The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1878-09-18


the distance by a glorious mountain
range, while the old town clinging
to the sides of the rough crag
nestles under the towering battle
ments of the castle. There is
plenty of penury and ragged misery
in Scotland, nevertheless, Scotch
thrift and forehandedness is visible
everywhere. Libraries, museums
and schools of art are hewn as it
were out of the rough granite }; and
comfort for the great mass Of the
people is wrung from the sterile
soil and education is dispensed,
even to the poorest, with liberali-
ty which does honor to the Scottish
head and the Scottish heart. But
woe unto the tourist who falls into
the clutches of the average Scotch
hotel keepers the rule appearing
to be among high and low to give
the smallest amount Of entertain
mentor the largest possible amount
of money, Both Edinburgh and
Glasgow have magnificent hotels,
splendidly furnished, andapparent-
ly supplied with every appointment
that could make an hotel desirable,
and yet in the service the best OF
them are away behind the country
ta7erns in the back towns Of Oregon
and Colorado? and the administra-
ton is mean of the meanest class.
Everything seems pinched, stingy
and penurious, except the bill, the
sum total of which will be found
equal to the most extravagant an
ticipations of the traveller. I can
not tell what may have been the
experience of other travellers, but [
tried what I considered the two
best hotels in Scotland, McGregor's,
of Edinburgh, and McLeans, of
Glasgow, and the impression is
forced upon me that I received less
for my money than I ever received
before in a irst-class hotel in any
part of the world. Forgetting
what I consider nothing less than
an hotel robbery, robbery which
applies only to a limited class, re-
spect is compelled by the energy,
thrift and industry Of a people who
have done so much for the advance
ment of humanity, whose great
names stand like monuments all
along the highway of literature and
science, and the names Of whose
heroes can be found inscribed
upon the grapdest battle-felds
of the world. The run from Glas-
gov to the coast is not a par
ticularly inviting one and the
passage across the Irish Channel is
made in q few hours. Seen from
the distance, the coast of Ireland
looks dark, harsh and forbidding.
Clouds, heavy and portentous, hover
about the hill-tops, and damp and
chilling fogs hang like fringes Oh
the shore. AS you approach the
land, the scene beging to change
The dark and sombre browns and
greys become the brightest Of
emerald: green's; while the little low
thatched cottages nesting among
the trees, fill the highest anticipa
ton of perfect landscape beauty
7 oo,71d almost wish that 7 had
never set foot on Erin's Isle, tc
have my first impressions so rudelJ
dispelled. Belfast is by no means
the worst or the poorest town II
Ireland; on the contrary, it is one
of the very best. The various in
dustries of Belfast are known
throughout the world, and its
linen manufactures in particular
are second to none upon the globe
But even here poverty and wretch
edness meet you at every turn
Ragged, barefooted women ane
Girls crowd the streets and tht
degradation Of the sex seems com
plete when you see them filing tht
low gin-shops, or sitting idly II
the alleys and lanes, apparently
without any object on earth excep
to live, though nothing can b.
more miserable than the lives the,
lead. The city has a dirty, smoky
look, as though it had been un
washed and unkempt for ages. But
Dublin is still before you-the cit,
which at least one enthusiastic
traveller has called the handsom
est capital in Europe. AS Bene
dict says, in ''Much Ado abou
Nothing" II can see yet Wlthou
| c,,oofooloc en5 T can see no Sl1Ci