Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1907-09-26
BY CHARLES eATrELL LOOMS.

Ing with Seumas McManus.
BY CHARLES 6ATTELL LOOMS.
Donegal, Ireland.-Holland Is noted
he world over for its %neatness.
The Dutch housewives spend a
good part of each morning in scrub.
hing the sidewalks in front of
their houses. Philadelphia is also a
clean town and there you will see
~housemaids out scrubbing the front
stoops and the brick pavements. Now
a good part of the inhabitants of Done.
gal emigrate to Philadelphia 1--WE IN
America all know the song, For I'm
on to Philadelphia In the Morning =.
Well. the third neatest place that oc.
ours to me is Rathmullan. in Tough
swiftly, in County Donegal.
Whether Philadelphia Is neat be.
cause of the Irish or the Irish of Done.
gal go to Philadelphia because 1t Is
neat, l leave to others to determine.
All my life I've read and have been
told that the north of Ireland was very
different from the south; that the peo.
pie were better off and more thrifty
but did not expect to see such scrup'
ulous neatness. The houses are most.
ly white and severely plain in line,
built Of stone faced with plaster, some.
times smooth and sometimes rough
finished, but always in apple.pie order
(~unless they were or parade the three
days l was there). Even the alleys
are sweet and clean, and where the
people keep their pigs is a mystery to
me. | snapped n but he was being
driven (nither and thither after the
manner of Irish pigs and may not
have lived in Rathmullan at all.
Here in the town of Donegal while
the houses are not Of Philadelphia
n%eatness, they show evidence of house
wifely care, and II there is abject pow
erty II is carefully concealed. Il have
been a week In ireland and / have not
seen a beggar or a drunken man, al
though l have kept my eyes moving
rapidly
How often must an emigrant who
has elected to live in noisome tene,
ments in American cities long for the
white cottages and the green lanes
and noble mountains and verdant val
leys of Donegal!
Every hotel at which | have stopped
so far has had hot and cold water
baths and | have only been to small
towns.
l heard a bathing story from a viva
cious Irish lady at an evening gather
ing that may never have seen Amerl
can printers ink.
She said that in former times a lady
stopping at a primitive hotel in the
west of Ireland asked for a bath. She
was told by the maid that a colonel
vas performing his ablutions in tle
room in which the bathing pan vas
set.
But he'll not be long, I'm thinkih'
miss said the maid.
The lady waited awhile in her room
and at last growing impatient. she
stepped u into the hall and found
the maid with her eye to the key.hole
Of the bathroom.
On hearing the lady's footstep she
turned around quite unabashed and
said, He'll be ready in a minute, miss,
He's just after gettin' out of the tub
This story was told me in a drawing,
room with many young people present
so It must be true, but candor compels
me to say that | have observed moth,
ing of the kind on this trip. There
are no terrors like those of a bath in
an English tub OF which | had occa,
sion to speak last year.
Speaking of anecdotes, | heard one
that concerned the father of the man
who showed us through the lovely
ruins of McSwiney's castle at Rath.
mullan. Son, father and grandfather
have all in their turn acted as care.
takers of the ruins, and proud enough
IL the son of his position.
But it is of the father that the story
goes.
The wife of an English admiral,
whose family were in the habit of be.
ing buried in the graveyard adjoining
the abbey whenever they died, depart.
ed this life and to Jimmy" fell the
task of digging her grave.
Meeting the admiral some two
weeks later he said, "It'll be ten shill.
ings for yon grave"
rs 1t ten shillings, man." said the
admiral, why that's extortionate.
I'll pay five shillings and that's a
shilling more than usual, but I'll not
pay ten shillings."
"Ah, WELL" said Jimmy. composed
la ttf tsn'1l mot Ton rht1ItA-. -.
I'll dig her up again." And the ad-
miral knowing Jimmy to be a man of
his word paid him what does not look
to be an eXorbitant price.
Among the most impressive ruins in
the world are those of the Grianan Tor
summer palace of Aileach on Elagh
mountain. Here IN a circular fort of
rocks some 800 feet in circumference
that antedates Christ's nativity by
from 1000 to 5000 years. II is sup.
posed to have been a temple OF the
sun w%orshippers and occupies a mag.
nihcent and awesome position from
which to see either the arrival or the
departure of the sun god, for the half
of county Donegal lies north, south,
east and west at your feet. Such an
extended view is seldom vouchsafed to
the jewellers within towns and | don't
wonder that the sun worshippers built
there a temple TO their deity.
There 1t still stands, its walls Is
feet high and IL feet thick. 1t has
been somewhat restored by DIR. Der.
nard, Of Derry, but does not seem to
vie with the Giants Causeway as an
attraction to visitors. There were
only three persons there when we
went up, but there is a holy well just
outside OF 1t and from the number of
~Laudages fluttering in the wind there
| imagine that a good many manned
people manage to scale the steep
ascent.
] said that Elagh mountain afforded