The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-01-15
SEA-FARING WOMEN.
Tho Skill with Which Those Of West Ire
land Handle the Oar and Rudder.

The woIuen of these coasts and
| islands are as skiiiful as the men in
handling the oar and rUdder They
know every sunken rock and danger
Gus current Of the intricate channels
| between the great island of Aran and
and ont in al w.. hers. For many
years Grace Dating of this Western
coast. the Gaugi;f": Of a pilot who
lived on Fights Island, went out in
storm and darkness with her old
father. never trusting him alone as
she knew his weakness for whisky.
This brave girl never hinched from
facing the widest gales. fearing that
disaster might bc'ail her father, and
the vessels i: MAS h,s business to guide
10 a SAFE anchOrSac "a she were not at
the helm. MANY y .,:lip's crew beating
about between Ar;.n and Owey owed
its preservation TO Nellie Doyle. Two
sisters have taken the post boat into
Aran Or many years past. their father,
John Nancy. being now old and infirm-
The beetling cliffs and echOing caves
of this dangerous coast have a weird
charm of their own. and the simple
people born within the sound Of the
Atlantic sur,'"S cling with a surpris-
ing tenacity 20 their matched and
roped cottages. sheltered behind huge
round-backed rocks, in the hollows of
which they grow their patches of po-
tatoes and stunted oats and barley.
The number of these dwellings,
starting up OFT of what from afar
looks like a stony desert, Doth by the
sea, and for miles inland, is startling
to us who reflect on the possibilities of
subsistence afforded by this so-called
land. The unfailiug bog affords am
pie fuel, it is true, and the potato
crop, when as good as now. will last
throughout the winter.
In good season such as this the
oats have a chance OF getting stacked
before the equinoctial gales begin to
blow. Well it would be if those oats,
ground into meal, might form a larger
part of the staple food of Donegal.
Strong tea, boiled in the ''wee pot"
beside the turf embers, with bakers
bread, have taken the place of the
wholesome bOne-making porridge on
which the canny Scot still lives.
To buy groceries money is needed.
and we wonder how this can be earned
here. Kelp, or sea-weed, burning used
to bring them money; and this year.
too, thin pillars of blue smoke are ris-
ing all round by the sea, showing, let
us hope, that trade in iodine is brisk.
The fishing ought TO be a fruitful
source of prosperity to the ROSES, but
on this subject a resident writes in
1884 as follows:
ITO the north of Aranmore, seretch-
ing away to the northwest of Tory,
there is fine fishing bank, where all
kinds of fish might be caught every
day in the year with suitable boats and
gear. In very fine weather our small
craft often go out from four to six
miles off Aran Heads. Next day they
all come back laden. and after such q
take all the other boats in the neigh
borhood will go out. 1t may be that a
breeze springs up. the sea rises in the
middle of good catch, then all have
to run for home or shelter. Large,
well-fitted fishing smacks could stay
out there for days and make plenty of
money, too; but facilities for the transit
and sale of fish there are nOne."-
W'--s:an'S World.
"A disbeliever in the theory Of evo.
tuition puts the following scientific
conundrum to the Darwinians: "See.
ing that the hair ard whiskers of man
kind are as different from the hair and
whiskers of the anthropoid apes (fron
whom man is said to have been
evolved) as the fur and whiskers of
cat are different from the bristles of
pig, or the wool of sheep from the
nair of goat. how did the change in
the essence and substance of the haii
and whiskers come about" A Oar
winian replies that 1.-THE change came
about by the processes OF evolution
carried on through countless ages In
the laboratories and FORCES of Nature.
% to speak"