Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-09-10
HISTORIC BLARNEY CASTLE.
Tourists Turn Contortionists in Their Endeavors to Kiss the Stone The Keepers of the .Jewer'
 Do a Rushing Business.

half dozen men just opposite are doing all kinds of stunts on their backs and stomachs to give it a kiss.
 Some great changes have taken place in Ireland during the last quar- ter century, and one of them is the manner of kissing the Blarney stone. Formerly the pilgrim was jet down ov- CT the parapets by his friend who held onto his feet for dear life,for to let him go meant death or crippled for life. A few years ago two sailors de s1ring to make love to some Blarney maidens and knowing that by kissing the stone they would become endowed With q power of speech that would soften the heart of even a stone, they undertook kiss, and the humor of the enterprise so effected their friends that they released the sailors legs and down they went to tree 12O feet be low. They escaped with slight in- juries, but Sir George Colthurst, sur missing that others may not be so for tunate, had row of iron spikes placed along the top of the parapet making it impossible to reach the stone in the old way. The new way is just as different but not quite as dangerous. You are let down an opening through which, no doubt, Cor
 mac Mccarthy fired many a ball at his enemy below Your friend holds your feet and lets you down slowly. Then you turnNo your back and grip ping the vertical bars, part of the row of spikes above mentioned, you are in fair way to, break your precious ! neck and kiss the marvellous stone. There is an inscription on the stone, some say in Latin, others Gaelic, but what 1t means, or says, no one was ever gifted enough to say, not even the
 old ticket collector who is verttable encyclopedia concerning Blarney castle. | tie.
 The stone does a great business, and l Sir George Colthurt must derive quite an income from the penny head ! charged all visitors to the place. MT. Mccarthy must have been a great builder. The base of the walls of the l ruins of his castle are eighteen feet l thick and at the top about six feet. He must have lived in constant strife, l too, for every approach to the castle was carefully guarded. 1t would have been impossible for an enemy to take
 MT Mccarthy by surprise, and equally ! impossible for him to pass his doors alive if MT McCarthy's soldiers had
 only an ounce of powder and ball l handy.
 | IuG3 luIGEFUT O1 Ll0 sCdSIl6 HAS 1OllS since fallen in and been removed, so
 scarcely an idea of the grandeur of the place remains. But it's massiveness is l evident at every turn. The great ire place, large enough to roast an OK can l still be seen on what was the first floor. All the windows taper outward l until they are mere slit of about four l inches in the wall. Pieces of curiously | twisted iron are represented to the y1s- l itor as parts of the legs of McCarthy's l throne, and the woman in attendance l shows the little chapel where lady Me l Carthy and her maids and women used
 to pray for the safe return of the great chieftain. from his battles.
 The keep, great circular building
 near the castle Is almost in ruins and
 can scarcely survive very many more l years. The owl and the bat make their homes there and but for the ivy embracing it, it would have tumbled long ago.
 On the left, outside the castle, is a hugh cave, entering far up into the great hillside behind the castle. Lady Dufferin's songs ring about this great cave. It has been centuries since it
 was occupied save by badgers and wa | ter rats.
 Every nook and corner of the castle bears some name scratched into the mortar, but Sir Colthurst has provided
 a more lasting ledger At the entrance to the castle the old lady shows you a great register where you are request | ed to sign your name before leaving,
 and further out under the projecting
 ramparts of this once mighty mansion, sits colleen from whom you can pur- | chase souvenirs.
 I The visit never fails to impress one. I Within these now silent walls of this ruined fortress ladies fair and manly men lived hundreds of years ago in the very heart of natures own splen- dors and beauty, and you wonder how came it to be such a dilapidated ruin for its walls are stout enough to stand forever. We'll, here Is the story, told in the guide books (which never lie,'
 and by the way which are corroborated by the old ticket collector.
 Mccarthy was stubborn and proud, Hike all Irishmen of his time. He had terrible eye, the story says, that never failed to wither or burn what ever it looked upon in anger. A neigh
 boring chieftain thought himself as
 good a fellow as Mccarthy and there Il was freQuent trouble between them. l This other chieftain was a friend of the ruler of England at the time, who had been trying for years to induce Mccarthy to swear allegiance to him. But Mccarthy would have none of him and he bequeathed to his descendants his hatred of England. For almost Il two hundred years there was friction between the McCarthys and the Eng
 fish and at length Queen Elizabeth
 sent special ambassador to the lord
 of Barney castle to induce him to
 throw up the sponge.
 The story goes on that Mccarthy
 drank the ambassador and all his fol-
 lowing under the table and left them
 there with his glove, indicating that
 while he would never throw up the
 sponge he was ready to throw down Il his glove. Away went the ambassador
 to his queen, upon sobering up, taking
 McCarthy's glove with him. This was the first time Mccarthy had ever used her majesty's messengers in such a
 rough manner, tradition has it, indeed, that he was as soft as woman in his
 speech.
 | Tho oI1een of EngIand decided to