"WHEN THEY ARE YOUNG THEY ARE SUPPLE AS A LARCH" The knitting of woolen garments has long been a household art in Donegal, and at Ardara, the home of this colleen, the Irish Industries Association fosters weaving and knitting in the cottages. Many of Susan McNelis' sweaters and golf hose find a market in the United States. The powerful talisman which, when kissed, bestows the gift of pleasant "deluderin'" speech, is set in the parapet of the keep, above the top window. Though the feat is difficult of accomplishment (see illustration, page 287), it is worthwhile, as is attested by many visitors with the proud title of "pilgrim from the Blarney Stone." "TO ME IRELAND ALWAYS IS THE THATCHED COTTAGE ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE" The Irish best express their love of flowers in small gardens, where a profusion of blooms presents a mass of color against a background of thatched roof and whitewashed wall, sometimes tinted blue or brown. Erin's mild, moist climate produces the island's noted emerald green of leaf and grass-blade (see, also, Color Plates II and III). The peasant builds his hay and grain into symmetrical stacks, and to shed the winter rain he covers them with coarse grass from the bog. The farm cart's wheels and shafts are almost invariably painted red. "OUR PASSPORT IS THAT WE LOVED OUR COUNTRY" A daughter of Erin, at the left, stands beside the window box which brightens her cottage home (see, also, Color Plates VII and X). At the right two Belfast girls stop to mail a letter at a red "pillar box" of the Royal Mail. In Northern Ireland these boxes bear the monogram of the British monarch. The Saorstát Éireann (Irish Free State) uses the same type of box, painted green and labeled in yellow An Puist by the Free State Post Office. |