Vernon Parish Democrat., 1920-09-09

TT HAS been said that Dublin has
more the character of a conti-
mental than an English city; this
is true in a way, but it is not
the first thing that strikes the visitor
from across the Irish sea. The most
striking thing about Dublin is that its
architecture bears traces of being all
Of one time, says a writer in the Chris
tian Science Journal To us who are
used to the extraordinary hOtchpotch
Of London, deriving its characters
tics Of brick and stone from every
conceivable century, there is something
peculiarly attractive about the street
upon street Of square Georgian houses.
London always seems to be in a state
Of violent reaction against everything
which is called eighteenth century"
so that those parts of London which
most resemble Dublin seem most for
eign to our conception Of London it.
self. Perhaps it is because it is GeOrg-
ian that Bloomsbury attracts par
ticular type of inhabltant, as often
as not a cultured foreigner, not to
be found in the urbanity Of Mayfair,
nor in the banality of Mazda Vale.
And If you imagine a city where all
the streets are like Great Ormond
street and the squares like the Blooms
bury squares, you have an honest con-
ceptiOn Of Dublin.
Nor does the eighteenth century ap-
pear in the houses alone; there are
those in Dublin who carry on the ira
dition of old world courtliness which
mas long become rare enough to be re-
Taarkable even in Bloomsbury; it Is
Erue that they are few in number even
mere, but they are sufficient to leave
a certain fragrance of other days in
drawing room and coffee house.
Clad In Romance.
Before getting on board the boat
at Holyhead, Great Britain win leave
memories Of abiect Anglesea in the
travellers mind, and when the waste
of sea reveals ahead of him the first
contours of Ireland, the mountains
rise up to greet him with a very diff
ferent face from that of the fiat
and cheerless little island he has
just crossed. They are almost bla-
tantly green, so that he must per-
force murmur platitudes beneath his
breath about the emerald isle"
Dubliners are forever conscious Of
those mountains near by; they escape
to them as often as they can and
endow them with a symbolical mean
ing. The Dublin mountains seem to
have got misplaced from the far
west; they are that part Of primeyal
C0nnacht which has set itself at the
door Of Dublin In order to turn the
heart Of the Gael west rather than
east. In the Dublin mountains there
travel to and fro the old vagrants
with whom fingers the memory of a
Celtic poetry and from whom Synge
and Yeats and the rest have gathered
so much local color.
In Dublin itself this old culture
fingers alongside of the modern and
English industrialism OF the Liffey
and the quaysides. and in the dirty
streets on the north side one can
still come across a ballad singer with
a little group round him.
Charles Lever. when he was at
Trinity college, dressed as a ballad
singer and earned 80 shillings in the
Dublin streets, and another and even
more famous Trinity college student
earned crown every now and then
for a street song. This young man
was Oliver Goldsmith, whose statue
now graces the entrance to the uni
versity, than whom no man could be
found more typical Of the best period
Of Dublin's prosperity.
The Bohemian Quarter.
Today all the varied energies, pO-
litical, literary, social, are cOncen-
trated into a space bounded by Graf
ton street, Stephens green, Trinity
college railings and Merrion square;
within these limits there is scarcely
a house that does not conceal some
enthusiasm. Not the least interesting
are the little shops where enthusiasts
seek to turn business into an art;
the "Sod Of Turf." where you can
talk and eat and drink In Gaelic
where the fire is a real turf fire, and
the waitress a real Kerry Gael; the
Crock Of Gold" where the genius
which produced James Stephens
masterpiece is turned to the making
Of homespun jumpers and the like,
50 that the streets OF somber eight
senth century Dublin may blaze with
aolor that would delight a post-lm-
3ressionist; then there is the Irish