The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-09-07
Correspondence Baltimore County linton.
VISIT TO KILLARNEY, IRELA1yD
FERN COTTAGE, MERE GREEN ROAD,
Four OAKS, NEAR BIRMINGHAlMsd,
RNQT,ANn Au0T1at 18th. lyUts

Four OAKS, NEAR BIRMINGHAM;
ENGLAND. August 12ths lW1.
Messrs. Editors I'm some parts of Englanu
whit-Week is kept as holiday. In Lancashire
Friday is the chief day. All business u
suspended and the school children, dressed IN
their best, with banners flying and panos OF
music, the church schools, headed by the vicar.
the Catholics with part of the girls In white
dresses and long white wells. the boys In sort
of continental uniform, preceded by the clergy,
parade through the town. It is q pretty sight.
In the afternoon each school has field and the
children have all kinds of games and sp0sts;
We have been to Dublin to the exhibition
Dublin is fine city with beautiful parks ana
large stores, but the exhibition is small. The
best thing is the Canadian Building. which con-
tains fine display of minerals, fruit and grain.
The fruit is especially fine, both as to quantity
and quality. On one side is a most realistic
scene, so natural you imagine you have only 70
walk forward and inspect the buildings. FlrsC
there is the unbroken prairie; next what mas
been accomplished in five years, showing house,
barns and cultivated fields, apd then IN Ten
years, showing vast Improvement on the nve
years, and in the foreground the native animals
including buffalo. There is also farm scene'
quite large affair, including house with porch
and vines, COWS, bundles of grain, all made OF
long climbing rose with flowers, vine and leavess
all made of the same soft material
From Dublin we went to Killarney. No de-
scription will do it justice. The scenery Is mag
nifcent and deserves its name-"The Gem OF the
Western World" The mountains, lakes, cas-
cades, the beautiful green verdure, the rugged
grandeur of the passes its history and traditions.
all combine to make visit long to be remem-<
bered.
From the hotel each day are tripsto the vari-
GUS places of interest. The fffst to the Gap Of
Dunloe begins with drive in wagonette of
ten miles, which the driver beguiled with song
and story, past large estates along road that
grows in beauty every moment. Glimpses are
seen through magnificent trees of silver lake
in the distance with mountains for back
ground then green meadows, matched roofed
cottages and peasant women offering flowers
and lace for sale, on past an old man with ahorns
who makes the echoes for penny q cents). to
Kate Kearney's cottage, at the edge of the gap.
where those who wish take pony through the
gap, a pass FIVE miles in length cut through the
slopes between the mountains. The scenery Is
wild and beautiful. Great masses of rugged rock
overshadow the pass, but the view from the top
is perfect.
On the way you pass the lake where st. Patrick
sent the last serpent in Ireland. and the story
goes that when he drove the serpents out an oid
one hid, and when all the others had been ban
ished proceeded to make great havoc, so st.
Patrick had great iron safe made with nine
strong bolts and went to the cave where the SER
pent lived. He was received in anything but
friendly way, for the serpent rose up and Kissed
at him. The saint told him he had not come to
attack him, but to pay him a visit. and as he was
civilizing the country he did not want to over
look him, so had built him very nice house
which he must go and see. They set out together
to the place where the great chest lay. "There
is your house, enter and see how you like it."
When he was inside St. Patrick shut down the
lid, drew the bolts and threw it into the lake.
The waves, which sometimes ruffie its surface,
are caused by the struggles of the only serpent
left in ireland.
A little further on is st. Patrick's cottage,
where you are offered milk with "a drop OF
mountain dew" There is also bridge where
IL you make a wish it is absolutely certain to
come true. OF course made one.
After another mile or two you come to the
boats, where lunch sent from the hotel is served
and are then rowed fourteen miles through the
three Killarney lakes. Between the middle lake
and the Old Weir Bridge is the Toothache Bridge.
The old tradition is that if anyone suffering from
t0othache Will dip their mlooie nnger IN the
water under the bridge and rub it across their
gums they will never suffer from 1t again. The
Old Weir Bridge is one of the Oldest in ireland.
A very strong current flows beneath and some
times, we were told, passengers have to alight
while the boatmen takes the boat through 1t.
which is called shooting the rapids" We en-
joyed the experience.
Down the lake you go with short stop at
Dinis Cottage pronounced >De-nis), the sceneof
the opera colleen Bawn." I cannot describe
the beauty, the placid water, islands, towering
mountains the quiet, here and there wild deer
lifts its head the tints on sky and land and lake,
the boatmen, with their quick Irish Wit IS they
stop to let US hear the echoes, all make picture
beyond my pen. We landed at Ross Castle,
founded in the fourteenth century by the
O'Donoghue, now an ivy covered ruin, and
again take the wagonette for the last two miles
through avenues of trees whose tops meet and
walls covered with ivy to the hotel and the long
bright day is done, and you wonder il Heaven
will be more beautiful than some parts Of this
world of ours. EMILIA MATHEB.