Other saints followed him and built more monasteries, and wherever there was a monastery there was sure to be a school where the sons of Irish chiefs might study. There were a great many chiefs and they must have had a great many sons; but the sons of the common people could also learn from the monks, and very often there were rich and poor studying together in the same house.
The fame of these Irish schools spread outside of this country, and in the different countries of Europe it became the fashion to go to school in Ireland, until, five hundred years after St. Patrick’s time, this was the most learned country in the world.
The scholars built little huts in which they lived, but whenever the weather was pleasant they recited out of doors.
I wish it was the fashion to recite out of doors nowadays.
Kathleen Barry.
B. A. You can see by the ruins scattered all over Ireland how many monasteries and schools there were. There are ruins in every county, but those in Kilkenny are the most interesting of all.
K. B.
There was a great clapping of hands when Kathleen finished reading, and cries of “Bravo! Bravo!”
In the midst of the uproar Deena pounded with his knife-handle on the table and shouted “Tally-ho! Tally-ho! Tally-ho-o-o-o!”
As soon as the hunting call quieted them he said, “Pray tell us the meaning of your Ogham characters ‘B. A.’ toward the close of your essay.”