The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-12-25
Life in New England.
How It Seems to an Irish Doctor OF
.5is9 DORM Divinity. lr .'

Rev. DR.. Robert Knox of Belfast, Ireland,
was one of the delegates to the Pan-Presbyte-
rian council in Philadelphia, last fall, and
stayed, when In New York, at the house of
III. E. Knox, whose country home is at ma
pie Farm" In Blandford. DIR. Knox visited
chusetts, in company with his host, and his
experiences and impressions are thus described
in letter to the Belfast Witness:
promised on my return to give you some
account of life in New England. The out.
on arriving in New York I had neither
strength nor taste for inspecting the lions Of
the city. My kind host and hostess proposed
to take me for few days to their country
house l inquired the distance, 80. tits
about as far from New York as Tipperary Is
from Belfast This is the way Americans, who
spend so much time on rail and river, speak OF
distance. 1t was the very thing / longed to
see-how Americans live in their rural homes
= in the farm house and cottage. Facilities
for travel have made great cities very much
alike. After all, there is not much difference
between New York and Liverpool. To know
the real condition and habits Of any people,
you must go into their native glens, and
mountain homes and little hamlets, where
their primitive simplicity has not been adul-
terated and veneered by city life. 1t Is in this
way Ireland Is Just now laid bare to the civil
lied world. Tourists have been in the habit Of
running from the Causeway to the capital, and
To know Ireland and the Irish race you must
visit the glens and highlands OF Donegal--ths
wild regions Of Connemara-you must enter
the squalid cabins of Mayo, Clare and Kerry.
This is being done just now by the emissaries
Of the press, and day by day educated people
thrOu ph0ut the world trqata6 m
Of social life within days march of London
that are ncredible-absolutely appalling
What contrast between the condition Of the
average Irish peasant and his New England
brother! We shall see. From New York to
the home in the mountains Of Mass achusetts
IA distance of 150 miles) passed several towns
from 10000 to sc, 600 population. In every ono
OF them are hives Of industry
of various kinds-each town claiming kind
Of monopoly in the production Of certain srti-
cles. One place, for example, is the seat Of
paper making, and another is renowned for its
sewing machines = OF some kind, there is en-
iployment everywhere for men and women
And how they do work-ay, with will and
ianguid, lounging. lazy Tipperary peasant If
he got peep into one of their factories A
stalwart groom, who hailed from Sligo said TO
me one day, ''Sir, / niver knowed what work
was in the ould country" 'ii
Along the entire line the attention of the
medicines. These appear on rails, and rocks.
and mountain tops and trees-on every object
that can be reached by painters brush In this
country we appeal by the broad sheet and dead
walls. In America every object that meets the
eye, except the face Of the sky, tells Of the all
conquering power OF pills. Some Of these ad
vertisements are more candid than one would
expect from brother Jonathan. For example,
standing on the deck Of river steamer as Il
entered one Of the harbors at New York, my
vryao nd 70
gate Brewery" could hardly believe my in
formant or my own eyes. Yet there it was in
all its naked horribleness and candor. What
ever suspicion / might have had of the potency
Of the thousand and one pills that were puffed
by their vendors, here was a manufacturer
whose truthful designation Of his wares no sane
man could entertain doubt who knows any
thing of the fruits Of intoxicating liquor.
Leaving the railway station nearest to the
mountain homo found we had drive Of nine
miles. We entered my friends carriage be-
hind pair of splendid steeds, and made the
journey in about an hour. The country was
thickly wooded-the road narrow and very
primitive, never having been formed by art or
mans device 1t was covered with u kind of
yellow sand-here and there diversified with
layers of beautiful apples What a country
for boys: apples lying in heaps on the highway
and In the fields on each side. A gentleman
in the steamer told as he paid farmer a shii-
ling load for removing the apples from the
AcluS. 1ulS Iru1t, 30 MUCH pr1ZeQ at nome, H
SO abundant this year In America, that 1t is
given as kind of lunch to the hogs between
their regular meals On each side Of the wind
ing carriage-way were frame or wooden houses
at long distances Round each was plot Of
land reclaimed from the forest, but large
part OF the country appeared still In its prime
val condition. The houses gave to the passer-
byIevery idea OF comfort. Most of them were two
stories, with underground apartments, where
vegetables are stored in the winter. never
saw among them hovel or even a one-storied
cottage. What we would call the )aboring
class have neat, comfortable homes. My des-
tination was the town of Blandford, originally
called New Glasgow, in honor of the ancient
city OF st. Mungo, but as that city had failed
to implement promise OF bell to this new
ford. Such is the tradition that has come
down to the present generation from the hardy
ancestors. The town itself surprised me. In.
stead Of series of houses compactly built to-
gether like Jerusalem, found 1t to consist Of
scattered wooden villas, at long intervals. each
surrounded by q garden, the post office and
grocery being regarded as the center. On the
crest of the hill stood the church, as white as
snow; spire and all of wood, and the insio 0
very comfortable and very beautiful. Off
my life became a "high churchman," as the
building stands nearer the sky than any other
ecclesiastical ediice in New England. After
the service the minister announced that there
would be a grove nesting at five o'clock.
consented to take part In that also, as I WAS
anxious to know what might be its character,
1t was some three miles distant and was held
in the forest. When reached the place
reckoned 25 vehicles here and there round a
rude platform, under magnificent tree, whose
foliage shielded us from the rays of the sun.
1t was what we would call an open-air service,
several ministers taking part. At the morn
ing service the minister announced also what
L took to be q religious picnic, and to which.
vited. The members Of the congregation were
instructed to bring their own provisions with
them. 1t was to be kind Of open-air Evan
gel ical alliance. regretted very much that