The Irish standard., 1892-02-27

out like biscuits but this is a matter OF
detail that we will waive for the present.
You take boat on the beach near the
Causeway-a beach that is loud with the
ef11uvia of burnt kelp,-and with four
lusty oarsnen breast the waves OF the
wild Atlantic. Surely the top of Ireland
| is long way out from the mainland!
The spray dashes over you in thin but
damp sheets, suitable only for summer
wear; the whole island seems to be bob
bine up and down like huge cork---a a
thousand of them piled together against
the distant sky, The scene is sublmely
beautiful.
The boatmen, who are evidently am
phibious descendants of the immortal
Fin McCool or his Scotch rival, laugh in
the tpeth Of the winds. and made & charge
one of the two great caves, where the
sea Gibbs and flows with the boisterous-
ness of 3 regular nor'wester. [ object,
but am swept il on the back of huge
roller that plunges like an enraged sea-
monster into the dark recesses Of the
cavern. The change from daylight to
the awful gloom of that interior is 80
sudden that feel [ am cast into outer,
or inner, darkness. Good San Antonio,
presrve us! He does: the very wave that
swept us in triumphantly among a
Thousand clustering columns that line
the vast cathedral of the winds and
waves, dragged us back, by the skin Of
o,1r teeth, into the midst of the open sea.
Three strokes Of the oars and we were
saved! The grand amphitheatre open to
the sea, backed by it's wall OF pillars six
ty feet in height, delighted me; also the
s'chimney-tops ps'-three isolated columns
on p1omontory, that were once mis-
taken by the Spanish Armada for the
towers of Dunluce Castle, down the
| coast; and one Of the s'chimneys' was
carried away by a ball, after which a
couple of the ships went to pieces on the
rocks below--which served them right.
While we balanced on the waves, just
out Of reach Of the breakers, the Winds
moaned among the organ. pipes chat line
ons of the open caves What sympho-
MES have been played upon the invisible
| tops of that weird instrument! What
| choruses Of wintry gales, through which
broke the wild shrek of the storm-bird
| and the desparing cries of some mariners
wrestling with watery death! Ah, Ruben
! stein, there was your orchestra, and your
tempestuous melodies, and your lyrical
tragedies in one fearful act, and never a
soul to witness the appalling splendor,
though there is room for thousands
among the ulpt,1red galleries of the
desolate theatre! Strike the pipes OF
that giant organ, and they will ring like
metal. On summers day, when the
sea is still, and the white sails go up and
down the world, there is music softer
han whisper born of the zephyrs that
toy among the columns
| While was thinking of this, four oars
men paused in the midst of their toll and
kindly showed me four boxes of speci-
mens-rock- crystals, spark ing pebbles,
chalcedony, sea moss, and shells. Then
we turned to shore, where we swung FOR
full five minutes before we bit the right
sort of roller to take us in. [ know
the emotion that stirred the hearts Of
Columbus and the Pilgrim Fathers
when they set foot Oh the solid earth
after 8 hard struggle with the Atlantic
sea. Pardon me! I forgot that Ireland
was discovered long before my time.
am in the land of the festive Orange
man, but I am not going to say anything
about it. might il Ischose, but for
that very reason I don't choose to.
have tried to countthe churches, chapels,
meeting houses, ebenezers and lecture
halls, and failed; and there are sects al
most as numerous. We know how the
blood has stained these streets. AS for
fanaticism, the two euds of it lap over in
Belfast; but they never have been, and
they never can be, tied in love knot, be
it never so loose one.
Belfast is cheerful and prosperous
city. The people begin to lose the Gel
TIC accent as you come north, and nore's
the pity; higher up, most of the inhab-
itants might easily be mistaken for
Scotch. Perhaps Belfast and the coun-
try about it please me more than any
other part of the island, although the
verdant beauty of Wicklow and Killar-
ney, az we'll as the picturesque and
rugged wilds Of Galway, can never be
forgotten by those who have had the
good fortune tc gaze thereon.
Ireland, owing to the oppression of a
foreign power, is SO lonesome, so melan-
choly, so forlorn, that when you come
upon town Of any considerable size,
you wonder how they manage to keep it
up There is plenty Of land there, most
of it rich and mellow; but it lies idle,
simply because there is no one to work
it; or worse, those who have remained at
home and are willing to work, cannot af-
ford to undertake it, they haven't pen
i ny to bless themselves with. And If they
he'd. who would get the profit on the In