DIFFERENT TYPES OF IRISHWOMEN

New Zealand Tablet, 25 May 1911, Page 973

DIFFERENT TYPES OF IRISHWOMEN

The types of the peasant women found in the four provinces of Ireland differ in many respects from each other. Each is charming, but their charms are not the same. The women of Ulster are taller, stronger, and more athletic than those of the other provinces, but not conspicuously so, and are mostly brown-haired and dark-eyed. In Leinster they are medium-sized, well-proportioned, and both dark and light complexioned, with a number of blueeyed among them. A perfectly-formed Irishwoman will stand at the average height of 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 7 inches, and weighs from 125 to 140 pounds. The height of beauty is attained between the 23rd and 30th years. Ulster has the tallest, Leinster the best-proportioned. A Connaught peasant woman is invariably undersized and dark; figure a little broader than is consistent with the slim line of beauty; but in carriage, poise, and expression she is the peer of a Spanish donna. The dress, too is peculiar, although it is not worn as generally as it was in the last generation. It is graceful and picturesque,

and may be seen transplanted to the stage in the red cloak, j blue ; stockings, and tidy shoes which we are familiar, with in the plays of Boucicault. >v.-n.--. •• .#. -'■

The wives of the Claddagh fishermen resemble somewhat the Boulogne market-women in their bright costumes' and | short petticoats. They differ from the women of Wexford, who are tall and fair, and are, it is said, descended from a Pembrokeshire clan, which was transplanted to Ireland in the 15th century to take the place of the native Irish, who had been driven out. -Red-haired women are numerous in Munster, especially; in the southern parts. It is probable that the tinge is of Milesian origin. It is very general in Scotland, which was peopled from : Ireland in ancient times. The peasant women of Munster, and particularly of Tipperary, are amongst the most comely in the world, but they become old-looking at a comparatively early age, which is to be accounted for, perhaps, by field work and. scanty living. f An artist who has travelled considerably in the 5 South of Ireland says that- around Carrick-on-Suir, in County lipperary, and Lismore, •in Countv Waterford, the girl 3 who attend chapel on Sunday present a hundred different face models, each more exquisite than the other. I He attributed this abundance of beautv to a commingling of races. You can find peasants who can write their names de la Poer, de la Cour, or Beau Sang (Norman and -French)-, .-and with features indicative also of their well-born ancestors. I ;: In Kerry the real Irish appearance and mannerarch,, expressive, and; modest—the ripe 2 passionate mouth" the symmetrical limbs, and musical voice are still extant.' Limerick, with Kerry, ? rejoices ?in another tvpe -of beauty not to. be overlooked. A number of Germans were sent to Ireland by King William for the purpose of occupying; certain; waste or wasted land 3, and they settled with their families -in, these counties, where they were known a 3 Palatinates, a : name'; of obvious derivation. The women of these people, and of the many inter-marriages, arc still wonderfully -' Gretchen '-like, and when you see -an Irish Palatinate peasant you are at once reminded. of how 'Vaterland will; out-i after many generations.—American Exchange. ■* :..'„•-: ~ : ' i