The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-04-30

too fearful, and too little Joyous. The
stories became too gruesome for his
nerves. He explained, poor fellow, that
he could notstand any more { f it in bis
position of isolated attachment. He did
not dare to drop off and finish his jour
ney on foot along the road-the solitude
and dusk would have been too much for
him, He felt that he must have society
that he must be with living men and
women, or die. So he scrambled up to
the roof OF the coach, and presented him
self unexpected and unasked.
We made up for him by general sub
scription the trihing amount Of his
coach fare. The elderly woman, how
ever, could not be quite reconciled TO
hia There was something unlueky,
she said, about the whole business; and
1 think she gave it to be understood that
some one of us was bound before long to
beIa ghost himself.
+ do not fancy such story as this
and I have told it with literal fidelity
could be reported of English villagers.
An elderly English woman, even in the
country regions, would assume that a
figure scrambling up ON the roof OF q
coach was man who wanted to travel
that way, and WIS nothing more.
The whole little event made deep
impression on me-the terror and the
profound conviction OF the woman, the
insupportab]e superstitious dread OF the
man. The whole was characteristic of
the Irish Celt-the undeveloped poet,
the dreamer and the believer, for whom
snadowland is as real as the next parish.
The Irish peasant in my young days
was very fond of the headless horse and
the Leprechaun, the cunning little elf
whom you could compel to reveal to you
all his hidden treasure provided only you
held him fast, and did not take your
eyes off him for one second.
But this is exactly what you could not
do. For he would invent SO many s1r~
prises, give SO many plausible and creai~
BILE alarms, admonish you in tone Of such
seeming sincerity about some danger
just at your shoulder, that You nev or
could manage to hold him your captive
You always lost your self command and
fEl,'elaxed your grip on him; and then. you
had his shrek of mocklng and eldrich
laughter for your only reward. -
Also, the Irish peasant was very fond,
in ha]f-timorous sort Of way, OF stories
about the devil. Almost everywhere in
Ireland you meet with some me1nanto OF
the devil. There is the. Devils Bit, a.
huge cleft out of a mountain; there is
the Devils Glen; there is the Devils
Punch Bowl in Killarney; there are all
manner OF diabolical "reminiscences.
In the suburbs Of the great, populous,
we'll educated city OF Cork there was in
my boyish days, and perhaps there is
now, curious, bare, projecting stone iu
the middle OF a road which was known
as the DEVILS Stone. I never could
quite make out how the legend started
which connected that particular stone
with the Evil One, but the legend was
that if you stood on that stone at mid
night and invoked the devil he would
| make his appearance and enter into con-
versation-yery likely even into negotia-
! tion-with you.
r,,oc ,L1n rov> topCcr yonra fc
get to the stone at the prescribed hour
of midnight; but I often stood on the
stone in day or dusk, aud defied the
demon to make his appearance. dare
! say that with all my effected bravery /
felt pretty confident that was cafe in
not being able to fulfill the requisite
condition, and that the enemy of man
kind would not appear. Anyhow can
positively affirm that he never did appear
to me.
In Ireland as in most other countries
where people believe in personal ell.
counters with the devil, the patron Of all
evil usually got the worst of it. He was
always taken in. cheated and bamboozled
He did not seem to have brought into
his dealings with aeshly beings very
much of the craft and sagacity with
which he was supposed to accomplish his
designs over the soul Of man.
| The same thing might be said of the
giant about whom the Irish peasant was
Wiling to hear unending legends. The
poor giant seemed to be a creature Of IN
speakable simplicity and stupidity: He
would believe anything-he could be
frightened by anything.
The manner in which Fin MacCoul
could play tricks with stranger giants
much stronger than himself, and who
had come over to Ireland thirsting FOR
his blood, was something delightful. Not
only Fin MacCoul himself but Fin Mac
Coul's wife could make fool of the big
gest and tiercest giant that ever put on
seven-leagued boots.
Many Of the popular Irish legends
popular at least in my early time-are to
be found just the same IN the pages OF
Herodotus, and very likely are to be
found in the remains of literatures much
older than Herodotus himself.
/ I do not know whether I am speaking
| Of condition of things which is abso-