Morning journal and courier., 1892-12-17
set to carrying peat in oreel by a cruel

other dullaghan, or again engaged witt
 1t in games of football. It also DOS
 sesses the power of numberless devices
 and disguises of that most exasperstingly
 impish practical joker of all Irish fairies
 the leprachRun, or "the little imp ir
 green.h Everywhere in little Mainland
 where liquor is in and wit is out, wherl
 uncouth folly meets with retributiv,
 humbling, and in all those sluggish rus
 tic channels of forgivsble mischief and
 merriment where penalties are light as countryside laughter, the kindly, helpful averaging 'fphyunodderee," is ever ready
 with helping hand.
 One traditional spook which represents the evil genius of dull despair, Of dumb inevitability and of rank fatalism, glover. | through Manx tradition as black and dreadful as the gloom of the halls of Eb- lis. This Is the "Moody Dhoo." Tsnsi- bly, and as crystalized in tradition 1t took | on the form of huge, voiceless black | spaniel which haunted ancient Peel castle, ! the daring of whose satanic power by s | drunken soldier terminated in the tragic death of the latter, as made famous in ic- tion and song. Generalized, the "Moody Dhoo" is the sable spirit of loneliness, of impending danger, of irreyocsble despair. To people barren of book lore, impres- sionable with thousand misty shadows from the past, whose mental activities are chiefly in contemplation of the saddening sea and the keenipg voices of mountain winds, some form of a mental "Moody Dhoo" Is logical and inevitable presence have never been able to discover among the peasants of Brittany, of Eng land, Ireland or Scotland, the exact equiv alent of a curious sort of elf of darkness which the Manx people still possess. Ii is called the "dovinney oie" or night-man .E. l. highway, or in lonely tpots, foretelling dismal events with great volubility, but always without personal mslevolence. h. deed his hints of impending danger are re- garded as invaluable. He provides the only weather bureau the MaDx people pos sess, and on all parts of the coast his weird cry of "howlaa, howlasl" toretells an approaching storm.
 All evil spirits in Manxland are known under the universal term of "buggane. {" If the cream fails to "rise," if the crops are poor, if the catch of herring be worth less, if harm bsfall the sheep upon the mountains or the Kline and fowls at homa, if love affair goes wrong, or any Ill whatever bstides for which there is not present clear and unquestionable explana- tion, the "buggane" is held responsible Useless vexation and anxiety are thus dis pensed with, and, as 8 good Manx dame pleasantly explained: "Aw, mon, tn bupg.ne doan't mind aw blame; an its better n fsstnin' U neebors!"
 Fairy doctors and hermits are still pop ular in the little island In olden times the person and home, usually cave, of the ManX hermit wsrs s-sa-zsn4-Atad -sl.A. against harm when in a hermtt's presence. These cauny oli loafers are no longer | proof against Ecepticism, but they are we'll liked by the peassntry who hospita- bly, tolerate them. I have made the ao- lusintauce of several. One was in quite @ Respondent mood and threatened to leave his vocation forever. He admitted that the countryside people were friendly enough; but the Liverpool holiday exour- sionists guyed him unmercifully, and the Douglas hotel landlords, who had engaged him to unexpectedly appear to tourists in lonely glens, were not prompt about pay ing his contract stipend of six shillings per week.
 The ''evIl eye" is still possible to bs cast upon horses and cattle, and even upon children in unfrequented places where old superstitions die hardest. Fairies also work mischief in butter and among the fields. There are still those who prepare and sell charms not only to remedy but to ward of such ills. All but the most ig- norant of Msnxmen regard ''fairy doc tors" in a iocose spirit if its expression emanates from themselves. But among the best there fingers 8 genial tolerstion | for all these oldsn yagsries; and should e foreigner first offer the scep;ical allusion, the inherent stubborn resentment to icon- oclssm would instantly find expression in something like: 'Aw, mon, safe sides no harms side.n
 Naturally among a people where folk | lore largely takes the place of book lore omens, portents and what might with much eIaetitude be called "whimsies" are exceedinglys frequent among Msnxmen. The birds of the island and their habits provide ss many of these ss among their Irish neighbors with quicker invention and
 warmer fancy. A raven lowering near 6 herd of cattle Is an unwelcome sign. The
 plaint of the Hnnet Ia associated with the cry of lost soul. When the robin will
 not sing in church-ysrd trees the place it
 said to be haunted. A fine is still i'm
 posed in Man If @ sea gull be killed during
 the fishing season; and the feathers of tho
 poor wren which Ia so mercilessly hunted
 here on St. Stephens day are sold for tri
 fling sums ss charms.
 There is throughout the island an aetna
 dread regarding publicity of weddings
 Though all the neighbors msy be aware oi
 little details leading up to the ceremony
 households directly interested affect thu
 greatest secrecy. Cooking for the feast
 dressing and the like is often done witt
 closely curtained windows at night, snt
 when all is ready the wedding party vii
 mount an open car and gsllop away to th,
 nearest church in the gray of morning a
 though all the witches were after them
 But the arrival of the Msnx baby brings
 host of traditional superstitious safeguard
 and ominous portents into immediate ac
 tIvity.
 No one must step over 1t or walk en
 tirely around it, lest 1t becomes dwarfet
 and weazened. Amulets of undyed wool en cord are often worn around the moth
 CTS neck until the babe is weaned to war of levers. Until baptism all babes nr , quite at the mercy of the fairies. Tn , baby will remain lucky through life if 1 , first handles a spoon with its left hand , but it will come to perfect estate If , shall have repeated tumbles out of it
 mothers arms, its cradle or bed, before has attained its first birthday.
 One of the most winsome of half SC ' perstitious customs in Msnxlsnd is for th ? family on stormy nights to retire to res , at a very early hour, so that the good fsil , ies may unobserved enter to find shelte 7 and repose. A very ancient tradition ths fairy in the guise of a beautiful woms OuCO Ok luo pceL uQcu V 2 the island and then led them all over l cliff to their death in the sea, prevails g ' funyieldingly to this day that Manx vii or sweetheart will on no occasion preced = her husband, lest her chsracter for correc - womanly attributes be impugned. Th l same fairy which established this custoI l is the one which, in its efforts to esoap i Manx vengeance, WAS transformed into a wren and has ever since, on St. Stephen r day, been hunted, stripped of its feather n and beaten to death in countless number n The same unaccountsble meroilessness t .- wards the wren exists, though
 Ia The robin and the wren
 = Are Gods two holy men
 Ia in Ireland. There, in the vicinity of Gs
 way, I have seen the wTsn hunted C d Christmas day, it's pitiful remains beri |, boned and hung to tree branches, the ,e , hibition of which by children before hou d doors proving sn unfailipg prompting .. the Qift of coin or 'ssWeets n