The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-09-25
IFrom Ballou's Monthly for October.]
IRELAND and THE IRISH.

Much has been said and written about
the Emerald Isle" and it's inhabitants,
and yet there is always about the subject
a hint of fresh possibilities and new char
acteristics. Poets have sung in most ele-
CANT music the charms of their beloved
''Green Isle of the Ocean," and the fervent
rhetoric of Irish oratory strikes home, not
only to the hearts of Irishmen, but to the
sympathies of the just and generous of ali
nations. The melodies of Moore and the
eloquence of q Grattan and an OConnor
still ring i'll our ears, and as we think upon
the woes of Ireland, we find ourselves in
voluntarily repeating the well-known lines:
s.There came to the beach poor exile of Erin,
Thc dew on his thin robe was heavy and emil;
For his country he sighed, when at twllisht re-
To wandcr alone by the beaten hill;
But the day-star attracted his eyes SAD deVo-
For il rose o er his own native isle of the ocean
Where once, in the fire of his youthful emotion'
He sang the bold anthem OF Erin go Dragh.
sad il my fate! said the heart-brokeu stranger;
The wild deer and wolf TO a covert can hee'
But have no refuge from famine and danger,
A home and n country remain not 10 me
Never again in the green, shady bowers, .
Where my forefathers lived, SHALL spend the
Or cover NV harp with the wild-woven flowers
And strike to the anthem of Erin go bragh.
.Yet all its sad recollections suppressing.
One dying wish my lone bosom can draw
Erin! an exile bequeaths thee his blessings!
Land of my forefathers' Erin go nragn
Buried and cold when my heart Stills ner mo
G reen he tby fields, sweetest isle of the ocean!
And thy harp-stringing bards sing aloud WIN
Erin mavourneen-E Erin go bragh!"
But notwithstanding the disadvantages
under which Ireland has labored in the
past. and which she feels in the present,
her sons are generally as careless, happy
and contented a set as one will often meet
Fortunately for them, nature has oiest
Them with some qualities Of mind or dispo-
sition that frequently soften the hard real
lilies of their condition, and enable them
to look, proverbially, on the bright side' IL
there is one.
The four great provinces of Ireland are:
Ieinster. on the east Munster, on the
south Ulster, on the north ana Ooh-
naught, on the west and these are SUD-
divided into counties, baronies and PARISH
es. The scenery of each of these provinces
possesses a beauty peculiar to itself, but
| similar in one respect-there are lew spoiS
| where the view is not terminated by lofty
hills or mountain grandeur. The highest
| of the northern mountains is the Ssseoe
| Donard, which terminates the Mo"T''0
range in the county of Down, and when
| rises two thousand eight hundred ana nine
faet above The level of the sea. In the
| Slisre Bloom range, situated IN the cen're
| of the island, and sometimes called tne
Ard mn Erin, or Heights of Ireland, the
rivers More, Barron and Sur take 'he',
rise. (The Irish word sliere, when appiieo
| TO a mountain, signifies that 1t belongs 70
| ranoe.l But the honor of being the high
est mountain in Ireland belongs to Csrra'1
TuoL at Killarney, which is three Thousand
fo,r hundred and ten feet above sea Level.
In some places the scenery OF ireland 10
| rendered less pleasing by the EXTENSIVE
| boos and rnorasses that encroach upon 'ne
| fertile lands. The chief OF these Is the
Roo of Allen. in which the beautiful fiVef
Boyne takes its rise, flowing thence 10 'he
sea at Drogheda Fortunately Tor the
people who live near these bogs, no mias-
ma injurious to health rise from theu' o"'
ing to the large proportion OF tannin "n''n
| they contain, and which possesses sueh
strong preservative quality that ooo'es
plunged in deep bog remain undecayeo'
the flesh becoming like that OF an EgyP
tian mummy.
1t sometimes happens that bog, over
charged with water during the rainy sea
son, bursts through the bounds of tho mor'