A Hint in Advance.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 8, 20 February 1902, Page 18

A Hint in Advance.

It is well to take time by the forelock and enter, in advance, our protest against the annual shrieks and spasms of the vulgar, apish, and capering idiot that is still permitted, here and there, to exhibit his antics at so-called ' Irish national concerts' on St. Patrick's nights. We have time and again raised our voice against the degrading caricature of an old and hard-used Catholic people by the ' stage Irishman.' 'It must be frankly stated,' says an English contemporary, ' that the Irish themselves are responsible for his persistent appearance. He has time after time come before thousands of them, twirling his shillelagh with one hand, holding a bundle in the other, and exhibiting by means of his face and movements a mixture of shallow buffoonery, vanity, and goodnatured idiotcy. And instead of showing clearly that they had no sympathy with such a wretched caricature, they laughed at his antiquated jokes and cheered his songs, which were chiefly notable for their poverty of thought. It is strange (adds our contemporary) that the custom should have survived bo long. But if the Irish in Ireland and Great Britain [and, we may on our own account add, in New Zealand] are determined to have a reform, it will at once come to pass. Managers of theatres and concerts are always ready, as business-men, to comply with the wishes of any considerable portion of their audiences.' Some time ago our excellent contemporary, the Boston Pilot, suggested treating the stage Irishman to a course of eggs —but not of recent laying, as that might seem ostentatious. We hope that, on next St. Patrick's night, New Zealand audienceß will find some equally effective means of discouraging the antics of the rampant idiot.