Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1899 — PROFESSIONAL BEGGARS. [ARTICLE]

PROFESSIONAL BEGGARS.

Amiable Customs Practiced by the Class in Ireland. I For pure, unblushing audacity and ’ ' genuine cheek, give me a professional ; i Irish beggar. Ido not refer-to those ! stunted, starved specimens of hu- j i manity which whiningly haunt cor- i ' ners and thoroughfares of every large , city.; I mean the regal, queenlike men ■ and women who map out the mountainous districts of Wexford, Waterford and Kerry, into regular beats, and hunt their prey therein. During 16 years’ residence in Ireland, I have come across three samples of the ■ ' genus who may interest my readers. Two of these rule their benefactors with rods of iron, and live well on the fruits of their industry. Meg Furlong stands first on my list. Iler district extends from Enniscorthy to the foot of Blackstairs. Woe betide any other professional beggar who invades j that territory. The tribes of halt and blind from Cork, Wexford or Ferns ! may indeed solicit a bit at rectory and hut. They are only vagrant, ephemeral creatures atid tolerated by Meg ’ as wayfarers. But if Biddy the Kid or Peg the Coach encroached—well, ■ there would follow wigs on the green! Meg is a stout, tall woman. She al-1 ways wears thick-soled, sensible boots, short kilted petticoats and a decent warm shawl. She lives in a shanty ’ dumped down by St. Anne’s Well, : close by the big brown bog that stretches 1 to the top of Blackstairs. ; ’ She demands all her rituals from the ; ' neighbors and attends every funeral. As surely as a sad procession of mourning cars winds down the blue ; quartz road that leads to the chapel, ‘ a red cotton parasol is seen in front, j i Under the parasol—used for grandeur only—Meg’s head is visible, looking indeed quaint, covered with atiy old headgear she may have last annexed. Meg’s weakness is dress, her most imperial demand being for funeral clothes. The brighter they are, the better. To Meg Furlong a “berry all” is a “divarsion.” She 1 decks herself gayly for it. Bits of ribbon and lace, old artificial flowers and feathers bedign this modem “quangle wangle wee.” On occasion'—for instance, when the squire or doctor's wife is carried to the last longhome— Meg’s hat seems A hundred and two yards wide, With ribbons and ribbons on every side. For amount of width in brim and trimming denotes the rank of deceased. Meg has no respect for living personages. She our young | ladies at the Glebe “gurrls.” Only recently she sent a request to the said ••'gurrls” not to keep her waiting on the doorstep but to bring out their benefactions at once. Another time she suggested that “whan the gurrls” wished to buy her a new bib —she wanted one badly—it should be a “'blewe wan’’ for the summer. For the dead, as I have said. Meg keeps her deepest homage. “I have attended at the berry-all oo’ all the O'Bryans, and will be glad to at yours, me honored lady,'’ she has been heard to ' say, demanding backsheesh at the same time to keep her alive for that festive occasion. Biddy the Kid (from whence she got her name history recordeth not) —is ’ikeMeg Furlong only in one way —she also levies a tribute of old clothes in her district. That district extends from the Gillicuddy Reeks to Mangerton Mountain. It embraces the wonderful lakes of Kil’arney, from the “druidical oak to the diamond hung Arbutus" in Derry county, to the Eagle’s Nest, towering 1 ,?00 feet above its gigantic precipice. Through the Gap of Dunloe to sweet Innisfallen, Biddy the Kid pursues the even tenor of her way. She ransacks every cottage and house for castoff garb. But it is not for her own back or wear. Biddy turns tin honest i ' )enny by selling discarded finery to I her neighbors. Her house is stacked high with rags and ancient garments. It is the emporium of fashioirfor the peasantry around. “Tfll Miss Anna 4 I want an. old corbeeii.” she said oir ■ one occasion. “Writ’s that yez ri sayi in’? She hasn’t wan? Why. Aliss i Anna’s crawlin’ wi’ hats.” Of course her victim produced a pet bonnet i with which the Kid professed herself satisfied. She scorns some of our i gifts. “Bread an’ tay an’ sugar” are not acceptable to Bidd. “Give the likes o’ t hem to ould Neddy the Coach 1 or pore trash like him.”—Fireside.