Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-12-20
And no man saw her r,o,..


And no man saw her more
He returned home TO find that in his
absence she died. Tho villagers titled
the hill. Ill seasons came and sore
| sickness. Cattle died. OF the village
one sees not a stone remaining, and
many of the children of those who were
born in Gurteen. and who are now in
the States. still speak in half-hushed
tones of the awful vengeance wreaked
by the good people" of the hill.
am neither the apologist, says the
writer, a correspondent of the Courier
journal, nor Devils advocate" OF these
superstitions. | merely relate them,
and recount some extraordinary and in
felicitous condolences which befell
| spontaneously with the invasion OF their
credited domain, and which, Of course.
have intensified popular faith in faerie
power.
For instance, some years ago, when,
after the famine, the simeon OF the in
iquitous Encountered Estates Court
swept of the greater part of the Irish
gentry and placed king Stork" instead
of king Log" over the peasantry, one
purchaser, Yorkshire farmer, a kind
ly man Gan exception to that class OF
purchasers), bought small estate in
the Dunmor district of Galway County.
He lived there on the best of terms with
the people. A Mr.. Roper had a fort on
his land. He desired to cultivate where
it lay. He directed his laborers to work
at il. They refused and left his en-
ployment. He, as they were about
leaving, and as they were demonstrating
with him, began to dig up the TIA
booed" ground. 1t was in the spring
of 1858. He was a strong man, in the
| prime of life, accustomed to farmers
toll. He went to bed. and passed away
in sleep that night. What more would
you have? That night lights had
danced around the fort, and the music
Of the irate good people was heard
as il from caverns beneath the outraged
territory.
The Banshee's influence is fading.
| That weird washerwoman of snow
| white garb, who, with resonant clap
ping of hands and wailing, remained
nightly by the old dwelling when the
death hour of one of its household was
approaching. was affected not at the
sorrow to fall upon either the 'nouveau
riche," or the peasant. Her eerie notes
of anguish were reserved for those old
| houses whose owners came, it was
deemed, from n nobler stock, and in
whose veins ran gentler blood. She
chung TO them, mindless of changes OF
fortune, and regardless of differences Of
their religious faiths.
Still, though but few of her cherished
ones remain, her care of those survives.
There is one family named Lynch (this
does not mean the family of every
LYNCH, the members OF which are edu-
Gated and refined, who have had the
advantage of foreign travel and good
social status, who believe implicitly in
her visitations; and among their de-
pendcnts TO doubt them were crime.
1t is dear old belief. In the Banshee-
favored family it shows enduring pride
in that long descent so laughed at by
Tho Grand Old Gardener and His
Wife," and the strong reverence for
aristocratic claims which still impreg-
mates the mind of the Celt in his native
land.
As to marriages among the crofters,
they are generally celebrated during the
three weeks preceding Lent. After the
commencement OF Lent the young girls
are humorously pelted and sprinkled
with salt at every market place ito
keep them for another year" II is a
well-settled belief when the marriage
takes place-and it is always celebrated
in church-that II the friends Of the
husband reach the bridegoom's house
first he will survive her, and If her
friends outstrip those OF her husband
she will live the longer. The progress
| from the church TO tho house OF the
young couple is termed the dragging
home" Swift horses are borrowed,
half-drunken daredevil riders are Sc
lected to ride them. torches called Sub
rocks" arc Kept lighted along tho way.
When the race begins the road is dan
gerous for every one as well as for the
contestants in the strife for the prize OF
longevity. Carts, wagons, mule-drays.
and every class Of rural vehicle whirl
along in mad career. and many frac-
tured limb and lifelong injury attends
on the madness of the race.
Faith in the ''birl-eye." the power A.
herlted in certain bushes TO make the
wayfarer dance as if bitten by taran-
tula, abounds; and the implicit obedi-
ence rendered to the behest Of the '.herh
women" as to the direction in which
houses are to be built and the readiness