I have some doubts
whether this is the best way of convincing people of an opposite belief
of their errors. I went into the shop thinking I might perhaps buy a
newspaper. I fear me the mistress of the establishment, a timid, elderly
woman, imagined me to be a belligerent member of the attacked church
come to call her to account, for she retreated at a fast run to the
kitchen from which she called an answer in the negative to my enquiry.
Returning to my abiding place, I asked the hostess if the town contained
many Catholics. "Oh, dear no," she replied, "there are few Catholics.
The people are nearly all Protestants." In this neighborhood the
celebrated John George Adair, of Derryveigh celebrity, has a magnificent
residence called Belgrove Park. He has the name of being a very wealthy
man. He is not praised here, but has the reputation of being hard-
hearted, exacting and merciless. I doubted a little whether it was
really the same man, as they called him, irreverently enough, Jack
Adair, but to convince me they immediately began repeating the verses
with their burden of five hundred thousand curses on cruel John Adair,
which they could repeat readily with variations.
The railway facilities are very slow and conservative in their motions.
I could not get on to Limerick the same day, but had to remain over
night in Portarlington.
At Limerick Junction there was another wait of two hours, and at last we
steamed into Limerick. It is a large city of tall houses, large churches
and high monuments. The inhabitants say it was celebrated for its tall
houses five or six hundred years ago.
L.
THE CITY ON THE SHANNON.
The Shannon is a mighty river running here between low green banks. The
tide comes up to Limerick and rises sometimes to the top of the sea
wall. A fine flourishing busy town is Limerick with its shipping. I have
discovered the post-office, found out the magnificent Redemptorist
Church. Noticing this church and the swarm of other grand churches with
the same emblems and the five convents as well as other buildings for
different fraternities, noticing also the queer by-places where
dissenting places of worship are hidden away, one concludes that they
are in a Catholic city, and so they are. On Sunday found out a little
Presbyterian Church hid away behind some houses and joined its handful
of worshippers.
In the afternoon walked along the streets for some way and found myself
all at once in what is called the English part of the town, but which
looked more foreign than any place I have yet seen on my own green isle.
The houses were tall, and had been grand in King Donagh O'Brien's time,
I suppose.
