Morning journal and courier., 1889-01-12

the Trfbess,-LFnch's Castle-An
 Irish Rrutus-A Father Executes
 His own Son-The Claddagh Fisher
 men--ssYer Welcome To Ould Gall
 way, Me Buck.o
 GALWAY, Ireland, Dec. 3l.
 To the Editor of the JoURNALAND COURIER:
 There is not probably in all Ireland anoth- CT so picturesque and interesting city as old Galway. Its picturesqueness is found largely in it's location; but also to a great extent in the antiquity and quaintness of it's structures it's many and winsome crannies, corners, hooks and lanes, and the rich arch- es, gables and heraldic devices of it's moldY buildings. But it's deepest interest to the appreciative observer lies in the distinct and colorful character of it's people and those of it's environs, classes among whom are so pe- culiar that novelist or painter could here find as rare studies for pen or pencil as could be anywhere discovered within the most unique communities of Europe.
 1t is wild, drear land and coast where the ancient seaport lifts it's gray walls against perspectives of desolate. rock-coyered reach- es, the weird, lone metropolis of the west. But there is dreamful vista across the ua- iestic bay, where ships no more will come and only the fishers sail is seen, stretching westward from the huts of Ciaddash far and far to the thunderous sea. To the north creep blanched, walled roads, rising in grace ful curves, terrace-li like lengths or in sharp, zig gag lines, pushing on and over and again up the Conemara heights to the frowning headlands of wild Cloghmors. To the south lies a circling shore traced by brown and snowy lines where the fretful tides have left their spume and drift. Behind this the blue hills of Clare invite to mystic regions be- yond. and rise in graceful undulations to- wards the west until as far as the sight can penetrate, the dim outlines of grewsome Black Head pierce the horizon; and here are ever tremendous elemental struggles between sea and land. Perhaps thirty miles away, at the mouth of Galway Bay, between Black Head and Cloghmore, stand the Arran 1s- lands, where live, or exist, three thousand wretched beings whose hearts have so grown to these hags'-teeth of the that they can not be wheedled away, but stay and starve and die. North, south, west and here at the east in Galway town are the strangest, rug gedest, most starved yet brave and cheery souls that live; and between wild seaport and wilder sea naught can be seen indicating the activities of men save the ragged fishers sail, an infrequent government mail and coast-service boat, and now and then rude curragh gliding over the waters, just as it did thousand years ago; while the wheel ing guls whirl, whistle and gurgle as if in surprise at the desolate loneliness, where should ride the thanksgiving merchant na- vies of the world.
 Unquestionsbly Galway is one of the most ous city of Naganta" of Ptolemy's second century Geographic. Its records are as dim as it's olden structural glories are ruinous and defaced. But during the first fifteen hundred years of the Christian era it's trade | with Mediterranean ports was constant and | important. To such degree was this true I that it's rare old legends are as full of the half-Latin taint and the half-Moorish weird- ness as Valladolid and Barcelona are to-day rich with the arabo- morescos and arabesques which were indelibly wrought upon them | during the same period. The traces of these former far away influences finger in old Gal- l way as surely upon architecture upon peo- | ple. evidences of the latter forming one of | ! Ireland. Here are the narrow, winding streets across which lovers, friends and gos- | sips could exchange greetings and garrulous- l ness, and almost clasp hands, from upper l windows in the olden days as now. In this l dark nook are broken wall lowering upon 1 delicate balcony, minareted roof leaning upon sixteenth century shoulders, Normandy gables protruding over window-work of | flowing tracery, and arabesque devices cut l upon Efizabethan sternness of castellated
 chimney. A wild conglomorate in architec- ture seems to have taken possession of the spot, as though the fanciful Moorish thought,
 the early German point and peak, and the
 rugged Anglo-Norman severity, had, in some ethieal-architectura conflict, waged war fol leaving their impress upon posterity's sight
 and mind. In this narrow way are arch gi
 gantic, corbel huge and gargoyled, and bal
 conied lsttiee-work as light and graceful as l though the foam of the sea, or a mass o1
 spectral ferns, had been flung into tremen
 dous walls by fairy architects of night
 In that deep court are mullioned windows
 sculptured gateways, bastioned angles, iror
 wicket-work, and early Moorish filings that
 awaken historic memories of southern Eu.
 rope for a thousand years that are gone
 You will find startling similarity to the an
 cient architectural fancies prevalent in tht
 older cities of Spain, also traceable in many l of the cities of the Riviera, of memorializinf
 family history, accentuating personal distinc
 tion. pronouncing family peculiarity, belle
 or distinguishing trait, or heralding title ol
 degree, in sculptural device, over doors, or
 lintels, beneath balconies, within or upo1
 arches, and in all manner of unreasonable
 and unexpected places. No city in the Uni ted Kingdom is so rich in display of ''coat armor" It is found upon the most ancien , structures; is still profuse upon those of later period; and even in the most moderl buildings-for there are few structures o ? importance in the old city of the present O t past century-architectur and this manne a of decoration have a warm and glowing like , ness to that of the past.
 Perhaps the best illustration may be foun' t in strange old structure standing on one o @ the principal thoroughfares or Galway