Part 32 (1/2)

I heard the click of a typewriter, as I went up the walk to the rectory, that evening, to spend a few hours with Canon Hannay, and it must be only by improving every minute that he gets through the immense amount of work he manages to accomplish. He had just arranged for an American lecture tour in the following October, and both he and his wife were pleasantly excited at the prospect of encountering American sleeping-cars and soft-sh.e.l.led crabs and corn on the cob, and other such novelties, some of which they had heard were very dreadful. I rea.s.sured them as well as I could; and then we talked awhile about George Moore's inimitable reminiscences, and Canon Hannay's own books; but the gist of the evening was the discussion of Ireland and Irish problems which occupied the greater part of it. It was very late indeed when I arose to say good-night.

CHAPTER XXII

THE TRIALS OF A CONDUCTOR

WE took a last look about the town, next morning, not forgetting the Glendining monument, which has the fascination supreme ugliness sometimes possesses; and then we walked on down to the station, where a loquacious old woman accosted Betty with a tale of woe which culminated in an appeal for aid; and it was suddenly borne in on me that not once in the whole of Connaught had we encountered a beggar. Not even a child had held out its hand or indicated in any way that it desired or expected alms. And I do not know that I can pay any greater compliment to the people of that distressful province than by setting down this fact. We were in Mayo now--and Mayo is different!

The first town out of Westport is Castlebar, which, as Murray puts it, ”has all the buildings usual in a county town, viz. Asylum, Gaol, Court-house and Barracks,” and they can be seen looming up above the other buildings as the train pa.s.ses, some half mile away. Beyond Castlebar, the line crosses the so-called plains of Mayo, a vast expanse of naked limestone rock, very ugly and sinister; and then to the left is a village dominated by a round tower; and finally we came to Claremorris, where we were to change cars.

Claremorris, no doubt, also has an asylum, a jail, a court-house and a barracks; but we didn't go out to see, for n.o.body seemed to know just when our train might be expected, and we were afraid to run any risks.

So we sat down on the platform, and Betty fell into talk with a clean, nice-looking old man, who was carefully gathering up all the dodgers and posters and old newspapers that were lying around, and folding them up and putting them in his pocket, I suppose to read at leisure after he got home. And he told about where he lived, and how many children he had, and described the disposition of each of them; and then he questioned Betty about her condition in life, and age, and size of family, and all the time he was looking intently at her mouth.

”Tell me, miss,” he said, at last, ”is them your own teeth you've got?”

”Indeed they are,” laughed Betty, and clashed them to prove it.

”I would hardly believe it,” he went on, and looked closer. ”I niver saw any like them.”

”They're strong as iron,” and Betty clashed them again.

”And white as snow. I wish my daughter was here, for she will not believe me when I tell her.”

Good teeth, as I have remarked before, are the exception in Ireland; and most of those that appear good at first glance, turn out, at second glance, to be fabrications of the dentist. Perhaps it has always been so. Irish poets are fond of dwelling on the glories of Irish hair, and it is still glorious; they tell over and over again of the brightness of Irish eyes, and they are still bright; they describe how many times the beauty of Irish complexions, and there is none to match them anywhere else in the world; but I do not remember that any of them refer to Irish teeth. It is a pity, for many a pretty face is ruined by the ugly teeth a smile discloses.

We got away from Claremorris, finally, after narrowly escaping being carried back to Westport, and proceeded northward over a new line which has been built across the plains of County Mayo. There were few pa.s.sengers, and we had a compartment to ourselves, except for two priests who rode with us for a short distance, and who wanted to know all about President Wilson, of whom they had heard many splendid things.

Just where we crossed into County Sligo I don't know; but we were in it at Collooney, a village more prosperous than most, with a number of mills; and then we came to Ballysadare, where there are some famous salmon fisheries.

As we ran on past Ballysadare, a hill like a truncated cone loomed up on the left, and in the centre of the level top was something that looked like a huge b.u.mp, and as we drew nearer, we saw that it was a great cairn of loose stones piled on top of each other. The hill was Knocknarea, and the cairn, which is six hundred feet around and thirty-five feet high, is said to have been piled over the body of Meave, Queen of Connaught, by her tribesmen, in the first century after Christ. Meave was killed while bathing in Lough Ree by Conal Carnach, who, angry at her share in the death of the mighty Cuchulain, put a stone into a sling and cast it at her with such sure aim that he inflicted a mortal wound. There is some dispute as to whether she was really borne to the top of Knocknarea for burial; but the cairn is called ”Miscan Meave,” or ”Meave's Heap,” and if it does not actually cover her body, it probably commemorates her death. She lived so long ago that her name has pa.s.sed into folk-lore--in England as Queen Mab.

Knocknarea, with its strange shape, dominates the whole landscape, and is in sight all the way to Sligo, for the train describes a half-circle around it. Sligo itself is a considerable town, with more bustle about its streets than is usual in western Ireland, and the proprietor of its princ.i.p.al hotel is a canny individual who follows the precept, once so popular with American railroads, of charging all the traffic will bear.

When I asked the price of a double room, he looked me over, and then he said ten s.h.i.+llings the night.

”Ten s.h.i.+llings a night!” I echoed, in some surprise, for I had not expected to encounter rates so metropolitan on the west coast of Ireland; and then I asked to see the room, thinking it might be something palatial. But it was quite an ordinary room; clean and airy and comfortable enough; but I judged the usual charge for it was about five s.h.i.+llings. There are few things I detest more than being overcharged. ”Come along,” I said to Betty. ”There's another hotel in this town; we'll have a look at it.”

The proprietor was waiting nervously in the lobby.

”What's the matter?” he asked, as we came down. ”Isn't the room all right?”

”Oh, it's right enough,” I said; ”but I'm not going to pay two prices for it.”

”But this is the best hotel in Sligo,” he protested. ”There's an American millionaire and his wife staying here right now.”

”Well, I'm not a millionaire,” I said; ”and even if I were, I wouldn't pay ten s.h.i.+llings for that room,” and I started to walk out, for I didn't want to argue about it.

But he followed me to the door.