Show r I 1 71 1 I 1 41 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 r ar THE ARAN ISLANDS I 1 paid to If ichael davitto uiva AND LOVELY CHILDREN I 1 I 1 tho most splendid men of Barbar faia military aroha jecture in etrope when we started from father house writes a ca r respondent to the no w york fun from the arma islands uder date I 1 of M ard 3rd we foun j long line of prominent citizens of the aran islands ranged in front of the door afoot of them were of mature the leader advanced and remarked in a abrill and utterly disinterested voice hooray for mr davitte Hoo taid other citizens promptly mi davitt nodded and there epou the whole phalanx of the wisdom and the manliness of the aran islands dropped a deep curtsey it his been banded down from generation to generation I 1 ever since the eleven th century and 1 is as ehly ved today by the natives as it was by the earlier barbarians barbi rians who made the islands of aran historical effect of the curtsey as performed I 1 by it full grown man one must come here I 1 the leader of tap citizens move ment which greeted mr davitt was s typical islander ile bad a shock of tangled hair P voluminous beard a portentous scowl and was 1 and ban ty he I 1 stood about six feet higl and had he fiot been reduced by starvation 1 be would probably have we bled pounds As it was be tipped the scales at about pound ile wore it pair of short and baggy trousers sandals and a coat that was some thirty years too small for him ile presented a fine echi in the way of arms and legs he wore a but on his head he ba a bought in an outburst of parental love for his youngest child it would appear that the minds of tb e men of the aran islands are boccal nally relaxed to a point where I 1 they indulge in a wild and untamed I 1 1 dissipation in the purchase oferall hats the sillier and more iffla n the stanger nation forthe aran islander these I 1 dair I 1 ty little trifles are purchased ostensibly for the children but it I 1 is the man of the house who wears C I 1 them whenever a gala day corn ea I 1 round an event which happens about once in thre the arrival of years I 1 r davitt was portentous in the history of the aran islands and hence occurred the proudest output of infantile hats known to the present generation citizens leader would look mature for a three year old child it is impossible to describe its oil the top of the brawn 9 I 1 Q 91 i him th e appearance of a variety stage comedian on parade the P curtsey was well balanced up to a certain degree but from that point onward it was a brisk shock to the ile farat put an a 1 1 stoa of reticent oa a e and in nate a nees and sw i n his babi ke left hand to his breast while moment he abre 0 his left foot roguishly behind him he sink gracefully down for about two binche then with a sudden I 1 I 1 aig edity of the mu he bobbed I 1 forward and got into an upright position again with a degree of I 1 1 rapidity that would produce a nerve I 1 storm in a spectator who had dot pr el piously seen the salutation by time be had reached t completely upright position again his features had relapsed into hn ex ei r ea bion of plaintive melancholy 1 were and as though be had no further inter eat in the world or its follies this form of greeting practiced by a throng of sober men would stager everybody else but 1 an irish les e er who isa acquainted with tile of his peo P pie mr davitt bowed and we all climbed upon a car in order to visit one of the dismang villages on th eisland where it wu reported that over famil I 1 es were in an absolutely destitute condition the bourney the whole of the I 1 d aye U glut of misery we dr along a abare road for several miles with the cliffa tn above us on one aide and the sea roaring on the other stretching out between the water an d the huge rocks were what are locello Y known as armile but there was not on i which american farmer would as a gift very many had 1 1 been abandoned after the tenants I 1 lad struggled vainly to pay their rent from year to year and were I 1 absolute d arts others bad been to the people who had settled upon them in the face of their evident the farm bad been made by the to themselves what had once re build en aad dreary plateaus and 1 wi de smooth surfaced rock bad I 1 been covered by the indomitable P eherance eve rance of the farmers with M that bad been carried up from the seaside on their back this 1 1 soil had been spread over the our the rock and each patch had been added to as generation sue ceedee generation until fields of two and three acres bad been formed I 1 and fenced in in no place soil deeper than ten inches pots 11 docs were planted as soon as the soil was laid but if the sun was too I 1 hot in summer it dried the fieldi up and the crops were ruined it on the other hand the summers were wet and rainy the crops were eatough to keep the failers alive 1111 im were on every side ruined monasteries ruined churches ruined abbeye ruined forts and bruised towers all the churches of the aran islands face the east except ore alad owe k a group 0 f rai I 1 I 1 a qi I 1 I 1 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 e 7 ls N I 1 MT I 1 I 1 1 y 11 I 1 I 1 I 1 antha north that is history ai an old and remarkable hero of the cross known as saint E ada has left his name here ile was be only son of an old irish king and he fell in love with the bea dutiful abb essof it nunnery where the ladies odthe court were educated she died As his love for her amount ed to idolatry saint enda was in consolable Congo lable he adjured the world and became an augustinian monk and was ordained a priest ierome be returned to his fathers kingdom and the latter probably w ith a view of getting rid of are legious enthusiast who took no interest in the affairs of state made him a present of the islands of aran whether this was done in the way of a lark or as a bit of savage ven feanie it is hard to tell one can imagine what the state of the islands of aran must have been centuries ago phen they are 0 day as bleak and inhospitable u the coast of greenland saint buda clung to his islands and introduced a multitude of holy men who went there to lead a con tivo life afar flocked to the islands of aran and from ahem has arisen a race of sturdy simple and industrious indus triou S peo ale who are absolutely innocent of the customary wickedness of closely populated communities there are catholics and one protestant on the islands ahe latter being regarded by the other natives as a strange and unique specimen of what the outer world can produce in its eerie and savage moments there are no haupers paupers fronat the islands ia the gla gow work house there is no workhouse on the islands na auxiliary workhouse no infirmary midwife there or are of course the but they are always settled by an appeal to the priest sincere arted earnest man who has devoted his life and to the h e re people an d whose abers in th ir be ij have been mitt so much attention has of late bee cal I 1 ed to father bues labor of love ODona among his deop e and to his disinterested te efforts in their behalf that it is rumored that he is to have his reward in the course of a year ia the shape of a bishopric the single hotel on the island is an apt illustration of the aim I 1 nature of the people I 1 calese d there as a matter of experiment one day and asked the proprietress if she could give me something to eat the place was a small one story cottage with a dining room at the further end containing a deal table an d a bench she said she would roast some protestants protestante prot estante for me if I 1 would wait and give me a bit of veal that she was not a bit ashamed of name for potatoes ex the meal was de viciously licious ly cooked rudely but cleanly served and when I 1 asked for the bill a wave of surprise swept over the land ladys face she evidently did not know what bill wom then I 1 asked her what her abarge was and the said it was 1 if I 1 ranted to give her something all right if not it made if 0 differ ence ale smiled amiably showing a let of dazzling teeth and although h r 4 due stood first on one foot and then on the other after the manner of a six year old child abashed id the pres en ce of a stranger well 1 I wd slowly 1 I con eider the meal worth about six pence do you now said the woman pleas a antly fait pay me well 4 but you ought to three A illi 11 I 1 a 1 d d ping a couple bl lufa roee of ro V n s to t sugar bowl taree shil lial is it she said gg bust fait oid kape a wake fur that an immense ancient fortress on the island which we passed is look ed upon as the anost splendid m en of barbarian military archi jecture in europe it was built by the pagan ia the fi rat cell tury of the christian era and covers any acres on an extreme poin of the island and is the nearest bit of land due cast from new york city it has a commanding position on the very top of a cliff which bag a sheer fall of hundreds of feet to the atlan tic ocean on one side on the other side where it is alone approachable it is fortified in i an almost I 1 arg Ther earet bm ree en closures th 0 first wall is about 1000 feet fro in end to end eighteen feet high and twelve feet thick af the defenders were driven back by the invaders from this first line of defence the latter would have to climb a steep hill for nearly half mile and if they succeeded in doin g this they would find that the de fenders had retreated behind the second line of defence sed of four walls each four feet thick and built one against the other like tae coats of onion IL the attack IN party batte alg do u the envelope another one was presented to them the space be tween walls is full flint rocks and huge stone lil set in the ground there are abrim of the obstacles I 1 entered and one can oance lve how difficult it must have been for the ancient invaders to climb over this interval within the mccond wall was the it stands just as it was u ailt nearly ayears agon 0 was used it construction the were fashioned to as to bedole tailed into one another the walls are from 25 to 30 feet high and fully as thick it il inconceivable that any attacking foe in those days could have carried the fortress by assault if defend Zif even b ill hand ful of courage us men it 5 over the towering cliffis on which this stronghold stands that the aran islander pursues one of the most dangerous of callings are swung over the edge of tile preci pico and lowered a hundred ropes to the cli ir e rob of their eggs for the market he danger Is very great and tho boys bave tri fight against the attacks of the big birds ali this and much mm gam wl 11 I 1 af aa 0 o 1 1 11 7 1 I 1 11 Q 1 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 0 under our personal or quaintly I 1 by Father as woma de our way over the wildest portion of the islands to an isolated village on the north coast on the way we stop da ll 11 t a school house nearly a re a Is were elated on little benau all ite gitig with rapt attention to their teachers three red checked cheeked and black eyed coulik irish girls who had left their homes on the mainland to come and the little hta then teachers rose and blushed sli bibily it the sudden ape ar abuce of I 1 abber hue I 1 a n t h then the e idest of them somewhat her presence of mind called upon the children to sing they rose and s rag an irish song with great spasm we looked the little ones over while they sang their faces were not only pretty and healthy but in some cases remarkably beau ticul there w a curious mixture of the types of various races aba 3 unparalleled in ireland danes have in times gone by made descents on the aran have settled down and mar tied there in the same family are occasion oc casior tally seer flaxen haired girls odthe light danish type while their brothers and sisters are as black as the children of the son h different types appear in the same face the effect is startling one little tot who could barely toddle about on her chubby legs came up to me and fell into an awe stricken and abashed silence over my watch she had silken hair of the very lightest hue eyebrows and eyl lashes tint while a pair of enormous and piercing black eles looked out from beneath them n stead of the wallow skin that usually goes eyes a complexion of milk and str awber ries she had the rounded chin and f a blonde of the purest t e h e sharp and aquiline no so of the traditional of arragon mr davitt and I 1 veto looking at her when be suddenly lr said there 13 the leeroe type he whispered to the school teacher who went over to a score of little ones who eq in an 0 ederly row on a bench against the galliand wal lIand led out a child of eight years this little girl was not so shy as tae younger one she bap evidently learned even in that community the power of a pair of big violet eyes which she repeat edly baited half coquettishly to our faces and dropped suddenly again ds the crossed the room her face was perfectly colorless but her skin bad a deep and healthful look her eyes were light aej her lips almost bloodless but her eyebrows hair and eyelashes pascoal afi not afra idof being bald up to ridicule as a base imitator of the ouida school of fiction I 1 should say that the girls hair was blue Alack for there certainly seemed to be ft linge of dark blue or purple about the wavy tresses that were ailed a bout her shapely little bead the good natured priest gave the pupi lab kalf holiday and we went on to e inspection of some of the house it the condition here was doella wa bat afie r fic m cabin to cabin listening to the stories poverty and destitution The young an d women bad emigrated to america and left the old folks to starve promises of help were held out but not kept one woman whose cabin nestled under the shel rose to a sheer bight of 10 0 feet said she had given up all hope of hearing from her akons abera two 0 them in the states she said an ivan owns tree trucks in new york they sisters all waiting fr them t over after them what are their malies mrs F annegan asked the priest michael an thomas finnigan yer R livrance wait till jl show Y th fine garruls though they b 0 me awn I 1 say it baitin t be sint for she wasa was a woman of fifty years but still strikingly handsome her have done credit to a aillean beauty and her figure was rounded and shapely thevilla gera were man in a confused crowal in the shelter of a bo wIder g abing diffidently at from far airs finneg an addressed them in it ish and called her seven daughters in rapid sue cession one by one they ca me out of the crowd and lagged toward us bashfully As they bew near a beauty show they ranged arora 8 to 20 years in a e and four of them were mag ent looking I 1 women they would set east broadway ablaze and reduce the men about town of grand street and the bowery to pulp in a single sunday afternoon one by one they lagged up barelegged and bare armed they stood erect but their head 8 drooped slyly and they did not raise their eyes till their mother M ke when the lids frere in u son and a battery of appalling effectiveness wait turned sure said the mother turning ti me fit lt make their livin in amerika Amer iky aint taley our T eyre fit to marry million a res all fabb ann udder ting who are girls goin ter r blind young mens all left the it now perhaps your sons dont know how pretty their sisters are they dont andade they both left six years a g 0 w it in the oldest nellie t b e re h 0 id up yer lil head colleen the gittlemen gintle men wont be aft her play guin ais wl 1 z a slip of a gargul so tell nae sons about their sisters wb in y back anew york 6 F airily lively lade wheres your husband asked M r davitt suddenly the quenion que tion plunge d afro pin destan into deep thou t ille b 11 lee I 1 murmurs mur murd softly is oh besl she dived into her cabau dr a re n bent figure i y e 0 olin g him into an u h t poo i tio I 1 e ed anat t trig 0 wall I 1 I 1 I 1 11 A I 1 I 1 V 7 I 1 1 7 1 I 1 1 I 1 I 1 god bleed you mr davitt 11 cried air finnegan promptly may yer 0 1 said afro finne auz bit wid a L 1 M hin young |