Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-24
RURAL DISTRICTS OF UNHAPPY
IRELAND GIVE SCANT SYMPATHY
TO REVOLUTIONARY OUTBREAK
Promise Of Bright Fu-
ture and Cooperative
Movement Shattered
by Insurrection
BY ELLEN ADAIR
Written especially for EvEStSa LsDonR.
MEAD E5NrNJtscoRT7Jy NAV a

NEAR BNNISCOhIft1s may o.
In journeying through the rural districts
of unhappy ireland, 1 think l have dis.
covered one thlng-this insurrecton does not
represent the real spirit of ireland. The
great majority of the insurrectionists have
been dupes, with no real conception of what
they we're fighting for 1t seems to me
that the men who truly typify the part
which Ireland Is playing in this great
worldwar are such heroes as the Dublin
Fusilliers, leaping from their boats into a
hurricane Of fire on the sands of Beach ",
at the Dardenelles: the Muster Fuslllers.
facing certain death with n laugh on their
lips and a great pride in their eyes men
such as Lieutenant Mike O'Leary, who
saved his company. killed eight Germans
single-handed, and captured fortified po-
sitlon; the lncorruptble Irish prisoners of
war who turned their backs on Sir Roger
Easement These are the men who stand
for Ireland and her old lndomitable spirit
today.
RURAL DISTRICTS LOYAL.
In the rural districts the majority of the
Irish appear to be loyal They plod along
peacefully with their occupations. "'Tis
strange the ongon's o. thin Sim Feiner
boys!' they say, "Shure tis divilmint that
leads thin ont"
In tiny village near Dublin saw n
curious thing occur. Two insurrectonists,
gun in hand and badge on arm, were har-
language was hardly of a repeatable nature
Around distant bend in the road came
party of soldiers marching rapidly with
one Wild glance the Sim Feiners skipped
inside garden gate. dexterously dropped
their rifles in the bushes and their rebel
badges In the long grass, picked up rakes
and some gardening implements and started
working industriously. The villagers broke
up and retreated. AS the soldiers passed
the little orchard, pink with apple blossoms
and scented with the flowers of spring, they
glanced at the two Industrious gardeners
rather curiously. But the gardeners touched
their hats in all Difference to "the military"
and the military passed on.
Much fighting is reported to have oc-
Cured near this place, at Enniscorthy. a
town about 10 miles south of Dublin. 1t
was here that the awful battle of Vinegar
Hill was fought In 1898
never shall forget my first sight of an
armored train In Ireland as II wound its
way along the quiet railway line, a queer,
patched-up affair, but one sufficiently om-
inous to strike terror into the hearts of the
rebels
The simple Irish peasants rushed to the
doors of their tiny cabins to look at the
craythur!" They crossed themselves re-
peatedly the while 1t slowly steamed past
and murmured prayers to their saints for
deliverance. "Shure 'tis the divl in hell
himself that'd be after maxim the onholy
contraption !" cried q little old woman ex.
citedy. And "contraption" II indeed
was, though servlceable, An ancient en-
gine dragged two or three steel trucks be-
hind, armored with pierced sheets of iron
and painted a slate-gray. In the last
wagon tackle of scaffold-poles had been
hastily put together for the singing aboard
of a couple of quick-firers, and beside them
sat an emergency crew Of cheerful Tom
mics.
The sun shone on this astounding spec
tacle. Induisltive priests were peering at
the train, which now had slowed down
at signal. Brown-faced peasants were
standing open-mouthed and one of the en-