s speedily
answered, for no sooner was the water turned into the newly-made pond,
than an overflow resulted; the valley was filled; the waves climbed the
walls of the castle, nor ceased to rise till they had swept the chief from
the highest tower, where "he was down an his hard-hearted knees, sayin'
his baids as fast as he cud, an' bawlin' at all the saints aither to bring
him a boat or taiche him how to swim quick." Regard for the unfortunate
tenants, however, prevented any interference by the saints thus vigorously
and practically supplicated, so the chief was drowned and went, as the
story-teller concluded, to a locality where he "naded more wather than
he'd left behind him, an' had the comp'ny av a shwarm av other landlords
that turned out the poor to shtarve."

Lough Gara, in Sligo, flows over a once thriving little town, the City of
Peace, destroyed by an overflow on account of the lack of charity for
strangers. A poor widow entered it one night leading a child on each side
and carrying a baby at her breast. She asked alms and shelter, but in
vain; from door to door she went, but the customary Irish hospitality, so
abundant alike to the deserving and to the unworthy, was lacking. At the
end of the village "she begun to scraich, yer Anner, wid that shtrength
you'd think she'd shplit her troat." At this provocation, all the
inhabitants at once ran to ascertain the reason of so unusual a noise,
upon which, when they were gathered 'round her, the woman pronounced the
curse of the widow and orphan on the people and their town. They laughed
at her and returned home, but that night, the brook running through the
village became a torrent, the outlet was closed, the waters rose, and
"ivery wan o' them oncharitable blaggards wor drownded, while they wor
aslape. Bad cess to the lie that's in it, for, sure, there's the lake to
this blessed day."

[Illustration: Lough Conn]

In County Antrim there lies Lough Neag, one of the largest and most
beautiful bodies of water on the island. The waters of the lake are
transparently blue, and even small pebbles on the bottom can be seen at a
considerable depth. Near the southern end, a survey of the bottom
discloses hewn stones laid in order, and careful observations have traced
the regular walls of a structure of considerable dimensions. Tradition
says it was a castle, surrounded by the usual village, and accounts for
its destruction by the lake on this wise. I