The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-04-22
BEAUTIFUL IRISH
EASTER CUSTOM
Parents and Children, Employer and
Employe, All Take Part in
Easter Station
Factories Are Closed on Such Oc-
casions That Workers May
Attend Mass.
All Make it a Practice to Perform
Their Easter Duty When the
Station is Held.

Ii an lrishman happened to be on
a cycling tour in the sunny South Of
he dropped in to visit a certain busy
little mill on the morning of Easter
Station" the unusual picture pre-
sented to him as he entered the prem
ises would at once fill his mind with
Wonderment. There is no hum OF ma
chinery; all is still and silent A cov-
cred car, a side car and trap are in
the yard. You notice the group of
young men and women outside the
door of the managers house, and it
extends into the hall; all are dressed
in their best: the mems heads are un-
covered, the young women are wear
ing shawls on their heads: all are evil
IDENTIFY engaged in some solemn cere-
mony.
You enquire and finu it is Station
morning. Then you notice the prayer
book and beads, and you know the
people are waiting their turn for con-
fession. Inside in the house, in sep
arate rooms two priests are hearing
confessions. One by one the peni-
tents enter, and, kneeling at the feet
of the confessor, confess their sins
and express their sorrow. Then hav-
ing absolution and the priests good
advice, each passes out to a ware
room which has been prepared for
Mass House The counters are hid
den away under white linen, ana on
one Of them is erected temporary
altar. Around the walls the SHOW
cards have been removed and replac-
ed by pictures of the Sacred Heart,
the Holy Family, the Blessed Virgin
and st. Joseph.
The confessions being over, all are
assembled in the Mass House" and
the holy ceremony is begun. The
priests boy serves Mass, and the con-
gregation, now crowding the room,
are close up to the priest and the al
tar. II is heartening scene, and
ones mind wanders back inevitably
to the Penal Days when the Holy Sac
riiice was offered up in the caves or
in the hidden recesses Of the valleys,
when a price was on the priests head
and watchers We're planted on the hill
tops to give the alarm of the approach
of the Yeomen.
The congregation was composed of
young and old. The station" was for
the mill employees and all others in
the townland, and SO the farmers and
laborers with their families, as well
as the mill workers, were all assem-
bled. Parents and children, employer
and employe, all blended together.
The prosperous farmer kneeling with
the manager in the midst of his staff,
proud to be associated with them.
Young workers of fine physique, rosy
faced girls, few oldaged pensioners
to complete the picture, all bent down
devotionally over their books or beads
as the Mass proceeded.
Holy Communion is administered
to the entire congregation with great
solemnity. During the most sacred
part of the ceremony startling noise
in the distance conjures up vision
of an exciting interruption. such as
must often have been the experience
of our Orefathers-maybe in this very
glen. When the alarm was given the
Mass had to be hurriedly ended and
the gathering dispersed, or perhaps
the priest robed in his vestments had
to fight with his faithful guard for
his life, and be shot down on the very
spot, where a few minutes before he
had offered up the Most Holy Sacri-
flee. But our alarm is harmless, it
is only the noisy footing of a passing
motor car that has excited our easily
distracted thoughts
Mass being ended, the priest, in
simple and eloquent language, deliv-
ers homely lecture which, owing to
its simplicity, goes straight to the