The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-09-29
NAMED AFTER THE PRINCE OF WALES
Describes the Journey in a Very
Interesting Style.
THH BIdOTRY OF Old BANBoN TOWN
Rmigrationto the United States
: from County Kerry.

1t was not any special fondness for
royalty that determined us to select
the Prince of Wales route to Killar-
ney, but rather the assurance we had
received that along this route lay
scenery almost equal to Killarney it.
self. says John Wood in the Provl-
dence Visitor. After leaving Cork OH
the Bandon line, the train passes over
d deep glen by the Chetwood viaduct.
While crossing this we had splendid
view of the city we were just after
quitting. 10 the west of us lay
beautiful, rich valley, and away of in
the distance were to be seen the Kerry
mountains sEirting the horizon. A lit
tie beyond Waterfall station we had
pointed out to us from the train the.
ruins of Ballymacadane Abbey, found
ed in 145O for Augustinian nuns. Near
by lies the remains of an old fort, at
trfhuted to the Danes. Further on we
&lided through a country uninvitins
fpr tiflage, leaving behind us Kfnsale
harbor. much admired for its natura.
beauties, frequently referred to in the
pages of Irish history. The train now
hugs the winding river Of the Bandon
until Bandon town is reached-a neat,
attractive country place. 1t was here
that the fax industry was first intro
duced into the south of Ireland by
Lord Bernard. "A
On entering the town Dean Swift is
said to have written on the wall:
"Jew, Turk or Atheist may enter here,
But not a Papist."
A wag happening to come along read
the lines and wrote under them:
"Whoever wrote this, wrote it we'll,
The same is written on the gates of
hell"
The country around Bandon is fairly
rich and productive and so we were
on the lookout for an earl or a lords
estate, because we were informed that
the lords and the earls have the pick
of the land in every section of the
country. We had not long to wait;
about a mile and half outside the
town, as the train proceeded we saw
Il large delnesne, which we were in
formed was Castle Bernard, the seat
of the Earl of Bandon.
After this we entered a barren un
productive country, famous in the
past for the making of "potheen."
Some of it is made there even to this
present day. The country seems to be
sparsely inhabited, though when the
nature of the soil is taken into ac-
count the conclusion is speedily
reached that it is densely populated,
in fact the surprising part is how the
present population, not half that OF
fifty years ago, manages to get liv-
ing out of such barren soil.
A clerk from one of the Dublin
banks, who CHANGED to be in the same
compartment of the train with us,
gave us much valuable information
concerning the habits Of the people
and their way Of living as we went
along. We had no reason to question
Vie intelligence he gave us, because
he was in complete sympathy with the
people, was of the same religion as
the majority of them, and had lived in
their midst for years as manager OF
tile branch of this bank, located i'll
Bandon.
..These people," he said, "are frugal
and sparing, but they are non-pro-
gressive, following in the same old
ruts trodden by their forefathers,
though times and conditions have very
much changed. To give you an illus
tration of this" he said, "when + was
living here the farmers all sent their
!, butter to the Cork market, where they
generally got poor prices; they would
foam and rage and asseverate they
would never send any more to be thus
z barefacedly cheated. And STILL" he
said, 'they would continue to send 1t
as before, all for lack Of the initiative
on the part Of one or more to start q
home market. Finally" he said, "a
few of us after much agitation sue.