The Irish standard., 1898-11-19

yet the flavor of the polite Dublin speech
Of century before seemed to have been
preserved in his family.
A custom so peculiar to section
will tell more of the country of the
original settlers than even their names
or scattering words. The German
scholars, who have delved more deeply
in the Irish language and literature than
the Irish themselves, in tracing the
transmigration of the Gael from the
Greek islands to Etruria thence to Spain
and lastly, under Milesius, to Ireland,
lay some stress on the fact that in
some of the Greek islands when they
watched around the corpse of the dead
at night the old women indulged in the
caoin. and the mourners frequently ad-
dressed pathetic explanations to the
corpse, reciting his numerous merits and
asking him why he did die. The Irish
wake evidently travelled with the Gael
In the same way custom or two has
survived in the Allegheny ranges. At a
wedding. when the bride is attended in
great state from her fathers to her
future home, all the parties being mount
ed, young man on horseback bearing
Il large bottle garnished with ribbons
and filled with whisky, is given a few
hundred feet advance. and at a signal the
other young men make hot chase. The
one who overtakes him is given the first
drink from the bottle. or. as they phraze
it, the first buss of Black Bett" Carl
ton, in his Traits and Stories OF the
| Irish Peasantry," describes this custom
and seems to hold it as peculiarly Irish.
Faction fights of somewhat an Irish
pattern are by no means uncommon in
the mountain ranges. The papers a
year or two back were filled With ac-
counts of the bloody contest between the
Hattields and the McCoys in Logan
county, West Virginia. and the keE-
tucky side of the Big Sandy. That was
a mere family feud, and the incidents
were much exaggerated. There is not
a more peaceable people than these
same Logan herdsmen, as orderly and
law abiding as any, and the statements
made by the press were calculated to
give wrong notion of very worthy cit
liens ! speak by the card. for lived
among them for five years. and never
knew anything worse of them than the
customary assault and battery cases
which developed about court time, and
i'll which no one was severely hurt. But
there are factions in parts of that colln-
try as in Ireland, and all connected with
the leading families are apt to take
part on one side or the ether. About
30 years ago the Cookies and the Nc
Donalds. in the county Of Wyoming,
were the leading families. The chiefs
of each side took opposite sides in poll
tics and everything else, and nearly
everybody joined the Clan Cooke Or
the Clan-na- Mcdonald. This feeling
| showed itself in many disagreeablr
ways, but I never knew it to come to
a breach of the peace. Every one al
lied by blood or marriage with either
family stood by the connection On
one occasion heard a worthless fellow
at the court house inveighing against
the Cookies and extolling the McDon-
aids. l asked him if he was connected
with the McDonalds by marriage or re-
latiOnship. Wall" said he, mot
exactly; but Bill McDannells gev me a
frst-class bull pup, an | am boun' to
stan by the knexion."
or the many picturesque incidents
connected with the Irish settlement in
the hill section, that of one family is all
| can spare room for. John Lewis was
a native Of County Donegal, Ireland.
An insult to a female member OF his
family reused his indignation, and he
fiercely resented it. The offender had
powerful connections. and these were
aroused by the assault. The place soon
became too hot for comfort, and rather
than be subjected to continual broil,
Lewis emigrated TO Augusta county.
which at that time composed nearly the
entire western half Of the Virginia col
| ony. Here he took up large portion
of land. and reduced part of it to culti-
| vation. The savages from further west
continually made inroads upon the set
| tiers. and John Lewis who fought them
tcrcely, was Il particular object of their
hatred. He had slain so many of them
In fight that when the red clover was
introduced into the country the Indians
said it was only the white clover stained
by the blood of Lewis victims. On one
occasion the Shawanacks usually known
! as the Shawnees, attacked his cabin in
| force. There was no one at home but
Lewis and his wife. There we're several
loaded rifles in the cabin and as fast as
he discharged one. and always with
fatal effect. his wife. who was Nc
Laughlin by birth. quickly reloaded it.
He killed a number of his assuilans A
party of the neighbors at length came
to his assistance. but not until the In
dians had raised the siege and departed
in despair.
Lewis had very distinguished son,
who was born In Donegal but came here
with his father at an early age This
was Gen. Andrew Lewis. who fought
the battle at Point Pleasant in 1874 and
defeated Cornstalk and his Shawanacks
with great slaughter, breaking for /,
time the force of that tribe. Lord