The Argosy — page 317: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

298 Anwong the Welsh. who appeared from the steerage part of the boat were Irish men and women of the lowest type. But presently order was resolved out of chaos. All who were going on, settled down, guards gave the signal, engines whistled, away went the trains. ‘The electric lights were put out, and the station was left to solitude and darkness. Nothing can be said in praise of Holyhead itself. It consists of small straggling streets, small houses and shops, the greater part looking neglected and unattractive. Of many of the people, it almost seemed that the less said the better. The street children gabbled Welsh ; but a great many of the inhabitants nevertheless are Irish, and this will account for a great deal. But leaving the town behind, its unpleasant sights and sounds, you may take a delightful walk to the breakwater, one of the finest works in the world. It is entirely built of stone brought from quarries in the neighbourhood. ‘This breakwater makes Holyhead one of the largest harbours of refuge in existence, covering an area of four hundred acres, where at any state of the tide the largest vessel may ride at anchor. ‘The breakwater is of great length, stretching out into the deep sea, and the lighthouse at the end can only be reached in comfort when the water is calm. ‘To-day there was not much sea on, but it was the dying away of what had been a fearful storm, and the waves broke over the stonework in showers of spray. ‘The whole scene was so exhilarating and refreshing, that to turn back and leave the winds and the waves was impossible. The sun went down in flames of red, and from the top of the lhghthouse sea and sky were wild and grand. ‘Town and harbour on the one hand, on the other a wide waste of waters; afar off, the lonely Skerries. ‘The men lit up the revolving apparatus, and in a few minutes, as if in answer to the signal, out steamed the boat for Ireland. She struggled over the harbour bar and began to pitch and toss and shiver in a way that made it very evident there was more sea on than at first sight had seemed possible. Round she came, steadily ploughing the waters, passing near the lighthouse and going her way under the shadow of the Holyhead mountain. It is this ‘‘ Head” which gives its name to the town. A wild mountain covered with heather, sloping upwards on the one side, rising almost perpendicularly out of the water on the other to a heighth of some seven hundred feet. On the slopes you will find quite a small colony of abandoned houses, once inhabited by many of the fifteen hundred men employed for years in building the break- water. But when the work was finished the men departed, and the little settlement became, so to say, a ruin. ‘And so, sir,” said Jehu, as we drove one morning to the South Stack, “ you may now have quite a fine house for fourpence a week, and a healthy situation into the bargain.” About the latter qualification there was no doubt. A fresh s breeze was blowing, bracing and exhilarating beyond anything I h ECORNICLIOO KS, m