urageous conduct he has been worthily emulated by his successor,
Coffey, whose demise occurred only in the present year.

Kerry possesses one bishop, fifty-one parish priests and administrators,
sixty-nine curates, and eleven priests occupied in tuition.

There are six religious houses for males, and seventeen convents,
representing about five hundred inhabitants, as well as three hundred
students, which, with the occupants of subsidiary sacerdotal
establishments, is estimated to make up 1265 persons.

In 1871, when the population of Kerry was 196,586, there were 337
priests and nuns. In 1901, when the population had become reduced to
165,726, the priests and nuns had increased to 546.

And these statistics bring me to a salient point:--

The one reality above all others in Irish life is the grip of the
Church.

In the last book which I have received from the library--_Paddy-Risky_
by Mr. Andrew Merry--one of the stories is that of a poor widow
beggaring herself in order to provide the parish chapel with a bell, and
that is the kind of thing you hear of everywhere.

The Roman Catholic Church presides over every function in the life of
each member of its community, and the priest charges heavily for
administering the rites.

At a wedding he does not take a prescribed fee, but makes a bargain,
usually with the family of the bride. I have known as much as
twenty-five pounds paid to a priest at a small farmer's marriage; and
the sum obtained is very often out of all proportion to the dowry of the
bride, or even to the funds of the happy pair.

An example may be cited--the case of a labourer in my own employ, who
received forty pounds as his wife's fortune, and had to pay eight to the
parish priest.

It is the same thing with funerals, over which a ridiculous amount is
still spent, although the wake is falling into disrepute under the ban
of the Church, and women are now rarely hired to 'keen.' There is a
craze to have a number of priests attending the service, and a good many
of them do go, very well pleased, as to a picnic.

In parishes where the poverty is something appalling the members of the
congregation not only contribute Peter's Pence, but you cannot go into
the chapel without seeing some tiny candles lighted before the altar of
Mary, which must literally represent the scriptural mites of the widow
and orphan.

Before I relapse into a few stories, let me say something about the
Protestant clergy.

T