THE GWEEDORE CATASTROPHE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 392, 15 October 1880, Page 9

THE GWEEDORE CATASTROPHE.

The following appeared in a recent number of the Times :—: — Sir, — There comes to-day the sad news that on Sunday last, in a wild and romantic glen in Donegal, a mountain flood, bursting into the Catholic chapel during Divine Service, submerged the crowded building, several of the worshippers being swept away and drowned. I know the place well ; and the singular circumstances and the curious history ot the little church thus destroyed, while they explain the tra?edy which has just occurred, afford us an illustrative glimpse of Ireland a hundred yeare ago. Between the pass of Dunlewy and the sea, about two miles from Lord George Hill's pretty rustic hotel at Gweedore, the traveller reaches the hamlet of Derrybeg. Half a mile or more " up the glen" stands, or stood, the chapel in question. Even when told I was within a few perches of the edifice, I looked for it in vain on my first visit to the spot some years ago. After a while I noticed, rising, as it seemed in a brake of heather, a stone cross. Drawing nearer, I saw that the cross stood on the pointed gable of a building, the roof of which was below the level of the land around. I found myself on the brink of a wild ravine, at the narrow bottom of which a noisy mountain river brawled and danced its way from lake to sea. Down below, built across or upon the stream was the "chapel " of Derryberg. Its walls on either hand almost touched the side of the rocky fissure, on which wild evergreens and dwarf oak clustered beautifully. I descended, and found as neat and as impressive a little church as ever I entered, albeit everything was simplicity itself. All was well ordered ; and scrupulous cleanliness and devotional care were observable in the most minute arrangements. Far remote as it was from the noisy world, I noted that even here the village blacksmith could bear his daughter's voice "singing in the village choir," for the hymn books and even the harmonium were at hand ; while the river outside, and beneath the floor •where I stood supplied a never-ending " thorough bass." Of course, I asked why so singular a spot had been chosen as the site of the building. "It was not all choice," replied my companion, the pastor of the district ; " not an inch of ground would the neighbouring lords of the soil give us on which to erect a roof ; we are here by proscription ; " and then he told me the story. For nearly 200 years, or ever since the early part of the reign of Anne, this ravine was the secret place of worship for the Catholic peasantry of the neighbouring glens. Sentries were posted on the edge of the cliffs above, while, on either brink of the river below, the mountaineers knelt — a ledge on the rocks, still pointed out, sufficing as an altar. Indeed, the place afforded unusual advantages or facilities for such proscribed devotions, so easily could several hundreds of worshippers be secreted there. About 100 years ago the sentries happily were dispensed with, and a little wooden box was fixed on the natural altar ledge, so that the candles were not blown out by the wind. Laier on, a permanent wooden hut, open at the end facing down the river, was put up, within which the officiating priest and his attendant had room to stand or kneel. There are old men living near Dunlewy, I believe, who remember this hut — the river gorge, with the sky for a canopy, being the only church or chapel where the people prayed, under summer sun and winter rain, till a comparatively recent period. lam not astonished that, independently of the refusal of landlords to give a site for " a Popish chapel," this spot, hallowed by such memories and associations, should have been clung to by the people. So, thirty or forty years ago, they, by volunteer labour, blasted away the bottom rocks, bridged over the stream, and built their '• new chapel " in the cleft of the ravine I have described. I would ask you, sir, for kind permission to add a word or two about the poor people on whom the calamity of last Sunday has fallen— the congregation of worshippers in that little church. It is my belief that there does not breathe within our islands a rustic community more nearly approaching in simplicity of manners and purity of lives the picture Longfellow has drawn for us of life in the village of Grand Pre. Though privations have tried them sorely during the past year, they have contributed naught to the records* of disorder or crime. Death, swift and terrible, has now filled with wailing and grief their humble homes — these homes where, as I well know, a wayfarer ever found a smiling welcome, and wherein '• a stranger was a sacred name." Their good friend and benefactor, Mr. William A. Ross, of Dunlewy Castle, is now away in Egypt and may not hear of this tragedy for weeks to come. In his absence I shall be glad to receive and forward to the clergyman of the district, or to the Most Rev. Dr. Logue, the estimable Bishop of Raphoe, any help which kindly and sympathetic hearts on this side of the Channel may feel disposed to contribute. lam aware, sir, that it is not lightly you permit any such appeal to the readers of the Times, and I can only hope that you may perceive in the circumstances of the case some ground for extending the privilege on the present occasion. — Yours very truly, A. M. Sullivan. House of Commons, August 17. So prompt a response was made to this appeal ihat Mr. Sullivan was able to transmit £100 the next day to Rev. James M'Fadden, the P.P. of Gweedore. Among the contributors were several members of the Government, and many other members of Parliament. The following telegram, dated Deny, Thursday, appeared in the Freeman of Friday week :—: — It appears that, in addition to the five deaths already recorded in connection with the above disaster, as many as 100 persons were injured. The same storm destroyed an extensive area of crops. The river inundated the country on both sides, destroying corn and potatoes, and filling up many houses, which have been since untenable. It is feared that the foundations of the chapel are injured.

Two women have started a barber shop in Washington. We saw one woman start a barber shop once. She came in with a cow-hide in her hand and said she was going to horsewhip the man who had been talking about her ; and eight men with towels under their chins and lather on their faces hustled out of their chairs and started for the back door on a run.