Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1919-11-27

% NE would not, of course, de-
81 - scribe the Kerry roads as
" ~ good There still exist mo-
florists who visit a district not
for the sake of rushing through it as
fast as pOsSibe-they do not welcome
positively bad roads, but, given roads
which can be driven over, they are less
Keen on the goodness of the roads than
the goodness of the views seen there
from. Such, at all events, was the
temperament of our party, says a
writer in Country Life. Some one had
said: IF you don't do the coast
route from Killorglin through Cahirci-
Veen and Waterville to Parknasilla
you will miss the finest thing in Ire
land-perhapS in the British Isles" so
we turned aside at this tempting pros
pect. And we did not regret our de-
tour.
Soon after leaving Killorglin, where
the Caragh lake lies, still and black
in its opening in the hills, we began to
fore us. The road mounted into barren
wildernesSes, and on our right sud
denly the vast blue eXpanse of Dingle
bay was Outspread, a dream in the sun
shine. Grander and grander grew the
vistas across that splendid inlet of the
Atlantic, wilder and wilder the ranges
on our left. AT Mountain Stage, where
there is little railway station Though
heaven alone knows what the traffic
can beg, the scenery was as noble as
anything l have witnessed in Great
Britain.
A railway accompanies the road at
intervals during this part of the jour
ney; but it is very unobtruSive rail-
way, and appears to boast about
couple of trains per diem in each
direction. Its final objective, OF course,
is the ferry for Valencia island. And
1t is for Valencia that another of our
companions was bound-the telegraph
line. For Valencia is one of the cable
stations; and those ordinary looking
wires, nine of them only, which pass
from pole to pole along the hedge side,
are thrObbing, maybe, with messages
for New York. A curious thought, in
this solitude! But Kerry is sophisti-
Gated, in spots as it were. 1t contains
three cable stations-the Valencia is
land one. the one at Ballinskelligs, and
the one at Waterville. The result is
that you suddenly come on queer
cases of civilization: neat rows of viii
las, spick and span gardens, and
evidences-I will not say Of wealth, but
at any rate of more comfort than Is
discernible in the thatch-roofed and
generally poverty-stricken farms. A
cable terminal, you learn with sur
prise, employs hundred or more per
SOns-skilled persons, too; the kind
of persons who have to be paid a sal
airy which sounds like untold wealth
in this neighborhOod.
Happy Valencia Island.
1t was interesting to come to the
Valencia island ferry and look across
at little town as neat as some nice
French coast resort. But Valencia is
land as we found, is by way of being
both rich and happy; and even if its
cable station did not bring unusual
comforts, the Knight of Kerry is one
of those landlords who see to it that
their property, and the tenants there
on, are seemly to behold. Valencia
we all liked; it was, to be candid,
rather contrast to the nearby Cahir-
Civeen-of which small pupil had
written lin one Of the schools which
we visited) in her essay: "Cahirciveen
is town with a great many houses,
and most of them are public houses"
For all that, Cahirciveen is very
characteristic and picturesque. Be.
yond it the road was alas, pretty
rough; army lorries, we were told, had
ploughed il up, and there had been no
time, as yet, to put it under proper
repair. An easy pace was not undeSir-
able, all the same, for there was plenty
to look at. On either hand the hedges,
we saw with delight, were fuchsia-
a testimony to the climates S0ftneSS.
Everywhere we went in this part of
Kerry we were astonished at the vege-
tation. Fuchsias grew astonishingly
On Valencia island there is one colos-
sal tree of fuchsla, and here also we
saw glorious pink geraniums positively
smothering a cottage wall. Arum lilies
flourlshed like weeds in the poorest
gardens. Along the bog sides, and right
down to the seashore, there were often
acres of yellow irises.