April 1918

Seagoe (parish /Ifoagasíne.
A P R IL , 1918. ________

THE E A S T E R V E S T R Y .
The Annual Easter Vestry was held in Seagoe

8chool on Thursday, April 4 th, a t 8 p.m. The
Rev. T. H. Scanlon, presided.

The m inutes of the last E aster Vestry were read
by the Hon. Secretary, Mr. W. R. Atkinson.

The following Elections were- then m ade—
Parochial Nominators,— Lieut.-Colonel Blacker,

D.S.O. ; Messrs. Wolsey R. Atkinson, Thomas E .
Maginnis.

Diocesan Synodsmen—Lieut.-Col. Blacker. D.S.O. ;
Messrs. D. W. Murray, Jam es Twinem.

Churchwardens—Mr. J. H . Stevenson (Rector’s) ;
Mr. J . G. Gracey (People’s.)

Select Vestry—Lt.-Col. Blacker, D.S.O. ; Messrs
W . R. Atkinson, Andrew Costello, Joseph Monroe,
David W. Murray, T. Martin, T. E . Maginnis, John
Montgomery, R. Price, Thomas R. Reid. J . Sands,
J: Twinem.

Sidesmen—Messrs. D. W. Murray, C. Montgomery,
Wm. J . Caddell, G. Price, J. Twinem, D. Rock, W.
J . Cox, W. McClements.

Olebe Wardens- -L t.-Col. Blacker, D.S.O. ; Mr, W.
R. Atkinson.

S o n . See. and Treasurer— Mr. W. R. Atkinson.

C a p t. Jm J • D o bso n In P a le s tin e .
[The Rector has received the following letter from

Captain Dobson.]
16/1/18.

In sending you the enclosed photo of the graves at
Tel-el-Keber as promised, I think it would be very
nice for your Magazine. I saw those graves myself.
I took off my cap and bowed m y head to those
m ighty Em pire builders, who, indeed did so m uch
for their country under most trying circumstances.
I am on my way to Palestine again. At the moment
I ’m stopping at the house of Mustafa Pasha. I think
Mustafa means Lord, and Bey or Bay is equal to our
Sir. I like Alexandria very much. There is one of
the finest sporting clubs I ever saw quite close to the
Town. About 50 Tennis Courts, and a 9-hole Golf
course, and a race course as well. Some people think
it a great weakness th a t there is not a good theatre in
the town, but there is a fine yacht club, which is
availed of to a great extent, as the sea is most
magnificent for sailing in the summer season. The
weather in Palestine has been dreadfully wet and
cold for some time past. Down here it was quite nice,
cold at night, but during the day nothing to worry
about.

Kind regards to all the friends.
Yours very faithfully,

J . J . D o b s o n .

A F re n c h L a n d s c a p e .
Living in France one sees many things quite un­

familiar to Irish eyes. Our men at the front,though
naturally chiefly occupied with m ilitary affairs, are
also necessarily brought into touch with habits and
modes of life largely different from those existing in
our own country. In the first place

THE FRENCH LANDSCAPE,
especially in Northern France, presents features
which render it quite distinct from our Irish scenery.
Possibly the country is level or only slightly undul­
ating, and one can take long views such as is seen
for example in Millet’s famous picture of “ The
Angelus,” familiar in many of our homes. And
there is the great contrast between sky and field, the
colour of the sky being so much deeper and clearer,
and the grey-green of the fields being thrown by the
bright skies into bold relief. B ut to come down
more into detail, let us try if we can discover the
particular characteristics which give distinctness to
the French landscape. Let us look at

A FRENCH FARMHOUSE.
The roof has a very high pitch. The writer of

this note asked a French farmer lately why he built
his roof at such a steep pitch. His answer was “ le vent”
(the wind.) Very strong winds blow across Northern
France at all seasons of the ye*r, and if the roofs of
the houses were as flat as in our land they would soon
be lifted off, and the poor farmer would be roofless.
Then again the houses are not slated, they are
covered with bright orange-red earthenware tiles, the
reason being that slates are scarce, but tile-clay is
plentiful. The red-roofs are a very distinctive
feature in every landscape. Again the French
Farm er doesn't whitewash his house, or rather as an
Irishm an m ight say—“he whitewashes it with yellow
whitewash,” At least there is always some colour
in the wash which he uses. One notices too th a t
the windows are very different from ours. The
shutters (usually painted a chocolate brown, or red
or blue) are outside the window fastened against the
wall. The windows too instead of opening up and
down like ours open in the middle like a pair of doors.
This is of course to give more air in the hot days of a
French summer. There are also always more blinds and
lace curtains about a French window to keep oat the
sun and let in the air. In summer time during the
hottest hours the outer shutters are closed over and
the inner glass windows are opened thereby ensuring
a pleasant shade in the rooms. The chimneys are
narrower and slightly higher than ours, and have
often at the top a small brick arch to prevent a blow
down. The Estam inets or Country Inns have,
almost all, some special name. One quite near to
where I write this, has the pretty name over the
door “A Fleurs de Champs,” (To the flowers of the
field.) Another in the neighbourhood has quite a long
sentence over the door, “ Where shall we go ? L et’s



SEAGOE PARISH MAGAZINE.
go to------------ ’s In n .” One often sees now-a-
days cards in English, in windows, « Coffee, Tea,
Fish, and Chips, Eggs,” in places frequented by our
soldiers. The writer saw recently a notice“ Waching (washing) for Soldiers.”

THE HOUSES ARE VERY COMFORTABLE
inside. There are generally a great many pictures
on the walls- There is no open fireplace, but every
house is heated by a pretty little stove which comes
out well into the room, and is kept very clean, with
the burnished metal parts scrupulously bright.
Linens, Curtains, Towels, and other washable things
are as a rule, kept very clean and white. The French
housewife seems always to be washing and scrubbing.
A great deal of this washing is done outside, usually
by the side of some neighbouring stream or canal.

The French Farm er is a very industrious man.
He goes out on his land at daybreak. If he is
ploughing he takes out with him his splendid horse.
On every farm of any size the horse is of the heavy
Flemish breed, very strong, well-fed, and in fine con­
dition. He is very responsive to his master’s voice,
and understands French as well or better than our
horses understand English. The word which he
uses to urge on his steed is a kind of ventriloquial
“ Yeo,” The French plough is a very ingenious im ­
plement, I t has two separate blades, one above the
other. Only one is used at a time. When the plough comes to the end of a furrow

THE FARMER PULLS A LEVER,
which brings the upper blade down, and the one he
has just used comes on top. He then proceeds to
plough a furrow beside the one previously ploughed.
This makes the work simpler, and avoids the waste
of time and effort in m aking the wide turning move­
m ent in our ploughing. The harrows have neat
wheeled carriages on which they are brought to where
they are needed. Rollers are very wide, usually con­
taining 5 separate cylinders side by side, They are
controlled by an iron lever at each end joined by a
crossbar. The French spade is interesting. I t has
a very short haft split at the top to form a handle.
The blade of the spade is very broad, but thin, yet
strong, and more pressure seems to be exerted by the
hand than by the foot in driving it into the ground.
Much use is made by the small farmer of a kind of
hoe, with a broad blade set at right angles to the haft
with which he, for example, draws earth over the
potatoes sown in ridges or furrows. The farm er’s
cart is very large, set on enormous wheels, sometimes
four in number, sometimes three, sometimes two,

THE TH R EE -W H EE LE D CART
or waggon has a small wheel in front and two large
ones behind. A very profitable crop is what is known
as Chicory Beet, used in the manufacture of sugar.
Brussels Sprouts are a favourite garden crop,
Potates, Corn, Barley, and Rye are also widely sown.
Just now (April 1st) the farmers are putting in their
potatoes. The corn is already about three inches
above ground. Manures, natural and artificial are
m uch used. All land seems to be carefully manured.

Rotting grains fermented and kept closely covered
during winter are also used as manure. Nothing is
wasted. Attached to every farmhouse is a neatly kept

FBUIT ANn J etable g a r d e n.I have not seen any box borders, usually a line of
bricks or tiles, borders the beds. There are currant
and gooseberry bushes as at home. The apple trees
do not seem to be carefully pruned. On the south
wall of every farm-house a great Pear tree is trained.
Sometimes a vine grows over the front of the house,
or outhouses. The hedges are much more carefully
made than in our country. The quicks are always
trained to grow at an angle instead of upright, and
they cross and interlace with the result that they
form a very substantial protection. A note m ust be
added as to the trees, In France trees are grown for
use and seldom for ornament, They are either for
shelter from sun and wind, or for the purpose of fuel.
If for the former they are allowed to grow in their
natural way, but if for the latter they are mercilessly
cut and shorn of all their branches. As I write I see
through the window rows of polled willow trees about fa feet in height and 3 feet in girth, and with

A GREAT GNARLED TOP

from which all the growth of last year has been cut.
Not far away I see another tree which m ight be mis­
taken for a telegraph post. I t is about 50 feet in
height, but has not a single branch, all such having
been cut for fuel in these days of war, the polled
willows form a fine protection against shrapnel,
and guard the head nearly as well as a steel
helmet. The heavy projecting summit forming a solid umbrella of wood as you stand under them,
.rerhaps in another letter I may be able to tell you
something about the birds and animals which frequent
Northern France, and also something about the wild
flowers which brighten the fields in spring and summer. °

L c o -G p /. G, P r e s to n .
[The Rector has received the following letter from

Lce-Corpl. George Preston, of Ballinacor,]
Chimnitz, 25 th Dec.Reverend Sir,

Your m uch esteemed letter reached me safely, and found me in the best of health, thank
God for it, who is ever watching over us captives.
You will see I ’ve written this on Xmas Day. Well
only for our French comrades we would have had a
very poor one. I ’m glad everything is going on well in beagoe and neighbourhood.

I remain, obediently yours,
G, P r e s t o n .

O ffe r to r ie s fo r M a r c h .
Sunday Mornings . .. jgs 17 8

„ Evenings . . . 2 0 9
Week-days . . . 0 16 1

t , ,. „ £11 14 6Including M 9s 9d for Parochial Sunday Schools
and 7s lOd for Jews Society.



SEAGOE PARISH MAGAZINE.
S y m p a th y .

[We regret that the following note was omitted from
our last issue through lack of space.]

We express sincere regret at the death of Mrs.
Stoops, which took place suddenly at her residence in
Upper Seagoe. She had been in weak health for
m any years, but had rallied out of a serious illness a
year ago, and it seemed as though she would have
been spared for years to come. Her piety and
patience were an inspiration to those around her.
She always took a deep interest in the life and work
•of the Parish. “ God’s finger touched her and she
slept,” and we in the Parish are poorer for the loss
of one whose influence was always on behalf of what
was true and right. We sympathise especially with
Miss Stoops, who, with great devotion tended her
m other for so m any years, and also with the other
members of her family.

Another who has gone from among us is Mrs.
Chambers, of Killicomaine, who had reached an
advanced age. We offer our sympathy to her
husband, who has lost his life-partner after m any
years of happy married life. Mrs. Chambers’
kindliness and sympathy won for her m any friends
in Kiliicomaine, and throughout the neighbourhood
in which she lived.

IT E M S -
In a small house in Seagoe Parish one room is set

apart as a W ar room. Pour members of the family
are in the army, and the photos of them and their
chum s adorn the walls, also special certificates which
they have won. The table is filled with trophies of
w ar sent or brought home by the members of the
family. I t is a most interesting W ar Exhibition on
a small scale. * * *

A large number of farms in Seagoe and neighbour­
hood are up for sale. This is due no doubt partly
because of the high price of land, partly also because
of the scarcity and expense of labour, and a th ird
reason is no doubt the high rate of interest offered by
the Government on W ar Investments.

* • * *

A parishioner has offered a valuable and appro­
priate Memorial Gift to Seagoe Church. I t will
consist of a carved oak cover for the Font. The
Font of Seagoe has gained a fresh prominence
through the reproduction of it on the front of this
year’s Magazine. This memorial gift will accentuate
still further what is undoubtedly one of the most
interesting features of the Church— its Ancient
Font.

* * *

I t is proposed in this year’s annual report, and in
future years, to publish the Parochial Accounts up
to 81st December, 1917, instead of to Easter, 1918,
as in other years. E aster being a varying date each
year is not so convenient from a book-keeping point
of view.

The Memorial Tablet about to be erected to the
memory of Mr. George Calvert is now in the hands
of the Sculptors, and we hope will soon be ready for
erection in the church.

P A R IS H R E G IS T E R fo r M A R C H ,
1918.

B a p t is m s >
The following were Baptized in Seagoe Church

on 2nd March, 1918—
Brownlee— Gladys, daughter of David Alexander

and Isabella Brownlee, of Drumnagoon.
Sponsors—M argretta, Livingston, David Alexander

and Isabella Brownlee.
McKeown —Ilene Isabella, daughter of John and

and Isabella McKeown, of Carne.
Sponsors—John and Isabella McKeown.

The following Children of George Brown Binks and
Em m a Jane Binks (Caddell), late of Tarsan,
were baptised a t Noscon, Canada, by the Rev. 8 ,
Clowes, on 17th February, 1918— M argaret;
William George E dw in; and Joshua Jam es
Henry Binks.

B u r ia ls *
F o x —March 1st, Joseph Fox, of M ountpleasant,

aged 87.
Martin— March 5th, Jam es M artin, of Ballyhannon,

aged 74.
McMinn— March 11th, Mary McMinn, of Junction

Row, Portadown, aged 66.
Dell— March 18th— Sarah Dell, Carleton Street,

Portadown, aged 76.
Haack—March 19th, Adolph Haack, Portm ore

Street, Portadown, aged 16.
Gibson— March 21st, Rebecca Gibson, M ullentine.

Portadown, aged 89.
Mortimer— March 28rd, Joseph Mortimer, W est

Street. Portadown, aged 65.
Turner—March 24th, Anna Mary Turner, of

Levaghery, aged 28.
Forde —March 26th, Sarah Anne Forde, of 22 Jamea

Street, Edenderry, aged 15.
Gilpin— March 31st, Patience Ann Gilpin, of

Drumnagoon, aged 80.
O ld S e a g o e N o te s»

Harris’s Antient and Present State of the
County of Down, 1744.—This rare and most
interesting Book gives many particulars regarding the
River Bann and Lough Neagh. I t has a very long
title— “ The Antient and Present State of the County
of Down, containing a Chronographical Description



SEAGOE PARISH MAGAZINE.
with Natural and Civil History of the same, Illus­
trated by Observations made on the Baronies,
Parishes, Towns, Villages, Churches, Abbeys, Charter
Schools, Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, Medicinal and
other Springs, etc., with a Survey of the New Canal,
as also a New and Correct Map of the County,” by
Harris, published in Dublin by A. Reilly for Edward Enshaw at the Bible on Cork-hill.

* * *
Interesting Facts about Lough Neagh, 1744. — In H arris’s » Co, Down,” on page 16 we read—

The Royalties and Fisheries of Lough Neagh were
granted to the E arl of Donegall under the name of
Lough Sidney or Lough Chichester, by the former
of which names some chuse to call it.

The Great Lake is fed by six considerable rivers,
four of smaller note, and several brooks ; yet has but
one narrow Outlet to discharge this great F lux of
W ater at Toom, first into Lough Beg and from thence
through the Lower Bann into the Northern Sea.

* * *

A Bishop of Down on the Bann, 1738.— The
Inconveniences arising from the flooding of the Bann
and the Remedies of them are laid down by Dr.
Hutchinson, late Bishop of Down and Connor, in a
Pam phlet written in 1738 entitled, « The State of the
Case of Lough Neagh and the B ann.”

* * *
The Source and Course of the Bann.— The

River Bann takes its rise from a few Springs in the
Plain called the Dear’s Meadow, by some the K ing’s
Meadow, in the bosom of the m ountains of Upper
Iveagh, or the north part of the Mountains of Mourne.
Not far south of Eight-m ile Bridge it becomes a
pretty large River, from a serpentine course near two
m iles east of Rathfriland, flows through M'Cay’s
Bridge down to Bann Bridge, thence N.N.W. by
Seapatrick, H all’s Mill and Tullelish Church. So on
to Gilford and Portadown, where it make a noble
appearance, and after a course of about th irty miles
falls into Lough Neagh near the Bann-Foot Ferry, in the County of Armagh.

* * *

The Bann Pearl Fishery, 1688 .— The Pearl
Fishery of this river near Banbridge m ust not escape
our observation. The Pearls are found in fresh
water muscles—in shape and colour not unlike the sea
muscles but of a larger size—the shells of which are
sometimes used by the poorer people instead of spoons.
The Fish of this Muscle cuts like the Oyster, is of a
dark green colour and soon corrupts, but being of an
insipid, disagreeable taste, it is seldom eaten even by
the poor. The shell is fastened by two cartilages, one
at each end, and in th is particular differs from tha
Oyster and Scallop, which have only one in the middle.
Sir Thomas Reading, in his letter to the Royal
Society 15th October, 1688, gives an account of these
F ish and of the m anner of fishing for them. He tells
us he saw the Muscles lying in part opened, putting

forth their white fins like a tongue out of the mouth,,
which direct the eye of the fisher to them, being
otherwisó black as the stones in the River.

• * _ «
Mow the Bann Pearls are Formed.— Th&

insides of the Shells are of a pearly colour and of a
substance like a flat Pearl, and he was told by an
Ingenious Person on the spot tha t he had observed
in some shells under the first Coat a Liquor, orient
and clear, and Sir Robert Reading judges the L iquor
to be the true Mother of Pearl. He tells us th a t the
Pearl lies in the toe or lesser end of the shell and out
of the Body of the Fish between the two Film s that
line the shell. The shells containing the best Pearls are wrinkled, twisted or bunched.

* * *

Bann Pearls worth £ 80.—He adds that a vast
number of fair merchantable Pearls are offered to
sale every Summer Assize, 3omo of the Gentlemen of
the Country m aking good advantage thereof. That ha
saw one Pearl bought for fifty shillings th a t weighed
thirty-six carats and was valued at forty Pounds,
That a Miller found a Pearl which he sold for four
Pounds ten Shillings to a m an that sold it for ten
Pounds, who disposed of it to the Lady Glenawly for
thirty Pounds, with whom he saw it in a necklace, for
which she refused eighty Pounds from the old Duchess of Ormond,

* * *
How to Fish for Bann Pearls. — The common

method of fishingfor these Muscles in the Bann is very
simple. In the warm m onths while the River is low
and clear the poor People wade into the water, and
some with their Toes, some with Wooden
Tongues and others with sharp sticks th rust into the
opening of the shells, take them up. Sir H ans Sloan
says these Pearls may probably differ little from the
British Pearls mentioned by Tacitus to be tubfmca ac liventia of a pale brownish colour.

* * *

An 18th Century Description of the Pollan.— This Lake affords a Fish which is uncommon in other
parts, called by Aldro-vandus the Alasa, by
Rondoletius, Gesner and others the Clupea and the
Thrissa, by the English the Shad or the Mother of
Herrings, and by the Irish the Pollan or Fresh W ater
Herring. Ray differences the fish from the H erring
in four Particulars, F irst, in the size being, as he
says, of a Cubit length, four Fingers breadth, and
four Pounds in weight. B ut they are not generally so large. J

2ndly, That it is a thinner fish. 8rdly, th a t it has
on each side the gills a large Black round spot and
six or seven lesser spots towards the tail, and 4thly,
th a t it is of the class called Piscis Anadromus, and
mounts up into the fresh water rivers which tha H erring never does.


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