Mexico weekly ledger., 1902-07-31
The Land Of The Shamrock.


nN"0NNN -
ing and the climate holds constant
jubilee. But in Ireland the hillside
and the meadow, the bare peaks OF the
mountain and the blackened hogs,
seem to sympathize with the Irish
people. Land and inhabitants alike
appear In tears. There is no country
where the grass is greener or the skies
bluer or the people brighter, bat
fields and sky and people have a pen
siveness which may not be found else
where.
We do not undertake 10 set down
here a cause, n or many, for the
widowed condition OF the island.
Whether it Is due to the tyranny Of
The British or to the temperament Of
the Irish, to the Anglo-Saxon greed OF
gold and lust of land orto Celtic I'M
providence, bibulousnesG and turbu-
lence; or, more likely reason, to some
OF all these and more, need not now be
discussed. The fact remains. To
adopt Grover G~leveland's famous
phrase, it is a condition and not a
theory which confronts Ireland. He
will be a wise statesman, indeed, who
will take from the land Of the Sham
rock the blight which rests upon it
The possibilities are here for rich har-
vests and richer manufactures.
Irish linen and Irish laces have uni
yersal fame and the ~cultivable area Of
the island is practically its entire ex-
tent. But farms are abandoned, the
land is a prey to landlords, no new
houses are constructed and each year
10000 Irishmen and Irishwomen leave
their old homes for other lands. ireland
is a deserted village. Goldsmith,
himself an Irishman, might find in
this day an entire country not
a mere hamlet, for description by his
facile pen. Ireland is her own worst
enemy-ably assisted by England.
PAT ON HIS NATIVE HEATH.
We like the Irish. Nor has this
fOniness been diminished by a visit to
Pat at home. The tsHias which be ex-
hibits abroad be pznnifests here more
pronouncedly. He is hospitable in the
last degree. He Is respectful to
women. He is superlatively gener-
Gus. He win give away everything he
has for his friend and then give him
self away. He always is prompt with
repartee. "But are not all Americans
good peopley" we asked Tim Kelly,
the l0-year-old runner for a Killarney
hotel There be exceptions 10 all
rules, said Tim, "eyen among Amer
leans. But they prove the rule, yer
know, yer honorl'' Pat is a composite
wildness and tenderness, Of poverty
and refinement He dearly loves dis
pute, intellectual or physical. There
arc no better fighters In any army
than the Irish. They are eloquent
with the pen and with the sword.
Each Irishman Is a born politician. He
is against the government usually
unless he is a Protestant or az efsce-
holder. He thinks Gladstone the
greatest Engiishman and claims Bryan
and Mckinley alike as typical sons Of
Erin. Impetuous, foolhardy, as the
average Irishman is, strangely enough
be makes the finest policeman. The
large cities Of the United States are
not alone Ia preferring Pat on the po-
lice force. LondOns civic guards are
Irish and in far of Cairo the Irish pre-
dominate among the policemen. The
British empire is pushed forward by
the fighting strength OF the Irish, it
is financed by the canny Scotch while
the English, a more composite c
than ever their American cousins, en-
Joy the fruits OF the financing and the
lighting.
The Irish women are as pretty as the
Irish men are gallant and brave. The
English girls can not be compared in
tRttraetiveness with the Irish. The
Englsh dress like dowdies and wear
their hair 10 tangled underbrush
fashion TflSthe Irish girl, like her
French sister, has a grace of costume
and a piquancy OF speech whether
she be in Dublin or in county DnRegsa'
in the capital or on country side.
Pat drinks too much whiskey AND
Bridget does not6bject with sufieient
emphasis. VT 1t was an Irisbman,
brave tho4gh unfortunate, Father
Mathew who founded the greatest
temp4ance society OF the last century
ap The total abstinence movement is
gaining ground even in Ireland. II
saint Patrick, whom Catholics, Epls-
copaiians and P~resbyterians alike
claim, could return to his beloved
land In this twentieth century be
would Danish from Ireland not merely
the snakes but that which causes
people 70 see snakes. Indeed II Eng
lish landlords and Irish whiskey could
be forever removed from the island
the condition Of the people would be
immeasurably improved. The land
system and the liquor problem are at
the bottom OF the Irish question, which
like the poor, we have ever with Us.
''Us, in this case meaning not only
English but Americans, for the Irish
question enters into American poll
tics as well IS into English.
In no other foreign country Is there
such cordial friendship and admira-
ton for the United States as in Ire
and. Nearly every Irishman has
relatives there and every Irisbman
ooks upon the great republic as the
'eacon. light Of hope for the oppressed
4 all the world. II could settle two I
'~erplexing problems with a single ex- {
'hange.n said an Irish member OF Par !
last night Il would have !
swap Ireland 10 the United
states for the Philippines and make
Ireland a state d the American I
lnion," 5
THE BEAUrY-sFoTs or IRELAND. I
We have been enabled 70 get al :
Of all Ireland, save the bleak
nd barren west coast North, east !
nd south we have Travelled for ten !
avs, stopping tclties and villages and Z
land and people. Wehave found
lnch 20 interest. amuse and sadden.
he b~eauty-spots Of Ireland are nun. I
rous and easily accessible. The tour :
4, who leaves Killarney, for example, !
rom his itinery, misses as charminga