OUR IRISH LETTER

New Zealand Tablet, 31 December 1908, Page 27

OUR IRISH LETTER

..\ _*.. -.- ■'„ ,• ; „., (From our own correspondent.); ■"': ; > V .'.V v '"' '' '^'-Dublin, Octpbef, 1908^ : Y'-' ; . : ' The%bear£tifui; : summer , r is over, and aUYwlio>wander: abroad in search: of;, variety 'or health dur^g its: too . fleeting9months a^e x .no i y;-settliiig down at horhey lbo^mg back' to thet^gaieties; ,tii^tx^y4i& iiri strange lands, Yor~ th#lquiet country outing, •-,ss,. tlie nmv^past and gones ; seasoh. ■; V r v ■-■■-, ■■■-• I have,been one of those who to<Mtne" ; ;ciuiet oui> •': irig.-' «;i Have ; Keen"a*a3r?in-the. very heart-'df the- midlands, ; ? lxd » comparing notes with those who travelled? d^erthfjift---sands of : miles, crossed, seas, jostled tlie CthrbngsYan big cities, made, excitements of every kind fc the : f odd Yof 'tlieiT holidays, I have come to the conclusion that; 1 - taljen :; all4ri' all, I have had the happiest time of theYlpt jVthat ?is,': of course, of all. with whom note 3 have been -corapaie^Y; Most of th^e^ah^ba'ck very, tired, oomewhat ■confused" inYideas from Having seen and heard too much; tteirYpockets. very limp. _ ; : ' vit v^'-"" .... -. ' But, ah ! how. $.weet the ..country is -fcoYthYie who love, it! To those who look into its face andVreadYits heart; who; s£udy its good qualities and shut their/ eyeVt'c its dfaw-Y backs; how grateful, it* isj how it delights iii giving pleasure : in return for so much' trust'! ': .:'- •'..-. ; -.....-,- Tha Heart of. the Country. More than once I have wondered if/herein this little:^ island one. can feel when in the country so completely '"' alone with nature, so utterly isolated from busy city lif e, with its wear and tear, its luxury and squalor, its gluttony of pleasures, or, rather, excitements," and its miseries, how must it be away back in the lonely parts of comparatively vast Australia and New Zealand? It must, I fancy, be pleasanter here. It is the real country: fields, garden?, hedge-bpuiidedroadsY green banks, and ditches where, m spring,, you pari gather primroses, violets, and bluebells by the Y million ; in summer, wild roses, woodbines, ferns, ail Ybhe delicate beauties of our. mild northern clime. You have always soihe blue mountain 'in sight, perhaps a breezy riioor, perhaps rich park and pasture lands; but you never are too lonely, for a. pleasant drive or bicycle ride Tbring3 you, even in the most secluded parts, in. an ■liourYor two i o ' some town, big or little, where there are a .breath of .tW busy world, shops to inspect, friends to greet, quite a variety after three or four quiet days, then home again to summer iri the country. - !i ::<>., \ I have been living,; then, six miles from anywhere; six miles from three different market towns, a, mile even, from a tiny hamlet; j.yet what a gay time, what an infinite variety of -simple pleasures could that quiet spot; provide 1 An old-fashioned house, large enough to- hold a, good-, big family, every window on the ground floor of -the house a big glass door, opening ori to the lawn and flower "garden, the whole embosomed iri 7 grand Irish yews, beeches and chestnuts, each a picture, Mount Leinster keeping guard over all. -The interior of the gabled house r home-like and . cosy j >the; family, and. friends: a pleasant group made •up of many elements. As kind an old host as one could wish for: a\serni-invalid, yet cheery and merry, with ever a gay word and joke for< the young members of the party. Poun '- New Zealariders; - I. don't mean. .Maoris, but a family, two of whoiri were bom in New Zealand; one was brought out. when, a little child, and the fourth was there long ; enbugli - to call it home. . Then "there were the host's two pretty daughters,, a. girl from the capital, and myself from near -the^, capital, anVeldefly gentleman very much given to fall'iihg: suddenly in love arid as suddenly falling- out again = ond> taking all our jokes,. on the subject as so many com-' plirnents; arbright young girl, 'fighting inch by incti for her ■life^ against the saddest of all /maladies, but fighting with " • s £ bh , merry - goodwill, such . courage, such self-f orgetf uisiess that she; was the life of the house and. everybody's delight .There; were.the 'servants ; Tommy, a one-eyed - boy; who has Peon a ;' boy;' .about the place for forty yeaTS, and John and , Mary ; all ;as good-natured :as their family. There were Rescue,/ i: beautiful fox. terrier rescued from that abode, . of woe, , the :": Dogs' Homer— a most loving dog to - -Christians, but a rascal tof'chase fowls arid hedgehogsJuno;- a: fine pointer, -arid. Jack, a cocker; six cats,Ythe most privileged of i>hem-^Three Legs— a, tortoiseshell pussy, well, aware;- that the fact of having lost^a Yleg in -a trap ; - years ago. makes :,-her ■ interesting ; a brown horse with: a .fluiei wiih ol-bis own ; ; .an Iceland pony that 'carried me, the only Catholic of the ptfrty, Jbo Mass on Sundays, and " protested against the Papist the whole way there and back "by trying to kick over the shafts. There were hundreds of rare bred and toothsome fowls, turkeys, geese, ducks

ia v + T? enS ' "P hi S ul y infcerestiri'g iri their way, loveliest of all the gentle wood pigeons that woke, us up in the morning, with their soft coo, so quaintly, interpreted by the th at tells howy lcngago, tluV woodYpigeort J 8 ? 1 * her nest in the grass, but the cowY so often trampled; oiiv and destroyed it that . .the pigeon took " to -•biuldijig- in the trees,; and now; -at ; . early dawn and. sunset, a s^ sa fe ~, u l> m the branches/ cooing defiance in broad bcotcn tp-;the cows beneath :Y ' Gbominpo, Ycoo;Ycoom noo, coo. A,,less complimentary Irish story has it J that, once upon a^ time, ;a Welshman. came to the fold to steal a lamb, : f l^- 0 "®; ?irit. wood pigeons overhead' tempted -him with, ;_^.ake^txyo r o do-o; take two-o;: db-6/' and /he^did. I don't believe -this, calumny on Taffy and the pigeons, the latter '■&%ss£!•-s?s& and gentle' to da, such afithirig * hutf licould ' easily ;>faney /them talking- to the -Cows 'of ia^oriiingi ai* they gpaze; under the trees, the soft-cosy cooing the first sound - to my morning, dreams; and' suggest that it .was. ti^e-; to leave that snug down- bed'.Y Wherei-but >f ar in .the -country: could one now: find a bed of down? V - ■ ;,Y -blinds, up (no. one dreams of shutting bedroom win:4 ows nowadays), the glow and. perfume of • flowers oil: the ivandow^sills give a foretaste of the pleasures of the day. -Mmvnt^ieirister opposite in a soft haze means that it. -will ;beY;a- fine. day.- Tommy below, feeding" his fowls in their oVn;-little?private gardens before letting them out; and norie:pf,:^he feathered flock can get on the blind -side of Tommy;. L promise you, for he; sees more with his one eye than any. other could with two. Then the. :-■ sounds of -awakening; all over the house: the glass doprs being opened wide ,dpw;ristairs,, our merry,. Nancy bustling about over-head,,-light; footsteps ,on .the stairs, the ■servants Agoing to 'and: fro, .the tenderhearted old .bachelor's' door opening, the ;: breakfast bell, and finally happy ! morning greetings at the hreakfast table, where newspapers and .letters arid the v universal picture postcards furnish plenty of "* topics fiir ' conversation. That tender-hearted' O r BY is a very;^h6ughtfnl man,. He subscribes to no fewer than three ladies''journals, and wins- much attention by handing Vourid" pictures of -the latest ■' Merry Widow '" hats, .the portraits .of the brides and grooms of the week, etc. He is a "very goodtempered 0.8., save on one or two points, the ' worst of these being Home Rule, to -which he. is violently 'op and when fun is -failing, morning or evening, Miss Nancy raises a," dispute on the subject^that is.aliSbhe'mpre "amusing ■that neither party • knows what Home Rule .really means, but grows warm over it alt the- same, each. one roxind the . T ,,-tab"le; plying" Nancy with saucy lejomders (tlie 0.13X is very deaf)" to ; fling at her adversary until a diversion, has , to> De made, which^is sometirhes doiie ' most opportunely by Three Legs holding up her stump r to the irate ;< old Ygentleman, with a pathetic air that says' plainly :: 4 Creamp for.'a poor maimed puss, please, or whatever bacon- you .can spare.' Then peace prevails price more, - Miss YNancy's ydiith cvi- - dently. softening dovri/Hhe 0 JSSs wrath "easily!. . ■■-*■- Of -newspapers arid books there is -no lack, but I, for ■/'one, make a point of'rieyei' ; - reading newspapers 1 while away - from the world: there; were ; no newspapers in: ATcadia, and •~ : I prefer turnine;, over" " ;;^^; 'Y^.'^'j^.v- .v; /V The Leaves of Nature's Book f or '.^ . : Why, how happily the retime between: 'breakfast and dinner can be filled up iii^such/ta cpuiiiry .hpiise. A visit to the strawberry bed in June,, the?curraiit, rjaspberry, and gooseberry bushes in July and early August, tlie apples . and pears later on. Sweet i pea is i "now the favorite-. flower, ,and ; marvellous are the ; beauties that^ have been added' to our sweet old ' painted lady ' and purple and white; but r/V^ 1 ? ' #iat, buys a nosegay _pf sweet peas in the market or : at a- florist'sYcah- infagineYthp^jeehpgs"rfof being let loose daily in an immense hedge ~of We fragrant flowers? One of my morning's/^oils:sfor weeks was clipping, clipping, ; clipping : at. this forest of bloom. The more you out sweet .peas, the longer tlie'\plarits r will blossom-. And didn't I cut! Armfuls! 'It. was impossibleStp^;teari , pneseljY away until -literally, no- more could bejsarriedjn^Y^he whole house was ablaze * with* the- sweetnsmelling blooms: Shelling the peas -for dinner was the next, pleasant, piece 'of work shared in : - hy the: >-Newi jZealarid" little -'girls; -who 'eagerly looked -r-aout for the lucky pod /with V nine peas. Sometimes a y.inerry hour, wouldpbe spent posing forlsnap-^hots. Next a stroll down, the long, 'winding avenue, where giant trees nearly meet overhead, --' arid ■ where • ?the three New Zealahders, who knew nothing ,pf these were ever - eagerly on the watch for three.'^vifchem^/.s'p'ebiallcuriosities:"' a fox, a robin redbreast, and a swallow. .Thanks to Rescue ' .; and Juno, Reynard's visits 'were scarce;, and ]yr~& never saw him; but robins were there, and swaUow^; in plenty, and I have seen the whole family^ flying wildly downv^he avenue on: hearing that, as there Y -was ralri ;comirig, there was a whole flight of swallows aIT ascertain point, flying so low that they could almost be touched. -A sure sign of rain, for when the air is heavy with clouds the flies come near' the ground, and the swallows follow them. What an excite-

merit for all when we learnt how diviners for wells work with. the magic hazel ,rodi^; secret we learnt one day from a little boy who; had vsi^Ytheproces^ST— a process which furnished amusein^t Yf or: ;d x ls a t first to discover -v^iij^'while; the, ro^wprk^d as if bewitched in some hands, inV-bthers /a^was^i^si]deadl- I suppose I must not give aiwi^theY^^ that the trade means five; giiineasS^%elfc-to^Ygood many people who earn a living .partly :^in r th'is : " way. : '"The experiment is most interesting. „;-;. ..f -^r^, I- . ■■^^^■fffH-^r^ : ■ M. B.