Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-26

delphia, Washington, Worcester, Westfield,
Bridgeport, Pawtucket, Brockton, Holyoke,
Springfield, Providence, Montreal, Quebec
and San Francisco. There is not a week
through the winter in New York when on
one or more nights a program entirely in
Gaelic may not be found in progress.
Usually there is an hour or more of study
first under a teacher provided by the So
ciety and then a musical and literary pro-
gram, often with Irish dancing as a finale
when some one can be found who knows
the real old Irish steps. There must be
thousands in New York who know the true
Irish dances, but they are lost in the multi
tude.
A passenger who crossed the Atlantic not
long ago found his way down into the steer
age when al entertainment was in progress,
One number was furnished by a little peas
ant girl fresh from the bogs. green as the
grass OF the Emerald isle. She was dan
cling a true Irish Jig and the little people
themselves had put the motion in her feet.
1t was the poetry OF motion-a wild,
primitive step, not voiuptuous like the
Oriental dances, but having that peculiar
influence on the beholder that all print
tive dances nave whether the Highland
fling, the tarantella or any other that has
come down from the childhood of the race.
Good round dollars we're waiting for the lit
tie Irish maid could any one have gently
guided her steps to a vaudeville stage. But
she melted away in the throng at Ellis is
land and today no doubt stands over some
prosaic dishpan, an artist lost to the world.
The national dance of Ireland is the Rinca
Fosha, the "long Dance which is some
thing like the Virginia reel. The Irish jig
is danced at four corners in the form of
the figure s, 1t may be danced by one, two
or four, but the same figures are always
used.
Some Old Irish Airs.
The Irish Jig tunes have been played
under different names the world over They
have lost their original names, and their
authorship is lost, IL ever known, but they
have become part Ct the worlds legacy OF
music. one OF them known before st
Patrick's time, had a name given it and
words set to It by some rhymster within
a century past. Under its new guise It ha'
played Tommy Atkins away to the wars
over seven seas, and made its way int
every nook and corner of civilization. IT.
new name is The Girl / Left Behind Me-
The old tune "Aileen Aroon.' which
means Darling Ellen" has been known
thousand years In ireland. and THE Re
turn From Fingal' was composed in 1914
The later was the funeral march or lamen
played by the pipers at the burying o
Brian Boru, one OF the old kings.
The story OF 'Aileen Aroonr Is distinct,
reminiscent OF Lochinvar. Ellen had al
exiled lover, driven away by the h%ostlit!
Of her parents. He returned to find he
on the eve OF marriage with q wealth!
sutton, He went to the wedding disguise,
as a harper and played the melody O
"Aileen Aroon,' known t. him and Elel
only As he played he cunningly wove int.
the words a prayer to Ellen to slip ava,
and fly with him before the priest salt
| the fatal words, which she did. or sh
would have been no Atleen Aroon.
The Bard's Legacy was written b.
' Moore for a very ancient Irish air, and q
fact nothing and no one has done so niue
TO preserve the old melodies from extinC
, ton as Moore, by reason OF the character
istic and beautiful words which he set I
them. And although the deepest dyed G
the Gaelic revivalists declare hat Moore
poems form no part OF Irish literature
e being written in English, yet the tru
y Mllesian heart loves his memory an
Z strives to forget his turf hunting qualitie
in the and of the S~assenach.
r Pipes and the Harp.
Tn ~bagpipes are as much Irish as scotel