THE BONMAHON SCHOOLS.

(With Illustrations.)

"Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.-Gal, vi. 9.

The following extracts will shew that Mr. Doudney, the Curate of Monksland, County of Waterford, is desiring to act upon the above exhortation :

The first of the Bonmahon Schools has now been established four years. Considering the remoteness of the locality, and at the same time the great interest that has been taken in the work, the idea has suggested itself to the founder, that a few Illustrations, from Photographic pictures taken on the spot, would be acceptable to the many friends by whose liberality the Schools have been supported.

The village of Bonmahon has been deemed of so little importance, as only occasionally to find its way into ordinary maps of Ireland. By reference, however, to the Ordnance map, and to some few others, it will be found upon the South-West coast of the County of Waterford. The Bay of Tramore lies ten miles to the east, and that of Dungarvan, the same distance to the west. From the peculiar inset of the current, a vessel keeping too close to the land, upon a lee-shore, can seldom get clear of Tramore Bay. A transport was lost there, with most, if not all hands, when returning with troops from the battle of Waterloo, and numberless vessels since. To gaze upon these cliffs, on such a day as when the accompanying sketches were taken, would afford the reader but a faint idea of their aspect in a storm.

Under a south-west gale, the sea will dash with fearful fury on their base, and throw the angry foam far over their brow. Often has the writer seen this shore, which now, and in these sketches, looks placid as a lake, lashed with such fury that the strand has been perfectly unapproachable; every house in the village has been covered with the surf, looking in the distance as though there had been a dense fall of snow Perhaps nothing is more calculated to awaken sympathy for mariners than the residing on such a coast. How often does one retire to one's bed on a winter's night with deep emotion, as one listens to the howling of the tempes, and the roar (as it has been termed) of" the eternal wave.' The thought of the multitude that are tossed upon the tempestuous deep, and the many that ere the morning dawn may find a watery grave, inspires one with gratitude for one'sself, and deep solicitude for others. The subject may well suggest to the reader cause for thanksgiving, if his lot be otherwise cast, for assuredly the sailor, braving as he does from year to year the mighty ocean, and deprived of advantages for social improvement, as well as foregoing countless comforts, is of all men, entitled to our commiseration. The writer would impress these thoughts upon the young especially.

The Picture preceding this description, presents a view of the village of KNOCKMAHON, with its Church, its School-house, and pretty row of cottages, occupied principally by Mining Agents. The building in the rear of the Church is the Parochial School-house and Master's residence; that in front of the Church is the National School-house. These cabins form part of the village of BONMAHON, which is simply separated from that of KNOCKMAHON by a small river called the

Mahon, that comes winding down the valley from the Comragh Mountains, (some ten miles away,) and finally emptying itself into the St. George's Channel, at the Bonmahon Strand. KNOCKMAHON is an Irish word, and (the village being built upon the rising ground) it means the hill of the river. BoNMAHON (built in the valley) implies heel or foot of the river. The district is almost exclusively devoted to Mining purposes. The Knockmahon Mines are in great repute for the amount of copper they produce. But apart from its contiguity to the sea, and beautiful cliff scenery, the village in itself is as poor as can well be conceived.

The Bonmahon Cliffs are extremely bold, and present an almost infinite variety. The sketch annexed is taken from the western end of the Strand. The view in the preceding page is within a few hundred yards to the right. Let the reader take a map, and imagine himself to be standing on HELVIC HEAD, looking eastward, he then has one of the most lovely panoramic views that ever feasted the eye. To the left of the spectator, is the beautiful Bay of Dungarvan. Rising in a semicircle from the shore is a lovely landscape. To the left it stretches far and wide towards the flourishing town of Clonmel, in the county of Tipperary, the western limit of the Comragh Mountains forms the central back-ground, and to the right the view is bounded by the ocean, which flows at the base of a range of cliffs scarcely to be exceeded for grandeur and variety. Branching far out into the sea, as does the promontory upon which the reader is supposed to be standing, and forming, as was said, the outer curve of a semicircle, the spectator has brought very much before him some forty miles of coast scenery, the Saltee Islands being within view. It appears as though he were gliding