Evening star., 1938-06-12

LAX, w ASHINGION.
lin with list of deans dating back to
the 18th century, among them Dean
Swift. who is buried there, not beside,
but not far from, Stella; those ex-
traordinary and unexplained huge
basalt crystals which form the Giants
Causeway;; and the recent excavations
at Tara and elsewhere, with the gen.
uine wonders that they reveal.
Variety of Sports.
Ireland has been called the anglers
paradise and there is strong justi-
fication for that designation. The
salmon taken from her large rivers
and the trout hooked in both river
and lakes are plentiful. sometimes
quite large, and, as a rule, able to
put up good fight before capture.
Then there is the fox-hunting all over
Ireland and the deer chasing carried
on by the Ward Union Hunt in the
County Meath. Horse racing Is in high
favor, and there are many race tracks,
the most important one for racing on
the fiat being located at the Curragh
in the County Kildare and for steeple-
chasing at Punchestown in the same
county. There are also some splendid
tracks for both forms of racing near
Dublin at Phoenix Park, Leopards-
town, and Baldoyle,. and for steeple-
chasing only at Farmhouse.
IriSh fbnrouohhrol torsoe o.ono;.ii.,
the steeplechasers. are famous, and,
time and again, the Liverpool Grand
National, run over AZ miles and %
terrible jumps, has been won by horses
bred in Ireland. There are, of course,
devotees of golf, cricket, lawn-tennis,
handball. swimming, foot racing, and
greyhound racing; but the great
ancient Irish games, hurting and foot
ball, revived in comparatively modern
times, are the most popular and at
tract the biggest crowds, sometimes
as many as $4,000 spectators, when
championship final or semi-final is
being played. The Irish are great
lovers of sport in its many forms.
When one comes to folklore, it is
hard to tell where to stop. The cry
of the banshee. with its warning of
imminent death, is still heard in the
land; fairy rings and fairy raths or
forts are found in all parts of the
country; whitethorn bushes and other
shrubs that it is dangerous, If not
fatal, to cut down, because they are
growing in places sacred to the fairies,
are carefully let alone. lest worse
befall; the leprechaun, with his gayly
colored costume and his little cob
bler's kit, including the hammer with
which he is often heard tapping on
tiny fairy shoe, is emphatically
asserted to be still frequently seen,
but is still just as elusive about show
ing the spot where the large crock
of gold lies buried as he was in the
days of my own childhood and for
long before that, unless reports, which
have recently reached me, utterly
belle him.
Children Lie and Listen.
In rural parts the children still
gather in force OF a June or July
evening. while the days are still long
and darkness does not fall until late,
in some field of green grass with a
plainly marked fairy ring of a still
deeper green, in order to listen to
the underground dancing of 1.-The
good people" as. with bated breath,
they speak of the denizens of Oberon's
preternatural kingdom. They hear.
or think they hear. the gentle foot
steps tripping the light fantastic toe
in the mazes of the subterranean
dance, and they catch, or think they
catch, the same dulcet strains of elfin
music as fell on Tennyson's ears while
he was being rowed through the
Lakes of Killarney-"the horns of
Elfland family blowing"
The ghost, or revenant, is a very
different sort of being. He inspires
genuine terror I have seen strong
men blench when they thought that
a ghost was around. Take the case
of Dick Lynch-but I have no time
or space to tell that story here. Any
how, I find that "the dead coach"
still rumbles UP grand avenues or
insignificant boreens. that the head
less driver still knocks at hall doors
or kitchen doors, as the case may
be: that the black dog with the saucer
like eyes that used to appear at the
foot of Cowley's Hill and elongate
himself across the road, is still up to
his old tricks. to the dismay and NOR
tification of belated youths or grown
men Of the Tam O. Shanter breed.
Political Order Changeth.
Wonderful changes have taken
place in the political order in Ireland
within the last 18 or 20 years; but,
while these are undoubtedly worthy
of attention from the student of gov
ernment, 1t is yet too early to Judge
fully their immediate results, to say
nothing about forecasting their re-
mote consequences.
There are many things to admire
in Ireland, many things to like; but
when all is said and done, her finest
exhibit is her people. They come of