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Show J'iiRriiTia 1 ' I? J j JSwbeel in IrelandTj I By John JI. Black j :nd co PART IV. vr"u'u-i (Copyright, 390:5. by John A. Black.) On the steep road out of Maeroom Mi : l y d toward ln higreela. we passed groups ot vhf-n'tli' farmers going home from the market. .tions The men walked up the hill, discussing J"Ilnv r i lie day's doinef: the "ould woman." dii'iiccs. and maybe a "chick" or two, pat in th-; tod cart; now and then a halt was made iini. Tinii to take up some lont walker with her lii'iim, h heavy bnsket. dotting an old lady of days. ion or lifteen stone up on an Irish cart p"p" ar i- a somewhat awkward performance miller f and required considerable boosting bility li from the men, who grappled with the Tln.-e u problem with less ceremony and deli- ;is of a racy of touch than is usual in handing Shrtl; my lady to her carriage. The nine is a er mile' ride took us through some pretty ,-i si si a scenery of the rougher .ort, ill which ntoni, ;n hills and -ocks predominate. There Lis biev :?re no villages and not many houses U ii o c !r most of the way. Castle Masters, nied j, : ear Inchi.ceela. stands in a line old A'i ik ti.il g'-ove on the and is where the Maestro O'ljoarys saw better times in the good t ii t ... t; cid days. the loj.-,g were right glad to get to Ir.chi- p-ries ,ij h' ela, with its comfortable hotel, for j,. ss is , ihev Irish miles are so long and there Hi,. fajt" are so many hiPs to the mile! It is I'ilis rather a poor looking little village, bu: fetvtar t,lf' PoHeemnn told us that they were juvpss t thrifty people, and most of them had jM-ni'iiica money in the bank. The rent is low ,.IlH,!(. , ffi account of the roue-h. hilly nature ,,,,) ' ,iU of the country: but it is good grazing i,., ;,',.). land, so they do wdi. It cures one of t(',' any doubt he may have had about tin; t;,.;7s s, industry of the Irish people to so j :..'',,', a Ihruugh this and otln-r 4arts of Irr- j ;,:;;s' - h.nd and see the thousands of fine fields j.,',yn" t!r sad farms, su; rounded by w ild, rocky j'lo'rnenf wastes, from which t'ney have been re- nyi ,jr claimed by an outlay of time and labor , ..,,, ,lt almost Incalculable. j V: There was nuite a commotion in the j.,' .', '.' ' . illage, caused by the return of some j,i -otmg people wlji) had gone ut to ; ' 'rhese America five years ago. There was . .,,1 much handshaking and some kissing, j, (',.,., "i. the stree-t. and many a "weleonv "JM ' l.;n k ty Ireland." and no doubt some -igh born of feelings akin to covetoiis- ' ' i ss as the young people of the village 1 tl. s.' ,,' .-(.hnired lh "fine America clothes" on . the returned wanderers, and made ex- j ' .:avagant guepsep at the number of j ; ' American dollars in their pockets. 't H was Saturday evening. The set- ".i", ting sun had lit the altar tires on the j ...ts pe v stern hilltops: they were burnins : low; day was. dying; the last cart j ; ' bad jolted homeward through the vil-J:,gi-: Cie stillness of the coming Sab- j vu b;.;th ha1 set tied down ovr hill ami ; 'u' v.-.iley: from out an open door here and i ,v ::h -r there i-ame the elatior of tongues, tell- j ' of fortunes or misfortune" in 1 ''' s Amerien; or of the marrying, and dy- j :!,;- !ng. and "going out" which made tip - '" t'ie past five years of Inchigeela's his- ;' tory. TP.e aliar lires on the hilltops j .' ;!" ji:'e gone out: candles? are lit: and the 1 jv.errymaking begins. The old stories ' ' ' i' 1 . are told again, and the old songs are ' ". sung: the cheei-ing cup goes round, to M-.nsiL-t: rhann bock the bloom of cheek and the ,,J jollity of heart which five years of 1'ourdes A merican life bi'd blighted. That night ' vr'-. in I'Kdiigeela wa? truly a night in v;)s thr "oTild Ireland"! For she opened her 3'ojie i'ii heart to ui and let us get charming glimpses of Irish life. I In the quiet of the evening we could pi ar the- liberated donkeys as they 2iieT t( Kf'ted up their voices on the hills and in the valleys, shouting their greetings I to each other that Saturday night had 1 ! ''e f eonie :ind the day of rest was at hand. " M -.l b T'tit when on the morrow we saw h!m i ..,,:!, a between t;,-. heavy shafts, dragging his ).,, ;.. greut load to and from church, we were t ot so sure that be had good reason to rejoice on Saturday night. This pa-' pa-' , ''il t!ent. faithful little fellow is worthy of i; more Attention than he gets, for he is unite an important factor in Ireland. ",: '"'"i He cannot be charged with lack of de- ' ,!;"b' liljeration, which is said to be one of "y,y c the shortcomings of his master: for 1' ';'' '"'t he "doth meditate day and night" be- 1 ,,:;iv';''i fore he lifts up his voice to proclaim i his conclusions: and then the poor fel- : ,li";j h :mv never gets any further than "Hear r-'l''t!' 1 ye! Hear ye!" till he breaks down and it afi'aii larpes into another brown study. He -:ng a evidently ha? something on his mind j ,!,:it w" which he is anxious to tell all Ireland. :;r I'"'' about, but be gets too much embar- pr rassed at the awful sound of his own j ' P oice to go on; which prove? that he J'''"1''-'' is not a native of Ireland, as also does I sb''lt w l is voice, for it is keyed to no sound I :,s "T a in Ireland. I suspect that, at least. I ' '-' of ' t-'i-t of the burden of his mind is the 1 M !'! stick whieh his master carries and! 'u (i's iises so freely on the poor donkey's j back as he urges him along with ills i '"W'hr-t "Go along out of that, now!" at al- ! -:'isfar most every slep. ; vi'h the Sunday morning we heard the tread I In It of heavy-booted feet on the hard road, j t.-.fcn ur and. looking out. saw the street black ,h" I-'ni v illi men going to mass. They came yrn. o; down from the hills and up from the t.i fim valley?; along th road, out of lanes. ith a nd over the fields, mostly afoot, till tbey filled the church to the doors, when the service was over It we? a fine sight to see the crowd of men pour j out into the street, and scatter over the hills, and down the valleys again. , One Ftrong-voiced man climbed up on ! the stone fence in front of the church J and advertised the sale of some meadow mead-ow which was to take place during the week. , A' priest whom I met told me that there was only about nine or ten Protestants Prot-estants in the parish of Inchegeela. . There were only four at the Protestant ; service this Sunday morning. In the course of a conversation with one who seemed to be the leading Protestant of the parish, I asked him how the few Protestants got on with "the Catholics,, and he said their relations were most kindly and cordial. "They are fine neighbors to us." he said. "When we have a funeral in our church they attend at-tend it as if it were one of their own," which is quite a different state of affairs from what pome alarmists would have us believe must exist in . community with Catholic supremacy. i The ten mile ride from Inchigeela to ! Gouganabarra takes us through some rough country whose stern look is softened soft-ened by the "pleasant waters of the Kiver Lee," which spread out for three miles into Lough Allua. The road winds along among rocks and hills, keeping close to the north shore of the lake. On the left, is the narrow, irregular lake, across which to the south, are the Sheehy mountains, whose northern outposts of rock-bound hills ; come up to the water's edge. To our I right, stretching down from the north, almost crowding the road into the lake jat places, are hills and rocks. The : road is alive with men and boys on j foot, and many cart loads, on their 'way to or from church. The men all j salute us with the friendly "la breagh," j which we correctly but ignorantly an-ster an-ster with "yes, sir," till we find a lad who translates it for us in the English, Eng-lish, "fine day." At the wesi end of Allua is ISealanageary, a small village with an old church standing back of some evergreen trees. About three miles beyond Bealana-geary Bealana-geary we left the main road, and began be-gan the steep climb of nearly a mile to j the summit, from which we dropped i down to the edge of' "Lone Gougane- j barra," girt about with j j "Its zone of dark hills." t J In the middle of the small lake is the ! famous island which is reached by a 1 narrow Ptrip of land running out from the shore. This island is regarded by the devout as one of the most sacred places in Ireland, for here the saintly Finn Bair lived, and whispered God, previous to his going to what is now-Cork: now-Cork: and following, so illustrious an i example other holy men have lived here; and tens of thousands have come j here to pray. j The object of greatest interest on j ; the island is the Shrine of St. Finn J Karr. Thick walls bf stone seven or ; eight feet high in which are several I arched cells, surround the sacred spot. I All around the wall are tablets marking stations of the cross. In the center of , j the enclosure is a pyramid of stone on I j the top of which is a cross with an inscription saying that St. Finn Barr I stood on this spot. Nearby, almost hid J by trees and buphes, are some remains ; j of two very ancient churches, the altar .end of one of which is marked by a ' flat stone, and is a favorite place to ! pray. There is a new chapel, almost completed, which is modeled after the famous Chapel of Cormac on the Rock ; of Cashel. A Celtic cross in memory of Callanan. the poet of Gouganebarra. i stands near the well whose waters are reputed to be healing. i Surely no one with a devout spirit. and any Imagination at all, could stand on this little island, knowing its his- I I tory, and not feel reverent. It is, ln-: ln-: deed, a place to pray; one almost in- ' ; stinctively "lifs up his eyes to the , : hills." from this place which nature has walled off from the world by the great mountains which crowd round the little lake like mailed knights guarding its ' I sacred island, hallowed by the tread of reverent feet for thirteen centuries. One who had been at Gouganebarra in the rainy season when ! "In deep-vallied Desmond a thousand I wild fountains . j Came down to that lake from their I home in the mountains." I told me that Callanan's description Is 1 truth as well as poetry, and that the thousand wild fountains roaring down all about one makes a scene almost terrifying at first, but unspeakably grand. The Lee rises In the mountains j some two miles west, and the little I stream winding down across, the glen j into Gouganebarra lake bears the fa-i fa-i mous name, as well as when its swollen I Hood Joins the great ocean. We had seen th? noble river proudly bearing great ships on its bosom, Fpanned by great arched bridges, and now we stand where a step takes us over it. (Continued Next Week.) |
