Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1871-03-01
IRISH HUMOR.

OF the wit and humOr of the Irish no
one who sees them on their native soil
can doubt. They are the only peasant
~ in Europe who can lay any claim TO
Qualities that are usually reckOned intel
lectual. They have more of the mental
attributes of Shakspeare's clowns-the
least natural of his wonderful creations
than any living mOrtals unblest OF edu-
cation. The English, Scotch, German,
Italian, and even French peasants are
the yeFiest clOds in comparison with the
Irish, who say bright and sharp things
without effort or generalization. Their
ready wit and power of reparted are eX-
| traordinary, and improve as one jour-
news toward the south. have frequent
ly heard scintillatiO1s from 'gOrsOOns'
! and pOrters and cardrivers that would
have been applauded in the Academy,
and have created envy in the most eX-
elusive drawing.rOOms. They never
lack for a word or phrase, and have a
verbal knack of getting out Of a quan=
dairy peculiarly their own, as respects
| both the knack and the quandary. 1t Is
a common say over there that an Irish
man has the privilege of speaking twice.
and I can see the justice of it. He first
makes a blunder bright by Illuminating
itlwith joke.
! I remember a collOquy like this in
! Sackville Street between an English
| tourist and car-driver:
4 say, Fat, what are those figures up
there p
Am shure, yer honor, thim's the
! tWilve apostles
Twelve apostles, indeed Why, there
are only four
ooh now, We wouldn't have all out at
once, would We? That's the pOsht office
and the rist is inside, yer honor, sOrtin'
| letthers.'
Driving through the County of Wick.
low, and commenting on what seemed
! be tothe irregularity of the mile-stOnes
my carman remarked:
''Be gorrah, an they're not mile-stOne'
at all at all. This is a graveyard OF the
Miles family, an there was so miny O
thin, ye see, they hadn't names fol
thin all, an SO they numbered thin
an buried thin Wheriver they couIC
find good shpot.' And his eye twink
lingly inquired if the cOnceit were moi
i good enough for a drink Of whisky al
the first halting-place.
i Giving bar-maid q crown at LINER
ick for a mug Of ale, the price of which
was but three-pence, she smiled all OVel
her face, and said:
AM may yer worship niver Wahnj
for pound until ] give ye the change
J and wish We sieh luck that l know yt
wouldn't be after askin, for pinny O.
it, ,..~..
Annoyed by a strapping girl, who In
sisted on acting as guide at the Gap o
Dunloe, give her a shilling on cOndi
ton that she would follow me no faFth
; er. Before 1 had gone another mile sht
reappeared, when reminded her Of he
promise.
FWiII, she replied, Il losht the shillin
that ye was so goohd as to give q poo
gurl the likes o. me- and l thought II
come baok 70 see if ye hadn't Just fouI'
: it,
OF course I handed her another, will
the words. You know, NOrah, you ar
not telling the truth, but this time yOI
must keep your word.
AM will ye confess in yer Ylrry fac
that she's run two niles over desc r0Ugl
rocks TO gitanutheF look at yer hanson
eyes p ......-...
7 A porter at Galway hotel had witt
much trouble prevented an American
trunk from going to Belfast instead Q
Queenstown, and the owner rewarded
t him with q sovereign, The shreWd fel
lew ue1u Gae COlu IdDluIOuS1y III uauu
: few moments, and then said to the gen
tleman. Haven't ye a bit O. shilve
about We? Ye wouldn't have me shpend
in the likes of this bayutifUl gould t,
drink yer health wild 2 Give me a shil
lin, yer honor, and I'll kape this to re
mimber We by
In the Valley of GlendalOugh a ma
tive, peering out from one Of the ruin
of the tiny Seven Churches, accOsted ;
guide with, sDinnis, did ye come her
: thinkin' they was sayin' mass thi
morning ?
4 might have behaved so, ye spal
peen, If I hadn't sane the diYtl InCi,iin IN
out Of the windy
} What makes your horse so slow"
l asked one day in the Glen of the Down
of my Celtic Jehn.
t TITS out of respiot to the bayutifu
sanery, yer honor; he wants ye to SCI
3 it all. An thin he's an intelligent baste
and appreciates good company, an
/ wants to kape the likes O. ye in belOvet
Ould Ireland as long as he kiR.'-FrOn
, Pictures of Ireland,' by Junius HenT
Browne, in Hdlpers Magazine for Marc