shees. The
lady's ailment developed into pleurisy, and she died in a few days, the
chorus being again heard in a sweet, plaintive requiem as the spirit was
leaving her body. The honor of being warned by more than one Banshee is,
however, very great, and comes only to the purest of the pure.

The "hateful Banshee" is much dreaded by members of a family against which
she has enmity. A noble Irish family, whose name is still familiar in
Mayo, is attended by a Banshee of this description. This Banshee is the
spirit of a young girl deceived and afterwards murdered by a former head
of the family. With her dying breath she cursed her murderer, and promised
she would attend him and his forever. Many years passed, the chieftain
reformed his ways, and his youthful crime was almost forgotten even by
himself, when, one night, he and his family were seated by the fire, and
suddenly the most horrid shrieks were heard outside the castle walls. All
ran out, but saw nothing. During the night the screams continued as though
the castle were besieged by demons, and the unhappy man recognized, in the
cry of the Banshee, the voice of the young girl he had murdered. The next
night he was assassinated by one of his followers, when again the wild,
unearthly screams of the spirit were heard, exulting over his fate. Since
that night, the "hateful Banshee" has never failed to notify the family,
with shrill cries of revengeful gladness, when the time of one of their
number had arrived.

[Illustration: The "Friendly Banshee"]

Banshees are not often seen, but those that have made themselves visible
differ as much in personal appearance as in the character of their cries.
The "friendly Banshee" is a young and beautiful female spirit, with pale
face, regular, well-formed features, hair sometimes coal-black, sometimes
golden; eyes blue, brown, or black. Her long, white drapery falls below
her feet as she floats in the air, chanting her weird warning, lifting her
hands as if in pitying tenderness bestowing a benediction on the soul she
summons to the invisible world. The "hateful Banshee" is a horrible hag,
with angry, distorted features; maledictions are written in every line of
her wrinkled face, and her outstretched arms call down curses on the
doomed member of the hated race. Though generally the only intimation of
the presence of the Banshee is her cry, a notable instance of the contrary
exists in the family of the O'Reardons, to