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Show A TRIP TO KILLARNEY'S LAKES. (Thomas G. Connolly, in the Boston Traveler.) Killarnoy The Killarney trip includes in-cludes a coach or jaunting car ride, according to the terms you make, from your hotel In the littlo town of Killarney Killar-ney to the lakes, a row of twelve or fourteen miles over the lakes upper, middle and lower and then a journey afoot or on a pony over the Gap of Dunloo. Ar the end of tho gap you "Will stop awhile at the cottage" of , Knte Kearney, een now famous in song and story, oiotigh she has been dead these many years; but there you j will Btop and drink a alien glass of ale to her memory. Then you wilf coach It or jaunting car it hack to I your Jiolel Of course, tho jaunting car Is the best way at any time, for then you may' listen to the palaver of your jarvey, who, if he be up to the usual standard, will prove as delightful delight-ful a liar as ever you listened to. Tbp trip around the lakes is made In large boats, four oarsmen to a boat, a single long oar to each, and In tho stern tho ten or twelve tourists. One of tho oarsmen, as ho pulls away, spins the legends of the lakes, and vory fascinating ho Is. Ills stories of "The O'Donoghue," tho legendary hero of tho lakes, before whoso feats the Grecian Hercules is only a bush leaguer, aro vastly humorous, and his Httlo fanciful conceits keep everybody in good humor. Thus, when ono of us was trailing his hand in tho water: "That's good." said he. "Rub the water wat-er from your hand on your gums now I this water right here and you will ( nover hnvo a toothache again." Which wo all did, of course, whereupon he added soberly "My old mother has been doing that for these 20 years past and now she hasn't a tooth at all in her head" and. of course, she didn't have a toothache!" Between the lakes audi the gap you will pay a toll of a shilling to the j agent of the landlord of -whoso es- i tato this is a part. The lord Is seldom Hecn bore, but nover mind you are in i Ireland now, where they long ago learned he power of absentee landlords. land-lords. Your American blood may seethe a bit, but you will pay your shilling just the same and, after eating eat-ing the lunch tho manageress of your hotel p"ut up for you, you will pass on and immediately find yourself surrounded sur-rounded by a dozen men or boys with ponies to let out for those who want to do the Gap on pony. Half a' crown (GO cents) is tho usual tariff, with a six-penso or shUling to the boy or man in charge bt the pony That is the only pay they get these gratuities from "the tourists. And for that potty fee they follow the pony on foot all overthe Gap. It Is a bedlam of voices now, but all going on after this manner: "Hire a pony, handsome gentleman sure you couldn't think of doln' the Gap on foot!" that from Irishmen, who, if you will listen to the old folks in Boston, go anywhere from fifteen or twenty miles on foot to mass of a Sunday morning, It was our plan to do tho Gap on foot just the same, but my traveling companion felt tired at the end of a mile and made terms with tho twentieth twen-tieth man or so who postered him. I had already mado inquiries about tho length of tho Gap, but with not altogether alto-gether satisfactory results. An Irish-mile, Irish-mile, you must know, is a "mile and a bit, sir" Ask tho average Irishman Irish-man what the "bit" Is and he will sny. "Well, it may ho more and it may bo le.s. It may be longer than the mile ngin, sir, and then agin It may not be so long " Ask any uninterested Killarney Kil-larney man how long the Gap is and Ihe will sav- "Three miles and a bit, sir." So there you aro. A mile is a "mile and a bit." and the Gap is "three miles and a bit '' a lovely problem In simple arfthmetic. It turned out to be between six and seven miles. I Scnttered along the Gap arc perhaps per-haps thirty men and women, each with ' something to sell nnd each with tho beguiling way that throws you Into a trance, from which you recover only to find you have bought a souvenir you do not want and handed over another shilling to join other tourist shillings similarly acquired by tho venders. ven-ders. Your only'snfety lies In flight-stop flight-stop to argue with them and you are lost entirely. Some sell the "potheen," an illicit white whiskey, which properly is drunk with goat's rnilla a strong mixture mix-ture indeed for unaccustomed tourist stomacljs. But you can't "do tho Gap properly " thoy will tell you, "unless you ha-c a drink of the potheen In the goat's milk, sir." Some again offer you linen handkerchiefs, with a gaudy green-lettered "Erin go Braugh" in I ono conuer. Then there are postcards. ! knitted woolen socks, little flags, all kind3 of soft drinks and what not. |