The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1908-07-02
The BLARNEY stone,
An Old Legend Tells How It
Found Its Way to ireland.
THE MAGIC OF KISSING 1T.

Origin Of the Quaint Belief That It In.
parts to the Lips That Touch Il the
Power to Utter Honsysd, coaxins and
DsIusivs Speeches.
The barney stone takes its name
from the village Of Blarney, in County
Cork, Ireland. near which stand the
ruins Of the famous Barney castle,
dating back to the fifteenth century,
and the groves of Blarney, which en-
Joy an equally wide reputation. A riv-
Ulet flowing through them hears the
same name. The name Blarney is
from the Irish "blairne," little field,
the Gaelic form being "blair" or "blar."
plain. The village is four miles north
west of Cork and has few hundred
Inhabitants. in the groves of Blarney
stands the ruined castle, in one tower
of which is the world famous stone,
the kissing of which is reputed to
endow one with the gift Of coaxing,
wheeling and fattering.
The true stone is declared to be one
in the castle wall, few feet below
the summit of the tower To reach
and osculate it it is necessary for one
to be held over the parapet by the
heels. But so many persons travelling
In the Emerald Isle desire to report
that they have kissed the real blarney
stone that one in the top Of the wall
is held to be sufficiently near the real
thing for the fiction to be maintained
that 1t is the true stone with all the
powers Of the original. And even to
aged and intirm persons one near the
castle entrance is declared to be the
original. On the true stone, near the
top Of the tower half effaced in
scription reads, "Cormack Mccarthy
Forts Me Ficri Facit, a. D. 144G."
OF the barney stone Father Prout,
the Irish poet, declared that it was the
palladium of liberty for Erin. He de-
scries the stone and relates number
Of legends regarding it, one that 1t
was brought to the island by the
PhoeniciaEs. who are reputcd to have
colonized the region, and that it had
long been in the custody Of the Cartla-
ginians, who from it gained the rep.
utation for insincerity which is trans
mitted in the phrase "Punic faith"
and that before that it belonged to the
Syrians, who were credited with
speaking with double tongues after
kissing it. According to the story,
some Carthaginian adventures be-
came enamored Of the stone and ap-
propriated it. They set sail for Minor
ca, but. being ovcrtaken by storm.
We're driven into the harbor of Cork
and left the stone in that vicinity I'M
til it was made use of in the construc-
ton of the donjon tower of Barney
castle.
AS to the origin of the belief in re-
gard to the qualities secured by kiss
ing the stone, Crofton Croker says
that in 1902, when the Spaniards were
urging the Irish chieftains to harass
the English, the owner of the castle,
Cormack McDermod Mccarthy, who
then occupied it. concluded an armis-
tice with the lord president on condi-
ton of surrendering it to an English
garrison. But he put him off from
day to day with specious statements,
fair promises and false pretexts until
the lord president became the laugh
tngstock Of the ministers OF Queen
Elizabeth, and the honeyed and delu-
sive speeches Of the lord Of the castle
became known as mere "blarney."
The word found its way into litera-
ture in the last century. In the "Jour-
nal' Of Caroline Fox, which appeared
in 1885. there Is this use of the word:
"Mme. de Stacl was regretting to Lord
Castlereagh that there was no word in
the English language which answered
to their sentiment NO. he said,
there is no English word, but the
Irish have one that corresponds exact
ly-blarney.'" Samuel Lover wrote
"The blarney's so great a deceivcr" in
one of his Irish novels. President
James Buchanan wrote, "The general
has yet to learn that my fathers coun-
tlymen Il have ever felt proud Of my
descent from an IrishEan), though
they themselves Go blarney others, are
yet hard to be biarneyed themselves"
Washington Irving in 1.-The Traveller
wrote, $50 lie blarneyed the landlord"
James Russell Lowell in 1.-THE Fable
For Critics" says:
The cast clothes Of Europe your states
manship tries
And mumbles again the old blarneys and
lies.
The name Of the old time castle and
town has added a noun, a verb, an
adjective and particlple to the Ian
guage. The most comprehensive def
milton Of the noun "blarney" is tex.
ceelingly complimentary language;
dattery; smooth, wheedling talk; pleas
ing cajolery." As to the origin Of the
word, one photographer quotes Grote
a. crediting the derivation Of it from
the phrase clicking the blarney
stone." applied to Incredible stories
told Of climbing to a stone very Diff
cult Of access in q castle Of that name
In the county Of Cork, Ireland" But
he added that DR.. Jameson derives 1t
from the French "balwerne," "a lie;
Pvlseolo,,o n, o~a I@a-..