Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1890 — THE CONNEMARA GIRL. [ARTICLE]

THE CONNEMARA GIRL.

I®** Dtvh*. Her Food, Her Okarnu, a yM Her One Dream of Life. The Connemara girl! She weigkß about 180 pounds. She woars a woof en peticoat woven by herself, an | over her head and serving the put* poses of both shawl and hood is a whit* peticoat, held in place by her loft ban<| under her ohin. The red-pettiooa* reaches only half-way down her calves* The stride of this child ofthe bog is Amae ronian, yet very graceful. Her day* are spent in carrying seaweed manure, turf for the fire, and watei* for the illicit still. Sometimes shtn carries the turf a distance of two miles on her baok in a wicker basket. Her load generally weighs about 100 pounds. Her stockings have no soles, and she is too poor to buy shoes. Hut she wears the legs of heavy stockings to proteot her oalves, when the edge of her heavy petticoat, wet with so* water, slaps against them. Her hands resemble a pleoe of tanned leather, they are so hardened by tolL The brown oow that browses in the bog is no more innocent than thin maid of the orag and bog land. Such a wealth of color, suoh satin skin and such vigorous health are not soon in America. In the evening, after this maiden has worked like a donkey, she goes home and eats a supper of .potatoes (boiled potatoes) nothing else. Her father or mother may drink a cup of tea, but that luxury is denied to the girl. The tea costs too much When the potatoe skins have been fed to the pig the Connemara girl heaps on the turf, for there is plenty of it there, and nods herself to sleep in the chimney nook. Or, it may be, if there are visitors or neighbors in the house, she will lilt or hum for them to danoe by on the hearthstone. This lilt is one of the quaintest things heard in Ireland. The sounds resembla closely those of an Irish pipe. They are produced by the vocal organs in •onjunction with the tongue. The tune is usually very rapid, and the lilter catches her breath frequently. And what do you suppose the Connemara girl’s dream by night and by day IsP *Tls that she may gather 120 together so that she can go to America, the land of catarrh and pneumonta; of Indoor work, where she will lose her satiny Bkln and splendid vigor; where her eyes will ache for a sight of the Tweve Pins of Connemara; where—but, pshaw! she’ll cross the «ee when she gets hor passage money.