The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-11-02
PEASANTS OF DONEGAL.
Pen Pictures of a Catholic People
by a Protestant.

|
by Protestant.
\ Protestant named Thomas Lon
den contributes an article to an Eng
fish TORY paper on the peasantry of
Donegal and says:
The peasants in the district of Kill
lybegs are of the true Gaelic type, of
good physique and appearance; in
deed, i'll Donegal one sees many very
strikingly beautiful women-tall, dark
and straight, With fine eyes. The
men with their black hair and close
shaven faces under big SLOUGH hats
have an entirely foreign look. Both
men and women are kindly-hearted
and courteous in manner. Living
amid poverty and distress, they are
nevertheless Il dignified and intelli-
gent people. But many of them are
very illiterate, utterly lacking in even
the most elementary degree of educa-
ton. The writer talked with some
of the men living in the outlying
places, and found them most priln-
tive in their ideas. This may be ex-
planned to certain extent by the
fact that English is to them an alien
tongue, and they probably do them
selves greater justice when they use
the Irish. There is natural man.
liness and reserve in their talk that is
touching, for while they are fully
conscious Of their poverty and mise
~, and while there is n sort of fatal
ism and little hope or heart in their
views of life, they do not whine or
demand compassion.
The lot of the Irish peasant is in
deed hopelessly barren of anything
that makes life worth living. He is
strong and active, yet he is condemn
ed to idleness. He has brain and
ability, but he is doomed to ignorance
and from the conditions under which
he lives, in some cases to insanity.
His only chance of escape lies in en-
igration, in exile from his native land.
Many thousands of peasants-the
finest young men and the handsomest
young women in the country--set out
every year for America. The writer
has every sympathy with the SEN
timent of those Irishmen who view
this exodus with great pain, who
call it calamity, and who desire to
preserve for Ireland "The finest peas
antry in the world.' But surely it is
far better to put the voice of patriot
ism and nationality aside, and to say
God-speed with every form of encour-
agement to men and women whose
childhood has known only woe and
want, and who, flying from stagna-
ton and waste, seek to found homes
in countries richer and more prosper
GUS than their own, and to live in
lands beyond the seas the happy and
satisfying life that has been denied
them here.
Has the story of Donegal and it's
people any moral or teaching for
lrishmcn who live in Antrim and
Down? The writer thinks it has.
These kindly-hearted and hospitable
fellow-countrymen of ours receive the
the visitor to their mountains and
bo%land with affcctionate courtesy
But they are something more than
merely kind. We can believe that
they are both brave and generous,
and we cannot imagine them turning
their backs either on enemy or friend.
They bear poverty and hardship with
courage and patience. The women
are magnificently virtuous and pure;
the men are sober, and Injured by
habit to Il simple and hardy life. AS
Il people they have many splendid
qualities and but few blessings. But
they are almost entirely members of
the Catholic church. Their religion
has furnished them with their ideals.
and their natures, in the absence of
all other elevating and refining in
fluences. have been endowed by it
with enrolling emotion and sen
timent. Love of their faith has made
them sacrificing and devoted,
broadencd and enriched their lives.
Their imaginations, too, have been
quickened by the knowledge that the
son of the poor peasant might in the
service of his church rise to position
of power, might perchance be born in
a hovel and yet die a prince. The
Catholic church, then, has largely
helped to make this people what it is
"A people to be wholly loved and ad-
mired. We, who are Protestants,
may continue to strenuously resist
what seems to us to be the errors of
Catholicity: but can we not, while
holding our own opinions and beliefs,
also strive to grasp firmly and to
Observation-Disclosures