The Irish standard., 1905-11-04
The Gaelic Has Come to Its Own But the
Gael is Going, Despite Anti Emigration
Council Offered Him.
The Irish-American "Tourist," One in q
Thousand Who Has Met With Success,
Does Incalculable Mischief.

I Of his own progress, does incalculable
mischief, inflaming the minds Of his
old neighbors with discomfort and
awakening in them the wander lust
which has been so fatal to the grand
old race in Ireland.
There are not a few impartial OBJ
servers who believe that the same
tourist" is chiefly responsible for the
continuance Of emigration. He boasts
Of what he has done and Of what he is
going to do. He says nothing Of those
who fall by the wayside, and whose life
is of the gutter. He does not explain
that poverty in Ireland among friends
is paradisiacal compared with poverty
in strange land, where so much is
needed for the sustenance of life.
An Augustinian missionary, Rev.
! Father Sampson, who is familiar with
every section of the country, explains
the situation alliteratively according to
| his idea; concisely, too: Tourists and
Tea" The boast of the tourist is the
lure to his brothers; the tea stands
for change in diet which threatens to
undermine health as well as to retard
prosperity. Tea, in Father SIMPSONS
| indictment, means more than tea-it
| means the consumption Of all sorts Of
package stuffs" and the neglect Of
home produce. Bread and tea on the
farmers breakfast table, bakers bread
at that, Is wretched substitute for
the wholesome stirabout of yore. Does
no one eat oatmeal in Ireland nova
days? "Only the gentry and the visit
ors and some of the old people," Even
for these there is no Irish oatmeal. A
| certain brand Of American rolled oats
| finds ready sale in the shops at six
pence package, although the farmers
harvest their oats regularly every Sep
| tember. American flour, American
meal, American canned goods are used
everywhere. Meanwhile the mill wheels
are silent in Ireland; beside every
stream the deserted mills are fast fall
ing into ruin and decay. The farmer
sells his grain and buys his flour, sells
his cattle and buys his meat and his
butter; his wife and daughters drink
gallons of tea and send the milk to the
creameries.
"Tourists?" SCOTS Tipperary peas.
ant. who minds them blatherskites
coming back with empty pockets and
| the clothes on their backs? Tea? Tea,
is it? Well, maybe 'twould poison them
! If they'd get too much Of it, but they
| don't. No, no; I'll tell you what's the
ruination Of Ireland: it's pride, that's
what 1t is. Dye think I'd let me
daughter marry blacksmith or a car
penter at home, and me small farmer?
l Not bit Of 1t, but I'll let her go
| abroad and do worse for herself. Dye
think I'd see my sons helping to make
roads or to pave streets in Ireland? I
wouldn't; they wouldn't see themselves
doing it. They'll go to America and
become the commonest day laborers. II
they'd work as hard home as they do
away from home, there would be no
need to emigrate. No. we're too proud
for our own good, that's what We are"
An English M. p. recently told an
Irish member that sentiment Is the
ruination Of the Irish. Certain nom
catholics Join with the erratic Mr..
George Moore in attributing the condi-
tion Of ireland to the "ultra-religion, -
which, hating ambition. makes the
1rishman perfectly content with the
unhappiness Of this world in the posi-
lively expected happiness Of the world
to come'-a tribute to the Christianity
of the Isle Of Saints from its most
inveterate enemies.
/ Whatever the cause or the causes,
the outflow is steady. and, despite the
large families common to the country.
population is constantly diminishing.
Ask in any village. city or town what Is
the number Of souls, and the answer
is, so many few years ago, so many
fewer this year. The young and the
strong. the rightful builders Of Ire