The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-01-29

| How Celtic Mourners "WAko" the Dead
ChsttinE and story-Tclling Around
tho corpsc-Ths Ubiquitous Pipe
and Black Bottle.
The custom OF waking" the dead In
ireland, says the London Spectator,
though by no means existing In Its
ancient glory and vigor, still obtains in
Q modified and shorn form In many
country districts. Briefly described, It
amounts TO this-that the neighbors Of
the deceased assemble and spend the
night in the room with the corpse,
chatting and telling stories; In the
meanwhile, Of course, taking "a blast
Nv the pipe" and . drop Of "the cray
thure" TO sustain them during their
vigil. The conversation on such 90
oasions naturally turns, to large ex-
tent, to the virtues of the departed,
which are duly embellished with all the
natural eloquenoe Of the speakers. No
one unfamiliar with Ireland can ut sll
realize what soene wake" presents;
and we propose to give sort Of speci-
men Of the conversation which prevails
on such an occasion.
"An ould follyer" is generally In =
seat Of honor, close by the head OF the
bed; she has been nurse, perhaps, In
the family, and as she rocks her aged
body backward and forward she pours
forth with Q mellinuous Southern
brogue, In . sad, wailing tone, . long
piece Of delightfully."- discursive domes-
tic history. "Ah, wisha, wisha, lave
me alone, the mAsther was grand man;
Thade Regsn was the grand man; he
milked up to forty cows" (This implies
that he was dairy-farmer whose stock
amounted TO that number.) "Shure It's
meself reminders the day av his we'd
din; Lard Edward was at home at the
time by the same token, an as he wint
by our cabin heerd me mother to say:
BY gar, there's ths lard upp An shure
enough he was, for he was on his way to
Tim Hoolahan's, who was minding thir-
ty hogs for him. Turn thin out, Tm,'
| says the lard, turn thin out, says he,
for want TO choose out two ay tbim,'
says he. TO be shure, and why not
your honor's glory, me lard? says Tim;
and, whin he had thin out, the lard
makes chice av wan widout tail, an av
anoder widout an earl An thin he says
TO Tim, says he; Have thin two bastes
kilt, says he, an give them to the
people that's comm to Thsde Regan's
weddin',' says he, for their dinner, says
he. All, wisha, deeling, but the lard
was mighty fond av poor Thade; may
God be wild thin bothl An don't I we'll
reminder the time that poor Thade, rest
his sowl, bought farm near the red
bog an hbw attinded at the dinner that
same day."
At this juncture, another speaker,
thinking he should have an innings, Of
fers the nurse drink; and while she is
occupied with 1t he observes: "Wisha,
awenoch, 1t was the poor masther that
was fand nv his marning drop; many's
the time he'd take me wild him into Judy
Molan's little public, an he'd say:
Judy he'd say, give Nicholas some
thing TO warm him, and take the could
out av his stumick this frasthy morning.
An by and by he'd say: Nicholas, man,
won't ye have q CLASP an I'd tell him
had wan; but he'd say: Don't tell me;
you had not;' an av coorse I'd say: 1T
isn't for the likes nv me to contradict
gintleman like your honor an Judy
would fill 1t up again"
A driver OF hearse who was present
would add reflections which seemed TO
him suitable TO the occasion: 81 tell yes
all that / have been driving hearse
man an boy these twinty years an moro.
have druv' rich an poor; an whin the
wind was an me back, the smell av them
both was Just alike; an didn't like 1t
nather. And whin comes across man
who has two or three hundred pounds,
an sees all his capers an antics, / says
TO meself: What gladiathur ye are; but
wait, me boy, until have ye in the
hearse, an then ye'll be quiet an aisy
enough Shure / wanst druv jedge 10
the graveyard, an saw the yalla clay
shoveled down on him as well as another
AN he rotting wild money. God save
u.s." This observation called forth
general exclamation; "Well, Ned, ye're
q terror The old nurse-"a charred
and wrinkled piece OF womanhoodn--
being now refreshed, would take up her
parable again, and offer her snuff-box, or
rather her snuff, TO every one present.
II was done in this way: holding the box
in her right hand, she poured out some
Of It's contents on the palm Of her left.
Whether you used the snuff or not, It
was considered unlucky and unciyil 10
refuse TO take pinch Of It. W
Among the lower classes wakes" are
still very prevalent; beggars have their
own wakes" and even little children
are walked" A wake is quite an ex.
pensive ceremony to poor, struggling
working-man or tradesman; but he feels
that he would loss caste without hold
ing II, and he has not tho moral courage
! 10 break through the custom. The ex-
penses Of wake in the "strong" farm
Ing class are very serious item, indeed.
The Roman Catholic clergy nowadays
generally or universally discourage this
custom; but II is so deeply roored shat
lte eradication must be n 0reation ~