Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1919-03-15
ERIN'S HEART
A Character Study of the Real
Irishman on His Native
Soil.
speech Has softness and Beauty
Which Are Soothing and
Striking.
Foundations of Good Breeding Are
Found on the Domestic
Hearth.
NATIVE COURTESY OF IRISH.

tHciA uatlNo SOIL was Written Dy
correspondent of the Dublin Leader:
There is something in tho
irish character which Is so magnetic
In It's power 70 fascinate, and so
Irresistible in its capacity to please
and persuade. that il would be
utterly impossible to define it. The
irish character has that subtle and
SURPRISING charm. simply because II
Is Irish character. and TO attempt
to define it would involve the an
alysis of the Irish soul, and the
result of such analysis would be as
unsatisfactory and ineffective as
would be our ability to make il
otherwise.
I'm the speech OF the Irish peo-
pie we get the keynote of their
character, for in that speech,
whether the medium of Irish or
English is used, there is a softness
and beauty which are at once
soothing and striking. That speech
Is the peculiar possession of Ireland
and were it to suffer any change
something that is priceless would
have been impaired. The gentle in
tonation and harmony of phrase
anu tAAt III VI NuA1N boOA uANnA Q
which sounds through all that is
uttered by the Irish voice are con-
spicuously pleasing to the strangers
ears, and when thought becomes
vocal in the midst OF sorrow words
are heard that are singularly pre-
cious, because of the perfect sim
cerity that is stamped on each one
of them. and the depth of sympathy
and unaffected solicitude that are
so easily conveyed by them from
the Irish heart.
ITO that beautiful speech is
added the native courtesy of the
Irish. a courtesy which is not in
any way the particular character
istic of the peasantry, but is on the
contrary a national possession. I'm
like the polish of many another
country, Irish good manners form a
remarkable instance of good breed
ing developed in the simplicity of
the home. The foundations Of that
good breeding are TO be found on
the domestic hearth and life passed
in social surroundings which en-
courage the exclusion of the arti-
fetal pow-wowing of the pampered
tops and painted ladies OF our day
The poorest Irish child ends all her
answers 10 you with sir or
'ma'am,' and the stranger who goes
to Louth or Mayo will hear more
respectful salutations in a day than
he will hear in a month in England
But il Is the spirituality of the
Irish people that transforms the
Irish wish into what il is. When
they say: May you get Gods help
in doing it, you feel ever so strong.
and seem to get along much better
from having heard 1t, and when you
hear man say to you, I'm glad TO
see you're doing we'll you feel that
the speaker is praying for you, be-
cause no one could say that TO You
unless he also thought OF you in
his prayers. And in the same way
If you are praised and given
blessing by an Irish beggar. or in
deed by any poor fiddler or singer,
you can not help feeling an i'm
in every part Of you. and
in consequence to eat and drink |
with a very poor Irishman becomes
a great honor, because when you
are doing so you feel you are near
a person of more than ordinary
POWNAg NbAnN OAAN III AAtA nv Etu |
edify you and give you unlimited |
purse any heavier or give you a |
new coat.
"But not only are the Irish peo-
pie silver-tongued. courteous and |
concerned in your welfare.
Tor each genuine Irishman is. more
over. a storehouse of intense inter-
est, and II you have any magma
lion at all you will want to speak
o him, not so much because you
nave anything to say to him as that
rou can not help having something
% say to him. The Irishman jests,
predicts. lectures and re-
dukes. Keen darts of sarcasm fly
rom his lips as sparks from piece
" flint, and when he mutters he
itartles you. not because OF what
lie is muttering but because of the
vii conditions which prompt him
o mutter. He talks about the past,
he present, the future, the drought,
he rain and the land. His eyes
Glitter, the arms are extended and 1
le discharges on you 50 much
traight reasoning and well-founded
ON jecture that when he bursts out
aughing you can not help thinking
hat he Is laughing, not only at the
.musing things he is saying. but
llso at your inability TO do little
more than listen TO him all the
ime.
"And it is that stupendous JOY
Which is the distinguishing mark OF
ne Irishman's conversation, a note
hat runs through his most isolated
md fugitive utterance and colors
II the functions and social gather
ngs at which he is present. He is
loisy, but it is because he is trust
ul and apt to rely on other men
nd unreasonable in his esteem OF
heir good qualities: for the Irish
lature is If anything a perfectly
pen nature that men can see and
What they can not (
Understand is the Irishman's facil- II
~ in doing what other natures
eed training to do, and his innate Z
apacity to strike at the very heart y
( the thing he opposes. II IS the K
ccuracy Of his blows, the penetra- [
lon of his intellect. the vivid grasp n
f essentials and the robust manner h
4 which he arrays them before I
on that leaves you greatly amazed II
you are not entirely hypnotized. I
Modern Ireland. rejecting as II e