Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-14
HIGH LIFE IN ERIN.
The Entertainment Furnished Visit
orS to an Irish Estate.
REASONABLE ENJOYMENT PLENTIF
Model Farms That Require a Large Corps
Of Expert Managers.
HOW PHEASANTs ARE BRED AND KILLED
tconREspoNDENcr OF THE p1spArcH. /,

the informal sort, as compared with stately
parties and receptions of a season" in Lon
don; and this is what alone really renders
| life in the country endurable to the nobil-
ity. There is no estate here which has not
either grouse, partridge, pheasant or rabbit
shooting, or the more exacting and brill
liant, because participated in by the ladies,
riding after the hounds at stag, or fox hunt,
to offer as entertainment indeed the chief
entertainment in Great Britain, to invited
guests. To nobility and gentry of genuine
quality all these pleasures, while rigidly
conventional in spots, are made deliciously
informal among themselves.
The free and easy hospitality of hunt
breakfast, with It's toothsome cold meats and
salads, its bitter ale, beer and liquors. laid
and partaken of in the dining room with no
! ceremony whatever-while the ladies are
being cared for by her ladyship in the draw
ing room-show you that even men with
titles yard long may reach, anywhere in
the world, that genial human level which so
distinguishes the great American free
lunch.
A great many social obligations are can
pitality at Irish castles. Lord This, Duke
That or Earl the Other, has entertained NIL
lord, or lady, or both, in England, or upon
the continent. The visit is returned here,
invariably for definitely understood periods
of one, two, or three weeks.
HEALTHFUL PLEASURES.
Aside from the shooting for the gentle
men, and hunting for the ladies and gentle
men, there are many means of reasonable
enjoyment Even where there is little or
no riding after the hounds, the pleasant
Irish roads and lanes often swarm with
grand cavalcades Of horse-women and men,
who thus make pilgrimages to points from
which the unsurpassed scenery can be en-
joyed; the drives are the finest in the world,
and most brilliant intercourse is had be-
tween castle and castle. Within and with
out the great establishment itself, is always
provision for almost every imaginable sport.
Billiards and tenpins are as great favorites
with ladies as with gentlemen. There is
always a superb cricket field; the tennis
courts are nowhere excelled; nearly every
castle demesne has its well-stocked streams
of trout, and its reaches of natural or arti-
fetal lakes for sailing and rowing.
Nor is this castle life lacking in sump-
tuous entertainment, for which no expense
or effort is spared. Though most of these
places are situated remotely from Belfast,
Dublin and Cork, and always miles from
the lesser railway stations, it is not an un-
common thing for extraordinary dishes to
be served at dinners of special occasions,
which, on telegraphic orders, are prepared
in London and shipped by channel and rail
distance of from 200 to 300 miles. There
are other features which are interesting as
studies but unpleasant in fact The rela-
tions between these idle, ,highly-fed and aris-
tocratic cavaliers and ladies are frequently
such as to invite that sightlessness for
which servants of the nobility are especially
distinguished; the liquor and wine drink
ing which often rounds out days jollities,
as often continue in an all-night debauch;
while the "No.-" room of every one of
these establishments is place where every
night the most desperate and abominable
gambling takes place.
GRoTEsoUE MIMIcRY.
To return to the castleli of the servants,
one discovers most grotesque mimicry, save
In bad habits and character, of aristocracy
above stairs. Among the servants there
are what might be called an upper and
lower house. Precedence is as severe a
master and scourge here as with the nobili-
ty themselves The hours for servants
meals are: Breakfast, 8; lunch, IL; dinner,
1; tea, 5; and supper from to 10. The
upper house includes the steward, butler,
housekeeper, head cook, the Wallets and the
ladies maids. These usually take all their
meals by themselves, In either the stewards
or houskeeper's room, where they also occa-
sionally lounge and do their necessary cor
respondence.
The lower house comprises all other house
servants of whom the under butler, or as
sistant cook, takes precedence. In many
houses all the servants dine together; the
upper servants assembling in the house
keepers room, from which they solemnlv
march to the servants dining hall, the lower
servants remaining standing until their
betters are seated, the butler at the head of
the table. No conversation whatever is per-
mitted while the joint is being partaken of
The lugubrious silence and austerity of this
gathering are inconceivably ludicrous.
When the meat course is finished, the upper
servants rise. The lower servants follow
with military alacrity. The former, in their
proper order of precedence, then like auto,
matte puppets march back into the stewards
room, where, in the greatest punctillio, pud-
ding and dessert are served. Meanwhile
the lower servants, relieved of the presence
of these their severest masters fall to small
talk, cheese and small beer to their hearts
content.
SOME MODEL FARMS.
In previous article 1 have shown that
from 80 to 40 servants are employed at these
castles about the household and the stables
alone. The larger establishments require
an equal number out of doors in various ca
pacities about the great demesnes First
there is the tagent," who has general charge
of the estate, indeed often the entire control
of the property. Frequently with him are
a half dozen accountants and clerks. The
next man below him is the bailif. His
province is to look after the home farm and
cattle. This is no sinecure, for on some of
the greatest estates farming and grazing are
conducted ION a large scale; and this is
entirely exclusive Of fancy farming and
gardening, in which nearly everyone
of the nobility indulges. Some
times enclosed by the inner walls
enclosing the castle itself, though
oftener at some little distance away in we'll
ordered arrangement, will be found out
buildings, graneries, machinery storage
houses, mill houses where grain is threshed
logs are sawed and feed is ground by steam,
and covered enclosures for young stock in
number and capaciousness quite surprising
to even one accustomed to the provision for
the same by the most noted American
farmers. A host of hangers-on find lazy
EMPLOYMENT here. Then upon a demesne
of several thousand acres there will be a
head gamekeeper. who will be allowed a
dozen men to assist him in breeding and
caring for the game and in protecting it
from the inroads of poachers who are often
of better quality, and far more daring, than
the village shaugran or vagabond.
FORFSTRY A SCIENCE