Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-08
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY The Bookloper

Padnaic Columns new book. Gross
Roads in Ireland is as typically Irish
as he is himself. Padraic Column is often
spoken Of as perhaps the best represent
alive of the Irish renaissance. Ills
name combines those OF the two chief
irish saints, Patrick and Colum-cille.
He was born in County Longtord IN al
most the exact center OF Ireland, De-
| eember 8. 1881, and spent his boyhood
there and in County Cavan, just TO the
north County Longford was the birth
place of oliver Goldsmith and the home
of Maria EGgew9rth when she was writ
ing her Irish stories. the most famous OF
which are Castle Rackrent" and Tine
Absentee" Column became saturated
with the folklore and traditions OF early
Celtic culture, and grew familiar with
the popular songs and ballads. He early
began to write both poetry and prose.
Soon he went into the National Theater
movement. and there became acquainted
with Lady Gregory, William Butter
Yeats and A. E. George RuSseH), His
plays were produced by the irish inca
ter when he was stif almost boy.
Broken Soil was given in 1908. His
first volume of verse, wild Earth" was
published in 1907. In 1911 he helped to
found the Irish Review, and was its
editor, 1928. In 1923 he went to
Hawaii at the request of the Hawaiian
Legislature to make study Of Hawaiian
legends and native lore. The Two vol
umes, "At the Gateway of the Day and
THE Bright Islands" published In the
two succeeding years, were the result
of this study Padraic Columns other
books include 1.-THE Boy Who Knew
What the Birds Said" Dramatic Leg
ends and Other Poems Castle Con-
uuer" THE Road Round ireland" "Old
Pastures a collection of poems. and
| "Orpheus: Myths of the World" In
1912 Padraic Colun married Mary Gun
ming Mcguire of Dublin, literary critic.
Their home is in the United States, at
New Canaan, Conn.
Gross Roads in Ireland" would per-
haps be classified as a book Of travel,
but that would do 1t slight justice. II
would be of little practical help to any
one desiring to travel in Ireland and
wanting to know routes, hotels and
methods of conveyance. But it would be
delightful companion to the traveller
| in Ireland who knew how to get about
and wanted an Interpretation of Irish
life. physical and psychic, and wealth
of information about Irish history and
| tradition. fairy lore and song, Padraic
CoIum wandered over the Irish country
| side and into the towns, not lingering
too long in the towns, and what he saw
was always what poet would see; but
sometimes the poet was saddened by the
harshneSs of economic facet. In beau
tiful Glengarriff, on sheltered Balltry
Bay with the mountains running into
the sea, he was happy in the scenery Of
| mountain and glen and the enchant-
ment of subtropica1 flowers, trees and
plants in the gardens: But he turned
sadly to the other side of the picture
Int Vra CHI lao 4
thought that the f1ourishing vegetation
that we see around the bay indicates a
rich countryside This is one of the
poorest districts in Ireiand-it is the
southern limit of the researches, ever
crowded lands officially known as the
Congested Districts that stretch with
some breaks from Donegal down through
Kerry. When we pass the fronts OF the
hotels with their fine gardens and coun-
try seats with their denleSnes we come
upon most poVerty-stricken places.
Glengarriff Itself is miserable village.
But there are more miserable places
around 1t, as was to discover in a day
or two" He then tells of a midnight
visit which he made with the Glengar-
riff doctor to the cabin of some tenants
in the "uneconomic land" miles
from Glengarriff, through boys and up
a rough mountain path. There a woman
I
watching by her and grooming Irish
phrases, words Of a charm against
fever" while three scared children
/ looked on. The doctor said soothing.
kind professional nothings. and after
leaving the hut told the forlorn hus-
band that his wife could not live-"she
had no reserve of vitality"
$50
Many Irish places are briefly and
wildly characterized in Gross Roads in
Ireland" "Cavan is a country Of lakes
indeed, the most famous poem about
it begins, In Cavan of the little lakes .
Il like Ballinagh for many reasons--one
of them Is that its name means The
Mouth of the Ford of SteedS." More
than any other city / have ever been
in, Belfast is city of workmen." "A
hump-shaped eminence Of basalt, with
scant heritage and scrub upon it--this
is Sieve Mis- or Slemish, and we come
upon it suddenly as we pass from An
trim into Down. 1t was from the slopes
of this eninence that the youthful cap
tive who afterwards took the name OF
Patrick watched over his masters flocks
or droves." But the Liffey makes a
loop-that is, if a loop can be made
with a line that is all loops-and so
manages to get into three counties
wicklow, Kildare and Dublin, May
nooth is popular and Maynooth is prac-
teal Its heads are giving attention, not
to metaphysics, but to conditions. Their
first thought is discipline" Kilkenny
is medieval city become an Irish mar
ket town. Fields and hedge rows begin
with the last house 4 a street" Ar
irving in Youghal, Went into the gar
den where potatoes were first planted
and the first pipe of tobacco was smoked
in Ireland The good Elizabethan house
that Sir Walter Raleigh lived in is still
here-the house in which he entertained
Edmund Spenser."
1t seems too much of a compliment to
NJ. Georges Duhamel that his book,
Scenes de la Vie Future" has been
translated into English and published
in this country under the title America
the Menace" NJ. Duhamel spent the
usual short time in the United States
allotted themselves by foreign writers
who do not like us to start with and are
determined not to find anything to like.
Such writers never seem to have the
least distrust of their own Judgment.
They are perfectly sure that their con-
clusionS reached after a glance here and
! there, at this and that, are sound and
Just Perhaps we have tourists who
form similar judgments about France,
but have we many writere of repute
who thus hunor their prejuGices? NJ.
Duhamel speaks of Chicago as the can
Ger city, and continues; Between Chi
csgo and myself there is a corpse, the
corpse of an OK" He tells of being
served cocktails in New York clubs
which were composed of cologne. denti-
frice, wood alcohol, paregoric, varnish
and Yitriol. We assume that he did not
drink many OF them. He denuunces the
automobile ss a cause, of many vices
and the discourager of virtues, and. of
course. holds the United States respon-
sible for the automobile. American
moving pictures are "a pastime for
slaves" the poisoned nourishment of a
r7ultifi1dE" We knOW that there iS