Helped in this careful way the amount
given, exclusive of expenses, in North Donegal was L33,660.17.1, of
which amount the New York _Herald_ gave L2,000, besides L203 to an
emigration fund enabling 115 persons to leave the country. Surely we
must think that before these people applied for public charity - and
every case was examined into by some of the Committee or their agents -
they had exhausted all their means, and sold all they had to sell. How,
then, could they possibly be able to pay back rent in March, 1881?
In the middle of my letter I got the long-waited-for opportunity to
leave Ramelton behind and go up into the Donegal Hills.
The environs of Ramelton are wonderfully beautiful, sudden hills, green
vales, lovely nooks in unexpected places, waters that sparkle and dash,
or that flow softly like the waters of Shiloh, great aristocratic trees
in clumps, standing singly, grouped by the water's edge, as if they had
sauntered down to look about them, or drawn up on the hill-side many
deep, stretching far away like the ranks of a grand army. All that these
can do to make Ramelton a place of beauty has been done. It is hemmed in
by hills that lie up against the sky, marked off into fields by whin
hedges, till they look like sloping chequer-boards. Beyond them, in
places, tower up the mountain-tops of dark Donegal, crusted over with
black heather, seamed by rift and ravine, bare in places where these
rocks, those bones of the mountains, have pushed themselves through the
heather, till it looks like a ragged cloak. The sun shines, the rooks
flap busily about, as noisy as a parliament, the air is keen, and so we
drive out of Ramelton.
The sky was blue, although the wind was cold, and it was blowing quite a
gale. We had not left the town far behind when the storm recommenced in
all its fury. The hail beat in our faces until we were obliged to cover
up our heads. Finally the pony refused to go a step farther, but turned
his obstinate shoulder to the storm and stood there, where there was no
shelter of any kind, and there he stood till the storm moderated a
little, only to recommence again. Up one hill, down another, along a
bleak road through a bog, past the waters of Lough Fern, up more hills,
round other hills, across other bleak bogs, the little town of
Kilmacrennan, up other hills, the storm meanwhile raging in all its fury
until we drew up on the lee side of a little mountain chapel.
The clergyman, who happened to be there, received us most courteously,
and conducted us to his house. We were offered refreshments, and treated
with the greatest kindness. Owing to this priest's courtesy and kindness
I was provided with a room in the house of one of his parishioners, a
mountain side farmer.
I parted with my friends with great regret. They returned to Ramelton
through the storm, which increased in fury every moment. I, in the safe
shelter of the farmhouse, looked out of the window, hoping the storm
would moderate, but it increased until every thing a few yards from the
house, every mountain top and hill side were blotted out, and nothing
could be seen but the flurrying snow driven past by the winds.
I have now left the Presbyterians of the rich, low-lying lands behind,
and am up among the Catholic people of the hills. I have felt quite at
home with these kindly folk. They remind me of the kindliness of the
Celtic population of another and far-off land. I like the sound of the
Irish tongue, which is spoken all around me. I feel quite at home by the
peat fire piled up on the hearth. The house where I am staying is that
of a farmer of the better class. A low thatched house divided into a but
and a ben. The kitchen end has the bare rafters, black and shining with
concentrated smoke. The parlor end is floored above and has a board
floor. Among the colored prints of the Saviour which adorn the wall are
two engravings, in gilt frames, of Bright and Gladstone, bought when the
Land Bill of 1870 was passed.
This Bill, by the way, has been evaded with great ease, for the law
breakers were the great who knew the law, and the wronged were the poor
who were ignorant of it. The farmer's wife could not do enough to make
me welcome. She had the kind and comely face and pleasant tongue that
reminded me of Highland friends in the long ago. Their name of Murray,
which is a prevalent name on these hills, had a Highland sound. Feeling
welcome, and safe under the care that has led me thus far, I fell asleep
in the best bed, with its ancient blue and white hangings, and slept
soundly.
These people are very thrifty. The blankets of the bed were homespun;
the fine linen towel was the same. The mistress's dress was home-made,
and so was the cloth of her husband's clothes. In noticing this I was
told that where they could keep a few sheep the people were better off,
but it was harder now to keep sheep than formerly.
VIII.
THE HILL COUNTRY OF DONEGAL - ON THE SQUARE - OFFICE RULES
Left up among my country people in this hill country of Donegal, I set
myself to see and to hear what they had to say for themselves or against
their landlords. In the pauses of storm I walked up the mountains to see
the people in their homes. I seem to have lost the power of description.
I will never think of scenes I saw there without tears.
