A Child of the Glens

A Child of the Glens, by Edward
Newenham Hoare

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Title: A Child of the Glens or, Elsie's Fortune
Author: Edward Newenham Hoare
Release Date: May 25, 2007 [EBook #21612]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: THE CLERGYMAN'S VISIT TO TOR BAY.]

A CHILD OF THE GLENS;

OR,
Elsie's Fortunes.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF
GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY
THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE

LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN
KNOWLEDGE SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORIES: 77, GREAT
QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS; 4, ROYAL
EXCHANGE; 48, PICCADILLY; AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.
NEW YORK: POTT, YOUNG & CO.
1875

Illustrations
The clergyman's visit to Tor Bay . . . . . . Frontispiece
A strange waif of the sea
Jim building castles-in-the-air.

A CHILD OF THE GLENS;
or,
Elsie's Fortunes.
CHAPTER I.

Doubtless some of our readers are acquainted with the noble "coast
road" that skirts round the north-eastern corner of Ireland, extending, it
might almost be said, from Belfast to Londonderry. The characteristic
features of this noble esplanade (for such it is) are chiefly to be seen
between the little town of Larne, where the railway ends, and
Cushendall. Throughout this drive of forty miles you are never out of
sight or sound of the sea. The almost level road is seen far ahead of the
traveller, like a white boundary line between cliff and wave. You
wonder at first if the road was made merely to gladden the tourist, for it
does not seem likely that there could be much traffic other than that of
pleasure-seekers thus along the margin of the sea. The configuration of
this part of the County Antrim, however, explains the position of the
road, and justifies the engineer who was so happily enabled to combine
the utilitarian with the romantic. A series of deep cut gorges, locally
known as "The Glens," intersect the country, running at right angles to
the coast-line and thus forming a succession of gigantic ridges, over
which it would be impossible to drive a road. For this reason it has
been found necessary to wind round the mouths of these romantic
valleys, which are guarded and shut off from each other by a number of
formidable and noble headlands, foremost among which ranks the
beautiful Garron Point. Thus a succession of surprises await the tourist.
Having fairly made your way between the foot of the towering cliff and
the inflowing tide, with no prospect in front but huge and
grotesque-shaped rocks, which look bent on opposing all further
advance, you suddenly find that you have doubled the point. A blue bay
opens before you, shut in at its farther side by the next promontory, at
the base of which you can distinctly trace the white streak of dusty road,
that sweeps round the bay in a graceful semicircle. To your left--or
while you are speaking, almost directly ahead--is the wide opening of
one of the "Glens"--sweet, retired abodes of peace, sheltered and happy
as they look out forever on the sea. The barren and rocky highlands,
terminated by the wild bluffs that so courageously plunge themselves
into the waves, become gradually softened and verdure-clad as they
slope downward, while the narrow valley itself is studded with trees
and pretty homesteads.
The people of "The Glens" are peculiar, primitive, and distinct. In these

shut-in retreats the ancient Irish and Roman Catholic element largely
prevails. When, in consequence of frequent rebellions, the original
inhabitants were well-nigh exterminated, and their places taken by
Scotch and English settlers, the natives found a refuge in the wilder and
more remote parts of the country. Thus, here and there in
Ulster--generally known as "Protestant Ulster"--we come upon little
nooks and nests where for two centuries the primitive Irish race has
survived. Naturally, living in the presence of their more pushing and
prosperous Presbyterian neighbours, these last representatives of a
conquered nationality are for the most part of a retiring and suspicious
disposition. In quiet country places there is seldom any manifestation
of open hostility, and intermarriages and neighbourly feeling have done
much to smooth away the edge of bitter memories, but at bottom there
remains a radical difference of sentiment, as of creed, which constitutes
an impassable, though for the most invisible, barrier.
Michael McAravey was a good specimen of the