Barbour County index., 1910-04-13
CARRICKSHOCK
BY Seunads
Mac Manus


line; and remembering that this was
not far from Carrickshock. made en-
quiries and learned that l had but
seven miles of hill to ride when the
town of the Battle of the Tithes would
greet me. 1t was a sultry afternoon
and the road for the first few miles
had surface which, among all the
Irish road surfaces in Ireland, was
distinguished for it's vileness. They
call it The Main Road said to me
a poor, ragged fellow who was alter.
nately coaxing and coercing heavily
laden mule. They call it The Main
Road an begorra, it's the mainest
road I've ever met with in all me born
days" And he spoke truly, am sure.
But when, after a few miles, l left
this Main Road" and got upon a by.
road which was to take me over the
hills, l felt translated to Heaven. Even
II this by-road shot up hill and down
dale with frequent and sudden i'm
pulse, the surface was smooth, and it
was for the first few miles, at least,
heavily shaded by wood and hedge
which made it fresh and grateful. A
wide, COOL green marge extended
along either side, and wild and lux
uriant natural growth of fern, and
briar, and holly, and thorn, and birch
lined the way on both sides. The whin,
too, golden-flowered, asserted itself,
and pleased the eye at frequent inter
walls; and occasionally 1 got glimpses
of a whole hillside whose fences of
fiowered furze were like great, long,
torch-like professions. At one part of
my journey, almost for two miles,
had to walk, so steep was the hill; but
this walk was far from wearisome, so
that accompanied me by the road.
sides, and so variegated, and so grand
and extensive the view of country
that lay around me in every direction.
After l topped a great plateau, 1
found by the wayside a lonely forge
where blacksmith was making mer-
ry music on his anvil. When he came
to his forge door he gave me direc-
tiOnS how to reach Carrickshock
looked afar with him, and saw that
| from his picturesque situation he had
a view of half Kilkenny. Without
doubt, in this forge was forged long
| ago many a good, trusty pike-head,
and to this forge from the cottages
that dotted the great miles and miles
of country now visible, many an ar
dent eye, l felt sure, had, in certain
days of yore, frequently and longing
ly turned. The blacksmith, unlike the
hot in
neither tall nor stout He was small
and thin, but 1.-THE and wiry, and hard,
| knew, as nails. Potential fires Slum-
bered in this quiet little mans eye,
and | felt that if opportunity came
and his country called, he would, with
a heart and a half, do his country's
work as stoutly and bravely and well
as the biggest, stoutest blacksmith
that ever Ireland has good reason to
be proud of. When l asked for Car
! rickshock he gave me a sidelong
! glance which showed that he knew the
wherefore of my seeking that place.
Yes" l said in reply to no verbal
question asked by HMM reply mere
| ly to his glance-"Yes that's why
want to see Carrickshock." He mere
ly nodded his head in approval; and
then, with much care and kindness,
gave minute directions.
Everyone who knows Irish history
knows that the Tithe war which shook
Ireland about and after Emancipation
year was decisively settled and ended
on the day of Carrickshock. To the
ministers of the Established church
all Ireland of every creed had to give
yearly 1.-THE of their lands yield. AS
the posts of many thousands of thesc
clergymen were mere sinecures, their
churches unattended by any save
themselves, their families and the sex
ton, and since five-Sixths of the peo-
pie of Ireland belonged to another
church, the Irish nation in the end of
the ''twenties" and beginning of the
''thirties'' of the last century came to
the tardy conclusion that it was mon
strous to pay tithes to these gentle
men, and a great agitation against it
swept the land. O'Connell ever a man
of peace and opposed to bloodshed,
who, after winning Catholic emanci-
patton in 20, believed the English par
lament was a generous assembly that
would readily grant justice whenever
a wrong was made clear to them,
begged his people, who were almost
on the point of rising up against tithes
in 81, to observe the law and shed no
blood, and that he would get the great
and generous British parliament to re-
dress their grievance and right their
great wrong.
The people, obedient to their hon.
ored leader, refrained from doing any
thing unlawful and when parlia-
ment assembled in the autumn of that
year, O'Connell made one of his pow.
erful speeches, showing the iniquity
of the tithe system and demanding re
dress. He tried to impress upon the
government, too, the fact that Ireland
was dangerously near the shedding of
blood. and that in consequence an or