{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_49960/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_49960","id":"gutenberg_49960","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49960","summary":null,"tags":["Allusions","Category: History - European","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Ireland -- History","Kerry (Ireland) -- Social life and customs"],"text":"TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE\n\n Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.\n\n Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.\n\n Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been\n corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within\n the text and consultation of external sources.\n\n More detail can be found at the end of the book.\n\n\n\n\n Irish\n Historical Allusions\n\n Curious Customs\n and\n Superstitions\n\n County of Kerry\n\n CORKAGUINY\n\n by\n\n Patrick Foley\n\n 1916\n\n Printed in the United States Published by the Author\n\n _Erin you are still Gra-Mo-Chree._\n\n\n\n\n The Author reserves the rights of re-publication and translation\n excepting in the Irish language.\n\n\n\n\n To\n\n My Son\n\n MICHAEL FOLEY\n\n This book, the fourth of a\n series designated to present\n all essential historical information\n on this County is\n\n Dedicated\n by his\n Affectionate Father,\n The Author.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nWhile these manuscripts were in the hands of Messrs. Sealy, Bryer &\nWalker, Printers, Dublin, the late Irish rising took place. During\nthe fight, between the British military and the Irish Republican\nforces, a portion of the City of Dublin was destroyed by fire and\nartillery, including the printers' premises, together with the\nauthor's manuscripts for these books, and other works. Fearing the\ndestruction of liners, by German submarines, the author held copies\nof his works until landed in Ireland. Believing that there they were\nsafe, the copies were neglected and portions of them burned and lost.\nTherefore in the following pages the author presents to the reader\nbut the remaining two parts of a book left after the Dublin fire, to\nwhich is added a brief account of Sinn Feiners and the outbreak.\n\n AUTHOR.\n\nDated at Oakland, California, this 3rd day of July, 1916.\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS.\n\n\n Page\n\n Abduction 16\n\n All Fools' Day 76\n\n Ancient Cross Roads 76\n\n Ancient National Dances 78\n\n Ardnane 78\n\n Bally-Ferriter Evictions 78\n\n Banshee 78\n\n Barking Disease 18\n\n Battle of Boyne 18\n\n Battle of Glantarf 19\n\n Begrudging 79\n\n Bellman 79\n\n Black Death 19\n\n Black Famine 20\n\n Blind Fiddlers and Flute Players 80\n\n Blood Money 20\n\n Boats and Canoes Haunted 80\n\n Bodach 80\n\n Bone Fires 81\n\n Bone Setters 81\n\n Boycotting 21\n\n Brack-an-Tobar 81\n\n Brandon Mountain 81\n\n Brehons 21\n\n Brendon (St.) Feast 82\n\n Brigid's Day (St.) 21\n\n Cat Brack 22\n\n Catholic Rent 23\n\n Changelings 82\n\n Charity Meal 23\n\n Charms 82\n\n Cholera Plague 24\n\n Clanna-Gael 24\n\n Cloghane Pattern Day 24\n\n Cockfighting 25\n\n Contracts with the Devil 83\n\n Corkaguiny Magistrates Dislike Attorneys 25\n\n Cross Thursday 83\n\n Cromwell 25\n\n Crowbar Brigade 26\n\n Curious Customs--Introduction 69 to 75 inc.\n\n Death Warning 84\n\n Doon-an-Ore 26\n\n Easter Sunday or Sun Dance 84\n\n Eastern, Protestant and Catholic Winds 85\n\n English Garrison 26\n\n Enlisting Young Men with a Shilling 26\n\n Excommunication with Bell, Book and Candle 27\n\n Faction Fights 27\n\n Fallen Angels 86\n\n Fenianism 29, 64\n\n Forty-Shilling Freeholders 29\n\n Funeral Bells 86\n\n Gates of Glory 87\n\n Gaudy Ribbon Crosses 29\n\n Ghosts Cannot Cross Running Water 87\n\n Glas-Guineach 87\n\n Glenbeigh Evictions 30\n\n Gospels 88\n\n Great Famine 30\n\n Halley's Comet 30\n\n Harrington and Esmond's Election 31\n\n Haunted Houses 88\n\n Head Act 30\n\n Headless Coach Stories 88\n\n History of Ireland--Introduction 3 to 15 inc.\n\n Hold out the Hand and Split the Difference 89\n\n Holy Water Bottles in Canoes 89\n\n Holy Wells 89\n\n Home Rule 31\n\n Horn Dance 89\n\n Horse Shoe Nail Over the Door 89\n\n House League 32\n\n Hurley 90\n\n Influenza 32\n\n Invisible-Blood-Jobbers 33\n\n I Usga Bagha 90\n\n Ivy Day 33\n\n Judges Bringing Bad Weather to Kerry 90\n\n Kennels and Hunting 33\n\n Kerry Bonds 33\n\n Kerry Cows Know Sunday 33\n\n Kerry Election 34\n\n Kissing the Blarney Stone 34\n\n Lady Day 91\n\n Landlords' and their Land Agents' Approval Necessary to\n Marriages 37\n\n Land League and Irish National League 37\n\n Land Purchase Act of George Wyndham's 29\n\n La Varaha na Feir 38\n\n Leith Broath 38\n\n Leprachawn 91\n\n Lycanthropy 91\n\n Marriages and Weddings 91\n\n May Day 92\n\n Middlemen and the Conacre System 38\n\n Mistletoe 92\n\n Molly McGuires 39\n\n Moonlighting 42\n\n Mother Carey's Chickens or Stormy Petrels 93\n\n Mug 94\n\n Mugs 94\n\n National School Teachers Slapping Children for Speaking\n Irish 42\n\n Ogham Characters 43\n\n Orangemen 43\n\n Pagan Wells 95\n\n Parnellite Splits 43\n\n Patron Days 96\n\n Peelers 45\n\n Penal Laws 45\n\n Penitent Pilgrims of the Cat-Brack 97\n\n Phoenix Park Murders 46\n\n Pitch Cap 47\n\n Plan of Campaign 47\n\n Poff and Barrett Hanged 47\n\n Poor Scholars or Hedge School Teachers 47\n\n Pope's Brass Band 47\n\n Primrose League 46\n\n Public Pilgrimage to Brandon Mountain 48\n\n Racing at Weddings 97\n\n Recantations (Public) 48\n\n Red Coals of Fire Given Out of the House 98\n\n Rounds 98\n\n Saints' Birthdays 48\n\n Sinn Fein 49\n\n Skelligs 55\n\n Shea-Hated by the Mermaids 98\n\n Snap Apple Nights 99\n\n Soupers' Campaign 55\n\n Spanish Armada 55\n\n Statute of Kilkenny 56\n\n Steel-Pen Coats 100\n\n St. Martin's Eve 100\n\n St. Patrick and the Snakes 100\n\n St. Patrick's Day 56\n\n St. Stephen's Day 102\n\n Sunburst of Erin 103\n\n Tanistry 56\n\n Tara 56\n\n Tenants' Defense League 57\n\n Tenant League 57\n\n Thierna-Dubh's Raid 58\n\n Thomas-an-Aehig 61\n\n Tithes 61\n\n Tithes Artificial Famine 62\n\n Toothache Cure 103\n\n Treaty of Limerick 62\n\n Turn Coats 62\n\n United Irishmen 62\n\n White Boys 63\n\n Wicker Baskets 63\n\n Wild Geese 64\n\n Wreck of \"Port-Yorack\" 64\n\n Witches 103\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nAccording to leading Irish historians, close on three thousand years\nago, Ireland was fairly well peopled. Of the several tribes that\nsettled in the country, the most important colony was the Milesians.\nDr. Keating, the Irish historian, says that race of people landed\nin Ireland thirteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, while\nMcGeoghegan put this event down for 1029 B. C., and O'Flaherty, one\nthousand years before the Christian Era.\n\nAt the time of the landing of the Milesians, Ireland was governed\nby three Dedaanan Kings, viz: MacCull, MacKecht and MacGrena, whose\nQueens were Eire, Fodla and Banba.\n\n\n_The Milesians._--There were many battles fought between invading\nMilesians and the older settlers. Probably the first notable battle\never fought in the country, was that which took place between the\nTuatha-de-Danaans, who possessed Ireland for over two hundred years\npreviously, and the invading Milesians. This battle is said to have\ntaken place about one thousand years before the Christian Era, and\nwas brought about by the following circumstances: The Milesians,\nhaving left Scythia, settled in Spain, where they lived for several\ngenerations. One of their chiefs, named Ith, having on one occasion\nsailed in the direction of Ireland, unexpectedly touched the country,\nwhere he landed, with the result that he was attacked and wounded.\nAlthough he was carried away alive in his ship, he died on sea, and\nhis remains were conveyed to Spain. To avenge his death the sons of\nMilesius assembled a large force, and headed by their mother, Queen\nScota, eight of them with a fleet of thirty ships, landed in Ireland.\n\nHaving marched into the country and demanded battle or submission,\nthe De-Danaans complained that they were taken by surprise and\ntreated unfairly, and if the invaders re-embarked and retired\nfrom the shore, and if the Milesians were then able to effect a\nlanding, the country should be given to them. The very moment the\nMilesians were on the high sea, a great storm blew, which scattered\nand wrecked the fleet. Four of Queen Scota's sons perished on the\ncoast of Kerry. When the storm ceased, Queen Scota and her two sons\nmade good a landing in Tralee Bay, which in olden times was called\n\"Lough-Foirdreamhuin,\" and marched inland to Slieve-Mish. Here Queen\nScota met a part of the De-Danaan army, led by one of the De-Danaan\nQueens, called Eire, with the result that a great battle was fought\non the mountain of Slieve-Mish, in the County of Kerry, in which the\nMilesians were victorious, but the Queen fell.\n\nAfter this victory the Milesian army marched towards 'Tara, where\nthey defeated and killed the three De-Danaan Kings, MacCull, MacKecht\nand MacGrena. The Milesians then took possession of the country,\nwhich they divided between them, and gave a long line of kings to\nIreland, many of whom fell in battle and few died a natural death.\n\nThe Milesian kings, princes and chiefs ruled the country for over\n2,140 years. Roderick O'Connor was the last High King of the Milesian\nrace to rule the whole of Ireland. He reigned in 1168 A. D. The\nlargest percentage of the Irish are descendants of the Milesians.\n\nChristianity was established by St. Patrick, and judging by the way\nhe handled the Pagan Irish kings and chiefs, he must have been a wise\nstatesman.\n\nFrom 432 to 812, Ireland was known throughout the world as the\n\"Island of Saints and Scholars.\" Foreigners came from all parts of\nthe Old World for education. The ancient language of the country\nthen, as now, was Irish. In the Irish wars most of the fine Irish\narts and buildings were destroyed by foreign invaders. Probably the\n\"Book of Kells\" is the finest production of its age in the whole\nworld.\n\nLatin was the written language of England in the 12th Century, or\nthereabouts.\n\n\n_The Danes in Ireland._--About the year 795, Danish and Norwegian\npirates appeared in ships upon the Irish coast. Here and there they\nsailed into harbors, landed, ran into the country, robbed the people,\nravaged women, tossed children from lance to lance for pleasure,\ndrank the blood of their victims, imitated the dogs in their wild\nferocity, set houses on fire and successfully returned to their ships\nbefore their very presence in the locality became generally known.\nYear after year they increased in numbers. In the summer they came\nlike swarms of flies. They robbed monasteries, tore up fine Irish\narts, took ornaments off books and killed the monks. After some\ntime parties of them settled on the seaboard. Their chief towns in\nKerry were Ballinagaul, Ballylangford and Broadford. For two hundred\nand twenty years they held their criminal sway of rape, murder and\nrobbery over the inhabitants of the seaboard of Ireland. In several\nengagements they were defeated and driven from Ireland by the Irish\nkings, chiefs and princes. However, in 1074, at the invitation of\nthe Prince or King of Hinster, they attempted to conquer Ireland. On\nGood Friday, the 23rd of April, 1074, the Danes and their followers\nwere completely defeated in battle at Glantarf, County Dublin, by\nthe Irish, under Brien Borue, King of Munster. This day the Danish\npower in the whole of Europe was broken down, and their piratical\nexpeditions ended. The same day Brien Borue fell while praying in his\ntent.\n\n\n_English Invasion._--Fighting between petty Irish chieftains became\ncommon. Following the example set by the Danes, the rule of might,\nnot right, was very much practiced. Just as the people were settling\ndown in peace, the Prince of Linster induced the wife of another\nIrish prince or governor to elope with him. Ireland was now divided.\nThere were circumstances in the case which in the opinion of many\ndid not justify the marriage of the Princess to O'Rourke. The High\nKing of Ireland and the Irish could not stand the disgrace of such\nan act to occur on Irish soil, and consequently declared war on the\nPrince of Linster. The Prince of Linster appealed to King Henry II\nof England for aid. The kings, princes and people of Ireland stood\nfor virtue, while the English king and his barons under the color and\npretense of restoring virtue to Ireland, stood for a licentious old\nman and introduced rape, plunder and murder into the country.\n\nIn 1170, Richard Clare, commonly called the Earl of Strongbow, on\nbehalf of the King of England, landed in Ireland. In 1171 the King\nof England in person visited Ireland. He produced the Pope's Bull,\nshowing that he had authority from Rome to establish virtue, settle\nand possess Ireland. The majority of the Irish chieftains refused to\nrecognize the King of England, no matter from whom he pretended to\npossess the authority.\n\nThese are the circumstances which brought about the first Norman\nEnglish raids on the peaceful valleys of Ireland. Little by little\nthe English succeeded in establishing a foothold on Irish soil. It\ntook the English over four hundred years to completely conquer the\nwhole island. After some time the English in Ireland became more\nIrish than the Irish themselves, but they had to get the \"fat\" of the\nland; they even appointed their own clergy, although both at the time\nwere Roman Catholics.\n\n\n_The Protestant Reformation._--The most of the districts in Ireland\nwere governed by their own independent native chieftains, although\nthey were supposed to be under English rule. When the Protestant\nreformation burst forth, King Henry VIII of England hunted Luther and\nother Protestant reformers out of England. The Pope conferred upon\nhim the title of \"King Defender of the Faith.\"\n\nThis King Henry married his deceased brother's wife before the\nmarriage of the latter was fully consummated. It is a settled\ndoctrine of the Catholic Church that when both parties to a marriage\nenter into it of their own free will and accord, and that no\nmoral objection is standing in the way of the ceremony, upon the\nconsummation of marriage no priest nor power on earth can divorce and\nreligiously remarry any of the parties while they both live.[1] Henry\nVIII knew this. After being for twenty years married, he pretended\nto feel frightfully uneasy because \"it was wrong for him to marry his\nbrother's wife\" after the brother's death. He applied for a divorce\nto the Pope, and the Pope refused to grant him a divorce. He at once\nestablished his own ecclesiastical courts, declared himself head\nof the Church, and his courts at once granted him a divorce from\nhis lawful wife. Immediately he married one Anne Boleyn, whom he\ndivorced and killed for another wife. In all he had six wives, one\nof whom he caused to be ripped open on child's birth. He seized and\nconfiscated the churches, chapels and all religious houses in England\nand converted them to his own use. Of course these acts were resisted\nwith bloodshed.\n\nThe foundation on which the Protestant Reformation was founded in\nEngland, was born in lust, murder and plunder. The British sovereign\ndeclared himself supreme head of the Church on earth, and substituted\nthe parson for the priest. Henry VIII attempted to introduce his\nnew-made religion into Ireland. This religion was not Catholic nor\nwas it Protestant. Ireland rejected it and Henry VIII was not able to\nenforce his orders there.\n\nIn the year 1553, Edward VI died, and Queen Mary, daughter of Henry\nand of Catherine of Aragon, became Queen of England. This Queen\nwas a staunch Roman Catholic. Maddened at the ill-treatment of her\nmother at the hands of Henry VIII, his ministers, the ecclesiastical\ncourts and reformers, she restored the Catholic religion, recovered\nCatholic churches, monasteries and like property, and tortured and\nburned Protestant leaders, especially those who refused to deliver up\nthe property. By Protestant historians she is styled \"Bloody Mary.\"\nAs Ireland was always Catholic, her reign there did not cause much\ndisturbance.\n\n\n_Queen Elizabeth._--After her came Queen Elizabeth, called the\n\"Virgin Queen\" by Protestants, because she never married. However,\nshe was the reverse of a virgin. She declared herself a Catholic, but\nwhen the Pope was notified that she ascended the throne by hereditary\nrights and the will of the people, it appears he made use of some\nlanguage to the effect that he did not see how she could claim the\nCrown of England by hereditary rights, as she was the daughter of\nHenry VIII with Anne Boleyn while his first wife was alive. Queen\nElizabeth, fearing the influence of Rome might deprive her of the\ncrown, at once declared herself a Protestant.\n\nDuring her long reign, Catholic Ireland became her greatest slaughter\nfield. Although in the Protestant Bible she is said to be the \"bright\noccidental star,\" \"of most happy memory,\" the truth is that she did\nnot care much for any religion, but used Protestantism as the most\nfavorable one to gain her ends. Bad as \"Bloody Mary\" was, her reign\nwas a mild one when compared with \"virgin\" Elizabeth. England became\nworse in those days than Mexico of today. The instruments of torture\nin the Tower of London bear silent evidence of many dark crimes.\n\n\n_Charles I Beheaded._--After this hateful Queen dying, James I, son\nof Mary, Queen of the Scots, came upon the throne. He was followed\nby King Charles I, whom over a question of a little tax, Cromwell\nbeheaded and established the Commonwealth. Cromwell did not confine\nhis butchery to England; he landed in Ireland, took Drogheda, killed\nwomen and children and put the priests to the sword; he caused both\nthe real and personal estate of the people to be seized and had\nthe lands parcelled up amongst his officers or \"gamesters.\" These,\ntogether with some of Queen Elizabeth's followers, became Irish\nlandlords and tyrants of the worst kind. The people who reclaimed,\ntilled, improved and erected buildings on those lands, could not\nunderstand how a foreigner who never tilled or improved one inch\nof land could claim ownership of everything which the farmer\nraised. For two hundred and fifty years, war has gone on between\nthe landlords and the tillers of the soil. Today the descendants of\nancient occupiers of the holdings are repossessing same and Cromwell\nlandlords are disappearing.\n\n\n_Cromwell._--When Cromwell died, England did not become a Republic,\nand again a king in the person of Charles II ascended the throne.\n\n\n_King James II and the Battle of the Boyne._--The next most important\nevent in Irish history is the Battle of the Boyne--the disgraceful\nboast of some Englishmen--fought in Ireland between King James II\nof England, a Catholic, of the Stuart family, and his son-in-law,\nWilliam of Orange from Holland. In America this war is called a\nreligious war, fought between Catholics and Protestants. It is true\nthat because this king declared himself openly a Roman Catholic,\nProtestants in wrongful occupation of Catholic property became\nintensely alarmed for their future, and invited William, Prince of\nOrange, to invade England.\n\nKing James was one of the greatest cowards that ever lived. With\nhis English troops he lost almost every engagement in England. He\nthen fell back on Ireland. William, Prince of Orange, on landing\nin Carrick-a-fergus, Ireland, on the 14th day of June, 1690, found\nhimself at the head of about 40,000 men. The Irish had no love for\nany British king. However, priests and Catholic leaders influenced\nthe Irish to come to aid King James, on the pretense that his own\ndaughter and her Protestant husband, a foreigner, were depriving this\nold man of his kingdom because he was a Catholic. The Irish, blinded\nwith sympathy, entered the fight. On the 1st of July, 1690, the\nBattle of the Boyne was fought. William in person led his own army\nwhile King James stood at a distance, ready to mount his horse and\nride away if the battle should be favorable to the Prince of Orange.\nThe Irish fought bravely for over half the day, but as they began\nto retreat in good order, the English King mounted his horse and\nrode away into Dublin, leaving the Irish fighting behind him. He was\ndesignated \"Dirty James\" by the Irish.\n\nThe Irish, although deserted by the King and others, continued the\nfight for over one year from the River Boyne to the walls of Limerick\nand Athlone. On the 3rd of October, 1691, the generals of both armies\nsigned the famous treaty of Limerick. According to the articles\nsigned, full religious liberties were granted to the Roman Catholics,\nbut no sooner did the Irish soldiers sail away to France, than\nEngland wilfully and wickedly broke the treaty. England has never yet\nkept a treaty with the Irish, if it stood in the way of plunder or\ngain.\n\n\n_Treaty of Limerick Broken._--In 1692, contrary to the articles of\nthe treaty of Limerick, the Catholics were excluded from the Irish\nParliament. Education of a Catholic child, shortly afterwards, was\ndeclared to be a serious crime. Catholics were required to take an\noath declaring the mass damnable. No Catholic could learn a trade.\n\nIn 1701, contrary to the treaty of Limerick, Catholic solicitors\nwere disqualified. Priests found in Ireland were branded with redhot\nirons on the cheeks. The law made it death to shelter, and penal\nservitude to know where a priest was concealed and not to inform\nthe government. Priests were dragged from the altars, branded,\ndisemboweled, quartered, hanged and transported. A Catholic could not\nhave a horse worth more than five pounds (twenty-five dollars). Any\nProtestant tendering a Roman Catholic five pounds for his horse, the\nhorse would have to go.\n\n\n_Flight of Wild Geese._--The young Irishmen of that period rushed to\nFrance and were called \"Wild Geese.\" Catholics could not send their\nchildren to be educated at home or abroad, and Catholic doctors were\nnot allowed.\n\n\n_The Irish Brigade at Fontenoy, France._--At Fontenoy, France, on\nTuesday, the 11th of May, 1745, the Irish Brigade in battle swept\nbefore them the British and their flag. The war cry was \"Revenge!\nRemember Limerick!! Dash down the Sassenach!!!\" From that day onward\nIrish priests and Irish Catholics could move about without the danger\nof being hanged or transported. At Fontenoy the Irish exiles made the\nBritish ministry conscious of the harsh and unjust manner in which\nthey had treated the Irish Catholics, and gradually the penal laws\nwere forced to disappear.\n\n\n_American Revolution._--In 1775, Irishmen were found very active\nin the cause of the American Revolution. Shortly after, England\ngranted Ireland an independent Parliament. This Parliament is known\nas \"Grattan's Parliament.\" The progress of Ireland under her own\nParliament surprised the world and immediately England set about for\nits destruction. In 1801, Ireland was again a bleeding nation--her\nParliament was gone. Although an Irish Catholic could not sit in\nIrish Parliament, yet the people expected Catholic emancipation from\nit much sooner than from the British Parliament.\n\n\n_Tithes and Orangemen._--During all this time Roman Catholics\nresisted the payment of tithes to the parson. The parson was a\nminister of the Protestant church, who was substituted for the priest\nand never ministered to a Roman Catholic. Catholics were compelled by\nlaw to give one-tenth of their crops to the support of the Protestant\nChurch without receiving anything in return but insult and injury.\nThen came the landlord, giving nothing but claiming everything to\nthe body and souls of the tenants. Up until the land agitation the\nbuildings and all improvements made or erected by the tenant became\nthe property of the landlord. In order to keep Ireland divided, the\nwealth and power of the Unionist (capitalist) class from England to\nNew Zealand is still lavished on a body of foreigners in the North of\nIreland, called \"Orangemen.\"\n\n\n_Orangemen._--It must be remembered that it is not the Orangemen\nalone the Irish have to contend with in their fight for Home Rule,\nbut the whole power and wealth of the Unionist Party in England,\nScotland, Ireland, India, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and\nCanada. The English under the color and pretense of peacemakers and\nChristians are always doing the utmost in their power to sow the\nseeds of discord and dissension amongst the Irish people. One of the\nsharpest wedges they can drive to divide the people is religion. If\nthe English Unionists believed that by granting Home Rule they could\nset Irishmen fighting, a full measure would be granted in eight hours.\n\n\n_Irish Patriots._--Amongst the Irish patriots the following\nProtestants took a leading part for Irish freedom, namely, Charles\nStewart Parnell, Sir Isaac Butt, Henry Grattan and Robert Emmett.\nTheir names, with many others, Ireland will hold in grateful\nremembrance.\n\nEvery blade of grass that grows on Irish soil is consecrated by the\nblood of Irishmen, women and children, shed in the cause of freedom.\nEngland, in her efforts to destroy the Irish language, the Catholic\nreligion and the nationality of the country, tried the rack, gibbet,\npitch-cap, quartering, coercion, famines, bribery and every barbarous\nand refined form of cruelty, without success. The war between Sax\nand Celt will rage hot and fierce until the last vestige of English\nmisrule is swept from the green hills of Erin.\n\n\n_Taxation and Refunds._--By the Unionist Parliament, whiskey was\ntaxed much heavier than beer. Few Irishmen drink beer, but many of\nthem drink whiskey, while nearly every man and woman in England likes\nto have beer. After a careful study of Irish customs, every taxable\narticle desired by the Irish was especially aimed at. To make the\ntax appear just, the sum for the same quantity was raised alike\nall over the United Kingdom. By such plans and others of the like,\nIreland was robbed of over $28,000,000 a year, outside of her proper\nproportion, not to mention the millions the landlords or other office\npets took out of the country. Money raised in Ireland went into the\nBritish treasury. Recently the England Parliament would make a grant\nof a few million pounds to Ireland for some purpose, the largest\nportion of which would go to some English pets holding offices of\nsome kind in Ireland. Then a cry would be raised of \"millions of\nEnglish money granted by a generous government to Ireland.\" The truth\nis that in such grants the Irish people only received back a small\nportion of their own money.\n\n\n_Author's Most Earnest Desire Is to See Ireland Free._--The author's\nmost earnest desire is to see the morning dawn when Protestant and\nCatholic in Ireland would be linked together in one bond of peace,\nenjoying the blessings of good laws made by a free people in an Irish\nIndependent Parliament. He is opposed to a class or creed ascendency,\nthe adoring of human false gods, or the keeping of the whole island\nin slavery by a few non-productive, pampered gamesters.\n\nGOD SAVE IRELAND!\n\n P. M. FOLEY, Author.\n\n\n\n\n_Abduction._--Forceable abduction for a time was common enough in\nthose parts. The most common source from which those abductions\nsprung was a man, after courting a girl for some time and finding\nher for him inclined, but the parents refusing to consent to their\nmarriage, would come, accompanied by a dozen or more persons with\nsaddle horses, drag the girl screaming out of bed, place her on\nhorseback, gallop off to his hiding place--sometimes to his own\nhouse, but at other times to a friend's house--and there keep her\nuntil married.\n\nWhen it happened that a Catholic boy and a Protestant girl were in\ndeep love with each other, and the feminine members of the Protestant\nfamily would wish for their marriage, but after sounding the feelings\nof the girl's father and finding that he was steadfastly opposed to\nallow a Roman Catholic to be connected with his family, the hint\nwould be thrown out to the boy that the only way he could possess his\nsweetheart now was by kidnapping. A hint so broadly given was quickly\nacted on. In a short time abuses set in, and instead of honest\ncourtship, persons made for girls inheriting large fortunes.\n\nNext came our \"Squireens,\" or country gentlemen. These were made up\nchiefly of that class of landlords called middlemen, and persons\nholding some petty offices. The majority of them were corrupt, low\nand immoral, but still had the presumption to insist that others\nlook up towards them as gentlemen. For cockfighting, fox-hunting, or\nrace-meeting, they would dress themselves up in great brilliancy and\nmake such a display that they appeared just as remarkable as the\nrancheros or caballeros of Old Mexico, whom, I understand, are their\nnearest comparison, and would have been their fittest companions.\n\nA young man of that class, having his proposal of marriage with a\nyoung lady of fortune rejected, would become an abductor, and with\nthe aid of firearms and a faction would carry her off and force a\nmarriage upon her. To remove the reputation of a scandal, the clergy\nof both churches willingly performed the marriage ceremony, and often\nwithout any fee from the parties at the time. The strangest part\nof the transaction was that both Protestant and Catholic churches\nallowed forced marriages to stand as valid. Once the example was\nset by those high-class parish gentlemen it was adopted by their\nunderstrappers and, like a contagious disease, it reached the common\npeople, with the result that in the seventeenth century abductions of\npretty girls with fortunes and good names became for a time numerous.\n\n\n_Bally-Ferriter Evictions._--These were evictions which the Sheriff\nof Kerry was never able to carry out. On portions of the estates of\nthe Earl of Cork, near Bally-Ferriter, several tenants were to be\nejected. On the 16th of February, 1887, the Sheriff with a staff of\nBailiffs, protected by a large force of police armed with rifles,\nbayonets, revolvers and battons, under the command of District\nInspector Gray, started from Dingle, towards Bally-Ferriter. Upon\nreaching a place called Shannacnock, two thousand people assembled.\nThey were armed with pitchforks, scythes and sticks. They forced\nthe Sheriff, his assistants and escort hastily to return to\nDingle. Several attempts to carry out these evictions failed. A\nsettlement was arrived at through the Rev. Father Egan, P. P., of\nBally-Ferriter, whereby the evictions were abandoned.\n\n(See P. 281, History Co. Kerry-Corkaguiny.)\n\n\n_Barking Disease_ prevailed about the year 1341. It appears persons\nof both sex went about the country barking like dogs. This disease\nwas pretty bad and visited those parts.\n\n\n_Battle of the Boyne._--This battle was fought on the 1st of July,\n1690, at the River Boyne, in Ireland, between the soldiers of King\nJames, the lawful King of England, and his son-in-law, William,\nPrince of Orange, a foreigner from Holland.\n\nProtestants of England, who held Catholic confiscated lands, feared\nKing James, and invited William into England. In England, James\noffered very poor resistance; in Ireland it was different. Although\nthe Irish had never much love for any English King, yet the leaders\nand clergy worked upon the sympathies of the people by pointing\nout the wrong of the King's Protestant daughter to be depriving\nher father of his lawful throne, his home and country. Blinded by\nsympathy, the Irish were induced to fight. By his own fault James had\nbut six guns, while William had fifty. William's army was only 25,000\nmen against 50,000 in James' army.\n\nThe Irish fought well, but several times showed signs of yielding in\nthe afternoon. King James mounted his horse and deserted his Irish\ntroops. The Irish nicknamed him \"Dirty James.\"\n\nThis battle was lost but the Irish continued the fight, although the\nKing was off for France.\n\nOn the 12th of July, 1691, another decisive battle was fought\nat Aughrim, in which the soldiers of the Prince of Orange were\nvictorious.[2] However, the fight was continued in Limerick and\nAthlone. On the 24th of September, a truce of four days was agreed\nupon. The 3rd of October, 1691, the Generals of the English and Irish\narmies signed the famous Treaty of Limerick. The Irish soldiers\nsailed away to France. In 1692 the English broke the treaty.\n\n\n_Battle of Glantarf._--On Good Friday, the 23rd of April, the final\nbattle was fought between the Danes and Brien Borue[3] at Glantarf,\nDublin. Before the battle started Brien Borue rode on his horse\namongst his troops; holding a crucifix in his hand he addressed his\narmy. This was a hand-to-hand fight. From the time the tide was\nhigh-water until a long time after it was low-water the result was\ndoubtful. Before evening the Danes gave way all around. Victory\ncrowned Brien and his Munster men. The losses were: Irish, over\n4,000, and Danes, over 7,000.\n\nHowever, Brien Borue was assassinated while praying in his tent.\n\nThis battle released the whole of Europe from the Danish power.\n\n\n_Black Death._--This dangerous contagious disease made its way into\nIreland about the year 1348. It was so dangerous that any person who\ntouched the sick or even looked for a few seconds into his face was\nimmediately affected and died. It swept the English out of Ireland.\nAccording to the English accounts, it touched but few of the native\nIrish.\n\n\n_Black Famine._--This was called to the famine years of 1845, 1846\nand 1847. During these years for the want of food people died by\nthousands from hunger. From November, 1846, until the end of the\nspring of 1847, people were falling dead like Autumn leaves in a\nstorm, by the roadside, in their cabins, and in the fields. For\nburial their corpses were conveyed to the graveyard in sheets and\nburied without coffins. Dogs in search of food tore into the tombs\nand preyed upon the emaciated corpses of the famine victims.\n\nThis famine was caused by a failure of the potato crop, on which the\ncommon people lived for sustenance. The blackest feature of this\nfamine was that the Irish branch of the Church of England availed of\nit to seduce the starving people into Protestantism with soup and\nbibles, and that these years there was enough corn shipped out of\nIreland to maintain the class ascendency in luxury, that would feed\nas many as died through hunger.\n\n(See P. 212-232, Hist. Co. Kerry.)\n\n\n_Blood Money._--This is money paid by the government to spies,\ninformers and crown witnesses, to induce them to swear against\npersons charged with murder, or serious crime. It was much used\nduring the Irish agitation. By the Crimes (Coercion) Act of 1882,\nit was proposed to levy a \"Blood Tax\" for murder on the innocent\nrate-payers.\n\nAt present, compensation to police injured in certain cases in the\nexecution of their duties and malicious injury to property is charged\nagainst the rate-payers.\n\n\n_Boycotting._--This word was derived from Captain Boycott, a land\nagent who was boycotted. Today it is to be found in every dictionary\nin the English language. Its use and effect in our district is fully\nset forth by me in my \"His. Co. Kerry\"--Corkaguiny, and also under\nThe Reading of Chronology.\n\n\n_Brehons._--Were the names given to ancient Irish judges, who\nadministered the Irish ancient laws with strict justice and\nimpartiality. In 1365 or thereabouts, the English by the Statute of\nKilkenny, forbade the English subjects to obey it. However, for its\njustice it was respected and obeyed until after Cromwell's wars in\nIreland.\n\n\n_Brigid's (Saint) Day._--This falls on the 1st of February of each\nyear, and formerly was observed as a holy day in honor of the death\nof St. Brigid, she being the founder of the famous nunnery of Kildare\nand the patroness of Ireland. In those parts a pretty ancient custom\nof carrying a _Brideoge_ on St. Brigid's Day, and receiving gifts\nin her name, still survives, although in a dying form. In country\nhomes eggs were usually given to those accompanying or carrying\nBrideoge. However, if any of those receiving these gifts were seen\ndrinking intoxicating liquors with the proceeds of St. Brigid's Day,\nit would be made sufficiently clear to some member of the party that\nthereafter their visits were undesirable, and the next time they came\naround they were to go empty-handed.\n\nSt. Brigid was born about the year 452 at a place called Foghert,\nnear Dundalk. She founded her convent under or near an oak tree, from\nwhich the town and county of Kildare took their present name.\n\nShe was the mother and foundress of many others and was known as the\n\"Wonderful Worker\" throughout Ireland. On the 1st of February, 525,\nshe died and was buried at Kildare. Her nuns honored her memory so\nmuch that they kept a fire continually burning both day and night\nwhich was not extinguished until 1220, when the Archbishop of Dublin\nordered it to be put out, as it was fast becoming the object of\nsuperstition.\n\nOwing to the Scandinavian raids upon Ireland, in which they tore\ndown churches and monasteries, her body was taken from Kildare and\ntransferred to Down Patrick. In 1185 a triple vault was discovered\ncontaining the bodies of St. Patrick, St. Brigid and St. Columba. On\nthe 9th of June, 1186, or thereabouts, the Pope caused the relics\nof these three great saints to be placed in the Cathedral of Down.\nThis cathedral with its contents was destroyed by order of King Henry\nVIII of England, but pieces of the relics, including the head of St.\nBrigid, were saved by some clergy. The head was carried to Neustadt,\nin Austria. In 1587, Emperor Rudolf gave it to the Church of the\nJesuits at Lisbon. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, her hand\nis preserved at Lumiar, near Lisbon, Portugal, and another relic is\nat St. Martin's, Cologne.\n\n\n_Cat Brack._--This was the name given to printed matter found\nin Irish primers supplied by the Irish Protestant Society to\nIrish-speaking Roman Catholics in those parts, because the former,\nunder the color and pretense of preserving the Irish language,\nboth oral and written, instead taught the Protestant version of the\nScriptures and thereby attempted to overthrow the Roman Catholic\nreligion. This campaign started out very active in 1836 and lingered\non to the last days of the last century. While the scholars were\nlearning both teachers and pupils were in receipt of pay. Some\nteachers made it a practice to enter the names of Roman Catholics on\ntheir roll books who were not students, but as a friendly neighbor\nwould accommodate the teacher so as to enable him to get his fees.\n\n\n_Catholic Rent._--This was a tax levied in 1823 upon Catholics by\nDaniel O'Connel's Catholic Association to support the fight for\nemancipation.\n\n\n_Charity Meal._--At the end of 1879, a famine threatened Ireland.\nThe British Government at first refused to take any steps to prevent\ndeath from hunger. The Land League, which was founded by the later\nMichael Davitt, in April, 1879, by Parnell, was temporarily converted\ninto a relief organization. In America, Parnell and John Dillion\ncollected $250,000 for the relief of distress.[4] The Duchess of\nMarlborough also appealed for help. In January and February, large\ncontributions arrived from Canada, Australia, India, and the United\nStates. The funds were distributed amongst the clergy of the poorer\nparishes, who issued tickets to traders to supply poor people with\nIndian meal.\n\n\n_Cholera Plague._--On the 14th of March of 1831 this great plague\nmade its first appearance in Belfast, Ireland. It visited our part of\nthe country shortly after. When it was first discovered in the town,\nthe inhabitants fled to the country. It was nearly as fatal as the\nBlack Death. It also followed the famine years of Black Death.\n\n\n_Clanna-Gael._--Clanna-Gael is an Irish society formed in America in\n1881, or thereabouts. It was made up of most loyal members of the old\nFenians, who hated to their dying day British rule in Ireland, and at\nthe first opportunity available are determined to overthrow British\npower in Ireland.\n\n\n_Cloghane Pattern Day._--This pattern is held on the last Sunday\nof July in each year. The old people of the parish believe that it\noriginated in honor of a pagan chieftain called Crom Duff, signifying\n_Crom of the Heap of Stones_, one of the deities of the Irish Druids.\nThe last Sunday in Summer is called Black Crom, being held sacred to\nSt. Patrick as the anniversary of commemorating the destruction of\nthis class of idols as well as others of a like nature.\n\nCromleacs, composed of huge stones, the selection of ancient Druids,\nare to be found in the Parish of Ballyduff, and other like evidence\nin the neighborhood which go to show that the district was the scene\nof ancient ceremonies. Tradition gives credit to a pagan chieftain\nfor building the old church, the remains of which stand at the east\nend of the dismantled Protestant church in Cloghane burial ground.\nHowever, the present structure was not erected for many centuries\nafter paganism was overthrown. It is probable that the first\nChristian building in Cloghane was erected by a pagan chieftain,\nthe follower of the Crom Duff form of worship. After mass, dancing\nand other like innocent amusements are carried on here. Excessive\ndrinking and rowdyism, I am very glad to note, is very very much on\nthe decline; in fact, is gone out of existence there.\n\n\n_Cockfighting._--These games were common in those parts until\nsuppressed by law.\n\n\n_Corkaguiny Magistrates Disliked Attorneys and Decided Cases\nAccording to Dingle Justice._--From 1720 downward to 1822 the\nCorkaguiny justices of the peace would not allow any attorney-at-law\nto plead before them, but instead of deciding cases according to\nlaw settled them in conformity with \"Dingle justice.\" Whenever an\nattorney was brought at high expense from Tralee to appear before\nthem, the cases in which he was engaged were adjourned from court to\ncourt and his client in the end defeated.\n\nLady Chatham in her visit to Dingle noticed that cases were not\ndecided in keeping with \"the law,\" but according \"to justice.\" She\ndid not know that the houses of the Dingle magistrates were filled\nwith smuggled goods, and that they reaped a rich harvest from several\njust but illegal trades. Therefore they sat more often for the\nprotection of the smugglers than the enforcement of the law. (See\n\"His. Co. Kerry\"--Corkaguiny.)\n\n\n_Cromwell._--Oliver Cromwell rebelled against King Charles I,\nbeheaded the latter, and set up a Republic. In 1649, Cromwell\nlanded in Dublin, took Drogheda, and put the priests and women\nto sword. Pierce Ferriter held Kerry against the English for ten\nyears. Ferriter was the last Catholic chieftain to hold out against\nCromwell's forces. In direct violation of the English pledges,\nFerriter was hanged at Killarney in 1653, together with Father T.\nMoriarty.\n\n\n_Crowbar Brigade._--This was applied to the Sheriff and landlords'\nbailiffs because, armed with crowbars and protected by police, they\nforced an entry into the houses of those to be ejected and demolished\nthe homes of the evicted tenants. They also often carried a battering\nram, i. e., timber bound with irons, hoist on poles, and swung\nagainst the sides of the buildings.\n\n_Doon-an-Ore and Olean-an-Ore._--These were the names given by the\ncountry people hereabouts to a rock in Smerwick Harbour on seeing\nit covered with brass cannon, the flags of Spain and the Pope's\nconsecrated banner sparkling in the sun. Foreigners also had the\nreputation of bringing a large quantity of gold with them. (See\n\"Hist. Co. Kerry\"--Corkaguiny.)\n\n\n_English Garrison._--The Irish landlords are so called by public\nspeakers because as Cromwell's soldiers they possessed themselves\nof all the Irish lands, and since then the British Government by\nmilitary force has maintained them in this country, where they became\na crushing burden on the people.\n\n\n_Enlisting Young Men by Slipping a Shilling Into Their Hands._--The\ncustom of recruiting sergeants going around the country and slipping\na shilling in the Queen's name into a young man's hand, then forcing\nhim into the army, has been stopped. In Dingle peninsula the\nrecruiting sergeant very often secured crippled tailors of good\nappearance, who on purpose would sit in the darkest room in a public\nhouse likely to be visited by the sergeant, keeping their feet under\na drinking table and their crutches hidden, with a half-gallon of\nporter before them. The recruiting sergeant, looking into the faces\nof fine, strong-looking, muscular men, would force a drink upon them\nand ask them to enlist. At first they would take the drink, but would\npretend to be hesitating very much about taking the shilling which\nthe recruiting sergeant would have spinning on the table before them.\nAfter a good deal of sham pretentions of being unable to fight and\nunwilling to do so, each of them would slowly accept the shilling,\nspend it at once, swallow the free drinks and eat Queen's dinner and,\nwhen fed like game cocks, would ask one of their companions to look\nfor their crutches for them so they could accompany the sergeant and\nenlist in the army. When the sergeant would discover his mistake the\ntrouble started to get back the shilling, but as they made it a point\nnot to have more than one penny in their possession he was compelled\nto leave without recruits or money.\n\n\n_Excommunication with Bell, Book and Candle._--During the Souper\nCampaign persons were excommunicated in Dingle, Ventry and Castle\nGregory Chapels. After the priest had read the sentence, the bell was\nrung, the book closed and the candles extinguished. That moment the\nperson excommunicated was excluded from the sacraments.\n\n\n_Faction Fights._--The fairs of Ballinclare were noted for their\nfaction fights. The way these fights usually were started was a hero\nfollower of the Fitzgeralds, primed with drink, would prance through\nthe fair, waving his blackthorn cudgel and at the same time shouting\nfor a Moriarity. Of course, he would not go very long until he would\nbe met by a gang of the followers of the Moriarity's. Then a fight\nwas started in which whole parishes became involved. They fought\neach other without any individual ill-will, using stumps of furze,\nsticks of hawthorn or oak as their weapons. Sometimes big fights\nwere started by a man holding out a stick and having one member of a\nfaction spit on it and asking a man of the opponent's faction then\nto let him spit on. If he did, this was a challenge and the fight\nstarted. Tents were upset and the people scattered leaving the fair\ngrounds to the combatants.\n\nThe origin of these factional fights in those parts was the betrayal\nof the Earl of Desmond--a Fitzgerald--by a Moriarity. However, in the\ncourse of time they branched into minor factions. There, too, was\na class of idle half-gentry, called middlemen, in the country who\npretty often caused faction fights. They made it a practice to attend\nfox hunts, horse races, cock fights and country fairs. They were\nidle, extravagant drunkards having the pretentions of gentlemen, and\nby the common people were called master \"D--R--fe,\" while in truth\nand in fact they were the very pest of society. Another mistaken\nnotion entered their heads that to give drink was a first-class\nqualification to be a gentleman, consequently they gave it freely\npretty often and therefore secured a following. An insult arising\nout of a fox hunt, a horse race, a cock fight, or even a common game\nof cards in which they were concerned often led to serious faction\nfights. These faction fights were disapproved of by the honest\nworker; they were denounced by the clergy and suppressed by the\npolice.\n\n\n_Fenianism._--(See Author's Note on page 64.)\n\n\n_Forty-Shilling Freeholders._--Persons (men) in occupation of very\nsmall holdings with an annual valuation of both buildings and land\ncombined amounting to forty shillings or over, were entitled to\nvote at Parliamentary elections. Landlords who used their tenants\nas voting instruments encouraged the dividing of holdings into as\nmany patches with a valuation of forty shillings as was possible so\nas to multiply votes. In villages like North Cahirdorgan, Kildurry,\nCahirs, Culibeen, Smerwick, Ballybrack and others a surprisingly\nlarge number of votes were obtained by this means. Usually the\nsmall holders voted as their immediate lessors requested. They were\ndeprived of their votes with the passing of Catholic emancipation\nand the valuation has increased to ten pounds. O'Connell was blamed\nfor it, but he is credited with having said that he would not accept\nCatholic emancipation if he knew that by so doing the forty-shilling\nfreeholders would have to be sacrificed. The general belief is that\nhe was in full accord with it from the start, in order to check a too\nrapid growth in the population of the country.\n\n\n_Gaudy Ribbon Crosses_ (_St. Patrick's Day_).--These of various\ncolors were sold on our streets some thirty-five years ago and worn\non children's arms on St. Patrick's Day, but are now wholly extinct.\nA green rosette with a harp is now worn in front on the left breast\ninstead. (See \"His. Co. Kerry,\" page 37.)\n\n\n_George Wyndham's Land Purchase Act._--This land act of 1903,\nintroduced by George Wyndham, then Chief Secretary for Ireland,\nwas the first good \"Broom\" brought by the Government to sweep the\nlandlords of Ireland out of existence.\n\n\n_Glenbeigh Evictions._--These took place in 1887, or thereabouts. At\nthe suggestion of General Revvers Buller, who was then in Ireland,\nthe agent had the tenants' houses destroyed by fire. Mr. Edward\nHarrington, M. P., and Mr. Sheehan, M. P., played a prominent part in\nopposing the carrying out of those evictions.\n\n\n_Great Famine._--This famine started in both Ireland and England\nin 1315, or thereabouts. Mothers were known to devour their own\nchildren, and children ate their dead parents. Parents stole the\nchildren of others to eat them. Starving women started dancing\naround open air fires, to attract children so as to kill and cook\nthem. Dead bodies were taken from the graves to be used for food. In\njails prisoners ate each other. This famine, and the pestilence that\naccompanied it coming and going, lasted about eighty-five years.\n\n\n_Halley's Comet._--On the 18th of May, 1910, the earth passed through\nthe tail of Halley's comet. Its approach caused great fear and\nexcitement in some places. It is very remarkable that great wars\nfollow Halley's comet.\n\n\n_Head Act._--By this law if an Irishman was found going on a\njourney from one county to another without being accompanied by an\nEnglishman, dressed in English apparel, and of name and fame, it was\nlawful to kill the Irishman and cut off his head. For every head cut\noff the murderer was to receive one penny reward. The slaughter was\ngreat. Incredible as this might appear to the reader, it is too\ntrue. Deputy Earl of Desmond, representing British law in Ireland,\nwas responsible for this Act.\n\n\n_Harrington and Esmond's Election._--This Parliamentary election\ncontest took place between Edward Harrington, Parnellite, outgoing M.\nP. for West Kerry, and Sir Thomas Gratton Esmond, anti-Parnellite. By\nthe undue influence of the clergy, Sir Thomas Gratton was elected.\n\n\n_Home Rule._--On Thursday, the 19th day of May, 1870, this\nassociation sprung into existence in Dublin under the leadership\nof Isaac Butt, a Protestant Nationalist. Briefly stated, the\nprincipal object contemplated by the organization was to obtain\nfor the Irish people power to make their own laws and manage their\nown local affairs by an Irish Parliament, and to be subject to the\nEnglish Crown, like Canada, Southwest Africa and Australia. In the\nIrish Parliament there was not to be a class or creed ascendancy,\nbut Protestants and Catholics were to be linked together in one\nbond in a free and independent Parliament. In 1871, Isaac Butt was\nelected a member of Parliament for Limerick without a contest. Many\nProtestants joined the Home Rule cause. In the North of Ireland there\nexists a class of foreign Irish better known throughout the world\nas \"Orangemen.\" The English Unionist classes, under the false color\nand pretense of peacemakers and Christians, are doing the utmost in\ntheir power to sow the seeds of discord and dissension among the\nIrish people. One of the sharpest wedges they can drive to divide\nthe people in Ireland is religion. They raised the cry that it was\nnot \"Home Rule\" but \"Rome Rule.\" The wealth of the Unionist party,\nor capitalist classes, of England, Scotland, Ireland, India, Africa,\nAustralia, New Zealand and Canada is behind them, and this class of\npeople are petted and pampered for keeping the Unionist party in\npower.\n\nHome rule bills were often passed by the House of Commons as\nrepresenting a substantial majority of the people of the United\nKingdom but rejected by the House of Lords. However, it may be well\nto note that a fight to restore the Irish Parliament under the title\nof \"Repeal of the Union\" started in Ireland before the doors of the\nHouses of Parliament were closed.[5]\n\n\n_House League._--This league was introduced into those parts in 1886,\nthrough the Irish National League. The object of the House League was\nto check the owners of houses from charging exorbitant rents to the\noccupants. In Dingle, Castle Gregory, and other places, the League\nfixed \"fair rents\" and compelled the owners to give clear receipts,\non payment of the new rents. For various reasons, the House League\nwas never popular. As intimidation was practiced by the House League\nupon the owners of houses, the law courts held the receipts given\ninvalid, and the old rents were recovered.\n\n\n_Influenza._--This is one of the most contagious diseases known,\nand far more dangerous than most people believe. Its last serious\nappearance amongst the people was in 1889-90. Every time it started\nfrom China and traveled the world quicker than any other disease. A\nletter written by one person to another, although over three thousand\nmiles apart, caused an outbreak of the disease. Those suffering\nfrom any other malady, especially consumptives, were swept away to\ntheir graves. It made many a fond mother cry. It was known to be in\nIreland in 1836-37, 1847-48, 1889-90. It is said that influenza first\nappeared in the country in 1570.\n\n\n_Invisible-Blood-Jobbers._--These are false and corrupt political\nleaders who for blood-money, and in hopes of receiving positions with\npay, power, and false honor, are seducing the young men of Ireland\ninto that mad and insane war now raging in Europe.\n\n\n_Ivy Day._--The anniversary of Parnell's burial. Ivy is an evergreen,\ntherefore it is worn on Sunday following the 6th of October to keep\nthe memory of C. S. Parnell forever green in the hearts of his\nfollowers.\n\n\n_Kennels and Hunting._--Formerly hunting was very much carried on\nin the peninsula. Every Sunday during the hunting season the sides\nof our mountains and valleys resounded with the yells of packs of\nhalf-starved beagles kept by middlemen. With the disappearance of the\nlatter class, the beagles also followed, save a few exceptions.\n\n\n_Kerry Bonds._--Persons who were unable to pay their tithes in full\nwhen demanded and overdue, gave a bond bearing interest. The system\nappears to be peculiar to the promontories of Kerry for some time,\nbut finally became extinct. Many of these bonds were given for tithes\nillegally levied.\n\n\n_Kerry Cows Know Sunday._--This old saying is handed down to us as a\nrelic of the wicked famine which started in 1739, when living cattle\nwere bled once a week and the blood boiled with milk, cabbage or\ngrass to make a Sunday meal for the family. (See 1713.)\n\n\n_Kerry Election._--This election took place in February of 1872. It\nwas the first great flame kindled between the Home Rule party and\nthe landlord classes in the county. The landlords were so irritated\nby the speeches delivered by the Blennerhassett supporters that they\nwere determined to make their power felt and destroy the Home Rule\nparty. The candidate chosen by the Home Rule party was a Protestant\ngentleman named Ponsby Blennerhassett from Kells. James A. Dease, a\nRoman Catholic gentleman from West Meath, was selected by the family\nof the Earl of Kenmare for the landlords. Dr. Moriarty, a Roman\nCatholic bishop, did all in his power to elect the nominee of the\nKenmare family. In face of terror and landlord's oppression, in open\nvoting the Home Rule candidate was elected by the Roman Catholics\nof Kerry. Many patriotic priests took sides with Blennerhassett.\nThis gentleman remained true to the Home Rule party, but the Home\nRule party, led by Sir Isaac Butt, was considered too mild. (See my\n\"History of County Kerry\" for a full account of this election.)\n\n\n_Kissing the Blarney Stone by the Silver Tongue of Kerry and\nOthers._--There is a saying among some people that Counselor Hussey\nof Farnakilla, known as the \"Silver Tongue\" of Kerry, kissed the\nBlarney stone in Blarney Castle, County Cork, and thereby secured\nhis sweet, fluent, silver-tongued speech. He is not the only person\nhereabouts who is said to have kissed the Blarney stone. Everyone\nfrom the South of Ireland who has secured a fluent or flattering\nspeech is credited with visiting it. As some individuals will be\nfound ignorant enough to ascribe such a virtue to the stone and tell\nothers in foreign lands that it possesses such, I am going a little\noutside my province to remove it as far as possible. If you _were\nforever rubbing your tongue to the Blarney stone, you would find no\nvirtue in it whereby your speech will be improved_, and I dare say\nSilver Tongue of Dingle never kissed the stone.\n\nThousands of legends and stories are woven about it, but these were\nwritten for amusement, and the circumstances connected with kissing\nthe stone supplied good food for legends and diversion.\n\nThere is a castle called \"Blarney Castle\" about six miles on this\n(Kerry) side of the City of Cork, within the Village of Blarney\nin the County of Cork. This castle contains a stone bearing the\nfollowing inscription:\n\n CORMACH MCCARTHY\n _Fortis me Fieri Facit_\n A. D. 1446.\n\nor the like. In 1602 an Irish chieftain named Cormach McDermod\nCarthy, who held the castle against the English, when hard pressed,\nconcluded a truce with the Lord President, kissed the Blarney\nstone which his forefathers placed there, thereby leaving the Lord\nPresident and the English under the impression (without promising)\nthat the castle would be surrendered as soon as McCarthy would reason\nwith his followers and remove some of his belongings. The Lord\nPresident sent messengers to the English officers, gladly informing\nthem that he \"got Blarney\" from McCarthy without much trouble.\nMcCarthy, who was only borrowing time and quietly strengthening his\ncastle, then set about and with fair promises and false pretext day\nby day put off the Lord President until he was reinforced by the\nSpaniards. Even then the Lord President was firmly assuring his\ncountrymen that he \"got Blarney\" for them.\n\nHowever, when the English found that instead of the Lord President\nhaving Blarney Castle he had nothing but McCarthy's honey and\nflattering speeches and they then had a hard fight before them, the\nLord President became the laughing stock of both English, Irish and\nSpaniards, who mockingly would say of him, \"He got Blarney.\"\n\nIf you will ever visit Blarney for the purpose of kissing the Blarney\nstone, you may be prepared for all sorts of tricks. The more earnest\nyou appear about kissing it, the more fables you will be told about\nit. If a man is too feeble looking to climb, those in the Village of\nBlarney will most likely point out another broken stone lying on the\nground belonging to the castle, telling him that a drunken blackguard\ndug it out of its place for carrying it away to make money by\nimproving people's speech, and let it fall down and it was smashed,\nand then it lost its virtue.\n\nIf you are young and active, they will point out to you another stone\nabout one hundred feet from the ground and tell you you must go up to\nthe top of the castle and be held by the heels and leave your head\nand body hang downwards outside the parapet wall of the castle. Of\ncourse, you will say that is impossible for you to do. Then you are\ntold you must go home without improving your speech.\n\n\n_Land League and Irish National League._--On the 28th of April, 1879,\nthe Land League was founded in Irishtown, West Mayo, by the late\nMichael Davitt. The object of this League was to abolish landlordism\nand make tenant farmers owners of their own holdings. Charles Stewart\nParnell was placed at the head of this new organization, and on\nthe 8th of June, Parnell and Davitt appeared at a monster meeting\nheld at West Port. The Land League was suppressed by the Coercion\nAct, but the spirit was untouched. The name was changed to the\nIrish-National-League and Parnell chosen as its president. The Land\nLeague succeeded in its object.\n\n\n_Landlords or Their Land Agents' Approval Necessary to\nMarriages._--Within my personal recollection in this part of the\ncountry tenant-farmers had to go to the landlords or their agents\nor secretaries and get their landlord's approval of their sons' and\ndaughters' marriages. If a farmer's son got married and the landlord\nor his agent was not consulted in his case, he would have to canvass\nfor great influence when it would be time for him to become tenant,\nand even then he would stand great danger of never being accepted.\nThe parents of the parties to be married would pretend to their\nlandlord's agents that, owing to the holding being small or the\nquality of the land bad, they received a very small fortune. Castle\nGregory was about the first place which I noticed to rebel against\nthe system. Whenever a landlord, his agent or secretary passed by,\nthe custom was to lift the hat off the head. Tenant farmers or\nany member of their families not doing so were looked upon very\nunfavorably thereafter. With the Land League, these customs rapidly\nbegan to decline.\n\n\n_La Varaha na Feir, or The Killing of People in Dingle by the\nMilitary._--It appears a fierce encounter took place between soldiers\nand civilians in upper Main Street and Goat Street, Dingle, resulting\nin the killing of several persons. I regret I have forgotten\ngrandmother's story in which was given the date, loss of life and\ncircumstances that led to it.\n\n\n_Lieth Broath, or Quirn._--This is a kind of hand millstone for\ngrinding corn which formerly could be found in almost every house in\nthe barony, but at present has almost entirely disappeared.\n\n\n_Middlemen and the Conacre System._--Middlemen were landlords between\nthe head landlords and the cultivators. Head landlords with large\nproperties, wishing to live away in some other country, divided their\nproperties and let them to persons called \"middlemen.\" The middleman\ndivided his portion and sublet the same at about treble the rent he\nwas paying his head landlord. A third middleman would parcel his up\ninto small divisions and sublet at an enormous profit. With a string\nof middlemen between the head landlord and the cultivator, an acre\nlet by the head landlord to his immediate lessor for five shillings\nper acre might cost the cultivator five pounds. But that was not\nthe worst. Very often a man was required to pay two or three times\nfor the same patch of ground--even the man paying for his little\n\"hundred\" of ground had sometimes to pay twice for his little patch\nof potatoes--because two men would be claiming title to the land.\nThen there was the usual staff of office men, rent warners, bog\nrangers, bailiffs and under-strappers who claimed tributes as well as\nthe middlemen. Tenants were called upon to cut, save and draw home\ncorn, hay, turf and sea manure for nothing, leaving the women and\nchildren attend to the tenant's own crops. Whether the middlemen were\nof Irish descent or foreign, Catholic or Protestant it did not matter\nmuch to the tenant, as they were nearly all oppressors of the worse\nkind imaginable.[6]\n\nThe middleman of the Eighteenth Century were the very scum of society\nand the seeds of immorality. They destroyed and brought to sorrow\nmost young girls that put any confidence in them or entered their\nservice. Parnell's land agitation destroyed the last of them.\n\n\n_Molly McGuires._--This name was given to three secret societies\nThe first was an Irish secret society, formed in or about the year\n1833, in the Barony of Farney Co., Monogham, Ireland, to co-operate\nwith the Ribbon-Men, and was called after C. McGuire, a leader in\nthe Irish wars of 1641. The object of this society was to resist\nthe distraining of cattle for rent, then common with landlords and\nmiddlemen. At that time very often a poor tenant had to pay five or\nsix times for the same piece of ground, for which he had already\npaid his immediate lessor, because the immediate lessor, or landlord\nfailed to pay one of the middlemen or landlords over him. (See\nMiddlemen.) Distraining a tenant's cattle, impounding them, and\nselling them at auction before his eyes, in the name of British law\nand justice, for another man's debts, of which he had no knowledge or\ncontrol and provided no legal remedy, to him appeared a wicked law.\nThe McGuires applied the most desperate remedies available. Disguised\nas women, they rescued the cattle, flung boiling water and porridge\non bailiffs, clubbed and stoned process servers, broke the locks on\nthe pounds and released the cattle.\n\nThe activities of this society were confined to Ireland. Dressing in\nwomen's clothing caused the name \"Molly\" to be given to them.\n\nAs other new tenant-league societies grew up, they began to decline\nabout the year 1856.\n\nThe second and next Molly McGuires was an Irish-American secret\nsociety, with many branches in the coal mine districts of\nPennsylvania, U. S. A. This society took the name of the Irish\nsociety, but these societies had no other connection whatsoever\nwith each other, _only in name_. The first qualification required\nby the American society was that its members should be Irishmen by\nbirth, or descent, and also Catholics. This society took an active\npart in politics, and had its secret signs and passwords conveyed\nto them from England, through a Board of Erin. For being a secret\norganization, the Catholic Church declared against its members.\n\nFrom amongst the local branches of the society in the anthracite coal\nmines of Northeastern Pennsylvania another notorious secret criminal\ninner ring of Molly McGuires was formed. They converted the local\nbranches of the Molly McGuires, for their own protection, against the\nencroachments of English miners (Cousin Jacks and Cousin Germans\nincluded), on their jobs. Many of these Irish miners, previous to\ntheir coming to America, worked in the coal mines in England. In\nthe latter country they received very poor treatment. They left\nthat country carrying with them a deep hatred for anything that was\nEnglish. Through secret societies, churches and lodges, to which\nbosses and superintendents belonged. English miners were making\ntheir way in amongst the Irish miners and Irishmen discharged. This\nwas the start of the trouble. Soon the Molly McGuires by violence,\nconducted secretly, started at getting rid of superintendents, bosses\nand police hostile to them. In face of their condemnation by their\nchurch, they went forward, the most religious dropping away from the\nsociety.\n\nIn the war between the North and South, there was an increased\ndemand for coal. English, Welsh and German miners were sent into the\nmines to work, and Irishmen of American birth or who were American\ncitizens, taken away to fight. Replacing Irishmen that were fighting\nfor America, with their most hated foes, the English, also with Welsh\nand Germans, caused trouble, with the result that they began to\noppose conscription, and some army officers were roughly handled.\n\nFrom this onward, rough handling, burning, faction fights and murder\nwent on in the coal mines. The Molly McGuires were blamed for nearly\nall crimes, no matter who committed them. On or about the year 1865,\nthey killed a colliery superintendent, which attracted widespread\nattention.\n\nJames McParlan, an Irish Catholic detective, joined the society and\nbecame one of its leaders. After three years a member he secured\ndamaging evidence which led to the execution of the ringleaders and\nimprisonment of a large number of the Molly McGuires.\n\n\n_Moonlighting._--In 1878 this name was assumed by an unknown leader\nin this county (Kerry), who wrote threatening letters containing\na diagram of a coffin, skull-bones and a rifle. He signed himself\n\"Captain Moonlight.\" Small bands of men, secretly armed and\ndisguised, went by night and raided the houses of land grabbers,\nemergency men and bad land agents. Gladstone and Foster's Coercion\nActs, prohibiting the holding of meetings or allowing the people any\nmeans whatsoever of seeking a redress of their grievances forced this\nregrettable but necessary evil. In some cases in those moonlighting\nraids lives were taken, and to satisfy the Government and the\nascendency class many innocent persons were hanged and others sent to\npenal servitude. The police and landlord under-strappers manufactured\nmany crimes for which moonlighters and land leaguers were wrongly\nblamed and punished.[7]\n\n\n_National School Teachers Slapping Their Pupils for Speaking\nIrish._--The movement for the preservation and revival of the Irish\nlanguage put a stop to the National school teachers' habit of beating\ntheir pupils for speaking their native language.\n\nWhen I was in Old Mexico I found the peons and Indians made use of\na number of words corresponding in sound and meaning to words in the\nIrish language.\n\n\n_Ogham Characters._--These are a species of ancient Irish writings,\nmarks and lines cut into upright pillar and monumental stones which\nare very numerous in Corkaguiny. It is said that the term Ogham was\nfirst applied to the sacred writings of our Druids.\n\n\n_Orangemen._--These are foreign Irishmen espousing the cause of\nWilliam of Orange, who on the 1st of July, 1690, defeated dirty King\nJames of England at the Battle of the Boyne. About the year 1795\nOrangemen began to organize. Their first oaths and declarations were\nthat they would never rest satisfied until they would be victoriously\nknee-deep in Papist blood, i. e., Catholic blood. In suppressing\nIrish societies, administering those oaths were also forbidden,\nand in 1857 the Lord Chancellor ordered that justices of the peace\nshould not be members of Orange clubs. Orangemen in their 12th of\nJuly celebrations wrecked Catholic churches and police of the Orange\ntype in our locality often celebrated the 12th of July by assaulting\ncivilians, afterwards arresting them.\n\n(See Supplementary History County Kerry for a clear account of the\nBattle of the Boyne, the Fall of Limerick and the Broken Treaty of\nLimerick.)\n\n\n_Parnellite Splits._--On the 6th day of December, 1890, this\nunfortunate Parnellite split took place. On the 17th of November\nof that year a decree of divorce was granted to Captain O'Shea,\nseparating him from his wife on the grounds of improper conduct with\nParnell. Three days after the decree was pronounced by the court, a\nmeeting of the Irish Parliamentary party was held in Linster Hall\nDublin. Here Justin McCarthy proposed and Timothy Healy seconded\nthat Parnell possessed the confidence of the Irish nation and five\ndays after the Irish Parliamentary party unanimously elected him\ntheir leader. While these proceedings were taking place amongst the\nIrish Nationalists, Gladstone addressed a letter to John Morley,\nChief Secretary of Ireland, demanding Parnell's resignation from the\nleadership. Parnell refused to yield to Gladstone's dictation.\n\nImmediately the bishops and priests of Ireland were ranked in all\ntheir fury against Parnell and his supporters. During the whole of\nthe years 1891, 1892 and 1893, almost on every Sunday the priests\nfrom the altars were denouncing the Parnellites. Young priests out\nof college were allowed to go to the utmost extremities. The whole\ncountry was very much divided, even members of the same family\ndiffered--the father argued against the son and the son did the\nsame against the father. One party was called Parnellites and the\nother Anti-Parnellites. It was very plain that the Irish people were\nvery unwilling to throw aside their fallen chief, especially at the\nbidding of one of Parnell's former political foes.\n\nParnell was a Protestant and divorces were pretty numerous in\nEngland, therefore many considered the question outside of the\njurisdiction of the Catholic clergy, while English church and\nstatesmen could not consistently make such a demand upon Irishmen.\nFor the first time, here the clergy met serious opposition from the\npeople. At meetings priests were hooted. Fights with fists and sticks\nbecame frequent.\n\nIn the West Kerry Parliamentary Division every parish priest,\nwith the exception of Canon Daniel O'Sullivan, did the utmost in\nhis power to force the electors to vote for Sir Thomas G. Esmond,\nAnti-Parnellite, and against Edward Harrington, M. P. In this split a\nvery fine brass band belonging to the Dingle Temperance Society was\nbroken up and destroyed because it was to play at an Anti-Parnellite\nmeeting, contrary to the wishes of the Parnellite members who were\nrefused permission to take the band to one of Parnell's meetings. The\nCattle Fair, re-established in Goat Street by the National League,\nwas carried back to the old Brewery on the Spa Road. Lord Ventry\nwas back again as Chairman of the Dingle Poor Law Board. It was a\nbad split for Ireland. Sir Thomas G. Esmond was declared elected,\nbut as clerical intimidation was too fierce the result was more an\nunnecessary display of priestly power than a true representation of\nthe choice of a free people.\n\n\n_Peelers._--This was the name given by the common people, in the\nIrish language, to the police force, because they were appointed in\npursuance of the Peace Preservation Act of 1814, of which Sir Robert\nPeel was the proposer. In after years a like law was applied to\nEngland, and the English, to be different from the Irish, nicknamed\ntheir police \"Bobbies,\" for Robert.\n\n\n_Penal Laws._--These were laws passed both by the English and Irish\nProtestant Parliaments, prohibiting a Catholic to live in England or\nIreland, if he practiced any part of the Catholic religion. Priests\nwere banished. However, they performed the Catholic services in\ncaves, mountains and other hiding places.\n\nBy Catholic emancipation the Penal Laws were nearly abolished.\n\n\n_Phoenix Park Murders._--On the evening of the 6th of May, 1882, Lord\nFrederick Cavendish, a new and friendly Chief Secretary to Ireland,\nand Thomas H. Burke, a prominent Under-Secretary, were surrounded\nby the Invincibles while walking in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, and\nsilently stabbed to death with amputating knives imported for the\npurpose.\n\nWhile Foster was Chief Secretary, many attempts were made to murder\nhim, but they all failed. His escapes were miraculous.\n\nBurke was blamed for poisoning the mind of every Chief Secretary\nor Minister sent into the country, and also for the Coercion Act.\nLord Cavendish was offered permission to escape, but he refused, and\ntherefore met the fate of Burke. On the evidence of James Carey,\nthe informer, the Invincibles were hanged. The Government tried to\nsmuggle Carey to South Africa. He was followed by Pat O'Donnell,\nan Invincible, and shot on board the \"Milrose\" in or near Port\nElizabeth, South Africa.\n\nFor the murder of James Carey, Pat O'Donnell was convicted on the 1st\nof December and executed on the 17th of December, 1883, at New Gate,\nLondon.\n\n\n_Primrose League._--This is a kind of a league of landlords,\ntheir ladies and followers, putting forward three principles,\nviz.: Maintenance of religion, estates of the realm and imperial\nascendency. It was founded in England in 1883. Meetings of the\nPrimrose League were held in the Grove, Dingle, and many other places\nin the barony, which were attended by the \"Shoneen\" class. On the\nanniversary of the death of Lord Beaconsfield members wear a bunch\nof roses, although not his favorite flower.\n\n\n_Pitch Cap._--This was a cap made of pitch or tar. In 1798, pitch\ncaps were placed by English officers on the heads of the Irish rebels\nuntil they would stick on to the hair and flesh, then these were set\non fire.\n\n\n_Plan of Campaign._--This was started by William O'Brien and John\nDillion (without the approval of Parnell), about the year 1886. A\nfair rent was offered by the tenants to the landlords, which the\nlatter refused. With a view to forcing the landlords to terms, a\nstrike was started against the payment of any rent. The rents were\npaid into the \"Plan of Campaign\" and deposited in the bank. However,\nin many cases the landlords obtained garnishee orders from the courts\nand seized the money in the banks. Politicians blame William O'Brien\nand John Dillion for not using better judgment in this and the\nbuilding of New Tipperary in 1887.\n\n\n_Poff and Barrett Hanged._--On the 22nd of January, 1883, Sylvester\nPoff and James Barrett were hanged at Tralee jail for murder. They\nwere convicted by a packed jury at Cork. By public opinion they were\nfound innocent and their execution is classed with Crown judicial\nmurders of Kerrymen.\n\n\n_Poor Scholars or the Hedge School Teachers._--These wandered all\nover the country and taught lessons, very often in the open air. They\ndisappeared with the introduction of the national schools.\n\n\n_Pope's Brass Band._--This was the name applied by the English\npress to the Irish Parliamentary Party which distinguished itself\nin the fight against the ecclesiastical titles bill. Its leaders\nwere Keogh and Saddlier. The Irish people had such confidence in\ntheir Parliamentary representatives that they called them the \"Irish\nBrigade.\" However, soon they discovered that the leaders were the\nworst traitors that ever stood on Irish soil. Keogh and Saddlier\naccepted Government positions. Judge Keogh cut his own throat while\nconfined in a madhouse, and on the 16th of February, 1856, Saddlier\ncommitted suicide by swallowing prussic acid. Another prominent\nmember of the band of traitors ended his life much after the fashion\nof the leaders, while the band melted quickly.\n\n\n_Public Pilgrimage to Brandon Mountain._--This took place on Sunday,\nthe 28th of June, 1868. The religious services at the mountain peak\nwere presided over by Dr. Moriarty, the Catholic Bishop of Kerry.\nAbout twenty thousand persons attended.\n\n(See Hist. Co. Kerry, Chapter V, page 39.)\n\n\n_Recantation (Public)._--During the great anti-Catholic campaign in\nthe Dingle Peninsula, when a Roman Catholic became a Protestant it\nwas the custom to supply him with a written document to be signed\nby him wherein he withdraw all he ever said against Protestantism\nand gave particulars of the superstition and errors of Popery which\nhe then denounced. Sworn documents were read in Protestant churches\nand published. However, not more than five per cent of the alleged\nsubscribers to those recantations and depositions knew what they\ncontained.\n\n\n_Saints' Birthdays._--It was not on the birthdays but the death days\nthat the early Catholic Church held festivals in honor of saints and\nmartyrs, notwithstanding that such celebrations found in ancient\ndocuments may be given as that particular saint's birthday. St.\nBridget's Festival and St. Patrick's Festival are celebrated on the\nreputed anniversary of their deaths.\n\nThere are a few cases in our country where pagans, after being\nconverted, baptised and received into the church, have their\ncelebrations on the anniversary of their baptism or public entry.\nUsually they selected a saint's festival day for that purpose.\n\nBirthday celebrations at the beginning of Christianity were looked\non with anger by the Christians, because they were oppressed and\npersecuted by both Jews and pagans, and they found in their start the\nworld hard, cold and cruel.\n\n\n_Sinn Fein._--This is a new party which sprang into existence. Its\nmotto is \"Sinn Fein,\" or \"Ourselves Alone,\" meaning thereby that not\nthrough a British Parliament but through Irishmen working together\nin building up Irish industries and holding to the national language\nwill the redemption of Ireland be accomplished.\n\nThe Sinn Fein movement is purely a political, economic and\nnon-military society. The name \"Sinn Fein Volunteers\" today\nthroughout the world is more wrongly applied to the Irish\nRevolutionary Party than calling the Battle of Bunker Hill to\nthe battle fought between the British soldiers and American\nRevolutionists at Breed's Hill, Boston, Mass. The Irish\nRevolutionists were made up of Irish Volunteers, Gaelic Leaguers\nand other Irish societies. They protested against the youth of\nIreland under false colors to be drawn into the British army. These\nsocieties pointed out that the English secured the first foothold\non Irish soil by fraud and misrepresentation. Ever since then the\nEnglish are the so-called owners, contrary to the will of the Irish\npeople. Protestant and Catholic alike wrote their protest with their\nlife's blood against British tyrannical laws. Through disrespect for\nthem the revolutionists were called \"Sinn Fein Volunteers\" by their\nopponents. These revolutionists now erroneously called \"Sinn Fein\nVolunteers,\" broke out in the City of Dublin on Easter Monday, 24th\nof April. A body of revolutionary Irish Volunteers, dressed in Irish\nmilitary uniform, marched in processional order through the streets\nof Dublin, took possession of the general postoffice and proclaimed\nan Irish Republic. Patrick H. Pearse was chosen as Provisional\nPresident, and James Connelly, Commander.\n\n[Sidenote: P. S.--While this book was in the hands of Messrs. Sealy,\nBryer & Walker, printers, Dublin, the war broke out. The premises of\nthe printers, together with several manuscripts of the author, were\nburned. The account here of the revolution is added now to the part\nof the burned copies.]\n\nEnglish military forces of all kinds, with artillery and field guns,\nwere quickly brought against the revolutionists. Against wrecking\nfire of shot and steel, these Republican Irish Volunteers, with\nlittle food and no sleep for nearly a full week, fought against the\nBritish. During the fight a portion of the city was burned. The\nEnglish army burned whole blocks of houses, apparently with the\nobject of giving themselves a clear field for the play of artillery\nand field guns against the revolutionary army. The Volunteers also\nset fire to buildings, hoping that the flames might reach Dublin\nCastle and destroy that British official stronghold in the country,\nbut without success.\n\nLiberty Hall, the Revolutionary party headquarters, was bombarded\nfrom H. M. S. \"Helga.\" Machine guns secretly hidden by the government\nin the Custom-House were also turned upon it and it was destroyed.\n\nEarly in the fight James Connelly, the Irish Commander-in-Chief, was\nwounded and nearly died. P. H. Pearse took command. Foreign relief\nfrom Germany was expected, but it did not come, as Sir Roger Casement\nwas arrested in Tralee and the vessel containing arms sunk.\n\nAfter a week's hard fighting, both day and night, the British troops\nwere getting the best of the Irish Volunteers. P. H. Pearse saw that\nthey were completely surrounded by troops and artillery. In order to\nprevent further slaughter of the unarmed, he agreed to surrender and\naccordingly advised the Republicans. Ladies and shop girls fought\nbravely for Irish freedom. Contrary to the rules of warfare, sixteen\nleaders were shot dead. Eight of them signed the document proclaiming\nthe Irish Republic.\n\nThe men shot after surrendering were Patrick H. Pearse, Thomas\nJ. Clark, Thomas MacDonagh, Joseph Plunket, Edward Daly, William\nO'Hanrahan, William Pearse, Edmond Kent, John McBride, Cornelius\nCulbert, J. J. Hewston, Michael Mallon, Thomas Kent, James Connelly,\nJohn M. Dermott, F. S. Skeffington. Killing these men cannot improve\nthe conditions of the country because they were no traitors to their\nnative land. They were prepared to accept aid for the freedom of\nIreland from any country and refused to be hirelings.\n\nThe immediate cause of the revolution was, it appears, a secret\ndocument distributed in cypher amongst the military authorities\ncontaining instructions to the military to seize the Sinn Feiners,\nGaelic Leaguers and Irish Volunteers' headquarters, and arrest the\nleaders. Conscription was then to be enforced in Ireland. Postoffice\nofficials who were Irish Republicans evidently kept a close eye on\nthe Government proceedings and the documents fell into the hands of\nthe Irish Republicans. The Irish Volunteers stood pledged to the\nsingle service of Ireland, and decided that if they were to die\nfighting they should do it for the cause of Ireland. Accordingly\nthey broke out two days before the day fixed for capturing their\nstrongholds.\n\nThe plan of the British Government failed completely, but it cost\nmany valuable lives, both of men and women--Catholic and Protestant.\nThe revolution is condemned by Mr. John Redmond and his other\nParliamentary followers. On the other hand, John Redmond and his\nfollowers are classed as traitors and job hunters by the Irish\nVolunteers in Ireland, and almost by every national body in the\nUnited States, and the spirit to avenge the deaths of these martyrs\nis growing fast.\n\nSince 1907, the present Parliamentary party showed signs of departure\nfrom the course outlined by Parnell, by accepting a half measure of\nHome Rule.[8] The Sinn Fein National Council repudiated a definition\nby the National Directory of the Irish demand, to the effect that the\nminimum Irish demand was a sovereign Parliament, in Irish affairs \"to\nbe equal to and co-extensive with those of the Parliament of Great\nBritain,\" or, in other words, Grattan's Irish Parliament.\n\nWhen the half measure of Home Rule was passed and Sir Edward Carson,\na Unionist M. P., went to Ulster to get the people of Ulster to\nsign a covenant to resist with firearms Home Rule, he boasted he had\n40,000 (more or less) Ulster volunteers to prevent the Act from going\ninto operation. The Irish Volunteers asked the Government of Great\nBritain \"If the Orangemen can arm and drill, why cannot the rest of\nIreland do the same?\" Irish Volunteers were allowed to arm because\nthe war cloud was hanging over Europe and it was considered useful to\nhave Irish half-trained soldiers ready to fight.\n\nWhen the European war broke out, Home Rule was quickly passed, and\non the 18th of September, 1914, signed by King George, and placed\non the Statute Book, but suspended from operation until after the\nend of the war. The German people were painted in every false color\nfor the Irish people. Most of the common people did not believe that\nthe Germans were as bad as they were painted. Moreover they had no\nconfidence in the British Government and looked upon this Home Rule\nscheme as a recruiting bait.\n\nNext a demand was made on the Irish people to \"furnish men to fight\nfor the protection of their homes and Home Rule.\" Then a split\nstarted in the ranks of all Irish Volunteers. John Redmond preached\nthat \"the cause of the Allies was just and the neutrality of Ireland\nimpossible, and that England stood for the protection of little\nnationalities.\" The Irish Volunteers answered that they stood pledged\nto the single service of Ireland; that the war was not an Irish war,\nbut an English war, and in that war Irishmen should not fight; that\nthe sacrifice for the honor of having Home Rule on the Statute Book\nonly, was too great; and also Irishmen received only coercion from\nEngland until England's difficulty.\n\nBy the Defense of the Realms Act free speech was completely\nsuppressed and Irishmen imprisoned. For advising his son not to join\nthe army, a father was imprisoned and in fact conscription was partly\nin force in Ireland, but not on the Statute Book.[9] When the people\nwere deserted by their leaders, free speech suppressed, as usual in\nsuch cases the country became honeycombed with secret societies. Now\nSir Roger Casement is hanged on a charge of high treason.[10]\n\nThe History of the Revolution of 1916 is still making.\n\n\n_Skelligs._--(See my History of the Skelligs, Blasket Islands and the\nWest of Dingle, to which you will add the disputes between Rome and\nthe Irish Church over the observance of Easter.)\n\n\n_Soupers and Souperism._--During the last black famine the Irish\nProtestant Mission Society established in the Dingle Peninsula soup\nand gruel kitchens for the purpose of tempting starving mothers with\nyoung children to become Protestants. A Dingle Catholic curate named\nO'Connor called those who accepted the soup on condition of joining\nthe Protestant church or Scripture classes \"Soupers.\" Finally the\nexpression was extended to all of that class of Roman Catholics who\nwhile still believing in their former religion went under the color\nand pretense of converts for lucre and joined the Protestant Church.\n(See my book on the Skelligs and the Souper Campaign.)\n\n\n_Spanish Armada._--This was a mighty big fleet of Spanish ships which\nin 1588 came to fight against England. Many of them wrecked by a\nstorm on our coast. A big ship called \"Our Lady of the Rosary,\" went\ndown in Blasquet Islands Sound. The destruction of the Armada caused\nSpain to lose the supremacy of the sea.\n\n(See my book on the Skellig and Blasket Islands for more particulars.)\n\n\n_Statute of Kilkenny._--Statute of Kilkenny was a law passed by the\nson of Edward III, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, preventing English\nsettlers speaking the Irish language, wearing Irish dress or adopting\nIrish names or customs.\n\n\n_St. Patrick's Day._--Ireland's national holiday. This is the date\n(17th of March) set down for the death of St. Patrick.\n\n\n_Tanistry._--This was an ancient law and custom amongst the Irish\nwhereby the owner made equal divisions of his lands amongst his sons,\nlegitimate or illegitimate alike. This was abolished by British law\nin 1604.\n\n\n_Tara._--On a hill in the County Meath stood a court called Tara,\nwhere the Kings of Ireland were crowned. Daniel O'Connel, the\nLiberator, held a repeal meeting there which was attended by one\nmillion persons. The Irish protested against this being added to\ntithes of the Earl of Aberdeen, the last Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.\n\n\n_Tenants' Defense League._--This was an offshoot of the suppressed\nLand League, and Irish National League. It was formed after the\nlatter was suppressed by Balfour's Coercion Act of 1887. The object\nof this league was to defend the tenant farmers against tyrannical\nlandlords, and to obtain the land for the people at just rents. This\nleague was announced by Parnell and William O'Brien in July of 1888.\nIn the winter of that year a branch of it was started in Castle\nGregory by the Rev. John Molyneaux, then P. P. of Castle Gregory.\n\n\n_Tenant League._--This league was organized in 1850. On the 4th of\nJuly, 1851, a great meeting was held on the site of the Battle of the\nBoyne. In 1852 a general election took place and about fifty-eight\nleaguers were elected. However, their leaders broke their pledges,\nbetrayed the Irish people, destroyed the party and within a few years\nafter killed themselves. A branch of this league was established in\nDingle. (See the Pope's Brass Band, also Supplementary History of\nthe County Kerry, for more particulars.)\n\n\n_Thierna-Dubh's Raid, or the Black Earl's Raid._--This was applied\nto the Earl of Ormond, who was Lord Governor of Munster. During\nthe Great Desmond Wars, in 1580, he converted the whole barony of\nCorkaguiny into one great slaughter-house. He went to oppose the\nSpaniards, then with a Pope's banner, at Fort-del-Ore, in Smerwick\nHarbor, and also to capture the 15th Earl of Desmond, a Catholic,\nbecause the latter was suspected of favoring his cousins in a\nrebellion against the British crown, and Ormond was anxious to\npossess Desmond's confiscated estates. At Tralee, Ormond, the Black\nEarl, divided his forces into three divisions, and from thence\nmarched westward towards Dingle, through Slieve-Mish. In this journey\nthe English soldiers slaughtered every man, woman and child they met.\nAt Standbally, they tossed the children for pastime from pike to pike\nand next stabbed to death the feeble mothers. Father Dominick O'Daly\ncalls it \"Cooling their impious thirst with the blood of Catholics.\"\nClassing Father O'Daly as a supporter of the Desmonds and rejecting\nhis evidence and taking their own evidence, the author finds that in\nthe commander's letters to Queen Elizabeth they promised \"If God will\ngive us bread, we doubt not but to make as bare a country as ever\na Spaniard put a foot on,\" meaning the Dingle peninsula. (Pelham's\nLetters to Queen Elizabeth.) \"non was spared the toddling child,\nthe feeble old man, the blind, the lame, the idiot, the strong man\nand the weak shepherd.\" As the soldiers of Queen Elizabeth entered\na village they had the laggards set on fire. Mothers clasping their\nbabies together with the dwellers were surrounded and driven into the\nflames or cut off with the sword. The English soldiers were hunting\ndefenseless poor people for pleasure. The only way to receive pardon\nwas to bring the bleeding head of one of their countrymen and throw\nit at the head of an English commander in order to sow hatred for\none another amongst the Irish. This wicked journey of the Earl of\nOrmond, such was the blight that it brought on the homes of everybody\nthat it left a memory everywhere through which he passed, which can\nnever fade while a Father can speak to a son. The soldiers under\nOrmond, like ravenous beasts, having once tasted human blood, could\nnot quench their craving for slaughter. Young women, who refused to\nbe outraged were hanged from trees by the hair of their heads. When\nthey could not subdue men they turned their weapons against women and\nchildren.\n\n \"His hosts are all gather'd, his cordon is set,\n Strong and close wove the meshes--wide stretches the net,\n As it sweeps the doom'd district, its progress thus trace'd,\n All before as a garden--behind as a waste.\n\n Their course is unsparing and searching as fire,\n Leaves not sheaf in the barn, nor hoof in the byre,\n While hymning their triumph, in concert combined,\n The wild wail of women, with the lowing of kine.\n\n The raid is accomplished--the war waves roll back,\n Smoke, ember, and bloodprints are left on the track,\n And long the scared mother, her infant will tame,\n With the terrors attached to the _Thierna-Dubhs'_ name.\"\n\n--Three verses of twenty published in the Kerry Magazine, a\npublication under the control of a Protestant minister.\n\nSpenser the poet described the people \"as emerging like ghouls to\nfeed on corpse, carrion and grass.\" \"All such people as they met\nthey did without mercie putte to the sworde. By this means the whole\ncountrie having no cattel nor kine left they were driven to such\nextremities for want of vittels they were either to die or perish\nin the famine or to die under the sword.\"--The Black Earl's Raid on\nCorkaguiny in 1580 in Hooker's Chronicle A. D. 1580.\n\n(The Burning of Dingle, Lord Gray Slaughter at Fort-del-Ore and the\ntorture of Kerry martyrs and other subjects are lost in the Dublin\nfire.)\n\nBefore the Fitzmaurices arrived in Dingle, or Fort-del-Ore, three\npersons landed in Dingle off Spanish ships. They were seized by\ngovernment spies, and first taken before the Earl of Desmond. The\nvain creature ordered them to be taken before the authorities in\nLimerick. Two persons turned out to be Dr. Patrick O'Haly, Bishop\nof Mayo, and Father Cornelous O'Rourke. To extract a confession the\nEnglish had them tortured. When this failed they were hanged to a\ntree and used as targets by the soldiers. Desmond, in his pretentions\nof loyalty, took credit for this act.\n\nThe reader is referred to the following Protestant authorities:\nHooker's Chronicle, 1590, Smith's History of Kerry, Pelham's Letters\nand the State Papers from 1579 to 1585.\n\n\n_Thomas-An Aehig._--Parson Moriarty, late of Mill-street, County\nCork, a native of the Dingle District, was so-called because in his\nwritings addressed to outsiders he placed under false colors the\nreligious practices of his Catholic neighbors, and manufactured\ncrimes on paper out of trifles.\n\n(See my book on the Skellig, Blasket Islands and the West of Dingle\nfor the state of religion in those parts during the Souper Campaign.)\n\n\n_Tithes._--This was a tax of one-tenth of the produce or its value\nauthorized by law to be paid for the support of the clergy and the\nChurch of England. Because the Church of England was not the church\nof the people of Ireland, the payment of tithes by Roman Catholics\ncaused famines and was resisted with bloodshed. Often a poor man's\ncow was seized in our parts and sold for eight shillings (less than\ntwo dollars) to satisfy the tithes. The case was still worse when he\ndid not belong to that church for which he had to pay. A short time\nago the tithes were transferred from the tenants to the landlords,\nbut the landlords saddled them on to the tenants again by increasing\ntheir rents.[11]\n\nIt appears payment of tithes to Pagan priests existed long before\nthe Christian era. Until the English introduced their system into\nIreland, the Irish Catholic clergy were content with a voluntary\noffering, mostly in kind.\n\n\n_Tithes Artificial Famine._--This famine started in the winter of\n1739 and ended in 1748. The start of it was caused by a frost which\npenetrated very deep into the ground, destroying potatoes. In an\neffort to escape payment of tithes to ministers of the established\nchurch, people sowed only as much potatoes and grain crops as were\nabsolutely necessary. A dreadful famine came. Black '46 and '47 were\nno comparison to the famine which ended in 1748.\n\n(See Supplementary History, Co. Kerry-Corkaguiny.)\n\n\n_Treaty of Limerick._--The Treaty of Limerick was made on the 3rd of\nOctober, 1691, between King William's army (English), and the Irish,\non the fall of Limerick and Athlone. By the articles of the treaty,\nfull religious liberty and the exercise of their trades, professions\nand callings were guaranteed by the English to the Irish Catholics.\nThe Irish soldiers sailed away to France. Immediately England broke\nevery article of the treaty and for religious liberty gave Penal Laws\nallowing no man to live in Ireland, possess property, exercise a\ntrade or profession, if he was a Catholic.\n\n\n_Turn Coats._--Persons who changed their religion for lucre during\nthe Souper Campaign were called \"Turn Coats\" by their Catholic\nneighbors.\n\n\n_United Irishmen._--The Society of United Irishmen was founded by\nT. W. Tone, a Protestant. His object was to unite Protestants and\nCatholics of the North and South to join hands for the freedom of\nIreland. The United Irishmen rebelled against the English in 1798.\n\n\n_Wicker Baskets._--Carrying loads on horseback by means of wicker\nbaskets suspended on both sides of the horse is now almost everywhere\nout of practice. I remember clearly when the first common cart\nentered the villages of Ballynalockon, Cloghane, and places in\nDunquin Parish.\n\n\n_White Boys._--These were a body of young men who appeared in many\nplaces in Munster between 1761 and 1763. The reason they were called\nWhite Boys was because they wore white linen frocks and shirts\nover their coats. They openly resisted the enclosure of commons\nand the compulsory payment of excessive tithes levied on Roman\nCatholics for the support of ministers, wardens, preachers and the\nupkeep of Protestant churches. Because the tax was raised chiefly\non tillage lands, consequently it forced the farmers to sow very\nlittle potatoes and let their lands for grazing. The horrors of the\nartificial famines created by the tithes between 1739 and 1748 when\nmothers devoured their own children and children ate their dead\nparents was fresh in the memory of the people. Then the Protestant\nChurch of Ireland was not the church of the people. In one of the\nWhite Boy uprisings, by hamstringing and like methods they killed\nand destroyed cattle in thousands making certain that if a potato\nfamine existed that year there would be plenty of meat to prevent\nstarvation. In this great cattle slaughter farmers' sons, unknown\nto their fathers, took the lead in maiming their own cattle.\nAt Ballynalackon in the Parish of Cloghane, is a place called\n_Cnockane-na-bouchaelee-bawna_, where local White Boys of that place\nassembled. The White Boys were suppressed by military force and the\nringleaders hanged.\n\n\n_Wild Geese._--These were young Irish immigrants who in the 18th\nCentury went to France; there many of them joined the Irish Brigade\nin the service of France. In the Battle of Fontenoy they trampled the\nBritish flag in the dust and swept before them in the wildest rout\nEngland's columns of reserves to the war cry of \"Revenge! Remember\nLimerick!! Dash down the Sassenach!!!\" Immediately after that England\ncancelled some of her Penal Laws.\n\nMany persons from the Dingle Peninsula about this time went as \"Wild\nGeese\" and settled in France.\n\n\n_Wreck of the \"Port-Yorack.\"_--This Glasgow iron-clad barque was\nwrecked in Brandon Bay on the 29th of January, 1894, and all the\ncrew of twenty-one drowned. The vessel was laden with copper ore. On\ninquiry it was found that the barque was insufficiently manned, badly\nprovisioned and the crew suffered great hardships during the voyage,\nespecially returning from South America. The owner was fined \u00a370.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_Fenianism._--This was a secret society formed for the purpose\nof establishing an Irish Republican Brotherhood and severing all\nconnection with the British crown. James Stephens was the leader and\nsupreme chief of the Fenian revolutionary movement. It went as far\nas to decree a republic established. It destroyed some of the best\nregiments in the British army and extended to the navy, as well as\nto parts of France, America and England. The Fenians took the field\nin Cahirsciveen in February, 1867, and in the counties of Cork,\nLimerick, Clare, Waterford and Tipperary, Dublin and South on the 5th\nof March following.\n\nThis revolution did not succeed in its purpose.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] A marriage ceremony does not in itself wholly complete a marriage\nin the Catholic Church. (See the Catholic Encyclopedia.)\n\n[2] The anniversaries of the Battles of the Boyne and Aughrim are\ncelebrated on the 1st and 12th of July in Belfast, by Orangemen\nwrecking Catholic churches and assaulting women and old people.\n\n[3] Brien Borue: Borue was only a nickname given to Brien. His\nfather's name was Kennedy. Brien Borue and his father were of the\nfamily of Cormac.\n\n[4] In America, Parnell was offered twenty-five dollars, five thereof\nto buy bread and twenty to buy lead, i. e., for the Land League. It\nwas accepted.\n\n[5] The Union came into force on the 1st of January, 1801. Ever\nsince the fight to restore to Ireland her Parliament has gone on\nwithout intermission. The members of Grattan's Parliament were all\nProtestants yet the majority of Roman Catholics in Ireland prefer it\nto a union with England.\n\n[6] Bess Rice and Clara Hussey were Catholics and belonged to the\nlast century. While they held sway to the west of Dingle they both\ncaused so much misery to their unfortunate tenants that the tears\nwhich fell from mothers, wives, children and husbands would, I am\ntold, water those ladies' whole properties. The way in which they\noppressed their victims would, it appears, be their most fitting\nepitaph.\n\n[7] Many in America unacquainted with Irish politics are under the\nimpression that moonlighting is \"moonshining,\" i. e., making poteen\nwhisky. Moonshining is pretty common in backward portions of Florida\nand Virginia. Moonshiners have no welcome for strangers for fear of\ninforming on them. They denounce the laws which compel them to work\nby night boiling the produce of their toil in the wilderness while no\nlaw stops ladies from wearing aigrettes or slaughtering fine birds of\nFlorida for their feathers. On the approach of strangers moonshiners\nhide the still, extinguish their campfires and hide themselves in the\nforests very quickly.\n\n[8] Edward Harrington, M. P. for West Kerry, addressing a meeting\nheld by Parnell in the Square Tralee, said: \"We will have no half\nmeasures of Home Rule, and we will have no Chief but Charlie.\"\n\n[9] The following is a copy of a letter addressed by the author to\nMr. Thomas O'Donnell, M. P., on the 1st of January, 1916:\n\n San Francisco, January 1, 1916.\n\n STOP RECRUITING IRISHMEN, PREACH PEACE, AND VOTE AGAINST\n CONSCRIPTION.\n\n Dear Sir: I understand that it is the intention of the British\n Government to introduce a bill for conscription. Since I left\n Ireland, I notice many strange changes have come over the\n National leaders of Ireland. They are not as fearless as they\n were in the days of Parnell and they completely lost or destroyed\n their independence. I suppose England will now want Irishmen to\n fight for her and therefore extend conscription to Ireland:\n\n My views are:\n\n 1. FOR PEACE, first and last.\n\n 2. NEUTRAL as between the leading nations responsible for the\n war, viz., England, Germany and Russia.\n\n 3. STRONGLY OPPOSED TO IRISHMEN being sent OUT OF IRELAND to\n fight.\n\n 4. England is not fighting to protect the nuns of Belgium\n from the ravages of the Germans, because the British soldiers\n destroyed the women of their own land by thousands before leaving\n for the battlefront.\n\n 5. England is not fighting for the protection of little\n nationalities, because that country was the greatest exterminator\n that ever appeared on the face of the globe. She put out of\n existence the two Boer Republics, as recently as 1902.\n\n 6. That the war is a mass murder of human beings carried on for\n greed.\n\n 7. Opposed to secret treaties or invisible governments,\n especially those binding the people without the full knowledge,\n consent and vote of the people of the contracting countries,\n especially treaties made in support of an unjust cause.\n\n The history of this war now raging in Europe is still in its\n making. To the one standing here it appears to be a monstrous\n mass murder of human beings who are made the victims of a\n scramble of European financiers, their rulers and supporters,\n for many years plotting to rob one another of trade profit and\n territory. It is plain to a child that each of the nations of\n Europe for many years were struggling to out do each other in\n building murderous equipment and forming compacts for the same\n purpose. The sudden killing of the Crown Head of Austria was like\n setting a lighted match to oil barrels already in position for\n the blaze.\n\n The plain leading facts as they appear to me are that Germany\n wants the expansion of territory and sea power, and England is\n jealous of the rapid growth of sea commerce of Germany, and\n therefore avails herself of this opportunity to destroy it for\n ages. I honestly believe that all the other arguments about\n militarian little nationalities, etc., ought to at once be\n rejected as manufactured excuses to justify war.\n\n Having come to the conclusion that this is legalized murder\n of the people carried on in the false color and pretense of\n patriotism for the benefit of gold crazed human wolves, as\n between the three leading nations at war, the author is neutral.\n However, he is opposed to the shedding of blood in such a wicked\n cause, or fond Irish mothers raising children to be targets for\n rifles at the becking of every false leader. Look at the fruits\n those rulers and politicians of Europe produced; they have washed\n the frontier red with a sea of human blood; peaceful homes are in\n ruins; the wild wail of women, children or aged parents cannot\n stop their hungry craving for human slaughter; by soldiers at\n home and abroad women are ravaged; the flower of Europe are drawn\n from the common people by thousands, and most of them must pay\n for militarism with their life's blood in the trenches. Cattle,\n sheep, hares and deer, will take the places of Irish, Scotch,\n Welsh, and English, shot down in this war.\n\n England, contrary to the rules of warfare, tries to starve the\n civil population of Germany, and in return Germany in a more\n scientific manner does the same thing to England by sinking\n great liners, thereby causing death on the ocean, of innocent\n people. =Hatred for the people of the nations at war with\n each other, will live in Europe for the next generation.= The\n slaughter of human beings, now going on, is shocking. It is\n clearly against the mandate of God, reason and common sense.\n Civilization is trampled on; barbarism is substituted; bands of\n legalized murderers sit in gilt chambers, drinking wine bought\n with the blood of their countrymen in the trenches. They fill\n their pockets with gold, make their homes comfortable, while\n their neighbours hearts are sad, their hearths cold, their\n pockets empty and their sons and relatives slaughtered in the\n battle fields. I honestly believe that it is much nobler to\n die in thousands in the cause of humanity and freedom than to\n draw a single sword in this disgraceful war. You leaders of\n destruction and legalized criminals in power, remember God's\n commandment--\"Thou shalt not kill.\"\n\n Murder, no matter whether judicial, legalized or church\n sanctioned, will still remain murder, and will continue to cry\n to heaven for vengeance. \"To-day thou art,\" great and mighty\n men; \"to-morrow thou art not\"--yes, a cold lump of clay with the\n skeletons of murdered men, the tears of widows and the crying\n orphans you caused, standing before you. You may be sure a just\n God will not be fooled by the arguments of cunning counselors,\n judges, ministers, priests, bishops or pious frauds, who may be\n hired or engaged to bring their country's youth to the slaughter\n house.\n\n God protect the children of Erin from being drawn in amongst\n those mad dogs. Those who do the fighting ought to ask themselves\n what are their interests in the war, and what is the price agreed\n upon to be paid before they are thrown to the wolf-dogs.\n\n GOD SAVE IRELAND.\n\n Yours, etc.,\n\n P. M. FOLEY.\n\n[10] When Jamison raided South Africa the Boers did not shoot\nhim, although his crime was the most serious one. Yet the English\nGovernment under Premier Asquith had James Connelly, a wounded, dying\nsoldier, propped up against the wall because he was not able to stand\non his limbs and shot dead.\n\n[11] Parnell and the Land League put a stop to landlords increasing\ntenants' rents above the fair value of the land.\n\n\n\n\nCurious Customs\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThis little hand book deals with the curious customs and traditions,\nchiefly in West Kerry, in common with other parts of Ireland. It\nis the fourth book issued by the author on Corkaguiny, of a series\ndesignated to present to the reader all essential historical, curious\ncustoms, and traditional information, relating to the County of Kerry.\n\nIn undertaking the toils of this particular volume, the principal\nobject the writer has in view is first and foremost to destroy the\nhatcheries of all objectionable remains of foreign superstitions,\ncustoms, fraudulent practices, and like diseases imposed upon us, and\nwhich may still be found here and there lingering in the district. By\ndiscriminating between truth and falsehood, giving reason and common\nsense for what is nonsensical and discreditable, the author expects\nto weed out of the minds of the future manhood of this locality the\nsuperstitious poison of foreign countries, handed down to us through\n\"wise, sensible and truthful\" old women, and instead thereof he is\nendeavoring to kindle in the breast of every young man the spirit\nof being reasonably fearless in supernatural affairs, self-reliant,\ncareful, truthful and just in other matters.\n\nThe second aim of the author is to record a few of the most important\ncurious customs and traditions of the people in the past. This\nis done both for the amusement and the information of the coming\ngeneration. However, it is well to remember that this is not a\ncomplete list. The author left behind him sufficient materials for\nothers to follow on the trail which he is the first to \"blaze\" in\nthose parts.\n\nWriters and tourists visiting West Kerry and reading this book,\nmight be inclined to go away under the impression that the people of\nCorkaguiny are exceptionally superstitious and peculiar, as compared\nwith those of other portions of the United Kingdom and the world. If\nwe will but calmly examine the records and customs of the world, we\nwill at the first glance see that even in our darkest hour we were\nfar in advance of many of them in that respect. About the Thirteenth\nor Fourteenth Century, superstitions began to creep in amongst\nChristians. They increased in many forms immediately. In Ireland\nslight traces of the old Pagan superstitions lingered amongst the\npeople, but between 1580 and 1736 in England, _no less than thirty\nthousand persons were publicly hanged for being witches_, and most\nof the poor innocent creatures were burned at the stake. The most\nlearned judges of the English courts declared from their benches that\nwitchcraft existed, and that persons in one league with the devil\ncould raise storms, destroy life and property, by no further act than\ntaking off their stockings and steeping them in soap and water. They\neven went so far as to force their victims to believe and confess\nthat they were witches. Only that England was so much engaged in\nhounding to death the Catholic priests, Heaven knows how many more\nwould have fallen.\n\nIn 1716 it appears one Mrs. Hicks and her little daughter were hanged\nfor selling their souls to the devil, and their accusers charged them\nwith raising a storm by soaking stockings in a lather of soap.\n\nScotland was buried in superstition. Calvin and Luther, both the\ngreat heads of the Protestant Reformation, believed in witchcraft,\nand the King of Scotland, when he ascended the throne of England, by\ntongue, pen and fire, advocated the rack for the witches.\n\nI believe Italy, Spain and France, three Catholic countries, were\nthe first to reject witchcraft. Germany, although at first very slow\nto believe in witchcraft, burned them by the thousands, and that\nin a most barbarous manner. The Puritan fathers of New England had\nthe hangman's rope pretty busy in Boston Common with the witches of\nSalem, Massachusetts, and the Quakers of other parts of the State. If\na man did not believe in witches, he was classed worse than a heretic.\n\nPublic execution of witches in England was stopped by law, I believe\nabout the year 1736. During all that time Ireland was trampled under\nthe heels of superstitions. Anglo-Norman lords were a party to the\nlaws which caused so much innocent blood to flow as divine perfume\nfrom 1600 to 1736, in cases of witchcraft and \"Papists,\" both in\nEngland and her colonies. Naturally, their castles in Ireland had the\nfoul air of superstition and adoration about them. In Ireland they\nsuppressed education, and tried to make themselves the only lords\nwhich the people had to serve and adore on earth or in heaven. They\nabused their powers, and the Irish people at last refused to have\nthose false Gods, and now they are almost driven out of the country.\n\nIrishmen were not ever very much inclined to marry their daughters to\nthose degenerated \"false gods,\" bearing a British or foreign title.\nThey usually left such honors to the ladies of other countries, many\nof the latter unfortunate vain-minded creatures afterwards returning\nto their native lands bringing, in addition to a costly bought title,\na decree of divorce. It ought to be remembered that even today,\nnotwithstanding England's proud boast of democracy, it is probably\nthe worst country in the world for rank, title and blue-blood\nlords--one class looking down with contempt on the other. In the\nHouse of Lords you have dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, bishops\nand barons. They cannot understand that \"all men were created equal,\"\nonly when they want the common people to fight their battles.\n\nNotwithstanding the isolated and backward state of Ireland under\nalien rule, yet as far as the author can ascertain the Irish people\nnever demanded a single life to be sacrificed in cases of witchcraft,\nand if any individual fell, it was at the command of the foreigner\nand to satisfy his craving for blood and sacrifice. Ireland appears\nto be much cleaner from superstition than her neighbors in the\nsixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of the Christian era.\n\nThe writer is not finding fault with the people of those countries\nwhich honestly believed in the existence of witches, but he is\nprotesting against those who leave the very dens of superstition\nand come to Ireland to magnify trifles, at the same time pretending\nthat they have none of their own. Every country has had people some\nof whom are more or less superstitious. It is not even confined to\nany one religion. In many houses in America for good luck you will\nfind the horseshoe nailed inside over the door. There are locomotive\nengineers in the New England States who will not very willingly take\nout a train engine bearing the number \"thirteen.\" Persons traveling\nwith me refused to sleep in the next vacant room to me in Seattle,\nWashington, because the number of it was \"thirteen.\" Among the first\nwho followed the trail of the \"forty-niners\" to California, were\npersons who would not start on any part of their journey on a Friday,\nand through superstition carried the feet of rabbits with them in\ntheir pockets.\n\nA lady in one of the New England States in the East, who proudly\nboasted of her forefathers crossing the Atlantic in the \"Mayflower,\"\nobjected in my presence to rocking an empty cradle because it would\nbring misfortune to the house.\n\nAs late as December, 1910, I saw persons within Mount Auburn\nCemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, watching patiently for the\nresurrection of Mrs. Baker Eddy, the head of Christian Science. These\nand many of her followers firmly believed she would reappear and\ndeliver a message from the dead to the living. However, the learned\nlady is still sleeping in silence. What would the English press say\nif this happened in Ireland?\n\nWith regard to Irish kings, they were not inferior to the latter-day\nkings of England. King John of England in 1204 imprisoned Jews,\nplucked out their teeth and eyes and slaughtered them. He was\nexcommunicated by the Pope. King Henry VIII murdered four of his\nwives and ripped one of them open on child's birth to have a son\nsucceed him to the throne. Englishmen ought to read the sad story of\nthe Tower of London before opening their lips on ancient Irish kings.\n\nThen, as to morals, the author believes Ireland will be found as\nclean from the scarlet plague of the \"red-light district\" as any\ncountry in the world. Look at the British soldiers who boasted that\nthey were going to \"defend the Catholic nuns in Belgium from the\nHuns,\" destroying the women of their own land by the thousands before\nleaving for the front!\n\nNow, as to curious customs, you will find boys and girls \"courting\"\nin Ireland, \"bundling\" in Wales, \"spooning\" until midnight in the\nUnited States, and for three long years a young man with window bars\nbetween him and his sweetheart is \"playing the bear\" in Mexico,\nbefore he is admitted into her room, even in presence of members\nof her family. In England, every third county has had a different\ncustom, and many of them are considered pretty objectionable.\n\nThe original intention of the author was to have his work printed\nin Ireland, for Irish readers, but that horrible war in Europe,\nwhich has caused the most widespread pain, misery and suffering ever\ninflicted upon the human race, made him change his plans, and print\nthe book in the United States, but the cost will be much more and the\nprice of each copy proportionately higher.\n\nBy the campfires of California, and in the sandy desert of Nevada,\nover five thousand miles away from his native land, this book has\nbeen written by the author during his spare hours. Therefore, the\nwriter knows that faults will be found with the work, and errors\ndiscovered therein. However, he is confident that it is free\nfrom serious errors. Apart from the honest critic, of course,\nthere will appear the natural-born \"fault-finder.\" To men of the\nlatter disposition the writer has no apology to offer, and it is\nhis intention to take no notice of anything said or written by\nsuch persons, further than to express his regret that they did\nnot undertake the work themselves, and, whenever his rights shall\nexpire, they will have an opportunity to improve, alter, or amend his\nplans--probably about forty-four years' time.\n\nThis work is not expected to satisfy all classes. The author has\nno intention whatsoever of giving offense to any person, religion,\nrace or nationality, but it is to be feared that in his effort to\nestablish truth and equity passages may appear herein which will\ndisplease some individuals. If so, the writer very much regrets it,\nbut at the same time the reader should remember that it is his duty\nto record those regrettable events and set them in a true light for\nthe judges of the future world.\n\nIn style and arrangement of this book there is a slight departure\nfrom the plans of his previous works, namely, that each subject set\nforth herein will be found in alphabetical order. This he trusts will\nprove satisfactory to the reader.\n\n AUTHOR.\n\nDated in the State of Nevada, this 4th day of July, 1915.\n\n _Erin, though far from your mountains now, with me, you are still\n Achusla Geal Machree._\n\n\n\n\n_All Fools' Day._--This falls on the first of April, when it is\ncustomary to play tricks upon each other. The young people find great\ndiversion in sending persons on errands which end in disappointment\nfor the sendee and merriment for the sender, the laugh at all times\nbeing in proportion to the trouble given.\n\nAmong some of the tricks played was at a very early hour in the\nmorning to knock at a window and call a farmer out of bed, telling\nhim that cattle had destroyed his potatoes and corn fields. He would\nrun with all his might, sometimes half undressed, to find no cattle\nbefore him.\n\nPieces of paper would be pinned onto the tails of a coat and valuable\nlooking packages containing a stone or a piece of iron would be left\nin the track of a passerby so that if he kicked it he would remember\nit. Sometimes a stiff purse would be placed on the road or footpath\nwith a string attached to it, and it would be jerked away by those\nhiding behind a fence, gate or doorway when the fool would be in the\nact of grasping for it. Probably this custom originated in France and\nwas borrowed by England, to whom we are indebted for it.\n\n\n_Ancient Crossroads and Burial Customs._--At funerals to the west\nof Dingle, a custom prevails of lowering the coffin containing the\nremains at certain ancient crossroads and praying for the dead. This\nis not practiced on the Castle Gregory side of Brandon Mountain, but\nthere, on lowering the coffin into the grave, the nails are drawn\nfrom the cover of the coffin.\n\nThe custom of lowering the coffin at crossroads is a very ancient\none, not alone in the Dingle district, but in other countries outside\nof Ireland. The origin of it was due to persons who committed suicide\nnot allowed to be interred in consecrated ground, were buried upon\nthe nearest crossroad thereto, i. e., at the junction of four\nroads.[12] Whenever a funeral passed by, the corpse was lowered,\npeople knelt and prayed for the soul of the persons buried at the\ncrossroads.\n\nIn the course of time the custom of burying dead bodies on the\ncrossroads went out of practice, and the names of the persons buried\nthere were forgotten, but the habit of lowering the dead body\ncontinued and a prayer was offered to God for both those buried on\nthe crossroads and also for the soul of the person whose funeral then\ntook place. Then when the penal laws were enforced, with military in\nDingle, the religious rites which should be said at the graveside for\nthe deceased were recited at the old crossroads.[12] Praying for the\ndead at ancient crossroads nearest the graveyards, therefore, is an\nact of piety and charity of an old standing.\n\n\n_Ancient National Dances._--The most common dances[13] in our\nlocality were jigs, reels, hornpipe and country dance, or\nReencafadah. These were followed by a form of dance called \"sets,\"\nand the German \"waltz\" was transmitted to us by the English.\nMovable platforms for dancing upon them were placed on the country\ncrossroads, and boys and girls danced in the open air in the\nafternoons on Sundays. The clergy took a dislike to all dances, with\nthe result that open-air dancing was almost suppressed, but of recent\nyears it was revived by the Gaelic League.\n\n\n_Ardnane._--Carding, spinning and story telling by night is now gone\nout of fashion--newspapers are driving away the latter.\n\n\n_Banshee._--This is supposed to be a fairy visitant in the shape of\nan old woman whose wailing around the home of a sick person foretold\ndeath. Of course, it is superstition to think that an old woman\ndead and gone will return from the grave wailing or calling for her\nvictim, or carry off a member of any family.\n\nNevertheless, there must be something of an unknown nature existing\nin the shape of a wireless telephone, electric feeling or otherwise\nin the blood, flesh or nature of certain Celtic families whereby some\nrelative of a sudden feels, pictures and imagines death, trouble or\nmisfortune approaching without apparently any means of knowing it at\nthe time. I hope science will soon more clearly solve the cause of\nthis and thereby strip off all superstition and uncertainty.\n\n\n_Begrudging._--Persons admiring beasts or individuals and praising\nthem without saying \"God bless them,\" if they died or became sick\nthe blame would be laid onto them, and some would say such a person\npossessed an \"evil eye\" and his visits thereafter would not be very\ndesirable. However, this superstition can be found as bad in other\ncountries.\n\n\n_Bellman._--The bellman with his hand-bell still survives in Dingle.\nHe usually announces sales by public auction. Missing or impounded\ncattle, also property lost or found, money lost about thirty-three\nyears ago and found by another, were nearly always recovered by\ngiving a shilling or one shilling and sixpence to the bellman. I\nam sure this was due to the moral influence of the clergy over the\npeople.\n\nThe most notable bellman at the end of the last century was Markim.\nHe was succeeded by Michael O'Sullivan.\n\n\n_Blind Fiddlers and Flute Players._--The custom of blind fiddlers\nand flute players, accompanied by members of their families, going\non a quarterly circuit among the villages has now fallen into\ndisuse. Formerly, when one of them entered the village he would be\nentertained, given two or three nights' lodging and a collection\nstarted for him. The boys and girls of the surrounding villages would\nassemble and these would be dancing until cock-crow in the morning.\n\n\n_Boats and Canoes Haunted and Made Useless._--A great trick to make\na boat or canoe useless was to pretend to see it on sea with some\nmysterious persons in it, and that on approaching the boat or canoe\nfor the purpose of speaking to its occupants, they disappeared\nsuddenly as if the \"earth, sky or sea swallowed them.\" If the crew\nwere at home and not fishing that night, and the tale was told by a\nrespectable person or corroborated by one who was not a notorious\nliar no person would venture into the boat or canoe forever after.\n\nOne-third of these visions were imaginary; two-thirds were founded\nby jealous neighbors and malicious persons who saw themselves\noutstripped by the success of some local families or crew as\nfishermen, consequently this superstition more rapidly died out.\n\n\n_Bodach._--This is represented by parents to children as the figure\nof an old beggar-man, at night looking through windows and making\nhorrible faces against panes of glass, carrying a big sack and\nprepared to take with him children who he might find crying without\ncause or wandering out into undesirable places in the dark.\n\nChildren ought to be told the truth, namely, that faces made against\nthe windows are done by members of the family in order to frighten\nthem. These false impressions created in the minds of innocent\nchildren at such an early age make their lives so miserable to them\nin after years that they imagine every bush that shakes after dark is\na ghost or a fairy.\n\n\n_Bone Fires._--The custom of lighting bone fires on St. John's Eve is\nvery much on the decline in this peninsula. In Castle Gregory boys\nand girls used to remain awake all night, dancing around them for\namusement. Bone fire is said to be derived from the Canduaoin \"baun\nfire,\" a beacon fire. A bone fire might mean a fire of bones, a fire\nof corpse, a funeral pile or a fire for destroying heretics, but\nwhatever be the origin of it, one thing is certain, that bone fires\nexisted long before the dawn of Christianity.\n\n\n_Bone Setters._--These were persons who made it a practice to set\nbroken bones, but the dispensary doctor quickly sent them out of\nbusiness.\n\n\n_Brack-an-Tobar._--All the holy wells in the country are supposed\nto have enchanted fish which never grew larger or smaller, and some\nbelieved that water containing the fish, if taken from the well,\nwould never heat nor boil until both water and fish were returned.\nPeople of the present day treat this as a fish story.\n\n\n_Brandon Mountain's Western Slope Held Sacred._--For a long time the\ninhabitants treated the western slopes of Brandon Mountain so sacred\nthrough reverence for St. Brandon and his monks as not to allow any\nliving animal to be killed thereon except fish caught in the rivulets\nof Feoghanagh and Shaunakyle and given to the poor or taken by them\nas charity. The fish taken from these streams had to be eaten at once\nand could not be kept beyond the second night without eating. Birds\nwithin that sacred ground were nearly tame and hares when pursued by\nthe hounds following in their tracks, as soon as the hares crossed\nthe River of Feoghanagh, the hounds were stopped by the hunters.\nCattle, wild deer, boars and all like animals therein were protected.\nI believe \"Park Garrive\" was about the last place here wherein\nhunting was strictly forbidden.\n\n\n_Brendon (Saint) Feast._--This was held on the 22nd of March, but\nfrom time immemorial is gone out of practice.\n\nSt. Brendon died on the 16th of May.\n\n\n_Changelings._--Fairies at one time were supposed to steal or spirit\naway a fine, rosy-cheeked, healthy-looking child or young person and\ntake him off to Teer-Na-Oge, leaving a very thin, pale-faced, silent\nweakling instead of the person stolen behind them who in the dead of\nnight changed into a withered crone. Medical science has proved this\nchange to be done by consumption and other like causes, therefore the\nfairy thief is disappearing here faster than in other countries.\n\n\n_Charms._--Not very long since, \"respectable\" people went to \"wise\"\nold women to seek foolish cures for sickness by means of charms. I\nbelieve I heard about one hundred diseases mentioned, each of which\nI was told could be cured by a charm--consumption and the \"fallen\"\nsickness were amongst them. Men also pretended to heal horses and\ncattle by charms.\n\nOne of the most pitiable cases to come under my notice was at\nCloushguire, Castle Gregory, where an old man at a very early hour\nof the morning was carrying on his performance over an old horse.\nIt surprised me to find in such an enlightened place as Castle\nGregory any person guilty of such folly as to believe in curing\nailments by charms. Corkaguiny in general, I believe, stands as clean\nfrom superstition and charms as any barony in the British Isles,\njudging by the latter actions in foreign lands. The ignorance and\nsuperstitions of the few now amongst us are all nearly melted away\nbefore the bright rays of science and education.\n\n\n_Contracts with the Devil._--Some time ago quite a few were to be\nfound who believed that noted card players had attained the art of\nwinning as a result of a contract made by them with the devil, which\ncontract was confirmed at a general meeting of the witches and ghosts\nover which the devil himself presided and the persons signed the\narticles of agreement with their own blood. To obtain possession of\nthe soul was the main object of the devil. For a wise spirit like\n\"Old Nick,\" he used to sometimes make very silly contracts. Then\nthey thought of sleight-of-hand and other tricks. When the country\nbecame properly policed, the robbers and thieves, with the ghosts and\ndevils, disappeared.\n\nIn England persons were hanged for selling their souls to the devil,\nand by virtue of the contract raised storms.\n\n\n_Cross Thursday, or La croista na blianna._--In olden times people\nwould not like to start doing anything on Cross Thursday, especially\nthe grandmothers of the present age. Carding, spinning, etc., were\nsure to be suspended. Ask them why suspend spinning, etc., on that\nday, and they would only tell you that it was not for them to break\nan old custom which was accompanied by an old saying that if anything\nwas started on Cross Thursday it would never be completed.\n\nI believe that this day must have been observed at some time as a\nholiday in Ireland. No doubt but it had a religious origin connecting\nit with the order given by Herod the Great to murder the children of\nBethlehem and its coast in order to cut off Jesus, who was born about\nthe same time. Jesus escaped by being taken by His mother into Egypt.\n\nThis day is also known as Innocents' Day.\n\n\n_Death Warning._--The following were considered as sure warnings of\nimpending death if any of them were seen or heard by a relative,\nnamely: Dogs barking at the moon or the ghosts of the living;\nheadless coach approaching; weeping of women; the Banshee's wail;\nsounds of a carpenter's hammer making a coffin; funeral processions;\nspots of blood on the floor, ground or roadway.\n\nOf course, there were several others, but the above were most\ncommonly mentioned.\n\n\n_Easter Sunday Sun Dance on Easter Sunday Morning._--That the sun\ncan be seen dancing in the heavens on Easter Sunday morning is a\nwidespread superstition, more or less all around the whole globe. It\nis quite true that almost every Easter Sunday morning in our parts\nwe have fine, bright sunshine, but this is due to the fact that at\nthat season of the year everything in the ground is springing out\nfresh and green, and the warm heat of summer is approaching. When I\nwas a little boy of about nine or ten years of age, I was often told\nthat if I got up very early on Easter Sunday morning, I would see the\nsun dancing with a lamb, a cross, and a bird on its face. I did so,\nbut of course I was disappointed. I dare say that many of those who\nwere telling me then that I could see the sun dance on Easter Sunday\nthought Lent so dreary and long that they wished to see the Easter\nSunday morning sun so that they could be at liberty to dance. Eggs\nare eaten in no small quantities on this morning.\n\nOn Easter Sunday dancing on the old crossroads called \"Coughlanes\"\nstarted. However, if one immoral case or any immodest transaction\noccurred in a parish, it often happened that dances and dancing\nschools in the entire district were wholly suppressed by the word of\nthe parish priest and the dancing master turned away.\n\nSun dancing on Easter Sunday may be traced back to a heathen custom\nwhen the spectators themselves danced at a festival in honor of the\nsun after the vernal equinox.\n\n\n_Eastern, Protestant and Catholic Winds._--A member of the Protestant\nEpiscopal religion came under my notice who made it a practice to\nremain out on the night of the 31st of December until New Year's\nmorning that he might see with his own eyes if the wind was favorable\nto the Protestants. If at midnight it blew from the east, it would\nindicate to him that the Protestants would be very prosperous that\nyear, but if it blew from any other direction he would become\nrestless and uneasy. Should it happen to blow from the west, he would\nexpress such words as \"God help us poor Protestants; everything is\ngoing against us and in the way of the Roman Catholics this year.\" I\nhave no doubt but some Catholics might then be found possessed of a\nlike superstition.\n\n\n_Fallen Angels._--These were supposed to be in the air, in the house,\nand everywhere, and had the power \"of good and evil.\" They could\nuse a bush for a horse and ride all over the country. As they were\nconsidered pretty active gentlemen by night for hurling persons,\nstanding in their way was not always safe. If they gave you a blow\nof their hurley on the head, you would not know what happened to\nyou. Physicians now have found a cure for nearly all diseases,\nconsequently such ignorance quickly disappeared.\n\n\n_Funeral Bells._--The custom of tolling bells slowly and solemnly\nthree times for funerals is carried on in Dingle both in the Catholic\nand Protestant churches.[14] The ringing of a hand bell through the\nstreets of Dingle to summon the people to mass is many years gone\nout of practice.\n\n\n_Gates of Glory._--These are Gallauns standing at Milltown, Dingle.\nProbably they were first erected as landmarks. At a later period\nthey served another purpose. Persons amenable to the town court for\ncertain acts, such as debts and the like, were considered outside its\njurisdiction when beyond those stones or landmarks. I was told that\nit often happened orders were obtained against deceased persons who\nowed money and the body arrested and held without burial up to, but\nnot exceeding, nine days, unless some friend paid the debt. However,\nif the corpse escaped beyond the \"Gates of Glory\" the court was\nunable to follow it and those in the funeral could stone the bailiff.\nConsequently those stones were designated the Gates of Glory.\n\n\n_Ghosts' Spirits Cannot Cross Running Water._--The reasons for\npersons believing that a ghost or a fairy will not follow them\nthrough any river or stream which is not bridged over or has no\nstepping stones is because when they with fear suddenly plunge into\na deep hole in a river the cold water gives the nerves such a shock\nthat it drives away all terror. If a man was hounded by an enemy and\nbelieved his life was in danger, he would quickly forget the ghosts\nand even hide in a graveyard if he thought that by so doing he would\nescape from his pursuer.\n\n\n_Glas-Guineach._--This cow was remarkable for giving a large quantity\nof milk. She belonged to the monks then residing at Kilmalckedor, was\nwell fed and grazed upon the best patches of sweet pasture in the\ndistrict. A thief attempted to steal her, but was captured in the\nact. To make an example of him, his finger prints and the impression\nof the cow's hoofs for future reference and to warn the people of the\ndistrict to be aware of him were cut or set into the stones by some\nnatural art touching finger prints then known to those monks. The\nstories of the Glas-Guinach are numerous and interesting. Children\ninclined to steal were reminded of what happened to the thief who\nstole the monk's cow.\n\n\n_Gospels._--These are received from a priest, sewn into a piece of\ncloth, worn on necks of some children.\n\n\n_Haunted Houses._--Three houses in the whole barony of Corkaguiny\nare all I can discover to have the reputation of being haunted now.\nThieves, robbers and persons of fraudulent and dishonest intentions\nmanufactured ghosts and imposed them on their innocent neighbors as\nhaunting certain places, while in other cases where an unnatural\ndeath took place, such as murder, suicide or the like, a fear would\nseize the person finding the corpse or one hearing about it. Children\nseeing white boys assembled by night in open places and not knowing\nwho they were prolonged the belief in the ghosts and fairies.\n\n\n_Headless Coach Stories._--These are wicked lies which were told\non winter nights at the firesides by old people and imposed upon\nchildren as real truth. To make it more serious, the storyteller\nwould put on a long, solemn face and speak in whispers. He would\nstart and describe in detail the make, appearance and movements\nof the headless coach, thereby terrorizing the very lives in us\nchildren, so much so that we would not willingly come home after\ndark unless accompanied by another. There never was such a thing as a\nheadless coach in our parts, and some old people there are guilty of\na very serious crime in poisoning and destroying the minds of young\nchildren with such horrid tales.\n\n\n_Hold Out the Hand and Split the Difference._--In selling or buying\nhorses, cattle, sheep and hogs at fairs and markets a peculiar custom\nprevails. When the buyer and seller are within a few shillings of\na bargain a friendly neighbor asks them to \"split the difference\"\nand places their hands together. Another habit is for a buyer, when\nmaking an offer which he expects will be accepted by the seller, to\nask the seller to open his hand. This being done, he slaps the open\nhand in token of an agreement as he makes what he pretends to be his\nlast bid.\n\n\n_Holy Water Bottles in Canoes._--There is a custom among fishermen\nto the west of Dingle of carrying very small bottles containing holy\nwater tightly corked and fastened by a strong string to their canoes\nwhen going to sea.\n\n\n_Holy Wells_ (See \"His. Co. Kerry\"--Corkaguiny).--Pilgrims to holy\nwells leave rags, copper coins and other quite valueless tokens\nbehind them in paying rounds, at Brandon Mountain shrine and other\nlike places.\n\n\n_Horn Dance._--This peculiar dance was introduced into these parts by\npersons of foreign descent in gentlemen's houses, and it disappeared\nwith them. In dancing, they wore horns and had bells on their feet.\n\n\n_Horseshoe Nailed Over the Door._--This class of superstition I find\nmore common in the United States of America than elsewhere. Of\ncourse, it is brought by Europeans into the country, chiefly by Jews.\n\n\n_Hurley._--In former times this was considered a very fine play in\nthose parts but now is altogether extinct. Two men courting the same\ngirl often challenged each other to a hurling match in front of the\ngirl, and the man successful claimed her affection.\n\n\n_I Usga Bagha, i. e., the Water of Life._[15]--This was the name\napplied to whisky. A custom of hanging a bush, a jug and a glass\nin front of a house having spirits for sale, and such notices as\nrefreshments for man and beast, disappeared with the enforcement of\nthe license laws and were replaced by the show card.\n\n\n_Judges Bringing Bad Weather to Kerry._--Many persons believe that\nthe judges of the assizes in their circuit bring with them bad\nweather to the County of Kerry, due to so many false oaths being\nsworn before them and therefore so much wrong done in the name of\njustice. Consequently, apart from any other reason, their lordships\nare considered very undesirable visitors to the county by most of\nthe people outside of the legal profession. It is quite true that\nat nearly all times in the last century when the assizes were held\nin Tralee it was either raining or the sky was dark and gloomy and\nthe weather bad. This probably was due to the season of the year in\nwhich the assizes were usually held. However, more noticeable was the\nweather on the mornings of the executions in Tralee Jail of persons\ncondemned to death by judges and packed juries, but innocent in the\nminds of the people.\n\n\n_Lady Day._--This was the patron day of Dingle. It was held on the\n8th of September.\n\n\n_Leprachawn._--This is the name given to a shoemaker appearing\nin several fairy tales. He is supposed to be a very rich little\ngentleman and a native of Teer-Na-Oge, who appears very often amongst\nbriers, bushes and boulders. He is not more than six inches in\nheight, is often dressed in a nice green coat ornamented with gold\nand silver lace, wears knee breeches and a red cap. They tell me he\nworks very hard at mending shoes. His shelves are covered with stacks\nof gold coin, and in addition he has many crocks of this precious\nmetal. While he is working it is very easy to steal upon him and\ncatch him. I am told that whenever you lay your hands upon him you\nshould seize him quickly and, although his shrill screams will be\nheart-rending, do not loosen your hold, and at the same time you\nmust not take your eyes off the gold, for if you do he will surely\nchange it into brown leaves and pay you off with a half-sovereign.\nI fear that most of those who saw the Leprachawn were paid off with\nbrown leaves. If a remarkably poor person became suddenly rich, and\nwas anxious to keep his neighbors in the dark as to the source of\nhis changed position, he was sure to tell them that he captured a\nLeprachawn.\n\n\n_Lycanthropy._--Here is another wicked superstition, viz., that\npersons in league with the devil can assume other forms, such as a\ndog, etc. I am very glad I cannot now find one person to credit such\ntales.\n\n\n_Marriages and Weddings._--Many of the peculiar customs attached to\nmarriages and wedding feasts are slowly but surely changing for the\nbetter. Imitations of the false standards of \"decency\" set up by the\nmiddlemen of the previous centuries are fast disappearing. However,\nthe people, both in town and country, are still too extravagant with\ntheir marriages and weddings, and in some instances the marriage\nfees are unreasonably excessive when compared with the offering made\nfor a like ceremony in other countries. Rare cases of this kind\nunfortunately rob the marriage of its sacramental appearance and\nbring it to the level of a civil contract. The practice of making a\ncollection amongst the parties attending a wedding feast and offering\nit to the curate and clerk is now almost out of fashion.\n\n\n_May Day._--The superstitions connected with May Day were numerous\nand widespread. That day people watched their cattle. Bad women with\ntheir wooden milk gallons placed under their aprons watched for an\nopportunity to steal upon their neighbors' cows to milk them. Witches\nwere believed to go about as hares. These superstitions, I am glad to\nsay, are now very rare.\n\n\n_Mistletoe._--Kissing under the mistletoe was a custom which is\nnow almost dead and gone, at least in West Kerry. In our part of\nthe county it was a very innocent amusement, and I never heard of\na single instance in which it was abused. The custom was this: At\nChristmas a piece of mistletoe was hung up over the doorway leading\ninto the kitchen or some other favorable place, and whenever a\nyoung girl stood under it a young man claimed--and nearly always\nexercised--a right to kiss the girl and pluck off a berry for each\nkiss. Sometimes in the town of Dingle two or three young men would\nstand on a street corner having a piece of mistletoe with them and\nwould kiss every girl that happened to come their way. A girl who\nwould make persons believe that she was running away trying to avoid\nbeing kissed by the boys was sure to be hunted until caught; then the\nmistletoe would be held over her head until she was given at least a\nhalf-dozen kisses by each of her captors.\n\nAlthough it is the relic of pagan days, the mistletoe was hung up\nin churches during Christmas, but because young people, instead of\npraying and assisting properly at mass, were kissing, courting and\nrehearsing the marriage ceremony over eligibles, thereby causing the\nwhole congregation to pass from one uproar of laughter into another,\nboth the mistletoe and the kisses were abolished, and the holly, with\nits numerous thorns, substituted for the mistletoe, thereby warning\nthem of the fact that going through marriage was like drawing them\nthrough a thicket of holly and briars, the thorns of which might\npierce them to the quick.\n\n\n_Mother Carey's Chickens or Stormy Petrels._--This was the term\napplied to flocks of small web-footed birds about the size of a\nchicken or even smaller than blackbirds. Their appearance is neat\nand they are always on the wing. They are found pretty numerous at\ntimes in the Blasket Islands and Skellig Rocks, but their whole time\nis spent on the ocean. The reason they are called \"Mother Carey's\nChickens\" is because fishermen and local sailors say they are the\nfirst and most reliable birds to give sailors warning of the approach\nof a storm by rushing in flocks towards them whistling \"Wee, wee!\"\nBut I do not know how correct that can be, for I find that their\ngreatest delight is in rough weather and storms. The meaning of\nthe expression, \"Mother Carey,\" is said to be \"Mother Dear,\" and is\nintended for the Virgin Mary, due to the fact that she was considered\nthe patroness of sailors.\n\nIn the daytime these birds never seem to swim, but while on the wing\nallow their feet to touch the water, and naturalists say from its\nwalking appearance upon the waves like the Apostle Peter, the name\n\"Petrel\" was applied to them.\n\nWhenever superstitious sailors of other countries see a flock of\nthese merry sea birds following their ship, they try to kill them,\nowing to the birds' delight in storms. They believe bad luck follows\ntheir trail, that they cause storms, and they call them the \"devil's\nbirds,\" but the truth is that as they don't appear to dive like other\nsea birds they more easily pick up their food from the surge than in\ncalm water. (See my \"History of the Skellig and Blasket Islands\" for\nan account of these birds.)\n\n\n_Mug._--The large wooden mug, cups and gallons are now out of use.\nHowever, a few can still be found in country homes.\n\n\n_Mugs._--A name given to a party of striplings who went around first\nkissing the pretty girls and making mouths at the coarse and older\nones. In course of time, rough and ignorant characters joined in and\nbecame such a nuisance that the girls protested against them and\ncalled them \"Mugs,\" no doubt after the Muns of England, who carried\non much the same practice with the breaking of windows, wrenching of\nknockers added. The latter too was extended to those parts by the\nrowdy element.\n\n\n_Pagan Wells, Lises and Fairy Tales._--Lises are found everywhere in\nthe barony. They were erected within view of each other, so that in\nevent of an attack on one lis or a fort a fire kept burning would be\nextinguished as an alarm signal. These forts are surrounded by the\nbest quality of land in their immediate vicinity. Fairy tales are\nconnected with every one of them. Some people frightened the lives in\nlittle children with fairy tales and ghost stories. Those stories had\nthis much of a foundation in our locality: In the beginning of the\nEighteenth Century when the British law prohibited the exportation or\nsale of wool to any other country but to themselves, farmers became\nengaged in smuggling wool to France, where they received as high as\ntwo shilling, sixpence (sixty cents) a pound from France. Cutters\nbrought wines and brandies with them, which were often hidden in\nspecially prepared chambers in forts, lises and cahirs, near the sea\ncoast. To keep children away so as not to give information, they\ntold them that the men seen in those forts and lises were fairies.\nThis helped to prolong the life of the old tales. Every cave to\nthe west of Dingle was filled with wool, trying to smuggle it to a\nconvenient place for loading it into ships. The French pretended\nthey were carrying from Ireland emigrants called the \"Wild Geese,\"\ni. e., Catholics who were forbidden by law to live in Ireland. The\nmagistrates who were supposed to stop it were engaged in this illicit\ntrade. Amongst the most objectionable was their description of the\nheadless coach leaving a burial ground going in the direction of some\ndying person and returning with its victim, the Banshee's lonely\nwail, the appearance of a golden-haired woman courting with fairy\npleasure some fine young man trying to take him into fairyland.\nHowever, worse still were their representations of dances at the\nancient crossroads by young men and maidens years in their graves,\nlong funeral processions of the dead at night through certain roads\nin which a living companion of the dead would pretend to see and\nrecognize some of his dead neighbors and at the same time he would\norder those in his company who could see nothing wrong to step aside\nand let the dead pass.\n\nThe least objectionable fables are the mermaids and their enchanted\ncapes and the enchanted music of the dead, how St. Patrick tricked\nthe snakes and serpents, the appearance of strange and mysterious\nships at sea leading sailors and fishermen to their doom, the\nBroack-an-rubber, Feon Macoal, Diamond and Grana, chieftains clad in\nwhite armor riding on horses shod with gold shoes galloping through\nthe country every May morning and serpents in lake.\n\nPagan wells, too, were deemed sacred because old Druids washed and\ndressed the wounds of soldiers and persons injured in them.\n\n\n_Patron Days._--These are held where Christian churches were erected,\nconsecrated and dedicated to that particular saint whose festival\nfalls on or about the day on which the patron is held. It was so\nvery hard to overthrow pagan celebrations, which continued for a\nlong time after the dawn of Christianity in Ireland, the clergy, and\nwise Christians, too, admonished the people to abandon the custom\nof attending pagan meetings in mountains and other like places and\nstarted sports on patron days close to their churches, and in this\nmanner completely exterminated the adoration of idols.\n\nIn the middle of the last century, excessive drinking and an\noccasional street fight tended to degrade them. Long ago they served\ntheir purpose and at present no objection could be held against them\nif they were held completely dry.[16]\n\n\n_Penitent Pilgrims of the Cat-Brack._--Catholics attending Protestant\nBible classes, reading their literature or listening to a funeral\nservice during the fearful religious quarrels of what is known as the\n\"Souper campaign,\" as a part of their penance had to go from Dingle\nto Killarney, a distance of over forty miles. Some very old men did\nthe journey on foot. Amongst the reasons for taking exception to\na funeral service was that Protestant writers, in boasting of the\nsuccess of their mission, classed Roman Catholics standing around\nthe coffin while the funeral service was read at the graveside as\n\"converts\" to Protestantism. The result was that Catholics attending\nthe funeral of a Protestant neighbor or relative would accompany the\ncorpse no further than the gate to the graveyard or burial ground or\nkeep a reasonable distance away until the religious services were\nended.\n\n\n_Racing at Weddings._--The custom of men riding saddle horses, racing\nwith each other to see who would be the first to reach the newly\nmarried girl to bring her home to the wedding, is now almost dead\nand gone, but the spirit survives.\n\n\n_Red Lighted Coals of Fire Given Out of the House._--Old women in\ncountry villages prevented fire to be given out of their houses,\nand insisted on all men smoking extinguishing all the fire in their\npipes before leaving the house was, I believe, the most ignorant\nsuperstition I ever saw practiced. A farmer's wife feared that if you\nshould carry a lighted pipe from their house into another, it would\nenable the person carrying same to transfer milk and butter from one\nfarmer to another, and he could do many other things.\n\n\n_Rounds._--Paying rounds around holy wells and shrines are very much\non the decline.\n\n\n_Shea-Hated by the Mermaids of the Sea._--It is almost impossible\nfor persons bearing the name of Shea or O'Shea to obtain partners to\njoin them fishing in any harbor in the barony, due to the fact that\npeople are afraid that if they had an O'Shea or Shea in their boats\nor canoes they would be drowned. For this belief a thousand reasons\nare sometimes given. However, after setting aside tales appertaining\nto mermaids, spirits of the deep, legends and superstitions, the\nstriking fact remains that of the names of persons drowned in this\npeninsula within the last century the surname of Shea or O'Shea\noutstrip all others, and this is the more remarkable when taken into\nconsideration that through fear in storms very few of them will take\nthe risks of their fellow fishermen. Possibly when caught in sea\ntrouble the want of confidence arising from superstition may have\nsomething to do with it.\n\n\n_Snap Apple Nights, or All Hallow Eve._--This night falls on the 31st\nof October. Up until near the end of the last century, it was a night\nof sport by young people in those parts by trying to extract fun and\nprophecy from fruit and beans. Amongst other things, they place beans\ntogether in pairs in the ashes close to the heat of the fire for the\nsupposed lovers, one named for the boy and the other for the girl.\nIf the beans burn brightly and quietly together, it indicated that\nthe young man and the young girl so indicated would be married, but\nif they cracked and jumped apart from each other they would never be\nmarried. From the ashes many a strange tale would be foretold. After\none pair jumped apart, another pair of beans would be tried and some\nother likely lovers named for each.\n\nYoung persons also would dip for apples in tubs of water and endeavor\nto bring one up in the mouth by pressing it against the bottom of the\ntub. Sometimes an apple would hang from a cord and they would try\nto catch it with their mouths while in circular motion. In catching\napples, hands should not be used.\n\nI knew of one girl who privately melted lead several times and each\ntime threw it into water, in hopes that she could foresee her future\nhusband to be a ploughman possessing horses, cattle and ploughs. I\nknow that she got married to a farmer, not because the lead and water\nconveyed anything of the kind, but her heart and mind was set on\nhaving a farmer as her husband.\n\nThis is a superstitious practice handed down to us from the Druids.\nFormerly these things were a ceremony of belief, but with few\nexceptions in our parts this superstitious belief has disappeared and\nnow they have become things of pure sport. Other nationalities in\nEurope are still found quite superstitious about All Hallow Eve.\n\n\n_Steel-Pen Coats._--These steel-pen frize woolen coats and\nknee-breeches ornamented with brass buttons and commonly worn up\ntoward the last quarter of the last century are now nearly extinct in\nthose parts.\n\n\n_St. Martin's Eve._--It appears that St. Martin was buried on the\n11th of November. In some country homes amongst farmers I noticed\nthat on St. Martin's Eve some animal was killed, such as a goose, a\nduck, a hen or a cock, and that the outside threshold of the door\nwas sprinkled with the blood of the animal killed for St. Martin.\nSome went as far as to sprinkle the four corners of their dwelling\nhouses with blood. I believe this had a Christian charitable origin\nand in the course of age lost its true meaning and character. Whether\nChristian or pagan, it is a very curious custom, and I see no good in\nit for the present age.\n\n\n_St. Patrick and the Snakes._--Are there any snakes to be found in\nIreland? Did St. Patrick banish them? These are questions which\nAmericans ask me daily. My answer to the first question is that I\nnever saw nor heard of any snake living in Ireland since the days\nof St. Patrick. Ireland does not produce any venomous reptile. The\nfollowing are _not_ to be found there, viz., snakes, tortoises,\nscorpions or dragons. Leeches, lizards and frogs are numerous, but\nthese are harmless. I am told that snakes brought over to Ireland\nwill die or lose their venom before they land. Sailors who say they\nhave tried it tell me that as they were drawing near the land the\nsnakes died. Circuses will not attempt to cross the Irish Sea from\nEngland with their snakes for fear of losing them. People living in\nIreland never saw a snake. The reasons given by some naturalists for\nsnakes not living in Ireland are not identical.\n\nNow, with regard to St. Patrick banishing the snakes and all other\npoisonous reptiles out of Ireland, both tradition and legend says he\ndid it but it is not supported by historical documents. According to\nancient writings, snakes were found in Ireland before the Christian\nera. There is full and clear evidence that some of the people adored\nidols made into the imitation of snakes, and also dead snakes,\nand that these were collected and delivered up by newly converted\nChristians to St. Patrick and with their full accord the idols were\ndestroyed by him and thrown into a lake. Beyond that I cannot go,\nand I regret to say here I must leave the reader to draw his own\nconclusions.\n\nThe very early Catholic Church historians in Ireland did not mention\na word about St. Patrick's connection with the snakes. St. Patrick\nleft behind him a written document called his \"Confession,\" and in\nthis there is no mention of the snakes. However, many years after his\ndeath--some centuries--Irish historians stated clearly that it was\nSt. Patrick who banished the snakes. English historians up to the\nTwelfth and Thirteenth centuries agreed with the Irish historians of\nthat period, and, for the reason that snakes would live in the Isle\nof Man, they (the English) classified that island as more properly\nbelonging to England.\n\nIf St. Patrick had nothing to do with the live snakes--and I suppose\nhe had not--there must be something very strange in the air or soil\nof Ireland. It is more remarkable still when we consider that if\nsnakes which live in the British Isles will die on their arrival in\nIreland, and many of them, it is said, before they ever touch the\nIrish soil, and that science so far has not discovered any means to\novercome it. It is also said that if pure Irish earth was scattered\nin a garden snakes would become scarce.\n\n\n_St. Stephen's Day._--As everybody knows, this day falls on the 26th\nof December. A peculiar custom connected with this day still lingers\nin those parts. Men dressed in straw or like women, wearing masks\nwith face blackened, carrying flags, a bush with a wren fastened to\nit, and having a fife and drum band playing about them, parade the\nstreets. They dance and make merriment and are always followed by a\nbig crowd. One of the company carries a white hobbyhorse, which is\nan imitation of a horse made of wood and covered with white calico.\nUnder the hobbyhorse the party are supposed to have one of their best\ndancers. The under jaw of the hobbyhorse is to work with a string so\nthat it cracks in time with his step and also the steps of all the\ndancers. This part of the program is not easily done and therefore is\noften neglected. After dancing a little, they change the performance\nand the hobbyhorse, carrying a ladle in its mouth, is sent around to\ncollect contributions while a purser enters the horse beating every\nperson with bladders tied onto the end of a stick.\n\nIt appears these sports originated at the Feast of Fools in the\nChristian churches and monasteries of other countries from whom we\nborrowed them. St. Stephen's Day was specially set aside for deacons\nand other orders of the clergy who were not able to enjoy Christmas\nowing to the extra religious labors cast upon them.\n\nCoupled with this came the mistletoe, and, to act in the plays,\nlaymen, too, were admitted. Whenever it was necessary to raise\nfunds for the repair of some church, dances were performed in the\nchurchyard on Sundays. The surplus of the funds, after paying for\nthe repair of the church, went to the support of the poor. In the\ncourse of ages abuses set in and now the performers have the proceeds\nthemselves.\n\n\n_Sunburst of Erin._--In pagan days most of the Irish people looked\ntowards the east for the rising sun and adored it. The most ancient\nflag of our country known was, I believe, a sky-blue field with a\nsunburst. In a field belonging to Mr. P. Lynch is a large stone\nbearing an ancient sunburst emblem upon it. (For Ogham's inscribed\nstones, see History County Kerry.)\n\n\n_Toothache Cure._--The cure given by some old women for toothache\nwas to have the sufferer in person enter a churchyard burial ground,\nfind a dead man's finger or coffin nail and place it in his mouth,\npressing the tooth several times into it. This practice was long ago\nabandoned.\n\n\n_Witches (Witch Hare)._--When I was a little boy I found a few old\nwomen possessed of a horrid superstitious belief to the effect that\nan old witch (a woman) could change herself into a hare, and as such\nwould go about lises, forts and like haunted places and therefrom\nenter fields and milk cows dry.[17]\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[12] In old Mexico a large wooden cross marks the spot where murders\nhave taken place. On my way over the mountains and grand canyons\nbetween Beristan (Carman) and Tepexico. In the State of Pueblo, I\nsaw houses very often having two and three crosses near them, and\nalso that the gable ends of their houses were crowned with one or\nmore crosses. Having heard a good deal of talk about the bandits and\nmurders of that part of the country through which I was passing, I\nasked if all those crosses which I saw represented murders only. I\nwas informed by the Indians, and Mexicans themselves, that it was for\na long time the custom to erect crosses where sudden deaths occurred\nfrom other causes, such as suicides, man or woman devoured by a wild\nbeast, or the like, as well as in cases of murder and manslaughter.\nFurthermore, they told me (through an Italian as interpreter) that\nthe crosses upon so many Indian houses were an exhibition of their\nattachment to the cross of Christ. I found Pueblo a strong Catholic\nState, and the crosses are put standing, as near as circumstances\nwill permit, to where the murdered man expired, and if possible in\nview of persons passing by as an appeal to the traveler to pray for\nthe soul of the person or persons who fell there.\n\nAmongst other curious customs practiced by those queer people the\nfollowing were impressed on my memory: That Mexico City has funeral\nstreet cars, which I have not seen in any other part of the world. To\nunderstand my point more clearly, the electric street cars running\non rails with an electric car as a hearse, pick up the dead bodies\nand carry them to the graveyard or cemetery. Here the coffin is\nunlocked and the corpse must be examined and clearly identified to\nthe complete satisfaction of the caretaker, after which the coffin\nis again locked and the corpse buried in a grave or tomb leased for\nseven years. At the end of seven years or thereabouts, out of the\ntomb or grave the remains must go unless the lease is renewed or the\ngrave bought forever at an enormous sum of about $400.\n\nAs I had not sufficient command of the Spanish language to enable me\nto put the question direct to the natives and obtain information from\ntheir lips without the assistance of an interpreter, the figures set\ndown for me as the prices of a grave are so much at variance, as well\nas the form of procedure in evicting a dead man from his grave in\nMexico, that I leave that part of the matter to abler authorities.\n\nIn connection with the wakes of their dead, in our camps I noticed\nthat they did drink a milk-like liquid called \"pulgue,\" extracted\nfrom the mague or century plant. It has the taste, color and\nappearance of milk, but it is so intoxicating that if a person should\ndrink any large quantity of it he would become so drunk and helpless\nthat a stranger would believe he was dead and would never wake again.\nAt the few wakes that came under my notice, the Mexicans were very\norderly and showed every mark of respect to the dead. I believe there\nwere no pipes or tobacco at those wakes, or if there were any they\nescaped my notice. At San Francisco, California, the Chinese put food\non their burial plots for their dead, but the \"hoboes\" visiting that\ncity steal the food and eat it as often as they can get at it.\n\n[13] Dancing masters between 1775 and 1780 were paid sixpence (twelve\ncents) a quarter with meals for teaching dancing to a whole family.\nHowever, a dancing master's quarter was much less than three months.\n\n[14] The custom of hanging bells to horses, cattle, sheep and goats\nis very common in the Republic of Old Mexico, also in the States\nof Nevada and California in the United States. Without those bells\ngoats, sheep and cattle could not be located amongst the thick brush.\n\n[15] Whisky is the water of death to every person. The saloonkeeper,\nor publican, who gives drink to a child or young girl under the age\nof 21 years is the devil's best agent on earth.\n\n[16] It is strange that the whole of the great Northwestern States\nof America, by the vote of the people, made their States completely\ndry, and that without compensation to the saloonkeeper, yet our\npeople, amongst whom it has such a ruinous effect, cannot hold a\nChristian patron day without traffic in intoxicating liquors. In the\nUnited States a minor dare not enter a saloon, and a saloonkeeper\nis debarred from entering almost all lodges--even many Christian\nchurches have refused to accept their money; yet in our parts a\npublican will be elected a district and county councillor before most\nother persons in the neighborhood.\n\n[17] On one occasion on a very fine summer's morning in a lis about\na mile away from the village, I happened to see a hare eating grass,\nand I tried to chase it, but as the hare was too swift for me and\nI had nothing better than pebbles to throw at it, of course it\nescaped at ease. In great haste I returned to the village and took\nwith me a young shepherd dog which belonged to one of the neighbors\nand which was in the habit of following me. However, when I reached\nthe lis there was no trace of my hare to be found and I felt very\ndisappointed, especially when the dog would not go and find him for\nme. I came home and there I asked them to assist me to hunt for the\nhare, but they only laughed at me and told me that long ago the\nhare was gone to the mountain, and to catch a hare I should have a\ngreyhound instead of a shepherd puppy. After nightfall I wandered\ninto one of the neighbor's houses and joined other boys who were\nlistening to some fairy tales. Here I was cross-examined as to the\ncause of my excitement and had to account for the nature of the\nmischief I was engaged in that I wanted the dog so early in the\nmorning. I told them about my experience with the hare in the lis,\nbut, while the whole house enjoyed my hunt, there was one in the\ncompany who took a more serious view of it. I was told that in all\nprobability it was no hare but a witch, and if I escaped from injury\nI ought to consider myself lucky.\n\nNext a hot argument arose between two as to the location of a lis\nwhere it was alleged an old witch changed herself into a hare and\nwhile running from the hounds towards an old cabin, just in the act\nof leaping through a very narrow window opening into the cabin, she\nwas bitten and disappeared. The cabin was surrounded by the hounds\nand hunters and two went in to hunt her out, and although they\nsearched every corner of the cabin, from the thatch to the floor, all\nthey could find in the house was an old woman sitting on a mat of\nstraw. Believing that this old woman must have killed the hare, they\ncompelled her to stand up and found a lot of blood. The farmer called\nupon the witch and warned her never again to milk his cows or her\nlife would be ended.\n\nIn England, thirty thousand persons were hanged for being witches and\nthe Puritan fathers of New England, amongst many other wicked deeds\nof theirs connected with witchcraft, executed a woman for being a\nfox. I fail to understand how any people guilty of shedding so much\ninnocent blood, which our Pilgrim fathers used as divine perfume in\nwitchcraft, cases of which Boston and Salem furnish such an example,\ncould be found to possess a pure religion.\n\n\n\n\n TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE\n\n Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.\n\n Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.\n\n Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been\n corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within\n the text and consultation of external sources.\n\n Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,\n and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example;\n hand-bell, hand bell; Cat-Brack, Cat Brack; battons.\n\n TOC. 'Changlings' replaced by 'Changelings'.\n TOC. 'Sein Fein' replaced by 'Sinn Fein'.\n Pg 16. 'kidnaping' replaced by 'kidnapping'.\n Pg 19. Missing anchor for Footnote [2] inserted.\n Pg 19. 'Atholone' replaced by 'Athlone'.\n Pg 25. 'Lady Chattam' replaced by 'Lady Chatham'.\n Pg 32. 'Castlegregory' replaced by 'Castle Gregory' for consistency.\n (the current spelling today however is Castlegregory).\n Pg 33. 'bagles' replaced by 'beagles' (twice).\n Pg 36. 'left it fall' replaced by 'let it fall'.\n Pg 39. Missing anchor for Footnote [6] inserted.\n Pg 43. 'surpressing' replaced by 'suppressing'.\n Pg 46. 'Lord Baconsfield' replaced by 'Lord Beaconsfield'.\n Pg 49. 'Sein Fein' replaced by 'Sinn Fein' (twice).\n Pg 50. A Postscript note starting with 'P. S.' was in the original\n text on Pg 51 as a Footnote without an anchor. This has been moved\n to the relevant paragraph on Pg 50 as a Sidenote.\n Pg 52. 'arrested the leaders' replaced by 'arrest the leaders'.\n Pg 54 Footnote [9]. 'Welch' replaced by 'Welsh'.\n Pg 54. 'Sir Rodger Casement' replaced by 'Sir Roger Casement'.\n Pg 55. 'Skellings,' replaced by 'Skelligs,'.\n Pg 56. 'Lional, Duke of Clearance' replaced by 'Lionel, Duke of\n Clarence'.\n Pg 57. 'Castle-Gregory' and 'Castlegregory' replaced by\n 'Castle Gregory' for consistency.\n Pg 59. \"Pehalm's Letters\" replaced by \"Pelham's Letters\".\n Pg 60. 'Four verses' replaced by 'Three verses'.\n Pg 60. 'Spencer' replaced by 'Spenser'.\n Pg 60. 'as the met' replaced by 'as they met'.\n Pg 62. 'Atlone' replaced by 'Athlone'.\n Pg 64. The section on 'Fenianism' was inserted here by the printer.\n The section heading 'Fenianism' on Pg 29 refers the reader to this\n inserted section on Pg 64.\n Pg 73. 'Mrs. Eddy Baker' replaced by 'Mrs. Baker Eddy'.\n Pg 77. There are two anchors for the same Footnote [12] on this page.\n Pg 82. 'Changlings' replaced by 'Changelings'.\n Pg 82. 'Teer-naoge' replaced by 'Teer-Na-Oge'.\n Pg 89. ' Pilgrims' replaced by '--Pilgrims'.\n Pg 91. 'sieze him' replaced by 'seize him'.\n Pg 98. ' Old' replaced by '--Old'.\n Pg 99. 'execeptions' replaced by 'exceptions'.","title":"Irish Historical Allusions, Curious Customs and Superstitions, County of Kerry, Corkaguiny","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":29217}