Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-18
THE IRISH VILLAGE.
The Successful Undertaking Of Lady Aber-
deem.

deem.
THE VILLAGE INDUSTRIES AND HOW THE GEN.
ERAL PUBLIC IS EXPECTED TO AID THEM-Ev-
ERYTHINa TINGED WITH GREEN-THE BLAIR
NEY STONE.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
CHICAGO, May 16, 1893.
The Countessof Aberdeen is q handsome
woman. of rudy complexion and easy, demo-
cratic manners She is, moreover q very good
speaker and can say what she wants to say to
an audience without any greater degree Of en-
Darrassment than is necessary to thoroughly
arouse its sympathies. She is half Scotch and
half Irish. and each half has a good dash Of
English in it, but her present undertaking is
wholly an Irish one, for she is the person who
planned. and toiled, and schemed for the Irish
village at the worlds fair. It was opened on
wednesday Of last week. when. by invitation
OF Lord and Lady Aberdeen, goodly company
OF people we're admitted to see what the Irish
cottage industries are and precisely why the
mimic little Ireland is erected in the Midway
Plasance.
PRETTY IRISH GIRLS.
The first impression made on the visitor was
OF rosy cheeks. All tho Irish girls in the vii
lage have them; SO has Lady Aberdeen, the
patron saint Of the village; so have the men
who work in the village, and so had a good
many OF the visitors who came to see the open
ing. The second impression was that the vii
layers intend to make all the money they can
Tor their excellent cause. Pretty Irish girls
offered green silk handkerchiefs with harps all
over them for the moderate sum of so cents;
they insisted upon inserting green silk clovers
IN your button hole, and for this you had to
pay 10 cents or rs cents according to the value
OF the decoration. They also offered genuine
Irish shillalahs for the moderate sum of 81. A
good many people bought them and having
done SO did not know what on earth to do with
them. Then there was tea and coffee and
long bar over which was sold ginger ale and
lemonade in lieu of the Dublin stout and
genuine poteen which the village hopes it will
later secure concession to dispose Of.
There is an Irish cross in the court yard Of
this village and a reproduction Of the famous
Barney Castle. Some of the houses have straw
matched roofs and others have shingles. They
are all built OF rough gray stucco and in about
a month"; time will look hundred years old.
There is an assembly room appropriately called
"Iara's Hail." and on the opening day. Of
course. there was some one to play harp
there.
1t Is strange that Americans should 60 to an
irish village to see Irish men and girls when
there are really more Irish in this country than
there are in Ireland itself. nor can any one in
d
wish that all the Irish were in their own vii
lagos at home. The real reason why this ex-
hlblt has aroused such widespread attention is
because it is display with distinct object, and
a clever woman is thoroughly in earnest in
her determination to advance it that she has
compelled people to fall In and work in the ranks
she has command of. Let us what it is for.
on THE PLAIsANCE.
In the first place, it must be promised that
the Midway plaisaDca ia ono of tho rle,soptast
spots in the fair grounds. but that the people
who make it so pleasant are there primarily for
profit. Before the residents of the street in
Cairo were well in their Enclosure they were
offering to dispose of the copper coins they
had brought from their native land in return
for coins Of silver, and as for the Turks, with
! the baSgy trousers, who carry you about in a
Sedan chair (if you can afford it,, they are not
content with the regular fees, but crowd
around you after your ride is over and implore
You for anything from a copper to a dollar.
There is the disagreeable consciousness, too,
that if you succumb to their demands they will
be pretty certain to spend whatever you give
them in riotous living.
THE OBJECT OF THE IRISH VILLAGE
1t is therefore refreshing to find at least one
exhibit in the plaisance where the people are
not striving to get your money for their own
benefit, but for the benefit Of Others The
object sought is to show the world the i'm
portance Of the cottage industries Of Ireland
| and to induce people to patronize those indus
tries. All the people connected with the viii
lage are working without salary ard all the
money made will be applied in Ireland to the
further development Of the cottage Industries
These consist in dairy work Of high order,
lace making and weaving, and in the village the
men and girls carry on these industries before
your eyes, Here. at least, is some thing UNIQUE
You are not asked to encourage o new labor
a a m ela hpra 10
scheme OF corporation which will terminate
all the ills that flesh is heir to, but YOU are
simply invited to help the poor people in an
| overcrowded country to find a good market
for the labor of their hands. This labor too.
| is Of an unusually high order, and no machine
can rival it. II the products Of these cottagers
once become popular no capital need enter the
country to start large works, but the people
| will simply have work to do in their homes and
will do it.
entered into anything half way, and thus far it
must be said. that Lady Aberdeens enterprise
has met with a more genuine assistance than
has been accorded to any other.
THE BLARNEY STONE
Going back to the village ITSELF one OF its
chief attractions is faithful reproduction in
Barney Castle Of the famous blarney stone. 1t
is reached by climbing an iron balcony and
over il is this verse:
This is the stone that whoever kisses
He never misses to grow eloquent;
A clever spouter hell turn out or
An out-Of-order in parliament.
The full meaning Of the last line Of this verse
is not apparent to the uninitiated American, but
the legend that any one who kisses the blarney
stone will be great talker is familiar to all Ii
is promised that later in the season Sir George
Colthwest. the owner of the original Barney
Castle, will send over a fragment of the gem
uine stone and then we may expect to see it
worn away by the kisses Of the ambitious pub
lie speakers, or would-be public speakers, who
will resort 10 the fair.
CURIOUS SIGNS.
In the village the signs Of the work people
are quite striking. For instance, you see q
board roughly painted, which says simply:
Patrick Onahan, County Limerick, weaver
Mary o Higgins, County Cork, spinner" The
two names being on one sign it is presumed
they mean simply that Miss O'Higgins yields
the spinning wheel and that Mr.. Onahan weaves
the results of his labor into cloth Among the
lace makers the best one is said to be young
girl of only seventeen from County Limerick
The web is stretched over a light frame and her
fingers fly about with the needle, forming in
tricate patterns.
The village fairly CLEANS with bright green
There is a large green flag flying from the cas-
tie and green signs bid the visitor welcome
But perhaps the most welcome thing of all to
| T., l~.~~~ -