The Letters of "Norah" on Her Tour Through IrelandNorah
History
The Letters of "Norah" on Her Tour Through Ireland
Norah
Ireland -- Description and travel
At one of the first way stations, where is the little clapboarded
waiting-room, two policemen entered our compartment with a prisoner.
Whether he was a suspect or was charged with a specific crime we did not
learn, but surely such a poor scare-crow never was arrested before. He
was black with dirt, as if he had been taken out of the bog, or from a
coal-pit. His clothes were thin and ragged, and he had such a fierce,
desperate look. The policemen fraternized with their fellow-passengers
and chatted merrily. The prisoner listened to their talk with a kind of
dumb fierceness, shaking his head from side to side as I have seen an
angry horse do. It was very chilly, and he was so miserably clad that he
shivered, though he tried not to do so.
The way was long by train, and he might have marched for many a weary
mile before he got on the train. He lay down on the seat and tried to
sleep but could not, so he started up and resumed the wild glancing from
side to side and the fierce head shakes. I began to think he might be
very hungry, and if he was, he was not likely to get anything in gaol
till morning. I had some biscuits and cheese in my satchel, and they
began to struggle to get out, and at last I consented and handed the
little parcel silently to the prisoner. He did not thank me, except by
falling to and eating like a famished creature.
Arrived at Cork, the police took him away on a car, and the last glimpse
I got of him he was eating as if he had not eaten before for a week.
I was very thankful when Sabbath morning found me in Cork again and with
power to rest. There is not much appearance of Sabbath in the streets of
Cork; it looks like a vast crowd keeping holiday. A great many shops are
open; the stall women are in their places and seem to drive a good
trade. I even heard a woman crying her wares as on any other day. I do
not think that a little more Sabbath would hurt this fair town in the
very least. I rested this day.
In the evening I had the pleasure of hearing "the bells of Shandon"
ringing the people in to worship in the old Shandon Church. I heard them
while walking by "the pleasant waters of the river Lee." I followed
their chime and enjoyed it, sweetly solemn and grand it was, and thought
of Father Prout who has made them so famous, and finally found myself at
Shandon church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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