“There are ‘Kils,’ too,” said Mary Ellen. “Kathleen found them in our old geography, and Father made a little verse about them. He says that ‘Kil’ means church, and that St. Patrick built some of the churches. I don’t remember the verse, though. Do you, Kathleen?”
“That I do,” said her sister, and she sang to an odd little tune:
“Of ‘Killys’ and ‘Kils’ there are many.
There’s Kildare and Kilmaine and Kilkenny,
Killybegs, Kullashee,
Killimore, Killyleagh,
Kilworth and Kilcock and Kilkelly.”
“Good enough,” said Patrick, clapping his hands and laughing so heartily that everyone else laughed.
“There are dozens of ‘ballys,’ too,” said Mary Ellen, when the laughter was over. “Kathleen made a list of them, and Father said they would make a whole string of verses, but he didn’t get time for it yet. ‘Bally means town,’ he said.”
“Did the chiefs ever have any sports besides hunting?” asked Danny, who was fond of sports and had tried many a running race with the boys at Farmer Flynn’s.