Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-27

pathetic mission is accomplished; by some
she is thought to be direct envoy from the
spirit world; but by all she is believed to be
the temporary personation of some deceased
member of the family to which her grievous
message is brought. She is never trif1ed
with. startled or vexed; for if this should
happen the banshee would never again
honor the same family, at least for gener-
alton of time. with its tenderly plaintive
presence.
POSSESSING GREAT POWER.
All Irish fairies are capable of comforting
sure benefits, and their power for Furnishing
evil is regarded as boundless. Consequently
they are folk commanding more than ordi-
nary respect; and they are universally
spoken of either in the tender and friendly
manner of sour neighbors," or with that
delicate Difference easily recognizable in the
appellation of ''the good people" Ghosts,
phantoms and demons form goodly part of
the fairy phantasmagoria of Ireland. One
OF the most hideous of these, and vet a fell
low of infinite drollery, is the dullaghan.
He is generally found with his head under
his arm, in his pocket, or where a number of
them are together, fiinging it merrily at some
other dullaghan, or again engaged with it in
games of foot ball; and 1 fancy Washington
Irving had got an inkling of Irish dulla-
ghans before he penned his inimitable tales
of 'Tchabod Crane" and "Rip Van
Wrinkle" found them curiously occupied
in the southwest Of Ireland. The Kerry
fishermen claim that once each year, at a
certain time of the tide, ship manned with
a headless crew sails thrice around Va1entia
Island, in search of a former pirate captain,
who lost his head and ship in that channel,
in an engagement with Queen Anne's
forces. .Ballindollaghan, in County Ros-
common, was a noted haunt of these odd
creatures, and was so named in their honor.
Drumarraght, in County Fermanagh, is ''the
place of the specters," arraght being Irish
for an apparition. Then there are shirtless
goblins; for Lough Gillaganleny, the name
of several tiny lakes in ireland, means
nothing more nor less than "the lake of the
shirtless fellows" Tobertasha is q coffin
shaped well near Kilnamona, in Glare; and
the signihcation of its Celtic name, Tobar-a'-
taise, is the "well of the ghost" Killeen-
nagallive Qrish, Cillin-na-ndealbh) in
Tipperary, is "the little church of
the phantoms."
THE GREATEST LITTLE JOKER.
But of all Irish fairies the most exasper-
atingly impish practical joker is the lepre-
chaun. He has many names in Celtic, such
as luprachaun, hurricane, lurrigadane, cluri-
cane, luppercadane, loughryman, and the
correct designation from which all these
corruptions have come, luchorpan, from lu,
everything very small" and corpan, di-
minutive of corp. body Leprechaun is the
name now universally bestowed in Ireland
upon this merry little sprite He is still
more familiarly known among the peasantry
as ''the little imp in green" To hairs
breadth he is just 12 inches in height. He
is dressed in a little green coat with long,
dainty tails, bright scarlet vest, the pretti-
acfE hraa ahar. L.
held, with green silk hose, and low pumps
with buckles studded with either diamonds
or sparkling drops of dew. There is a
jaunty barrhad or cap on his head, with the
daintlest of dudheens stuck under the band
at one side. and jewel of emeralds, in the
form of a shamrock, at the other. A film of
lace made from rarest cobweb is gathered at
his throat, another foamy rift Of the same
rolls over the edges of his little vest, and he
wears wonderful fob of wrought and blaz-
Ing gold. His eyes are no bigger than dolls
beads; but they are the merriest ewes that
ever glistened; his mouth is very large from
continual laughter; and his paunch is some
thing wonderful to behold, developed into
outrageous proportion from the shaking of
his sides from uncomfortable merrirnent-
all the result of his 'jokes, deceptions and
diversions" upon those who endeavor to use
him for gain. Indeed the little fellow seems
to embody the idea of an endless torment
and scourge to those who permit themselves
to become possessed of unholy greed and
avarice.
a. Patient plodding, hard labor, and
CHEEKY spirit under deprivation and suffer-
ing, are all worthy and true characteristics
OF the lowly of Ireland. These are surely
more or less rewarded in various ways by
the leprechaun; but woe to the sordid spirit
who endeavors to amass riches through the
agency of this "little imp in green" His
is the power to give sudden and great
wealth. He has mills and mines and store
houses of treasure innumerable. He is to
every Irish, man, woman and child as the
end of the seductive rainbow and its kettle
of gold to our own childhood's fancy, with
this important difference. The leprechaun
is an entity; an actualIty. No one dare
deny his possession of all the treasures neces-
sary to instantly lift one from poverty to
POWER AND RICHES.
Thousands of aching Irish eyes have
feasted upon his gorgeous person and tantai-
izing face. Besides. you have the evidence
of scores of places in Ireland being named
from his known haunts. Near the old city of
Cong in Mayo, there is the Mullenlu-
praghaun cave, or ''the leprechaun'
mill" Here in former times good peo-
pie left their caskeens of corn at night
fall, and came the next morning to find
them full of meal, ground by the obliging
leprechauns during the night. Only the
other day 1 ascended Knocknalooricaun,
near Lismore Castle, in County Waterford.
1t is the ''hill of the looricauns," or lepre-
chauns. Poulaluppercadaun is "pool of
the leprechauns" which looked into at the
edge of the Kilorglan bog few weeks ago
over in County Kerry. And then have not
myself seen many a score of peasant folk
who have told me, as sat on the strangers
seat" by the. hobs of their cabins, from
Malin Head to Dingle Bay, OF the times
when their brother, or father, or mother, or
grandfather, or grandmother had not only
seen the leprechaun with their own ewes,
but had actually caught the little imp, and
but for their great excitement at the critical
moment, ''swate bad luck to theml'' would
have gained the great treasure? There is
no doubt about this little imp in green.
But the conditions ossecuring his treasure
trove are such that he almost invariably
succeeds in defeating your greed and max
ing you the laughing stock of a whole
county and half another, more power to
him for his cunning. If you can
CATCH HIM AND HOLD HIM
until he is compelled to yield, you will gain
all. Or, if you once catch his eye and never
remove your own, you will succeed. But
he has a gently-swung backdoor out of
every difficulty. Get both your hands about
his big paunch and squeeze him until he Is
black in the face, and he will whimper
Faith, an its yours, if I can be after tastin'
me own breathp' You loose your grip a
little, and in twinkling he has popped out
of your hands, can is givln' yez the five
fingers at his beautiful pug nose" Follow
him over bog and mountain, through fen
and glen, and corner him quite at the peak
of cloud-capped Carrantuohill, the highest
mountain in Ireland, and he is more than