Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-11-27
"TPPERARY"


Man Is n wrong headed animal. lie
may take his pleasures sadly. but he
insists on taking his griefs hiariously.
10 goes into battle singing comic
songs. lie may see his comrades fnll.
he may have TO lay waste n country
his officers tell him TO. and he should
mourn and .anaiyge MS emotions aud
his deeds irrcapeetlyely ana think OH
jcctively Of the Terrible things he Is
seeing: but he PLAYS practical jokes on
his surviving comrades and becomes
heated over a bunkic's failure to re-
lfurn Il swap OF tobacco. II he Is a
noncombatant It Is Just the name; his
imotto is: why should the children
OF King 20 mourning all their days.
Scandal follows among the good but
wearisomt people who would have the
pefycrse human brute logical. and
they write articles and letters to the
editor condemnlng the heartless folk
who dance TO Its Long Way TO
Tippcrary'' when brave men are sing
ing that air as they go TO death. IL
should be sacred. III these weil-mean-
ing people could get Tommy Atkins'
view they would be surprised at his
attitude and shocked by his language.
! fIe viii be tickled and finttered when
he hears that careless merry-mak prs
dance on Broadway TO his marching
song. why did he pick K out? The
English kingsfoik OF those wcll-mean7
| ing mourners of ours sci dienified
jand ennobling waT songs for him TO
sing, but he would have none OF them:
he cast them into outer darkness and
sang aTipperary" because IL had
nothing to do with the case.
IL il Irrelevant and profane not TO
wear long face, not to speak In
hnshed tones whenever one thinks OF
the tragedy abroad Why. in our own
great national tragedy we turned
as much OF 1t as we could into comedy.
We sang songs which treated our suf-
fering heroes lightly. Irreverentiy; we
sang "The Captain With His Whiskers
stole a SLY Glance at Me- and we
sang Of "Old Massa. With the Mus
tache on His Face" And we danced
10 those tunes; and our suffering he
|roes would not sing The star san
gled Banner" but insisted on such IT.
reverent songs as "Lorena"
When the wars OF the French fevo-
luton were raging, after the fall OF
Robespierre. there was a great burst
of gaylety in Paris, there were VIC
tim ifIiiS 10 DC Httffi'e's' ~ NstNff
one must have lost relative under
the terror. and one must wear a badge
OF crepe around the arm. Peace to
the dead; let us dance 10 their MEM
DRY! For in all ways one must dance
so Carlyle views IL. and is wise
+ Hear him again.: While the septem-
her massacres were going on, twenty
three theaters were crowded nightly;
..while right arms here grow weary
with Staying. right arms there were
fweedle-deeing on melodious catgut'
I1eartless? Perhaps; but perhaps the
explanation lies deeper in human ma
tufe, and those are not allwlse who
believe that mourning consists in
crepe alone. let us dance to their
memory" II was not unsympathetical-
ly or eallously that the merrymakers
chose for their great dancing tune the
one which the soldiers had chosen for
their marching tune. chose II out Of
hundred others. Man is. as Wilde.
said, "a clown with a broken heart ii
he ceased his clowning. Iight-hearts
ed and light-headed little people OF
the cabarets, dance on 20 the tune Of
"Tippernry;'' only the unco guild mis-
you and Tommy Atkins
smiles approval