The Irish standard., 1909-03-20

Down the rushy glen,
We darcn't go a-hunting,
For fear of little men.
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping altogether,
Green jacket, red cap
And white owls fcathcr!"
AS far as the poles asunder are your
boef-loving Saxon, and true Irish
poet. And there never was an Irish
poet vet but was gifted enough to
know little or much of fairy lore. He
caught somehow a glimpse of the light.
There IS Mr.. Yeats, to give Il 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 arc more things
in heaven and earth than are droamt
Of in mans philosophy"
Why should people try to rob us of
our fairies? Are not We 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
pcopled by beings more numerous
than the birds Of the air. delightful,
harmless beings as a whole. Is not
this faith a 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 fOrefathcrS saw them often The
druids and saints of old were familiar
with them. ST. Columcillc caught
many a glimpse OF the little elves.
Belief is to be found in them in every
county III 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. or 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 withcrcd as with a blight.
Our material ideas are like veil be-
fore our eyes, and we cannot see.
The educated Colt has neglected his
opportunity. lie missed much in not
hcarkcning to the hints of our old ira
ditions. And now we actually have
IGnglishmcn coming among us and on
joying something of the heritage that
most OF our countrymcn have missed.
Sad Is it that to prove to d Cclt the
existence OF the fairy VIC have to take
the evidence of an EngliShman!
In an English magazine a Mr.. G. w.
L,adbcater tolls of the fairies he saw
on an Irish hillside. He says he visit
cd "Onc Of the tradiliOnally sacred
hills of Ireland" and while he found
al the foot OF the hill the plains
"swarmng with rcd-and-black fairirs.
the friends Of the Milcsinns,' high up
on the hill he found the "gcntIcr blue
and-brown typo, which long ago owed
special allegiance to the T,lathado-Da
maan." One section will not mix with
the other.
TO MIR. Lcadbcatcr, with his gift OF
second sight. a fairy is as common Il
sight as a bird or a sheep is to the
ordinary man. For instance, he tells
us that
"In England the emerald green va
ricty (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. The
vast plains Of the DakOtas arc inhabit-
cd by n black-and- white kind which !
have not seen elsewhere, and CalifOr-
: in rejoiccs in a lovely white and gold
species which also appears to be
uniuuc. In Australia the most frc-
,;;.cnt type is a very distinctive rr"a :
turc Of a luminous sky-buc color; in
New Zealand they have deeper blue,
shot with silver, while in the South
Sea Islands one meets with a silvcry
white variety which cOruscatcs with all
the coIors of the rainbow like figure
OF motbcr-of- pearl"
And these arc the lovely beings
, some scoffers would Danish as with a
proclamation! What proof can be Civ
en- of their existence they will ask Z
, 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 VIC cannot see, can
penetrate the waters and the solid
earth. A fairy can pass through a
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
-s.rb <y1i, e,o