riable rule indeed exists
throughout Ireland, which is that every parish priest is bound to offer
the Holy Sacrifice, _pro populo_, for the whole people, without fee or
reward, on all Sundays and Holy Days, making in all some eighty-seven
times a year.

In the diocese of Raphoe, to which Burtonport belongs, there are four
recognised methods by which the revenues of the priests are raised. The
first is an annual fixed stipend of four shillings for each household or
family. "Sometimes," said Father Walker, "but rarely, the better-off
families give more than this; and not unfrequently the poorer families
fail to give anything under this head." The second is a fixed stipend of
one pound upon the occasion of a marriage. "Sometimes, but not often,
this sum is exceeded by generous and prosperous parishioners." The third
is a standard stipend of two shillings for a baptism. "This also
suffers, but on rare occasions," said the good priest, "a favourable
exception. I mention the exceptions as well as the rules," said the good
Father, "in order to make grateful allusion to the donors."

The fourth and last consists of the offerings at interments. "These vary
very much indeed, but they constitute an important, and, I may say, a
necessary item in the incomes of the clergy."

Besides these four forms of stipend, the priests derive a revenue from
"those who ask them to offer the Holy Sacrifice 'for their special
intention.'" In such cases it is customary to offer a sum, usually of
two shillings, but sometimes of half-a-crown, which is intended both as
a remuneration for the priest, and to cover the cost of altar
requisites.

Father Walker estimates the families in his own parish in round numbers
at about thirteen hundred, and in Gweedore and Falcarragh at about nine
hundred each. We had some conversation about the great fisheries, which
one would think ought to exist, but do not exist, on this coast, such
fishing as is done here by the natives being on a very limited scale.
Father Walker tells me that formerly L80,000 worth of herring were taken
on this coast, though he is not sure that Donegal fishermen took them.
But of late years he thinks the herring have deserted these waters. He
admits, however, that the people have no liking for the sea. "Going over
once," he said, "to Arranmore from the mainland in a boat with a priest
of the country, the water was a little rough, and the poor man nearly
pinched a piece out of my arm holdi