Irish News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 26, 27 June 1907, Page 27

Irish News

OUR IRISH LETTER

(From our own correspondent.) . Dublin, April, 1907 v Death of a Popular Entertainer. A short time -ago there passed away in an English village «a man who. was once very popular both in England and in his native Country— Valentine Vousden —supposed by most -people to have died" twenty long, years ago, sot utterly did the gifted but unfortunate genius fade from public life ;. for a genius Valentine Vousden undoubtedly was. The son -of bumble p,eople who lived near the old Theatre Royal, Dublin', Vou'&den became, while s-till a mere boy, one of the most brilliant and most successful variety entertainers in the kingdom. He composed his oswn songs 1 , many of thorn admirable, and the entire of his entertainments, which consisted of character sketches^ songs, dances, etc., in which, unaided by any other .performer, he held vast audiences delighted for hours at a time, and the most remarkable feature of his performances was that, while wit aaid paitjhojs and humor sparkled in every linei he spoke, every character he represented, one coarse, one vulgajr wofld or iLoo;k or gesture never could be leven suggested : the most innoeenit child could be birought to see and hear Valentine Vousden, the once poor little Dublin errand boy, who, as a man on the public stage, was refinement itself : no sign of what disgusts us as the '.stage Irishman ' about him, a true son of the soil. .. I once saw him, and I shall never forget my delight in the blythe, frolicking, witty actor, the genial, honest, pure heart that shone through all. Who that ever saw him could forget Kitty Coyle from Cork's own town, when telling her story, as she idled a Vit at the hall door and coyly twisted a cornea of tier apron and gave a sly side-glance now and then ? Or the G-alway squire, whose horse you saw under him as he -galloped to hounds : or the Dublin jarvey, describing T.C.D., and everything else on the way as you drove through Dublin with him.Poor Vousden '! He' who once earned thousands in the year went through, dire poverty for a time, biit his son was, happily, able to provide a home for hdm in the closing years of his life. (A son> of the deceased was on a professional tour in New Zealand a few years ago.) A Discovery. The Protestant Synod has been in congress, with the result that their Lordships the Bishops and others are shocked and Dained at the idea— just dawned after several centuries— that it is only the Catholics of Ireland who< attend their places of worship (places of worship, minid you!) on St. Patrick's Day. The Protestants of Ireland are in future to keep the day as a religious holiday. But another great holiday is practically abandoned now in Erin. Time was when even -ladies' lap-dogs wore primroses in their collars, and wearers of a bouquet of the modest flowers chosen by that most modest of men, Disraeli, walked past Papists on Primrose Day with something of a ■' Croppy lie down- air, and many attended church especially on that day ; in fact, the little pale yellow flower was supposed to take dn> an orange hue for twenty-four hours, but now the creen is hagh above it. The Chief Secretary. x¥ r> J$ rrell » tixe »»w Chief Secretary, is saying very pretty things. . Amongst other things, he 'tells us that he has bteen assured by the thirteen living ex-Chief Secretaries of Ireland that, no matter what else m a y happen, he wil] fall in love with the Irish people I do sincerely hiope Ireland will not regret these pretty, compliments a year, hence ; but how can people- Tielo honeyed words ! Thirteen of them- still alive ! Xet us hope fourteen will prove a lucky number MmJiO? ? • Die ? thim& Mr ' Birrell sa^ s is " tliat h e SSSSS? wV la ? . ls a jewel in all P arts <* toe kingdom. Had that sentiment been applied in. earnest reality here what a lot of sore trouble might have iSLTf red< N< 1\ lt is like the Au '^an Stables. There is so much to be done if fair play be attempted that even to think of it 'is enough to drive a SSuiS***^ ?* d ' Tak€ one i^m alone, wth its Bl53? 2m *&***. the other day/Mr. Birrell said: 'Even in Ireland, where landlords were

willing.. to sell, and tenants bad agreed to " buy, they had a crowd of .^lawyers coming down like a brood- of crows blackening the whole field and delaying.; the whole- ifiatter.' He addled very good and promising, words: 'This was the fault of* their absurd " system," and transfer ought .to* be., simplified, but it, was 1 idibticsto suggest that efforts for land reform .were dictated - by a desire to steal somebody else's property -.or by animosity to landlords/ same of wjhom were the salt of the earth. Having _ put theiivfTand to the plough the Government .would not look blelfi,” If the Chief Secretary could carry out this one reform alone, that of simplifying transfer of land, his reign would have been a good and a useful one, for the terror of the lawyers and their fees and the delays of the law are almost as great as the terror of bad landlords themselves. It has often been urged by, writers on r this subject tliat the transfer of land should be miiadei ' the simple matter it ,is in France where it gives littletrouble and costs but" a trifle. It should be made as easy and as safe as the transfer of £10,000 worth of goods in. ainy stoop in the kingdom.' • Well, we' -will ■hope that Mr. Birrell's promise is not as tine rainbow in the morning to our poor -shepherds. A Romance of the Land" War. Here is a sad romance of our land war, "which I copy from the Dublin ' Freeman's Journal' I:—'1 :— ' One o"f the noblest heroes of the land war was Neil Doogan, of Falcarragh, County Donegal. He had made some money in the mines of Montana, and came back from America with his savings, with which he erected a commodious dwelling-house on his^little farm at Falcarragh, Where he was living wilii "'his family in humble comfort when the eviction campaign of 1888 and "1889, made memorable in history by the Constabulary battering-ram, wittily called by Sir William- Harcourt in the House of Commons " Balfour's Maiden, 1 ' came into operation. Neil Doogan fortified and defended his house, known as " Doogan's Fort," and stood a siege by the " forces of the Crown," and was sentenced to a - long term of imprisonment. When he was released, his house was dismantled and ruined, but, with dauntless perseverance, he again crossed the Atlantic to Montana, where he resumed the rigorous life .of a miner in order to earn> money to rebuild his house, -and wgs getting on well when death, laid him low. A movement has been initiated by Mr. Hugh Law, M.P., the member for West Donegal, in" which " Doogan's Fort"is situated, for the rebuilding and restoration of Doogan's ruined home for his wife and children. This movement, to which we wish complete success, is to be regarded not by any means in the nature of any charitable gift, which would not be acceptable, but rather as a grateful recognition ol ..the services of this mraaible hero* and martyr to the" cayse of Irish liberty and a memorial of his sufferings and sacrifices for- his country. 1 This is the story of a true hero to whose memory kindly and grateful hearts' are thus raising' the very monument that would most gladden his brave heart. -- ' M.B.