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Penelope's Irish Experiences-Part23_Kate Douglas Wiggin(1856-1923)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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Mr. Rose (after a pause). "It's your absentee landlords that have

done the mischief. I'd hang every one of them, if I had my way."



Mr. Shamrock. "Faith, they'd be absent thin, sure enough!"

And at this everybody laughs, and the trouble is over for a brief



space, much to the relief of Mrs. Shamrock, until her husband finds

himself, after a little, sufficiently calm to repeat a Cockney



anecdote, which is received by Mr. Rose in resentful silence, it

being merely a description of the common bat, an unfortunate animal



that, according to Mr. Shamrock, "'as no 'ole to 'ide in, no 'ands

to 'old by, no 'orns to 'urt with, though Nature 'as given 'im 'ooks



be'ind to 'itch 'imself up by."

The last two noteworthy personages in our party are a dapper



Frenchman, who is in business at Manchester, and a portly Londoner,

both of whom are seeing Ireland for the first time. The Frenchman



does not grumble at the weather, for he says that in Manchester it

rains twice a day all the year round, save during the winter, when



it commonly rains all day.

Sir James Paget, in an address on recreation, defined its chief



element to be surprise. If that is true, the portly Londoner must

be exhilarated beyond words. But with him the sensation does not



stop with surprise: it speedily becomes amazement, and then horror;

for he is of the comparative type, and therefore sees things done



and hears things said, on every hand, that are not said and done at

all in the same way in London. He sees people--ay, and policemen--



bicycling on footpaths and riding without lamps, and is horrified to

learn that they are seldom, if ever, prosecuted. He is shocked at



the cabins, and the rocks, and the beggar children, and the lack of

trees; at the lack of logic, also, and the lack of shoes; at the



prevalence of the brogue; above all, at the presence of the pig in

the parlour. He is outraged at the weather, and he minds getting



wet the more because he hates Irish whisky. He keeps a little

notebook, and he can hardly wait for dinner to be over, he is so



anxious to send a communication (probably signed 'Veritas') to the

London Times.



The multiplicity of rocks and the absence of trees are indeed the

two most striking features of the landscape; and yet Boate says, 'In



ancient times as long as the land was in full possession of the

Irish themselves, all Ireland was very full of woods on every side,



as evidently appeareth by the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis.' But

this was long ago,-



'Ere the emerald gem of the western world

Was set in the brow of a stranger.'



In the long wars with the English these forests were the favourite

refuge of the natives, and it was a common saying that the Irish



could never be tamed while the leaves were upon the trees. Then

passages were cut through the woods, and the policy of felling them,



as a military measure, was begun and carried forward on a gigantic

scale in Elizabeth's reign.



At one of the cabins along the road they were making great

preparations, which we understood from having seen the same thing in



Lisdara. There are wee villages and solitary cabins so far from

chapel that the priests establish 'stations' for confession" target="_blank" title="n.招供；认错；交待">confession. A



certain house is selected, and all the old, infirm, and feeble ones

come there to confess and hear Mass. The priest afterwards eats



breakfast with the family; and there is great pride in this

function, and great rivalry in the humble arrangements. Mrs.



Odevaine often lends a linen cloth and flowers to one of her

neighbours, she tells us; to another a knife and fork, or a silver



teapot; and so on. This cabin was at the foot of a long hill, and

the driver gave me permission to walk; so Francesca and I slipped



down, I with a parcel which chanced to have in it some small

purchases made at the last hotel. We asked if we might help a bit,



and give a little teapot of Belleek ware and a linen doily trimmed

with Irish lace. Both the articles were trumpery bits of souvenirs,






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