The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-09-12
A Holiday in Donegal.

A Holiday In Donegal.
A delightful and unconventional
holiday may be enjoyed in Donegal,
says katherine lyman in Il. P.'s
Weekly. l would begin at Ballyshan-
non, and sitting down there, 1 would
read William Allingham, whose poetry
was stepped in that place. l would
read the Winding Banks of Erne,"
and "Abbey Assaroe," and 1 would
visit the abbey and the falls of Erne
for the gentle poets sake, and 1
would think of him in those grey
streets where his boyhood was spent,
and to which his heart always turned.
I would look across the hills of Sligo,
and l would say over to myself:
1 will rise and go now, and go to Innis-
free,
And small cabin built there of
clay and wattles made;
Fine bean-rows will I have there, a
hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud
glade.
and the rest of that most haunting
lyric in modern poetry.
Then would go on to Donegal town
of the Four Masters, and see the alb
hey looking out to see, and approach
ed by a long, lonely eerie way, where
they are supposed to be buried And
that place will be full of memories of
Red Hugh O'Donnell; but to read
about him you must roam up and
down Irish ballad poetry.
Then l would get away into the
wild country of Killybegs and it's
beautiful harbor, by I<ilcar and Car
rick. At Kilcar one ought to turn
aside to see the caves of NIuckross.
At Carricll see Glencolumbkille, and
then by way of boys and mountains,
to Ardara, and by Glenties to Dungloc
and Gweedore.
But a recapitulation of the THINGS
to be seen would be rosary of some
of the grandest coasts and mountain
scenery in Europe. You will find a
straight, handsome, austerely bcauti-
full people, living out of fields the size
of a tablecloth and growing boulders
instead of crops. You will find no
bcggary, explicit or implicit, and they
will send you on your way with a
speech and a smile that will bless you
for long in your memory. You will
see the industrious young and old
tlourishing and ruined.
For this part of the country ]
would be well read in Jane Barlow
BY the way, Seumas NIcN1anus' "a
Lad O. the O'Friels" is an excellent
| companion in Donegal.
When 1 was there one had to drive
over nearly the length and breadth OF
| the country; but Mr.. Barlow's light
railways We're in the making, so much
of that is now altered. l keep a hap.
py memory Of the drive in the long
car from Donegal to Killybegs, and
the driver, willie" and how he sped
us on our way and welcomed us back
rs we returned a fortnight later. May
the sunshine rest OH his curly head
| wherever he be, and heaven grant
America has not swallowed him! II
you asked the way, through the
length and breadth of Donegal, there
flashed a smile on you, like the sun
coming out of beautiful and desolate
landscape, and the cry followed you:
Come back soon to Donegal!"
The hotels, most usually over shop
or postotlice, are clean, if not SNOWY
l shall never forget Il little inn at the
head of Gweedorc, and it's delightful
hospitality, and it's lovely, barefooted
handmaidcn, and it's infnitesima
prices. Nor shall l forget the hos
pitality of the priests, the hospitality
that seized upon one and made one
captive, and fed one, and drove one
hithcr and thther over all the beauti
full country. After ALL the priests are
the key and the lock and the door
to Irish Ireland, and no one who does
not know the priests knows Ireland
Last, but not least, l would carry ii
my hand constantly Mr.. Stephe,
Gwynns "Highways and Byways il
Donegal which makes of the guide
book literature.