KISSING THE BLARNEY STONE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 131, 25 May 1876, Page 4

KISSING THE BLARNEY STONE.

(Catholic Sentinel.) -i i . I All tn;^;Jß^f^Blarnfej;;CaJßtle, a mere Bh^il, Btands someWhat apßrijrom the village oTßlar'ney and, the lake,! though it is neaT to the noaoaioni occupied by the posseeto'rrof ;tne estate. I was admitted j by.a wooia^ me climb the modiog etaira till I camej to the top, and ebe did not. omit to caution me" i^atDßt fallipg off on' the way up. I climbqd, and climyed^ and olimbed. Three or foqr times on the way to the turrets I might have dropped | down from the. passages' that bpen into tljo l :lfl|s^i^s^..^ ;^fi^jp^jii';^^fcyil Jl do^r left in it from the fpujodatibn to tbe top. The castle is like an enormous; chimney full of" email windows, By the side of the spiral staira that screw their way -.^ipjpne, corner of the building, there »r« small chambers, hardly large enough for sleeping rooms; though perhaps once used for that purpose, with walls of aniasiug thickn^Jß. Oa the top I fd!-! lowed the wall—quite broad enough for! a' footpath—^till ~l came to that par^ where the v famous stone is lodged, held in inVlaoe* by: strong^ baFs bifliron. Thd outer rim or turret is stronger than the castle, and is held in its plaoe by pro] .MJ^^sJ anyj^^a^oni^eltop between these supports you can look down the walla df^the castle through the gap, and the sight op a windy day, when theiruia) seems" to quake under you, is by no means inspiriting. The Blarney stone is clasped to the outer parapet by the irona I have already referred to, arfd^fn'.ord^ to reach it yqu^uitrleai^ Jssjwij\e o'peoispacel between two and three feei.in widtb£ It is quitis impossible to to"uoh it with your lips without the, of v second party, whohangßqn th > rear to pre7en_t , your diving; througli ' the chasm beneatb. was albne'j tb » wind whisiled-atoutroy years;. 1 all the grass and , fe^p } tp|ts! thstt- hay^ Bprou tei I - among the decaying "mortar, hissed spitefully. I cautiously crept to ths ; edge of. the LWall,, and while the earth seemed to swim under me, while tbs ' ff th f old , CBB^o seemed to s??af to .^ and. fifroj r I reaph' out ;to the -parapet 1 and touch the stone" with my finge^r flips'.* Tfifs is? as near aY If ever TgoMo 1 enough* Ther&'lsfa which is far more convenient, khd \*

-uaußlly-Bubfttltat&d for the original. For more than four hundred ysan this castle baiibeea'the^ole'feKifurej^of ioapprtanco. in a, v Wely landscape. The a^iiare' ' tower, 1 ifs* m*ctitioHQtf bittl'dment 1 - all that i« left of th« cwtle—has ' beeavTiihed by, pilgrimi from every clime/ -But it doei'ot paj. man on the Jftwa^ wjiOfjiell* bog-oak ornaments is mor« attract ito. The woman ; who- (hpldc : ihe- lie/i; ofytji^ CMtlft, and who talktas thoagh.sht h»* i be : e\i bro'a^ht dp on Blari\ey<itoheß, in j befief Wofih fBW M^ y7i w - J ' ; ■■•« i