Morning journal and courier., 1889-05-04
AFO0T IN IRELAND.

ther made gift of $10,600 to Mills college for the erection of hall of science.
 
 AFOOT IN IRELAND.
 Lingering About Killarney-A Kindly
 Companion Found In ssJOhn L.. Shea
 av Swate Port Magee,,-A Pair of
 Fine Cranes-ScenerY About Dtngle
 Ray-A Night 1n an Ever HOspitable
 Irish Cab1R-TrundlIng 60 She Fair.
 PORT MAGEE, Ireland, April g. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 One has all sorts of good luck in getting at the real things of life when tramping in any country. Lingering about Killarney hesitant in my purpose, I looked longingly towards the surpassingly beautiful southwest rations in that direction without access to 8 single human soul for friendly recognition or greeting between Cork and Valentia. In all that splendid coast-line were scenes of inde- scribable beauty and grandeur; there nestled the homes of nine-tenths of the fishermen ot Iceland; and over in the almost unknown lands of Dunksrron South, Corkaguiny and Iversgh were some of the quaintest people of Erin, among whom finger customs, usages and ways almost as odd and interesting as the Brehon laws themselves. In this mood of indecision left Killarney few mornings ago, long before it's hosts of beggsrs and guides were astir; and taking my way to- wards Dingle Bay on the great highway to Valentia, loitered along past the northern shores of Lower Killarney Lake, feasting, in lieu of other breakfast, upon the witching III &Lo IaI;a a%n morning mists. Before the little Gweestin river was crossed, perhaps ten miles from Killarney, the daily "long-car" with it's load of passengers and "parcels-post" hampers, dashed by; and shortly after solitary foot traveller. of dubious appearance at a dis- tance, came up from Killarney as if desirous of overtaking me. Glad of any excuse for companionship, halted. But no sooner was the man close enough for inspection than l regretted my delay. He carried a tremen- dous stick in one hand, little package of belongings in the other, and walked with a bent, weaving stride, like one unaccustomed to the pisAsures of the road. think never saw larger wrists and knuckles than hie; and as he neared me his face took on a most for bidding aspect from the clumped and shaggy hair that hid his features completely; psrtic- ulsrly as his eyes were covered with non- descript hat which had all the swails and sags but none of the breezy picturesqueness of huge "sou'wester" Nor did the hair stop with the face. His coat was flung over his arm, and his shirt, of some heavy wool- en stuff like Connamara flannel, was open to his waist, disclosing breast of huge propor- tions covered as thickly as his face with hair massed and matted in deep, grotesque swirls. My several years habit of tramping about the world has brought mJ own weight up tc considerably more than two hundred pounds, but as this fellow halted he stood veritsble giant beside me.
 "Fine mornin';" he exclaimed in a voice like hoarse clap of thunder.
 "The same to you, and many;" I answered civilly, but with some trepidation; for he had got his two great fists on top of his stick in a most handy way, as one might grasp an aggressive bludgeon or rest upon 8 silent oar. He looked at me curiously for 8 moment; and saw that a kindlier pair of eyes never beamed from human face.
 Faith I'm John L. Shea,
 Av swate Port Magee,
 An folly fshin
 Upon the deep say"'-
 he resumed with an air of confidential pride, which set my spprehensions quite at rest. "An' if yer afther goin' nay way, an I'll an- swer me thruly av yer own blissed self, I'll divide the road wid yez fairly; as the bailiff gintly obsarved to the mad bull that wor in- terjucin his horns to his Heather crackers (sheep-skin breeches)."
 I Unanswered him truly" as to myself. b koI1 mi Halioinratv lonnani0na candor how he had been sent for, month before, by Father Flsnnery, of Carne, away up on the bowling coast of county Mayo, to come among the poor fishermen of Blscksod Bay to ''rig up boats and gear" that the ! wretohed folk of that district, 8 class every whit as hopeless and helpless as the Arran | Islanders, might attempt deep-sea fishing had executed his little commission; and was now proudly returning to the southwest having walked every foot of the distance ir order to save intact his trifing stipend fol | those he loved in the little home-nest at Fort \ Magee. did not say 50, but my heart said ! 'tBrave John L. Shea, av Fort Magee, that | folly's fishin' upon the deep say!' you are | prayer, better, truer than many that have \ title or station, if you have fish scales all | over you, and hair like beast all over that | with no riches but your rich brogue and a \ cabin and thatch, and those within it, be- \ tween your kindly life and all manner of ! harm" And our hands came together with ! a loud resounding whsck, and our tramps \ feet rang merrily over the ancient Kerry road that leads by glens and loughs over Iveragh mountains to the sea.
 \ At Killorglin, an ancient hamlet ot | thatched cabins where everything was SC ! sunny and still that one felt all it's inhabi" \ tants must have drawn the shutters for an endless sleep, one of the most picturesque | boes of Ireland is found. It contains about | ten thousand acres, and sweeps from the | low. sandy shores of Castlemanie Harbol | back towards the south in dark, purply steps, interspersed with yellowy ridges oi \ moor to the foot lines of the mountains be- yond Around it's misty edges now and | then a tiny white cabin, like some lone and ! silent bird, specked the lower swells oi \ mountain heather But from rim to rim nc ! living thing relieved its oppressive and mournful monotony, save where here and \ there the bittern and heron, as if in queru | lous mood, gossiped and wrangled with theil \ weird, booming cries. 1 saw upon this Kill lorglin bog, notwithstanding the claims oi \ ornithologists of the extinction of this bire of commanding stature in Ireland, pair O fine cranes, lodging and skulking down iron the mountain bogglens; at which my com panion became much excited. The cause O this, as I drew it from him, was that thu \ peasantry and coast-wise folk of southwest ern Ireland have various forms of legend and prophetic lore embodying the belief tha the crane disappeared from Ireland durinl Cromwell's career of pillage and rapine with in it.: and their conviction is as certain tha the ionged~for freedom of Ireland will i'm msdiately follow the return of the crane, tn