Continuing from :County Laois or Leix Richard Hayward 1949 (From 'This is Ireland, LEINSTER and the City of Dublin) We got into the car again and drove down a charming little road into Rosenallis, an amusing English corruption of the Irish place-name Ros Fhionn-ghlaise -the Wood of the Bright Stream-which the local people, for long without the Irish tongue, firmly believed to be derived from two Quaker ladies, Rose and Alice. But though the gentle Friends have firm roots in this place, the blessed Saint Brigit was here before them, and Colgan refers to a church in Rosenallis which was dedicated to her. To the left of the road for Mountmellick, just beyond the village, is the ruin of the old home of William Edmundson, pioneer Irish Quaker, and almost opposite is the oldest Irish burying ground of the Society of Friends. You can obtain the key of this graveyard from the occupants of the cottage beside it, and within the peaceful enclosure you may study the sequence of the development of Quaker headstones : in the earliest days of the Society no stones were used at all, then a small undressed stone with the bare name of the deceased was permitted, and finally a normal but still very plain slab was considered correct. Here you will find all the old Quaker names, Pim, Goodbody, Malcolmson, and a tablet at the wall which records: Near this spot is buried William Edmundson, the first member of the Society of Friends who settled in Ireland. Died the 31st of 6th month, 1712 O.S. Aged nearly 85 years. a vague declaration which shows that in Edmundson's time the earliest form of unnamed stones was in -use, as we would expect. This pioneer held his first Quaker meeting in Ulster, in the town of Antrim, but he was not well received there and soon came south to Leix. Our host, Sam Pim, naturally takes a great interest in this burying ground, and he showed us some unusual trees which he has planted there and which seem to be thriving. Ailantltus glandulosa, the Tree of Heaven, fittingly grows at each side of the inner gate, and near by is that mysterious tree of Cretaceous times, the Chinese Maiden Hair, a most remarkable deciduous conifer known as Ginkgo biloba. Peace be with the good Friends in their sleeping. Midway between Rosenallis and Mountmellick, to the right of the road, is Summer Grove, a fine early eighteenth-century house built by the Huguenot, John Sabatier. Jonathan Pim, famous for his seven daughters who sat in a demure row at the Mountmellick Meeting, House, bought Summer Grove from Sabatier, and it has been in the hands of Pims and their relations ever since. As you enter the charming hall three doors face you, spaced beneath a fine single tympanum, and the balustrade of the stairway is notable for its three balusters to every tread. There is some delicious plasterwork on the ceilings, with flowers and birds in high relief, and the house is a good example of the quiet elegance of its marvellous period. Mountmellick-Móinteach Mílic, the Boggy Land of the Marsh-is pleasantly situated on the Owenass, is further connected with the Barrow by a branch of the Grand Canal, and was at one time the principal Quaker town, of Ireland. The industrious Friends brought peace and prosperity to this place, as was their wont, and initiative too, for beet-sugar was manufactured here a hundred years ago. The whitesmiths of Mountmellick were famous for their bits and stirrups, and Pims sent the travellers all over England to sellthese much-esteemed products of Irish craftsmanship; nor were the Quaker ladies unmindful of the industrial expansion, for their needlework and Mountmellick sugar-sticks were celebrated and found a ready market everywhere. As we have seen, the Society of Friends made its Irish start in Antrim without much success, but, working down through Cavan to Leix, the Friends prospered as farmers and then went into business as manufacturers and merchants. Their habits of industry and strict integrity stood them in fine stead, and their love of their fellow-men, regardless of creed, won them high esteem with the Irish people, an esteem which, with their charitable works during the dreadful times of the Famine, grew into a warm regard and affection. The Irish people are notorious for long memories, and you will never hear an Irishman speak any word about a Quaker that is not a good word and a kind word.