The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-03
Irish Demi-GoJs.

As We might nave known. Ireland
has special brand of gods and it
appears from a reading of DENT Gods
CMacmillsns), by JAMES STEPHENS. who
knows all about them. that they are of
the very best sort, with attitudes Of
marked lenity toward sin.
Three Of them descended upon Ire
land recently for q summer vacation
and after falling in with a remarkable
strolling tinker who had a still more
remarkable daughter they toured the
land with them. They wandered
easily through rugged. beautiful Don
egal down into Connaught," "traversed
for weeks in Connemara by the clam
orous sea, where they lived sumptuously
on fish, and then they struck TO the
inland plains again, and away by curv-
ing paths to the County Kerry" where
after a few days OF dropping with the
hunger" they had one memorable al
fresco meal that must have eclipsed the
fish dinners Of Connemara entirely.
This strolllng tinker. Padraig Mac
Cam, at first glance scarcely appears
to be a At companion for celestial visI-
tors. lie IL far from being what the
people who live upon the neighboring
island call respectable. He works at
tinkering only as last resort, and
never In the presence OF the reader,
whereas. on the other hand, he does
a neat bit OF burglary. on one oCCa-
sion, right before your eyes Laws
were not for him and troubled him
no more than as he had 10 bend or
climb a little to avoid them" His real
occupation. and it was an engrosslng
one, was the search for food:
with what skill he did hunt, He wouls
pick crumbs from the lank chaps OF famine:
he g2thered nourishmsnt from tho empty
air: he liftsd II from wells and water
courses: he picked q on clothesllnes and
hedges
lie had a culture too. and II It was not
wide It was profound; he knew wind and
weather as few astronomers know Il. he
knew the habit OF the trees and the earth.
how the seasons moved, not as seasons but
as days ana hours; he had gathered all the
sweets OF summer. and tho last rigor OF
winter was no secret TO him: he had foug II
with the winter every year OF his life as one
nghts with a mad beast, he had held on
that sri,rlieN OF muEzI.s and escaped
scatheless
To him men and women, especially
il they we've good men and women.
We're prey to he bitten and escaped
and all the things that he did. we are
told, We're completely understood by
his daughter Mary.
Look at Patsy MacCann and his
daughter from any angle that YOU
choose and It must be confessed that
they are precious pair. And at the
corners Of the highways and under
the hedges they meet and Introduce
the three holy angels to certain ruff
fans Of their acqua intance who are
of such unspeakahle "lowness" that the
bailiffs IN Goldsmith's Good Natured
Man" whom we had hitherto regarded
as marking the limit In this directiop
become sweet by comparison, There is
actually one wild scene in this book
II takes place in a lonely hut, where
some OF these wretches and the three
angels find refuge one night from q
storm, that IL so pronouncedly without
moral bias Of any sort that we doubt
II any respectable newspaper in Amer.
Tea would care to reproduce II.
But that the Abbey Street Theatre
literary crowd have 40 completely ter
rorzed public opinion, all Ireland would
be in revolt by this time at the pic
ture thus held up Of irish manners
| II toilltS lnHlulOutly ana III an dMk'
ward movement.
Breeaes filled the hut from III,
broken windows. Outside the rain fS
with a dull noise and when 1t haC
rained more the floor OF the hous,
would become muddy. The prospec
for the night was not enlivening. II
tho effort to shake Off conscious
ness OF discomfor, one Of the compan,
tells story. II is the first Of severa
short stories which form kernel 70
the Demi- Gods, and all the rest OF tn,
book is background and preparation
for them. The leading up TO them Ia
feat OF great skin and one recalls II
the reading. among other settings 70
tales that are told, such as the Flesol
gardens for the "Decameron" and tn
Inn in Don Quixote, and one reluctant,
comedies that an author here and ther
catches whifIs Of the great style.
within this group Of short storie
in enwrapped one we know already, tn
"BridR O'ET.en," and this q: course let
us who have read Here Are Ladies
Into this secret OF workmanship, II /
most excellent short story, quite i
the first rank OF modern work an