The record-union., 1892-12-10

harbor mouth. 1t stands on Patrick's
Holm, or st. Patrick's Island. seven acres
In extent. Venerable, haunted and hal
lowed all. Hallowed and venerable for
81. Patrick himself raised the beginnings
OF the church on whose site the half ruins
OF a great cathedral are now found.
Haunted because of inexpressible cruel
ties and foul murders in crypts and castle
here. Through these lofty pillars, bend
ing arches, hollow galleries, and by these
dlsmantled affairs one can stride from the
nineteenth to the fifth century. In the
saddenlng echoes of the sea calls he can
hear the meanings ofimprisoned Eleanor,
the curses of Stanley, the triumphant
"Allelujah ~ of Germanus that put to
rout the Saxons in the bloody Flintshire
fields. Haunted, more than all else to
Mainland mind, because it is the abiding
place for all time of that most terrible of
Manx powers of darkness, the black and
dreadful Moody Dhoo."
From Peel to Port Erin is a match
lessly wild and romantic reach of coast.
There is scarcely break in the lofty.
precipitOus wall. And what a grand spot
is this Port Erin and environsl The Manx
Mountains rise solemn and dark behind.
The bay is an almost landlocked cove.
Tremendous Bradda Head, rising 500 feet
sheer from the sea, shuts out the bowling
northern tempests. Another headland
sweeps around and up from the south.
once the ancient port was rich from COM
merce with Ireland. Now it is dark an
tique, sleeping within bed of myrtle.
The fashionable have found it out, and
soon another gay and brilliant Palermo
will hide its ancient walls.
Now you are sped around the Calf of
Man. Bolder, grander more grewsome
still are its vast seawalls and fearful
chasms. Resistless tides gnaw at its
base. The angry spume is flung to its
topmOst crags. 1t is desolate Of human
life. millions of sea-towl wheel and
shrek above it. But one other spot have
| seen so typical of furious deSolation.
Where the Arran Island crags receive the
ceaseless poundings of the Atlantic, and
the thunders of the everlasting battle are
so great that even the seagulPs shrek is
soundless, is another such a needless
place.
Coasting along the eastern shore again,
hrst Spanish Head is passed and then
Port st. Mary. Between these is a typ
ical Manx hamlet called Cregneish. 1t is
little cluster of centuries-old stone cot
tages. Hugh walls connect each. The old
habits and dress of the ancient ManX are
still preserved by its two-score inhabit-
ants. Until recently, the Manx language
was solely spoken here. The folk are
fishermen, God-fearing, simple, good.
All the Olden fairies still live with them;
and will remain until the modern vices
come.
Here at Port St. Mary during the fish
ing season is the rendezvous of the Manx
herring fleet. If you are here at that
time, it will remind you of the animated
scenes in August at Wick in Scotland or
Lerwick in Shetland. The anchorage is
crowded with heavily laden fishing
smacks, whose brown sails shine like bur
nished copper i'll the sun, while others
are constantly rounding the point into the
bay. Small boats are filled with the shin
ing, silvery fish passing to and fro be-
tween the smacks and the shore. Buyers
carts drive into the water up to their
aXles the reader to receive the fish. y Not
hundreds but thousands of men, women
and children, all in fine frenzy of emu
latlve industry, scurrying in all direc-
tons, and clad in strange attire, fill up
the picturesque and busy scene. These
folk are nearly all Wesleyan Methodists.
They are as like the Cornish fisher folk
OF st. Ives as the herring of both and
none OF their boats ever put to sea on
Saturday or Sunday; nor do they at any
time venture upon their sea barvestings
without goodly prayers and psalms.
A little further to the north, dark and
gray, lies Castletown, now as of old,
among its darker limestone rocks, with
its ancient castle, still more som DER, tow
ering grewsomely above. This is the
remains of Rushen Abbey near, and
scene of the murder of wicked King Reg
nald by Ivar, the good Knight. The
Danes founded the castle, and it resem-
bles Elsinor of Hamlet fame. Its uses
now as a prison do not detract from its
almost ferocious grandeur. The abbey,
the last doomed suppression in Britain, is
an otfshoot OF old Furness Abbey, Just
across the channel in Lancashire, where
the bones Of many King of Man were
willed to die
Back at Douglas again from such a con-
temptation as this OF the "dear little Isle
of Man," and l warrant you are a score of
years and hundred books in advantage
over him who enters Mainland at the sea
gates of its splended town and views its
form and folk through the false prospect
i've of fine hotels, crowds of summer or
winter idlers and the misleading, gay ac-
tivities comparing with those of our own
Bar Harbor or Newport, or an English
Bournemouth or Brighton.
Here of course is some true Manx color
in the strange old closes and wynds of the
ancient part of the city; but Douglas is
essentially fashionable watering place
the whole year round. You must leave
Douglas behind to completely know
Mainland. This is no venturesome task
You can walk to the remotest portion of
the island in one day. There never were
finer roads. There never were lovelier
views. There never were quainter, more
were more simple, genial, hospitable peo-
pie than IN Man. In most countries |
have visited the peasantry are vacuous and
listleSS. or suspicious and resentful of him
who comes to spy into their ways and
poke among their shrines. The Manx
folk take it as an honor. The Manxman
Is proud of his ancestry, his history. his
independence, his changeless customs
and laws, Indeed, l often think that
much of his goodness to the stranger
comes from pity that the stranger was not
born in his fair, hberty-loving island.
And after all the real pleasure of know
ing any strange land is in getting close to
the heart of its common folk. That is
easy here. You will be thrilled bv Manx-
land scenes of mountain and coast. Ii is
a wonderful little land for foaIninp tor
rents, flashing streams, enhancing val
leys and shadowy glens. There is not
another SO tiny bit Of earth where Won
may come upon so many curious and i'm
pressive monuments of a heroic past.
Fisherfolk and Highlanders, each with
their distinct, centuries-old, changeless
ways, are close together. The murmurs
of the sea can almost be heard from high
est mountain peak. Contrast is every
where mighty and close. But it is be-
cause Manx folk themselves are more
winsome and grand than all fine sights
or scenes, that a loving, contented sense
of eXultation gladdens every step of vour
progress through all these pleasant island
ways. EDGAR l.. WAKEMAN.
Wasted Politeness.
"Why didn't you thank that vouno
man who rose up and gave you his seat ?5