THE POETS OF IRELAND.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4935, 3 November 1884, Page 2

THE POETS OF IRELAND.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.)

Sir, —A. correspondent writing to. yoar morning contemporary takes Mr Bracken to task because, forsooth, he has the good sense to refrain from preaching sedition and fanning the flame of national and sectarian strife among a mixed people. This caiping critis is evidently one of those Irish Ishmaelites whose patriotism finds vent in pot-house bluster. Ireland baa had, unfortunately, too many patriots of this stamp—men who can " blow " and bounce and swagger, and nothing more. I remember, in my youth, hearing a capital song sung, which drew a striking contrast between the Irish blusterer and the. trne Irish patriot. I can only recall one verse of the effusion to my mind. It ran thus :—

" But Arthur McCoy was no bragger, No bibbier, no blustering clown; For the front of an ale-house to svagger, Or drag hia "lat-tails through, the town ; But a voteran seady and stern* Who felt, for the land and her ilia ; In the hour of her need *rer ready To shoulder a pike on the hills*" As one who attended Me Braefeen's lecture on " Tiie Poets of Ireland," I am in a position to give a flat ooatradiction to ihe statement that the lecturer did not bring out anything "racy of the soil." What could be more " ra«y of the soil" than Gerald Griffin's 4< Grille Machree," Davis' "Piower of Finae," or Keegan's « Caoch the Piper " ? But it ii waste of time to " crush butterflies," and I should have taken no notice of the rigmarole of your contempojoyy's correspondent, were it not that ho charges Mr Bracken with " ridiculJßg the Irish as he would a negro buffoon." If the writer possesses the least spark of intelligence, he must know (hat such a charge is absolutely untrue. When in Auckland the other day, my venerable and esteemed friend, the Rer. Walter McDonald, assured me that Mr Bracken's rendering of " Father Phil's Subscription List " was one of the most enjoyable treats he listened to since he left the dear old land beyond the ocean. Then again, from what I have read of Mr Bracken, I foe} convinced that no public man in the ©olony has done more for his countrymen than he has. Although he was returned for the most Presbyterian constituency in New Zealand, he voted in favor of the Catholic education claims, and lost his election through it. The Irishmen of New Zealand owe a deep debt of gratitude to Mr Bracken.—l am, &c., A Genuine Ibishmakt.

j iViK Jfew Zealand Government has laid out a township—afc present a city of magnificent diatanct—on the bank of Lake Boroma; The site wag mcc a part of the lake, and i* nowthici'sy covered with manuka (tMree) The Public Works Department, preparatory to planting shade trees, has been having the oidea of the road ploughed. The overseer one day found the contractor (a eon of the soil) in groafc double—not being abb to get alone owJßg io the thiekneßß of the scrub. Sympathising with Pat's difficulty, he said that he would have the manuka cut before ploughing "Well, sir," said the ploughman, with » merry twinkl© an his eye, " if you out down enough to let me get a sight of my hoifflt wanst or twice a day, perhaps I coal* m»&»----age. —JSgles.