The San Francisco call., 1899-08-13

believe that its consecrated waters have
power to heal all kinds of diseases, max
ing the blind to see, the lame TO walk, tne
deaf to hear.
At certain seasons immense crowds as
semble here, bringing their sick children
and ailing animals to battle in the sacred
waters Upon the bushes and neighbor-
ing crosses hang fragments of clothes
and halters. proving that for the various
animals, biped and quadruped, the lake
has performed the anticipated miracles.
The sacred character of Gaugane Barra
has a 80 1t rs Sad rs6 g0m
eel. Legend has it that in other lake dis
tricts this monster often makes his ap-
pearance- at night and gobbles up. the
inhabitants. In ancient times the blessed
Isle of Saint Fin Bar was also subject to
having snatched the loneen, or holy wa
ter vessel, from the hand of the officiat-
ing priest, he was expelled forever from
the neighborhoOd.
to go through the celebrated pass Of
Keim- -an-eigh, or Deer Pass, which is
utterly desolate and gloomy. noun
of nature and the narrow pass, about two
miles in length, is overhung on either
side. At every step some huge rock juts
sumed a more appalling aspect or mani
tested more stern resolve to dwell in
her own loneliness and grandeur, undis-
turbed by any living thing, for even the
birds shun a solitude so awful, and the
hum of the bee or the chirp of the grass
hopper is never heard within its pre-
cincts. Protected by these fortresses Of
rocks, ages ago the outlawed O'Sullivans
and O'Learys kept their freedom and
laughed to scorn the sword and fetter OF
the Saxon, occasionally descending and
raiding the neighboring f1ocks and herds
As may be expected in modern times,
to bands of lawlesS men, to smugglerS
and highway robbers. During the dis
turbances of 1922 the Pass of Keim-an-
hn
rebels.
But it would be easy to write book
of legend and story and romance that
one gathers in even a little trip in Ireland.
Every lake and every river has its story,
which the most intelligent Irishman half
believes in spite of himself. Glengariff
places in Ireland. They are both very
beautiful, but of course the romance -
spoiled by the presence of the up-to-date
girl who stares at you through a lorg-
nette and the chappie radiant in summer
resort costume. 1t is the fashion to rave
about the lakes and rills Of Killarney,
so l shall refrain.
Ireland as a country I am afraid is
dead-.gone up the fiume," as the back
woodsman would say. To a Catholic
priest whom | heard lamenting the situ-
alton 1 put the question, What can be-
done about it; what is the possible rem
edy?"
"Ah," he said, shaking his head sadly,
there is no remedy. Even the landlords
are poor. In depressing the tenants they
have killed the goose that laid the golden
egg. Last year $1,000 marriagable girls
emigrated; this year there will be more.
What can you expect when the youth of
a country deserts it in that fashion,"
There was something of reproach in his
tones against these deserters. and yet he
acknowledged that these same emigrants
made it possible for the old people to
live. There are hundreds of them, he
told me, entirely dependant on what they
receive from America.
Dr. Johnson one day said to Boswell
that the best prospect a Scotchman could
have was when he turned his face to-
ward England. l thought of this re-
mark when I saw the ships in tie
Queenstown harbor pointing toward Am
erica. There is no doubt about 1.-THE
best prospect an 1rishman can have Is
when he looks seriously at one of these.
GENEVIEVE GREEN,