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Show THE WOMEN OF IRELAND. . A Glimpse of Them at Work in Their Own Green Isle. It has been said that life in Ireland, barring the famine and poverty, which are not always prevalent everywhere, is as nearly ideal as-tt is possible to find in this world. That is perhaps why the heart of the Irish emigrant, no matter w here he makes his home or how prosperous pros-perous he finds the world, goes back with such passionate yearning to the dear green isle where he spent his childhood child-hood days. Persons in this country have little knowledge at most of the life of Irish women, in their native isle, and what idea they do have is not an attractive one; yet the life of Irish women is really real-ly very picturesque, and although they are poor they are not often in want, and they lead happy, contented lives, working at something always and joyous joy-ous over life itself. Nowadays all Irish girls are' .educated; .edu-cated; even the poorest attend school long enough to learn to read and write, there being two school terms one from May till Sept. 1, and the other from November till March and for this reason rea-son the young Irish woman is an intelligent intel-ligent person, and reads and broadens her knowledge of the world as eagerly as do girls of other races. Ireland is such a green, sweet spot: that ' one could not be a native-born there and not rejoice in the loveliness of the land, and the girls and young women are frequently as beautiful as their native moors. They are fresh and blooming, with, shining eyes and strong, white teeth. They live out of doors three-quarters of the year, and are strong and healthy in consequence. There are many induitries which occupy oc-cupy the time of the modern. Irish woman," and let it be said to her credit that .whatever she. doe she does' exceedingly ex-ceedingly well, and whatever Is sent lo the world's markets by the v daughter, of -Ireland is the best of its sort. , The. most charming industry is that; of 'sprigging." This . is embroidering on linen and cotton , jn th most delicate deli-cate and beautiful fashion, .for lingerie, lin-gerie, handkerchiefs and gowns. The Erirls learn 'snriee-inp'" in lhf convents and are as skillful at it as the French. Although "sprigging" is the most difficult hand work, the pay Is exceeding exceed-ing small, from 18 to 25 cents a day being the return for their labors. And this is not all. for the worker-has to travel miles usually to get the work to do, and to return it when finished; but the youns Irish woman is accustomed to walking many miles, and she never thinks, of complaining- about the ' distance dis-tance to the village. Although girls and women . "sprig" all summer if they have nothing else to do. it is usually looked upon as a winter industry, for then nothing can be done out of doors. Much enjoyment is-got out of this work in winter, for instead of working at home, each by herself, the "spriggers" gather at one another's houses, and these gatherings are called "sprigging camps." After supper the girls and young women from all about gather at.a certain house, carrying car-rying their work and stools with them. There is much fun and jollity, for the Irish women is. always merry and her wit is famous the world over. , At 11 o'clock the "spriggers" fold up their work and go to their homes, each I having some young man call for her to shoulder her stool and to see her safelv home, and many a happy marriage is the result of a winter's "sprigging camp." The spinning wheel and the flax wheel are still found in the Irish cottages, cot-tages, and many a girl has her wedding wed-ding dowry of linen and homespun made at home, and,; although it is a task pursued more by. the older Irish women, there are girls who still do their spinning stint and lay. by a certain cer-tain amount, for. their .wedding outfit. It is, a pleasant sight to see elderly Irish wonieh outside. thtir cottage doors spinning flax or wool, for as lopg as the weather is warm the Irish woman, old or young, scorns a roof except to sleep under; the free air and sunshine are her choice. There is etill an excellent market in Dublin and London for homespun and woven goods, and many women of the nobility of late have done much to restore re-store the industries of Ireland to their former place and they wear gowns of homespun wool and lings rie made in the cottages of Ireland. When the spring time conies or "ware," the "shlnetime," as they put it in the Irish tongue, many of the girls and young women go into the fields and help with the planting, a task in which they delight, as they do only the lightest light-est part of the work, and they are out in the glorious "ware" weather which Is so much to them. ; . '" Later, the haying time takes these same girls into the fields and theyirake and stack the hay, tasks in which the children assist if they are not in .school, and the hay days are happy days which Irish maidens hail with delight for the midday meal is eaten in the field and the whole day spent there; - ,: ... Some of the girls cut the corn -and use the sickle with great skill, apd'the corn harvest comes later than the hay harvest, and the soft July and August days find many a blooming Irish lass in the fi -Ids. The older Irish women still go to market with the vegetables in baskets on their backs to sell the produce of their little farms, and they look extremely ex-tremely picturesque with their merry, quizzical old 'faces and fresh clean aprons. The fisherwomen, too, are to be seen with their baskets full of the catch of the men folk, if they live by the sea. But these are of the generation that is passing, and they still scorn hats and wear shawls and short skirts, w hile the younger women and the girls dress in th? mode of other women of the world, taking pride in having the-ir gowns cut and fashioned in a modern style. To see the girls with their baskets of "sprigging" come to town is to be im- pressed by their neat ahd charming appearance, ap-pearance, and even the belle who still clings to her shawl and headkerchiet has her hair dressed in a stylish manner, man-ner, and her apron even has an air or the latest mode about it. The Irish cottage of today is a far mors inviting place than reports of other days would lead one to believe, for the -"pig in the parlor" is no longer to be found in Ireland. The typical Irish cottage has a clean, neat kitchen, with whitewashed walls. Ild is very comfortably furnislud. There are clean little bedrooms, with patchwork quilts and muslin curtains, in direct contrast to the mud hovel of tradition. The Irish peasant girl in her own country is astonishingly well bred. She has the native graciousness and manner man-ner of the French woman, whom she much rosnubles in many ways. She is i keen, quick, witty and kind-hearted, and her acenmpiishments are far greater than those (lf nny other women in the world in the ame circumstances. Catholic Columbian. |