The Irish standard., 1897-01-16


81 Theoretically sealed caskets. How many
\ among them illuminated manuscripts in
secrets and treasures of Irish history are
locked fast in the black embrace OF the
boys will never be known. But certain
it is that in the centuries when the island
was overrun by the Dane and then by
the Anglo-Nor,1,an boys were often the
depository oi sacred and ancetral relics.
The aspect Of bog is totally unlike
that Of swamp. which teens with lux
uriant and noxious life The bog is dry
in appearance, and covered with hum
nlocis Of spagnum looking like dry sea-
weed, or alta distance like field OF
stubble in winter Before the day OF
railroad traye, from Dublin to Shannon
Iiarbor and SO on to Limerick used to
be by way 81 the canal a hundred miles
long. that for iour-h ftl1s of the way trav-
ersed the bog Of Allen. 1t was one
dreary, dead level. A dixie bordered the
canal, and OH top OF this, to be above the
reach OF foods. cabins were built. rear
ing tl1eir roofs only a few feet above the
bank, from, which they could scarcely be
distinguished. \ pit was dig when a
cabin was wanted, bog. oak timbers driv-
Ell in at the cores. The earth was
BIZ. ed UP az; the roof thatclled with
spagnun. which compacts and never de-
GAYS A hole was lett for the escape OF
smoke It was astonishing to see the
swarm Of rosy, lusty children that came
out OF these huts, their healthfuncss ex-
planned BY The antiseptic qualities OF the
boys.
Where tie food is now reported is a
part Of this great bog of Allen that ex-
tends--with large areas Of arabic land III
cluded-from Kildare to East Meath,
and from Dublin to Killarney and the
Shannon Some mysterious subtcrranean
connection is established b. the rise Of
rivers flowing in three directions from
the Hill of Alien in Kildare-tlle ancient
home of Fin and the Fenians, that sur-
ny, bright er1inencc where the nlists new
er came Zip from the sea-" The Dodder
and Liffey, the Blackwater, the Slany
end the Eoync, all rise on that slope,
ard seventy-hve miles west The pleasant
waters OF the River Lea and the small
streams that tumble their lovely cascades
into the lakes OF learning, and drop to
silence into Gougane Barra, are fed by
that same mysterious reservoir that dips
under Tipperary and Limerick and crops
out again in the region Of the Flesk, a
brown suIen expanse dropped in the
airyland Of Kerry.
Great bog OF Allen, swallow down
That oGiotis heap called Phillipstown;
And if thy NAV can swallow more
Pray take and welcome, Tullamore.
Sang the blind minstrel in days gone by,
when the canal was the highway and
these two villages held precarious sta
lions on the embailkment, the only stop
ping places from Dublin to Limerick
and back
The extent OF the boys may be under
stood by the estimate that OF 10000, 900
acres of land 5000 900 is bog; more than
one-seventh of the Emerald Isle black
peat More than half Of this is Oh the
mountains, perched' at every elevation
and at every possible angle, some of it
seemingly standing on end, like the do
mains of Kiplings East Indian rajah
The bog OF Lough Neagh in Antrim is
The only other considerable one in the
,owlands. Patches Of black peat may be
seen below the. upper timber in the
mountains OF Connaught on the peaks
about Bantry Bay, along Sligo and Don
egal and even On the very bleak cliffs
Of the Isles Of Arrar, those marine senti
aels that watch over the little cargo boats
and fsllermen's curraghs that hug the
stormy coast Of the Atlantic
Singular to relate, it is the bogs that
clothc these grim citadels with tender
ness. They are not swanpy and barren
OF fauna and fora. They have their own
charm. Mountains have had hard names
hurled at them by people who do not
climb; prairie and moor are desoations
to others, and the bog has grace only Tor
the few. Ii you have lived anywhere
along the west coast Of Kerry you must
needs have known and loved the boys
that reveal many charms to those farlil-
lar. Chamber to the top Of any range
and the bog is there before YOU, at AZ
angel that makes one marvel at the depth
OF the pocket Of water that keeps the
peat moss from ttltnbling into the ocean.
Some OF it has slipped its 1noorings. for
the "glacier- planed crag-encunlbcred''
hillside has its thin coat Of peat binding
The loose rocks together.
Even here the only spots entirely de-
nuded are those lately cut and skinned.
These pits are filled with inky water.
while along the edge Of the cuttings
;ronds of 'orackcn already fringe the lips,
md spagnum throws out its woody tibers
70 bind the wound. White lowered cut
weed, seduns and bed straws, rag weed
and red moor grass spring up, and
heather bushes above the scar, giving it
the appearance Of red bog on birds
eye view. To get TIP to the spot where
plant Lie is seen to clothe the bog with
gracious form and tender color, one has
to scramble tip hill through the wood
that has been bullied and butfeted by
winds that swept clear from the rocking
h,nLs of New EoundIani