The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-10-06
TALES OF TEN TRAVELLERS.
BESIDE THE WIRsoME KERRY SHORES
BY EDGAR L. wAKEAES. [oopyright, 1894. All rights reserved.l

Our Vagabond Traveier Whs nut vagabond in reality. but only In that genial suitability of tolerative spirit which had led him with receptive eyes and kindly heart among the lowly of many lands.
 He had never yet essayed the rela- tion of experience or reminiscence; and . ripple of pleasant anticipation broke over our remaining travellers faces. when, with a little half-apologetic "Ahem" he began the following recital of tender hours among Irish hearts and scenes.
 One has all sorts of good luck in get ting at the real things of life when tramping in any country.
 Lingering about Killarney, hesitant in my purpose, looked longingly to- ward the surprisingly beautiful south west coast, but felt a trifle cowardly about explorations in that direction without knowing a single human soul beyond Killarney.
 In all that splendid coast-line were scenes of indescribable beauty and grandeur; there nestled the homes of nine-tenths of the fishermen of Ireland; and over in the almost unknown re- gions of Dunkerron South, Corkaguiny and Iveragh, were some of the quaint est people of Erin, among whom finger customs, usages and ways almost as odd and interesting as the Breton laws of old.
 In this mood of indecision left Kill larney on a morning long before It's hosts of beggars and guides were astir; and, taking my way toward Dingle Bay on the great highway to Valencia, loitered along past the northern shores of Lower Killarney Lake, feasting upon the witching scenery half disclosed through the delicate morning mists.
 Before the little Gweestin River was crossed, perhaps ten miles from Kill larney, the daily ''long-car" with its load of passengers and parcels-post hampers dashed by; and shortly after, a solitary foot traveller. of dubious ap- pearance at distance, came up from Killarney way as if desirous of over taking me.
 Glad of any excuse for companion ship, I halted. But no sooner was the man close enough for inspection than I regretted my delay. He carried tre- mendous cudgel in one hand, a little package of belongings in the other and walked with bent, weaving stride, unlike one accustomed to the pleasures of the road.
 , AS he neared me his face took on a most forbidding aspect from the, clumped and shaggy hair that Lhid. his. features completely; particularly as his eyes were covered with monde script hat which had all the swails and sags, but none of the breezy pictur- sequences of a huge 'sou'wester." Nor did the hair stop with the face. His coat was flung over his arm, and his shirt, of some heavy woolen stuff like Connamara flannel, was open nearly to the waist, disclosing breast of huge proportions covered as thickly as his face with hair massed and matted in deep, grotesque swirls. As the fellow halted he stood veritable giant beside me.
 "Fine mornin';;" he exclaimed in a voice like hoarse clap of thunder.
 Same to you, and many" answered civilly, but with some trepidation; for his two great fists clutched his stick in 8 most hardy way, as one might grasp an aggressive bludgeon or rest upon a silent oar
 He looked at me curiously for mo- ment; and I now saw that a kindlier pair of eyes never beamed from & hu- man face.
 Faith, I'm John l.. Shea,
 Av swate Port Magee, Ii
 An folly f1shin'
 Upon tn deep say!"-
 he resumed, with an air of confiden- tial pride which at once set my appre- hensions quite at rest.
 
 I'll answer me thruly av yer own blissed self, I'll divide tn road wid yez fairly; as tn. bailiff gintly obsarved to tn mad bull that wor interjucin' his horns to his leather crackers (sheep-skin breechesD"
 I answered him truly" as to myself. Then he told me with deliciously To- quacious candor how he had been sent for, month before, by Father Elan nery, of Carne, away up on the howl ing coast of County Mayo, to come among the poor fishermen of Blacksod bay to "rig up boats and gear" that the wretched folk of that region, class every whit as hopeless and helpless as the Arran Islanders, might attempt deep-sea fishing; had executed his lit- tile commission, and was now proudly to the Kerry shores, having walked every foot of the distance in order to preserve intact his trifiing stipend for those he loved in the little home-nest at Port Magee. I did not say so in spoken words, but l my heart said, Brave John L. Shea, av swate Port Magee, that follys fishin' | upon tn deep sayI you are braver, bet | ter, truer, than many that have title | or station, if you have scales like a. fish | all over you and hair like beast all | over that; with no riches but your rich l brogue and a cabin and thatch and | those within 1t, between your kindly | life and all manner of harm" And our hands came together with cud, resounding whack, and our tramps' feet rang merrily over the an- cient Kerry road that leads by glens |