The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-04-22


at length to consent, so fnsistent was
the maiden. Within few weeks the
girl sickened and died and the one
little son of the man who had opened
the grave was also put under the sod
very soon after.
In the center of Muckross abbey
| rises one of the greatest and finest
yew trees have ever seen. Its
spreading branches fill the upper por-
| ton of the abbey. The trunk of this
tree when stabbed by knife spews
blood and to prevent the tree from
destruction by continuous stabbing of
! tourists and their guides an iron rail-
Ing fortified by barbed wire now en-
circles it. more than arms length of.
Legend says Muckross abbey wa.
miraculously raised Ito its present
height, and never rooted. A very holy
man Of old time who had been guilty
! OF sin prayed in the wilderness asking
| forgiveness. AS a penance he was
told to arise and 60 build an abbey at
Skeheenawava, place that he had
/ never heard Of, and was not permit
ted to inquire for, but must discover
by accident. Also, he was to erect the
abbey without the eye of man seeing
1t in the process of building. The
good man arose and wandered up and
down Ireland for long years seeking
to discover, without questioning.
where lay Skeheenawana; and after
long and tedious journeying he was,
one evening, facing down the Killar-
ney valley when he heard a shepherd
boy on one hill calling to a shepherd
boy on neighboring hill If the latter
had seen certain strayed sheep, get
ting the reply, Eyes, they are pastur-
| ing in Skeheenawava." Delighted, the
old man followed the footsteps of the
! shepherd boy till he came to where
the sheep pastured. This, then, was
Skeheenawava; and with the angels
aid that very night began the erection
of the abbey. BY daybreak he had got
it as high as the roof, but before he
could roof it the shepherd, going ear
lier on the hills to look for his sheep,
saw the structure; then the spell was
broken and the holy man could not
proceed any further. So, it is said,
the abbey was never rooted.
On the lovely island of Innisfallen
In the lower lake is a monastery which
was founded about the sixth century
by st. Finain Cam. Here were writ
ten the annals of 1nnisfallen. and
from this island the lower lake gets
the name of 1nnisfallen lake. Tom
| Moore's sweet Innisfallen is as we'll
known as it is beautiful.
Sweet 1nnisfallen. fare thee we'll,
| May calm and sunshine long be thine!
How fair thou are let others tell,
To feel how fair shall still be mine.
Sweet lnnisfallen, fare thee we'll,
And long may light around thee smile.
AS soft as on that evening fell
| When first I saw thy fairy isle!
There was one time an abbot of In
Installer. a very holy man named
Cuddy, who became troubled in mind
because he could not comprehend
eternity, where thousand years are
as one day. On beautiful morning
of May he wandered from his monas-
terry and in a remote place knelt him
down to pray with all his heart that
God might give him enlightenment
The flowers of May were blooming
around him and the trees dropping
their green boughs above his head,
and as he prayed bird in the tree
began piping song whose sweetness
far surpassed anything he had ever
heard on earth before. Momentarily
distracted from his prayer, he heark
ened to the ravishing song of the
bird. Next moment, upbraiding him
self for allowing his mind to wander
even for second from God, he would
resume his interrupted prayer. But
10! all around him was deep snow, and
snow, too, burdened the leafless
branches of the trees overhead, for it
was the depth of winter. Amazed, he
rose to his feet. He saw the track Of
his knees worn in the rock on which
he had knelt. He dazedly wendell his
way back to the monastery, at the
door of which he was greeted by an
old monk whom he had never seen
before. All the monks who gathered.
wondering, around him inside were
strange to him likewise. "Who are
you?" they inquired. And he said:
Il am the abbot Of this monastery"
But a gray-haired man was shown
him as the abbot.
He said that he had gone forth from
the monastery less than an hour ago
to pray-and the monks shook their
heads over him. When he gave them
his name it was discovered that an
abbot of that name had gone out from
this monastery on May morning $50
years before and never returned or
been heard of since. Then the inter.
probation of it all flashed upon the old
man. He told the wondering monks
his story. God, in his greatness, had
thus shown him how that centuries
could be as one second, and it was no
longer an incomprehensible mystery
that thousand years might be as one
day. He was shrived and happy, sat.
isfed and pleased. He passed into
that eternity which he had been mi.
raculously given to comprehend.