COME BACK TO IRELAND

from foreign when we we there was never a land that has so inspired poetic sentiment and funeral ballot perhaps it is because so many of the irish people remain detached and remote from the so-called progress of a modern world in a village near galway the people have been known for centuries as cladophoth living unto themselves holding fast to the ancient gaelic language they love because they are irish and would be almost a sacrilege to use another tongue and although the nation since 1848 has lost over half its population through migration in the whole history of this village there is no record of a cladder resident leaving home you can't explain clatter unless you are a maker of verse or song even on the practical side a typical industry does not change through the centuries the implement he uses has always been called a shane and the earth produces the turf our peat to a depth of 12 feet in some of the bogs tons of it are shipped each year to various little ports along the coast generations of irishmen have cut and dried and burned the turf of ireland on a million hearthstones in a land where there is little wood for fuel and coal must be imported did you know that a good fairy rides in the right ear of every donkey this is true as everything that is told in confidence of the tiny people you cannot see how else can you explain the patient willingness of the little beasts in other lands they try men's souls here no roadside warnings plead for slower speed and safety the donkey carts that bring fresh milk to the modern municipal dairy are traditional and customs are not lightly discarded by a proud and independent people once a month all roads lead to galway where the farmers bring their livestock to be sold and to exchange a bit of gossip nearly three-fourths of the real wealth produced in ireland is derived from farm products and no matter what the circumstance there is no excuse for anyone's being hungry in the emerald isle today the thriving little town surrenders its main street to the traders and their cattle this provides an opportunity for the irish farmer to look over his neighbor's display of prize-winning livestock that will show at the county fair it's a great day for the storekeepers as well as the farmer's wives who wear their finest shawls on this occasion on market day in galway you will meet the finest people of aaron the solid strong substantial people of rural ireland and the backbone of the nation where the river shannon flows through the lovely countryside and then past thriving little towns the people you meet will tell you that there's not a colleen sweeter than these mothers of ireland no matter what the old song may say but song and sentiment have not kept trade and commerce from the river and shannon's banks are lined with industrial areas here in the ancient town of young hall sir walter raleigh lived while serving as mayor after suppressing the rebellion just one of his many stormy adventures in the service of elizabeth is and this is the house in young hall that sheltered raleigh whom elizabeth called sir knight of the soiled cassock it is said that raleigh never wore that cloak again but kept it among his treasures older than young hall is dublin the capital of the irish free state and the pivotal center around which the history of ireland has evolved for the past thousand years the ancient university was founded in 1591 by queen elizabeth and is rated today as one of the world's outstanding institutions of learning o'connell street a principal thoroughfare of dublin was named after daniel o'connell the statesman known as the liberator who devoted his life to the cause of irish freedom dublin's interest in music and the drama brought handel here for his first production of the messiah and the abbey theater of course is famous everywhere leaving this city of today we visit the ruined castle of a famous irishman cormac mccarthy who built his stronghold here in 1446 and placed a stone in its walls that has been worn smooth by the lips of believers in its mystic powers throughout the english-speaking world one who has the gift of persuasive eloquence who expresses himself with a flourish of words rather than a simple statement is said to have performed this feat it is the kissing of the blarney stone in many parts of ireland the fragments of our history are dramatized in structures of great antiquity a landmark of the norman invasion this ancient arch of grogada still triumphantly straddles the road of the conquerors long after their passing no one knows the story of the mysterious round towers but they probably were for defensive purposes with one small entrance about ten feet from the ground just large enough for one person at a time to enter within one brahani lad with the shaley probably discouraged would-be trespassers with a warm reception is typical of the irish countryside where timber for fencing is scarce but stones so plentiful that picturesque walls march in orderly piles in all directions and this same unyielding clint-like stone was eminently suited to the building of this wall where a mayor of galway named lynch here hanged his own son for murder he gave our language a tragic word but we cannot leave ireland on any note of tragedy when the lovely lakes of killarney lie before our eyes here indeed our verse and song inspired you cannot gaze upon a single vista of killarney but that every sound from far near will seem to weave a melody forever affair need