Dramatic Events of April 1865: Irish fought for both the Union and the Confederacy in the American Civil War, and researchers interested in a beautifully and moving account about the last days of the Confederacy should look for a copy of "Richmond Burning..." (pub. 2002) by Nelson D. LANKFORD, a resident of Richmond and editor of the quarterly journal of the Virginia Historical Society. Lankford weaves testimony from Confederate and Union witnesses, both civilian and military, into his very reader-friendly, extremity well-documented account. Mr. Lankford is also the editor "An Irishman in Dixie: Thomas CONOLLY's Diary of the Fall of the Confederacy," Columbia University at South Carolina Press (1988). * In "Richmond Burning," the author also mentions Mr. CONOLLY several times: "Despite the dire military circumstances, the threadbare shops of Richmond offered an array of goods and services for those with money to buy them.... The experience of a wealthy foreign visitor suggests the opportunity for entertaining even this late in the war. Thomas CONOLLY was an extravagant member of Parliament with vast estates in Ireland and a taste for adventure.. By the time he signed the register at the Spotswood in March, the management had cut up its carpets for army blankets and was serving dinner on cracked and broken crockery. Conolly was nevertheless thrilled to see Richmond -- "its Spires & white pillared capital shining above the haze and Roofs in the setting sun." He waltzed his way through town, dispensing gold sovereigns and consuming oysters and champagne as though there were no privation. Hard currency could still winkle the most astonishing luxury goods out from their hi! ding places. To supply his hospitality, he relied on Tom GRIFFIN, a free man of color who owned two eateries and catered private dinner parties for wealthy patrons of the city's hotels. Griffin provided Conolly with elegant meals for his new Virginia friends, complete with mint juleps. "Very swell, despite the blockade. Must have cost him a pretty sum," wrote Malvina GIST, a sociable young widow and one of CONOLLY's guests." *I thought at anyone researching Parliamentarian Thomas CONOLLY's line would be especially interested to know he had written a diary..

Hi everyone, I am writing to inform all on this mailing list that the following records have been added to the Lurgan Ancestry Website at; www.lurganancestry.net 1. The complete 1959 Lurgan directory (approx. 5,000 names) 2. Lurgan directory of 1918 (approx. 1,000 names) 3. The 1755 rental lists of Lurgan (200 names) These, are added to an already extensive list of records, freely available to anyone visiting the website. There is also an in site search engine to find any surnames that you require. Many hours of work and dedication have went toward the research, data input and maintenance of this website by many genealogist and historians of the Lurgan area. Also the book "Lurgan 1901" is now freely available. This book contains over 100 pages of all householders listed in the census, with their age, religion occupation and how many persons were at that dwelling at the time of the census. Also there are stories, photos and newspaper clippings from that year in the book. For more information please email Matt or Sean; lurgan1901@hotmail.com Many thanks and regards. Martin. Lurgan Ancestry. N. Ireland

The 1880 United States Census and the 1881 Canadian Census, searchable databases of more than 55 million people, are now on the Internet, signifying another great leap forward in online family history research. Here is an article with live links to the censuses. http://www.lds.org/media2/newsrelease/0,5637,203-1-13102,00.html Best, dianne soares ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary E. YOung" <meyoung@syix.com> To: <IrelandGenWeb-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 12:15 PM Subject: RE: [IGW] LDS Files temporarily open free > Don, and all, > The LDS internet site information is always free. They make > modest charges for the CDs and for copies of source material, but > searches are free. They have material available from all over the > world. Check it out! > Mary E. Young, California >

TO THE FOUR COURTS, PLEASE The driver rubbed at his nettly chin With a huge loose forefinger, crooked and black; And his wobbly violet lips sucked in, And puffed out again and hung down slack: A black fang shone through his lop-sided smile, In his little pouched eye flickered years of guile. And the horse, poor beast! It was ribbed and forked; And its ears hung down, and its eyes were old; And its knees were knuckly; and, as we talked, It swung the stiff neck that could scarcely hold Its big skinny head up -- then I stepped in, And the driver climbed to his seat with a grin. God help the horse, and the driver too! And the people and beasts who have never a friend! For the driver easily might have been you, And the horse be me by a different end! And nobody knows how their days will cease! And the poor, when they're old, have little of peace! -- James Stephens (1882-1950)

Richard Lovett, a Victorian traveller, took a leisurely and enthusiastic tour of the whole of Ireland by steamer, train, carriage and foot, and his observations were first published in 1888 by the Religious Tract Society: Four Courts and Stephen's Square area of Dublin: "A short walk through a very unsavoury neighbourhood brings the visitor from Christ Church to the Liffey, and immediately before him on the north bank he sees another noted structure - the Four Courts of Dublin, one of the most imposing buildings in the city, and one which, unlike some of the others, has remained true throughout its history to the objects for which it was built. It occupies an oblong, having a frontage on the river of 440 feet. The foundation stone was laid in 1786, it was opened for business in 1797, and it cost about 200,000 pounds. It consists of a central block of building, surmounted by a circular lantern and dome, one of the landmarks of the metropolis. This building is flanked by squares connected with each other and with the main entrance by arcades. Each angle of the main building is occupied by one of the superior courts, viz., Chancery, Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, whence the name of the pile. The centre under the dome is left! free for the meetings of lawyers and clients, and all who have business there, or who are drawn thither by curiosity. A description written fifty years ago applies to it to-day: 'The handsome and towering dome lights the great hall of the Courts, an object of just admiration from its chaste and lofty appearance and proportions. During term time it was crowded with lawyers and pickpockets, strangers and stragglers, the fleeced and the fleecing, the hopeful and the hopeless, the anxious and the careless. At such a period of bustle, a visitor, as a Picture of Dublin benevolently forewarns him, "should look to his pockets."' In the neighborhood of the splendid square known as Stephen's Green, and of Kildare Street, many of the scientific institutions of Dublin, first-class clubs and hotels cluster together. The Royal Dublin Society, the Museum of Science and Art, the National Gallery of Ireland, and the Royal Irish Academy are in this region. Not long after this book is in the hands of its readers, the handsome and extensive buildings of the New National Museum will be complete, affording room to display many treasures at present inaccessible to the public. Each of the great institutions mentioned above is well worthy of careful attention. It is no disparagement, however, to the rest to say that upon the attention of the stranger the Museum and the Library of the Royal Irish Academy have paramount claims." This Society was incorporated in 1786 for the study of science, polite literature, and Irish antiquities, and very skilfully and thoroughly have these objects been accomplished, although even more might have been done could they have controlled larger funds. The museum contains a marvellously varied and rich collection of specimens of Irish art, from the earliest period down to comparatively recent date. Naturally the most interesting objects are those either entirely or almost entirely peculiar to Ireland. And among these what are known as "cumdachs," or book shrines, hold perhaps the chief place. They are rarely met with except in Ireland, and have played no unimportant part in past days. They, like the famous bell shrines, came into existence as the outcome of the reverential affection manifested towards the chief Irish teachers, such as Patrick, Columba, and Molaise by their successors. The old book, the familiar companion of the early missionary, was untouched; bu! t all that wealth and and skill could do was lavished upon the production of a box or shrine in which to preserve so precious a relic. In some cases this box was hermetically sealed, and no superstition was stronger or more universal than the belief that the opening of such a box would be followed by the direst misfortune."

Don, and all, The LDS internet site information is always free. They make modest charges for the CDs and for copies of source material, but searches are free. They have material available from all over the world. Check it out! Mary E. Young, California -----Original Message----- From: Don Kelly [mailto:donkelly@grovenet.net] Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 9:16 AM To: IrelandGenWeb-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [IGW] LDS Files temporarily open free Some LDS files are reportedly open temporarily. I hope this can help someone. http://www.familysearch.org/ Slan go foill, do chara Donald O'Collaugh Kelly --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.394 / Virus Database: 224 - Release Date: 10/3/02 ==== IrelandGenWeb Mailing List ==== This list is sponsored by the IrelandGenWeb Project - http://www.irelandgenweb.com

Mr. Billy COLLINS has the distinction of being America's poet laureate for 2001. He was born in New York City in 1941, is a teacher, lives in Somers, NY, and has conducted poetry workshops at University College, Galway. Here is one of his gems: CANDLE HAT In most self-portraits it is the face that dominates: Cézanne is a pair of eyes swimming in brushstrokes, Van Gogh stares out of a halo of swirling darkness, Rembrandt looks relieved as if he were taking a breather from painting The Blinding of Sampson. But in this one Goya stands well back from the mirror and is seen posed in the clutter of his studio addressing a canvas tilted back on a tall easel. He appears to be smiling out at us as if he knew we would be amused by the extraordinary hat on his head which is fitted around the brim with candle holders, a device that allowed him to work into the night. You can only wonder what it would be like to be wearing such a chandelier on your head as if you were a walking dining room or concert hall. But once you see this hat there is no need to read any biography of Goya or to memorize his dates. To understand Goya you only have to imagine him lighting the candles one by one, then placing the hat on his head, ready for a night of work. Imagine him surprising his wife with his new invention, the laughing like a birthday cake when she saw the glow. Imagine him flickering through the rooms of his house with all the shadows flying across the walls. Imagine a lost traveler knocking on his door one dark night in the hill country of Spain. "Come in," he would say, "I was just painting myself," as he stood in the doorway holding up the wand of a brush, illuminated in the blaze of his famous candle hat. -- Billy Collins, Poet Laureate America 2001

Hi gang, I should have included the information provided by Christina. Thanks Christina. http://www.familysearch.org/ I am informed these files are normally open to members. I wasn't sure what this was so I took a look. It seems that the Familysearch.org website is making the 1880 American and 1881 Canadian censuses available as a part of Family History month. These are also on CD for purchase. Also available the 1881 British Census. Slan go foill, do chara Donald O'Collaugh Kelly --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.394 / Virus Database: 224 - Release Date: 10/3/02

THE LITTLE WAVES OF BREFFNY The grand road from the mountain goes shining to the sea, And there is traffic in it and many a horse and cart, But the little roads of Cloonagh are dearer far to me, And the little roads of Cloonagh go rambling through my heart. A great storm from the ocean goes shouting o'er the hill, And there is glory in it and terror on the wind, But the haunted air of twilight is very strange and still, And the little winds of twilight are dearer to my mind. The great waves of the Atlantic sweep storming on the way, Shining green and silver with the hidden herring shoal, But the Little Waves of Breffny have drenched my heart in spray, And the Little Waves of Breffny go stumbling through my soul. -- Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926) (She may be referring to Cloonagh Lake in Co. Roscommon)

Some LDS files are reportedly open temporarily. I hope this can help someone. http://www.familysearch.org/ Slan go foill, do chara Donald O'Collaugh Kelly --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.394 / Virus Database: 224 - Release Date: 10/3/02

Derry's contemporary poet, Seamus Heaney, describes the uneasy Anglo-Irish relationship in terms of a husband's feelings for his pregnant wife - ACT OF UNION Your back is a firm line of eastern coast And arms and legs are thrown Beyond your gradual hills. I caress The heaving province where our past has grown. I am the tall kingdom over your shoulder That you would neither cajole nor ignore. Conquest is a lie. I grow older Conceding your half-independent shore Within whose borders now my legacy Culminates inexorably. Ulster's tragic melodrama has continued to unfold, the great majority of the population, though still segregated by the sour dance of religion and history, has looked on aghast from opposing wings, hoping that peace can bring down the curtain, permanently, on a show which has long outrun any purpose it once had. -- "Irish Counties, " J. J. Lee

BIO: Since 1901, Beatrice (Elvery) Glenavy's vividly-colored window of St. Patrick was part of the chapel of the Dominican Convent in Dublin's Eccles Street until the nuns sold their buildings in 1984 to the nearby Mater Hospital. The windows, including a very fine one by Harry Clarke, have now been rehoused in the small chapel in their new home off Griffith Avenue. Beatrice Glenavy (nee Elvery) born in 1881, was the second daughter of a Dublin businessman whose family had originated from Spain where they were silk merchants. She attended the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art where Sir William Orpen (1878-1931) taught painting and later used Beatrice as a model. Of his pupil, Orpen wrote that she had "many gifts, much temperament and great ability. Her only fault was that the transmission of her thoughts from her brain to paper or canvas, clay or stained glass became so easy to her that all was said in a few hours. Nothing on earth could make her go on and try to improve on her first translation of her thought." When Sarah Purser (1848-1943) founded her studios An Tur Gloine (Tower of Glass) in 1903, she invited Beatrice Elvery to be one of the designers and her first commission of six windows was installed in the Convent of Mercy, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh in 1905. Beatrice married Gordon Campbell, Lord Glenavy in 1912 and they settled in London, returning to Ireland at the end of the war and she then concentrated on painting. The vibrant colors of her beautiful window with its robust outer border of fruit and foliage and inner more delicate niche containing the strong figure of St. Patrick in his rich russet and saffron robes as he gives a blessing to his people is a fine example of her work. Details such as the wheat and grapes and symbolizing bread and wine for Holy Communion remind us of the importance of the acceptance of different traditions and faiths in Ireland. Beatrice died in 1970. A reproduction of her lovely window can be found in the March-April 2000 issue of "Ireland of the Welcomes." .

Resources in the National Library of Ireland (and large genealogical libraries elsewhere): AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND Cleary, P. J. S., "Australia's Debt to Ireland's Nation-builders," pub. Sydney, 1933. Coffey and Morgan, "Irish Families in Australia and New Zealand, 1788-1979" (4 vols., biographical dictionary), pub. Melbourne, 1979. Curry, C. H., "The Irish at Eureka," pub. Sydney, 1954. Hawkings, David T., "Bound for Australia," Sussex, Phillimore & Co., 1987. Hogan, J., "The Irish in Australia," pub. Melbourne, 1888. Hughes, Robert, "The Fatal Shore," pub. London, 1988. Kiernan, C.. (ed.), "Australia and Ireland, 1788-1988," pub. Dublin circa 1988. Kiernan, T. J., "The Irish in Australia," pub. Dublin, 1954. McDonagh and Mandle, "Ireland and Irish-Australians," Sydney, 1982. O'Farrell, P, "The Irish in Australia," pub. New South Wales, Australia, 1987. Robinson, P., "The Hitch and Brood of Time: Australians 1788-1828," pub. Oxford, 1985. Robson, L. L., "The Convict Settlers of Australia," pub. Melbourne, 1965. "The Ulster Link" (Magazine of the Northern Irish in Australia and New Zealand). FRANCE: Griffin, G., "The Wild Geese" (pen portraits). Hayes, R., "Ireland and Irishmen in the French Revolution," pub. Dublin. Hayes R., "Irish Swordsmen of France," pub. Dublin. Hayes, R., "Biographical Dictionary of Irishmen in France," pub. Dublin 1949. Hayes, R., "Old Irish Links with France," pub. Dublin Lee, G. A., "Irish Chevaliers in the Service of France. Mathorez, J., "Les irlandis nobles ou notables a Nantes aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siecles. O'Callaghan, J. C., "History of the Irish Brigades." O'Connell, M. J., "The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade (Count O'Connell), 1745-1833." Hennessy, M., "The Wild Geese," pub. London, 1973. Jones, P., "The Irish Brigade," pub. London, 1981. Swords, L., "Irish-French Connections, 1578-1978," pub. Paris, 1978. Terry, James, "Pedigrees and Papers." SOUTH AFRICA Dickson, G. D., "Irish Settlers to the Cape (1820)," pub. Cape Town, 1973. ARGENTINA Coghlan, Eduardo, "Los Irlandeses en la Argentina," pub. Buenos Aires, 1987. Murray, "The Irish in Argentina." WEST INDIES Article, 'Documents relating to the Irish in the West Indies, with accounts of Irish Settlements, 1612-1752,' in journal "Analecta Hibernica," Vol. 4, pg 140-286. Oliver, Vere L., "Caribbeana: Miscellaneous Papers Relating to the History, Topography, Genealogy and Antiquities of the British West Indies" (5 vols), pub. London, 1912. Oliver, Vere L., "The History of the Island of Antigua (3 vols.), pub. London, 1894-9. Oliver, Vere L., "Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies," pub. London, 1904.

SCOTCH-IRISH IN NORTH AMERICA - Resources in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin, and elsewhere: 1. Bolton, C. K., "Scotch-Irish Pioneers," pub. Baltimore, MD, 1967 2. Cummings, H. M., "Scots Breed," (Scotch-Irish in PA), pub. Pittsburgh, 1964. 3. Dickson, R. J., "Ulster Emigration to Colonial America, 1718-75," pub. London, 1976. 4, Dunaway, W., "Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania," pub. by the Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD, 1985. (LDS). 5. Glasgow, M., "Scotch-Irish in Northern Ireland and the American Colonies," pub. NY, 1936. 6. Marshall, W. F., "Ulster Sails West." 7. Scotch-Irish Heritage Festival, Winthrop, 1981, NLI 942 s 15. 8. Shaw, J., "The Scotch-Irish in History," pub. Springfield, 1899. 9. Stone, F., "Scots and Scotch-Irish in Connecticut," pub. U. of CT, 1978. 10. "The Ulster-American Connection," pub. New University of Ulster, 1976. 11. Wood, S. G., "Ulster Scots and Blandford Scouts" (Ulster Irish in Massachusetts), pub. MA, 1928.

Area-Specific Resources in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin, and other large genealogical libraries - 1. Adams, E., and O'Keeffe, B.B., "Catholic Trails West: The Founding Catholic Families Of Pennsylvania (Vol. 1., St. Joseph's Church, Philadelphia), pub. Baltimore by Genealogical Pub. Co. (LDS), 1988. 2. Akenson, D. H., "The Irish in Ontario," pub. McGill, 1985. 3. Bannon, T., "Pioneer Irish in Onondaga," pub. London, 1911. 4. Burchell, R. A., "San Francisco Irish, 1848-1880," pub. Manchester Univ. Press, 1979. 5. Callahan, "Irish-Americans and their Communities in Cleveland." 6. Clark, D., "The Irish Relations" (Irish-Americans in Philadelphia), pub. NJ 1982. 7. Clark, D., "The Irish in Philadelphia," pub Philadelphia, 1973. 8. Cullen, J. B., "Story of the Irish in Boston," pub. Boston, 1893. 9. Cushing, J., "Irish Emigration to St. John, New Brunswick, 1847," pub. St. John, 1979. 10. Donovan, G. F., "The Irish in Massachusetts, 1620-1775," pub. St. Louis, 1931. 11. Fanning, C. (ed.), "Mr. Dooley and the Chicago Irish," pub. NY, 1976. 12. Flannery, J. B., "The Irish Texans," pub. San Antonio, 1980. 13. Funchion, M. F., "The Irish in Chicago," pub. Chicago, 1987. 14. Funchion, M. F., "Chicago's Irish Nationalists 1881-1890," pub. NY, 1976. 15. Gearon, M. M., "Irish Settlers in Gardner, Massachusetts," pub. Gardner, 1932. 16. Guerin, T., "The Gael in New France," pub. Montreal, 1946. 17. 'Irish Settlers in early Delaware,' published in "Pennsylvania History," April 1947. 18. Kilkenny, J. F., 'The Irish of Morrow Co. Oregon,' "Historical Quarterly," June 1968. 19. MacDonald, "History of the Irish in Wisconsin in the 19th Century," pub. Washington, 1954. 20. Mackenzie, A. A., "The Irish in Cape Breton," pub. Cape Breton, 1979. 21. Mahony, M. E., "The Irish in Western Pennsylvania," pub. Pittsburgh, 1977. 22. "New England Irish Guide 1987," NLI Ir 973 n 6. 23. Niehaus, E. F., "The Irish in New Orleans 1800-1860," pub. Baton Rouge, 1965. 24. Oberster, W. H., "Texas Irish Empresarios and Their Colonies," pub. Austin, 1953. 25. O'Brien, M. J., "Pioneer Irish in New England," pub. NY 1937. 26. O'Brien, M. J., "In Old New York: Irish Dead in Trinity and St. Paul's Churchyards," pub. NY 1928. 27. O'Brien, M. J. 'Grantees of Land in Virginia,' in "Journal of the American Irish Historical Society," 13, 1913-14. 28. O'Gallagher, M., "St. Patrick's and St. Brigid's, Quebec," pub. Quebec, 1981. 29. Prendergast, T. F., "Forgotten Pioneers: Irish Leaders in Early California," pub. San Francisco, 1942. 30. Punch, T. M., "Some Sons of Erin in Nova Scotia," pub. Halifax, 1980. 31. Quigly, H., "The Irish Race in California and on the Pacific Coast," pub. San Francisco, 1878. 32. Redmond, P. M., "Irish Life in Rural Quebec," Duquesne, 1983. 33. Ryan, D. P., "Beyond the Ballot Box: Boston Irish 1845-1917," pub. London 1983. 34. Stewart, H. L., "The Irish in Nova Scotia," pub. Kentville, 1950. 35. Toner, P. M., "New Ireland Remembered: historical esays on the Irish in New Brunswick," pub. NB 1988. 36. Vinyard, J., "The Irish on the Urban Frontier" - (Irish in Detroit, MI 1850-1880), pub. NY 1976. 37. Williams, H. A., "History of the Hibernian Society of Baltimore 1803-1951," pub. Baltimore, 1951.

BIO: Where religion and political allegiance divided many of their compatriots, Fred DALY and Harry BRADSHAW found a common bond in golf, right back to their start as caddies. Born in humble circumstances on either side of the border - Fred in Portrush, Co. Antrim in 1911, and Harry in the village of Killincarrig, Co. Wicklow in 1913, they went on to form one of the finest partnerships in the history of the game. The Ryder Cup gave them their greatest experience together, when they formed an unbeatable partnership in the matches at Wentworth in 1953, even though they had been keen rivals for a number of years prior to that, stretching back before WWII. In 1947, at the Royal Liverpool club, Hoylake, Daly achieved a distinction still unique in Irish golf, by becoming the only native of Ireland to capture the British Open crown. Bradford once commented, "Fred had nerves of steel when the crunch came and I could always manage to sink the odd putt." So it was that when his friend died in November 1990, Harry traveled north from his home in Raheny, Dublin, with fellow professional Paddy SKERRITT for Daly's funeral. Little more than a month later, The Brad himself was dead, and we could truly claim to have reached the end of an era. -- Excerpt, "Ireland of the Welcomes"

BIO: Father Edward Joseph FLANAGAN was born in Ballymoe, near Roscommon, in 1886. He first traveled to the United States in 1904, and studied for the priesthood. He completed in studies at the Gregorian University in Rome and at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. He then became a parish priest in O'Neill, Nebraska. His first social service was with a Workingmen's Hostel in Omaha. Moved by the plight of homeless and orphaned boys, and those who had broken the law, he opened Father Flanagan's Boys Home near Omaha for boys of every race and religion in 1917. Filling a need, it expanded rapidly, and was renamed Boys Town in 1922. Within 15 years Boys Town had been incorporated and added additional facilities across the state. Many institutions similar to Boys Town were later founded in the US and Canada, but they did not always have the same success. Father Flanagan's motto was, "There is no such thing as a bad boy." He deeply believed that if boys were given the best possible home, education, and training, they would grow up to be useful adults. He first borrowed $90 to rent an old house in Omaha to care for five boys. As more boys moved into the house, it became necessary to move to larger quarters in Omaha. Flanagan 's example demonstrates the tremendous good one person can achieve by "lighting a candle." He died in 1948 while on an overseas fund-raising trip for Boys Town. His story was made famous in the 1938 movie "Boys Town," with a sensitive performance as Fr. Flanagan by Spencer Tracy ("best actor") and a spirited portrayal of a young "ruffian" by Mickey Rooney.

LINES ADDRESSED TO A SEAGULL White bird of the tempest! oh, beautiful thing, With the bosom of snow, and the motionless wing; Now sweeping the billow, now floating on high, Now bathing thy plumes in the light of the sky; Now posing o'er ocean thy delicate form, Now breasting the surge with thy bosom so warm; Now darting aloft, with a heavenly scorn, Now shooting along, like a ray of the morn; Now lost in the folds of the cloud-curtained dome, Now floating abroad like a flake of the foam; Now silently poised o'er the war of the main, Like the spirit of charity brooding o'er pain; Now gliding with pinion, all silently furled, Like an angel descending to comfort the world! Thou seem'st to my spirit -- as upward I gaze, And see thee, now clothed in mellowest rays, Now lost in the storm-driven vapors that fly Like hosts that are routed across the broad sky -- Like a pure spirit, true to its virtue and faith 'Mid the tempests of nature, of passion, and death! Rise! beautiful emblem of purity! rise On the sweet winds of heaven, to thine own brilliant skies, Still higher! still higher! till lost to our sight, Thou hidest thy wings in a mantle of light; And I think how a pure spirit gazing on thee Must long for the moment - the joyous and free -- When the soul, disembodied from nature, shall spring, Unfettered, at once to her Maker and King; When the bright day of service and suffering past, Shapes fairer than thine shall shine round her at last, While the standard of battle triumphantly furled, She smiles like a victor, serene on the world! -- Gerald Griffin (1803-1840)

Englishman Richard Lovett traveled the length and breadth of Ireland and his notes were first published in 1888 by the Religious Tract Society. Some excerpts -- "The Giant's Causeway is the only part of Ireland which rivals Killarney in widespread fame and in general popularity. The traveller who has reached Belfast by the rapid and comfortable express train on the Great Northern Railway, or who has come from Fleetwood direct by boat, has two routes open to him; direct by rail, or along what is called the Coast Drive. Should he comes by the shortest sea-route, viz., from Stranraer to Larne, at the latter place he is already on one stage on the journey. If time presses, the quickest route is by the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway to Portrush. But if the weather is fine and time no great object, by far the best, and for the lover of the beautiful the most enjoyable route is to follow the Coast Road from Larne to the Causeway. Portrush, only a few miles north of of Coleraine, is a fashionable and popular sea-side resort. It is connected with the Causeway by an electric tramway, the first built in the United Kingdom. This is worked from Bushmills, and has been planned so as to enable visitors to enjoy as much as possible of the fine coast scenery which is passed during the ride. The line begins to ascend very soon after leaving Portrush, and splendid views over the coast and the ocean are obtained. At a distance of three and a half miles, the first "lion" of the district appears, Dunluce Castle, the ancient stronghold of the M'QUILLANs. It is an extremely picturesque ruin, standing upon the very verge of a cliff which rises high above the sea, and which is connected with the mainland only by an arch forming a path about eighteen inches wide. The cluster of gables, walls, arches and towers, all in a decidedly ruinous condition, is most effective; and it is well to be content with the distant view. Closer inspection adds nothing to the charm as a compensation for the nervous excitement of crossing the narrow arch. Two or three miles further the line strikes inland, and Bushmills, the headquarters of the tramway company is reached. All who are interested in the practical working of the line should stop here long enough to inspect the building where the electricity is generated. That it is generated may be provided, not only by the demonstration of being carried there in a car supplied with no other motive force, but by taking slight shocks from the rail. Bushmills is a neat little place, noted, like Coleraine, for distilling, and also for salmon fishing. The River Bush runs past it into the ocean, and about a mile above the town rushes impetuously on its way through a beautiful little glen, thus forming a salmon leap. The old mills stood there, but they were removed to make room for the appartus by which the electricity is generated... >From Bushmills is a short run takes the car to thte terminus, which is only a stone's throw from the Causeway Hotel. Since the opening of the tramway, this has been greatly improved.The writer recalls a visit some years ago, when after a long day's drive, the latter part through mist and rain, he arrived damp and weary, and found the appearance of hotel and rooms extremely depressing, and the lack of creature comforts very considerable. He recently spent a night there, and although it rained a deluge and blew a hurricane, the snugness was all that could be desired. The whole place has been refurnished, new reception rooms added, and the cheerful electric light, supplied from Bushmills, now adds greatly to the comfort of the visitor. The Causeway, like Killarney, suffers from a plague of guides. Escape from them is well-nigh impossible. The best thing is to take one from the hotel, and keep rigidly to the arrangement by which his services are included on the bill. It is a great misfortunate that the visitor should not be able to roam at will about this magnificent piece of coast scenery. There are few places better fitted to arouse wonder at the marvellous works of God in Nature; there are few spots even along the grand west coast that contain so much to delight the eye and the mind. But the horde of guides, and the constant expectation that the next turn of the path will bring you either to a beggar, or a seller of spring water, or to a vendor of the minerals of the neighbourhood, goes far to banish all the higher enjoyments of the place... It ought, in fairness to the guides, be mentioned that when upon the Causeway itself they do enable the visitor who displays any interest in the subject to appreciate the wonderful regularity of formation of the pillars, and the beautiful way in which they are grouped. The best way to get a good idea of the beauty and boldness of the coast about the Causeway is to take a boat and row westwards to Porthcoon and to Dunkerry Caves. To those who like this class of natural phenomena the trip may be recommended; others may be apt to feel that there is in the caves hardly enough to compensate for the boat trip, the damp atmosphere, the rather strong sea-weedy odours, and the persistent way in which the boatmen try to sell you boxes of geological specimens... But fully as wonderful as the Causeway, and much more impressive, are the mightly masses of the Amphitheatre, a superb semicircular cliff, in which the pillars occur in stages; the Chimneys, a cluster of pillars standing on the apex of a bold headland; and the grand cliff, nearly 400 feet high, named Pleaskin Head. All along these cliffs the pillar clusters and masses of richly-coloured rocks, as seen under a bright sky, and washed by a sunlit sea, constitute a gallery of the most delightful and exhiliarating natural pictures."

PROVINCE OF ULSTER: The Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim, is a strange basalt structure formed by the cooling of molten lava approximately 60 million years ago. A scattered necklace of thousands of drumlins - small hills of boulder clay, dumped as the last great ice age melted 13,000 years ago, separate the nine counties of the old province of Ulster - Armagh, Antrim, Cavan, Derry, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Tyrone - from the rest of the island of Ireland. A natural barrier, it runs in a swathe some 30 miles (48 km) wide from the placid Irish Sea in the east to the great Atlantic rollers of the west. Great man-made earthworks, thrown up in the 1st century B.C., span the gaps between drumlins. A third barrier, an international border, splits off six of the counties (Antrim, Armagh, Derry/Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone) to make Northern Ireland which comprises one-sixth of the island and is home to 1.5 million people. There have been people in Ulster since the Middle Stone Age, over 8000 years ago. They speared salmon, trapped boar and made camp in Ireland's first recorded human settlement - a collection of round huts of woven sapling and deer hide - at Mount Sandel on the banks of the River Bann in Co. Antrim. The history of this culture, gathered together as the "Ulster Cycle," the oldest vernacular epic in western European literature, is a heady mix of men, women and gods, battles and lusts, spells and sorrows. The land bridge which once joined Ireland to Britain disappeared around 6000 B. C., and it was not until the 4th millennium B. C. that the next wave of settlers came in the form of Neolithic, New Stone Age farmers who risked the Irish Sea in frail boats of lathe and hide, packed with pigs, cows and sheep, and made landfall among stands of elm, always a sign of good soil, in Strangford Lough. These new immigrants felled the forests, grew cereals, fired pots, built a distinctively northern style of stone cairn to their gods and buried their dead under the dolmens which stand eternal in many an Ulster field. By 2000 B.C., in the Bronze Age, contemporary with pyramids of Egypt's Middle Kingdom and the great Minoan palaces of Knossos on Crete, Ulster's tribes toiled to create the great stone circles of Down and Tyrone, while merchant adventurers taught them to make bronze axeheads and golden ornaments. By the coming of the Iron Age, the first Celts had arrived, conquering say some, assimilating say others, those more ancient peoples, the dark-skinned Fir Bolg, the red-haired Tuatha de Dannan, and the Cruithin of Ulster with their warrior-clan structure and their Red Branch Knights. These Gaels welcomed Patrick's Christian mission in the 5th century A. D. and resisted the subsequent Viking raids on their monasteries in the 8th century. -- Excerpt, "Irish Counties, J. J. Lee