im o' Cashel 'ud lave pitaties
an' bread where he'd see it an' so he lived. Fur sixty wan years was he on
the Rock an' never left it, but he'd sometimes show himself in the day
whin there was a berryin', an' say, 'Ye've brought me another frind,' an'
help in the work, an' never was there a graveyard kept like that o'
Cashel.

"When he got owld, an' where he cud look into the other worruld, Nora came
ivery night an' brought more wid her, sper'ts av kings an' bishops that
rest on Cashel, an' there's thim that's seen the owld man walkin' in
Cormac's Chapel, Nora holdin' him up an' him discoorsin' wid the mighty
dead. They found him wan day, cowld an' shtill, on Nora's grave, an' laid
him be her side, God rest his sowl, an' there he slapes to-day, God be
good to him.

[Illustration: "The Owld Man walkin' in Cormae's Chapel"]

"They said he was only a poor owld innocent, but all is aqualized, an'
thim that's despised sometimes have betther comp'ny among the angels than
that of mortials."

SATAN'S CLOVEN HOOF.

[Illustration: Initial: "Satan's Cloven Hoof"]

Among the beautiful traits of the Irish character, none is more prominent
than the religious element. Philosophers declare that the worshipping
principle is strong in proportion to the lack of happiness in the
circumstances of life, and at first glance there seems a degree of truth
in the statement; for the rich, enjoying their riches, are likely to be
contented and to look no further than this world; while the poor,
oppressed and ground to the earth by those whom they feel to be no better
than themselves, having that innate sense of justice common to all men,
and discerning the inequality of worldly lots, are not slow to place
implicit belief in the doctrine of a final judgment, at which all
inequalities will be righted, and both rich and poor will stand side by
side; the former gaining no advantage from his riches, the latter being at
no disadvantage from his poverty.

There is, however, good reason to believe that in the days of Ireland's
greatness there was the same strength of devotion as at present. Ireland
is so full of ruined churches and ecclesiastical buildings as to give
color of truth to the statement of a recent traveller, "it is a country of
ruins." Rarely is the traveller out of sight of the still standing walls
of a long deserted church, and not infrequently the churches are found in
groups. The barony of Forth, in Wex