18S9.] ^OO [Mooney. 



Says he, " Boys, dou't be fightin' for eight or for nine ; 



Don't be always dividin'— but sometimes combine ; 



Combine eight with nine, seventeen is the mark, 



So let that be his birthday." "Amen," says the clark, 



" If he wasn't a twin, sure our history will show 



That, at least, he's worth any two saints that we know !'' 



Then they all got blind drunk, which completed their bliss, 



And we keep up the practice from that day to this. 



It is a saying among the people that after Saint Patrick's clay it is time 

 to V)egin to make garden. In Connemara they say that one should hav 

 half his farm work done hy this time and half his fodder stil on hands, 

 and that after this every alternate day wil be clear and sunshiny. The 

 weather on this day is proverbially fine, and of course there is an Irish 

 reason for it. In the first days of Christianity in Ireland Saint Bridget 

 was much hinderd in her work by the rains, which ar especially fre- 

 quent in this country, until at last she obtaind as a favor from God that 

 every other Sunday should be a clear day, so that she might preach to the 

 crowds which came to hear her. Not to be outdone. Saint Patrick askt 

 that his anniversary might be a day of sunshine, which was granted, and 

 from that time forth the 17th of March has always been a fine day.* 



On this day every child throughout Ireland, excepting in Connemara 

 and some of the northern districts, is expected to wear upon the left breast 

 a small disk intersected by crosses upon the surface and known as a croUeog 

 {crishoeg) or "favor." In Connemara the croiseog is worn only by the 

 women. They ar of various designs and colors, but the general pattern 

 is everj^where the same. The disk is made of stifi' paper, or of silk lined 

 with piisteboard, and across the surface ar pasted strips of paper of differ- 

 ent colors, crossing each other at right angles, so as to form some even 

 number of crosses having a common centre in the middle of the disk. 

 These strips ar sometimes cut so as to giv the arms of the cross an ellip- 

 tical shape. Around the edge of the disk, between the arms of the 

 crosses, ar drawn small arcs which ar fild in with dots, shamrocks and 

 other figures, in ink of various colors. The ends of the crosses ar some- 

 times trimd with ribbons. In Clare and Connemara there is usually but 

 one cross, which is drawn upon the surfiice of the disk with the blood of 

 the wearer, the blood being obtaind by pricking the end of the finger. 

 The green is usually procured from grass and the yellow from the yolk of 

 an eg. 



At the merrymaking, in the evening, no good Irishman neglects to 

 " drown the shamrock " in "Patrick's pot" — in other words, to dip the 

 shamrock in a glass of whisky. After wishing the company health, wealth 

 and every prosperity, including "long leases and low rents," he dips the 

 sprig of shamrock into the liquor which he is about to drink and then 

 touches it against another, which he wears in his hatband in honor of the 

 day. It is hardly necessary to state that the shamrock is a small variety 

 of clover and the national emblem of Ireland. According to the popular 



* Lady Wilde, 11, 121, 122. 



PKOC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXVI. 130. 2w. PRINTED MAY 23, 1889. 



