Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-31
WATERFORD TO CORK
Continuous Panorama OF
Flowers, Fields and Foliage
LAND OF RUINED CASTLES
Home of Edmund Spenser, 1reland's
Greatest Poet.
IRELAND'S GOOD LANDLORDS
Cork and the Corkonians-The Fa-
NOUS Earl of Cork and the
Other Big Corks.
LAND OF RUINED CASTLES
IRELAND'S GOOD LANDLORDS
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald
CORK. July o. 1905
The railway journey from Waterford to
Cork is long but interesting. The dis
lance IS short by the map, but it takes
five hours for the train to wander hither
and yon seeking the various townlets and
villages for passengers and freight. Each
pace is associated with exciting history.
and from the car windows there is con-
t:nuous panorama of POWERED fields. lus-
trous foliage and laughing streams. This
time of year Ireland is one great nosegay.
Land of Ruined Castles.
This section of the country might be
called properly 1.-The land of ruined cas-
ttss." for they are more numerous here
tfian on the banks of the Rhine. You
are scarcely ever out Of sight of a crum-
bling tower or gigantic wall wearing a
mantle of ivy. Nearly all of these ruins
are attributed to Cromwell and his Cove
PAINTERS. who now have no defenders
The religious historians and the local
guides tell us that the destruction was
wrought by that man of mighty preju-
does and purposes in order to plant Prot
eStantism upon the ruins of the papal
power in Ireland. Cromwell was I'M
doubtedly guilty of atrOcious cruelty and
II, u
innocent lives and hundreds of millions
of property. but he could not have de-
etroyed all these castles and monasterieS
If he had remained in Ireland ten times
as long he did. because many Of them
were in ruins when he arrived and many
were not built until after his departure.
Valley of Lamentation.
lorna. the Druid, prophesied that a
wind from the southeast would fell the
fraa hat Trnln 40 v,1o
ned to cross with his legions from the
Cornish coast and add Fire. as this
country was then known, to the Roman
empire The southeastern corner, the
counties of Wexford and Waterford, with
their harbors open and undefended. were
the gates through which many foreign in
vaders came, and brought death and dew
terford was called the Haven of the Sun
until the Danes came, but was afterward
known as the Valley of I4amentation. be-
cause of the mourning that followed the
battles that were fought there.
But even the invaders did not do so
much damage as domestic strife. The
kings and the clans. the Desmondes and
the Geraldines. the O'Briens and the
O'Connors. the OSullivans and other local
chiefs. who occupied the southern third
of Ireland were always attacking each
other besieging the castles Of their rivals
and often leaving them as we see them
now, green wrecks and grassy mounds.
Twin Ruins.
And they spared not the monasteries
that were built near all the homes of the
great. These were form Of munificence
as well as piety which prevailed in Italy
and France we'll in the middle ages
where every robber baron kept a small
army of friars and monks to do his pray
Ing. just as he kept sQuadronS of knights
to do his fighting So you will invariably
find in southern Ireland the ruins of an
abbey or a monastery beside the ruins of
castle Most of them are the result of
duels and feuds between the native chief
tains and their clans. although many were
left in flames and gore by the forces of
William of Orange, Henry VIII and
Queen Elizabeth, well as Cromwell
Ireland has never been at peace until
now. No soil has been fought over so
often. The mysterious round towers that
we See on the hilltops and In the glens in
all their lonely majesty are evidence that
il was necessary for the overlords to
build places of refuge and provide means
for lighting signal fires to warn their
servants against the enemies that sur
rounded them
In the Island o Rims. remembrance o. grief
Hallows the hills. when summer is slowly
Fadin' in darkness. the fall O the leaf
Makes the woods holy.
Screen the woods though the mountains are
gray.
Spring is young TO remember old dofn's.
All. but wish i was roamin' today
In the Island y Ruins