The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-03-18

THE SPIRIT OF THESE AND 9TH
Err DAYS-EARLY IRISH LYRICS
AND THRENoDlEs PULsATE
WITH TENDER FEELING.
Give me the making of a peoples
songs, and | care not who makes theil
laws Though practical people de
not set as much value on their songs
as upon their laws, yet in every age
and nation music, through it's power
OF exercising the faer emotions o1
the soul, has held a high rank among
the institutions of country
In no secondary position as an emo
tional power stand the songs of Ire
land, writes Clancahill in New World
They are replete with those mys
terious influences that arouse at will
joy, sorrow, enthusiasm and those
other impulses and emotions that are
the outcome of a warm heart and 9
vivid mind. Witness the fondness anC
gallantry with which the Irish lover
woos and wins his Colleen Bawn, He
| addresses her in language of courtly
grace, accompanying it with melting
air that never. fails to carry convic
| ton to the heart not previously hard
| ened against persuasion For he sings
"Oh! had | all the fiocks that Craze
On yonder yellow hill,
Or lowed for me the numerous herds
That yon green pastures fill,
With her / love I'd gladly share
My kline and fleecy store
Ora machree ma colleen oge, Mhaurs
bawn ashore
And then having journeyed with hel
through life, having shared alike in it:
sunshine and its shadow, and having
been finally separated from her by tht
chill hand of death, his warm hear
bursting with grief and desolation, he
| laments only as the Irish heart can la
| ment:
Il will miss the soft clasp of your
hand, and the breath warm on you
check,
Tho still keep listening to the words
you never more shall speak;
For you were all / had, Mary, my bless
ing and my pride
There's nothing left to care for nov
since my dear Mary died"
Irish Mother and Child.
Between conjugal and parental af
fection the separation is not wide
What can be more expressive than tn,
love of the Irish mother for her child
From the pleasant lullaby at his era
ole to the heart-rending Wirra sthru
at his grave, the same warm low,
characteriZes her song. She sings o
him as her acushla machree (pulse o
my hearty when far away on some dis
tant shore; she shows her reluctanc
at bestoWing him on wife by weeI
| ing in secret an ulican dubh (blacl
sorrow), while he is enjoying his mie
na-mallah. (honeymoon). If dealt
robs her of that son, natural affection
combines with Christian belief whel
she walls forth in the words of Lover
Fare thee we'll, my child, forever!
In this world I've lost my joy;
But in the next we ne'er shall sever
There I'll find my darling poy.''
In the. days of the Irish Peubarch
the national music was in most fioul
ishing condition. The feast halls q
the chieftains rang to harp accompan
ment, with songs descriptive of th
bravery of the warriors, the beauty c
the danes and the glories of the II;
tion. No entertainment was complet
without music; no education was col
sidered finished that did not include i
No return was ever made withol
the aid of it's inspiring strains.
No return was ever made withor
it's accompaniment, either to swell tn
paeans of victory or to soften tn
gloom of defeat While the chieftai
lived it inflamed his martial ardor
| when he died it sang his person;
virtues and Valorous deeds. 1t wa
Irish martial music that rang in th
ears of King Brian's warriors, whe
4 on the plains of Clontarf they tosse
the raven banner to the dust an
| hurled it's savage owner from the SO
of Ireland:
And they were few of that pirai
crew, who reached their shiI
again,
For the eagles wheeled and the grs
wolves yelled that night Ger til
countless slain;
But there we stood in order goo
bedecked with victory's crown,
And grimed all o'er with Danish gor
as the blood-red sun went down."
Mighty Owen o'NeiII.
u Again it was heard at Benbur
charged with the memory of a tho
sand wrongs, when the brave Owe
O'Neill inflicted on Ben Munroe a d
Ifeat SO. crushing that the stern Pre-
byterian wrung his hands, saying
"The Lord of hosts hath today h
His face from the chosen ones" Bl
when treachery finally laid low tn
great chieftain, the fiery strains
battle and the joyful notes Of yictol
gave place to the Nailing tones OF SO
row, and an Irish song bemoaned 9
irreparable loss to the nation:
! "WaiI, wall We for the mighty Onl