f the cloud.

Every leaf and twig is heavy with drops, and a dog that has passed
with a sad-eyed herd looked wet and draggled and afraid.

I remember lying in the heather one clear Sunday morning in the
early autumn when the bracken had just turned. All the people of the
district were at Mass in a chapel a few miles away, so the valleys
were empty, and there was nothing to be heard but the buzzing of a
few late bees and the autumn song of thrushes. The sky was covered
with white radiant clouds, with soft outlines, broken in a few
places by lines of blue sky of wonderful delicacy and clearness. In
a little while I heard a step on a path beneath me, and a tramp came
wandering round the bottom of the hill. There was a spring below
where I was lying, and when he reached it he looked round to see if
anyone was watching him. I was hidden by the ferns, so he knelt down
beside the water, where there was a pool among the stones, pulled
his shirt over his head, and began washing it in the spring. After a
little he seemed satisfied, and began wringing the water out of it;
then he put it on, dripping as it was, buttoned his old coat over
it, and wandered on towards the village, picking blackberries from
the hedge.

In West Kerry

AT Tralee station--I was on my way to a village many miles beyond
Dingle--I found a boy who carried my bag some way along the road to
an open yard, where the light railway starts for the west. There was
a confused mass of peasants struggling on the platform, with all
sort of baggage, which the people lifted into the train for
themselves as well as they were able. The seats ran up either side
of the cars, and the space between them was soon filled with sacks
of flour, cases of porter, chairs rolled in straw, and other
household goods. A drunken young man got in just before we started,
and sang songs for a few coppers, telling us that he had spent all
his money, and had nothing left to pay for his ticket. Then, when
the carriage was closely packed, we moved slowly out of the station.
At my side there was an old man who explained the Irish names of the
places that we came to, and pointed out the Seven Pigs, a group of
islands in the bay; Kerry Head, further off; and many distant
mountains. Beyond him a dozen big women in shawls were crowded
together; and just opposite me there was a young woman wearing a
wedding ring, who was one of the peculiarly refined women of Kerry,
with supreme charm in ev