potatoes, grain, and other crops. They advise farmers as to the
+selection of crops after making a chemical analysis of their soil; they
+encourage the purchase of the best qualities of seed, show how it should
+be planted, and conduct field experiments, inspect buildings and suggest
+improvements, show how simple remedies can be applied to diseases of
+live stock, explain the most approved methods of feeding dairy cattle
+and butter-making, fattening chickens for market, egg packing, and other
+little matters which are of the greatest value to those whose happiness
+and prosperity depend upon the intelligent application of their labor.
+In 1907, 8,394 farms were visited in this way by the instructors and
+66,144 persons received instruction. More than two thousand lectures
+were given, with an average attendance of sixty-seven.
+
+To improve the live stock of the country the department loans money to
+competent farmers to purchase high-class stallions, bulls, rams, and
+boars, and takes their notes to be paid in annual installments. Last
+year eleven stallions, one hundred and thirty-five bulls, seventy-four
+rams, and a proportionate number of other animals were purchased in that
+way. And to encourage breeding it offers prizes for the best stock in
+the different counties, of a sufficient value to be an inducement for
+competition. It gives financial subsidies for the aid of stock, poultry,
+horticultural and agricultural exhibitions, plowing matches, implement
+trials, labor competitions, and for the best yields of potatoes, grain,
+corn, and other staples. It offers prizes in the different counties for
+the best gardens, the best kept poultry-yards, and the best butter,
+which has excited a widespread interest and resulted in a general
+advancement of conditions.
+
+As a result of prize competition a rivalry has sprung up among the
+cottagers all over Ireland to improve the appearance and convenience of
+their farms and buildings. The prizes are sufficiently large to make it
+an object to keep their residences and stables in repair and neat and
+clean, both inside and out. There is a similar improvement in cottage
+gardens for the same reason. Last year more than $25,000 was given in
+prizes in the different counties for the best kept cottages and house
+gardens.
+
+The department is encouraging tobacco and flax growing, and a very fair
+quality of tobacco is now being raised in Ireland.
+
+Special schools have been established for the instruction of creamery
+managers and attendants, and the department has inaugurated a series of
+inspections which are voluntary, but the certificate of the inspectors
+adds considerably to the value of the butter in the market. Last year
+359 creameries invited inspection, as compared with 166 in 1906 and 82
+in 1905. This indicates that the value of the inspectors' certificates
+is becoming appreciated.
+
+Forestry operations are being undertaken also, and eighteen young men
+are now under training for professional foresters. They are the first
+that have ever been known in Ireland.
+
+If anyone should attempt to distribute the credit and honor that are due
+to those who have accomplished the good and promoted the prosperity that
+Ireland is now enjoying, he would find himself in serious trouble at
+once. Rivalries are very keen. Nowhere else is partisanship so
+pronounced and so intolerant. People of different political theories
+and policies are seldom willing to concede honest motives to their
+opponents. The leaders of the national party insist that all the
+beneficial legislation that has been enacted by the British parliament
+has been yielded reluctantly by the government, not from any interest in
+the welfare of the Irish people, but solely to avoid a revolution. But I
+am sure that no one will deny that Sir Horace Plunkett has been one of
+the most active and disinterested and effective agents in bringing about
+the great reforms that have been accomplished there within the last few
+years. He rushes about like an American hustler, carrying out his plans
+for the welfare of the farmers of Ireland with intense earnestness,
+independent of public opinion, and as confident of his success as he is
+of his integrity. He was described to me by one of his friends as "the
+most transparently sincere man in the kingdom, thoroughly unselfish,
+disinterested, and patriotic, and with a sanguine disposition that
+nothing can discourage." He spends $10,000 a year from his own pocket in
+his benevolent work, and while he was at the head of the agricultural
+department he turned over his entire salary to the Irish Agricultural
+Organization Society, of which he is the founder and the president.
+
+Sir Horace Plunkett is the son of the late Lord Dunsany of County Meath,
+a very old Irish family, descended from the ancient Lords of the Pale,
+who have lived in the same house for seven centuries and have had an
+active part in the history of Ireland from the beginning of days. A
+famous old Irish book called "The Annals of the Four Masters" says:
+"There are many fierce barons in the Pale, and the traveler leaving
+Dublin must pass between the Baron Killeen and the Baron Dunsany," and
+Sir Horace referred to the reputation of his ancestors in a speech that
+he made not long ago, as follows:
+
+"I was reared in one of those old castles of the Pale, almost under the
+shadow of the Hill of Tara, where the Plunkett family for seven
+centuries have managed to cling to the same house. Of course, in the
+good old days, we fought for what we considered our rights, which was
+to treat the inhabitants of the country as mere Irish and to avail
+ourselves of their long-horned cattle without payment. I have never
+started a new creamery without a sense of restitution for their little
+irregularities. An old chronicle we have in the family runs thus: 'There
+be in Meath two Lords Plunkett, a Lord of Killeen and a Lord of Dunsany,
+and so it comes to pass that whoever can escape being robbed at Dunsany
+will be robbed at Killeen--and whoever can escape being robbed at
+Killeen will be robbed at Dunsany.' This shows that our family took an
+interest in the tourist traffic in those days, though our methods of
+developing it, judged by the polite standards of to-day, may appear
+somewhat crude. You will notice also the germ of the co-operative idea."
+(The point of this joke lies in the fact that Sir Horace Plunkett is the
+originator and the most active leader in establishing co-operative
+societies throughout the island.)
+
+He was educated at Eton and Oxford, and, when he got his degree, went to
+the United States and bought a ranch in Wyoming, which he still owns in
+partnership with former Senator Carey of that State. He also has large
+interests in Nebraska and lived there for more than ten years. He keeps
+up his acquaintance by annual visits.
+
+Sir Horace Plunkett came back from America to Ireland with his soul
+stirred by patriotism and an ambition to do something to improve the
+condition of his fellow countrymen. He realized the great disadvantages
+under which they were laboring in their antiquated methods of farming,
+their rude tools and their ignorance, and in 1894 proceeded to organize
+a nonpolitical movement to improve their condition by carrying
+instruction to them because they would not go anywhere to receive it.
+His enthusiasm and his activities attracted the sympathy and assistance
+of several other patriotic people, including Lord Monteagle and R.A.
+Anderson, who was then collecting rents and looking after the tenants of
+Lord Castledown. In 1894, their work having become too large to be
+carried on by individuals, they organized the Irish Agricultural
+Organization Society with about four hundred subscribers, mostly people
+who were not connected with agriculture. With the exception of Lord
+Monteagle, Colonel Everhart, Sir Henry Bellew, Sir Joslyn Bore Booth,
+and a few others, the landlord class took little interest in the
+movement, but they are beginning to recognize the value of the society
+and are giving it more sympathy and support than formerly.
+
+R.A. Anderson, the permanent secretary of the society from the
+beginning, told me the story as follows:
+
+"An adequate staff was first employed who went about among the farmers
+holding meetings, delivering lectures, talking with them privately,
+explaining the advantages of education and co-operation, and organizing
+local societies in every county and district to co-operate with the
+general society in Dublin. This work has been going on ever since until
+we have now about ninety thousand members, mostly small landowners and
+farmers, although in the southern counties we have several prominent
+ones.
+
+"The next step was to organize co-operative creameries, the farmers
+contributing the capital and sharing the returns, as in the United
+States. They deliver their milk at the creameries every day and receive
+credit tickets for it, which are settled once a month. This has proven
+to be a great economy over the old plan, where each farmer made his own
+butter at home, because it was badly made as a rule, brought a low
+price, and kept down the reputation of the dairy industry in Ireland. We
+have now in operation three hundred and fifty co-operative creameries to
+which forty thousand farmers contribute. The butter is exported to
+England and Scotland by the managers under the supervision of a
+committee. The reputation of Irish butter has been restored. It commands
+twenty-two cents a pound, about the same as the Danish butter, whereas
+farm butter used to bring only fifteen or sixteen cents a pound, and it
+is difficult to sell it even at that price in these days in competition
+with the co-operative creameries.
+
+"We have introduced the most modern methods of butter-making and
+machinery. Pasteurization is being generally adopted and our cooling
+machinery permits the ripening of cream much more accurately and the
+production of better butter with a lower per cent of moisture. The
+creameries are setting an excellent example in planting ornamental
+shrubs around the buildings and forest trees for shelter, while several
+have laid out attractive gardens. These external signs of care and taste
+make a favorable impression upon the public, and the creameries are
+being constantly visited by people from all parts of the country.
+
+"Our next step was to organize societies among the farmers for the
+co-operative purchase of supplies of various kinds, for the purchase of
+seeds, manures, feeding stuffs, machinery, implements, carts, harness,
+and everything a farmer needs but his live stock. We have one central
+agency at Dublin acting for about two hundred local societies in
+different parts of Ireland, representing about seventeen thousand
+families, who buy everything they want in that way at much lower prices
+than are charged by the local dealers. They are always sure of getting
+wholesale prices, the best quality of articles, and there is no
+possibility of being swindled. Every buyer gets what he orders, which is
+very important, particularly if it concerns seeds. A farmer who wants a
+machine or a lot of seeds or a new kind of potatoes, or a cart, or
+anything else, fills up a blank prepared for that purpose, posts it to
+the secretary of the society, and the latter orders the article from the
+central agency, to be paid for upon shipment in cash. This co-operative
+movement has been a tremendous success and is entering directly into the
+lives of the people.
+
+"The next step," continued Mr. Anderson, "was to organize co-operative
+credit societies from which farmers who are members may borrow money at
+low rates and keep out of the hands of the 'gombeen men'--the Celtic
+word for usurer--who bleed their clients in a merciless manner. The
+loans are made for productive purposes only--to buy better machinery,
+more cattle, sheep, swine, and horses, seeds and manures, and other
+things of tangible value. We do not loan money to pay debts or fines, or
+to get wild boys out of trouble, or to pay blackmail, or to provide
+dowries for marriageable daughters. All these things are prohibited, and
+the managers look to it that not a penny of the society's money is
+invested in any speculative enterprise. There are 270 of these
+Agricultural Co-operative Credit Societies in Ireland under the
+supervision of our organization with about 20,100 members, and they
+handle an average of $300,000 in loans averaging not more than $25,
+which amount shows that they are serving the purpose for which they were
+intended--to help the small farmer to improve his condition.
+
+"It is quite remarkable," said Mr. Anderson, "that none of these
+societies has ever lost a penny. They are managed by committees
+appointed by the members, who borrow their capital from joint stock
+banks upon the individual and joint indorsement of the board--each
+individual being responsible. They get the money for four per cent and
+loan it for five or six per cent, thus leaving a margin which pays the
+expenses and leaves a surplus which is carried to a reserve that may
+also be lent out. These societies also receive deposits from their
+members and other people in the district and pay three per cent
+interest, the same as the savings banks. They sometimes obtain loans of
+£50 to £100 from the Department of Agriculture or the Congested
+Districts Board at three per cent, which they loan to their members in
+small amounts at from five to six per cent interest. Last year they got
+about $60,000 from those two sources.
+
+"The great advantage of these credit societies, in addition to keeping
+their members out of the clutches of the gombeen men, is to teach them
+the proper use of credit, the difference between borrowing to make and
+borrowing to spend, to promote thrift by giving a fair interest upon
+deposits, to encourage sobriety and industry and to teach a sense of
+responsibility and the value of reputation, because a man's character is
+the sole qualification to membership, and everybody wants to get in. To
+be admitted to membership is an indorsement that is very highly
+regarded, and when a man is in his neighbors look after him.
+
+"There are various other co-operative societies," continued Mr.
+Anderson. "Last year we organized thirty-two new co-operative credit
+societies, twenty-two co-operative purchasing societies, twelve
+co-operative creameries, five flax societies to encourage the
+cultivation and handling of flax, and six co-operative bacon-curing
+factories, where farmers can send their hogs to be slaughtered and cured
+in a proper manner, which enables them to get a quick sale and a higher
+price for their pork. We also organized a large number of co-operative
+poultry societies to promote the raising of hens and chickens, the
+shipment and sale of eggs and poultry, so that the farmers can get
+better prices, have reliable selling agencies, lower freight rates, and
+sure collections. Eggs are sold here by weight instead of by the dozen,
+so that people who raise large eggs have the advantage. The eggs are all
+tested, graded, and packed according to the continental system, which we
+prefer to the cardboard arrangements which you use in the United States.
+These co-operative poultry societies are improving the breeds of hens,
+are teaching the members how to raise poultry, protect it from diseases,
+and make the best use of the feed. This is a very important industry,
+and we have brought it up so that now the average revenue from twenty
+hens is equal to that from one cow.
+
+"The farmers' wives are also taught how to raise bees, although for the
+last few years there has been no money in them. We have had the worst
+years on record for honey.
+
+"The latest attempt of the Irish Agricultural Organization Society is to
+introduce co-operation among the small farmers who have recently come
+into the ownership of their lands to assist each other in building more
+comfortable homes for themselves and better buildings for their cattle
+and the storage of their crops. This is in the line of self-help and
+mutual aid among neighbors and furnishes employment for many days during
+the winter season which otherwise would be spent in idleness. The most
+economical building material we have here now is cement blocks, which
+are easily made with a little instruction, and we are sending around
+instructors to show the farmers how to utilize their spare time in the
+winter in making a sufficient number of blocks of this artificial stone
+to build the walls of a house in the spring. The neighbors can then get
+together and help each other put them in place under the direction of
+the instructor of the society, just as your pioneers in America used to
+help each other put up their log cabins. There is a universal desire and
+ambition on the part of the two hundred and fifty thousand farmers who
+have recently become the owners of their places under the Land Act of
+1903 to improve their dwellings, and the Irish Agricultural Organization
+Society is doing a great deal to encourage them in this way."
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXIX
+
+                     LIMERICK, ASKEATON, AND ADARE
+
+
+Limerick looks like a medieval city, and it is one of the oldest in
+Ireland. There is an old tower that was built seven centuries ago, and
+portions of walls forty feet high and thirty-six feet thick which date
+back to the time of King John in the twelfth century. The castle is one
+of the finest Norman fortresses yet remaining in the kingdom and
+overlooks the River Shannon in a most formidable manner. The ancient
+gate is carefully retained and there is a bridge across the river
+approaching it that might have been built by the Romans. The Shannon is
+a good deal of a river, and has been walled in with cut stone and wide
+quays that are equipped with modern machinery for loading and unloading
+vessels, although there isn't much commerce. Occasionally a steamer
+loaded with coal arrives, but there is no regular traffic, and we saw a
+big four-masted bark discharging a cargo of wheat that was brought all
+the way around Cape Horn from California and will be ground up in the
+mills of Limerick, because it is cheaper to bring it that distance than
+to raise wheat on the farms in that vicinity. It seems incredible,
+because there is so much land given up to pastures that might be plowed
+and sowed with grain. We rode about Limerick County in an automobile for
+several days and didn't see a wheat field,--not one,--although there are
+several flour mills in the immediate neighborhood. In two grocery stores
+where I inquired they told me that they handled American flour or flour
+from American wheat almost exclusively, and that they were selling a
+good deal of bacon from the Chicago packing-houses, which also seems
+strange, because Limerick bacon is supposed to be the best in the world,
+and three big establishments, employing several hundred men, do nothing
+but cure bacon and hams. Each slaughters about ten thousand hogs a
+week, which doesn't seem a very large business in comparison with that
+of the packing-houses of Chicago, Omaha, and Kansas City, but there it
+is something to brag about. Limerick bacon brings the highest price in
+the London market and sells at three or four cents a pound more than
+that which is imported from Chicago. In order to realize the difference
+the people of the city are willing to ship their bacon to England and
+eat the Chicago product.
+
+Limerick is also the center of a large butter trade and has the biggest
+condensed milk factory in the kingdom, using the milk of ten thousand
+cows daily, which is gathered morning and evening by enormous motors
+that go thundering around the roads like Juggernauts. They look like
+steam-rollers, and are built the same way with four wheels that have
+tires more than a foot wide, and they serve a double purpose by rolling
+the roads daily while they are hauling in the milk. Each of these
+ponderous vehicles carries a large tank that will hold a hundred gallons
+of milk and hauls a trailer that carries two tanks of similar size, thus
+making about three hundred gallons to the load, but it makes noise
+enough for ten thousand gallons. The big tanks are painted white and the
+machines are polished like the knockers on the front doors of the
+Limerick houses. There are three of these machines, which start out at
+daylight in the morning, and each goes in a different direction, picking
+up the milk that is left in cans by the farmers at convenient cross-road
+stations. When the tanks are all filled the Juggernaut comes rumbling
+into town, making more noise than the railroad train, discharges its
+load at the condensed milk factory, and then starts out in another
+direction.
+
+Limerick has a population of about forty thousand, which has been
+reduced from fifty thousand during the last ten or twelve years by
+emigration to America; and, as we find it the case everywhere, all the
+young men who can get money enough to pay their steamship fares are
+emigrating. Many young women go also, and "the best blood of the country
+is lost to us," one of the priests remarked. The city has not increased
+in numbers for centuries. It has merely held its own, and some
+historians contend that it had more population five hundred years ago
+than it has now. It was founded before the beginning of history.
+
+In 1168 lived and reigned Donald O'Brien, the last king of Limerick. He
+was fifth in descent from Brian Boru, and was among the first to swear
+allegiance to the Norman invader, King Henry of England, when the latter
+arrived, permitting an English governor to be placed in possession of
+the city. But after King Henry returned to England, Donald O'Brien lost
+no time in renouncing allegiance and declaring his independence. And
+from that time he fought the English with great energy until his death
+in 1194, after a reign of twenty-six years of almost continuous
+conflict. However, King Donald found time and money during the intervals
+of his wars to erect a splendid old church that still stands and is
+called St. Mary's, the Protestant Cathedral of the Church of Ireland. He
+erected several other churches and monasteries in Limerick County which
+bear witness to the religious zeal of Donald O'Brien. The ruins at
+Cashel, which are the most extensive in all Ireland, are reminders of
+his piety, energy, and generosity in the Christian propaganda. He is
+supposed to have been buried in St. Mary's Cathedral, and the most
+ancient and noteworthy monument in that venerable temple is a
+brown-stone slab covered with a Celtic cross and inscription that is
+supposed to be the lid of his coffin. This monument originally stood on
+the grounds outside the church and was moved inside in 1860.
+
+On the other side of the chapel in which this precious relic is
+preserved is a monument erected to the memory of the soldiers of the
+Eighty-fifth Regiment of the King's Light Infantry who have died in
+battle. And above it hang the flags which that regiment has carried
+during the last two hundred years, including the Crimean war, the South
+African, the war in Spain, the war against Napoleon, and the war for
+independence in the United States. Upon one of these flags is inscribed
+the name "Bladensburg," the battle, or rather skirmish, that was fought
+a few miles from Washington in 1813, and it was this regiment which
+entered the city and burned the capitol, then unfinished, the White
+House, and the navy yard. Gen. Frederick Maunsell, who commanded the
+regiment at that time, is buried near by.
+
+The old church was restored very carefully between 1879 and 1892 under
+the direction of the dean, Very Rev. Thomas Bunbury, D.D. The work has
+been admirably done at an expense of about $50,000, which was
+contributed by members of the parish and natives of Limerick, who are
+interested in preserving its antiquities. The present dean is Very Rev.
+Lucius Henry O'Brien, a son of that famous Irish patriot, William Smith
+O'Brien, who was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for
+treason in the revolution of 1848, but fortunately escaped that
+barbarous penalty.
+
+An interesting volume has been written concerning St. Mary's Cathedral
+and its history and the curious tombs that are found under its roof.
+Some of the epitaphs are unique. Here is one:
+
+        "Johne Stretche, Aldermane, third son too Bartholomewe
+        This monument made in Febrarye most true,
+        Wher he and his heyres males resight theyre mortalle bons
+        Tyll Chryste do come to judge all mans atte ons."
+
+Another curious inscription upon a gravestone two feet square reads:
+
+        "Fifteen years a mayd, one year a wyfe,
+        Two years a mother, then I left this life.
+        Three months after me mine offspring did remain,
+        Now earth to earth we are returned again."
+
+And here is still another in memory of Geoffrey Arthur, treasurer of the
+cathedral, who died in 1519:
+
+            "Do thou excite the solemn train,
+            And with the doleful trumps proclaim
+            Eight times the mournful story
+            Then to Eana oblation make
+            Of eight prayers for the sake
+            Of his soul in pergatory."
+
+One of the bishops of the eighteenth century, named Adams, is buried in
+the church, and his monument consists of two slabs, one above and the
+other below a space which was evidently intended to contain a bust. On
+either side the emblems of the passion--the reed, the spear, the
+scourge, and the crown of thorns--are engraved, and after the name and
+biographical information are the lines:
+
+          "Sufficient God did give me, which I spent;
+          I little borrowed and as little lent;
+          I left them whom I loved enough in store,
+          Increased the bishoprick, relivd the poore."
+
+One of the tombs contains this laconic epitaph:
+
+                          "Dan Hayes,
+                          An honest man,
+                    And a lover of his country."
+
+The bells of St. Mary's Cathedral at Limerick are famous for their sweet
+tones, and a very pretty story is told about them. It is said that they
+were cast in Italy at the expense of a rich Italian and presented to a
+monastery in Italy. In a few years the monks became very poor and sold
+their bells to the Bishop of Limerick for money to relieve their
+immediate distresses. The Italian nobleman who had given them also met
+with misfortune and became a wanderer over the earth. Coming up the
+Shannon River from a long ocean voyage one day, the first sound that
+greeted him was the chimes from St. Mary's tower. He instantly
+recognized the bells, the pride and the joy of his heart, and tried in
+vain until his death to recover them.
+
+Although this story is touching, it is not true. The history of the
+chimes is perfectly well known. They were cast in that city about 1660
+by William Perdue, a resident of Limerick, who is buried in the
+cathedral with an appropriate epitaph:
+
+              "Here is a bell founder, honest and true
+              Until the ressurection lies Perdue.
+                        William Perdue
+              Obiat III X Xbris Ao. Dini MDCLXXIII."
+
+The royal capital of the O'Briens is often known as "The City of the
+Violated Treaty." It was stoutly defended against Cromwell's army in
+1651 by Hugh O'Neill, but after a six months' siege it was captured by
+General Ireton, the son-in-law of Cromwell, who became governor until
+his death of the plague the year following. The house in which Ireton
+lived and died stood next to the cathedral. It was torn down some years
+ago and the site added to the cathedral grounds.
+
+Limerick was also besieged in 1691 during the war between James II and
+William of Orange. The latter captured the city with an army of
+twenty-six thousand men and made a treaty with Gen. Patrick Sarsfield,
+who surrendered Oct. 3, 1691. The ninth article of the treaty of
+surrender provided that Roman Catholics could enjoy the same privileges
+as Protestants and were given immunity for all religious offenses in the
+past. This article, however, was repeatedly violated by the Protestant
+authorities, although it was no fault of William of Orange. His
+representatives made it so hot for the Catholics who had served under
+James that they fled from Ireland for France and formed the Irish
+brigade that was so famous in continental wars during the next twenty
+years. Sarsfield, who was one of the ablest and bravest soldiers Ireland
+has ever produced, was killed in battle in 1693, and it is estimated
+that during the next half century four hundred and fifty thousand other
+Irishmen died fighting for the King of France.
+
+A monument to Patrick Sarsfield has been erected near the Roman Catholic
+Cathedral with the following inscription:
+
+                            "To commemorate
+                         the Indomitable Energy
+                         and stainless honor of
+                       General Patrick Sarsfield,
+                             Earl of Lucan,
+                    the heroic defender of Limerick
+                  during the sieges of 1690 and 1691.
+
+                        "Sarsfield is the word,
+                       And Sarsfield is the man.
+                  'T would be a shame to let his name
+                        Like other names decay."
+
+[Illustration: TREATY STONE, LIMERICK]
+
+The treaty of Limerick was drawn by Sir John Browne, a colonel in the
+service of King James and the first Marquis of Sligo. It was signed upon
+a large flat stone which now stands upon a pedestal at the entrance to
+the ancient bridge that crosses the Shannon River.
+
+The women of the poorer classes in Tipperary and Limerick wear heavy
+woolen shawls made at Paisley, Scotland, and costing from five to ten
+dollars, according to the quality. They wear them over their heads in
+place of hats, and although it was very hot while we were there, it made
+no difference; they go around with their heads hidden in their shawls,
+as the Spanish women wear mantillas; and most of them are barefooted.
+Tipperary was the first place in Ireland where we saw barefooted women
+in the streets, and it isn't an agreeable sight. We saw more in
+Limerick, and it was still less agreeable. The workingmen do not go
+barefooted, although many of them have shoes very much the worse for
+wear, but it seems to be the custom for the wives and mothers and
+daughters of the working classes to go about without shoes or stockings
+and with heavy shawls over their heads, which, like charity, cover a
+multitude of sins and other things. Their dresses are tattered at the
+bottom and often ragged and always greasy, and their hair, so far as it
+can be seen under the shawls, is very untidy, which gives them a
+disreputable and repulsive appearance, so different from the women we
+saw at Drogheda, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Blarney, and other places we
+had been to.
+
+There is no occasion for the women of Limerick to dress as they do,
+because the town is prosperous and it used to boast of the reputation of
+having the prettiest girls in Ireland. Some poet who knew them long ago
+has written thus:
+
+        "The first time me feet got the feel of the ground
+          I was sthrollin' along in an old Irish city,
+        That hasn't its aquail the whole wurrld around,
+          For the air that is swate and the gurrls that are pretty.
+        And the lashes so thick round thim beautiful eyes
+          Shinin' to tell you its fair time o' day wid 'em.
+        Back in me heart wid a koind of sorprise
+          I think how the Irish girls has th' way wid 'em."
+
+Judging from what we saw on the streets, at church, and in the parks on
+a Sunday, when all the feminine population of Limerick seemed to be out,
+we would think that the beauties had gone to America with the fairies.
+
+There is "the Irish town" and "the English town" in Limerick, and
+between them is a good deal of animosity, which has continued for
+several hundred years and probably never will be entirely removed. The
+old castle built by King John in 1205, when the British first occupied
+Limerick, and considered one of the finest specimens of Norman military
+architecture in existence, is now used as an ordnance store for the
+military garrison. There is a romantic story associated with the old
+town and I cannot resist the temptation of telling it.
+
+Toward the beginning of the ninth century the Danish King of Limerick,
+Turgesius, by name, who occupied a fortification that stood upon the
+site of the present castle, fell in love with the daughter of Malachi,
+the King of Meath--the same who
+
+          "Wore the collar of gold
+          Which he won from the proud invader."
+
+Turgesius demanded her hand in marriage and Malachi, who was not in very
+good shape for a fight, dare not deny him. The girl, however, had her
+wits about her and suggested to her timid father a plan to outwit the
+odious lover. At her suggestion he entreated Turgesius that his daughter
+might be received by him privately and at night, and promised to send as
+her attendants fifteen of the most celebrated beauties of his kingdom.
+The arrangement was acceptable, and, at the appointed time, the princess
+and her fifteen ladies-in-waiting arrived at Limerick and were conducted
+to the apartments of the king, who was eagerly awaiting them. When
+Turgesius took the princess in his arms the fifteen ladies-in-waiting
+immediately threw off their disguise and the astonished king of Limerick
+saw before him fifteen of the stoutest and bravest of the Irish
+chivalry, each with a flashing sword in his hand. Before he could
+recover from his astonishment Turgesius was seized and bound, his
+guards were surprised, and the gates of the fortress were opened to
+Malachi and the men of Meath, who massacred the entire garrison and
+thereafter ruled in Limerick.
+
+The migration to America from County Limerick has been very large and
+every person we have met has one or more relatives in the United States.
+Every family is represented there and those who have not gone are
+anxious to go. Each spring and summer quite a number of young people
+return to their old homes, and the airs they put on and the raiment they
+wear are very amusing. We saw them at the railway stations, at church,
+on the streets, and elsewhere, surrounded by admiring and envious
+friends.
+
+More laborers' cottages have been erected by the government in County
+Limerick than in any other part of Ireland, and more are being built all
+the time. Any laboring man who wants a home of his own need only to make
+application for the assistance of the commissioner of the poor and
+express his preference for a site. The commissioners are not required to
+accept his choice, but usually do so when there is no particular
+objection, and he is entitled to an acre of ground for a garden. After
+certain legal preliminaries are fulfilled, they erect for him a
+two-story, five-room cottage, costing about $750, with an outhouse for
+fuel, storage, and the accommodation of a cow. They inclose the property
+in a stout fence and turn it over to the new owner without the
+expenditure of a farthing on his part. He, however, undertakes to
+reimburse the county for the investment it has made in his behalf at the
+rate of 3-1/4; per cent of the cost price, which usually amounts to about
+thirty dollars a year. The laboring class of no other country is so well
+treated.
+
+Before I left Washington a highly esteemed friend, and one of the most
+charitable and public-spirited citizens of that city, intrusted me with
+a mission which was fulfilled as soon as possible after arriving in
+Limerick. It was to leave with the parish priest of his native village
+of Askeaton a generous sum of money for the benefit of the poor, and you
+may imagine the pleasure that attended our visit there for that reason.
+Askeaton is an ancient village of seven or eight hundred inhabitants
+about twenty miles from Limerick, where the River Deel tumbles over
+ledges of rocks into the Shannon and forms a series of cascades, which
+make it the second best water-power in Ireland and perpetuates the name
+of a Celtic chieftain, concerning whom nothing else is known.
+
+We went down in an automobile, visiting several other places of interest
+by the way, passing Donmore, the seat of the Earl of Limerick, an
+ancient ruin in which a holy hermit lived several centuries ago, Dysart
+House, the seat of the Earl of Dysart, and a beautiful place called
+Holly Park, where resided a queer man by the name of Taylor. He
+inherited a fine farm and considerable wealth, but lived a bachelor
+until he was sixty years old, when he married his cook. There was
+nothing wrong with him except a mania for buying coats, and he used to
+haunt the second-hand stores of Limerick, Dublin, London, and wherever
+else he happened to go, picking up all the queer patterns and colors
+that he could find. He spent most of his time brushing and cataloguing
+them, and when he died last spring more than five thousand coats were
+found hanging on racks in the upper rooms and the attic of Holly Park.
+It took three big wagons to carry them away, for his wife, the former
+cook, got rid of them as soon after the funeral as she could arrange
+for.
+
+Askeaton used to be a place of some importance, and at one time returned
+two members of parliament, but it has lost population and trade, and
+many years ago the franchise was taken away and the sum of $75,000 was
+paid as indemnity to Lord Massey, who controlled the suffrages. It isn't
+far from the sea and there is a good deal of fishing, although
+agriculture is its chief dependence. There is a carbite factory owned by
+John B. Hewson, and a big flour mill, which, however, is idle because
+the people find it cheaper to buy American flour. The farmers here
+cannot compete with California wheat. They told me that it is more
+profitable to raise potatoes for market and turnips for cattle.
+
+Askeaton has one irregular street and old-fashioned houses of brick and
+mortar, hugging closely to the walls of an ancient castle which was the
+stronghold of the earls of Desmond and the scene of much fighting in
+ancient times. It is one of the largest ruins in Ireland, a monstrous
+pile covering more than two acres, and the walls of stone, now standing,
+are more than ninety feet high and ten to fifteen feet thick. The great
+hall measures ninety by thirty feet and is lighted by four great windows
+in a fair state of preservation. Over the first arch from the stairway
+is a small chamber measuring eight by seven feet, called "Desmond's
+prison," in which Gerald, the twelfth Earl of Desmond, imprisoned by
+Edmond MacTeig, who contested his succession, "for six years pined in
+captivity, shut up in the castle of Askeaton, till his release, which
+was obtained by the intercession of his wife, who was related to
+Edmond." A battlemented wall surrounds the entire structure, which could
+be entered only by a narrow pathway cut through the rock so that any
+attempt to force an entrance would be impossible.
+
+Askeaton Abbey, which was founded under the protection of the castle for
+the Franciscan monks in 1420, by the seventh Earl of Desmond, is only a
+few steps distant, and, judging from the huge masses of masonry, it must
+have been an extensive and solid structure. Some of the walls are twenty
+feet thick and the lightest are four feet and a half thick. It is kept
+with great care by the board of public works and the cloister is
+remarkably perfect, being inclosed by twelve pointed arches of black
+marble. It was destroyed at the same time as the castle, and many of the
+monks were murdered by the Irish troops under the Earl of Ormonde and
+Sir Henry Pelham. In 1641 an attempt was made to restore the abbey to
+its former magnificence, but it was abandoned shortly afterward.
+
+The parish church, which stands upon a hill on the edge of the village,
+was built by the Knights Templar, who had an establishment at Askeaton
+dating from the thirteenth century, but nothing remains of it now but a
+curious tower in the churchyard.
+
+With Sergeant Quirk, the head constable, we inspected the ruins under
+the very best auspices, and I found Father Edmond Tracy, the parish
+priest, a most charming companion. He is an ideal type of the Irish
+priesthood, a man of culture, learning, and charming personality. He
+accepted the trust I was instructed to place in his care and told me
+that, although Askeaton was fairly prosperous and the people of the
+neighborhood parish were well to do, he frequently had appeals for
+charity that the scanty revenues of the church made difficult for him to
+respond to.
+
+Upon our way back to Limerick we stopped at Adare, which is considered
+the model village and belongs to the Earl of Dunraven, who has the
+enviable reputation of being one of the best landlords in Ireland. The
+village of Adare has about six hundred people living in model cottages,
+which he and his father built for them, with vegetable and flower
+gardens and everything that an Irish peasant could ask for, including
+both Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. The former was once "The
+White Abbey," founded by the Augustinians in 1230 and restored by the
+Earl of Dunraven in 1811 with great care. A portion of the monastery has
+been rebuilt for a national school and given to the Roman Catholics. The
+neighboring Franciscan Abbey, founded in 1315, was restored for use as
+the Protestant church in 1807. The Earl of Dunraven who lived in those
+days built a family mausoleum in connection with it, and turned the
+refectory of the monks into a schoolhouse for Protestant children.
+Although the earls of Dunraven have been members of the Church of
+Ireland, they have been generous and frequent benefactors of the Roman
+Catholic church, and there seem to have been successive generations of
+wise, thoughtful, and considerate men in that family.
+
+[Illustration: ADARE ABBEY, IN THE PRIVATE GROUNDS OF THE EARL OF
+DUNRAVEN, NEAR LIMERICK]
+
+The house of Dunraven enjoys the proud distinction of being one of the
+few of the ancient Celtic aristocracy to survive the vicissitudes of the
+centuries. The earl traces his lineage back to the chief of the
+Dalcassian clan of prehistoric days. He is of the same stock as the
+O'Briens of Limerick, who have a common ancestor in Cormac Cas, son
+of Olliol Olum, monarch of all Ireland at the beginning of the third
+century. And the present earl has a curious and interesting letter
+written by Thady Quin of Adare in the time of James I., giving the
+complete pedigree.
+
+Adare Manor, as the estate of the Dunravens is known, is one of the most
+extensive and beautiful in Ireland. There is a stately mansion of the
+Tudor school of architecture, begun in 1832, upon the site of a former
+residence of the family and built entirely of material found upon the
+estate, by artisans of Adare. The material is gray limestone, relieved
+by blocks of red, and the striking feature is a tower which rises one
+hundred and three feet from the level of the ground. The stone work of
+the parapet which surmounts the front façade is inscribed in old English
+letters with the text, "Except the Lord build the house, their labor is
+in vain that build it." The late earl seemed to be fond of inscriptions,
+for over the main entrance is carved in stone this admonition: "Fear
+God, honor the Queen, eschew Evil and do Good," while upon a panel set
+into the front wall is the coat of arms of the Dunravens and the
+inscription:
+
+          "This goodly Home was erected by
+          Wyndham Henry, Earl of Dunraven,
+            And Caroline, his Countess
+          Without borrowing, selling or leaving a debt."
+
+"This goodly home" is surrounded by one of the finest parks in the
+world--about three thousand acres of glorious native forests, meadows,
+and pasture lands, all inclosed within a high wall. There are lakes and
+ponds and a roaring brook whose waters alternately dash over cascades
+and lie spread out in calm pools where trout and salmon can be seen
+motionless upon the bottom under the shadows cast by the overhanging
+trees. Roadways several miles in length reach every part of the demesne
+and permit views of the most picturesque portions of the scenery. They
+cross and recross the river over ancient bridges and through undulating
+pastures where the famous Dunraven herds are feeding, and follow long
+avenues between colonnades of very old trees.
+
+There are several interesting ruins within the demesne, including those
+of the ancient castle of Adare, which was built some time before 1331,
+because a record of that date gives a description of its appearance. It
+was afterward strengthened and enlarged, and for several centuries was
+one of the most formidable strongholds in all Ireland. It was from this
+castle in 1520 that the Earl of Kildare, viceroy of Ireland, left for
+London to answer charges brought against him by Cardinal Wolsey, by whom
+he was imprisoned in the Tower.
+
+There are ruins of several monasteries which also date back to the
+fourteenth century and are kept in perfect order. The most beautiful was
+once a monastery of the Franciscan order, and is within a step of the
+mansion, in the midst of the golf links.
+
+The present Earl of Dunraven, Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, was born in
+1844, educated at Eton and Christ Church College, Oxford, and in 1870
+married Florence, daughter of Lord Charles Lennox Kerr, a member of
+parliament from County Wexford. Dunraven is one of the most active and
+versatile men in the kingdom, and is almost as well known in the United
+States, being soldier, sailor, horseman, sportsman, yachtsman, explorer,
+politician, newspaper correspondent, author, antiquarian, economist, and
+historian. After receiving his degree at Oxford Dunraven served for
+several years in the Life Guards, and in 1871 resigned upon succeeding
+to the title and estates. While he was in the army he gained the
+reputation of being the best steeple-chase rider in the kingdom. Upon
+leaving the army he became a correspondent of the _London Daily
+Telegraph_ and represented that paper in an expedition to Abyssinia and
+during the Franco-Prussian war. He then went into politics and was under
+secretary for the colonies during two of Lord Salisbury's
+administrations. He then went into parliament and made a reputation as
+chairman of committees on the sweating system and the housing of the
+working classes. He devoted much time and attention to horse breeding
+and has a stock farm adjoining his estate at Adare with "Desmond," the
+most famous stallion in the kingdom, at the head of his stud. He has
+been offered $150,000 for the horse.
+
+In 1874 Dunraven went to the United States with his wife and spent
+nearly a year in the Rocky Mountains hunting big game and exploring and
+climbing peaks and shooting buffaloes with General Sheridan and Buffalo
+Bill. He wrote a book giving an account of his experience. He then took
+up the Irish question, went into it very deeply, and has retained his
+interest until now. He has written several books on the land question
+and the other economic problems of Ireland. He has been a prolific
+contributor to the magazines, and was the inventor of what is known as
+the "devolution policy" as a substitute for home rule in Ireland, which
+Sir Antony MacDonnell worked up into the so-called "Irish councils
+bill," which proposed to give home rule in every respect except the
+courts, police, and legislation. His lordship went through Ireland
+making speeches in favor of the project, but the leaders of the Irish
+parliamentary party declined to accept it and it fell to the ground.
+
+The Earl of Dunraven is best known in the United States, however, as a
+yachtsman. For several years he was the leader of that sport in England,
+and in 1893, 1894, and 1895 sailed for the _America's_ cup with three
+successive yachts named _Valkyrie_. The third contest was a fiasco, as
+may be remembered. Lord Dunraven published a pamphlet setting forth his
+side of the controversy, which created a great sensation. His lordship
+has made a thorough study of the archæology of this section of Ireland,
+and has written several interesting volumes on the subject.
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXX
+
+                 COUNTY GALWAY AND RECENT LAND TROUBLES
+
+
+County Clare and County Galway are the districts of the greatest unrest
+in Ireland; and the largest number of boycotts, cattle drives, and
+evictions have occurred there of late years because certain large
+landowners, chief of whom is the Earl of Clanricarde, stubbornly refuse
+to sell their estates under the Land Act of 1903 or restore the tenants
+they have evicted or divide up their pastures into farms. The Earl of
+Clanricarde carried the matter into court, where he was sustained in his
+refusal to sell, on the ground that the law is not compulsory, and it is
+probable that parliament will adopt an amendment, now pending and
+introduced since the decision, requiring every large landowner in
+Ireland to divide up his estates among his tenants at prices to be fixed
+by the courts.
+
+The disturbances that are taking place at present are gentle and mild
+compared with what have occurred during the land wars of the past, and
+they are confined to a limited area and a small number of estates. The
+methods of "persuasion" used by the tenants and the "landless" men, as
+those who are entirely without farms are called, are, however, very much
+the same as those adopted years ago, but they are not so effective as
+they used to be. They are severely punished by the courts, and the
+taxpayers are assessed for all the damages committed. If these
+assessments could be confined to the particular parish within which the
+outrages occur it would be very much better, for it is not fair to ask
+innocent property owners twenty and thirty miles from the scene to pay
+for the mischief of a few reckless and irresponsible persons over whom
+they have no control.
+
+County Limerick is usually quiet. There has been no trouble there and
+the best of feelings prevail between the landlords and their tenants,
+with a few exceptions. There was only one criminal case (of infanticide)
+at the dockets of the courts in July, 1908, when I was there, two
+boycotts, and twenty-one complaints of intimidation, which, however, did
+not all relate to land matters. There were thirty-four evictions in
+County Limerick that year, most of them being due to poor crops and the
+lack of remittances from America.
+
+Lough Rea, the seat of the Clanricarde, has been the residence of that
+family since the year 1300. Althenry, the neighboring town, is also very
+old, and has belonged to the earls of Clanricarde since 1238. There is a
+castle, a Dominican monastery, a Franciscan monastery, and several
+churches, all in ruins, destroyed by Red Hugh O'Donnell in 1596. The
+Earl of Clanricarde never visits his Irish property. He has never
+occupied his ancestral home and has been seen in the vicinity but once
+since he came into the inheritance thirty or forty years ago.
+
+The boycott was invented at the little town of Ballinrobe, a pretty
+village of about fifteen hundred inhabitants, on Lough Mask, about
+twenty miles north of Galway. Charles S. Parnell made a speech at Ennis,
+the capital of County Clare, Sept. 19, 1880, advising the people to
+punish those who did not sympathize with them by "isolating them from
+their kind as if they were lepers." This advice was first applied to
+Captain Boycott, agent for the estate of Lord Erne, near Ballinrobe, and
+he was a complete victim of the policy. The police could do nothing.
+There was no law under which dealers could be compelled to sell him food
+and drink, and all his supplies had to be shipped to him from Dublin.
+Nobody would speak to him, nobody would work for him, nobody would
+accept his money, and, as Parnell suggested, he was treated as if he
+were a leper. The plan was so successful that it was promptly adopted
+throughout Ireland, and has since been commonly used elsewhere under the
+name of the first victim.
+
+But boycotting is growing unpopular in Ireland. It is condemned by the
+bishops and the clergy generally. They are taking more and more positive
+grounds, and many refuse the communion to persons who are guilty of
+either boycotting or cattle driving, because they are contrary to
+justice and charity and are therefore sinful. I heard one of the bishops
+preach an impressive sermon on the subject. He condemned all
+combinations of persons to cause suffering or distress in their
+neighbors as inhuman, immoral, and unjust. He declared that boycotting
+was worse than murder, because it caused a greater degree of suffering.
+When a man was shot he usually died without agony, but when he was
+boycotted he suffered the worse sort of mental torture, and to cause
+such sufferings was one of the worst of sins. Father Gilligan, parish
+priest at Carrick-on-Shannon, preached against boycotting the Sunday we
+were there. He said, in introducing the subject, that he deeply
+regretted that many of his parishioners had joined in a boycott for
+which they imagined they had a good excuse, but nothing would justify a
+boycott. It was a crime, and those who had engaged in it would not be
+admitted to communion until they had sincerely repented. Every effort
+had been made by advice, by intimidation, and even by threats of
+violence, to keep the people from dealing with some of the most
+respectable merchants in the town. There were three degrees of
+boycotting--mild, medium, and savage--and all three had been condemned
+by the Church. "Have nothing to do with it," said Father Gilligan, "do
+not touch it with a pole that would reach New York."
+
+At present boycotting is applied to landlords and cattle men who are
+occupying their land that is wanted for farms. The cattle men have no
+permanent tenancy, they erect no buildings, they make no improvements,
+and the cattle business is so profitable that they are able to pay twice
+as much rent as the ordinary farming tenant. For those reasons, and
+because he has only one man to deal with, a landlord is always glad to
+rent his lands for grazing, and gradually Ireland is becoming one great
+pasture.
+
+Cattle driving is another weapon used by the same people for the same
+purpose, and that is condemned by the bishops and the clergy with equal
+emphasis. Archbishop Fennely of Tipperary recently preached a sermon in
+which he expressed the hope that before he closed his eyes in death he
+would see every acre of land in Ireland owned by the men who tilled it,
+but he could not sympathize with and he must earnestly condemn every
+form of violence and every unlawful measure that was used to secure that
+end. He gave his diocese a solemn warning that cattle driving,
+boycotting, and similar unlawful practices would not be tolerated by the
+Church.
+
+This form of argument, it must be admitted, is a great advance over the
+fierce methods that have been used in the past, when murder and
+bloodshed were quite common, and other damages that cannot be repaired
+by money or by the judgment of the court were suffered. It was a
+habitual jest to speak of the "closed season for landlords."
+
+The Irish never overlook the humor in a situation, and at a cattle drive
+which took place in 1908 at Tuam, which is a place of considerable
+ecclesiastical importance, being the residence of the Most Rev. John
+Healey, one of the ablest and most influential Roman Catholic bishops in
+Ireland, the following lines were pinned to the tail of one of the cows:
+
+                  GOD SAVE IRELAND.
+
+          "Leave the way, for we are coming.
+          And, on my soul, we got a drumming;
+          They cleared us out so mighty quick,
+          And, faith, they used their hazel stick.
+          Well, now, Paddy, of you we implore,
+          Don't put us through Cloomagh any more;
+          For if you do you're bound to die,
+          And we have the powder fresh and dry;
+               God bless the Cattle Drivers."
+
+The taxpayers are compelled to pay damages for all cases of cattle
+driving, for loss of business in boycotting, and for other claims
+growing out of such outrages. Usually the courts assess one pound per
+head for cattle where no harm is done, five pounds per head where an
+animal is injured, and about one-third as much for sheep. Most of the
+cattle driving and the boycotting is committed by irresponsible young
+men who are led by mischief-makers with private grudges, and they never
+reason for themselves. It goes without saying that the love of fighting
+is one of the most conspicuous traits of the Irish character. The
+history of Ireland from the foggiest period of the past is a tale of
+continuous warfare. In the early days fighting was the chief end and aim
+of men, and women fought beside their fathers and husbands and brothers
+until St. Patrick forbade them to do so. And they thought very little of
+the consequences.
+
+The case was well stated in a little poem from an American paper that
+was shown me by a friend the other day:
+
+      "'Who says that the Irish are fighters by birth,'
+        Says little Dan Crone;
+       'Faith, there's not a more peacable race on the earth
+          If ye l'ave them alone.'"
+
+But sometimes they won't be let alone. In the summer of 1908 there was a
+riot in the town of Thurles and a mob did a lot of damage in order to
+show its disapproval of legal proceedings that had been taken against a
+fellow townsman. Richard Burke, who was "licensed to sell spirits not to
+be consumed on the premises," was unable to meet his obligations and
+went into bankruptcy. The sheriff took charge of the establishment under
+the orders of the court, and the license, good will, and the stock in
+hand were offered for sale to the highest bidder. But the bids did not
+come up to the valuation of the court and were all rejected. A few days
+later a private offer from Mr. Cody, who has been competing with Mr.
+Burke to quench the thirst of Thurles for several years, to take the
+entire place for £2,000 was accepted. Mr. Burke, who has been in the
+habit of consuming too much of his own merchandise for the good of his
+business, became very indignant because his old enemy was going to step
+into his place, gathered together a few sympathetic friends, raided his
+own establishment, smashed the bottles, knocked in the heads of the
+barrels, and invited the whole town to help themselves, which they did
+with an energy that would have been commendable in another cause. Then,
+when almost every citizen of the town, young and old, was drunk, they
+started up the street smashing their own windows and doors and doing
+what is estimated at $15,000 worth of damages to their own property,
+besides $7,000 worth of destruction in Mr. Cody's place.
+
+Although Cody had signed the papers, he had not paid for Mr. Burke's
+former stock, and naturally he now refuses to do so, since it does not
+exist, so that Mr. Burke and his creditors suffer the entire loss of his
+own raid and hospitality, and the taxpayers of Thurles have been
+assessed to pay for the other foolishness.
+
+There are twenty thousand Galway people in the United States, or "across
+the herring pond," as a banker there expressed it, who have been in the
+habit of making remittances to their fathers and mothers and brothers
+and sisters here in generous amounts, and many families are partly and a
+large number are wholly dependent upon them. Most of the Galway
+emigrants are in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and other
+large cities, earning good wages, but they were out of employment after
+the recent panic and have had all that they could do to take care of
+themselves. Hence very little money has been received here from America
+for nearly a year. The postmaster told me that the American money orders
+cashed at the Galway post office have averaged £40,000 a year for the
+last eight or ten years, and in 1908 the total will not reach £15,000.
+An even larger sum of money has been coming in checks and drafts and the
+bankers say that the remittances in that form are not more than ten per
+cent of the usual amount. The merchants complain that their customers
+are not bringing in any American checks, which have been presented in
+payment daily for ten or twelve years. Christmas checks were very scarce
+in 1907, and that is the principal reason for the poverty. Wages are
+very low in Galway--ten shillings a week, and two shillings a day is the
+average for ordinary labor. The Allan Line steamers have been touching
+at Galway since 1881, and have carried to Quebec an enormous number of
+emigrants for the United States as well as Canada, but the faster boats,
+touching at Queenstown, have reduced the business considerably. The
+steerage passage is $27.50 and $30; the average emigrants are chiefly
+between seventeen and twenty-three years of age, and most of them go to
+Boston.
+
+Galway is a foreign-looking little town, unlike any other we saw in
+Ireland, and much of the architecture is Dutch and Spanish, departing
+from the plain, ugly brick front without cornice or eaves which is so
+common elsewhere. The streets are irregular and run all sorts of ways;
+some very narrow and some very wide, and they vary in width at different
+places, with occasionally an odd-shaped space at the intersection.
+Everything looks old and shabby and out of repair. It is queer as well
+as significant to see buildings half in ruins in the principal streets
+and others with the glass broken out of the windows. There are some
+smart-looking shops, however, and neatly kept residences, but they are
+not frequent. Nor is the town well kept. The Common Council evidently
+lacks a sense of the æsthetic, because the streets are dirty, the park
+is scraggly, and the grass and trees are very much neglected. It is
+altogether the untidiest public park I saw in Ireland. Many of the
+people we met on the principal streets, particularly the women, are
+repulsive in their rags and dirty faces and unkempt hair and bare feet.
+We saw a few barefooted women in Tipperary and Limerick, but in Galway
+none of the working women wears shoes, although the men seem to be well
+shod. The women cover their heads with thick shawls that are often
+greasy and torn, and their faces show evidences of sorrow and privation,
+and perhaps other causes have left a mark.
+
+[Illustration: FISH MARKET, GALWAY]
+
+The foreign appearance of Galway is accounted for by the fact that many
+Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Dutchmen were in business there in early
+times. The town was named from the Gauls, and for centuries an extensive
+trade was carried on with the Continent by foreign merchants and foreign
+fleets. Richard de Burgo, founder of the Burke family, was given the
+country of Connaught by the king, and, having in 1232 crushed the
+O'Connors, who were formerly kings there, he enlarged the Castle of
+Galway and made it his residence, calling around him a flourishing
+foreign colony. But the "tribes of Galway," as Cromwell called the
+natives, would not submit to him, and kept up a guerrilla warfare that
+was very annoying. The English took all the measures they could to
+protect themselves, and in 1518 a law was passed forbidding the people
+of the town "to recieve into their housses at Christemas, Easter nor no
+feaste elles, any of the MacWilliams, Kellies, Joyces, Lynches nor to
+cepte Elles without permission of the Mayor and Councill; on payn to
+forfeit £'5 and that no one called O' nor Mac shalle strutte ne swaggere
+thro the streetes of Galway." And the following inscription was formerly
+to be seen over the west gate to the city:
+
+          "From the fury of the O'Flaherties
+          Good Lord deliver us."
+
+There are some quaint old houses--one of them on the principal street,
+known as "the mansion," being elaborately decorated with carved
+moldings, drip stones, cornices, balustrades, medallions, crests, coats
+of arms, and other ornaments in which the lynx and the monkey, which
+were used upon the family arms, appear frequently. The same story is
+told to account for the monkey that is used to explain the appearance of
+that animal upon the escutcheon of the Earl of Desmond--that the heir to
+the house was rescued by a monkey when it was burning.
+
+The Burkes, the Joyces, and the Lynches were the leading families there.
+The records show that eighty-four members of the Lynch family have held
+the office of mayor. A tragic story of James Lynch, the second mayor
+after the charter of the city was granted by Richard III., is kept in
+the minds of the people by a tablet imbedded in the wall of a ruined
+house on one of the principal streets. It bears this inscription:
+
+    "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, with the
+    approval of the town commissioners, by their chairman, the Very
+    Rev. Peter Daly, P.P. and Vicar of St. Nicholas."
+
+The Rev. Mr. Daly has immortalized himself in this simple way, and his
+character may be judged by the fact that his name appears even more
+prominently on the tablet than that of the unnatural father whose act he
+perpetuates. The story goes that Mayor Lynch, being one of the most
+successful of the shipping merchants in the city, visited Spain in the
+very year that Columbus discovered America, to make the personal
+acquaintance of his customers, and, being treated with generous
+hospitality, invited the son of one of his friends to return with him to
+Ireland. The young man spent several months in Galway, as the guest of
+Mayor Lynch, and as the companion of his son, Walter. The latter, a
+great favorite in the city, was engaged to a young lady of good family,
+who behaved rather imprudently with the young Spaniard. This excited the
+jealousy of Walter Lynch, who murdered his playmate, and then, from
+remorse, gave himself up to justice. He was tried, convicted, and
+condemned to death by his own father, sitting as judge of the court, and
+when the sheriff, in obedience to public opinion, refused to carry out
+the sentence, Judge Lynch hanged his own son with his own hands. As
+there were other judges and courts in Ireland and as changes of venue
+were common in those days, as they are now, one cannot sympathize with
+this Spartan heartlessness.
+
+There is a quaint old church, built in 1320, in honor of St. Fechin, who
+was born about the year 600, in County Sligo, was the founder of
+numerous monasteries and churches along the western coast of Ireland,
+and was the first to bring the gospel to County Galway. Queen's College,
+supported by the government, has a fine Gothic building, copied after
+All Souls of Oxford, with about three hundred students, and there is
+another college, under the Christian Brothers, which is very prosperous.
+
+The most interesting sight in Galway is the thousands of fat salmon
+lying motionless on the bottom of the river which carries the water of
+Lough Corrib--one of the largest fresh-water lakes in the country--into
+Galway Bay. The river is short and swift and flows through the center of
+the city. Its banks are walled up with masonry and it is crossed by a
+series of ancient iron bridges. From the railings of the bridges one can
+see the salmon through the transparent water lying with their noses up
+stream so closely that the bottom of the river is hidden; and I am told
+that when they are running in the spring the stream is black with them.
+They come in from the sea and go up a ladder that has been built for
+them over the rapids into Lough Corrib.
+
+The exclusive right of fishing that river was granted in 1221 by King
+John to one of his favorites, and the monopoly has been recognized ever
+since. It has been sold many times. The last purchaser was an ancestor
+of a Mrs. Hallett, who enjoys the privilege at present, and lives in a
+big stone house on the river banks, surrounded by high walls. A series
+of traps extends from her garden across the river, covering four-fifths
+of its width, one-fifth being always kept open by act of parliament, so
+that the fish can go up and down freely, but as they are all strangers
+in Galway, and young and reckless, many of them run into the traps
+instead of the passageway and become the property of Mrs. Hallett. She
+ships them to London and makes three or four thousand pounds a year by
+selling them. The fishermen in charge told me that in the spring they
+often caught as many as two or three hundred a day in each of the traps.
+Any one who desires to try his luck with a fly can do so by getting a
+permit from Mrs. Hallett, for which the fee is $2.50 a day or $25 a
+year.
+
+Near the mouth of the river and at the head of the Bay of Galway is an
+ancient village called Claddagh, whose inhabitants have been engaged in
+the herring and salmon fisheries for ten centuries, and have lived apart
+from the world, having their own municipal organization, their own laws
+and courts and customs and manner of dress. From the beginning of time
+they have been ruled by one of their own number, elected by themselves
+for a term of years, who exercises executive, legislative, and judicial
+functions, from which there is no appeal. They have no written laws, no
+records of their judicial proceedings, but when there is a dispute
+between any of the fishermen they take it to their chosen umpire, who
+decides it according to the merits of the case. And his decision is
+always accepted. I am told that no citizen of Claddagh has ever been
+before a Galway court, either as a plaintiff or defendant. They live in
+low thatched cottages, grouped in irregular streets on the bank of the
+river, with a large and very modern-looking church, which they attend
+regularly. They are remarkable for their piety and their morals. They
+will not work, nor will they leave their village for any reason, on
+Sundays or religious holidays. They never allow strangers to live among
+them, their young men and women never marry outside of the colony, they
+take care of their own sick and poor, and, although they are only five
+minutes' walk from the principal street of Galway, they are as isolated
+as if they were on an island in the middle of the ocean.
+
+Formerly the Claddagh people wore a distinctive dress, resembling that
+of the fisher folks of Holland,--a red skirt, a blue waist, elaborate
+headdress, and bare feet and legs,--but this costume has been discarded
+by the younger women and is only worn by their grandmothers now. But all
+the women go barefooted. They never wear shoes or stockings. The men are
+engaged exclusively in fishing, although they do all of their own
+masonry, carpentering, and boat building. They pack their fish in the
+village, but carry a portion of each catch across the river to the fish
+market of Galway.
+
+There is an attractive resort for city people on the Bay of Galway, with
+a long promenade, several hotels, and a number of comfortable villas.
+
+[Illustration: SALMON WEIR, GALWAY]
+
+
+
+
+                                  XXXI
+
+                   CONNEMARA AND THE NORTHWEST COAST
+
+
+Clifden is the extreme western point of Ireland, and for that reason
+Marconi selected it for his wireless telegraph station in communicating
+with Canada and the United States. It is 1,620 miles in a direct line of
+St. John, New Brunswick, and, as a native remarked, "There's not a
+spheck of droy land upon which a burrd could rist the sole of its foot
+bechune this blessed spot and Americky." If you will examine the map you
+will understand the situation better, and a geological chart of the
+island will show you that the western coast, from Mizzen Head to Bloody
+Foreland, is protected by a chain of mountains, bleak, rugged, and
+abrupt, which nature has placed as a buttress to support the rest of
+Ireland against the fierce attack of the Atlantic. They have terrible
+storms there, and a northwest gale several times a year that is
+terrific. The east winds, which we dread, bring good weather in Ireland,
+but the west wind brings storms and cold and mists that are almost as
+bad as the London fog.
+
+Connemara is the congested district, but it does not bear that name
+because the population is overcrowded, but because there are too many
+people for the inhospitable soil to support. The inhabitants are
+scattered over a vast area. I could see everything from one point as far
+as a radius of twenty-two miles, and there wasn't a human habitation in
+sight, nor was there any inducement to build one because the country was
+a bleak, barren, rocky wilderness without soil for crops or shelter for
+cattle. There is the greatest degree of poverty and suffering in
+Ireland, and there the government is doing its greatest benevolent work
+in trying to place the people upon farms that are large enough to
+support them, and finding them other occupations by which they can earn
+a few additional dollars.
+
+A railway was built from Galway along the edge of the ocean to Clifden a
+few years ago, and the track hugs the coast as closely as possible. An
+hour after leaving Galway nature begins to disclose her unfriendliness,
+the mountains begin to loom up to a height of two thousand and
+twenty-two hundred feet, the landscape becomes stern and forbidding, and
+there is no vegetation except heather, which, when in full bloom, adds a
+purple hue to the wilderness. Heather seems to be as brave, as enduring,
+and as self-reliant as the sage brush that decorates the arid plains of
+our western States, and nothing seems to discourage its growth.
+Alternating with the rocks are peat beds, in which both men and women
+spend much time getting out a supply of fuel for the next winter and
+stacking it in little piles to dry.
+
+The most prominent feature of the landscape is a group of mountains
+called the Twelve Bens--sometimes written the "Twelve Pins." They are so
+called because of their conical, dome-like peaks and the similar
+individuality of each. They rise almost from the level of the Atlantic,
+and for that reason look higher than they really are. The highest is Ben
+Baun, 2,393 feet, and the lowest is Ben Brach, 1,922 feet. Their sides
+are scarred with the wounds of terrestrial convulsions and glacial
+action, and they are composed very largely of quartzite, which
+frequently furnishes a white surface that glistens in the sunlight and
+adds to the picturesque effect. From these mountains comes the Connemara
+marble, the most valuable stone in the United Kingdom, often as fine in
+grain as the malachite and lapis lazuli of the Urals and the onyx of
+Mexico. It is used both for construction and for ornamental purposes,
+and the quarries are very profitable.
+
+[Illustration: A SCENE IN CONNEMARA]
+
+The landscape is dotted with little lakes and ponds which have no
+visible outlet, but are all connected somehow underground. Most of them
+cover only an acre or two, but Lough Corrib is the largest in Ireland
+except Lough Neagh, near Belfast. Lough Mask and Lough Cong are also
+several miles in length and two or three miles in width. There are said
+to be 365 lakes in Ireland, and one would judge that the larger number
+of them are in Connemara. They are fed by springs and rainfall and are
+said to abound in fish. The railway companies advertise this as the best
+fishing ground in the world, and announce that they have leased several
+of the loughs in order to provide free fishing to all excursionists.
+That is a great attraction for city people when they take their
+vacations, because elsewhere as a rule when a man wants to go fishing he
+is compelled to take out a license and pay handsomely for the
+privilege--from $2.50 to $5 a day. Therefore the advertisements of free
+fishing in Connemara, combined with the scenery, which is highly admired
+and considered second only to that of Switzerland, tempt a great many
+people there. But most of them are disappointed. There is plenty of
+water to fish in, there are plenty of boats to hire, but fish are
+scarce, and, no matter where you go, the oldest inhabitant always
+insists that he never knew a time when fishing was so bad as it is now.
+There are many skeptics and a few cynics about who give you a true
+statement of the situation. "Boots" at the hotel asserted that if
+anything could be caught in the lakes we might be sure that the fishing
+would not be free, and added sarcastically that the only reason it was
+free was that nobody ever caught anything.
+
+The O'Briens were once kings of that country and they were driven out by
+the O'Flahertys, who in turn were driven out by the English. You can see
+the ruins of Castle Bally Quirk, the principal fortress of the
+O'Flahertys, from the car window, and read the terrible story of how the
+chief of that clan was imprisoned in its keep in the time of Queen
+Elizabeth and starved to death. The O'Flahertys were always "agin the
+government," and were so impertinent in their replies and so arrogant in
+their demeanor that Queen Elizabeth decided to bring them to submission,
+and nearly exterminated the family before she did so. "The O'Flaherty,"
+the head of the family at present, is a justice of the peace, who lives
+at Lemonfield, upon the ancient estates, but retains very little of
+them.
+
+If Clifden wasn't such a dirty town it might be made a popular health
+resort. The air is glorious; the natural surroundings are grand and
+would tempt many artists as well as admirers of scenery. There are
+excellent small hotels, but the town is decidedly unattractive, the
+streets are filthy, the walks in the neighborhood of the town are used
+so much by the cattle that they are quite unclean, and the people do not
+seem to have any idea of neatness or order. The principal business seems
+to be the sale of liquor, which can be purchased at thirty-three places
+within this little town of eight hundred people, as advertised by the
+sign boards. And they all look as if they were doing a good trade. There
+is considerable fishing at Cleggan, a neighboring village, which has
+been encouraged and assisted by the government, and large shipments of
+fish are made to Dublin every day. Early in the morning several ancient
+fishwives appear in a triangular space between the rows of houses in the
+center of the village with baskets of fish, and from our windows in the
+comfortable Railway Hotel we can see the inhabitants come strolling
+along in an indolent and indifferent manner to buy their breakfasts.
+They have the choice of a variety of fish, and the prices are remarkably
+low. A fine, fat mackerel costs a penny, a codfish sixpence, and for a
+shilling one can get a haddock big enough to last a large-sized family
+for a week.
+
+Upon the hillside overlooking the town is an imposing church which has
+an air of magnificence in comparison with the rest of the town; it is
+ten times as large and ten times as glorious for Clifden as St. Peter's
+is for Rome. It was built only a few years ago from the contributions of
+the peasants, the same people that the government is trying to make
+comfortable and aid in earning a living. It will seat nine hundred
+people and is filled twice on Sunday with devout worshipers. Father
+Lynch, the curate, told me that it was necessary to have two masses and
+sometimes three on Sunday to accommodate them all, and some of them come
+eleven and even twelve miles, most of them on foot, to attend worship.
+Here, as everywhere in Ireland, religion is the first and most important
+thing in life, and the church is the gateway to happiness and Heaven.
+There is also a Protestant church, much smaller, but not insignificant,
+which stands upon an opposite hill, surrounded by a graveyard, in which
+there are some venerable tombs.
+
+Clifden is the seat of several important families, including the
+Martins, who formerly lived at Ballynaninch Castle, a plain, large,
+stern-looking embattled building, which was the scene of Charles Lever's
+novel, "The Martins of Cro' Martin." It was the home of Col. Richard
+Martin, M.P., the inventor and organizer of the first society for the
+prevention of cruelty to animals in the world, and the author of
+"Martin's Acts," punishing those who are guilty of that offense. He
+spent large sums of money in the enforcement of this law and in
+organizing societies and establishing hospitals for diseased and wounded
+animals throughout the kingdom, but was otherwise extravagant and went
+through his fortune.
+
+Colonel Martin was the original of "Godfrey O'Malley," the hero of
+Lever's novel, and the sketch is said to be very accurate. He was a
+reckless, extravagant, but generous, warm-hearted man and died a
+sacrifice to his efforts to relieve the sufferings of his tenants at the
+time of the famine.
+
+His only child, Mary Martin, married an American, Colonel Bell of New
+York, and lived in that city until her death. Although she was known as
+the Princess of Connemara and inherited an empire in area, she was never
+able to maintain the state that her father was so proud of, and 192,000
+acres of her vast domain was sold by the courts to settle his debts,
+being purchased by the Law Life Assurance Company. Richard Berridge, a
+London brewer, bought another tract of 160,000 acres and the young woman
+scarcely missed it, so extensive were her lands. But they were of little
+value, being mostly mountain peaks and barren moors. Colonel Martin once
+silenced the prince regent, who during the early part of Queen
+Victoria's reign was boasting of the famous Long Walk of Windsor, by
+scornfully declaring that the avenue which led from his front gate to
+his hall door was thirty miles long; and that was very nearly the truth.
+
+Clifden Castle is the seat of the De Arcy family, who built and owned
+the town of Clifden and were formerly very rich, but a very little is
+seen of them at present.
+
+Marconi's wireless telegraph station occupies a bleak, rocky promontory
+extending out into the sea about three miles from the village. It is
+surrounded by a large tract of barren moor and is inclosed in barbed
+wire fence, which no one is allowed to pass without a permit. There are
+several corrugated iron buildings, comfortable but temporary, for
+generating furnaces, offices, and dormitories for Mr. Marden, the
+superintendent, and seven assistants. There is a miniature railway
+connecting them with the harbor to bring up coal and other supplies from
+the bay, for it requires a lot of fuel to generate the tremendous
+voltage necessary to throw a message across the Atlantic Ocean. When the
+operators are sending a Marconigram the sound can be heard for half a
+mile--a deafening whirr and buzz like that of a sawmill, interspersed
+with sharp detonations, long and short, according to the dots and dashes
+of the Morse code. An ordinary operator could read the message a long
+distance away, but would not be able to understand it because every word
+is sent in cipher. This is the reason why people are kept out of the
+grounds and why so large an area is necessary for protection. The
+station is a profitable thing for the town, because about fifteen
+hundred dollars a month is spent for supplies and labor, and employment
+is given to a large gang of men.
+
+After several romantic engagements to American girls, Signor Marconi
+finally married a local beauty, Miss O'Brien, daughter of "The O'Brien,"
+the representative of the family that were kings over this country in
+the early days.
+
+[Illustration: CLIFDEN CASTLE, COUNTY GALWAY]
+
+As Clifden is the terminus of the railway, we cruised around the
+rockbound coast of the Atlantic and across the bleak mountain sides to
+Westport, in what they call an "excursion car"--an exaggerated jaunting
+car on four wheels, drawn by two horses, with seats for six
+passengers on each side and a cavity in the center between them, opening
+from the end like a hearse, in which the baggage is carried. It is one
+of the most uncomfortable vehicles you can imagine. None of the
+passengers can see more than half the scenery, as they sit back to back
+and face out toward either side of the road. The ordinary jaunting car
+is quite as awkward and uncomfortable, and if you take a drive to see
+the scenery you have to go over the road twice because you can see only
+half of it at a time.
+
+The scenery in Connemara reminds one very much of Norway except in the
+lack of the cleanliness for which the latter country is famous. The
+coast line is cut by deep jags and precipitous cliffs, like the fiords,
+and the mountains have the same stern and stony appearance, and the peat
+bogs that lie between them are similar to those in the Scandinavian
+countries, although the climate is much milder here. The fuchsia plant
+is commonly used for hedges, which all summer long is loaded with
+blossoms of purple and red. I had never seen a fuchsia hedge until I
+came to Ireland. The first was at Glengariff, on the southern coast, but
+since then we have found them everywhere along the Atlantic shore, in
+the western counties, hundreds of miles of them, inclosing pastures,
+meadows, and gardens and growing with wonderful luxuriance.
+
+There is no fruit in Ireland, or at least very little. I didn't see a
+respectable orchard all summer and saw no fruit trees except a few
+cherries and plums in gardens. Gooseberries seem to be the only "fruit
+of the season" at the hotels, and gooseberry tart is served for luncheon
+and for dinner every day. There are a few strawberries, but they are
+very expensive and are sold by the pound. They are never served upon the
+regular _table d'hôte_ bills of fare, but are always extra.
+
+We were told the Connemara was very picturesque, and the most
+interesting section of Ireland, both in scenery, in local color, and in
+costumes, but it is a disappointment in all three respects. The scenery
+is grand, as mountains always are, but it is very monotonous; the people
+are so poor and so dirty that they repel, and we seldom see them at
+work, except in the peat fields as we pass. The Connemara peasant woman
+always wears a red skirt, goes barefooted, and covers her tousled head
+under a heavy shawl. She works alongside of the men and does her share
+of the heavy as well as the light labor. She is expected to do as much
+manual labor as her husband or her brother, and judging from what we
+observed in the peat bogs, they give her the heavy end of the load.
+
+We spent the night at Leenane, a little fishing village at the head of a
+fiord that comes up nine miles from the Atlantic into the mountains.
+There is a plain but good hotel, much patronized by fishermen. In the
+morning we continued our journey over the mountains through some very
+rugged country. We drove through the famous Pass of Kylemore, one of the
+most beautiful pieces of scenery in Ireland, and called "The Gem of
+Connemara." It was particularly interesting to us because Kylemore
+Castle is the home of an American girl, the Duchess of Manchester, who
+was formerly Miss Helena Zimmerman of Cincinnati and is now the wife of
+the Duke of Manchester. It is one of the most beautiful residences in
+Ireland, and is situated upon the banks of a lovely little lake and at
+the base of a mountain called Doughraugh, which rises 1,736 feet behind
+it as a background and is covered with the most beautiful foliage. The
+castle is in the center of the pass, between two lofty mountains, and
+the roadway for miles passes through a forest and between fields that
+are inclosed with fuchsia hedges.
+
+[Illustration: A SCENE IN THE WEST OF IRELAND; LENANE HARBOR]
+
+Kylemore Castle was built by Mr. Mitchell Henry, a home rule member of
+parliament in the '60's, about a hundred years ago, and cost him more
+than a million dollars. The chapel, which cost more than a hundred
+thousand dollars, was built by his son, who sold the place to the Duke
+of Manchester. As the latter was not able to pay for it, his
+father-in-law, Mr. Zimmerman, a railroad magnate of Cincinnati,
+president of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad, took it off his
+hands for £69,000 and presented it to his daughter, who spends most of
+her time there, because the climate is very agreeable throughout the
+entire year and she loves the seclusion. There isn't a neighbor for
+several miles, except the people employed on the place. There are
+fourteen thousand acres of shooting, several small lakes, and about
+forty acres in garden.
+
+This is the kingdom of Grace O'Malley, the famous Amazon daughter of
+Owen O'Malley, King of Connaught. She lived and reigned here in the time
+of Queen Elizabeth, and her castle is now used as a police barracks.
+While some of the legends of Grace O'Malley are doubtless fiction, many
+of them are founded upon fact. She was a real woman and a real queen
+with pride and power and all the other qualities that are attached to
+royalty. Queen Elizabeth, to whom she once paid a visit, offered to make
+her a countess, but Grace declined on the ground that the Queen of
+Connaught was the equal of the Queen of England, and could accept no
+favors. Her first husband was an O'Flaherty and her second was Sir
+Richard Burke. The second was a "trial marriage," and it was agreed that
+after the end of one year the union could be dissolved by either husband
+or wife saying, "I dismiss you," to the other, and Grace said it first.
+
+We passed around the base of the mountain Crough Patrick, which rises
+with great abruptness to a height of 2,510 feet, almost directly from
+the Atlantic Ocean, and has a flat plain about half a mile square upon
+its summit. There are the remains of an ancient chapel, and a large
+Celtic cross stands boldly in the foreground, where it can be seen from
+all the country round. This is one of the most sacred spots in Ireland,
+because, according to Monk Jocelyn, who wrote a life of St. Patrick in
+the twelfth century, and other historians, that most venerated saint
+"brought together here all the demons, toads, serpents, creeping things,
+and other venomous creatures in Ireland and imprisoned them in a deep
+ravine on the sea front of the mountain known as Lugnademon (the pen of
+the demons) as fast as they came in answer to his summons, and kept them
+safely there until he was ready to destroy them. Then, standing upon the
+summit of the Crough, St. Patrick, with a bell in hand, cursed them and
+expelled them from Ireland forever. And every time he rang the bell
+thousands of toads, adders, snakes, reptiles, and other noisome things
+went down, tumbling neck and heels after each other, and were swallowed
+up forever in the sea." A less reverent writer says:
+
+          "'Twas on the top of the high hill
+            St. Patrick preached his sarmints;
+          He drove the frogs from all the bogs
+            And banished all the varmints."
+
+It is a well-known phenomenon in natural history that there are no
+snakes, toads, moles, or venomous reptiles in Ireland, and the fact has
+always been accounted for in this way. St. Patrick's miracle, performed
+at the summit of the Crough, in County Mayo, in the year 450, is
+accepted with as perfect faith as the story of the creation, and on the
+anniversary, during the month of July, thousands of pilgrims climb to
+the ruined chapel, some of them on their knees, to pray to the patron
+saint of Ireland.
+
+As Westport is the nearest town of importance in Ireland to the United
+States, there have been several projects to take advantage of that fact
+by running a line of steamers from there. The distance to St. John, New
+Brunswick, is 1,656 miles; to Halifax, 2,165 miles; to Boston, 2,385
+miles, and to New York, 2,700 miles, which in each case is much less
+than from Queenstown or any of the English ports. At the same time,
+however, passengers landing there would be subjected to a long railway
+journey and would be required to cross St. George's Channel, which is
+not an amiable streak of water. It is subject to the same moods and
+tenses as the English Channel, and whoever crosses it must make
+sacrifices to Neptune in the form of discomfort if not other tribute. A
+company was formed some years ago to build docks here and to build
+steamers, but nothing has been heard from it of late, and the invention
+of the turbine engine and the construction of the fast steamers like the
+_Lusitania_ make the voyage quite as short without the other drawbacks.
+
+The Marquis of Sligo has his seat at Westport and is one of the largest
+landowners in Ireland, but he does not spend much time here. He prefers
+his townhouse at 10 Hyde Park Place, London. The greater part of his
+land is entirely worthless. He owns many square miles of rock, moorland,
+and mountain peaks in Connemara, which furnish admirable scenery but are
+good for nothing else. As General Sheridan once said of another place,
+under other circumstances, "It would be necessary for a crow to take his
+rations with him," if he attempted to make the journey across his
+lordship's estates. There is more waste land to the acre in Connemara
+than in any other part of the United Kingdom, and the Marquis of Sligo
+owns the largest share of it.
+
+The Marquis of Sligo owns the town of Westport, and it is built around
+the entrance to his beautiful park. He is more generous than most of the
+earls, because he allows the public free of charge and without
+restriction to enjoy it with him. The gates are always open to young and
+old, rich and poor,--on foot, on bicycle, or in vehicles, except
+automobiles. He has a prejudice against them and they are not allowed to
+enter.
+
+Across the roadway from the main entrance and nailed to the wall of an
+old-fashioned house is an ancient signboard, upon which are inscribed
+the tolls formerly demanded by the Marquis of Sligo upon the sales of
+produce in the market of this town. He owns the place; the land all
+belongs to him, and that which is not occupied by his houses pays him
+ground rent perpetually. He owns the market place, and instead of
+charging rental to the farmers who come there to sell their produce he
+used to tax each sale a penny for a dozen eggs, a penny for a chicken,
+tuppence for a sack of potatoes, and so on. There is a long list upon
+the signboard giving the exact toll for every article and animal that
+entered into the traffic of the market place, fish, fowl, fruit,
+vegetables, grain, and all other things. He owns the fair grounds also,
+and in olden times collected ten per cent of all the premiums and prizes
+that were awarded, and a corresponding toll upon the cattle that were
+bought and sold at the monthly and annual fairs. And this custom
+prevailed all over Ireland, until 1881, when the people decided that
+they would not submit to it any longer, and therefore refused to pay the
+collector when he came around. Finally, after a popular agitation which
+resulted in a good many broken heads and some loss of life, parliament
+abolished the privilege, and the tolls collected in the market houses
+now go into the common treasury.
+
+Westport is the residence of Rev. J.M. Hannay, rector of the Church of
+Ireland here, who is better known to the world as George A. Birmingham,
+author of several political novels which have caused a great stir and
+have had an important influence upon land legislation. Mr. Hannay is an
+ardent patriot, but has the judicial faculty of looking upon both sides
+of a question, and in the vivid pictures he has drawn of the scenes and
+events and consequences of the land wars, stripping the screens from the
+motives of the leaders, he has convinced thousands of people where
+ordinary arguments would have entirely failed. His novel entitled "The
+Seething Pot" has frequently been recommended to me by the highest
+authorities as the best picture of Irish politics that was ever written.
+
+There has always been a good deal of literary talent up this way. The
+County of Longford, just south of here, was the birthplace and home of
+two of the most famous of Irish writers,--Maria Edgeworth and Oliver
+Goldsmith. It is quite remarkable that both should have derived their
+early love and their knowledge of the Irish character from the same
+identical parish. Both received their early education at the same
+school, and the little hamlet Pallasmore, where the author of "The Vicar
+of Wakefield" first saw the light, is still, as it was in his time, the
+property of the Edgeworth family. It is now only a group of humble
+cabins. The house in which the poet was born, Nov. 10, 1728, long ago
+disappeared and there is not a relic left of himself or his family.
+Later Rev. Charles Goldsmith, his father, removed to the rectory of
+Kilkenny West, six miles from the city of Athlone. There the poet spent
+his boyhood days, and there his brother, Rev. Henry G. Goldsmith,
+continued to reside after his father's death. And he was residing there
+when Oliver dedicated to him his poem, "The Traveler."
+
+A hundred years ago Maria Edgeworth was the most popular of English
+novelists. She was the daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, an Irish
+literary man, and was born Jan. 1, 1767, in Berkshire, England, where
+her family was stopping temporarily. She made her reputation in 1801 by
+the publication of a novel called "Castle Rackrent," which was followed
+by "Belinda," "Leonora," and other novels at the rate of one a year
+until she closed her labors in 1834 with a charming story for children
+called "Orlandino," and died at Edgeworthstown, the family seat, which
+they still occupy, in 1849. Miss Edgeworth never married, although she
+is said to have been very attractive, and was an admired and courted
+favorite at the court at Windsor as well as among the peasants of
+Ireland. Her writings are noted for the simplicity and beauty of her
+style, originality of expression, truthfulness to nature, and the
+ingenuity of her situations.
+
+Rathra, near Frenchport, County Roscommon, is the residence of Douglas
+Hyde, the organizer and president of the Gaelic League, which is
+intended to revive and restore to common use the ancient language and
+the ancient customs of Ireland. Dr. Hyde is the son of a Protestant
+clergyman, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, a professional
+literary man, author of several books, and a lecturer and teacher at
+different times. Although he originated the Gaelic League movement, it
+was inspired by Prof. Hugo Meyer, a celebrated German linguist, who is
+familiar with forty languages, and in his studies, conceived a profound
+admiration for the Gaelic. He came to Ireland as a lecturer at the
+university, and there made the acquaintance of Douglas Hyde, who became
+his disciple, and by his advice and with his assistance inaugurated the
+movement which has since been so successful.
+
+Dr. Hyde visited the United States in 1908, dined at the White House,
+spent two or three evenings with the President and made a disciple of
+him. He is a man of slender stature, delicate health, and intense
+nervous emotional nature. He has the faculty of hypnotizing the people
+he talks with, and his fascinating personality has been very effective
+in his crusade.
+
+Irish ideals, traits, customs, and superstitions were fast disappearing;
+English sports, games, literature, and customs were being adopted. The
+legends and folklore of Ireland were being forgotten, and native ballads
+and melodies became obsolete with the harp, and, although a hundred
+years ago Gaelic was spoken by everybody up to the very gates of Dublin
+and Belfast, it has been practically forgotten by the people. The census
+of 1901 showed that 638,000 people could speak the language, but most of
+those could not read it, and knew only a few phrases and words they had
+learned from their grandmothers. It was ignored in the schools and in
+the printing houses. No Gaelic books had been published for generations.
+Since the time of Daniel O'Connell the Irish peasantry have been anxious
+to learn English so as to read his speeches.
+
+This was the situation when Hugo Meyer and Douglas Hyde undertook to
+revive an interest in the native language, literature, and customs, and
+in 1893 they organized what was called the Gaelic League, a
+nonpolitical, nonsectarian society, which has now more than nine hundred
+local branches with two hundred thousand members, sending delegates to
+the annual _ard-fheis_ or annual assembly. Since 1898 a weekly
+newspaper and a monthly magazine have been published in the Irish
+language, and both have become self-supporting; and the daily and weekly
+newspapers throughout Ireland, almost without exception, have a Gaelic
+department conducted in that language. The names of the streets are now
+posted in Gaelic in nearly all the towns and cities, and the English
+directions upon the signboards on the country roads are duplicated in
+that language.
+
+Gaelic is taught for an hour a day in all the national schools, although
+a fee is charged for it, which the league is now trying to abolish. In
+1907 there were 33,741 children in the primary schools and 2,479 in the
+secondary schools receiving paid instruction in Gaelic, an increase from
+24,918 primary and 2,029 secondary pupils in 1906. It is confidently
+expected that the fee will be abolished during the coming year. The
+commissioners of education have recommended it. Gaelic is taught in all
+of the normal schools and is required in the examinations for teachers.
+The league maintains fourteen organizers and lecturers who go about
+organizing classes similar to the Chautauqua circles in the United
+States, and more than two hundred thousand adults are studying Gaelic in
+that way.
+
+The movement is cordially indorsed by the Roman Catholic Church, by the
+Church of Ireland, by the Presbyterian general assembly, and the
+Methodist general conference, which is extraordinary. I am told that it
+is the only movement except temperance that has ever received the
+approval of all the religious sects. That indicates very clearly that
+its managers have carefully maintained the nonsectarian attitude which
+is one of the chief planks of the platform. And the fact that it has
+been kept out of politics is apparent from the indorsement it has
+received from the United Irish League and the Irish parliamentary
+leaders as well as the anti-home rulers. Dr. Hyde said the other day
+that
+
+"For the first time in history, and through the influence of the league,
+priest and parson, landlord and tenant, Catholic and Protestant,
+Orangeman and nationalist, are working together. It cannot be said that
+the league has all parties behind it, but there is no party in Ireland
+of which some of the members are not with us, and I expect sooner or
+later we will succeed in bringing all conflicting interests in Ireland
+together in the movement to restore the language and the customs and the
+spirit of our ancestors to modern Ireland.
+
+"In Toomebridge, in the north of Ireland, where for five generations the
+Protestant Orangemen and the Catholic nationalists have never met at a
+fair or a market without smashing each other and fighting with fist and
+stones and shillelah, all parties have come together peaceably at the
+assemblies of the league. They held a _feis_ there last year, at which I
+was present, and as I looked over the heads of the multitude I could not
+say which were the more numerous, the Catholics or Protestants, the
+nationalists or Orangemen, and the _feis_ adjourned with the best of
+feeling in everybody's heart and without a single angry word having been
+exchanged. I am told that this was the first instance where such a thing
+has happened, but it has been several times repeated in different parts
+of Ireland since."
+
+Dr. Walsh, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, commends the league
+in the very highest terms, and takes a great interest in the movement.
+He told me it has had a beneficial effect upon the character and the
+habits of the people; it has encouraged education, temperance,
+self-respect, and has revived an interest in literature, music, oratory,
+sports, folklore, and history.
+
+
+
+
+                                 XXXII
+
+                 WORK OF THE CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOARD
+
+
+The term "congested districts" is used to describe those wild and rocky
+sections on the west coast of Ireland where fertile land is scarce and
+insufficient to support the population, who are compelled to eke out a
+miserable living by fishing and other employment. The population is not
+"congested" as we understand that word, but it is too numerous to be
+supported on that kind of soil, and the government is trying to remove a
+sufficient number of families to other sections of Ireland, where
+fertile farms can be found for them. In the newspapers and public
+documents these families are usually referred to as "congests."
+
+As one might naturally infer, the advent of parties of "congests" into
+localities where they do not belong is not welcomed by the local
+residents. On the contrary, there is a bitter and determined resistance
+from that class known as the "landless," which is composed of the sons
+of farmers who are ambitious to have farms and homes of their own and
+cannot obtain them either because there are none to be bought or they,
+unfortunately, lack the price. Instead of dividing up the big estates in
+such localities among the "landless," who consider themselves entitled
+to them because they are natives of the community and their families
+have lived there for generations and their ancestors once owned them,
+the government commissioners are giving preference to "congests."
+
+To ignore the claims of the "landless" means a fierce fight over every
+attempt at migration. The cattle-driving you read of in the newspapers
+is the latest method of persuading the landlords to sell, and the
+"landless" class--the young farmers who want farms of their own--is
+responsible for these outrages. Anyone who remembers the terrible
+passions which have been aroused over the land question in Ireland can
+imagine what may happen when "congests" from other portions of the
+island are forcibly brought into a community and placed upon farms which
+the former owners have been compelled to sell to the government in order
+that these aliens may have homes and be able to earn a living.
+
+What is called the Congested Districts Board was created in 1891 to
+improve conditions on the west coast, where the standard of living is at
+the lowest point and the people are in a chronic state of famine because
+of the inferior quality of the soil. This district consists of the
+province of Connaught, the counties of Donegal, Kerry, and Clare, and
+the districts of Bantry, Castletown, Schull, and Skibbereen in the
+County of Cork. The land in those localities is very poor and is
+estimated at an average of eighty cents an acre, while farm lands in the
+rest of Ireland have an average value of $3.12 an acre. The majority of
+the people live on small plots, where they manage to raise a few
+potatoes and cabbages and keep a few cows, goats, pigs, and sheep of
+worn-out breeds, which they drive wherever they can find pasturage. Most
+of them try to earn a little more money by going to other parts of the
+kingdom to work as laborers for a portion of the year or by weaving
+homespun, fishing, gathering seaweed, and other home industries.
+
+The act empowers the board to aid migration to other parts of Ireland,
+to assist in the improvement of live stock and the breeding of horses,
+cattle, sheep, donkeys, and swine, to encourage poultry farms,
+bee-keeping, basket-making, lace-making, knitting, and the manufacture
+of carpets, rugs, and other things that can be made at home, and to
+encourage the fishing industry by constructing piers and harbors and
+furnishing boats and gear.
+
+[Illustration: BARNE'S GAP, COUNTY DONEGAL.]
+
+Mr. James Bryce, British Ambassador to Washington, is the author of the
+act of parliament which authorized a loan of $22,500,000 to build
+laborers' cottages in Ireland, and under it, according to the latest
+official returns, 22,500 comfortable new homes have been provided in
+different parts of the island, and are now occupied by families of farm
+laborers and other workingmen in the rural districts. Each cottage has
+from an acre to an acre and one-half of land for a garden. Some of them
+have barns and other outhouses. They are built of stone and brick of the
+most substantial character, with roofs of slate or tiles. Most of them
+have four rooms, two rooms upstairs and two downstairs, with large
+windows furnishing plenty of light and plenty of ventilation. The cost
+varies from $750 to $1,000 for a cottage, and is paid by the government
+with funds derived from the loan mentioned. The tenants pay an average
+rental of £4 17_s._ 6_d._ a year, which is equivalent to about
+twenty-four dollars in American money or two dollars per month, which
+covers the interest upon the cost of the cottage, and an installment
+which will cancel the indebtedness at the end of sixty-eight years. If
+the tenant owner for whom the cottage is built desires to pay for the
+property and get a fee simple, he is at liberty to do so at any time,
+but I did not hear of any such case. Most of the tenants are willing to
+let their indebtedness run along indefinitely. They can sell, lease, or
+dispose of the property in any way at any time. The incumbrance goes
+with the property and not with the man, and is assumed by the purchaser.
+
+It is difficult to overestimate the vast amount of good this movement
+has accomplished. It is gradually changing the standard of life among
+the laboring classes throughout Ireland. It has not only furnished
+comfortable and decent homes for more than twenty-three thousand
+families, who have been living in miserable, filthy cabins for
+generations, but it has done much to improve their health. It will
+strengthen the physical constitutions of the coming generations by
+placing them in sanitary homes and clean surroundings.
+
+Mr. John Redmond, in a speech in the House of Commons, said that "the
+agricultural laborers of Ireland had been living under conditions which
+were absolutely fatal to health and the habits of cleanliness, and
+which, in almost any other country in the world, would have proved fatal
+to religion and morality as well. But the Irish agricultural laborers
+are a remarkable race of men, highly intelligent, keen and brave,
+patriotic, and self-sacrificing in their patriotism. They have preserved
+through poverty and squalor a deep religious, spiritual feeling, and the
+highest possible standard of morality."
+
+The Congested Districts Board devotes its attention entirely to the
+people living in the bleak mountain lands on the west coast of Ireland,
+and its agencies are established at different points from the extreme
+south to the extreme north of the island. The poverty, the privation,
+the suffering, are chiefly found within a few miles from the coast,
+where the territory is divided into vast estates of almost worthless
+land, and where it is very difficult for any person to earn a living.
+The same conditions have existed for ages. The west coast of Ireland has
+never been prosperous, the soil has never been fertile, the people have
+never had any more comforts than they have to-day, but they have
+continued to live there, century after century, clinging to the rocks
+and suffering from the weather and the lack of food, which has been
+their inheritance, refusing to leave their wretched hovels for a more
+favorable climate and better opportunities of making a living.
+
+It cannot be said that they remain there in ignorance, because thirty
+thousand or forty thousand men from the congested districts leave their
+cabins, their wives, and their families for several months every year
+and go to England and Scotland to supply the demand for labor in those
+countries. The migratory labor system has been going on for generations,
+and many of the men have gone to the same jobs generation after
+generation, spending half their time earning good wages in England and
+the other half looking after their little gardens and cattle and goats
+in Connaught Province, in Clare, Kerry, Galway, Sligo, and Donegal
+counties. It is one of the strangest phenomena in human life that they
+should cling as they do to their desolate, comfortless, filthy stone
+huts in these bleak mountains; but, be it ever so humble, be it ever so
+comfortless, there is no place like home.
+
+One of the functions of the Congested Districts Board is to remove as
+many as possible of these families to localities where they can make a
+living with less labor and find more of the comforts and happiness of
+life; but the most pitiful and difficult part of its task is to persuade
+them to go. Mr. O'Connor, the solicitor of the board, told me of a
+wizen-faced old peasant who occupied a leaky stone hut on the mountain
+side, without the slightest comfort within or attraction without. He had
+a few acres of sterile soil, on which, with the greatest difficulty, he
+was able to produce enough cabbages and potatoes to keep his family from
+starvation, and a small herd of goats, lean and gaunt, that were trying
+to find sustenance in the heather and the mosses on the rocks; and yet,
+even in this condition, the old man stubbornly refused to move. No
+inducement could persuade him to abandon the worthless, filthy
+habitation, because it was his home. With the pride of a prince he
+defied the inspectors of the board, charging them with some malicious
+intent of depriving him of property that had been the home of his
+family, he declared, for nine hundred years. And nothing could induce
+him to leave it for a comfortable cottage and a productive farm fifty
+miles in the interior.
+
+They told me, too, of a girl about eighteen years old, who, being
+injured by an automobile, was picked up and carried to the nearest
+hospital, which happened to be twenty miles or more from the place where
+she lived and the scene of the accident. She was being tenderly cared
+for in a neat, sunshiny ward, in a comfortable bed, with sheets and
+pillow cases of linen, with a nurse to attend her and every delicacy
+that could be furnished to eat, and yet she moaned and cried and begged
+to be taken home. Finally the Americans who had been in the automobile
+at the time of the accident, and had left a deposit of money to pay for
+every comfort and surgical attention that the girl could possibly need,
+consented to her removal, because the doctor said she was fretting
+herself into a fever. So they brought the automobile to the hospital,
+placed her carefully in a bed of pillows in the tonneau, and carried
+her back into the mountains to her "home," a one-room cabin of the most
+repulsive and wretched sort, which, as my friend told me, he wouldn't
+have kept his horse in. The walls were of rude stone piled one on
+another without mortar and the roof was made of straw. There was no
+floor but the earth, no furniture but a hard wooden bench, a table, and
+a three-legged stool. There was no window, and the only light that there
+was came through the door, which opened into a loathsome barnyard, where
+the filth was ankle deep and the stench almost insufferable. And yet
+when they laid the poor creature on the earthen floor she gave a long
+sigh of relief and satisfaction and thanked them for bringing her
+"home." It is true the world over that people prize things that are
+worthless if they happen to be all they possess. The less we have the
+more valuable it becomes; the more we have the less we value it. This
+trait may be found in the mountains of Switzerland, in Lapland, in
+Norway, and other countries where people enjoy the least blessings and
+comforts and where living is a constant struggle.
+
+The Congested Districts Board consists of Sir Antony MacDonnell, under
+secretary for Ireland, who has recently been elevated to the peerage as
+Lord MacDonnell of Swineford; Sir Horace Plunkett, a well known
+agriculturalist; Rev. Dennis O'Hara, a Catholic priest of County Clare;
+Henry Dorran, the chief inspector and executive officer in actual charge
+of the work, and Mr. O'Connor, the solicitor in charge of the office
+work. The board is constituted by an act of parliament and has a large
+staff of agents and officials in the field.
+
+[Illustration: AN IRISH CABIN IN COUNTY DONEGAL.]
+
+The work of the board may be classified as follows:
+
+1. The purchase and division of estates into small farms and placing
+thereon families who are unable to earn a decent living in their present
+surroundings.
+
+2. The enlargement of holdings by the purchase of neighboring property
+for those who cannot be moved.
+
+3. The construction of decent and comfortable cottages for the poor, in
+the place of the wretched cabins they now occupy, and the repair of
+their present homes as far as possible.
+
+4. The construction of public works, road building, the draining of
+swampy lands, and other undertakings that will furnish work and wages to
+the poor.
+
+5. Aiding fishermen along the coast by furnishing boats and equipment
+and by securing them a market.
+
+6. Instruction of the women in industries that can be carried on in the
+home, such as weaving, lace-making, and knitting.
+
+7. Schools of housewifery for the training of mountain peasant girls for
+domestic service.
+
+8. Loans of money to farmers to purchase cattle, sheep, and other means
+of self-support.
+
+9. General improvement and repair of homes and the relief of individual
+distress through parish committees.
+
+In 1907 the board purchased 121,213 acres for the sum of £161,684, which
+it is now cutting up into small farms and moving to them families which
+are unable to make a living in the mountain districts. Thus far 544
+families have been moved in this way and placed in comfortable homes at
+an average cost of $435 per family, not including the price of the land;
+1,372 dwelling-houses have been erected, and 1,266 buildings on these
+and other farms already occupied have been erected at the expense of the
+board. In addition to furnishing a farm and a cottage the board gives
+its _protégés_, wherever it is necessary, cows, goats, pigs, and
+chickens. All this is paid for by money advanced from the public
+treasury, which is reimbursed by the beneficiary at the rate of 3-1/2;
+per cent a year. Of this 2-3/4; per cent is interest upon the investment,
+and three-fourths of one per cent annually goes into a sinking fund to
+redeem at maturity the bonds issued to furnish the money. The average
+annual payment by the families which have thus been removed is £17
+10_s._ or $87.50 in our money. The people who have been benefited can
+sell their new homes or dispose of them by inheritance so long as the
+interest is paid promptly, but they cannot divide them.
+
+I have before me a statement showing each transaction, and find that the
+following figures represent the number of acres given:
+
+          176 acres         15 acres        206 acres
+          174 acres        438 acres        245 acres
+          362 acres        177 acres         34 acres
+          371 acres         76 acres         67 acres
+          254 acres        271 acres        249 acres
+          318 acres        311 acres         76 acres
+          240 acres         90 acres        152 acres
+          136 acres         66 acres        118 acres
+          119 acres        111 acres        106 acres
+
+These figures illustrate the size of the farms that are being provided,
+and the acreage varies according to the fertility of the land. The board
+intends to give each of its _protégés_ what is called "an economic
+holding"; that is, sufficient land to support his family and produce a
+surplus sufficient to enable him to pay his interest and lay by a little
+something for a rainy day.
+
+During 1908 it has moved eighty families from County Galway to County
+Roscommon and placed them all upon fertile farms, in comfortable new
+cottages of four rooms each, at an average cost of one thousand dollars,
+not including the price of the land. In addition to this most of the
+families have been granted loans varying from twenty-five to sixty
+dollars as working capital, to provide tools, implements, necessary
+furniture, and other articles.
+
+In addition to this general work in more than eight hundred parishes in
+counties Kerry, Clare, Galway, Mayo, Donegal, and Sligo, local
+committees have been appointed consisting of the parish priest, the
+Church of Ireland rector, the parish doctor, and one of the magistrates,
+who have immediate supervision over local conditions and make
+recommendations for the application of small sums of money for the
+improvement of the comforts and health of the people. These local
+committees are authorized to repair and improve the homes of farmers,
+fishermen, and other workingmen where it can be done economically, and
+to erect new homes for them whenever it is necessary, upon certain
+conditions, which involve a radical change in the habits of most of the
+Irish peasants. In order to secure benefits of this kind the family is
+required to remove the dunghill from its usual place in front of the
+door, to clean up all around the cabin and keep the place in order, to
+keep the pig, the cattle, and the chickens out of the house, and to keep
+the interior in a state of sanitary cleanliness. Materials are furnished
+to cottagers who are willing to make these improvements for themselves.
+
+It is astonishing that so many peasants will fight such improvements and
+often resist attempts that are made to clean up their places and make
+them more comfortable. The dunghill has always been in front of the door
+and the offal and garbage from the house have been dumped upon it for
+generations. They are accustomed to the sickening stench and, as one of
+the inspectors told me, they find it difficult to get along without it.
+"They wouldn't be happy unless there was a bad smell," he remarked. But
+in most cases the conditions are cheerfully accepted and the
+improvements appreciated. Last year 1,193 cottages were improved in this
+manner at a cost of £31,812.
+
+During the greater part of the year more than three thousand men are
+employed by the Congested Districts Board in the counties along the
+Atlantic coast, roadmaking, draining lands, fencing, building houses,
+bridges, and other improvements, and in planting larches and other trees
+that grow in this climate. This has not only kept them busy at good
+wages, but has made important permanent improvements. The total area of
+land drained last year was 12,089 acres at a cost of £11,391.
+
+The amount of money spent on roads, bridges, piers, docks, and other
+public works during the year was £7,102.
+
+One of the most interesting features of the work is the fisheries. There
+is an abundance of fish all along the coast and there is always a demand
+for them in the London market, either fresh or cured, but the peasants
+until recently have had no boats or nets and were unable to raise the
+money to provide them. The villages on the shores of the coves and bays
+had no landing places for boats, no facilities for storing or curing
+fish, and all of these things the board is now trying to provide. It has
+several methods of doing so. Wherever necessary docks have been
+constructed with warehouses, packing-houses, and cooper shops, and the
+board has agencies for furnishing salt, ice, and other necessaries for
+the fishing business at cost prices. Docks have been built at a dozen
+places costing from $500 to $15,000, which are free to the public and
+bring no return.
+
+The board will furnish boats, nets, and the rest of an outfit to a
+fisherman, to be paid for in five annual installments, and it has gone
+into partnership with the fishermen, in three hundred cases furnishing
+the outfit at an average cost of £350 and dividing the proceeds into
+nine shares. Six of these shares go to the crew and three to the
+government to pay the interest on the investment and create a sinking
+fund. When that fund has reached the total of the investment, the entire
+property is handed over to the crew. Nearly four hundred thousand
+dollars is invested in such partnerships by the government. The
+Congested Districts Board finds the market and supervises the sale of
+the fish. It also furnishes experts to instruct fishermen in the
+business and show them how to make their own barrels.
+
+In other chapters I have told you about the schools for lace-making and
+for training the peasant girls for house servants. There are altogether
+eighteen schools for servants and forty-three schools for lace-making
+and embroidery, besides crochet work, knitting, and weaving. I observe
+in the annual report of the board concerning the "domestic training
+schools" this sentence: "The pupils can very easily find situations in
+this country as domestic servants, and it is a mistake to suppose that
+the greater portion of them go to America after the course of training."
+
+The following table shows the amounts of money expended in this
+benevolent work by the Congested Districts Board since its organization
+in 1891 up to 1907:
+
+      1891-92          £3,660    1900-01         168,864
+      1892-93          50,266    1901-02         199,626
+      1893-94          47,259    1902-03         210,054
+      1894-95          74,886    1903-04         197,451
+      1895-96          81,907    1904-05         229,065
+      1896-97          87,196    1905-06         375,065
+      1897-98          99,200    1906-07         341,580
+      1898-99         107,082                 ----------
+      1899-1900       417,411    Gr. total    £2,690,572
+
+
+This expenditure is equivalent to $13,478,600 in American money.
+
+Denis Johnston, assistant secretary of the United Irish League, gave me
+several photographs which illustrate in a striking manner what is being
+done for the improvement of the poor peasants in the west of Ireland. He
+shows with the accuracy of the camera the appearance of the cabins in
+which human beings have lived for generations, and in one case from
+which they were driven out because they were too poor to pay the rent
+even for such a hovel as appears in the picture. On the other hand, he
+photographs the neat and comfortable cottage of artificial stone with
+slate roof which has been recently erected in its place by the Congested
+Districts Board. It is now the home of the same family that formerly
+lived in the miserable shack which was occupied by the fathers and
+grandfathers for several generations before them.
+
+These are not exceptional or isolated cases. They are types of
+habitations that once existed and in a large measure still exist on the
+large estates in the west of Ireland, and the second photograph shows
+the improvements that are being made as rapidly as the funds will
+permit. I have seen similar cabins, for many of them still exist, and
+are still occupied as homes by human beings. In some of them large
+families are crowded, six, eight, and often ten people, in a single
+room. I was told by a friend of one wretched, loathsome hovel that he
+found in County Kerry where nineteen human creatures were living. These
+photographs of Mr. Johnston show what has been and is being accomplished
+and illustrate the methods and purposes of the Congested Districts
+Board.
+
+"All this has been done by the pressure brought upon the government by
+the Irish parliamentary party," said Mr. Johnston; "and its members are
+entitled to the credit of what has been accomplished. Every concession
+that has been made, every reform that has been ordered, every dollar
+that has been voted for those improvements, has been obtained by
+threatening revolution, and the government has been compelled to yield.
+
+"In 1880 it was quite within the power of the landlords of Ireland to
+evict tenants from their holdings by merely serving them with a notice
+to quit. The Irish parliamentary party, with the organized forces of the
+Irish race behind them, in 1881 secured the passage of the Land Act of
+that year, which reduced the rents by nearly $10,000,000. Under this
+measure the tenant farmers of Ireland were first vested with a right in
+their farms. They had the power to enter a land court constituted under
+that act for the purpose of having fair and reasonable rents fixed upon
+the property they occupied at intervals of fifteen years, and they were
+practically secured from the interference of the landlords or their
+agents so long as such rents which were called 'judicial rents,' were
+paid.
+
+"In the following year, 1882, the Arrears of Rent Act was secured by the
+Irish parliamentary party under the leadership of Parnell, and that
+measure wiped off the slate in some cases ten years of unpaid rents and
+in others less. The act certainly benefited the people of Ireland to the
+extent of at least $15,000,000. Thus the rent question was placed upon a
+fair judicial basis and extortion was impossible as long as the tenant
+could appeal to a tribunal constituted for that very purpose against
+unfair and unjust claims by his landlord. What are known as 'judicial
+rents'--that is, rents fixed by such courts and based upon the quality,
+the value, and the productive capacity of the land--have since prevailed
+very generally throughout Ireland, and they are now being used as the
+basis for calculating the selling price of the farms that are being
+purchased by the tenants on the big estates under the Land Act of
+1903.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD: A LABORER'S SOD CABIN]
+
+[Illustration: THE NEW: EXAMPLE OF THE COTTAGES BUILT IN CONNEMARA BY
+THE CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOARD]
+
+"In 1883 was passed what is known as the Act for the Building of
+Cottages for the Laborers of Ireland. The benefits of that measure can
+never be calculated. Under its authority nearly twenty-five thousand
+comfortable and neat cottages have been built for laborers throughout
+the whole country, and the miserable habitations, hovels of stone with
+leaky straw roofs, in which thousands of honest, hard-working peasants
+have been compelled to live, have been torn down and replaced with such
+buildings as you see in the picture, with walls of cement and roofs of
+slate. In addition to the improvement in their habitations, an acre of
+land is given with each cottage on which it is possible for the laborer
+to raise vegetables sufficient for his household. No estimate in money
+can possibly be made of the benefits that the people of Ireland have
+enjoyed from that act.
+
+"In 1885 the Irish party secured the passage of the first Land Purchase
+Act and followed it up by winning the acts of 1888 and 1891, which went
+farther and still farther and benefited the country to the amount of at
+least one hundred and forty millions of dollars.
+
+"Next came the Act for the Establishment of the Congested Districts
+Board," continued Mr. Johnston, "expressly to deal with what are known
+as the congested areas of Ireland. These districts are not thickly
+settled, like Belgium, as one might have comparatively few population,
+but altogether more than the land will support. These are mountain
+districts along the rocky shores of the Atlantic Ocean where it is
+possible to raise a few cattle and goats that can find pasture in the
+narrow little valleys and up the mountain sides, but where there is
+seldom enough arable soil in a single patch to support an ordinary
+family. For these reasons it is difficult for the most industrious men
+to make a living there, and the inhabitants are the poorest, the most
+ill-nourished, and the most miserable in all the land.
+
+"The Congested Districts Board was instructed to buy all the lands it
+found necessary in such places, moving some of the inhabitants to other
+sections of Ireland, where they would be able to make a living, and
+distributing the lands among those that remained in allotments
+sufficiently large to enable them to live. In deserving cases the board
+is authorized to build comfortable houses to replace the wretched
+hovels, to restock the farms, to purchase implements where they are
+needed, to provide seed, and do whatever is necessary to give the family
+a fair start and enable them to enjoy the results of their labors. The
+board is also empowered to build new houses upon the locations selected
+for the families which are moved, and has done so in many cases. You
+will see in these photographs the character of the cabins that were
+formerly occupied by the poor people in the congested districts and the
+character of those which have been built to replace them, by the board."
+
+Mr. Johnston showed me an object lesson in the form of a photograph of a
+cottage in County Meath for which a rental of fifteen dollars a year has
+been paid by the tenant for many years. It has a single room, a mud
+floor, a thatched roof of straw, and is entirely without the simplest
+conveniences or comforts. He showed me another photograph of a cottage
+built under the Laborers' Act of 1906, which is now occupied by the same
+family with the same rent of fifteen dollars a year, with an acre of
+ground attached to it as a garden. It is a one-story structure of four
+rooms, with two fireplaces, three windows on each side, a slate roof,
+and walls of concrete.
+
+He also showed me a picture of the miserable hovel from which Bernard
+King was evicted in 1902. It stands on the De Freyne estate, near the
+town of Feigh, County Roscommon. King made a stubborn defense of his
+home, but the police finally ejected him. The Estates Commissioners have
+put him back, and in place of the miserable hut from which he was
+evicted, they have built him a neat two-story six-room cottage that is
+good enough for anybody to live in. There could not be any better
+illustration of the benefits of the evicted Tenants' Act, and this is a
+type of some two thousand cases.
+
+This humane work will be continued as long and as rapidly as the funds
+furnished by the British parliament will permit, and it is difficult
+to conceive of more direct and comprehensive benevolence. Ireland is
+thus being gradually redeemed, and although conditions are by no means
+ideal, the improvement during the last decade is a matter of
+congratulation to every Irishman and every sympathizer of the Irish
+race.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR OF ONE STORY COTTAGES ERECTED BY THE
+CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOARD]
+
+                                THE END
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Aberdeen, Earl of, 34, 44, 54, 154.
+    Lady, 34.
+
+  Absentee landlords, 133.
+
+  Academy, Royal Irish, 91.
+
+  "Adair, Robin," 271.
+
+  Adare Manor, 429.
+
+  Adare, Village of, 428.
+
+  Addison in Ireland, 90.
+
+  Adrian IV, Pope, 280.
+
+  Agricultural, Department, 13, 38, 404.
+    education, 404.
+    Organization Society, 13, 410.
+    statistics, 251.
+
+  Agriculture in Ireland, 209.
+
+  Alexander, Archbishop, 189.
+
+  All Hallows College, 143.
+
+  American bacon, 417.
+    flour, 417.
+
+  Anderson, R.A., Secretary Irish Agricultural Organization Society, 412.
+
+  Anecdotes, 260, 463.
+
+  "Annals of the Four Masters," 169, 171, 186, 195, 410.
+
+  Annals of Ulster, 196.
+
+  Antrim County, 209.
+
+  Archbishops of Ireland, 148, 189.
+
+  Area of Ireland, 130.
+
+  Ardilaun, Lord, 16, 348, 357, 384.
+
+  Ard-Ri, The Irish, 174.
+
+  Ark of the Covenant, 177.
+
+  Armagh, Book of, 195.
+    Cathedral, 192.
+    City of, 188.
+
+  Art education, 406.
+    gallery, 93.
+
+  Askeaton Abbey, 427.
+    Village of, 425.
+
+  Assassination of Cavendish and Burke, 96.
+
+  Automobiles in Ireland, 269.
+
+  Avoca, Vale of, 271.
+
+
+  Bailey, W.F., Land Com'r, 62, 130.
+
+  Balbriggan factories, 162.
+
+  Balfe, M.W., memorial, 18.
+
+  "Bally,"--use of the word, 266.
+
+  Ballyhack, Village of, 286.
+
+  Banks, Coöperative, 414.
+
+  Bannow, Ancient town of, 278.
+
+  Bantry, Bay of, 353, 355.
+
+  Bards, The Irish, 267.
+
+  Barry, Arthur Hugh Smith, 296.
+
+  Barrymore, Lord, 296.
+
+  Bassilia de Clare, 278, 281.
+
+  Battle of Clontarf, 123.
+
+  Battle of the Boyne, 167, 213.
+
+  Beggars, Irish, 283.
+
+  Belfast, Castle, 217.
+    City Hall, 227.
+    City of, 21, 231.
+    population of, 222.
+    Presbyterians of, 223.
+    Religion in, 223.
+    rope walk, 235.
+    shipyards, 236.
+    Technical School, 230.
+
+  Benevolence of British Government, 460.
+
+  Beresford, Archbishop, 193.
+    family, 287.
+    Lord Charles, 284.
+    William, 288.
+
+  Betting in Ireland, 305.
+
+  Birmingham, George A., the author, 454.
+
+  Birr Castle Observatory, 10.
+
+  Birrell, Augustine, 35.
+
+  Birth rate, Irish, 253.
+
+  Bishops of Ireland, 148.
+
+  Blackrock, Cork, 117.
+
+  Bladensburg, Battle of, 210, 419.
+
+  Blake, Sir Henry, 331.
+
+  Blarney, Castle, 320.
+    origin of term, 322.
+    Stone, 323.
+
+  Bogs, Irish, 7.
+
+  Boleyn, Anne, 289.
+
+  Boycott, Birthplace of the, 433.
+    forbidden by priests, 434.
+    of landlords, 16, 136.
+
+  Boyle, Richard, Earl of Cork, 19, 54, 322.
+
+  Boyne, Battle of the, 167, 213.
+    Valley of the, 167.
+
+  Brewery, the Guinness, 16.
+
+  Brian Boru, 105, 123, 125, 188.
+
+  Bruce, Edward, 197.
+
+  Bryce, James, 35, 44, 219, 460.
+
+  Buildings erected by government, 71.
+
+  Burke, Edmund, 85.
+
+  Burke, Sir Bernard, 57.
+
+  Butler, James, first Earl of Ormonde, 326.
+
+
+  Cabins, Irish, 12, 74, 358, 461, 465.
+
+  Car, Jaunting, 310, 449.
+
+  Carrick Castle, 289.
+
+  Carrickfergus, 214, 218.
+
+  Carrickmacross lace, 344.
+
+  Carton House, 151.
+
+  Cashel, History of, 9.
+    Ruins of, 9.
+
+  Castle, Dublin, 35, 53.
+    Kilkenny, 325.
+
+  Castles, Ruined, 289.
+
+  Cathedral, at Cork, 316.
+    at Armagh, 193.
+
+  Christ Church, at Dublin, 15, 281.
+    Downpatrick, 196.
+    Kilkenny, 325.
+    Limerick, 419.
+    Londonderry, 242.
+    St. Patrick's, Dublin, 14.
+
+  Catholic, Roman, hierarchy, 148.
+    Church in Ireland, 51.
+
+  Cattle, breeding, 63.
+    driving, 63, 434.
+
+  Causeway, The Giant's, 243.
+
+  Census of Ireland, 130, 252.
+
+  Channel, Irish, 213.
+
+  Characteristics, Irish, 260, 436, 461.
+
+  Charity in Ireland, 360, 460.
+
+  Charles I, 46, 333.
+
+  Cherries, First, in Ireland, 334.
+
+  Chesterfield, Lord, 57.
+
+  Chief Secretary for Ireland, 35.
+
+  Children, Behavior of, 360.
+
+  Choirs, Church, 31, 100.
+
+  Christ Church Cathedral, 32, 281.
+
+  Christian Brothers' schools, 150.
+
+  Churches in Belfast, 222.
+
+  Church Land Acts, 50, 67.
+
+  Church statistics, 49.
+
+  City Hall, Belfast, 237.
+
+  Civil Service of Ireland, 78.
+
+  Clanricarde, Marquess of, 20, 137, 432.
+
+  Clergy, Irish, 149.
+
+  Clifden, Town of, 443.
+
+  Climate of Ireland, 166, 320.
+
+  Clontarf battlefield, 123.
+
+  Coaching in Ireland, 367.
+
+  College, Queen's, at Belfast, 227.
+    Queen's, at Cork, 313.
+    Queen's, at Galway, 440.
+    Trinity, Dublin, 97.
+    Magee, Londonderry, 242.
+    Maynooth, 143.
+    All Hallows, 143.
+
+  Colthurst, Sir George, 321.
+
+  Columba, Saint, 170.
+
+  Commerce of Ireland, 253.
+
+  Comyn, Archbishop of Dublin, 16.
+
+  Condensed milk factories, 418.
+
+  Confederation, Irish, 324.
+
+  Congested Districts Board, 13, 38, 339, 358, 459, 465.
+
+  Connemara, Poverty in, 443.
+    Scenery of, 443.
+
+  Cooke, Rev. Dr., of Belfast, 224.
+
+  Coöperation among farmers, 412.
+    credit societies, 414.
+
+  Coöperative stores, 412.
+
+  Corbet, Miles, 160.
+
+  Cork, City of, 212.
+    Earl of, 19, 292, 332.
+    Harbor of, 6.
+
+  Cormac, King, 169, 175, 183.
+
+  Coronation Stone, British, 177.
+    of the O'Neills, 238.
+
+  Cottages erected by the government, 12, 425, 463.
+
+  Courcy, Sir John de, 196.
+
+  Courts, The Irish, 56.
+
+  Creameries, Coöperative, 412.
+
+  Crime in Ireland, 401.
+
+  Croughpatrick, Mount of, 451.
+
+  Croker, Richard, 3, 306.
+
+  Cromwell, Oliver, 56, 163, 270, 284, 289, 336, 344, 357.
+
+  Crops in Ireland, 130.
+
+  Crosses of Monasterboice, 166.
+
+  Cultivated area in Ireland, 70, 130.
+
+  Curragmore Castle, 287.
+
+  Curran, Philpott, 18.
+
+  Curran, Sarah, 83, 84.
+
+  Customs, Irish, 260.
+
+
+  Dairies, Irish, 418.
+
+  Dalkey, suburb of Dublin, 119.
+
+  Davis, John H., 218.
+
+  Davitt, Michael, 79.
+
+  Death rate in Ireland, 253.
+
+  Declan, Saint, 9.
+
+  Derry, Town of, 257.
+
+  Desmond, Earl of, 330, 332.
+    Lady, 332.
+    rebellion, 330.
+
+  Devolution policy, 36.
+
+  Devonshire, Duke of, 134, 292.
+
+  Dillon, John, 44.
+
+  Disestablishment, The, 33, 49.
+
+  Disraeli, Lord, 148.
+
+  Donkeys, Irish, 311.
+
+  Donnybrook Fair, 128.
+
+  Dougherty, Sir John, 37.
+
+  Doughnamore, Lord, 329.
+
+  Downpatrick Abbey, 197.
+
+  Downpatrick Cathedral, 187, 196.
+
+  Drogheda, City of, 159.
+    Massacre of, 163.
+
+  Druids, The, 169.
+
+  Drink bill of Ireland, 392.
+
+  Drunkenness in Ireland, 229, 391.
+
+  Dublin, Castle, 53.
+    City government of, 44.
+    Lord Mayor of, 44.
+    Name of, 47.
+    Population of, 49.
+    Sacred spots in, 77.
+    University of, 102.
+
+  Dudley, Countess of, 364.
+    Earl, 44.
+
+  Dufferin, Lord, 217.
+
+  Dunraven, Earl of, 36, 428.
+
+  Dunsany Castle, 186.
+    Lord, 410.
+
+
+  Earls, Flight of the, 214.
+
+  Eccles Hotel, Glengariff, 354.
+
+  Edgeworth, Maria, 454.
+
+  Education, 12, 109.
+    Agricultural, 404.
+    Art, 406.
+    at Maynooth, 144.
+    at Belfast, 231.
+    at Cork, 315.
+    Expenditures for, 111.
+    Roman Catholic, 101.
+    Statistics of, 111.
+    Technical, 405.
+
+  Edward I, 177.
+
+  Edward VII, 104.
+
+  Electric railway, The first, 243.
+
+  Elizabeth, Queen, 100, 103, 270, 291, 322, 331, 451.
+
+  Ellen's Tower at Belfast, 218.
+
+  Ely, Earl of, 278.
+
+  Emigrants returning, 2.
+
+  Emigration, 2, 134, 243, 247, 250, 253, 298, 360, 418, 437.
+
+  Emmet, Robert, 79, 82, 118.
+
+  England, Hatred of, 38.
+
+  Epitaphs, Curious, 336, 420.
+
+  Estates, Commission, Work of, 60.
+    Sale of, 60.
+
+  Eva, The Princess, 278, 280, 281.
+
+  Evictions in Ireland, 134, 136, 138, 140, 142, 470, 472.
+
+  Expenses of government, 39, 253.
+
+  Excursions about Dublin, 115.
+
+
+  "Faerie Queene, The," 271, 337.
+
+  Fairies, Irish, 345.
+
+  Farms sold by government, 65.
+
+  Farms, Prices of, 65.
+
+  Farm labor, 75.
+
+  Farm lands, 130.
+
+  Farmers, Education of, 407.
+
+  Father Mathew, 77.
+
+  "Father Prout," the poet, 316, 321.
+
+  Faversham, Earl of, 153.
+
+  Fergus, First Scottish king, 179.
+
+  Fenians, The original, 183.
+
+  Ferns, Town of, 275.
+
+  Finances of land sales, 64.
+
+  Fin-Barre, Saint, 314, 350.
+
+  Fighting, Irish love of, 436.
+
+  Fisheries, The, 13, 441, 445, 465, 467.
+
+  Fitzgerald, Family history of, 155.
+    Gerald, 10, 19, 137.
+    Lord Edward, 84, 117, 126.
+    Maurice, 146, 155.
+
+  Fitzgibbon, John, 136.
+
+  Flax culture, 234.
+
+  Flour, American, 417.
+
+  Foley, Captain James Arthur Wellington, 328.
+
+  Four Courts of Dublin, 48.
+
+  Frascati, Estate of, 117.
+
+  French invasion of Ireland, 355.
+
+  Fruit, Scarcity of, 449.
+
+
+  Gaelic League, 455.
+
+  Gaelic, Study of, 456.
+
+  Gallery, National, 93.
+
+  Galway, City of, 432, 438.
+
+  Gambling in Ireland, 269, 305.
+
+  George I, 22.
+
+  Gerald, Thomas, 156.
+
+  Geraldines, The, 157.
+
+  Ginger ale, Manufacture of, 212, 235.
+
+  Gladstone, William E., 39, 147.
+
+  Glencare, Earl of, 371.
+
+  Glendalough, Valley of, 272.
+
+  Glengariff, Church of, 362.
+    Legend of, 370.
+    Town of, 345, 353.
+
+  Goldsmith, Oliver, 454.
+
+  "Gombeen Man," The, 72.
+
+  Gougane Island, 349.
+
+  Government, of Ireland, 34, 38.
+    of City of Dublin, 44.
+
+  Grace, Michael P., 328.
+
+  Grattan, Henry, 80.
+
+  Grave of Parnell, 78.
+
+  Grey, Lord, 197, 291, 330.
+
+  Griffith, Arthur, 203.
+
+  Guinness, Benjamin, 16.
+    Brewery, 399.
+
+
+  Hale, J.P., 294.
+
+  Hall, Rev. Dr. John, 220.
+
+  Hammersley, Lillian, 288.
+
+  Hamilton, Sir William, 90.
+
+  Hannay, Rev. J.M., the author, 454.
+
+  Harp of Tara, 183.
+
+  Harps, The Irish, 266.
+
+  Harrington, Timothy, 46.
+
+  Headford, Marquess of, 171.
+
+  Hemans, Mrs., 90.
+
+  Handel's "Messiah," 87.
+
+  Henderson, Sir James, 231.
+
+  Hennessy, Sir John Cope, 331.
+
+  Henry II, of England, 9, 47, 54, 280.
+
+  Henry VII, 369.
+
+  Henry VIII, 15, 100, 157, 270.
+
+  "Himself," The title, 264.
+
+  Historic spots in Dublin, 77.
+
+  Hogan, Professor, 143.
+
+  Hollybrook, 270.
+
+  Home, Love of, Irish, 463.
+
+  Home Rule, 11, 36, 39.
+
+  "Hook or Crook," Origin of phrase, 280.
+
+  Horse Show, Dublin, 310.
+
+  Horses, Irish, 300, 311.
+
+  Hotels in Ireland, 166.
+
+  Housewifery, Schools of, 465.
+
+  Howth, Earl of, 126.
+    Village of, 121.
+
+  Huguenots in Ireland, 284.
+
+  Hussey, Dr., 145.
+
+  Hyde, Douglas, 455.
+
+
+  Imports of Ireland, 253.
+
+  Improvement, in conditions, 73.
+    in cottages, 465.
+
+  Insane asylums, 25, 379.
+
+  Insanity, Irish, Causes of, 265, 402.
+
+  Intemperance in Ireland, 229, 391.
+
+  Interest paid by land buyers, 61, 65.
+
+  Invasion, French, 355.
+    of Ireland, The first, 280.
+
+  Ireland, Kings of, 290.
+
+  Ireton, General, 422.
+
+  Irish Academy, 91.
+
+  Irish as farmers, 69.
+
+  Irish in the United States, 257.
+
+  Iveagh, Lord, 17, 91.
+
+
+  Jaunting car, 310, 449.
+
+  James I, 239, 331.
+
+  James II, 213, 214, 240.
+
+  Jewel robbery, The, 58.
+
+  Johnston, Dennis, Ass't Secretary, United Irish League, 136, 469.
+
+  Jones, John Paul, 218.
+
+
+  Keimaneigh, Pass of, 352.
+
+  Kells, Book of, 105, 171.
+    Village of, 170.
+
+  Kelvin, Lord, 219.
+
+  Kenmare, Earl of, 371.
+    House, 373.
+    Lady, 375.
+    Park, 374.
+    Village of, 368.
+
+  Kilbarrack, Abbey of, 126.
+
+  Kilcolman Castle, 291, 330.
+
+  Kilcrea Abbey, 344.
+
+  Kildare, House, 94.
+    Earl of, 10, 19, 20, 137, 152, 156.
+    "Silken Thomas," 146, 156.
+
+  Kilkea Castle, 152.
+
+  Kilkenny Castle, 325.
+
+  "Kilkenny Cats," Story of, 325.
+    City of, 323.
+    Statues of, 323.
+
+  Killarney, Lakes of, 366, 375.
+    Village of, 379.
+
+  Killeen Castle, 186.
+
+  Kings, Ancient, of Ireland, 174.
+
+  Knabenshue, S.S., 245.
+
+  Kylemore Castle, 450.
+
+
+  Labor, Farm, 75.
+    Lack of, in Ireland, 250.
+
+  Lace work, 13, 256, 339, 360, 468.
+
+  Lacy, Hugh de, 187, 281.
+
+  Land Act, Wyndham, 60, 152.
+    acts, Various, 68.
+    disturbances, 432.
+
+  Land League, 295.
+
+  "Landless," The, 459.
+
+  Landlord and Tenant Act, 67.
+
+  Landlords, Irish, 60, 130, 131.
+
+  Land troubles, 295.
+
+  Land war of 1901, 136.
+
+  Lansdowne, Marquess of, 141, 368.
+
+  Laracor, Town of, 27.
+
+  Lawrence family, The, 127.
+
+  League, United Irish, 135.
+
+  Lee, River, 6, 312, 350.
+
+  Legend of the O'Neills, 215.
+
+  Legends, of Ireland, 160, 191, 367.
+    of Killarney, 370, 379.
+    of Limerick, 424.
+
+  Leinster, Duke of, 20, 41, 62, 92, 117, 146, 151.
+
+  Leopardstown races, 300.
+
+  Lever, Charles, 90, 121.
+
+  Lewis', Mrs., land case, 137, 139.
+
+  Lexington, Irish at Battle of, 18.
+
+  "Lia Fail," Coronation Stone, 177.
+
+  Library, National, 106.
+    Royal, 93.
+    Trinity College, 97, 105.
+
+  Liffey River, 115.
+
+  Limerick, City of, 417.
+    lace, 340.
+    Women of, 422.
+
+  Linen, Manufacture of, 211, 232.
+
+  Liquor, Consumption of, 400.
+    licenses, 363, 391.
+
+  Lismore, Earl of, 299.
+    Town of, 293.
+
+  Literary reminiscences, Dublin, 90.
+
+  Logue, Cardinal, 143, 189, 194, 257.
+
+  Londonderry, Apprentices' Hall, 241.
+    shirt factories, 242.
+    Siege of, 240.
+    Statue of Walker, 240.
+    Town of, 237.
+    Wall of, 239.
+
+  Lord Gough, 77.
+
+  Lord Lieutenant, The, 34.
+
+  Lover, Samuel, 18, 90.
+
+  Lundy, Col. Robert, 241.
+
+  Lynch, Story of Mayor, 440.
+
+  Lyne, Lucius, Croker's jockey, 307.
+
+
+  Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 148.
+
+  MacCarthy, Cormac, 322.
+    Eleanor, 158, 322.
+
+  MacCarthys, The, 344, 385.
+
+  MacCool, Fin, 379.
+
+  MacDonnell, Sir Antony Patrick, 36.
+
+  Macroom, Village of, 348.
+
+  Magee, Alexander, Swift's servant, 27.
+
+  Magee College, 108, 242.
+
+  Mahoney, Rev. Francis ("Father Prout"), 316.
+
+  Malachi the Great, 123.
+
+  Malehide, 160.
+
+  Manchester, Duke of, 450.
+
+  Mansion House, Dublin, 46.
+
+  Manufacturing in Ireland, 255.
+
+  Marconi's wireless station, 448.
+
+  Mareschal, William Le, 325.
+
+  Marlborough, Duchess of, 288.
+
+  Martello towers, 163.
+
+  Martin, Col. Richard, 447.
+
+  Mary, Queen of Scots, 161.
+
+  Massareene, Lord, 140.
+
+  Mathew, Father, 177, 319.
+
+  Maynooth, Castle of, 144, 155.
+    College, 108, 143.
+
+  McKinley, ancestry, 245.
+    cottage, 245.
+
+  McMurrough, Dermot, 275, 278.
+
+  "Meeting of the Waters," 271.
+
+  Methodists, Irish, 52.
+
+  Meyer, Prof. Hugo, 456.
+
+  Migration of labor, 462.
+
+  Missions, Protestant, 339.
+
+  Monasterboice, Ruins of, 164.
+    Crosses of, 166.
+
+  Monastery, Trappist, 341.
+
+  Monks, Irish, 51.
+
+  Monument, O'Connell, 77.
+    Nelson's, 77.
+    Parnell, 78.
+    Patriotic, at Cork, 318.
+
+  Moore, Tom, 84, 89, 183.
+
+  Motoring in Ireland, 166.
+
+  Mountain people, The, 358.
+
+  Muckross Abbey, 384, 388.
+    House, 384.
+
+  Municipal utilities in Belfast, 231.
+
+  Museum, Dublin, 94.
+
+  Music in churches, 31, 100.
+
+  Myrtle Lodge at Youghal, 330.
+
+
+  Nanetti, G.P., 45.
+
+  National Irish League, 136.
+    party, 36, 39, 141.
+
+  Navan, Village of, 172.
+
+  Nelson monument, 77.
+
+  Newgate Prison, 95.
+
+  Niall of the Nine Hostages, 170, 177, 215.
+
+  Nobility, Irish, The, 41, 56, 131.
+
+  Nuns, Irish, 51.
+
+  Nurses for the poor, 360.
+
+
+  O'Brien, Donald, King of Limerick, 9, 419.
+    William, 295.
+
+  O'Callaghans, The, 299.
+
+  O'Callahan, Bishop of Cork, 319.
+
+  O'Connell, Daniel, 39, 87, 177.
+    monument, 77.
+    Street, 78.
+
+  O'Conor, Roderick, 187, 279.
+
+  O'Connor, Solicitor Congested Districts Board, 463.
+
+  O'Dohertys, The, 239.
+
+  O'Donahues, The, 44, 378, 385.
+
+  O'Donnell, Rory, 216.
+
+  O'Flahertys, The, 445.
+
+  Old Home Week, 247.
+
+  O'Malley, Grace, Queen of Connaught, 127, 451.
+
+  O'Neill, The Coronation Stone, 178, 238.
+    Hugh, 216, 239.
+    Owen, 239.
+    Shane, 216.
+
+  O'Neills, The, 215.
+
+  Orangemen, The, 213.
+
+  Ormonde, Earls of, 19, 325, 327.
+
+  O'Toole, Lawrence, 280.
+
+  O'Tooles, The, 272.
+
+  Otter hunting, 318.
+
+
+  Pale of Dublin, The, 48.
+
+  Pamela (Lady Edward Fitzgerald), 117.
+
+  Parks, Dublin, 91.
+
+  Parliament House, Irish, 24.
+    The Irish, 56, 81.
+
+  Parnell, Charles S., 44, 297.
+    Home of, 271.
+    Grave of, 78.
+    Monument to, 78.
+
+  Passage, Town of, 6.
+
+  Peat, Value of, 7.
+
+  Peel, Sir Robert, 147.
+
+  Peerage, the Irish, 39, 57, 131.
+
+  Pembroke, Earl of, 279.
+
+  "Penelope's Irish Experiences," 167.
+
+  Penn, William, birthplace, 348.
+
+  Phoenix Park, 35, 95.
+
+  "Pig in the Parlor, The," 359.
+
+  "Plan of Campaign, The," 136, 295.
+
+  Planters, English, 138, 269.
+    Scotch-Irish, 214.
+
+  Plunkett family, The, 186.
+    Sir Horace, 255, 404, 410.
+
+  Population statistics, 130.
+    of Belfast, 222.
+    of Dublin, 49.
+
+  Portraine, Village of, 161.
+
+  Portrush, Town of, 243.
+
+  Post, Mrs. Elizabeth Wadsworth, 296.
+
+  Potatoes of Ireland, 130, 334.
+
+  Poverty, in Limerick, 422.
+    in Ireland, 358.
+
+  Presbyterian House of Belfast, 224.
+    Seminary, Belfast, 227.
+
+  Presbyterians, Irish, 52, 214.
+
+  Price of land, 65.
+
+  Priests, Irish, 51, 144, 149, 397.
+
+  Property owners of Ireland, 130.
+
+  Prosperity of Ireland, 10.
+
+  Protestants, Scotch-Irish, 213.
+
+  "Prout, Father," the poet, 6.
+
+
+  Queen's Colleges, The, 108.
+    College, Belfast, 227.
+    Cork, 313.
+    Galway, 440.
+
+  Queenstown, Landing at, 2.
+    Surroundings of, 4.
+
+
+  Racing in Ireland, 300.
+
+  Railway, The first electric, 243.
+
+  Railways in Ireland, 1, 343.
+
+  Rain in Ireland, 166, 228, 320.
+
+  Raleigh, Carew, 332.
+    Lady, 331, 332.
+    Sir Walter, 322, 330, 336.
+
+  Rebellion, The Kildare, 157.
+
+  Rebellions, Irish, 55.
+
+  Redemption of Ireland, 60.
+
+  Redmond, John, 44.
+    Statue of, 276.
+
+  Reformation, The, 198.
+
+  Religion in Belfast, 222.
+    in Ireland, 149.
+
+  Religious antagonisms, 213.
+    statistics, 49.
+    tests in education, 107.
+
+  Remembrancer, Treasury, 37.
+
+  Rents, Land, 12, 61, 133.
+    Reduction of, 12.
+
+  Resorts, Seashore, 268.
+
+  Reunions, Irish, 247.
+
+  Revenues, 39.
+
+  Revolution of '98, 118.
+
+  Ri of Ireland, The, 174.
+
+  Rice, Edmund, 150.
+
+  Riding House, 293.
+
+  Riots, Religious, 213.
+
+  Roberts, Lord, 284.
+
+  "Robin Adair," Song of, 271.
+
+  Roe, Henry, distiller, 32.
+
+  Romance of the Kildares, 157.
+
+  Ropewalk at Belfast, 235.
+
+  Ross Castle, Killarney, 379.
+    Sir John, 210.
+
+  Rosse, Earl of, 10.
+
+  Rostrevor, Town of, 210.
+
+  Rothschild, Baron, 88.
+
+  Ruins, Cromwellian, 344.
+    Kilkenny, 324.
+
+  Sacred spots in Dublin, 77.
+
+  St. Bridget, 195, 200.
+    Grave of, 195.
+
+  St. Columba, 195, 201.
+    Grave of, 195.
+
+  St. Columba's Stone, 238.
+
+  St. Kevin, 273.
+
+  St. Michan's Church, 86.
+
+  St. Patrick, 47, 164, 169, 188, 195, 199, 239, 451.
+    Grave of, 195.
+    Knights of, 17, 57.
+    Relics of, 92.
+    Statue of, 177.
+    Story of, 352.
+
+  St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, 15.
+
+  St. Stephen's Green, Dublin, 91.
+
+  Salaries of officials, 35.
+    of school teachers, 114.
+
+  Salmon fishing at Galway, 441.
+
+  Saloons in Ireland, 363, 391.
+
+  Sarsfield, General Patrick, 422.
+
+  Saul, Monastery of, 198.
+
+  Scenery, Irish, 269, 353, 377, 443, 449.
+
+  Schomberg, Duke of, 25.
+
+  Scone, Stone of, 178.
+
+  School for servants, 382.
+
+  Schools in Ireland, 12, 109.
+
+  Scotch-Irish characteristics, 213.
+
+  Scotland tunnel, 213.
+
+  Scott, Sir Walter, 91.
+
+  Seashore resorts, 268.
+
+  Secretary, Chief, of Ireland, 35.
+    Under, for Ireland, 35.
+
+  Selkirk, Lord and Lady, 219.
+
+  Servant girls, Irish, 3.
+
+  Servants, School for, 382.
+
+  Seven Churches, The, 273.
+
+  Shaftesbury, Earl of, 217.
+
+  Shandon Bells, 317.
+
+  Shillelagh, Woods of, 271.
+
+  Shipyards, Belfast, 236.
+
+  Shirt factories in Londonderry, 242.
+
+  Showers in Ireland, 166.
+
+  Sigtryg, The Danish King, 32, 123, 124, 161, 284.
+
+  "Silken Thomas" Kildare, 146, 156, 322.
+
+  Sinn Fein movement, 202.
+
+  Skerries, Village of, 162.
+
+  Skreen, Hill of, 179.
+
+  Sligo, Marquess of, 139, 453.
+
+  Snakes banished by St. Patrick, 452.
+
+  Society in Ireland, 54.
+
+  Soda water, Manufacture of, 212, 235.
+
+  Soldiers, Irish, 17.
+
+  Spenser, Edmund, 291, 330, 336.
+
+  Stage drivers, Irish, 348.
+
+  Stager, Miss Ellen, 328.
+
+  Starkie, Dr., Commissioner of Education, 111.
+
+  Statistics, Agricultural, 251.
+    Religious, 49, 50, 222.
+
+  Statues in Dublin, 78.
+
+  "Stella," 161, 173.
+
+  Stores, Coöperative, 413.
+
+  Strafford, Earl of, 19.
+
+  Street car lines, in Dublin, 115.
+
+  Strongbow, 32, 278, 280, 281, 285.
+
+  Students at Trinity College, 99.
+    Irish, 144.
+
+  Superstitions, Irish, 265, 345.
+
+  Swift, Dean, 20, 24, 30, 56, 75, 161, 173.
+
+  Swords, Village of, 161.
+
+  Synod, Episcopal, 33.
+
+
+  Talbot Castle, 160.
+
+  Tara Harp, 105.
+    Village of, 168, 179.
+
+  Taxes, 39.
+
+  Taylor, Rev. Jeremy, 198.
+
+  Tea, Excessive use of, 265.
+
+  Technical school, Belfast, 230.
+
+  Temperance in Ireland, 12, 319.
+    reforms, 12.
+
+  Temple, Sir William, 21, 27.
+
+  Tenantry, Irish, 66.
+
+  Thackeray's comments on Swift, 29.
+
+  Tipperary, Town of, 294.
+
+  Tobacco, First, in Ireland, 337.
+
+  Tombs, Ancient, 169.
+
+  Tone, Wolfe, 118.
+
+  Tourists, Habits of, 1.
+
+  Towers, Martello, 163.
+    Round, 165.
+
+  Tracy, Rev. Father Edmond, 428.
+
+  Trade education, 406.
+    Foreign, 255.
+
+  Tram rides of Dublin, 119.
+
+  Trappist monastery, 341.
+
+  Treasury, Irish, 38.
+
+  Treaty of Limerick, 422.
+
+  Trial by combat, 55.
+
+  Trim, Village of, 172.
+
+  Trinity College, Dublin, 21, 97, 99.
+
+  Tristram and Isolde, original of, 127.
+
+  Tumuli, Ancient, 168.
+
+  Turf, The Irish, 300.
+
+  Turgesius, King of Limerick, 424.
+
+  "Twelve Bens," The, 444.
+
+  Tyrconnell, Earl of, 214.
+
+  Tyrone, Earl of, 214, 239.
+
+  Ulster coat of arms, 215.
+    Settlement of, 214.
+
+  Undertakers, The, 214, 269, 330.
+
+  United Irish League, 134, 139, 469.
+
+  United States, Exports, 235.
+    Irish population of, 249, 257.
+
+  Universities of Ireland, 109.
+
+  University, Dublin, 97.
+
+
+  Van Homrigh, Miss, Swift's sweetheart, 28.
+
+  Vanity of the people, 211.
+
+  Vale of Avoca, 271.
+
+  Vicar, Sir Arthur, 58.
+
+  Viceregal Lodge, 96.
+
+  Victoria Park, 114.
+    Queen, 151.
+
+
+  Wages, in Belfast, 233.
+    in Ireland, 252.
+
+  Wakes without liquor, 394.
+
+  Walker, Rev. George, 240.
+
+  Wall of Londonderry, 239.
+
+  Walsh, Dr., Archbishop of Dublin, 397.
+
+  Walsh, John R., builds shrine, 350.
+
+  Walshe, Lacia, Miss, the nurse, 363.
+
+  Warbeck, the Pretender, 284.
+
+  War cries of the clans, 369.
+
+  Waterford, City of, 283.
+    Marquess of, 289.
+
+  Washington Inn at Dalkey, 121.
+
+  "Wearing of the Green, The," 298.
+
+  Weather in Ireland, 228.
+
+  Wellington, Duke of, 88, 92, 172.
+
+  Wesley, Rev. John, 198.
+
+  Westport, Town of, 452, 453.
+
+  Wexford, Town of, 275, 276.
+
+  Wicklow, County of, 268.
+    Hills, 272.
+
+  Wigham, W. R., Temperance advocate, 392.
+
+  Wilkinson, Mr., of Tara, 180.
+
+  William of Orange, 25, 213, 214, 422.
+
+  Wit, Irish, 260, 283, 286, 315.
+
+  Wheat growing in Ireland, 417.
+
+  Wolsey, Cardinal, 156.
+
+  Women, Drunken, 394.
+    in Trinity College, 102.
+
+  Whately, Archbishop, 19, 26, 148.
+
+  Wyndham, George, 136.
+
+
+  Youghal, City of, 330, 333.
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes
+
+On p. 167, the words 'good naturedly' appear without a hyphen, and are
+retained as printed.
+
+On p. 274, the village of Ennisworthy is referred to several times as
+the site of the battle of Vinegar Hill. This took place in the environs
+of Enniscorthy. The spelling is retained as printed.
+
+
+  The following list contains those corrections that were made to the
+  text as printed.
+
+  p. 125  eats or sleeps or rest[s]                           Added.
+
+  p. 260  'darlin[,'/',]                                      Corrected.
+
+  p. 262  Seven Churches at Glen[g/d]alough                   Corrected.
+
+  p. 267  which had be[e]n plagiarized                        Added.
+
+  p. 281  t[ry/yr]annical                                     Transposed.
+
+  p. 311  cha[u]ffeur                                         Added.
+
+  p. 334  M[ry/yr]tle Lodge                                   Transposed.
+
+  p. 413  ac[c]urately                                        Added.
+
+  p. 427  fifteen feet thick[.]                               Added.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's One Irish Summer, by William Eleroy Curtis
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43921 ***