The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-03-20

up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We darent go a-hunting,
For fear of little men.
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping altogether,
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owls feather!"
AS far as the poles asunder are your
boef-loving Saxon, and a true Irish
poet. And there never was an Irish
poet yet but was gifted enough to
know little or much Of fairy lore. He
caught somehow glimpse of the light
There Is Mr.. Yeats, to give living ex-
ample. Even the Scotch poet, Bobbie
Burns. was not altogether in the dark
on the subject, as his Tam o'Shanter
and other verses prove. And Shakes
peare believed there are more things
in heaven and earth than are dreamt
of in mans philosophy"
Why should people try to rob us of
our fairies? Are not VIC who believe
in the Good People richer than the
sceptics? We possess not alone the Wis.,
iblc world around us, but we know
there is another world also near by
peopled by beings more numerous
than the birds Of the air, delightful,
harmless beings as whole. Is not
this faith compliment to the bounti-
full work of the Creator? Is 1t not
grand to believe that on every Irish
hill, in every glade, by every river, rill
and lake, those delightful creatures
gambol and frisk, needless of man?
Our forefathers saw them often The
druids and saints of old were familiar
with them. st. Columcille caught
many glimpse of the little elves.
Belief is to be found in them in every
county in Ireland. particularly in
places where the old tongue fingers.
1t came down from father to son like
> the language itself, and was just sa-
cred In its way. OF course, wherever
the British civilization, with its crude
and harsh ideas, intruded on the scene
the Little People vanished, and all be-
lief in them withered as with blight.
Our material ideas are like a veil be-
fore our eyes, and we cannot see.
The educated Cclt has neglected his
opportunity. lie missed much in not
hearkening to the hints of our old ira
ditions. And now we actually have
Englishmen coming among us and en-
joying something of the heritage that
most of our countrymen have missed
Sad is it that to prove to a Celt the
existence of the fairy we have to take
the evidence of an Englishman!
In an English magazine Mr.. G. w.
Leadbeater tells of the fairies he saw
on an Irish hillside. He says he visit
ed zone Of the additionally sacred
hills of Ireland" and while he found
at tho foot OF the hill tho plains
"swarming with red-and-black fairies,
the friends of the Milesians," high up
on the hill he found the "gentlcr blue
and-brown type, which long ago owed
special allegiance to the Tuathado-Da-
man." One section will not mix with
the other.
To Mr.. Leadbeater, with his gift of
second sight, a fairy is as common a
sight as bird or q sheep is to the
ordinary man. For instance, he tells
us that
an England the emerald green va
riety (of fairy is probably the com.
monest, and have seen it also in the
woods of France, Belgium and Saxony,
in far away Massachusetts, and on
the banks of the Niagara River. Tho
vast plains of the Dakotas are inhabit-
ed by a black and-white kind which I
have not seen elsewhere, and CalifOr-
ia rejoices in a lovely white and gold
species which also appears to be
unique. In Australia the most fire.
cuent type is r. very distinctive crea-
ture of a luminous sky-bluc color; in
New Zealand they have deeper blue,
shot with silver, while in the South
Sea Islands one meets with sllvery
white variety which coruscates with all
the colors of the rainbow like a figure
of mothcr-of-pearl."
And these are the lovely beings
some scoffers would Danish as with a
proclamation! What proof can be Civ
en- Of their existence they will ask
Their bodies are Of ether, the same
substance which Mr.. Marconi uses in
sending his wireless messages across
the ocean. Mr.. Marconi will tell you
that ether, which we cannot see, can
penetrate the waters and the solid
earth. A fairy can pass through a
J wall as a man would walk through
smoke. In almost the same way as
X-rays can pass through solid sub.
stances SO can the vision Of a man