Dear Sir,
- I began to wonder why my question on the above subject were not answered by those who believe in it; and although your correspondent "Patrick Farrell" declares he has both seen and heard it, his letter has driven me further into unbelief in its existence.
I read carefully what "P.F." said, viz. - It was in December, moonlight night, rather late, he met his greyhound trembling, and a cold sweat actually dripping off him, heard a low wailing in a bush, and when he drew near he discovered a milkwhite deer sobbing in the most heartrending manner. He made a terrific blow at the deer and his stick passed through space, and he heard a scream he hopes he will never hear again.
Of course I am presuming your correspondent was going for his stroll with a firm step and a stout heart, without the least fear in it. And his being armed with a heavy walking stick (blackthorn, I suppose) was merely a companion instead of his poor greyhound, which possibly had been indulging rolling in the snow, and the sight of his master with this awful weapon made him tremble at his presence. Sir, I have heard of crocodile tears, but a deer "sobbing" is certainly new to those who may believe it. What a cruel man "P.F." must be to strike at a poor harmless deer! I don't wonder at the terrific scream which he heard, and I sincerely hope it was not the greyhound or one of his own legs he hhit, that caused him to be dazed, powerless and paralysed. As for his relative dying in Australia the same night of this terrible scene and tragic deed, I suppose he had a relative who died since then without this banshee performance of the mind of forty years ago.
Apologising for the length of this, and thanking you in anticipation.
- Yours faithfully, R.K. Hamilton, London.
Sir, - Since the subject of the banshee first appeared in your columns a great deal of nonsense has been written about it by some of your correspondents. One of them wants to know is it a cat, and another a dog; while a third wants to find out whether one banshee is common to a large number of families, or whether every family has one of its own. In all the folk-lore, tales, and legends that I have read whenever the banshee is alluded to it is always denominated "she," thus strengthening the common belief that the banshee is a woman. Moore, when he commenced one of his Irish melodies with the line-
"How oft has the banshee cried,"
did not allude either to the crying of a cat or of a dog. The "milk-white deer," therefore, seen by Mr Farrell, as he stated in last week's issue, can scarcely be called a banshee.
As to the question whether every family has a banshee peculiar to itself, or whether one serves for them all, those even who have seen the spirit would find it difficult to answer. Your correspondents, therefore, who asked this question must either wait until they see the spirit themselves and then ask her or else suffer to remain in ignorance on the point.
There are a great many persons who affect to disbelieve in the appearance of the banshee because it is, as they say, an Irish superstition. Yet a great many of those persons are superstitious in another way. They consult fortune-tellers, and closely examine the palms of their hands, thinking they will find their fortunes from the first and their character from the second. This is pure superstition, yet they believe in it, or pretend to, because it is a kind of fashion to do so. If anyone be so unfortunate as to mention the banshee he is immediately coughed down and called a superstitious idiot by those "enlightened" persons.
- Yours, &c.,
M.D.R.
Castleisland, August 18, 1893.
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