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Show 4.lf4-f4-r4444-f444-4444.4-44--4f44-4-4-t4 4-4 4 : FATHER MALONE'S : X FIRST VISIT TO j : DEAR OLD IRELAND. t4 444 44 444 444444 4444 444-4 44-f44444444 He Touchingly Describes His Feelings as He Stands on the Soil Sanct Tied By the Footprints of St. Patrick B3 Martyrs, Philosophers, Poets and Patriots The Industries Indus-tries of Belfast Great Cathedral in Historic Armagh-Arrival Armagh-Arrival in Dublin from Scotland. (Editorial Correspondence.) Dublin, Ireland. Aug. 1. 1900. Here I I am at last, in the capital city of Ireland, Ire-land, and I am sure I need not say that I am rejoiced to be here. I I left Glasgow with no feelings of ; regret on Monday morning last. My first view of the Emerald Isle was had at Larne, county Antrim, up in the "Black North." Larne is, as all the readers of the Intermountain Catholic know, the port where the steamer from Stranraer in Scotland lands its passengers. I found but little to interest me in Larne, and started without much delay for Belfast. Bel-fast. Between the former city and the northern metropolis of Ireland, the only important town along the coast is Carrickfergus. This place was formerly a parliamentary borough and until 1850 the assize town of the county. coun-ty. As my Irish readers will know, Carrickfergus derives its name, the rock of Fergus," from Fergus Mac- Erch, who established the first Irish settlement on the opposite coast of Caledonia. There is a picturesque old castle here, which is one of the most complete specimens of ancient Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman fortresses in Great Britain. It is built on a rock close to the seashore I and commands, in a most effectual ! manner the Bay of Belfast. On the land side, the rock slopes dow n to the sea, but even at ordinary tides, the building is nearly surrounded by water. The passage which defends , the entrance, en-trance, was .formerly divided by a draw bridge, defended by a barbican. The west .side of the castle is a dam originally intended to supply the ditch with water. Another defensive con--trivance is above the gate, in the shape of a "machicolation or aperture for letting fall stones, melted lead, or the like on the assailants." Ah me! but times have changed since the days when men found use for such places. From Carrickfergus I journeyed on to Belfast, which is said to be in a prosperous condition. As everybody knows, it is the headquarters of the linen industry of Ireland, for which, with its great shipbuilding yards, it is deservedly famed. It is perhaps not generally known that the great Oceanic of the White Star line was built there. At the present time, there are 12,000 j men employed in that industry alone I in Belfast. But in times gone by, Bel- j fast was noted not so much for these as for its hatred of Roman Catholics, a feeling which has not entirely died out. but we will hope that it has passed through its most virulent stage. In 1690, after William had landed at Carrickfergus, he. went immediately to Belfast, which Lord Macauley says was then 'a small English settlement of about 300 houses commanded by a castle which has long disappeared." Today, the population of Belfast Is upwards of 300,000. Catholics, of course, are in a minority in Belfast, but I am told that within the past year or two, they have made wonderful progress. Aside from old St. Mary's, which by the way is the oldest church in the city, there are two , splendid Catholic edifices, viz: Saint : Patrick's in Donegal street, and St. Peter's in Falls Road. But somehow or other the knowledge that the majority of the people of Belfast. Bel-fast. have, no sympathy with the hope or aspiration for Irish nationality, as well as nothing in common with the faith of the greater number of the Irish people, lessened my interest somewhat some-what in Belfast and its immediate vicinity. vi-cinity. However, I managed to visit all parts of the city, and then journeyed j onward w ith Armagh as my objective point. En route thither I passed through Lisburn. in County Down, also Hillsboro, Lurgan and Portadown, in the same county. The new Cathedral at Armagh is indeed in-deed well worthy a visit. This noble structure was begun sixty years ago, and the different Pr'mates who have Tuled in the See of Armagh have all contributed towards its completion. The present Primate, His Eminence Michael Cardinal Logue. will, I hope, have the satisfaction of witnessing its consecration. On Saturday last a grand bazaar in aid of the Cathedral was brought to a successful close. I wa; told that J7,i)00. or $U:..0nn, were real ized. In order to accomplish thM wor derful result no part of the civilized world was overlooked. The little bundles of tickets with the Irish postmark, post-mark, so familiar in America, certainly certain-ly produced good results in this case. As I stood this morning: on the Cathedral Ca-thedral steps, high above the little town of Armayh and looked ai-rncs th valley at that other St. Patrick's Cathedral, Ca-thedral, whose corner stone was laid by St. Pntrick fifteen hundred years asro, I certainly had no kindly feelings towards to-wards the government which confiscated confis-cated it. But confiscation and persecution, persecu-tion, no matter how relentlessly both were waged, would never dim th Irish faith, and even though the venerable old Cathedra! was wrested from the Catholic peonle of Armagh, one more magnificent today crowns a still higher elevation, never more to be despoiled by the wanton hand. I cannot begin to describe the sensations sensa-tions I experience.! when making trfy way through the narrow, crooked streets of the ancient town of Armagh. On these very streets St. Patrick once I Walked: Here he implanted the faith I in a people who today ate the very life of the Church in Europe, America and ! Australia. j Here, too, was the seat of monastic I learning which burned brightly through j western Europe, until the fierce and persistent Danes in the nirnh and tenth I centuries overwhelmed it. , i Moving indeed are the historic associations asso-ciations closely connected with the venerable ven-erable See of Armagh. I am pleased more than I can express that so soon after my arrival in Ireland it was mv good fortune to walk the streets sanctified sanc-tified by St. Patrick and behold with my own eyes the spot where he enkindled en-kindled the fire of faith which the :, Irish people have since carried to the farthermost part of the world. From Amagh I went over to Newry, an interesting town hard by the lovely Bay of Carlingford. Newry has li prosperous appearance, and, as I said, I is much improved since Dean Swift described it as consisting of: "High church low- steeple, dirty streets , and proud people." j I next wended my way to Dundalk. j thence through Castlebellingham, Dun- ' f leer, and into County South to i Drogheda. which brought to my mind f the historical association of Crom- I well's connection with the place and the Battle of the Coyne. Monasterboice. ; near by Drogheda. I found to be a j place of unusual interest. Here are I the ruins of chapels, a round-tower. ! and three crosses, two of which are j said to be the first in Ireland. The most notable of these crosses contains f twenty-two panels, most of which re- f main as yet unexplained, but an au- J j thority on these matters gives as the I subjects of those deciphered: The fall. I the expulsion. Adam and Eve. Cain f I and Abel, the Magi, the Crucifixion and Last Judgment. From Monasterboice j-back j-back again to Drogheda and thence ; with Dublin still my objective point, I hurried on through Laytown, Gor- . I manstown, Ballbriggan. the castle "j famous the world over for its hose. f Skerries, Donabate, Portmarnock, near which is St. Doolagh's church, and next ! over the field of Clontarf and into f j Dublin. And what a beautiful city I j have found it to be! How people can j compare it with Belfast surpasses my understanding-. Americans visiting Scotland will 1 take away with them pleasant mem- Si ories of Edinboro. the so-called modern j I J Athens. Dublin's beauty is different -If from that of Edinboro: here nature mingles more freely with the work of -man. and gives to it a distinguishing J" mark that characterizes it. apart from 1 I v all other cities. I could never under-stand under-stand how the grass and the foliage f could be of a different green in Ire- ; land than elsewhere. Ah! but it Is I different. And nowhere in all this world are such shades of emerald to . be seen. It is this coloring of God's 1 handiwork that impart added lustre to man's effort in the city on the Liffey. ; But I must bring this letter to a close, and leave Dublin for the subject sub-ject of my next letter. 1 THOMAS H. MALONE. , |