The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-09-16
!. A VARIED CAREER
Denis Darlington 0'Sullivan,
= Poet, Punster, Peddler.
For Fifty Years a Writer Fer
Dublin AlmanacS.

On a winters day in the year of
1876, an interment known only to the
officials of Mas Workhouse and few
friends of the deceased took place in
the burial ground attached to that in
stitution, writes George MacDonagh
in the Dublin Independent. 1t was the
funeral of one Denis Darlington o.
Sullivan-poet, punster pauper-"a
scion of noble race, whose lays did
Dia's pages grace"
From all that can be learned OF him
O'Sullivan was the son of poor Pro-
testant or Presbyterian clergyman
named Beresford, and was born at a
place called Shancracken, Co. Armagh,
about 1863. His mother was a Sulll-
van and Catholic of poor, but re-
spectacle family; while his father, it
is believed, was a relative of the
Beresfords, Archbishops and Primates
of Armagh, and of the noble family OF
the Waterfords. The father having
died in England shortly after the boys
birth, the lad was taken from his
mother and brought to Dublin, where
he was educated in one of the Protes-
tant schools. He was subsequently
sent to the Church Educational So
ciety's School, Kildare street, where.
after receiving sufficient education,
including a smattering of the Irish
language, for the purpose of qualify
ing as teacher under that great
proselytising Association, he re-
ceived an appointment as teacher in
a Protestant school at Courtown Har-
Dor, Wexford, in 1927, from which
place he removed three years later to
kilmuckridge in the same county.
In the spring of 1882 he was ap-
pointed by the Kildare street mag
mates principal Of the Celtic Academy,
which was opened in the Tailor's Hall,
10 Back lane, Dublin, for the purpose
of imparting to their army of evange-
lizers the crude knowledge of the
Irish language that he commanded, so
that "they could the more readily con-
vert the benighted Baptists of Ireland
through the medium of the mother
tongue" While in this position he
lived as became man of means, and
moved in good society. Though all
through life he was known as Denis
Darlington O'Sullivan, his real name
was VIM. Beresford, and when writing
for the almanacs he signed himself as
such while at other times he assumed
the more common name of Peter Mac
Grath.
Shortly after this he began to ex-
perience the seamy side of life. Hav-
ing INDUCED too freely in the use of
alcohol-which fault characterized his
whole future life he was dismissed
from the Academy. Having developed,
besides his taste for tipping, a care
less and rowing disposition, he enlis-
ted in Sir Lacy Evans British Legion
to fight the battles of the Queen of
Spain. But his connection with the
Legion was brief one. He became
an incorrigible character, and had
only reached as far as Paris when he
was discharged and sent back to Ire
land. Still hankering after military
life, we next find him enlisting as
sapper and miner in the old East In
dia Company's service in 1885, but he
was soon after reshipped to Ireland
once more.
His next move was to open school
in 1887 in Thomas street, Dublin, but
it did not succeed, his rowing propen-
sites having once more taken a strong
hold on him, he became a peddler.
Roaming from town to town in the
counties Of Dublin, Meath, Kildare and
Wicklow, he disposed of almanacs,
song books, religious and other pic
lures and books, and found nights
lodging at different shopkeepers' and
farmers houses in the county. For
a trit1e he would compose rebus on
a young lady's name, and supply
in the almanacs for young shop assist
ants and farmers sons, who were am
bilious to have their names figuring
in the diaries.
In this manner did O'Sullivan exc
ont a precarious existence for nearly
fifty years, during which period he
was commonly known by the sobri-
quet of The Wandering STAR" Hav-
ing fortified himself with articles for
sale, the route he usually followed
after leaving the metropolis was
through Dunboyne, Batterstown and
Summerhill, in County Meath; thence
across to the Curragh, where he was
great favorite with the military,
composing many tit-bits of poetry for
them for small consideration, the
effusions being much admired. He
next took in Newbridge, Mas, Bally-
more-Eustace; then on to Baltinglass,
-