AN IRIS H GOSSIP.
IT is often said that the Irish people are losing their characteristic wit and pleasant manners. This is supposed to be due either to the terrors of the late agitation, or to the tyranny of the British Government, according to the views of the speaker. But to us who live in the kingdom of Kerry, this change is not apparent. Political parties may come, and political parties may go, but Paddy remains much as he has been, and much as he will be, probably, to the end of time,— feckless, witty, lazy, with a light-heartedness springing perhaps from a fatalism in which both religion and supersti- tion have their part. It may seem a paradox to say that this combination of religion and superstition accounts also for the shade of melancholy which is rarely absent from the Irish Celt. If at one moment it makes him irresponsible and gay, at another it gives him a sense that he is at the mercy of hidden and mysterious powers, and all effort on his part seems useless, if not presumptuous. He is probably only too glad of a pretext not to exert himself. And, indeed, he can fairly plead the climate as an excuse for inertia. How can strenuous effort be made when every muscle is relaxed by the warm, misty air, and soft, milk-like breeze ? This enervating air accounts in great part for the favourite phrase, "Bedad, it'll do," which leaves so much undone that a little effort might accomplish. All classes are affected by it, squire and peasant alike.
In the last two years, during which peace has reigned in the land, the spirits of the people have revived. Instead of talking treason in sulky-looking knots, the young men have taken again to dancing with the young women at the cross-roads on Sunday afternoons. The " Patterne " has once more become popular. " Patterne " is a corruption of the word patron, and primarily meant the day of the patron saint. Then it came to mean the dance on the festival day, and now is used of a dance on any holiday. The " Patterne " is held near villages or thickly populated townlands, and cross-roads are generally chosen, as allowing more space for the dancers. We can stroll out any fine Sunday afternoon, two miles in one direction, or three in another, and find fifty or sixty young men and women assembled on the road, dancing to a fiddle or concertina. The girls are, for the most part, dressed in stuff skirts and light blouses, with shawls over their heads, as is the custom of the country. The shawl is laid aside when they begin to dance. We are greeted with a simplicity and reality of manner which makes us feel truly welcome. Without the least hesitation or raauvaise honte, the young farmers and boatmen take off their caps and ask the ladies of our party : ,," Would you be pleased to dance, miss P" at the same time assuring them that they will "pass them through" the intricate sets. And so they do, with great spirit and accuracy, calling out such directions as, "Now, Captain, twirl your girl," or "Swop your girl," as seems necessary for the less instructed of our dancers. The polka and jig sets which they dance are exceedingly compli- cated, and it is not easy to join in them at once. They are very pretty and graceful dances, and would be a great im- provement on the "kitchen lancers" of society. It is amusing to hear the young men apologising to their partners for the state of the high road, saying; "Indeed, then, there's no spring in it to-day ; it's too much rain we've been having." These sets have almost entirely taken the place of the national
jig. But special dances are got up for our benefit. Generally some old man has to be sent for who has learnt the jig in his youth. Perhaps there is a call for Dan Sullivan, and a deputation is sent to his cottage hard by. After some persuasion, Dan appears, carrying his shoes in his hand, which he proceeds to put on with great deliberation, at the same time chaffing the young men about the size of their feet, saying their shoes are like "baby's coffins." We make a ring, and the jig begins with great solemnity, only four taking part in it. Dan dances with much grace and agility, the audience fixing eyes of envious appreciation on his feet, and now and then bursting into applause. When the jig is over, we begin to say good-bye, but they beg us to stay for at least another set. "It's so seldom you come," they say ; "it's too soon for you to be going ; anyway, you must come again soon." And so we leave them still dancing in the golden evening sunlight. What strikes us particularly is the extreme politeness of the young men to the girls of their own class. There is no elder man or woman present, no one above thirty or thereabouts (for, as soon as the jig is over, Dan disappears), yet the most perfect decorum prevails, not a rough word is heard, or a rough gesture seen. It is not surprising that a neigh- bouring farmer, speaking of the " Patterne," should say that he did not object to "this open-air courting" for his daughter, for one could not imagine a more innocent and healthy amuse- ment. The girls and " boys " are never to be seen going to the " Patterne " or leaving it in couples. The girls walk together, and do not join the " boys " at all.
It is just as well that these customs should be observed in a country where marriages are arranged more for the benefit of the farm than with regard to the affections of the young-- people. If the eldest son of a farmer marries what is called an "empty girl," that is, a girl who has no fortune, that son is frequently disinherited in favour of a younger brother. In these cases, the "empty girl" and her rash partner generally go and seek their fortunes in America. Second marriages, are not looked on with much favour ; one man by way of excuse for himself said : "But, indeed, it was a very advanced girl that I married, for the sake of the children." A glance at the "advanced girl" explained the epithet as referring to- her age, and not to her views.
The tact and ingenuity displayed by the people in saying- pleasant things is often very amusing. An old woman hearing from a lady that she had no children, and wishing to make the best of what in the eyes of a real Irishwoman is a mis- fortune almost amounting to a curse, said : "You mustn't mind, dear, it's the highest-up families that don't have children." On another occasion an old man, wanting to be polite and at the same time to convey the truth, said to the doctor who had asked him how he was : "Oh, I'm greatly im- proved, thank you, doctor, as far as remaining stationary is concerned." Sometimes the answers are unexpected and dis- appointing to the questioner, as when an American tourist, who was both a teetotaller and a Home-ruler, lately asked a railway porter what he thought about Home-rule. "We'll drink nothing but whisky and porter then," was the answer. The American tried to impress on his mind the merits of Home-rule combined with cold water. But the only reply he could get was : " Divil a drop of water will I drink when we get Home-rule." It would be humorous, if it were not so de- plorable, to hear all that the people expect Home-rule to bring them. They dream of a country flowing with porter and whisky, where the labourer will have no need to work, the farmer no rent to pay, the cattle dealer no foreign compe- tition, and where the tradesmen will have protection,—a country in which there will be a millennium of "no Govern- ment at all," to quote the words used a few years ago by an Irish Member to an audience of farmers in this same county.
R. J. B.
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