Show LAST MINSTREL OF IRELAND thomas smith aged wandering singer and story teller died recently in county meath an aged wandering singer rhymester ster and story teller who was said to be a descendant of one famed in the days of minstrelsy died recently in the b hospital in county meath ireland he was the last of the old school of so called poets poes who lived by story telling and verse making at farm house bouse fires fi resides ldes his name was thomas smith and according to report one of his ancestors wore cap and bells and served as a jester to a prince in his boyhood smith wore a faded doublet of alternating stripes of yellow and blue which had been handed down to him as a relic of his great grand daddys daddes fame as a countryside funmaker his stories tor for the most part had to do with the fairies and always presented the good fairy in the part of straightened tangles and easing the path of happy marriage his visits throughout the country were made with scheduled regularity and an evening with the poet was the occasion for a gathering of young folks like most poets he was not thrifty and died poor |