From a Gaelic outpost

Each story keeps the passage it was read from. Open one to read the passage as the book has it, and, where the companion has written its own telling, that too.

1. Earl-Bishop of Derry's death denied shelter in Italy

   near Derry · city · Derry · 1770–1803

   The eccentric Bishop of Derry, famed for his Volunteer-era cry 'We must have blood, my lord, we must have blood,' set out for Rome to die but was refused shelter by an Italian peasant and died on the roadside instead.

   Read the passage

   The CoUege is housed in buildings first erected by that fantastic Bishop of Derry who in the Volunteer days used to repeat " We must have blood, my lord^ we must have blood," and who set out to Rome to die there, yet was baulked of his desire, having to expire on the roadside, being denied shelter by some Italian peasant who regarded his claim to be a Bishop as preposterous. The dancing hall that he built is now a chapel, and his works are turned to ends that would be strange to him. In the grand library you will find another sagart, newly back from Africa, who talks at the rate of 300 words a minute in Irish or English, all about the wonderful things he has found in the huge treasury of rare volumes around him. There, before you, are some 30 Latin tomes — two editions of Suarez

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2. St Patrick's Meeting with the Fianna at Drumderg

   Drumderg · townland · Cavan

   According to the Colloquy of the Ancients, St Patrick was at Drumderg saying Mass and blessing the rath there where Fionn mac Cumhaill had once dwelt, when Caoilte and his band of giant warriors approached, causing fear among the clerics before Patrick blessed them with holy water.

   Read the passage

   " Ba scaradh cuirp re h-anmain a scaradh." Patrick was at that time at Drumderg, chanting the Mass and lauding the Creator, and pronouncing benediction on the rath there in which Fionn had been long ago. The clerics looked up and " saw Caoilte and his band draw near, and fear fell on them before the tall men with their huge wolf dogs that accompanied them, for they were not people of one epoch or of one time with the clergy. Then Heaven's distinguished one, that pillar of dignity and angel on earth : Calphurn's son, Patrick, Apostle of the Gael, rose and took the aspergillum to sprinkle holy water on the great men ; floating over whom until that day there had been (and were now) a thousands legions of demons. Into the hills and skalps, into the outer borders of the region and of the country, the demons forthwith departed in all directions ; after which, the enormous men sat down." Courteous conversation ensued, and Caoilte accepted baptism from the saint, and began to speak of Fionn MacCuail. " Patrick said then, ' was not he a good lord with whom ye were, Fionn ? ' Upon which Caoilte uttered this little tribute of praise : ' Were but the brown, leaf which the wood sheds from it gold — were but the white billow silver — ^Fionn would have given it all away : " ' Damadh or an duille donn Chuireas di an choill, Damadh airgead an ghealtonn Do thiodhlaiceadh Fionn.' "

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3. Death of Caoilte's Followers at Tara

   Tara · parish · Meath

   At a feast in Tara, twenty-seven followers of Caoilte, sensing their own weakness and diminished honour in the new age, lay down and pressed their lips to the earth of the hillside and died, plunging the assembled men of Ireland into grief.

   Read the passage

   So interested was the Saint in Caoilte 's tales of the times of old that he remarked : " Were it not for us an impairing of the devout life, an occasion of neglecting prayer, and of deserting converse with God, we, as we talked with thee, would find the time pass quickly, warrior." He anxiously inquired of his guardian angels whether it was permissible for him to indulge his interest in the tales, and they answered " with equal emphasis and concordantly " that the warriors had forgotten all but a third part of their tales, but Patrick should take down this remnant on poet's tablets, so that the companies and nobles of later ages should hear them repeated in pastime. So the apostle travelled Ireland with Caoilte, bidding his scribe, Brogan, copy down all the old Fenians' tales and poems, and wonderful reading they are, till they came to Tara and found Oisin installed there with the King. At the feast, the two veterans recited in turns all they could recall of the great days and copies of the narrative were made for the men of Eire to carry into her far quarters when the feast should be dispersed. It was then that thrice nine followers of Caoilte came out of the West to Tara, and noting that they now lacked vigour-, and that not much regard was paid to them, they laid their lips to the earth of the hillside and expired. That day, Caoilte and Oisin were grieved and wretched, " and the men of Ireland all were

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4. Pierce Ferriter of Corkaguiny disguised as a weaver outwits rival poet

   Corkaguiny · barony · Kerry

   A folk tale tells how the poet Pierce Ferriter of Corkaguiny, disguised as a humble weaver near his own stronghold, bested a jealous Ulster poet Raithie Mac Sionna who had traveled south through Tralee, Anascaul, Dingle and Ventry to challenge him, causing Raithie to flee home in shame.

   Read the passage

   Now, on the hearing of these lines (so well-turned, witty and stinging they were) Raithie was filled with envy and terror, and his heart weakened in him so that he could make no reply. " By my conscience, gilly," said he to his boy, " if the weavers of this country are poets like this, I have no stomach to go seeking the Ferriter, and let us," says he, "be getting back to our own country forthwith." Straightway Raithie and his company turned homeward, heavy-minded, wearyfooted, and sick with shame, and their adventures thereafter are not related. Know then, that 'twas Pierce Ferriter himself who had awaited them in weaver's guise !

   § 3. — Some Morals Therefrom.

   Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 2

5. Father Finlay opens co-operative factory, praises Dungloe's democratic industry

   Dunglow · town · Donegal

   Father T. Finlay, S.J., opened the large Co-operative Machine-Knitting Factory at Dungloe, declaring that the town had achieved a successful democratic industry that governments, parties, and revolutionaries elsewhere had failed to create.

   Read the passage

   Here, then, is an ideal Irish industry. It is something traditional modernised. It exists in the healthiest and happiest of environments, and is not divorced from agriculture. It is an integral part of a group of associated activities which strengthen one another, just as — to take a homely symbol — the gas-engine that drives the dynamo for the electric lighting of the factory and the great distributive stores up the road (where the workers can spend their money to the best advantage) drives also the sawmill in the yard, where box-making, etc., are in busy progress. Above all, it is something new and uniquely hopeful in industrial organisation. ** You in Dungloe," said Father Finlay when he opened the big new premises, " have done something that the Governments and the political parties and the reformers and the revolutionaries have all failed to do. You have created a democratic industry that is successful." In England, he pointed out, and other big industrial countries, the workers were trying to seize capital, and these countries were filled with turmoil. But Dungloe had shown that there is another road, and that industry can be built up without either exploitation or unrest.

   The associated activities at Dungloe give work to some 500 people — practically all of them, by the way, Irish speakers, for this blossoming of healthy industry which the great Jesuit economist declares to be an example, not only to these islands, but to the world, took place in what people often regard as a backward place — the Gaeltacht. The turnover of the Society, which owns this ideal industry has reached nearly £100,000 per annum. That shows what is possible in the Gaeltacht even to-day. " Paddy the Cope," the

   Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 4

   As the companion tells it

   As you come through Dunglow in Donegal, you are passing through a town that Father T. Finlay, the Jesuit economist, once held up as an example not only to these islands but to the world. The occasion was the opening of the big new Co-operative Machine-Knitting Factory premises. Father Finlay told the people of Dungloe that they had done something governments, political parties, reformers, and revolutionaries had all failed to do. They had created a democratic industry that was successful. In England and other big industrial countries, he said, workers were trying to seize capital, and those countries were filled with turmoil. But Dungloe had shown there was another road, and that industry could be built up without exploitation or unrest. The factory stood at the centre of a group of associated activities that strengthened one another. The gas-engine that drove the dynamo for the electric lighting of the factory also lit the great distributive stores up the road, where the workers could spend their money to the best advantage, and it drove the sawmill in the yard, where box-making and other work was in busy progress. It was, in the words of the book, something traditional modernised, existing in the healthiest and happiest of environments and not divorced from agriculture. The associated activities gave work to some 500 people, practically all of them Irish speakers, in what people often regarded as a backward place, the Gaeltacht. The turnover of the Society that owned this industry had reached nearly 100,000 pounds per annum.

6. Tory Island's tradition of 'Banishment to Ireland' as a punishment

   Tory Island · townland · Donegal

   The narrator notes that on Tory Island, 'Banishment to Ireland' was until recently used as a local sentence for misdemeanants, reflecting the island's sense of separateness and independence as its own small state.

   Read the passage

   a new world. " Banishment to Ireland" was a Torian sentence on misdemeanants not long ago. For Tory is as remarkable in manners as in scenery and history. It is still, for all intents and purposes, an independent State. You seem to be in one of the ancient little Greek city-states where the community was never larger than could be addressed by a speaker. The king's house is set above the quay, like that of King Alcinous, and Alcinous' self was not a kinglier figure than is Tory's Mac-a'-Bhaird, hospitable, manly, perfect in courtesy. Mac-a-Bhaird suspended his own licence to sell drink. How few of the rich men of the mainland would do it ! Yet how much more easily would they get through the Eye of the Needle if they would !

   You might expect that so remote a place as Tory would be wrapt wholly in the obsolete past, and would know little of the big world. You would be wrong. There is no paper of importance printed in these islands that does not find its way regularly to the King's house, and even if you are a journalist, supposed to be abreast of the news, you will find the King better informed than yourself. You will wonder at the sprightly youthfulness and restless curiosity of an aged man's mind, realising that you are in the presence of one of those rare intellects that years never conquer. The King's son — who is author of " Troid Bhaile-an-Droichid," one of the finest gems of modern descriptive Irish printed — is just as keen a thinker, and sitting in his library you will hear Dante and Soloviev debated no less than the Gaelic and Anglo-Irish writers of the neighbouring island. Tory has the intellectual as well as the social air of Attica.

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7. Dungloe's Ulster University summer college occupied by military

   Dunglow · town · Donegal · 1920–1921

   The new Iol-Scoil Uladh (Ulster University) Irish college set up in Dungloe was turned out of its arranged hall by military occupation of the town, yet continued undaunted under Father O'Toal and others.

   Read the passage

   WHEN Eoghan Rua O'Neill landed in Sheephaven Bay, yonder where Doe Castle among the trees casts its romantic reflection on the coloured waters, the first thing he did was — open four schools of Gaelic learning. O for the Kings of former days ! Who can imagine a warrior of modern times, on warlike errand, giving his first thought to the revival of culture ? Up here in Tirconaill we have three summer schools 'pardon, Irish Colleges I should say — working away this summer. First there is Cloughaneely of known fame. Next there is the new lol-Scoil Uladh or Ulster University, which has set up its banner at Dungloe. Our defenders have turned it out of the Hall arranged for, but military occupation of the town has not daunted Father O'Toal, Fionn M'Cuail, or Seumas O Grianna. I hope the lol-Scoil, though it is reported to have travelling intentions, and to have planned seasons in different parts of the country, will at least give a second year to Dungloe. For where Dungloe leads, Tirconaill will follow, and though it is the most progressive and wide-awake town in North-West Ireland, Dungloe is sadly anglicised. This is a typical case in the Gaeltacht counties. CoUeges are started in remote mountainy places, and their propaganda does some little good locally. But the progressive centres, the " capitals," are allowed to go anglicise themselves with never an effort to save them. I hear that already the Dungloe

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   Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 3

   As the companion tells it

   As the road brings you through Dungloe, this is a town where a new Irish college raised its banner in 1920. The Iol-Scoil Uladh, the Ulster University, had a hall arranged for it here. Military occupation of the town turned it out of that hall. But the college went on, undaunted, under Father O'Toal, Fionn M'Cuail and Seumas O Grianna. The writer who recorded this hoped the college would return for a second year. His words were, "where Dungloe leads, Tirconaill will follow." He called this the most progressive and wide-awake town in North-West Ireland, but said it was sadly anglicised. This was a typical case in the Gaeltacht counties. Colleges were started in remote mountainy places and did some little good locally, but the progressive centres were left to anglicise themselves with never an effort to save them. He compared the effort to Eoghan Rua O'Neill, who landed in Sheephaven Bay by Doe Castle and, before anything else, opened four schools of Gaelic learning. He noted that no modern warrior on a warlike errand would give his first thought to reviving culture.

8. Tory Island's ancient folklore and banishment custom

   Tory Island · townland · Donegal

   Tory Island is described as steeped in mysterious antiquity, featured in the Leabhar Gabhala (Book of Invasions) as having warred with mainland Ireland, and islanders reportedly punished offenders with 'banishment to Ireland'.

   Read the passage

   Next day I sat on a heathery cliff and saw, on the horizon, his Lordship's vessel cut the waves towards remote Tory Island, where 40 children awaited the Sacrament — Tory Island, the romantic and antique, whose people only a few years ago decreed as punishment on some offending islander, " banishment to Ireland !" The " Leabhar Gabhala," or Book of Invasions, that relates the primitive barbaric colonisations of Ireland, teems with allusion to Tory Island, and tells how Tory and Ireland, so to speak, went to war with each other. No spot has more of mysterious antiquity in our history than has that quaint-looking rocky monster on the sky's edge. We are truly in oldtime Ireland here. The people have a grace, a strength, that seems to mark them as a separate and superior race. There is a beauty in the simple shawl-dress of the women that would make your mannequins die of

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9. Pettigo as a byword for banishment in North Donegal

   Pettigo · town · Donegal

   The narrator explains the Donegal expression "Go to Pettigo!" used as an insult meaning to get out of the county, tracing its origin to the old boundary of O'Donnell's territory just before Pettigo. A footnote notes Pettigo is also the embarkation point for pilgrims to St. Patrick's Purgatory on Lough Derg.

   Read the passage

   days O'Donnell's territory ended just before Pettigo would be reached. It was then that the custom rose of consigning people to a place just outside Tirconaill.* "Go to Pettigo ! " cried the enraged Tirconellian of old, meaning, " Get out of this county and from my sight." "Go to Pettigo ! " said a poor old soul at my gate the other day to a dog that w^as worrying her, meaning, " Go to blazes."

   But talking of literature .... When that rich uncle in America of whom I have never heard leaves me my first million, I am going to indulge myself, during my first year of idleness, in the literary treat of reading Newman. I intend to spend the winter in some iargulta corner of the Donegal mountains, reading Newman from end to end by the blazing turf, while the winds of the world's end rage in Apocalyptic fury round Croc Fola and sky-cracking Arrigal. But if the aforesaid uncle fails to make good, I fear that a due appreciation of my hero will never be mine. For all the restfulness of the Gaeltacht is not enough to fit the mind for Newman so long as one is concerned at all with weekly-committee-meetings, printers' proofs, and business correspondence. He is to be read in cloisters. That serene and mighty mind must be approached with an utter abstraction of thought that one yields to no other master of letters. He asks to be read in religious retreats or sequestered places. Hence very few ever come to enjoy him. He awaits an interpreter — a literary middleman or devotee-critic, who shall retell

   Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 5

10. A model island community visited by the narrator (Tory Island)

    Tory Island · townland · Donegal

    The narrator describes an idyllic voyage to an island (later revealed as Tory Island) noted for its cleanliness, hospitality, absence of crime and police, and a king's house resembling Alcinous's palace from the Odyssey. The island had 'gone dry' before America and had no poverty despite modest means.

    Read the passage

    The King's son is in the prime of life. A more stalwart, yet fine and gentle figure, no artist could conceive. He is a poet and litterateur, and some day I will introduce you to some of his work. I did not get speech with him. This island " went dry " before America, thanks to a mission. Crime and disorder are unknown. There are no police, and little interest is taken in other of our legalistic institutions. Public opinion here rules more effectively than any less democratic institution, preserving peace and harmony. You have here, in fact, a living model of the Homeric communities or of their Irish counterparts, the old little clan-kingdoms. The life is full of Homeric poetry, too. Here the zest of healthy living expresses itself in industry, music, dancing ; and the houses are poems like the Odyssey's self with their scoured utensils and primitive joy of matter. Human life here has the best chance that it can hope for in this world. A higher potentiality

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11. Christmas Eve candles lit for the Angels across the parish

    Old Road · street · Dublin

    On Christmas Eve, from a summit on the Old Road, the narrator sees the whole parish valley twinkling with candlelight in every window. The custom is explained as guiding the Angels who direct the newborn Christ, and doors are left open in welcome, a tradition passed down since Christianity came to Ireland.

    Read the passage

    You would fancy for a moment that you were surveying the lights of some vast city — Dublin from Ticknock or London from Parliament Hill. But these lights glowed with a mellow orange clearness through the crystal air and their reflections glimmered in the bay. In the valley they were as thick as the lights of the Milky Way ; up the mountain slopes they shone more sparsely till at last a solitary glow here and there marked an abode in remote recesses. Out at sea, the « lustering houses on the island were indicated by a yellow glow over the sandy bar. When you go down the hill a little till you reach some houses, you will see that every window has its burning candle. What common impulse, what communal idea, has lit all these candles and turned a wild area into a gala ground ? These lights have been lit from generation to generation since the Christian Faith first came to Ireland ; they are kindled to guide the Angels who on Christmas night direct the New Bom from the Heavens. And you will see, too, that in most of the clean-swept, brightly-garnished houses, the door stands open- — a mute invitation to those travellers Who once found all doors closed before Them. No protestation could be more eloquent than this beautiful act of the countryside : as you look down from the hill top you are stirred to the depths of your imagination, and reflect that, were the Angel of Wrath passing hitherward, .this superb communal act of faith would stay his hand and save Ireland.

    Christmas afternoon was ideally spent by pilgrims from Belfast who fared hither to wake us up. S. Colmcille's Cross at Rye Churchyard is known to very few people. I had often heard the story of it, and imagined

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 9

12. Dungloe's Co-operative Machine-Knitting Factory transforms local poverty

    Dunglow · town · Donegal

    Formerly, Donegal girls knitted from dawn to dark earning as little as eight shillings a week, driving poverty and emigration; the Dungloe co-operative organised knitting scientifically with machines and fair marketing, leading to a factory employing over 100 girls with wages reaching £5-6 a week.

    Read the passage

    The home-knitting industry of Donegal is weU known, and is beloved of sentimentalists. In the old days — that are still the present days in many parishes — ■ a girl would knit from dawn to dark, and count herself

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    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 4

    As the companion tells it

    Coming through Dungloe in Donegal, you pass a town transformed by a co-operative machine-knitting factory. Donegal girls once knitted from dawn to dark for as little as eight shillings a week, driving poverty and emigration. The co-operative organised the work with machines and fair marketing, employing over 100 girls at wages reaching £5 to £6 a week.

13. Manus O'Donnell's fatal battle near the County of Little Hills

    Cavan · town · Cavan · 1539

    The author recalls travelling past small lakes in the County of Little Hills, near where Manus O'Donnell, author of the Life of Colmcille, fought and lost a battle in 1539 that ended his career.

    Read the passage

    trodden by the saint when he was a student — and which has now got as far as his native Tirconaill. On the way, we whirled through the County of Little Hills, and looked forth on many glittering little lakes. Beside one of these, perhaps, Manus, the writer of my book, fought and lost that miserable battle in 1539 which ended his patriotic career. Anon, the train turned its nose towards the smoke and clatter and confusion of Derry, whereof the right name is Doire Colmcille, though to-day the Colmcille is dropped and " London " tacked on. As you rattle into the busy modern city you wonder how it would appear to the eyes of him whose name is properly part of its own, were he, as he longed to do in his exile-days, to revisit " Derry dear." You recall his words :

    . . , Derry in the west, beloved place,

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14. Reclaimed wild land by dispossessed clans in Monaghan

    Monaghan · town · Monaghan

    In County Monaghan, the descendants of the old Gaelic clans such as the McMahons and Oriel still work small rocky farms, the soil bearing signs of desperate reclamation after being driven off richer lands by plantation.

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    The dense population, you observe, has crept up the mountain slopes, and has reclaimed and occupied every available inch of soil between the hills and the sea. Observe how some of the hillside fields are broken by jutting rocks, the cultivation being a mere lacework of square yards of soil. See where a winding path runs up the precipitous mountain-side to a solitary patch of green, a perch or two in area. On this scant and sloping space, oats, the only grain grown in this climate, has been sown, and the farmer must be an athlete to reap this little crop with his sickle. Down by the water you will notice that the sheltered side of the little islandrocks is also tilled and reaped of a few square yards of produce. Other rocks, too exposed for tilling, are used for grazing. The cattle are driven over the sands to crop the sparse vegetation in the hours between tides. Not a blade of grass may here be wasted. In this we see one of Irish history's most interesting hieroglyphs. It spells for us the story of the banished Catholic after the Plantations. The ancestors of the people around us once dwelt in spacious land, now planted by people of different faith, or given over to the grazing bullock. All through Ireland you may read this stor}^, in the cramped and laborious circumstances of the old race. In Co. Monaghan you will find the clanname of Oriel, McMahon, and others of the kind borne by the denizens of little rocky, remote farms, the soil of which bears the unmistakable signs of wild land

    ** llural .^luma."

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 1

15. Colmcille's birthplace and lasting devotion in Derry

    near Derry · city · Derry

    The 'Isle of Derry' is described as still bearing the spirit of St Colmcille, crowned today by St Columb's College, where remains of a tower and Columban-era stone oratory can still be seen in the grounds.

    Read the passage

    With a beautiful envirorxinent and a fine people, Derry has also an historic tradition to complete its qualifications to become a literary centre. The spirit of S. Colmcille still dwells upon the " Isle of Derry," which to-day is crowned by S. Columb's College, one of the most interesting educational establishments in Ireland. There, in the grounds, you may see the base of a tower and a stone oratory dating from Columban da3^s, and may thrill to think you are treading where the Dove himself used to move among his people. You will find men of the same stamp that he gathered round him still working on that site. There labours Dean M'Glinchey — whose recent booklet on the National Spirit, published by the C.T.S., is a fine piece of reading — and Father M'Shane, who, though a learner of Irish, will preach in it in the Gaeltacht, and who will read you wonderful old Fenian tales that he has edited from oral narration.

    The CoUege is housed in buildings first erected by that fantastic Bishop of Derry who in the Volunteer days used to repeat " We must have blood, my lord^ we must have blood," and who set out to Rome to die there, yet was baulked of his desire, having to expire on the roadside, being denied shelter by some Italian peasant who regarded his claim to be a Bishop as preposterous. The dancing hall that he built is now a chapel, and his works are turned to ends that would be strange to him. In the grand library you will find another sagart, newly back from Africa, who talks at the rate of 300 words a minute in Irish or English, all about the wonderful things he has found in the huge treasury of rare volumes around him. There, before you, are some 30 Latin tomes — two editions of Suarez

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16. Herring supply from Tory Island supplements diet

    Tory Island · townland · Donegal

    The staple vegetarian diet of the Donegal Gaeltacht people is supplemented occasionally by herring brought from Tory Island, alongside potatoes, eggs, milk, butter and onions.

    Read the passage

    blankets on the bed are her work, and are a thicklywoven variety of the same sort of cloth of which her own typical red-dyed dress is made : that dress, she mentions, has been in use for eight years, though it still looks new. All her attire is home-made, except the dainty coloured kerchief in which her hair is hooded. This, like the bright -patterned shawl, which is sometimes substituted, is, imported from Scotland — an exception which should be corrected. The men-folk's underclothing is her excellent work, too, while their homespun suits are also produced in the parish on cottage looms. ' Each family grows its own food, almost solely vegetarian, j and the staple item, oat-bread, depends for its tastiness, which delights the visitor, on the good lady's baking skill at the turf-iire. Potatoes, eggs, milk, batter, and onions, with an occasional supply of herring from Tory, complete the diet ot these vigorous and hardy people* This food is cheap and plentiful. Do not think it inadequate or the sign ol a low standard of living. These people, on the same diet exactly, performed the military feats of endurance whicn made the armies of O'Donnell famous. This diet, minus the potatoes, was that on which the Greek and Roman armies shook the earth.

    Of the intellectual life of Donegal this is the highest and justest praise : that it is the virile life of a complete community, which with all its seclusion has never manifested degeneracy. From these humble children of simple life sprang, and still do spring, the minds of distinguished ecclesiastics and laymen. These cottages around us are homes in whieh the love of refinement, wit and imagination is kept glowing, and handed from

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 1

17. Rural slums of Cloughaneely and the congested west

    near Cloghaneely · locality · Donegal · 1900–1920

    The author describes the congested farms and poor cottier conditions in Cloughaneely at the foot of Errigal, comparing the region to 'rural slums' as described by a French author. Grass-roofed hovels, tiny fields, and children herding cattle from a young age illustrate the depressed conditions of the Gaeltacht population.

    Read the passage

    What strikes you first is an impression of awful congestion. Farms and fields are small ; houses are planted as closely almost as in a " Garden Suburb." The Congested Districts round the coast, with their population of half a million, roughly correspond with the Gaeltacht, or Irish speaking areas. In Munster there are extensive Irish-speaking territories which are more prosperous, and to this fact, perhaps, may be attributed Munster 's lead in the language cause. A certain modicum of prosperity is needed before a people can interest itself in an intellectual movementn The Congested Districts of Connacht and Donegal are described by a French author as " rural slums " — a terrible and suggestive phrase. The universal marks of poverty are depressing : grass-roofed hovels up the barren mountain sheltering large families, children of the tenderest age herding cattle along tiie roads, if roads these ill-hewn passes may be named. You are wit-

    f;ijc ^tiiittg ^ast.

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 1

    As the companion tells it

    As you travel through Cloghaneely in Donegal, what strikes first is the awful congestion of it. Farms and fields are tiny, houses packed almost as close as in a Garden Suburb. A French author described the congested districts of Connacht and Donegal as 'rural slums,' a terrible and suggestive phrase. Grass-roofed hovels climb the barren mountain at the foot of Errigal, sheltering large families. Children of the tenderest age herd cattle along the roads, if roads these ill-hewn passes may be named. The congested districts along the coast hold roughly half a million people, corresponding with the Gaeltacht, the Irish-speaking areas. Munster's Irish-speaking territories are more prosperous, and that prosperity may explain Munster's lead in the language cause. A certain modicum of prosperity is needed before a people can interest itself in an intellectual movement.

18. Tory Island community builds co-operative headquarters by hand in two days

    Tory Island · townland · Donegal

    During a storm-bound visit, the narrator witnesses the entire male population of Tory Island quarrying stone with mallets, crowbars and barrows, without pay or foremen, breaking a new slip in the harbour rocks and building the walls of a co-operative headquarters within two days.

    Read the passage

    In two days they had broken and carried enough stones to erect the whole building, had laid the foundations and partly builded the walls ! Roman soldiers could not have done it. It was splendid, inspiring. And no doubt it was gratifying to S. Colmcille as he looked down on the island that he loved. Go mbeannuighidh se don obair !

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19. Dungloe's associated industries employ 500 Irish speakers

    Dunglow · town · Donegal

    The associated co-operative activities at Dungloe—including the knitting factory, stores, sawmill and fish-salting—gave work to about 500 people, nearly all Irish speakers, with the society's turnover reaching nearly £100,000 per annum.

    Read the passage

    The associated activities at Dungloe give work to some 500 people — practically all of them, by the way, Irish speakers, for this blossoming of healthy industry which the great Jesuit economist declares to be an example, not only to these islands, but to the world, took place in what people often regard as a backward place — the Gaeltacht. The turnover of the Society, which owns this ideal industry has reached nearly £100,000 per annum. That shows what is possible in the Gaeltacht even to-day. " Paddy the Cope," the

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    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 4

    As the companion tells it

    As you pass through Dunglow in Donegal, this was once a thriving co-operative hub. The society here gave work to about 500 people, nearly all Irish speakers, across a knitting factory, stores, a sawmill and fish-salting. The turnover reached nearly 100,000 pounds a year. A Jesuit economist called it an example not only to these islands but to the world, proof of what was possible in the Gaeltacht.

20. Landing near St. Colmcille's traditional landing-place

    Tory Island · townland · Donegal

    The narrator's party lands near the spot associated with St. Colmcille's own landing and visits the place where his 'holy sandals trod,' and an ancient oratory near the harbour said to have been consecrated by nine priests and three bishops.

    Read the passage

    If you will believe me, the country we went to was oft visited by S. Colmcille himself ; indeed, we landed just a stone's throw from his landing-place, and went, later on, to the spot where his holy sandals trod. And furthermore, this country used to go to war with Ireland in the distant ages, as you may read in the Irish book, the " Leabhar Gabhala " ; but the people are very good friends to Ireland now. The man who showed us an ancient oratory near the harbour, which was consecrated, he said, by nine priests and three bishops, asked us how affairs were going, over in Ireland. He advised us (as did others of his countrymen) to hold out for " the whole thing." This country is extraordinarily clean and neat. I never saw such extremely scrupulous tidiness as prevailed all around us. The houses were as spick and span as dolls' houses, and every article was polished till it shone. The roads were kept like garden-paths. Everybody was well-dressed, and as the people are unsurpassable physical specimens, we seemed to be walking among a new, happy, unspoilt humanity. They are as brown as Mediterranean folk, for the sun is stronger here than in Ireland, and most of us were tanned within an hour of landing. All displayed that gracious ease which is the highest courtesy — a race of noble folk. They are not an opulent people, for they have a strenuous battle for life ; but we did not see the smallest trace of poverty, for industry, good management and social health have banished social misery. All here regard themselves as kinsmen, as in the patriarchal nations, and no individual is left the friendless victim of misfortune.

    We went to the King's house on landing. It is /

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl

21. Famine's toll on Gaeltacht communities

    Donegal · town · Donegal · 1845–1852

    The author notes that the small Gaelic-speaking communities were sadly thinned by the Famine, reducing their numbers to few surviving pockets by the time of writing.

    Read the passage

    These little communities were sadly thinned by the Famine, and to-day they are few. Yet such as they are, they are the living Ireland of Seaghan Clarach and MacConmara and Mac Cuirtin ; and just as those Jacobite poets, in their days, felt themselves to be living in an unchanged Ireland since the ancient days of i6th century independence, so to-day, in our observations, we may look back through the centuries to those distant and glamorous times.

    When you go to Donegal — or TirconaiU, as we call it now, reviving the historic name of the little kingdom — ^you wiU find the railways are of a specially narrow gauge and the carriages hitched tight together. You are going mountaineering. You are not long in the train when the Angelus bell sounds, and every man there uncovers. Look at your fellow passengers. Each face is remarkable. When some great artist rises to paint Irish history, he will find his models among these people. Yonder old woman has the proud Celtic features of Lady Rose O 'Byrne of old or the Inghean Dubh. This young man (a harvester returning) has just the grey eyes, strong face and fiery hair of Red Hugh O'Donnell — to whose clan perhaps he belongs.

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 1

    As the companion tells it

    Donegal town lies ahead as you pass through. These Gaelic-speaking communities were sadly thinned by the Famine of 1845 to 1852, and few survived. The writer calls them the living Ireland of Seaghan Clarach and MacConmara and Mac Cuirtin, Jacobite poets who felt themselves in an unchanged Ireland stretching back to old freedoms. He calls Donegal by its historic name, Tirconaill, the little kingdom. The railways use a narrow gauge, the carriages hitched tight together. You are going mountaineering. When the Angelus bell sounds, every man on the train uncovers. Each face among the passengers is remarkable. Yonder old woman has the proud Celtic features of Lady Rose O'Byrne of old or the Inghean Dubh. A young harvester returning has the grey eyes, strong face and fiery hair of Red Hugh O'Donnell, to whose clan perhaps he belongs. If some great artist rises to paint Irish history, the writer says, he will find his models among these people.

22. Newman's residence at Harcourt Street, Dublin

    Harcourt Street · street · Dublin

    The text notes that Newman lived at a historic spot in Harcourt Street, Dublin, during his tenure connected to the Catholic University, a period marked by mutual misunderstanding between Newman and Ireland.

    Read the passage

    This splendid figure, distrusted, hated, slandered, in England, sought sympathy in Ireland, but, tragically enough, failed to find it. The misunderstanding which divided Newman from Ireland when he lived at that historic spot, in Harcourt street, is sad to dwell on. And yet, if we quarrelled with Newman, we at least recognised him as one of ourselves, a feUow-citizen of Christendom, and in our differences with him there was an underlying mutual regard. There are some people whom one hates to agree with. One resents their being on the right side. Newman was the antithesis of these. The fact that he was, in certain political issues, on the wrong side only endeared him to our memories by adding pathos to his relations with Ireland. For although he fell foul of Ireland's immediate ambitions, he was really one of the noblest praisers of our country that ever paid tribute to Ireland's fame. He is, by the way, responsible very largely for what may be called the nervous-Irish type in literature. In " John Bull's Other Island " the contrast between the buffoonish Broadbent and the highly strung, over-refined Larry Doyle popularised this type, which has now supplanted the old stage -Irishman. Shaw is often said to have followed Meredith's " Diana of the Crossways," where the over-fine Irish type is said to have originated. But in Newman's essays the Irish character wiU be found drawn in these lines with great tenderness.

    Lecturing in Dublin on the reasons for which he wished to see our capital made the seat of his ideal Catholic University, Newman instanced as one, the national temperament. He examines the English character, which he finds to excel in law and precedent.

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 5

    As the companion tells it

    Along here on Harcourt Street, Newman lived during his time connected to the Catholic University. He had been distrusted, hated, and slandered in England, and he came to Ireland seeking sympathy, but tragically failed to find it. The misunderstanding that divided him from Ireland during his time on this street is sad to dwell on. Yet there was an underlying mutual regard. Ireland recognised him as a fellow citizen of Christendom, even in disagreement. He fell foul of Ireland's immediate ambitions, but he was one of the noblest praisers of the country that ever paid tribute to Ireland's fame. He lectured in Dublin on his wish to see the capital made the seat of his ideal Catholic University, citing the national temperament as one reason. He examined the English character and found it to excel in law and precedent. He is also largely responsible for what may be called the nervous Irish type in literature. In his essays the Irish character is drawn with great tenderness, and that portrayal influenced Shaw's Larry Doyle in John Bull's Other Island, supplanting the old stage Irishman.

23. Legendary home of Balor of the Blows on Tory Island

    Tory Island · townland · Donegal

    Tory Island is identified as the home of Balor of the Blows, whose legendary castle is visible among the eastern cliffs, and the island is linked to ancient racial struggles recorded in the Leabhar Gabhala.

    Read the passage

    £ET it be confessed : that fascinating " foreign land " to which I voyaged a little while ago, as described in Letter VIII, was — Tory Island, Tory is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable places in western Europe. Its appearance is remarkable. The tower-shaped precipices from which it takes its name, seen on the far horizon from the mainland, strike the imagination with romantic suggestions, all of which are intensified as you approach the island in the little Torian boats and see the old-world town about the harbour, with the Round Tower near the pier-head, and the strange black curraghs tossing on the waters. In history, too, Tory is remarkable. The home of Balor of the Blows, whose legendary castle is to be seen among the stupendous eastern cliffs, it is associated with one of the most ancient of humanity's legends ; it was the scene of the primitive racial struggles recorded in the Leabhar Gabhala, while its conversion by S. Colmcille is one of the most familiar tales of Donegal, and half-a-dozen place names on the mainland and the island commemorate incidents in the Saint's conquest. To-day, you embark at the Hill of the Saints, from which Colum and his companions first spied Tory, and be sure ere sailing to repeat the traditional prayer : " Le cuidiu De agus Chuihn ChiUe, rachaidh me slan go Toraighe." (By the help of God and Colum, I will go safe to Tory). The little Torian boat, with its spritsail, that can be dropped in an instant (for squaUs are

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24. Unbroken Mass tradition at Long Tower Church, Derry

    near Derry · city · Derry

    The Long Tower Church, standing on the site of Colmcille's foundation in Derry, is noted as a place where Mass has never ceased to be celebrated, even throughout the Penal Days, and where Colmcille's praying-stone is still venerated outside.

    Read the passage

    You will be surprised at the amount of Irish talked in Derry, outside the College walls, too. At the cheap bazaar you will ask the price of some triviality and be answered, " Ceithre Pighne." There is a hall in William street where native speakers foregather in a sort of bardic court, the scandal of which makes copy for some clever Gaehc writing in the local Press. There you will find Fionn MacCuail, whose book, " Maicin " is one of the best pieces of Irish printed for many a long day — it would draw tears from an Irish-speaking Scrooge, so it would — and is a first token of the impending Gaehc literary burst of Donegal writers. You will hear much Irish, too, among the huge congregations emerging from the Long Tower Church, that stands at the centre of Colmcille's foundation, where Mass has never ceased to be celebrated — not even in the Penal Days. You will see S. Colmcille's praying-stone outside the church, venerated by untold generations. The church itself is one of the most remarkable in the North of Ireland on account of its pictures from Irish and Biblical history. It is like a church of the Middle Ages, wherein every stone was vocal. i8

    3itto Ciiaeltiom.

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl

25. Professor Hall's Praise for Donegal Schoolchildren's English

    Donegal · town · Donegal

    An English professor visiting schools in Donegal was amazed at the purity of the children's spoken English, later learning they had first been formed by Irish and learned English as a correct book-language. This observation is used to argue for bilingual upbringing in the Gaeltacht.

    Read the passage

    emigrate in after years. Professor Hall, of Manchester, recently visited some Donegal schools and expressed amazement at the pure and clear English spoken. Later he discovered that the children speaking it learnt it as a correct book language after having their vocal organs formed by the rich sounds of Irish.

    The language will not be safe until the Gaeltacht population reads it ; for it is the language one reads that nowadays gains supremacy. If the children and their parents were equipped to read books like " Robinson Crusoe " in Irish, and then given plenty of such literature, the language would no longer be regarded as a backward and uninteresting medium. Years of propaganda has done less for the language than a few months of teaching reading in the Gaeltacht might do.

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 5

    As the companion tells it

    Coming up now is Donegal town. An English professor from Manchester named Hall visited schools here and was amazed at how pure and clear the children's English was. He later found out that their vocal organs had first been formed by the rich sounds of Irish, and that they learned English as a correct book language on top of that. The writer argues that Irish itself will not be safe until the Gaeltacht population can read it, because it is the language people read that gains supremacy. If children and parents could read books like Robinson Crusoe in Irish and had plenty of such literature, the language would no longer be seen as backward or uninteresting.

26. Anglicisation of Dungloe despite its progressive Gaeltacht status

    Dunglow · town · Donegal

    Dungloe is described as the most progressive and wide-awake town in North-West Ireland yet sadly anglicised, with old people shy of speaking Irish and young people contemptuous of the national language.

    Read the passage

    WHEN Eoghan Rua O'Neill landed in Sheephaven Bay, yonder where Doe Castle among the trees casts its romantic reflection on the coloured waters, the first thing he did was — open four schools of Gaelic learning. O for the Kings of former days ! Who can imagine a warrior of modern times, on warlike errand, giving his first thought to the revival of culture ? Up here in Tirconaill we have three summer schools 'pardon, Irish Colleges I should say — working away this summer. First there is Cloughaneely of known fame. Next there is the new lol-Scoil Uladh or Ulster University, which has set up its banner at Dungloe. Our defenders have turned it out of the Hall arranged for, but military occupation of the town has not daunted Father O'Toal, Fionn M'Cuail, or Seumas O Grianna. I hope the lol-Scoil, though it is reported to have travelling intentions, and to have planned seasons in different parts of the country, will at least give a second year to Dungloe. For where Dungloe leads, Tirconaill will follow, and though it is the most progressive and wide-awake town in North-West Ireland, Dungloe is sadly anglicised. This is a typical case in the Gaeltacht counties. CoUeges are started in remote mountainy places, and their propaganda does some little good locally. But the progressive centres, the " capitals," are allowed to go anglicise themselves with never an effort to save them. I hear that already the Dungloe

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    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 3

    As the companion tells it

    Up ahead is Dunglow, here in Donegal, a town the road passes through. It was called the most progressive and wide-awake town in North-West Ireland, but it was sadly anglicised, a typical case in the Gaeltacht counties. An Irish college, Iol-Scoil Uladh, the Ulster University, set up its banner here, but the defenders turned it out of the hall arranged for it. Military occupation of the town did not daunt Father O'Toal, Fionn M'Cuail, or Seumas O'Grianna. The writer hoped the college would give a second year to Dungloe, saying, where Dungloe leads, Tirconaill will follow. The complaint was that colleges were started in remote mountainy places and did some little good locally, but the progressive centres, the capitals, were allowed to anglicise themselves with never an effort to save them.

27. Tory Island's Round Tower and Torian boats at the harbour

    Tory Island · townland · Donegal

    The narrator describes approaching Tory Island by the small local boats, seeing the old-world town by the harbour with a Round Tower near the pier-head and black curraghs on the water.

    Read the passage

    £ET it be confessed : that fascinating " foreign land " to which I voyaged a little while ago, as described in Letter VIII, was — Tory Island, Tory is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable places in western Europe. Its appearance is remarkable. The tower-shaped precipices from which it takes its name, seen on the far horizon from the mainland, strike the imagination with romantic suggestions, all of which are intensified as you approach the island in the little Torian boats and see the old-world town about the harbour, with the Round Tower near the pier-head, and the strange black curraghs tossing on the waters. In history, too, Tory is remarkable. The home of Balor of the Blows, whose legendary castle is to be seen among the stupendous eastern cliffs, it is associated with one of the most ancient of humanity's legends ; it was the scene of the primitive racial struggles recorded in the Leabhar Gabhala, while its conversion by S. Colmcille is one of the most familiar tales of Donegal, and half-a-dozen place names on the mainland and the island commemorate incidents in the Saint's conquest. To-day, you embark at the Hill of the Saints, from which Colum and his companions first spied Tory, and be sure ere sailing to repeat the traditional prayer : " Le cuidiu De agus Chuihn ChiUe, rachaidh me slan go Toraighe." (By the help of God and Colum, I will go safe to Tory). The little Torian boat, with its spritsail, that can be dropped in an instant (for squaUs are

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28. Irish Language Persisting in Market-Day Newry

    near Newry · town · Down · 1880–1890

    In Newry, country people still came into town speaking Irish on market days, and some shopkeepers even had their assistants learn the language to serve rural customers better. This shows the language's lingering vitality in an industrial Ulster town in the late 19th century.

    Read the passage

    How many ruined lives have we not seen, resulting from that tragic episode ! Take away nationality — the sense of a common object with one's neighbour ; the source of enthusiasm and the stimulus of ambition — and national evils penetrate even individual life. I have seen men of artistic genius lose all inspiration ; men of busine s ability grow mere penny-grudgers ; men of good impulses become mere wasters — all from the result of that national debacle. When the young man I have written of was a youth in Newry (no longer ago, observe) the people of the surrounding country came chattering Irish into the town on market days, and some shopkeepers actually instructed their assistants to study the language so as to engage a wider custom among the farmers. Thus the language showed a tendency to spread in even an industrial centre. Suppose the word had gone out at that time to save the language — what could have been easier ? That zealous young man would have become a Gaelic-speaker in a year, and scores with him, in the heart of Ulster Unionism ; a completer vision of Irish nationality than emotion could ever give would have been his ; and the liberal impulses of young Ulster would have been diverted into constructive service to the nation.

    That was how Ulster grew temporarily estranged : the ground was prepared for the tares of the bigot's sowing. I do hot find in all my subject's manuscripts so much as one single reference to religious distinctions : and you may be sure, had the Two-Nation theory held favour in those days that the young men of Ulster

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 7

29. Ruined college and chapel town destroyed, likened to Ypres

    Glena · townland · Kerry

    The valley town by the bridge at the tidehead, embosomed in trees with houses about the chapel and college-hall, had been laid in ashes by the time of publication, the author comparing it to the ruins of Ypres.

    Read the passage

    * Laid in ashes since this Letter was written. There is a little Ypres there now.

    lOI

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl, Chapter 9

30. Colmcille's banishment of rats from Tory Island

    Tory Island · townland · Donegal

    Local tradition holds that St. Colmcille banned rats forever from Tory Island, and to this day rats die when landed from boats there; Tory clay is also said to drive rats from any building.

    Read the passage

    If you chose, you may see the imprint on the rocks made by the feet of the " poisonous hound " that sprang at the Saint ; one rock is split where it was struck by the animal as Colmcille blasted it with death. Memories of Colmcille are as vivid in Tory to-day as they were hundreds of years ago. As you travel on the island, viewing the innumerable relics or legend-named caves and rocks his name is repeated again and again. You will hear how he banned rats forever from Tory (to this day rats die when landed from boats) and how Tory clay drives rats from any building. You will see the ruins of the " Church of the seven " (Teampaill a'Mhoirshesir)^ where he buried the children of the King of India, and on the other side of the island you will see Scoilt-a- Mhoirsheisir, the rocky chasm where the Seven came ashore. After hearing the tale of the Seven from a local shanachie, I found it word for word in Manus O'DonneU's Life of Colmcille, written 400 years ago. There is scarcely a stone from the lighthouse in the west to the Deathgod's fortress in the east but the people have a name for it that recalls some beautiful or tragic tale.

    As you look back after landing, you see the stately mountain wall of Ireland from Inishowen to Arranmore against the sky, and you begin to reahse that you are in a strange land. You have left Ireland, you are in

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl

31. Footprint of the poisonous hound and the split rock on Tory

    Tory Island · townland · Donegal

    Visitors to Tory Island can see the imprint on the rocks made by the feet of a 'poisonous hound' that sprang at St. Colmcille, and a rock split where the animal was struck as the saint killed it.

    Read the passage

    If you chose, you may see the imprint on the rocks made by the feet of the " poisonous hound " that sprang at the Saint ; one rock is split where it was struck by the animal as Colmcille blasted it with death. Memories of Colmcille are as vivid in Tory to-day as they were hundreds of years ago. As you travel on the island, viewing the innumerable relics or legend-named caves and rocks his name is repeated again and again. You will hear how he banned rats forever from Tory (to this day rats die when landed from boats) and how Tory clay drives rats from any building. You will see the ruins of the " Church of the seven " (Teampaill a'Mhoirshesir)^ where he buried the children of the King of India, and on the other side of the island you will see Scoilt-a- Mhoirsheisir, the rocky chasm where the Seven came ashore. After hearing the tale of the Seven from a local shanachie, I found it word for word in Manus O'DonneU's Life of Colmcille, written 400 years ago. There is scarcely a stone from the lighthouse in the west to the Deathgod's fortress in the east but the people have a name for it that recalls some beautiful or tragic tale.

    As you look back after landing, you see the stately mountain wall of Ireland from Inishowen to Arranmore against the sky, and you begin to reahse that you are in a strange land. You have left Ireland, you are in

    Internet Archive fromgaelicoutpos00debl