Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1881-11-16
AN IRISH UPLAND BOG.
FROM nELoRAyrA.

FROM DEL0RAvIA.
Hark A sudden sound Of wind
First, far among the hills then com.
ing nearer and nearer. The low,
sleepy lap of the water changes to O
livelier note as the waves coming
splashing up against the bank, setting
every little rush and water weed
a-quiver But it was only passing
breeze presently it dies away the
water settles TO rest with a sleepy
gurgle; the weeds and rushes leave off
quivering; the silence settles, and in
all the wide panorama of hill and plain
and sea and sky, save the birds over
head and the insects on the lough,
nothing seems 10 be living and breath.
ing except ourselves. On a bright cloudy
morning (the two adiectives-in Ire.
land, at all events-are not so contra.
dictory as they sound y tho effects of
light and shade to be seen from this
point are sometimes very striking I;
flash following flash, shadow succeed
ing shadow, so quickly, so vividly, that
the shapes are formed and lost again
almost before the eye has time to
detect them, Nay, even on a mere
prosaic afternoon like tho present
which has nothing particular in the
way OF atmospheric brillancy to boast
of, there is beauty enough, aud beauty
of coloring too, in tho scene to satisfy
even the most Unsuitable of eyes. Take
theimmediate foreground, forinstance; !;
Under the opposite bank lies broad,
inky,black shadow, above which
high cornice of ling and heather mods
downward at ITS reflection below. Yet
little further, where the ridge pro-
iects, the ripples are following one
another in long glancing lines, sending
a network of reflections upward as
they 90. Here the tints are much
more varied black up to a foot or two
above the present level of tho water,
from which point upward the rock is
dappied with lichens OF every shade,
from white TO intensest most dazzling
orange. Above this, again, the grass
and heather stretch away until they
meet the advancing line of fir trees,
whose trunks take up and repeat the
reds and browns of the bog Turning
our head little TO the right, VIC see
adozen yards, perhaps from the bank
q small rocky island, scantily covered
with thin, yellowish grass, few dilapi-
dated-looling bushes here and there
showing above the stones. Two years
ago this island was one sheet Of young
birch and mountain ash, but alas a
dry season came and the water sank,
leaving a passage for the marauders,
and now the trees have been pared
and gnawed down to the very ground
the destroyers in this instance being
not alone, ! suspect, sheep or goats
but rabbits, which swarm among the
sandhills along the edge Of the shore.
Leaving our Tough still dimpling and
sparkling in the sunshine, we again
saunter leisurcly onward, and presently
come up to the advanced outpost of fir
trees-a sorry.looking company under.
sized and i'll disciplined anything, evi.
IDENTIFY, but secure in their position,
and much domineered over by the
original possessors Of the soil, in the
shape of big thistlos and long, wiry
grasses and briers, which have their
own views on agrarian matters, and
have no notion of surrendering pos
session to newcomers especially
Scotch ones From this to the edge
the bog has been partially drained,
though already the trenches arc more
than half filled up with sphagnum,
which seizes upon every fallen stick
and leaf and piece Of bark, weaving
all into a platform upon which to raise
itself Here the walking, it must be
owned, is uncommonly bad, the ground
rising and falling in succession Of
crumbling heaps and oozy hollows
Much of it ID still implanted, and bare
save for a springing of sedums and
bedstraws and pink howered centaury,
and now and then q iurze bush. We
pass numerous bog holes, out OF which
the turf has been cut, and the water
has since got in, forming pools deep as
wells and black as tho waters Of Styx
yet even here ferns and mosses have
sprung up along the edges, and the
n