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Penelope's Irish Experiences-Part12_Kate Douglas Wiggin(1856-1923)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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'Here's to the butcher who sells good meat--

In this world it's hard to beat;



It's the very best that's to be had,

And makes the human heart feel glad.



There's no necessity to purloin,

So step in and buy a good sirloin.'



I can go on in this style, like Tennyson's brook, for ever, your

worship." His worship was afraid that he might make the offer good,



and the poet was released, after promising to imbibe less frequently

when he felt the divine afflatus about to descend upon him.



These disagreements between light-hearted and bibulous persons who

haunt the courts week after week have nothing especially pathetic



about them, but there are many that make one's heart ache; many that

seem absolutely beyond any solution, and beyond reach of any



justice.

Chapter XIII. 'O! the sound of the Kerry dancing.'



'The light-hearted daughters of Erin,

Like the wild mountain deer they can bound;



Their feet never touch the green island,

But music is struck from the ground.



And oft in the glens and green meadows,

The ould jig they dance with such grace,



That even the daisies they tread on,

Look up with delight in their face.'



James M'Kowen.

One of our favourite diversions is an occasionalglimpse of a



'crossroads dance' on a pleasant Sunday afternoon, when all the

young people of the district are gathered together. Their religious



duties are over with their confessions and their masses, and the

priests encourage these decorous Sabbath gaieties. A place is



generally chosen where two or four roads meet, and the dancers come

from the scattered farmhouses in every direction. In Ballyfuchsia,



they dance on a flat piece of road under some fir-trees and larches,

with stretches of mountain covered with yellow gorse or purple



heather, and the quiet lakes lying in the distance. A message comes

down to us at Ardnagreena--where we commonly spend our Sunday



afternoons--that they expect a good dance, and the blind boy is

coming to fiddle; and 'so if you will be coming up, it's welcome



you'll be.' We join them about five o'clock--passing, on our way,

groups of 'boys' of all ages from sixteen upwards, walking in twos



and threes, and parties of three or four girls by themselves; for it

would not be etiquette for the boys and girls to walk together, such



strictness is observed in these matters about here.

When we reach the rendezvous we find quite a crowd of young men and



maidens assembled; the girls all at one side of the road, neatly

dressed in dark skirts and light blouses, with the national woollen



shawl over their heads. Two wide stone walls, or dykes, with turf

on top, make capital seats, and the boys are at the opposite side,



as custom demands. When a young man wants a partner, he steps

across the road and asks a colleen, who lays aside her shawl,



generally giving it to a younger sister to keep until the dance is

over, when the girls go back to their own side of the road and put



on their shawls again. Upon our arrival we find the 'sets' are

already in progress; a 'set' being a dance like a very intricate and



very long quadrille. We are greeted with many friendly words, and

the young boatmen and farmers' sons ask the ladies, "Will you be



pleased to dance, miss?" Some of them are shy, and say they are not

familiar with the steps; but their would-be partners remark



encouragingly: "Sure, and what matter? I'll see you through."

Soon all are dancing, and the state of the road is being discussed



with as much interest as the floor of a ballroom. Eager directions

are given to the more ignorant newcomers, such as, "Twirl your girl,



captain!" or "Turn your back to your face!"--rather a difficult

direction to carry out, but one which conveys its meaning. Salemina



confided to her partner that she feared she was getting a bit old to

dance. He looked at her grey hair carefully for a moment, and then



said chivalrously: "I'd not say that that was old age, ma'am. I'd




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