They Learn A Little English In School And From Their
Parents, But They Rarely Have Occasion To Speak With Any One Who Is
Not A Native Of The Islands, So Their Knowledge Of The Foreign
Tongue Remains Rudimentary.
In my cottage I have never heard a word
of English from the women except when they were speaking
To the pigs
or to the dogs, or when the girl was reading a letter in English.
Women, however, with a more assertive temperament, who have had,
apparently, the same opportunities, often attain a considerable
fluency, as is the case with one, a relative of the old woman of the
house, who often visits here.
In the boys' school, where I sometimes look in, the children
surprise me by their knowledge of English, though they always speak
in Irish among themselves. The school itself is a comfortless
building in a terribly bleak position. In cold weather the children
arrive in the morning with a sod of turf tied up with their books, a
simple toll which keeps the fire well supplied, yet, I believe, a
more modern method is soon to be introduced.
I am in the north island again, looking out with a singular
sensation to the cliffs across the sound. It is hard to believe that
those hovels I can just see in the south are filled with people
whose lives have the strange quality that is found in the oldest
poetry and legend. Compared with them the falling off that has come
with the increased prosperity of this island is full of
discouragement.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 94 of 190
Words from 25082 to 25344
of 50637
