Show HERMIT IMI OF ANTRIM AN EDUCATED MANS SOLITARY EXISTENCE IN IRISH CAVES there Is a mystery about abent ahm byj and no one 0 can whence ile he came HU bua rood consists of rota potatoes toes oaly out but he be cooks them before eating there are am portions of the north of ireland where nature assumes a grand and wild aspect on the coast of antrim there is no armistice in the furious battle battie that r since binca the first ages of the terrestrial res re globe was engaged between the tha waves and the rocks columns column of basalt me like gigantic sentinels stand on guard to resist the invasion of the ocean and the profound excavations made under the granite rocks that protect this portion of tho the soil boil of la verte erin prove that the waves must have frequently made most vigorous onslaughts and only 7 retired after they had mined a land which they could not conquer it is not difficult to imagine that this majestic and desolate site rite should have E seduced one of the vanquished ones in in life one who had absolutely deci decided to separate parate ge himself from the society of annn nn the real hermits are beco becoming in ing more and more rare indeed it was believed that they had bad completely disappeared but if a vocation for that jarly abandoned profession could still je be felt by any one it might be in the je presence beof of the marvelous ma spectacle of that sea whose waves never subside of those grottos whose pillars and vaults possess a power which the art of the architect can never equal nature herself seems to have created in those rocks a refuge for the shipwrecked for the proscribed and perhaps also for those who despise the vanities of life about ten years ago a mysterious individual m made hi his 9 home hom e in the grottoes of the coast of antrim the approach of any human bein being seemed to inspire him with an invincible repugnance As soon as the cavern which he had selected for his refuge was discovered by the fishermen of the neighborhood he immediately imm e disappeared and took up his quarters 20 or 30 kilometers farther on in another retreat which appeared more inaccessible for a few months his hia domicile was in an old abandoned mine the principal gallery of which advanced under the ground to tho the distance of about five kilometers kilometer but as the inhabitants of the nearest village had long before carried away the beams that sustained the vault to convert them into firewood the hermit was obliged to quit that dangerous refuge where he was constantly exposed to the danger of being buried alive so he installed himself in a grotto the access to which was more easily easi ily dl discovered sc but it was less obscure less humid and less liable to cave in there ho he flattered himself that he would find at least some of the conditions of existence that belonged to the men of the caverns but it was in vain tam that tie hoped to return to the life of the first ages of prehistoric humanity he was obliged to pay tribute to the exigencies of civilization and to man manifest I 1 festle less repugnance CPU for r all contact with his fellow beings one day he found an empty barrel that the tempest had bad tossed upon the shore chore and he could not resist the temptation of bringing it home to servo serve as a bed some indiscreet persons t taking in 9 advantage of his absence to visit his apartments ds discovered covered that he had a pot for cooking his food where did that cooking utensil come from was it also a piece of wreckage rolled up upon the sd sand by the furious waves or was it tho the last souvenir of civilized life carried away by the anchorite who while endeavoring to return to the conditions of existence that belonged to prehistoric times could not abandon the habit of cooking his food that is a question which has never been answered and it is also impossible to find out where he gets the potatoes upon which he lives did they come from the discreet charity of the poor fishermen of the neighborhood who at the proper time renewed his provisions or I 1 in spa separating ting himself from the world did ho he make arrangements for the transportation P por or of his modest provisions that is also a mystery which has never been beem fathomed one point however is certain and that is that the hermit determined to live upon potatoes alone one day a sailor offered him half of his dinner tho the hermit pretended to be glad to accept the tha gift but he never touched the food in the absence of the kind hearted sailor ho he tossed it into the sea apparently he also vowed that he would never enter a house and never touch a piece of money ho he kept his resolutions nothing could ever induce him to cross the thre threshold of anyone any one of tho the little houses of tho the fishermen who began to have a sort of affection for him and never once was ho he known to beg the only conly liberality that ho he would accept and ithac that ho he solicited from tho the mun munificence i cence 1 of st strangers rangen was a match to light tha i firewood gathered for cooking his potatoes the rev bev J H bernard endeavored endea voTed to lift ifft the veil that hid the origin and antecedents of this mysterious personage tho man of the caverns of antrim endeavors in vain to live the life of a savage it has been recognized by more than one sign that he has received a good education from time to time he reads to the fishermen some passages from the bible but he never comments upon them there them i is no evidence i e going to prove that the man has any particular form of insanity beyond perhaps tho the harmless one of the love of solitude ile he is always cle clean and neat in appearance and seems to be sound and vigorous in body he bo speaks with no accent 60 w that it is impossible to fix the locality from which he camo came he seldom emiles but ho look sad ead on the contrary ho he has a resigned and perfectly satisfied look 1001 who he is and why in the world he lives such an extraordinary life nobody can tell loudon london figaro |