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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 *** |