The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-09-16

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People, on travel bent, often omit
Ireland from their itinerary because
they imagine their time can be better
employed elsewhere. Now if the rea-
son for the idea is due to the fact
that they desire to flock where other
tourists most do congregate, Erin,
manifestly is not the place for them.
1t is as yet the undiscovered country,
so to speak, and therefore has not be-
come one of the stereotyped and beat
en- tracks asterisked by Baedeker.
But if the omission is not caused by
this circumstance at all, but simply
by their lack Of knowledge of the
island,-if they do not belong to the
motley throng who rush hither and
thither apparently for the sole pur-
pose Of being able to say upon their
return, 20 yes. we saw that,"-"Cer-
tainly we were there."- 1--WE would
not have missed that for the world"
then they should on no account pass
1t by.
To the persons who care for an
tiquities Erin is veritable treasure
trove; for ut is in that country where
they last existed that we find the
largest traces of those elements which
are common to all races in the de-
velopment of their primeval arts. In
the older countries where they first
existed they have been superseded in
the vast tracts of time covered by
their history. But in this little west
later, their periods Of existence were
shorter, their transitions more rapid
than in the east,-since the older the
human race becomes the more rapidly
does progress advance, and changes
follow in quick succession. So that it
is only in a country situated as Ire
land was, that we may expect to find
such series Of monuments still ex-
listing as will give tangible evidence
of the arts and customs of each period
back to that which is more remote"
On the western coast, in the Arran
Islands, are colossal forts of dry ma
sorry which go back to prehistoric
days. On other islands, as Skellig,
ST Michael, are primitive beehive huts
erected by the early Irish Christians
ipIo oL,o
iginal stone circles, cromlechs, dol
mems, 'pillar-stones," so-called Druid
ical affairs, rock sepulchres, "ogham
Stones" inscribed in the ancient writ
ing, and, to swell the list, tho myster-
ious Round Towers" not one Of the
type of which is to be found in all
England. What they were built for,
by whom. and when. is mooted ques-
ton.
To be sure the Royal Irish academy
awarded a prize to the man who wrote
an essay, setting forth his reasons for
believing they were ecclesiastical in
origin. but then it. at the same time,
gave another prize to an individual
who sent In q treatise trying to prove
they were Buddhistic,-antedati the
advent Of Christianity by centurlesl
However, as at the lowest estimate
they are about a thousand years old,
their age seems sufficient to most of
those who look at them. Several Of
these towers, 1t may be mentioned in
this connection, are still perfect.
Others are partially ruined or have
been restored. Altogether there are
upward Of a hundred which are yet
standing, or can be traced.
Coming down to later days, we
have SCORES Of romantic castles
dotting the landscape; the kind, from
which the Rapunzels used to let down
their hair in slittering golden ropes.
] remember well the first ivy -mantled
turreted pile I explored. 1t was in
County Kerry, perched upon a cras.
and looked like "a bit of Natures
primitive handiwork." indeed. One
could not possibly tell where the crag
ended and the castle began. I
scrambled up the crumbling steps cut
in the solid rock, and stood long be-
fore one of the t1replaces in the great
hall, trying to bring before me the
shadowy host,-stately dame and lis
some maiden, knight, warrior, minstrel
cupbearer. and all the rest who had
once animated the scene.
Afterward, in my walk through the
country, I stopped by the roadside to
talk to an old man watching his COW
and asked him where the descendants
of the original owners Of the castles
were. I shall never forget the express
sion of his face or his tone as he
answered: Scattered to the four
winds of heaven, Miss; hewers of
wood and drawers of water. through
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