Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-01-29
Nutes of Trarelin Gnrope.
OBSERVATIONS ON IRELAND.
BY REV. r. LATHAM.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer


-s
Written for the Yorkville EnCurer.l
elbow does Ireland look?" is among the
first questions asked by those who feel any
interest in the country. For many reasons,
very large per cent. of the people of every
section of America feel an interest in Ire
land and Scotland, that they do in no other.
The descendants of the Emerald Isle are
scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
and from Cape Horn to the Arctic lakes.
Some sections of the United States are prin-
cipally peopled by the descendants of per-
sons who came from either Scotland or Ire
land. Hence, Ireland is, to no inconsldera-
BILE portion of the people of North America,
what Jerusalem is to the Jew. In Scotland,
the grand principles of American liberty
were formulated. There is something in the
words Boutwell,, Airdsmoss, Rusterglen and
Queensferry, which kndles the fires of pa
triotism in the bosom of every American
citizen of Scotch-Irish descent. Around the
name EagleWing clusters series of events
far more Interesting, because far more tragl-
cal, than cluster around the name Mayt1oW-
er; and Robert Blair, of Bangor, Ireland, is
the peer of John Robinson, of Lincolnshire,
England.
In every section of the Southern States,
and in some sections of every State IN the
United States, there are individuals VINO,
Sin dreams, visit the sea-bathed shores OF
Ireland" It is not at all wonderful that
these persons ask: "HoW does old Ireland
look?"
BY law of our nature, we map out, IN
our minds, the general appearance of every
place in which we take any particular inter-
est. This pcture-making process extends to
every thing connected, in any way whatev-
er, with the locality no matter whether it
be small patch of ground or a continent OF
vast extent. It's rivers, its mountains, its
valleys, its cultivated fields, and it's forests,
are all mapped out in their minds. This
map has no material existence, but still 1t
has real being. To the individual who
sketched it's outlines and dotted down on It's
surface the mountain ranges and the sloping
of such maps of "Old Ireland" is equal to
the number of her Wide-scattered sons and
daughters. No two of these maps, possibly,
are alike They are the creations of imagi-
nation. Facts collected from any and every
available source, have been arranged so as
to present Ireland, not as it really is, but as
it is thought to be. That "distance lends en-
chantment to the view" is, in the case of
Ireland, partly true and partly not true. No
picture drawn of Ireland, by individuals on
this side of the Atlantic, isequal to Ireland,
viewed by the eye-vieWed as it is. The
first glimpse that the individual crossing
the Atlantic gets of Ireland is totally differ
ent from all his preconceiVed notions of the
island. He expected, perhaps, to see level
plain, elevated, but slightly above the sea.
Instead of this, he sees mountains running
down to the very sea. TO an individual
who has seen no mountains except those in
America, these mountains of Ireland pre-
sent strange appearance. At a distance
they look like huge, dark grey rocks. On
approaching nearer them, the stone fences
come into view. When these fences are
first seen they have very much the appear
ance of gullies running up and down the
mountain side. From the top of one of
these mountains the scene is very different
from that presented from the top of noun
tain in America. There is usually nothing
except a fog, to obstruct the view. The
whole country, as far as the eye can reach,
lies out before, or rather beneath the OBJ
server Congeries of mountains and lovely
valleys, watered by small, winding streams,
are seen in every direction. In summer the
fields present most charming appearance.
Every vegetable wears a delicate green.
The green is not that dark luxuriant green
that is presented by vegetation in early
summer in our southern country, but the
whole country everywhere appears green.
The ground is covered all over with pale
delicate green carpet. This green, in con-
trast with the black soil, presents most
charming variety. 1t is ravishingly de-
lightful.
A large amount of Ireland is in grass. This
of course is green. Then the crops planted
in Ireland all cover the ground in summer
With living green. The houses in Ireland
are all stone, and the pointing and plaster
ing on the outside, give them white ap-
pearance. The fields in Ireland are very
small when compared with ours, and are all
surrounded with stone fences. The number
of houses is much greater than in our cOun-
try. The roads in Ireland are generally
macadamiZed and walled in with hewn, or
dressed stone wall on each side, and the face
of the country changes often very abruptly.
All these things, when taken in connection
with its mountains and bogs, give to "Old
Ireland" an appearance grandly picturesque,
charmingly lovely, and strangely gloomy.
The name, "Old 1reland' is apt to sug-
gest that Ireland is an old worn out country.
When we Americans speak of an old State
or an old plantation, the impression is made
on the mind of those to whom the fact is
declared, that it is worn out State or plant
alton. An "old plantation" in our country
means a plantation that is rendered value
less, either by long cultivation or abusive
cultivation. Whenever the words "od
plantation" are mentioned, in our hearing
we picture to ourselves dilapidated houses,
and fields washed into gullies.
In one sense Ireland is an old country.
When and by when it was first settled no
one certainly knows. Parthalon, it is claim
ed, led a colony from the coast of the 4Egean
sea to Ireland before, or about, the time OF
Abraham, the founder of the Jewish nation.
tho1 fnllOWpG thp
Nemedeans; these were succeeded by the
FirboIgs, and these, by the Dedannans, who
were succeeded by the Milesians from
Scythia.
Whether Parthalon came to Ireland and
settled as is claimed, near Bally-Shannon
or not, we need not inquire. 1t is fact,
beyond all doubt, that Ireland was settled
long before the Christian era, but how
denselyn no one knows. julius Caesar, in his
Commentaries, describes it, giving to it the
name Hidermio. In point of fact Ireland is
certainly an old country that is, it has
been settled for long time. 1t has passed
through many vicissitudes of fortune. More
than once it has been laid waste with fire
and sword, and parts of it abandoned for
time to the wild beast. In the sense that
it is Il wOrn-Out country, Ireland is not,
however, an old country. There is no worn
out or exhausted land in Ireland. There is
some unreclaimed land in Ireland, but no
land exhausted by long cultivation, or rem
dered worthless by bad tillage.
Ireland is largely engaged in stock rails
ing. AS an evidence of this, there are eX-
ported annually, more than seven hundred
thousand head Of cattle, about the same
number Of sheep, and about four hundred
thousand head Of hogs. The increase in
stock raising during the present century has
hnnn 1nru trreat On the Qthnr hand. vow