The sun., 1903-11-24
MIR. YEATS AND TIE BANsHEE.
The BOwsy, the White Lady and the Soul
OF the UnpatriOtic CObbler.

To THE EDITOR OF The sUN-Sir: If any
one in the audience wishes to ask me any
questions, l will be glad to answer him."
said William Butler Yeats at the close
Of his lecture in New Haven on THE Heroes
Of An cient Irish History" And then he was
knocked out in short order by Jim Meehan.
who wanted to know what became OF the
banshees. MY dear man." gasped Mr.
Yeats, II don't know what you are driving
atl"
By the big Bowsy! Mr.. Yeats must have
spent his youth in Dublin or London, Con-
sequently, he is city gawk" He never
saw viii o. the Wisp, never had the pleasure
OF shaking hands with lcpracbsun. pe7er
rrembled before the Dowsy. never spoke to
the Man with the long, green hair" never
| heard the gay little people" the fairies.
tiuerins in the ivy of some grim old castle.
never felt his hair climbing out Of his hat on
the approach of the white Lady," and never
fancied that the marrow of his bones was
frozen by the winds which carried the walls
of the Banshee Poor Mr. Yeats! he missed
"a powerful sight of divarsion.
But, after all. there Is room for suspicion
that Mr. Yeats Is not so ignorant in reality
as he appeared to be- The probability is
that he knows all about the Blnshee and
that he doubted the sincerity of Jim Meehan.
What would not that rascal dim give now
to get another chance to have the life half
scared out of him" by the Binshee. to hunt
for leprachauns among the haunted hills.
to watch the antics of Will o the Wisp and
8a run awcy from the Fowsy'
For the benefit OF wicked scep.ios. II may
be we'll to state here that the Banshee is the
Gaelic Angel of Grief. 1t is her sad duty
to announce the near approach OF death
in the old families. Celtic and Norman. and
to wander abroad on stormy nights visiting
old tombs and singing weird songs. frag-
'1,ents OF which are picked up by the winds
and echoed in the woods and hills She Is
n highly aristocratc angel, she rever weeps
for the plebeans. and probably toAt is one
OF the reasons why Jim Meehan doS' not like
her. When all the aristocratc old families
in Ireland become extinct. the Barshee Will
retire from business. or. as Jim Meehan might
put t. FYIe ,Ie " W4r hsT was os wild Irish tinker and
practical joker who sold his soul to the devil.
He played so many, tricks upon the poor
Prince Of Darknes that the latter gave strict
side the gates Of hell and to take him back TO
Ireland to run along all the lonely roads with
ghted snd tba %Ip OF Of weay
travellers in the distance and 10 leao 'he'n
astray.
dob5er "af now earnns and
obhsTs Of irsand Ga Ard he
and too good to 60 to hell So. through the
?GTs G~+ Fl in st the ps,Ss 1fs 81" h
Ireland, to guard the hidden treasures and 70
aMd hs nSss 5 of ee se nses ony Thbsy we're
never permitted to enjoy, an hours relaxa-
tion in their work. Lucky, surely; is the
The little cha p keeps his wings, beetle fashion.
tucked under his coat, The mar. must grab
blaze h hoa Were e The Gold IS to FOUND
leprachaun, always cunning, has In store
many methods for turning his captor's atten-
ton to some object in tho distance. II one
OF these methods succeeds, he spreads his
wings and flies off like a bee, lea wing the poor
man to curse his own stupidity and to bewail
'''i The he White Lady is the young woman Sns to tG
whom Moore refers in his song, Rich len and and
right in regard to the gems. but the wand
which she held in her hand was in reality her
H1t Rii alone Pn 'l' she walked across the island to
prove the honor and virtue Of the good boys
% T oas ssG ate e saint t'P PesT she was
wiling to overlook her imprudence. but he
remembered that he was a fisherman, ne
rod and turning it to such a foolish and pro-
fame use So he sent her back d to reiand tho he
SiIIs Isa and II thronsh "R the woods until the time
came for taking her up to heaven She Is
" II The Bowsy s is spirit of evil; If we are to
believe the records, and yet the poor devil
never did any harm beyond soaring people Ipf,Ie
HIS appearance IL ueClu'u!y
He always comes out, in he, shape of big
between his horns. with sparks flying out Of
his eyes and nostrils, and blnaes coming out
OF his mouth. Fortunately, he always walks
movements sufficiently slow to, enable z
nimble gossooI to run away from him Bold
hands with the Bowsy There is no record
Of any hero who ever tried it, and therein
lies a chance for Mr.. Yeats:
The Gay Little People" or Good Little
People" are simply fairies. sometimes mis-
Ghievous generally harmless and interest
ing. W.