The Irish standard., 1908-01-04
4: DliMAN1lEDIl. D. TOWN.

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Concerning. Carrlck and the
Carrick Man. Also. -.
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storehouses that Tell d Tale Of
Past Prosperity. :. =.
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There are two; 8, proverbs very fire.
quently heard which concern carrlck.
One. of these contains the assertion
that wherever you go you will meet
"a .Carrick man; the other is Brief and
mysterious, and is worded thus: Car
rick, dread you,' says Father F'itz-
gerald in the Catholic Press, Sydney,
Australia. What claims all original
inhabitant of Carrick has to being con-
sidered ubiquitous beyond the average
Irishman Is not easily seen, but at the
same time one must not challenge the
truth of a. proverb without running the
risk of being charged with irreverent
temerity, for the proverbs Of all ma
tions are considered to be the crystal
liked wisdom of many generations of
wtseacres, who most self sacrificingly
neglected their own affairs to enrich
posterity with nuggets of condensed
lore.
From the fact that it is a Carrick
man you may expect to meet every
where and not Carrick woman. it
must not be suspected that wives in
that town fail to exercise an attractive
influence on their husbands, who con-
sequently seek relief in the distractions
which foreign parts afford. No; for
among the Warmest-hearted people in
the whole of Ireland the Carrick peo-
pie, men and women, should be accord
ed a premier and an honored place. If
there are Carrickmen to be met with
far from their native town 1t is because
Carrick~ has suffered most disastrous
ly from commercial misfortunes during
the past few decades of years, and to-
day that once 1lourishing center is
truly only a shadow of her former
self.
Ii is not so very long ago since Car
rick, which now numbers four or five
thousand, was able to support the cred
liable. number of fourteen thousand.
There. were tanneries and wool factor
les, and great forwarding grain stores.
Besides, Carrick was famous for the
quality of boots made there. In fact,
there was one street where all the
houses were little boot factories en-
ploying many hands. That street is
now, and perhaps always was, called
a lane. and is narrower than any street
in Naples, and yet great fortunes were
amassed there. 1t is said that the
sun never sets on the British empire"
but it may be safely asserted that so
close are the, houses together, it new
or rises on Cooks Lane, for this is the
appellation which now perpetuates the
fame of that once busy thoroughfare,
and is attributable to the circum-
stance that in bysone years, when the
concourse of country people to Car
rick was considerable, there. were num-
bers of cook-shops in that convenient
quarter.
There are five storehouses i'll Car
rick telling the usual tale of past pros
perity in the days that were, and round
about the country you may see many
an old mill and the big mill-wheel mo-
tionless and it's ironwork rusty, and its
woodwork worm eaten, the glass in it's
windows shattered, and birds flying in
and out, for human beings come and
go there no longer. Magnificent wa
tercourses run away unused to the sea.
and piles of machinery are only heaps
I. of scrap-iron. From the top of Grubb's
hill over the town you get a beautiful
view up towards Clonmel, down to-
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enamon. Through this fertile vale the
River SUR runs. Yet, although you
command a vista of several miles each
way. perhaps you may not count three
fields under cultivation in the whole
circle Of vision-and this the very best
land In Ireland
The cessation-total or partial-ot
agriculture is responsible for another
lamentable consequence-the deteriora-
ton of physique in the countryman
There is no mode of life calculated to
form healthier manhood than agricul-
tural life. The thousand and one du-
ties Of the farmer in connection with
his lands, crops and cattle constitute
SO many athletic exercises as to be q
perfect. training discipline for the de.
velopment Of mans ehdowments. SC
far as have seen of Connacht fhe,