Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1879-07-24
AN IRISH IDYL.

AN IRISH IDYL.
We had been out all night watching
the herring fishers; but as soon as the
work was over and the faint glimmering
of the dawn appeared in the east, we
turned our boats bow toward the shore,
and pulled swiftly homewards. There
lay the group of curraghs, still upon the
scene of their labor, loaded with phos-
phorescent fish and dripping nets, and
manned with crews of shivering, weary
men. The sea, which during the night
had been throbbing con vulsively, was
calm and bright as a polished mirror,
while the gaunt gray cliffs were family
Swallowed forth by the lustrous light of
the moon.
Wearied with my nights labor lay
listlessly in the stern of the boat, listen
ing dreamily to the measured splash,
splash, of the oars, and drinking in the
beauty of the scene around me; the
placid sea, the black outline of the hills
and cliffs, the silently sleeping village of
Storport. Presently, however, my ears
detected another sound, which came
family across the water, and mingled
softly with the monotonous splashing of
the oars and the weary washing of the
sea.
SIS it mermaid singing?" I asked
sleePily, "The village maids are all
dreaming of their lovers at this hour,
but the indian Maras sing of theirs.
Oh, yes, it must be mermaid, for bark !
the sound is issuing from. the shore
yonder, and surely no human being ever
possessed voice half so beautiful!"
reply, SO l lay half-sleepily and listened
to the plaintive wailing of the voice,
which every moment grew stronger. 1t
came across the water like the low sweet
sound of an 4Eolian harp touched by
the summer breeze; and as the boat
glided swiftly on, bringing itever nearer,
the whole scene around seemed suddenly
to brighten as if from the touch of a
magical hand. Above me sailed the
mocn, scattering pale vitreous light
around her, and touching with her cool,
white hand the mellow matched cabins,
lying so secluded on the hillside, the
long stretch of shimmering sand, the
fringe of foam upon the shingle, the
peaks of the hills which stood silhouetted
against the pale gray sky.
A white owl passing across the boat,
and almost brushing my cheek with its
wing, aroused me at length from my
torpor. The sound of the voice had
ceased. Above my head flock of sea-
gulls screamed, and, as they sailed away,
| heard the whistle of the curlew; little
putfins were floating thick as bees around
lis, wilk rock-doves few swiftly from the
caverns, and beyond again the cor
morants blackened the weed-covered
rocks. The splash of our oars had for a
moment created a commotion; presently
all Gained down again, and again
heard the plaintive wailing of the mer-
maids voice, The voice, more musical
than ever, was at length so distinct as to
bring with it the words of the song:-
"My Owen Bawn's hair is Of thread gold spuu;
OF gold in the shadow, of lish! in the sun;
All cur!e in c ,>'ul the bris1t tresses are,
They make his heal radiaut with beams like a
s.ar!
NJ Owen Bavu's mantle is louy and is wide,
10 wrap me up safe from tbs storm By my side;
And I'd rather face snow-drift and winter wind
Than pc among III laise, and sunshine elsewhere.
My Owen Bawn Con is a Dol! fisherman,
He spears the stro@g sa',uon in the midst of the
Bann,
Aud rocked in tho tempest on stormy Lough
Draws up the rel trout through the bursting of
spray
The voice suddenly ceased, and as it
did 50: saw that the singer was young
girl who, who with her hands claspeI
behind her, and her face turned to the
moonlit sky, walked slowly along the
shore. Suddenly she paused, and while
the sea kissed her bare feet, and the moon
laid tremulous hands upon her head,
began to sing again:
81 have called my love, but he still sleeps on,
I have kissed them Ger and Ger again
have pressed his cheek with my burning brow,
And Z We watched Ter him all the day;
Is it then true that no more thOu'lt smile
Art thou then lost to thy MONA?
once had lamb my love gave me
As the mountain snow twas white;
Oh, how loved it nobody knows!
decked it each morn with the myrtle rose,
With 'forget-me- not at night.
lover they slew and they tore ny d Lamb %o,,,
They pierced the hearts core of poor Moina!"
As the last words fell from her trem.
ulous lips, and the echoes Of the sweet
voice died far away across the sea, the
boat gliding gently on ran her bow into
the sand, and I, leaping out, came face
with the loveliest vision I had ever be.
held.
IL it mermaid7" I asked myself
again, for surely l thought no human
being could be half so lovely.
saw pale Madonna-like face set in
q wreath of golden hair, on which the
moonlight frightened xnd darkened like
the shadows on Widespread sea. Large
lustrous eyes which gazed earnestly sea-
ward, then filled with strange wander
ing far-of look as they turned to my
face. A young girl clad in a peasants
dress, with her bare feet washed rever-
emily by the signing sea; her half-p parted
lips kissed by the breeze which travelled
slowly shoreward; her cheeks and neck
were pale as alabaster, 80 were the little
hands which were still clasped half
nervously behind her; and as she stood,
with her eyes wandering restlessly first
to my face, then to the dim line of the
horizon, the moon, Frightening with
sudden splendor, wrapt her from head
:; to foot in mantle of shimmering snow.
For moment she stood gazing with q
peculiar far-away look into my face; then
with sigh she turned away, and with
her face still turned oceanward, her
hands still clasped behind her wandered
slowly along the .moonlit sands.
AS she went, fading like spirit amid
the shadows, heard again the low sweet
sound of the plaintive voice which had
come to me across the ocean, but soon it
grew fainter and fainter until only the
echoes were heard.