The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1915-09-18
The Man Who Came Back

LIS long, loH6 Woy W AAPpoI-
ary," sang the Great Southern &
Western express train as it Numbered
down from Dublin in the early morn
ing hours. At least that was the song
it seemed to be singing in the ears Of
Mike Ryan, just returned as unfit for
further service from the British
front in Belgium.
Every click Of the rushing wheels
tainted him with the refrain; every
wind-tossed meadow and cornfeld
nodded the words to him as he swept
past them, all green and fresh In the
dewy sweetness of morn. A lark wing
ing up from nearby hillside seemed
to be caroling the same hateful words
as 1t mounted higher and higher into
the misty realms of his native skies.
All the world seemed talking Of Tip
perary to Mike Ryan, and he was
coming back there himself this sum-
mer morning the half of the man he
left 1t, and with shame on his soul,
sorer and sadder than even his dis
figured face and MANNED body showed
to the fresh morning light.
Less than six months before he had
travelled over this road en- route to
Belfast, where he had been told, all
kinds Of good jobs were waiting for
competent men, and at fine salary,
since all the Orangemen of the North
were supposed to be taking service
under the Union Jack and clamoring
for immediate shipping to the front.
Mike Ryan was an ardent volunteer,
and had no more use for any flag be-
yond the Green old Banner that his
father had taught him to love in child
hood than his Satanic Majesty is said
to have for holy water. But Mike
Ryan wanted some money and he
wanted it badly.
The youngest son of small farmer,
handicapped with Land Purchase pay
nents and local taxation, not to speak
at all of food prices, far higher than
ever known before even in famine
times, and subject to reign Of terror
ism before which the Coercion SOS
showed up in favorable light, any
lettering Of conditions seemed an i'm
possible dream to Mike Ryan as he
gagged his future and looked around
him for something better than being
one too many in an overcrowded
household.
An alluring advertisement in Dub
lin paper had decided him on what
course he should take, so when his
father had given him the price of a
new suit Of clothes at the end of the
year, he had taken a ticket to Dublin
instead, and OH being accepted for
shipyard work in Belfast, had been
forwarded there with score of other
young men all as eager as himself to
make a few. shillings towards their
own independence.
At the shpyard to which he had
been consigned, Mike Ryan had been
received without question. His eye
sight and nervous system had beer
closely tested, but this he had not
minded, thinking his future tasks
might depend on efficiency along these
Hines.
Day had succeeded day, however, and
still his permanent task was not al
lotted to him or to any of the boys
who had come with him from the ia,
South. Meeting together after the
quitting whistle had blown. they had
talked this thing over together, but
had been assured by their new mates
that it was on account of waiting fol
good vacancies to occur that the fore
man kept them SO long at inferior
tasks.
Then one night 1t happened. Weary
and wishful for the old home ways
and the old home faces, twenty OF
these Tipperary boys had gone out
for lark together painting Belfast
for once in green as fresh and jolly
as their own home fields. Everyone
they met helped the good cause along
till towards morning blank fell on
the innocent roysterers and the first
thing they were conscious of was the
chug chug of an ocean vessel beneath
them and the deadly sickness of sea
voyaging turning their empty stom.
achs inside out. One glance at the
bottom of their hunks was enough.
Twenty khaki uniforms, stiff as
starch, grinned back at them, and
twenty saucy looking caps stamped
with the insignia OF Britannias King,
Georgius Rex, lay at hand ready to be
donned at moments notice.
"shanghaied! by all the goats in
Munster!" cried the young Tipperary
man as he struggled out of his reel.
ing bunk.
"sLAck POPE. IN SWITZERLAND.
Rev. Father Cannon, s. j., and the
other Assistants to the General of
the Jesuit order have gone to switz.
erland to ioin the Very Rev Rather