The Irish standard., 1908-09-19
OLD FAMILIAR FACES
Interesting Irish Types That
Are Dying.
We're Props and Pillars Of Gaelic
Civilization.

/
groan. Ireland is losing many features
which for centuries were props and
pillars of Gaelic civilization. writes T.
B. Cronin in the Sydney Press.
The revival movement, to be sure. is
j doing a good deal to save Ireland
from becoming a stranger to herself,
but it can never hope to rebuild her
shattered institutions on the soil of the
! goth century. You can't bring back the
/ language. the art, the literature, and
| the commerce. all in their own good
time, but you can no more restore
the power and prestige of the village
forge than you can the pitch-cap, the
penal laws. or the quartering block
Irish life before the famine contained
many interesting figures. They are
now passed away over three-parts Of
the country. but on the western sea-
board and wherever the olden tongue
is spoken. wholly or in part they
linger on, with decreasing influence,
until the coming tide of modern ideals
shall finally overwhelm them.
The Shanachie.
| The Shanachie. f1reside story tel
Ter. is still flourishing institution in
many places. You are bound to meet
him in every townland in the Irish
speaking districts. He is generally one
of the old hedge schoolma sters. or else
an individual whose powers of imagi-
nation have led him to adopt this use
full and entertaining avocation. He
knows all the ancient legends by
heart, and can easily spin yarn that
may take a full hour in the recital
He is treated with great respect by
the country folk. who. though they
furnish him with free board and lodg-
ing. never commit the indiscretion Of
inviting him to take q. hand in the
current farming operations. He spends
his life passing to and fro among the
farmhouses Nothing is too good for
the Shanachie. The eggs can never
he too fresh for him: the cream can
never be thick enough the msat can
never be too well cooked; and the tea
could not be by any means too ch,'ce
for his palate. His business hours be-
gin after shutdown, and he is but n
dozen of the most thrilling tales. every
evening, around the turf fire.
The cobbIer.
That one-time familiar figure In
Irish village life-the old fashioned
cobbler--is rapidly passing into tho
realm of things that were. Not very
many years ago his sign was ubiqui-
tous. and his CHEEKY personality was
part Of the atmosphere Of every par
ish. He was the village sage, the an
failing weather prophet. and his shop
was the favorite loafing place. He
worked hard. but was always willing
to drop his last when stern duty called
him to take a hand in q game Of cards
or a political argument. Thus he
pegged away serenely until mechanic
al invention made his craft almost
obsolete. Now, the jolly Irish cobbler
| is no more, for he was crushed be-
tween shoe mending machinery and
cheap foreign competition. He was
| too honest to do poor work, and too
much alive to his dignity to do work
at cut rates. He did not succumb all
in a day. but was gradually frozen
out. Individually he was a. great poll
tician of the old school. but the new
forces were too much for him. Yet
the cobbler welded mighty influence
in many parishes Sad to relate. how
ever, when his trade went down his
importance and prestige almost i'm
mediately died away
That Thatcher.
The matching profession, too. has
fallen on evil days. At one tin e, no.
body owned a. slated house in the rural
districts save the parish priest. the
dispensary doctor, and the odd few
who took their architectural cues
from the towns and cities At the
present time the farmer regards a
matched roof as a symbol of poverty
and his heart yearns for habi.aticn
covered with slate. The change OF
ideas in this respect has made the
countryside far less picturesque than
it used to be. The modern Farmhouse
is more like a glori1ed barn than the
dwelling place Of beings who should
possess at least elementary tastes.
Ireland is not half as beautiful since
the thatcher's Job fell into disrepute
OF course, the bulk of the farmhouses
are still innocent Of slate. but .fere
can be no doubling that the profess
i sional thatcher is on the wane The