HIBERNICISMS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1950, 6 January 1885, Page 4

HIBERNICISMS.

A coiuuNi-oNDhN'T of tlic " Spectator," who i,'i\is a collection of Hibernicism-!, luoicU a spying which came from the 1-ps of a, peasant, and yet comers in I 1 u f eompiss a mot-t giaphic description of mmy lushnien of .ill classes "I like .ict'on," iiniaikpcl this candid Celt, " but 1 Into wok " This, he says, is a home liiith of tin- widest applici ion to tin- i hish charaotc . Amou^ >-pec al Celtic characterises winch tl.e writer illus ttute3 lie giws a pioininent place to the power of apology. "It was not the illnop I had t.ikni." said a Kerry pea bant, cliai^-'il with being duink and di>oolcilv, " but I li yd a shinoke out of n ncighbom'-. pipe, anil that leaned upon me"' Again, although undoubtedly im pan cd ot lite ye.u-., thcic is still a good ileal of hointly com tesy to be met with among the peasantry in their dealings Mithihe i,'"itij, oi " tin- quality," as they phi iso it Their desne not to shock tlie eais of their betteis is evinced !>y the constant use of the expression "saving >our piescnee. ' A lady friend, si I'iiiff a lialiennau seized with a violent lit ot couching, aaul to him, "If you'll come up to the house, Patsy, I'll give you something that'll do your cough good ' "Tisnota cough that I have, ma, am," leplied Patsy; "saving your pubciice, 'tis a ily that has gone wesht in my stomadi." This last expression needs elmilation Tin. Kenyman has practicilly only two points to his compass, Wiiht and E»-jht, and for once that you lil.u the latter, you will hear the former twenty times. In fact, it is used in the w idest sense. " Push west," means simply " move on a bit ;" and the latitude" with which this word is used may best be illustrated by further anecdote. This simc lady, w hen stopping with her hui band at a fishing inn in South Kerry, wa> .soidy tiicd by the dntiness of a small piH'irf of heis. At last, in response to hei repeated requests, he went so far as to w.isli his face. "But why diln't you wash your neck, Johuuy !"' " Och, ma'am, it's too fir wesht, entirely." Another marked characteristic of the Celt is his fatalism. This resignation has its ludicrous as well as its tragic side. As with the lower middle classes of the Xoith of England, a death in the family is a sort ot excitement, and is often un1) ippily made the excuse for a gie.it deal of feasting and drinking. Foitunately th' 3 liishmau has not the same facilities which his English brethren possess foi spc ndin^ la.tf_'e sums on all the hideous pag antiy of an elaborate funeral. Still tli" event in a poor liish household is an import mt one, and the following storj' would seem to show that an unexpected iixo\eiy i-, tegtuded as an unfair proceediii_; on the part of a moribund person A doctor visiting the house of a poor family found them all gathered round the bed of a ->itk man, sprinkling it at times with holy water, and saying at intervals : " Depait, Christian soul." On inquiry, he iseei tamed that this process had been on for a jyie.it many hours, during which no nourishment had been admin Mired, for as they said : " Why should we hiterfeic wid a dyin' man?" TIt 1 (\t.iciio ot a very little skill sufficed to iL-store the patient to complete health. Piddy is very superstitious and very dugout lJutjuitasin Koman Catholic Louutiies on the Continent, this devoutin -.-, cuties with it a familiarity in sp ikni'_< of things divine that is occa sionilly j,'rotc"'(|iie and suggestive of n reverence. The following conversation b tween two tenant farmeis, one of whom had been worsted in a suit with lik landlon 1 ., was ovei heard outside the court house in Kenmare : " Won't ye appale ? ' said the one. "No," replied the unsuccessful litigant, " I'll leave linn to God Almighty, and He'll suiely play the <le\il with him." Though not always conveying an edifying impression as to the honeaty of the Lish peasant, the proceedings in couit at petty sessions are often exceedingly diverting. Ho, too, the transactions of the Land Commission in Kerry have bi en enlivened by sundry humorous < pinnies. The tenant ot a swampy bidding— n man who had that fondness for bi'4 woids so frequently observable in the ln~.li pcisaiit — delivered himself in the 'ourieof I. is evidence of the following nmaikb- "I have layali/ed (realized) si i en childlucn, and if I wore to rayalize snen nioic I wouldn't wish one of them to linbib': an acre of land." And later on, icvuitiug to the s.inie metaphor, he obs< t\ id . " 'Tis bad weather for one that is immersed in land." Mnch that i~- iiietiiithtjiie iind qiifiuit in the speech ot tin lush peasant is due to his surluuiidnu'a and the conditions of his life. lua iiniiih as seaweed is largely used in .i_iiciiltiiie, one can realise the tiding wliieii prompted a conntrywoin.ui- called in at an emei^cncy to do liniiNi m, nd's woik, and seeing some nlijii ( mpli)> idas an ornament— to evclaim : ' dli)iy be to Hod, to think thatl should li\ e to see the nimuic in the drawingloom '" .So, w lion in leply to the question whether lie had been any lahbits, a nitnu answered : " Yes, your honour, whole f uncials of them," he only cmplowed the woid represeiiting the gieatest Loinbiiiatiou ot length and nuinbeis with w Inch Ins expeucuee had icndcied him acquainted.

A medical contempoiaiy avers that "fiuit is almost invariably ollered at dinner at the wrong time. The desseit w Inch appeals on the table fiom the Im "inning, 'to lure the appetite fiom iDinue to couisc,' might well take the l>lnee of the soup with which the meal t omincnco. Certainly the most unl>li) lologii .il and uudesiiablc time for attempting the digestion ot raw fruit is ,it the- end of a substantial meal !" The suggestion tliat dinner should lead off v, itli desscit is not likely to commend it-dfiotlie disci miniating epicure, and i-, another illustration of the curious fada advocated by " the doctor in tlie kitchen." < '.iteier. Kui k Si i.Aii candy. — According to Mono .st.utlwg diselosuies made by a i muspoiulcnt of The New YorkTnbune, tin ie is a la i gc and flourishing industry ih < npied w ith turning stone into candy. TJio stone is i|uanied in the Kocky Mounlaiii--, mound into a soft white powdci at the null-,, and shipped to New Voik for ,uln>i\tiiic w ith family (lour — its weight in.ikt-i it useful here— or nioie commonly with cheap candles. Terra alba, it seems, ui< d to be the favourite ingiedient, but this powdcicd luck is lapidly inci easing in popularity, and a case is soon expected of some New Yoik child who is fond of suicti, liteially tinning into a pillar of fatOIIC. <ici -in D Oi-Nirs. — "Oh, is the manager in .'" She stood at tho window of the ti(a 3 urei's office, and her mellifluous \oicc li id a fever and ague tremor as she spnlu'. " Yea," said the assistant trcaiiKt, a demoniac smile lighting up his baiwNomc tcMtures. " Wliat can I do foi 3'ou ? " "Well you know, I ap|k , ucd last Tuesday evening in the play jHi'itiited by the M'Ooo/um Club. All JU.V ii icnds say J did very well." " You d d indicd," said the assistant treasurer, with the samf polar air with which ho ulu ■ d to pass in a reporter just before. "'I li.it •< what they a'l said. They said my id ath scene would ha\e done credit to Ilin a or Cl.ua Morris." " Oh, yes, >on d.d \fiy aitistically ; in fact, it was .|.ut diathly." " Well, now, I'd like to !. i i ,i place in your company. You knou I'd like to go on the stage. Ithink Hi I would be my foite." " Well, there i i. t any place now in the company — iiotliiu^ th.it would Ijo suited to your jk ' nliai lino of genius," said the assistant b« utl'.sslj '•Ohmy; I would not be [ .ii Ik tdui about the first year's salary," Kiid she. " \\ r ell, now, if I were you . r '<! b vciy paitieular about that — very [Mi tn ular." "Why?" said ahe, in a m j/i i~etl tone, " iJecause 1 hardly think you'll get a year's salaiy." She im ,»^ out Witu an I spuin your base pro- ])' il sweep, and the assistant treasurer ■aid " I've shattered another genius, but. f have -.pared the public," and he m\it 1 the doorkeeper to join him in a j-mile.