Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-09-10

distinction of dining with the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he may be given the freedom of the city of Dublin, one of the greatest honors that can be conferred upon a visitor he may even dance with the Rakes of Mallow but unless he visits Barney castle his visit will lack flavor. It is one of the most famous places in the whole world, and certainly it is talked of more than any other individual place on earth. There are pictures of it in every nook and corner in the world. Wherever the sun shines it looks down upon someone who claims to have kissed the famous stone, high up in the turrets of the castle at some time in his life. And yet, there are many who think l Blarney is myth. The writer of this article met some of them few months ago making the pilgrimage and expect 1 ing to find themselves fooled" Blarney is little village situated about ten miles west of Cork city. It is built on one of the many tributar- l ies of the one of the most beautiful rivers in Ireland, the Lee, which Fath- CT Prout, in his great song the Bells l of Shandon" has made almost as fam ous as the great stone of Blarney itself l There are many ways of reaching the little village, but the shortest cleanest and most direct is by the nar- 1 row guage railroad that starts from | Great Georges street in Cork. The depot is directly under the shadows of St Fin Barre's Protestant church, magnificent ediflce and well worth a visit. Twenty-seven cents or one shil- 1 ling and a penny is the fare. The railroad runs along one side of the street and the trolley monopolizes the other side. The silyery waters of the river Lee are with you all the way out Another way is by the Great southern and western railway and the greater part of the trip this way is l through a tunnel, and the other way is by bycycle, a favorite one with hun dreds of tourists, who "do" the island on their wheels The narrow guage l railroad is the better way of all, for 1 besides the advantages already stat ed 1t has another one, you are charg- 1 ed but penny, which is included in the railroad fare, for entering the grounds; by the other routes you are charged six pence It is said that the penny goes to the owner of the proper ty, Sir George Colthurst, whose man. sion may be plainly seen from the ramparts of the castle, behind which l 1t Is situated. The morning is the best l time to take the trip, for the weather, generally uncertain in Ireland is fair ly reliable always in the forenoon. T And if you don't happen to hear the guard shout out the names of the stations you need not be. afraid of going beyond your destination, for Blarney is the terminus. After being cooped up for three quarters of an hour you reach Blarney depot. Right across the tracks is the gate entering | Al A1na %<a Ses O freshment saIoon' where tea is the "hardest'' thing sold A sturdy old peasant takes your ticket at the gate and you follow a path with the other .i pilgrimse toathe Blarney stone, and saf- ter walking and wondering for half an hour through the fields that sur ] prise you with this verdancy, and wondering if the heavy clouds that I threaten to deluge you will be good enough to contain themselves, you finally see against the darkening sky the ramparts of the object of your pilgrimage, the famous Blarney
 castle. And then all the doggerel you ever heard about Blarney comes to your mind.
 "Blarney Castle built so nate
 The walls of Blarney are so
 straight
 But the most popular of all the song and rhyme runs thus:
 "Oh! there is a stone there whoever
 kisses,
 Sure he never misses to grow elo-
 quint,
 For he may chamber, to my lady's
 chamber,
 Or become mimber of swate Par
 liament.
 But there is said to be one better 1 hrs
 'sBlarney castle you're me darlin'
 Though you're nothin' at all but a I stone"
 It was left, I believe, to lady Duff 1 ferin, however, to make Blarney fam } ors in music, and any tourist who doubts this, may inquire of the old
 gentleman ticket collector at the gate. There Is nothing singular about the castle from the point of view Just
 mentioned to make you wonder or
 gasp in surprise, but you cannot fail
 to stand, spellbound with the beauty of the woods, the verdancy of the fields and the peculiar odor that floats across them. You stand on the little rustic bridge under which runs
 q stream that meets the Lee further
 south. There are no fish in it now nor
 have there been this many day. The
 stream runs so rapidly that a nervous person would be afraid to stand near it very long. Having taken in all that meets the admiring gaze, you walk ahead with the group of others, : all bent on the same object as you are, to see Blarney castle and kiss the famous stone, that hangs far up in the weather beaten battlements Five minutes more and you are in full view
 of a four cornered massive structure
 that stands some 13O feet on a hill
 side, but is now nothing but ruin,
 that will live great many hundred years yet, however.
 There are so many doors you are } wondering which is the right one to } pass in by, when you hear woman's r voice say "this is the way to the 7 top ladies and gentlemen. And in you :. 90. under a door way that is eighteen
 feet thick if it is a foot. Up and up
 and around and around and still ar
 ound and around and up and up you go until you are gasping for breath +on 4i,aa Tn pnOva annthaT inch