BEWARE OF THE RISING CELTIC PEOPLE

Ireland's Spirit, evolved from both Greek mythology of the Rising Phoenix on the ashes and the Easter Resurrection from the tomb, combined into our own. The words Rising and Phoenix, have highly significant Spiritual essence for the Irish, which can only be experienced, as once again it is happening in Ireland, at this present time. It is an experience, that is physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual among the developing relationships of insurrection and protest, which are currently part of the bigger picture, of defining Ireland's future relationships within itself, Europe and the World.

The cataclysmic experience of a sudden shift, from the illusory Celtic Tiger, to a mafianomic austerity, has sparked this insurrection. Through the ensuing process of awareness, the opportunity exists for Ireland to release old undigested experiences, traumas, personal beliefs, outdated habits and patterns, to move into a more whole and united entity in everyday life, with a new perspective and national efficacy.

The responsibility of the enlightened worldwide, is to support the Irish people in solidarity, while moving in the direction, of a life worth living on the island, to a purpose driven, meaningful life experience, with less poverty stress and anxiety, in fulfilling their work and relationships. Core issues, both private and public, that hinder a new progressive way of fulfilling Irish life, will have to be confronted and addressed, in what is hopefully, a peaceful, intelligent, way forward. Help to empower Ireland in this direction, is needed from the benign, rather than the centuries old, malign interference. The influence of the Irish diaspora abroad, is critical in all of this, as the New Ireland evolves, one protest at a time.

The article below from Wikipedia, on the work of WB Yeats, is a record of this critical influence from English literature, in what became known as the Celtic revival. However the writer and revolutionary Padraig Pearse was the Gaelic element, that recognized, the important Spiritual aspect of the Irish revival, in reawakening the Soul of the Island. This was best captured in his expression, “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. A country without a language is a country without a soul.” Ireland's Soul certainly went to sleep around the tiger, it remains to be seen, just how far the "Risen People" will take it this time and how both reactionary domestic forces and foreign occupation forces, will mishandle it, this time.


Currently they are using their corporate media, to demonize the protest. Their history suggests, they will try to use provocateurs to create violence, with some sort of false flag operation, in places such as Limerick, to divide and discredit the protesters. They will attempt to introduce the terrorist narrative, to justify extra judicial activity. They will use tactics, similar to those used outside the British Embassy in Ballsbridge some years ago, during the Hunger Strike. Lessons from that experience and mistakes made, are important factors in being prepared to anticipate any state, counter attacks and to be organized.

September 1913


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



This article is about the poem by W. B. Yeats. For the month in 1913, see September_1913_(month).


"September 1913" is a poem by W. B. Yeats. Perhaps one of his greatest works, September 1913 was written midway through his life as a highly reflective poem which is rooted within the turbulent past. Most notably, the poem provides insight into Yeats' detestation of the middle classes whilst also glorifying figures such as John O'Leary.


What need you, being come to sense,
But fumble in a greasy till
And add the halfpence to the pence
And prayer to shivering prayer, until
You have dried the marrow from the bone;
For men were born to pray and save;
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave.

Yet they were of a different kind,
The names that stilled your childish play,
They have gone about the world like wind,
But little time had they to pray
For whom the hangman's rope was spun,
And what, God help us, could they save?
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave.

Was it for this the wild geese spread
The grey wing upon every tide;
For this that all that blood was shed,
For this Edward Fitzgerald died,
And Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone,
All that delirium of the brave?
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave.

Yet could we turn the years again,
And call those exiles as they were
In all their loneliness and pain,
You'd cry `Some woman's yellow hair
Has maddened every mother's son':
They weighed so lightly what they gave.
But let them be, they're dead and gone,
They're with O'Leary in the grave.[1]


Contents

[hide]
1 Style
2 Key Themes and John O'Leary
3 The Hugh Lane Bequest
4 Dublin Lock-out
5 References

Style[edit]


Unlike some of his earlier work, this poem adopts a new tone and style which expresses a hatred for the CatholicBourgeoisie.[2] Yeats' new use of unpleasant adjectives such as 'greasy' is very much indicative of the tone, as he expresses that religion and the middle class are crafty and sly. Moreover, the use of the strong ABAB rhyme scheme maintains a spiteful and accusatory tone.
Key Themes and John O'Leary


The poem focuses on manifesting Yeats' new stance of belief exploring his new political mind and celebrating those, whom he believes worth of praise. Notably, in all four of the refrains, Yeats mentions John O'Leary, who was an Irish separatist 'of a different kind'. His political stance was much less self-interested, compared with many of Yeats' contemporaries, as he instead focused on getting the greatest good for Ireland. It is clear through the poem, Yeats admires this and wishes for a return to the less egotistical and self-driven politics of a bygone era. Yeats does, however, appear to question whether these great historical figures, whom he admired and previously emulated in the style of his earlier work, are comprehensive in their understanding of the world in which they lived.


"September 1913" functions also as an iconic example of Yeats's own fidelity to the literary tradition of the 19th British Romantic poets. A devoted reader of both William Blake andPercy Shelley, Yeats's repetition of the phrase "Romantic Ireland" connects the politically motivated ideals of the Romantics "to an Irish national landscape."[3] The fact that Yeats attaches a second repetition of "It's with O'Leary in the grave" indicates further the speaker's belief that John O'Learyembodied a nationalism in his political actions that now rests solely within the poem. Indeed, John O'Leary "directed Yeats not just to large-mindedness, but to a way of combining Romanticism with Irishness into an original synthesis."[4] In other words, O'Leary's influence on Yeats enables the poet to both inherit the literary legacy of the Romantics while carrying on the nationalistic vision of O'Leary. As a result, the romantic idealism found in Blake and Shelley is now transformed into a fundamentally Irish concept whereas Yeats's deep Irish heritage becomes Romantic in every sense of the word. "September 1913" thus illustrates that "Romantic Ireland is not dead after all; rather, it lives on in the remarkable voice uttering the poem, the voice of O'Leary's greatest disciple, fully of hybridity and passion at once."[5] In a matter of four stanzas, the poem's speaker manages to exist at the confluence of British Romanticism and Irish nationalism.


Ironically, Yeats's endorsement of the Romantic imagination in "September 1913" is also used to identify several of its flaws that are in need of his revision. Writing at the nexus of the Romantic and Irish traditions "enabled him to correct flaws not only of Shelley but also of Blake, who he thought should have been more rooted and less obscure."[6] Now that "Romantic Ireland's dead and gone," it can no longer express its will and thus requires Yeats poetic prowess to clarify Ireland's message. Speaking specifically about Irish leaders such as Edward Fitzgerald, Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone, Yeats describes them as brave yet a bit delirious, a classification that treats the poet as far more grounded in his politics than the Irish nationalists who died. Yeats channels the fervor of their idealism and struggle through his words by insisting that his own poem continues the nationalist project initiated by those who came before him. The speaker's voice thus becomes "the characteristic note of Yeats's great mature poetry."[7]
The Hugh Lane Bequest


Hugh Lane offered his collection of paintings to the Dublin Municipal Corporation. Public reaction was mostly negative on economic and moral grounds. In the end, as Yeats said "the mob" prevailed. In a note to this poem Yeats wrote that the pictures "works by Corot, Degas and Renoir - were compared to the Trojan Horse 'which destroyed a city'. They were dubbed 'indecent' and those who admired the painting were called 'self-seekers, self-advertisers, picture dealers, log-rolling cranks, and faddists'..."[8]
Dublin Lock-out


Yeats wrote this poem following the Dublin Lock-Out and The Hugh Lane Bequest. Robert Emmet, mentioned in the poem, planned for a revolution several times, unsuccessfully. When he was finally successful, he was said to try and stop everything mid-rebellion, because he witnessed a man being pulled from his horse and killed. Considering that Emmet had spent months previously manufacturing explosives and weapons, this sudden drawback at the sight of violence, suggests that he did not fully understand the implications of a revolution. Perhaps Yeats is acknowledging the naivety of some Irish Republican figures like Robert Emmet, and himself, following public violence as a result of attempts at revolution.


see:[9]
References
Jump up^http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/September_1913_by_William_Butler_Yeats_analysis.php
Jump up^ http://voices.yahoo.com/analysis-yeats-poem-september-1913-4534097.html
Jump up^ George Bornstein, "Yeats and Romanticism," The Cambridge Companion to W.B. Yeats, 27. Edited by Marjorie Howes and John Kelly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Jump up^ George Bornstein, "Yeats and Romanticism," 27.
Jump up^ George Bornstein, "Yeats and Romanticism," 28.
Jump up^ George Bornstein, "Yeats and Romanticism," 27.
Jump up^ George Bornstein, "Yeats and Romanticism," 28.
Jump up^ Adele M dalsimer, "By the Irish Political Ballad, Colby Library Quarterly, 12,1 March 1976, p38)http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/1479
Jump up^ Dublin Lock-out


This article incorporates text from September 1913, by W. B. Yeats, a publication from 1913 now in the public domain in the United States.





[hide]

v
t
e


W. B. Yeats



Poetry





Volumes

The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1889)
The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics(1892)
In the Seven Woods (1903)
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921)
The Tower(1928)
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)




Poems

"Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven"
"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death"
"Adam's Curse"
"Blood and the Moon"
"The Circus Animals' Desertion"
"Down by the Salley Gardens"
"A Drunken Man's Praise of Sobriety"
"Easter, 1916"
"Ego Dominus Tuus"
"In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz"
"Lake Isle of Innisfree"
"On being asked for a War Poem"
"Politics"
"A Prayer for My Daughter"
"Remorse for Intemperate Speech"
"The Rose of Battle"
"The Rose-Tree"
"Sailing to Byzantium"
"September 1913
"Song of the Old Mother"
"The Scholars"
"The Second Coming"
"The Song of the Happy Shepherd"
"The Stolen Child"
"Swift's Epitaph"
"To the Rose upon the Rood of Time"
"The Tower"
"Under Ben Bulben
"The Wanderings of Oisin"
"The Wild Swans at Coole"




Plays

Mosada (1886)
The Land of Heart's Desire (1894)
Diarmuid and Grania (1901)
Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902)
The Countess Cathleen (1911)
At the Hawk's Well (1916)
The Resurrection (1927)
Purgatory (1938)



Other works

A Vision (1925)
The Curse of the Fires and of the Shadows



People

John Butler Yeats (father)
Susan Pollexfen (mother)
Jack Butler Yeats (brother)
Elizabeth Yeats (sister)
Lily Yeats(sister)
Maud Gonne (lover)
Georgie Hyde-Lees (wife)
Anne Yeats (daughter)
Michael Yeats (son)



Related

W. B. Yeats bibliography
An Appointment with Mr Yeats
"Troy"
Thoor Ballylee
Samhain magazine




Categories:
Poetry by W. B. Yeats

GERRY ADAMS ORDERS A CURRY FOR GREGORY

Like the Devil in the above video,  Britain has instigated division all over the world on the basis of religion or ethnic background, to divide and conquer. The following article explains how they use the Orange Order in Ireland both as tool of division and pretext for occupation. The libertaion struggle in Ireland is not about religion, it is about freedom. Here is the oath every Orangeman signs up to when he joins. “He should strenuously oppose the fatal errors and doctrines of the Church of Rome, and scrupulously avoid countenancing by his presence or otherwise any act or ceremony of Popish worship, he should, by all lawful means, resist the ascendancy of that Church, its encroachments, and the extension of its power.”

The F-- the Pope Bands who take part in Orange marches sing a song of then outside Catholic Churches, called “We are the Billy Boys,” the first verse goes like this:

Hello! Hello! We are the Billy Boys
Hello! Hello! You'll know us by our noise
We're up to our necks in Fenian blood
Surrender or you'll die.

Since the early nineteenth century, Orangemen are involved in violent conflict with Irish Catholics. One instance, included the murder of a Catholic priest and several members of the congregation of Dumreilly on 25 May 1816. A crowd of Orangemen with guns marched into the church and started shooting the congregation. On 19 July 1823 the Unlawful Oaths Bill, banned all oath societies in Ireland, including the Orange Order, which was dissolved, but reconstituted. In 1825 a bill banning unlawful associations,compelled the Orangemen once more to dissolve their association.

 In 1836 the Orange Order supported a plot by Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Imperial Grand Master of the Orange Order, to take the throne of England, to replace Queen Victoria. The plot was revealed the House of Commons, after which,a motion called upon King William IV, to disband the Orange Order. Under pressure from the King, the Duke of Cumberland was forced to dissolve all Orange lodges.

In 1845 the ban was lifted, but at their notorious Battle of Dolly's Brae the Orangemen again slaughtered Catholics, which again led to a ban on Orange marches, which remained in place for generations. Until the late 19th century, the Order Order was in permanent decline. However, it was again revived by the absentee English landlords in Ireland, to spread Protestant opposition, to the Irish nationalist mobilization of the Irish Land League and subsequently to Irish Home Rule. 

The Orange Order, with British incitement became heavily involved in opposition to the Liberal 

Gladstone's first Irish Home Rule Bill 1886, and was instrumental in creating the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), a forerunner of the more extreme DUP of today. They organized Protestant opposition to Irish self-government in the Protestant-dominated six counties, which is known today as British Occupied Ireland, or what the British call Northern Ireland.

In 1912, the Third Home Rule Bill was introduced in the British House of Commoners, but its introduction was delayed until 1914, to give the Orange Order more time to organize, in conjunction with the British Conservative Party, who were inflexible in opposing the Bill. The Order helped organize the 1912 Ulster Covenant, which was a pledge to oppose Home Rule and was signed by several hundred thousand people. In 1911 the Orange Order began arming themselves, with the help of the British, who trained them as a militia, called the Ulster Volunteers. There was almost a complete overlap between all Orange Lodges and sectarian UVF killer units. The British armed them with a large shipment of rifles, under the cover of being imported from Germany, in what became known as the Larne gun-running.

Eventually the Fourth Home Rule Act was passed, as the Government of Ireland Act 1920, with the six north eastern counties of Ulster, becoming, what the British called Northern Ireland. This self-governing entity, was termed by leading Orangemen, as a Protestant Government for a Protestant people within Britain, where Catholics were to suffer greatly.

The Orange Order, had a central place in the new state of Northern Ireland. From 1921 to 1969, every Prime Minister was an Orangeman and member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). James Craig, the first Prime Minister of Occupied Ireland, maintained that his statelet was in effect Protestant and the symbol of its ruling forces was the Orange Order. In 1932, Prime Minister Craig stated that "ours is a Protestant government and I am an Orangeman". Two years later he stated: "I have always said that I am an Orangeman first and a politician and a member of this parliament afterwards…all I boast, is that we have a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State".

After the outbreak of "The Troubles" in 1969, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, encouraged Orangemen to join the RUC and the British Army's (UDR). The response was strong, with over 300 armed Orangemen killed during the conflict, all of them members of British armed forces. Other 

Orangemen joined loyalist paramilitaries, who murdered numerous Catholics, on a sectarian basis. During the conflict, the Order had a duplicitous relationship with loyalist paramilitaries, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), with elements of the Orange Order, urging its members to join these organisations. 

This is still the status of the Orange Order of today. The estimated membership of the Orange Order is around 34,000. This dictates what remains of the failed Irish Peace Process and the are the primary cause of it's failure. It is hardcore sectarianism and like Gregory Campbell, it is a rabid group of prejudice and bigotry, with close links to white supremacist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, Nazi groups in Britain and the fascist Blueshirts in the south of Ireland.There will be no peace in Ireland while the British Government secretly enables them and sponsors their sectarian state to the tune of 10 billion pounds annually.

GERRY ADAMS GETS DOWN & DIRTY IN IRISH PEACE PROCESS

27 NOVEMBER 2014 Belfast, Ireland                    

Provisional Sinn Fein MP Michelle Gildernew ,has described today, the DUP's Gregory Campbell as "a bollocks" after her party leader Gerry Adams, also talked about "breaking the bastards", while responding to an earlier debate on the Irish language, in which Unionist DUP MP Gregory Campbelle said "curry my yogurt can coca coalyer"sounds similar to the Irish phrase, 'go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle' which means approximately, thank you chairperson.

Earlier this week, negotiations commenced with the prospect of reviving the Irish Peace Process, which are chaired by a US Envoy from John Kerry's office. If these exchanges this week, are anything to go by, it appears that the Irish Peace Process, is definitely finished, with the the only prospect for peace, now being a Federal solution for the island, with an internal settlement proving impossible.

SOULLESS WASTELAND OF CORPORATE IRELAND

“Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. A country without a language is a country without a soul.”
― Pádraig Pearse

James Joyce like Samuel Beckett fled to Paris and famously said: 'Ireland, Island of Saints and Sages', that "No self-respecting person wants to stay in Ireland. Instead he will run from it, as if from a country that has been subjected to a visitation by an angry Jove." 

"Your music should be abou' where you're from an' the sort o' people yeh come from.—Say it once, say it loud, I'm black an' I'm proud ...—The Irish are the niggers of Europe, lads." —Roddy Doyle, The Commitments. There are also claims that Malcolm X said, "The Irish are the blacks of Europe !" but he was talking about the Irish genetic connection to the Moors, by way of Spain. However the analogy is valid. The last large numbers of white people to be sold into slavery, were the Irish with 150,000 sold back in the 1600s, when English pirates sold Irish slaves, regarding them as another species.

Events around the global banking crisis of 2008 and more particularly how it was mishandled in Ireland, have again clarified, that the Irish working class are being treated like the blacks of Europe. Currently Ireland is fourth globally in suicide rates for males age 18-24, according to a 2014 report, with unemployment rates comparable to black ghettos in the States. With the fall-out from the Irish bailout of the banking bondholders, resulting austerity and recession, bringing the Irish economy and living conditions below dozens of 'third world countries, it is another shock to the system. Ireland's current sense of gloom permeates the Irish air and patterns of current behaviour.

The Irish working class 'nigger' status is not just a fact abroad but it is still a reality on their own Island. It is crystal clear for centuries in the north of the island, with their sectarian treatment by the Orange Order culture, as crystallized in exchanges in the last few days, between the racist Gregory Campbell and Gerry Adams, it also true in the south, where the "West Brit Elite" still control society. Allied to a native gombeen class of neo-fascists in Fine Gael, along with colluding Labour careerists. The mafianomics of the corporate bankers and their sponsored native politicians, are denuding Ireland of it's native resources and people, with a ruthlessness, comparable to deforestation. Their instruction manual is the "The Art of War," as they adopt a scorched earth policy, leaving an Irish wasteland that is soulless.  


National Debt of Ireland


Ireland Debt Clock
204,643,296,961 €



Source: Irish Government Data

The Figures



Interest per year:


9,787,870,202€




Population:


4,591,087




GDP:


179,692,529,688€





Interest per second:


310€




Citizen's Share:


44,574€




Debt as % of GDP:


113.89%

Interesting Facts


You could wrap $1 bills around the Earth 990 times with the debt amount!


If you lay $1 bills on top of each other they would make a pile 27,767 km, or 17,253 miles high!


That's equivalent to 0.07 trips to the Moon!
Household Share


Household Share: 44,574€

Pope urges a “lonely” “self-absorbed” Europe to recover its soul

Print

2014-11-26 Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis called on a “haggard” and “lonely” Europe to recover its role as a world protagonist, its identity as a defender of the transcendent dignity of man, the poor, the migrant, the persecuted, the old and the young, to recover its soul: Christianity.

Emer McCarthy reports: 

In a lengthy address– the first of two on his one day visit to the heart of Europe –  he told members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg that a two-thousand-year-old history links Europe and Christianity, “not free of conflicts or errors, but driven by the desire to work for the good of all”. This “is our present and our future.  It is our identity”, he said

The Pope also urged Europe’s 500 million citizens to see the Union’s problems – economic stagnation, unemployment, immigration, rising poverty levels and a growing polarization -  as a “force for unity” to overcome fears and mutual mistrust.

“Dignity” he said was the pivotal concept in the process of rebuilding which followed the Second World War and led to the European project. Today it remains central to the commitment of the European Union. But Pope Francis warned, often the concept of human rights is misunderstood and misused. 

He pointed to tendency to uphold the rights of the individual, “without regard for the fact that each human being is part of a social context wherein his or her rights and duties are bound up with those of others and with the common good of society itself”.         

Transcendent human dignity – the Pope continued - means regarding human beings not as absolutes, but as beings in relation.  He spoke of a Europe rampant with the disease of loneliness a direct result of the trend towards individualism. He said the economic crisis has worsened this pervasive loneliness and nourished a growing mistrust in people towards institutions considered aloof and bureaucratic. 

The Pope spoke of the unsustainable opulence of selfish lifestyles amid indifference to the poorest of the poor, where technical and economic questions dominate political debate, to the detriment of genuine concern for human beings.

This – the Pope noted –reduces human life to being a “cog in a machine” which, if no longer useful, can be “discarded with few qualms, as in the case of the terminally ill, the elderly who are abandoned and uncared for, and children who are killed in the womb”. This – Pope Francis said quoting Benedict XVI - is the great mistake made “when technology is allowed to take over”; the result is a confusion between ends and means”.

The future of Europe – added Pope Francis - depends on the recovery of the vital connection between openness to God and the practical and concrete ability to confront situations and problems.

The Pope said Christianity is not a threat to secular Europe but rather an enrichment. He said religions can help Europe counter “many forms of extremism” spreading today that are often “a result of the great vacuum of ideals which we are currently witnessing in the West”.

Here he decried the “shameful and complicit silence” of many while religious minorities are being “evicted from their homes and native lands, sold as slaves, killed, beheaded, crucified or burned alive”.

Pope Francis went on to observe that the motto of the European Union isUnited in Diversity, but unity, does not mean uniformity. Keeping democracy alive in Europe means avoiding the many globalizing tendencies to dilute reality.

Keeping democracies alive is a challenge in the present historic moment, he continued, but  it must not be allowed to collapse under the pressure of multinational interests which are not universal. It means nurturing the gifts of each man and woman; investing in families, the fundamental cell and most precious element of any society; in educational institutes;  in young people today who are asking for a suitable and complete education to help them to look to the future with hope instead of disenchantment. 

In areas such as the ecology Europe has always been in the vanguard, the Pope said, while noting that today “millions of people around the world are dying of hunger while tons of food are discarded each day from our tables”. 

He also spoke of the need to promote policies that create employment, but above all “restore dignity to labour by ensuring proper working conditions” while avoiding the exploitation of workers and ensuring “their ability to create a family and educate their children”.

On the issue of migration Pope Francis called for a united response decrying the lack of a coordinated EU wide effort to adopt policies that assist migrants in their countries of origin and that promote a just and realistic integration: “We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery!” he decried to lengthy applause.

Pope Francis concluded: “The time has come for us to abandon the idea of a Europe which is fearful and self-absorbed, in order to revive and encourage a Europe of leadership, a repository of science, art, music, human values and faith as well.  A Europe which contemplates the heavens and pursues lofty ideals.  A Europe which cares for, defends and protects man, every man and woman.  A Europe which bestrides the earth surely and securely, a precious point of reference for all humanity!

WILD FLOWERS Not your Garden Variety

Patricia Black

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born

28 November 1972

Belfast,


Died

15 November 1991 (aged 18)

London, England


Allegiance

Provisional Irish Republican Army


Years of service

1972 - 1991


Rank

Volunteer


Unit

Belfast Brigade

Patricia Black, also known as smiler or Patricia Black-Donnelly (28 November 1972 – 15 November 1991) was a Volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Contents

   

• 1 Background
• 2 Active service
• 3 See also
• 4 References

Background

Black grew up in the Lenadoon area of Belfast and was educated at St. Oliver Plunkett Primary School and St. Genevieve's Girls Secondary School in Belfast.

Active service

Patricia joined the IRA at the age of 17. Her comrades considered her a determined and dedicated young woman and she was tasked with the role of intelligence gathering. Later Black informed her parent that she was moving to Dublin but secretly moved to London.^[1][3]

She died, along with fellow Volunteer, Frank Ryan, on 15 November 1991, when an improvised explosive device she was carrying detonated prematurely near London. A British Armymilitary band had been playing in theatre on St Peter's Street in St Albans which the pair had planned to attack, when the device unexpectedly exploded killing her and Ryan.

At the funeral of Frank Ryan a Sinn Féin leader, Jim Gibney, stated "Frankie and Patricia are not alone. They are representatives of a generation of Ireland's youth who have acquired the skills to remain hidden, who come forward when required to do so. How will the British defeat this invisible force?"

Black is buried in Milltown Cemetery Belfast.

The Volunteers Patricia Black and Frankie Ryan Memorial Flute Band from the Garngad area of Glasgow is jointly named after her, they are politically aligned to éirígí. 

A political mural depicting a uniformed armed female republican in uniform in the Lenadoon area of Belfast is jointly dedicated to Black as well as Laura Crawford, Bridie Quinn and Mairéad Farrell.

A memorial to Black and Ryan was erected in their honour at the Sally Gardens Centre in Belfast. At its unveiling in 2007, West Belfast MLA Jennifer McCann stated "They are our heroes and our inspiration. They are no longer with us but let us take their vision forward."

Maud Gonne WikiLink

GERRY ADAMS COMES OUT AS GREGORY GETS HIS GOAT UP

MICHELLE SMYTH – 25 NOVEMBER 2014 

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has ignited another war of words after describing unionists as b******s last night at a public meeting.

 Mr Adams spoke about “bigotry” in unionism and said: “The point is to break these b******s... break them with equality.”

He also claimed that unionists were “scundered” by people like DUP MP Gregory Campbell. He was asked by a member of the audience about Sinn Fein’s relationship with the DUP in light of recent events, including the controversial comments made by Mr Campbell about the party’s use of the Irish language.

Mr Adams, who is now a TD for Louth, replied that when he returns to visit Belfast some nationalists and republicans would ask him to explain the point of working with the DUP.

He added: "There are people who don't want the nonsense that Gregory Campbell spouts... the bigotry."

Mr Adams said: "But what's the point? The point is to actually break these b******s - that's the point. And what's going to break them is equality. That's what's going to break them - equality. Who could be afraid of equality? Who could be afraid of treating somebody the way you want to be treated. That's what we need to keep the focus on - that's the Trojan horse of the entire republican strategy."

Mr Adams made his comments in Enniskillen, a venue that angered unionists further because of its history of the Remembrance Day IRA bombing.

The remarks came after Gregory Campbell infuriated republicans with remarks he made at a party conference at the weekend.

Mr Campbell also remarked that the DUP will be treating Sinn Fein's "wish list" like toilet paper.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness described those remarks as "absolutely appalling".

Mr Campbell said last night he was not surprised when the Belfast Telegraph informed him of what Mr Adams had said.

"The Sinn Fein mask has definitely slipped," he said.

"People will now be able to see their true colours. To those who know and understand Gerry Adams' background this may not come as a surprise.

"Sinn Fein has for a long time done a sterling job at keeping their true feelings under wraps but now people will be able to see them completely clearly for what they are. All of this is in response to a humorous anecdote."


Enterprise Minister and Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Arlene Foster said: "Respect is a two-way street. The hyperbole from republicans over recent days has been exposed as hypocrisy.

"Republicans use the Irish language as a weapon and tonight Gerry Adams confirms that they view equality as another weapon to attack unionists, or "these b******s" as he would term us.

"Will Sinn Fein now unleash a tirade of outrage against their party president or will they once again stand behind him as they have over his denial of IRA membership, his involvement in Jean McConville's murder or the cover-up of sexual abuse.

"On Saturday John O'Dowd told us that if any Sinn Fein member was disrespectful to someone's culture they would be expelled by Martin McGuinness.

"Gerry Adams has been disrespectful to an entire community. We await details of the disciplinary hearing."

Ulster Unionist leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA said Mr Adams' remarks are "stunning in their arrogance and hatred. On a day I began by criticising the DUP's Gregory Campbell for his gratuitous insult to those who cherish the Irish language, I despair that I have to end it by challenging Gerry Adams to clarify why he believes equality is no more than a trick to lure unionists into some sort of trap".

Mr Adams was joined at the meeting by Michelle Gildernew MP and Pearse Doherty.

UUP Fermanagh and south Tyrone MLA Tom Elliot said: "It is almost beyond belief that the president of a political party would use this type of language. It says a lot about his character and about Sinn Fein. It is insulting wherever remarks like this are made but even more so that this was said in Enniskillen where the poppy day bombing took place and where many people have suffered."

ADRIAN RUTHERFORD – 24 NOVEMBER 2014

The DUP's Gregory Campbell has said he will not be 'dictated to or deflected by terrorists' after receiving a death threat following comments he made about the Irish language.

It comes after the DUP MP reiterated comments about the Irish language during his party's annual conference at the weekend.

Mr Campbell sparked fury last month when he mocked Irish during a Stormont debate.

He said: "Curry my yoghurt can coca coalyer" - an apparent reference to the Irish phrase "go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle" - thank you, Mr Speaker.

Police have now warned him of a threat to his life.

Responding, he said he would "not I will not be apologising for, or deviating from doing the right thing".

"This is not the first time that my life has been put under threat by republicans, and the challenge now is whether those who supported the threats in the past will condemn those who do it now. If they do, it is an indication that we have indeed moved on," he said.

"I will not be dictated to or deflected by terrorists. I took the opportunity today at Question Time, to reiterate my determination. Exposing those politicising the Irish language, as well as those making unrealistic political demands at the talks table is the right thing to do. How dare anyone try to suggest that it is something to be ashamed of."

A PSNI spokesman said: "We do not comment on specific threats however if we receive information that an individual may need to review their security we will take steps to inform them immediately."

East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell jokingly referred to the jibe during a speech at the party conference on Saturday.

He told delegates it was always good to start the day with a healthy breakfast, before producing a tub of yoghurt and saying: "So I got some yoghurt today.

"And I'm looking forward to lunch, because they tell me there's some curry there."

Irish language leader Micheal O Duibh - who addressed the DUP conference - said he was dismayed by a fresh attack on the language from one of the party's MPs.

He said it felt like "one step forward, two steps back" after Gregory Campbell's remarks.


Mr Campbell also said the DUP would treat Sinn Fein's "entire wish list" - which includes calls for an Irish Language Act - like toilet paper. His latest comments have been condemned by Mr O Duibh, who took part in a panel discussion on the first day of the conference.

Mr O Duibh, who is chief executive of Comhairle na Gaelscolaiochta, the body responsible for the promotion of Irish-medium schooling, said his remarks were disrespectful.

"It is very disappointing," he told the Belfast Telegraph.

"When I was speaking at the party conference I was bringing a very positive message and I very much welcomed the invitation.

"It was a first for Irish-medium education and, most likely, a first for anybody from the Irish language background to be invited to a DUP conference.

"I gave a very warm céad míle fáilte to everybody and brought across a very strong, positive message that the Irish language and Irish-medium education is there for any parent who chooses it for their child, regardless of their social, cultural, religious or indeed linguistic background.

"To bring that positive message to the conference, and then the next day to hear the comments from Gregory Campbell felt very much like one step forward and two steps back."

Mr O Duibh said he felt let down by the latest remarks.

"In one way it was positive that I was invited to the conference," he added. "In another way it gives me an understanding of how Gregory feels or what his position is on the language.

"When you hear the party leader talk about a shared future, I wonder how he, as leader, can talk about that shared future when his party colleague feels it is okay to comment on the language in this way."

Mr Campbell appears to have made his yoghurt joke off the cuff, since it was not included in the embargoed copy of his speech released by the party press office on Saturday morning. Afterwards, DUP leader Peter Robinson defended the remarks as comedy.

However, Sinn Fein minister John O'Dowd condemned Mr Campbell and Mr Robinson.

"The insult directed by Gregory Campbell at the Irish language community from the DUP conference is appalling," the Education Minister said. "He was clearly sticking two fingers up to the Irish language community and to authority of the assembly which sanctioned him for his unacceptable behaviour in the chamber.

"I'm dismayed that Peter Robinson, in echoes of his failure to deal promptly with abuse directed at the Muslim community earlier this year, has added insult to injury by suggesting Campbell's mockery was a piece of comedy."



What they said

Micheal O Duibh: "I gave a very warm céad míle fáilte to everybody and brought across a very strong, positive message that the Irish language and Irish medium education is there for any parent who chooses it for their child.

"To bring that positive message to the conference, and then the next day to hear the comments from Gregory Campbell felt very much like one step forward and two steps back."

Peter Robinson: "This is getting tedious. If all that you have out of the whole of the party conference is to question me about that, then there are better things I could be doing.

"Lighten up will you? It's a party conference and it was a bit of comedy in the middle of it, let's get on with some real business."

Dominic Bradley, SDLP: "Mr Campbell may think that he is targeting Sinn Fein with these slurs but the Irish language community is much wider and deeper than the membership of any one political party.

"Irish language speakers, those who aspire to speak Irish and all right-minded people who respect the languages of others will be insulted and disappointed by Gregory Campbell's antics."

John O'Dowd, SF: "The insult directed by Gregory Campbell at the Irish language community from the DUP conference is appalling.

"He was clearly sticking two fingers up to the Irish language community."



Background

Dr Micheal O Duibh is the chief executive of Comhairle na Gaelscolaiochta, the body responsible for the promotion of Irish-medium schooling. He was invited to take part in a panel discussion on the future of education on the first day of the DUP conference.

The organisation described it as "a significant and historical occasion".

GREGORY AN GABHAIR

ADRIAN RUTHERFORD – 24 NOVEMBER 2014

The DUP's Gregory Campbell has said he will not be 'dictated to or deflected by terrorists' after receiving a death threat following comments he made about the Irish language.

It comes after the DUP MP reiterated comments about the Irish language during his party's annual conference at the weekend.

Mr Campbell sparked fury last month when he mocked Irish during a Stormont debate.

He said: "Curry my yoghurt can coca coalyer" - an apparent reference to the Irish phrase "go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle" - thank you, Mr Speaker.

Police have now warned him of a threat to his life.

Responding, he said he would "not I will not be apologising for, or deviating from doing the right thing".

"This is not the first time that my life has been put under threat by republicans, and the challenge now is whether those who supported the threats in the past will condemn those who do it now. If they do, it is an indication that we have indeed moved on," he said.

"I will not be dictated to or deflected by terrorists. I took the opportunity today at Question Time, to reiterate my determination. Exposing those politicising the Irish language, as well as those making unrealistic political demands at the talks table is the right thing to do. How dare anyone try to suggest that it is something to be ashamed of."

A PSNI spokesman said: "We do not comment on specific threats however if we receive information that an individual may need to review their security we will take steps to inform them immediately."

East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell jokingly referred to the jibe during a speech at the party conference on Saturday.

He told delegates it was always good to start the day with a healthy breakfast, before producing a tub of yoghurt and saying: "So I got some yoghurt today.

"And I'm looking forward to lunch, because they tell me there's some curry there."

Irish language leader Micheal O Duibh - who addressed the DUP conference - said he was dismayed by a fresh attack on the language from one of the party's MPs.

He said it felt like "one step forward, two steps back" after Gregory Campbell's remarks.


Mr Campbell also said the DUP would treat Sinn Fein's "entire wish list" - which includes calls for an Irish Language Act - like toilet paper. His latest comments have been condemned by Mr O Duibh, who took part in a panel discussion on the first day of the conference.

Mr O Duibh, who is chief executive of Comhairle na Gaelscolaiochta, the body responsible for the promotion of Irish-medium schooling, said his remarks were disrespectful.

"It is very disappointing," he told the Belfast Telegraph.

"When I was speaking at the party conference I was bringing a very positive message and I very much welcomed the invitation.

"It was a first for Irish-medium education and, most likely, a first for anybody from the Irish language background to be invited to a DUP conference.

"I gave a very warm céad míle fáilte to everybody and brought across a very strong, positive message that the Irish language and Irish-medium education is there for any parent who chooses it for their child, regardless of their social, cultural, religious or indeed linguistic background.

"To bring that positive message to the conference, and then the next day to hear the comments from Gregory Campbell felt very much like one step forward and two steps back."

Mr O Duibh said he felt let down by the latest remarks.

"In one way it was positive that I was invited to the conference," he added. "In another way it gives me an understanding of how Gregory feels or what his position is on the language.

"When you hear the party leader talk about a shared future, I wonder how he, as leader, can talk about that shared future when his party colleague feels it is okay to comment on the language in this way."

Mr Campbell appears to have made his yoghurt joke off the cuff, since it was not included in the embargoed copy of his speech released by the party press office on Saturday morning. Afterwards, DUP leader Peter Robinson defended the remarks as comedy.

However, Sinn Fein minister John O'Dowd condemned Mr Campbell and Mr Robinson.

"The insult directed by Gregory Campbell at the Irish language community from the DUP conference is appalling," the Education Minister said. "He was clearly sticking two fingers up to the Irish language community and to authority of the assembly which sanctioned him for his unacceptable behaviour in the chamber.

"I'm dismayed that Peter Robinson, in echoes of his failure to deal promptly with abuse directed at the Muslim community earlier this year, has added insult to injury by suggesting Campbell's mockery was a piece of comedy."



What they said

Micheal O Duibh: "I gave a very warm céad míle fáilte to everybody and brought across a very strong, positive message that the Irish language and Irish medium education is there for any parent who chooses it for their child.

"To bring that positive message to the conference, and then the next day to hear the comments from Gregory Campbell felt very much like one step forward and two steps back."

Peter Robinson: "This is getting tedious. If all that you have out of the whole of the party conference is to question me about that, then there are better things I could be doing.

"Lighten up will you? It's a party conference and it was a bit of comedy in the middle of it, let's get on with some real business."

Dominic Bradley, SDLP: "Mr Campbell may think that he is targeting Sinn Fein with these slurs but the Irish language community is much wider and deeper than the membership of any one political party.

"Irish language speakers, those who aspire to speak Irish and all right-minded people who respect the languages of others will be insulted and disappointed by Gregory Campbell's antics."

John O'Dowd, SF: "The insult directed by Gregory Campbell at the Irish language community from the DUP conference is appalling.

"He was clearly sticking two fingers up to the Irish language community."



Background

Dr Micheal O Duibh is the chief executive of Comhairle na Gaelscolaiochta, the body responsible for the promotion of Irish-medium schooling. He was invited to take part in a panel discussion on the future of education on the first day of the DUP conference.

The organisation described it as "a significant and historical occasion".

THE WHITE GOAT

I

By

SEUMAS O'KELLY

The white goat stood in a little clearing closed in by a ring of whins on the hillside. Her head swayed from side to side like the slow motion of the pendulum of a great clock. The legs were a little spread, the knees bent, the sides slack, the snout grey and dry, the udder limp.

The Herd knew the white goat was in great agony. She had refused the share of bran he had brought her, had turned away from the armful of fresh ivy leaves his little daughter held out to her. He had desisted from the milking, she had moaned so continuously.

Some days before the Herd had found the animal injured on the hill; the previous night he had heard the labourers making a noise, shouting and singing, as they crossed from the tillage fields. He knew what had happened when he had seen the marks of their hob-nailed boots on her body. She was always a sensitive brute, of a breed that came from the lowlands. The sombre eyes of the Herd glowed in a smouldering passion as he stood helplessly by while the white goat swung her head from side to side.

He gathered some dry bracken and spread a bed of it near the white goat. It would be unkind to allow her to lie on the wet grass when the time came that she could no longer stand. He looked up at the sky and marked the direction of the wind. It had gone round to the west. Clouds were beginning to move across the sky. There was a vivid light behind the mountains. The air was still. It would rain in the night. He had thought for the white goat standing there in the darkness, swaying her head in agony, the bracken growing sodden at her feet, the rain beating into her eyes. It was a cold place and wind-swept. Whenever the white goat had broken her tether she had flown from it to the lowlands. He remembered how, while leading her across a field once, she had drawn back in some terror when they had come to a pool of water.

The Herd looked at his little daughter. The child had drawn some distance away, the ivy leaves fallen from her bare arms. He was conscious that some fear had made her eyes round and bright. What was it that the child feared? He guessed, and marvelled that a child should understand the strange thing that was about to happen up there on the hill. The knowledge of Death was shining instinctively in the child's eyes. She was part of the stillness and greyness that was creeping over the hillside.

"We will take the white goat to the shelter of the stable," the Herd said.

The child nodded, the fear still lingering in her eyes. He untied the tether and laid his hand on the horn of the goat. She answered to the touch, walking patiently but unsteadily beside him.

After a while the child followed, taking the other horn, gently, like her father, for she had all his understanding of and nearness to the dumb animals of the fields. They came slowly and silently. The light failed rapidly as they came down the hill. Everything was merged in a shadowy vagueness, the colour of the white goat between the two dim figures alone proclaiming itself. A kid bleated somewhere in the distance. It was the cry of a young thing for its suckle, and the Herd saw that for a moment the white goat raised her head, the instinct of her nature moving her. Then she tottered down the hill in the darkness.

When they reached the front of the stable the white goat backed painfully from the place. The Herd was puzzled for a moment. Then he saw the little pool of water in a faint glimmer before their feet. He brought the animal to one side, avoiding it, and she followed the pressure of his directing hand.

He took down a lantern that swung from the rafters of the stable and lighted it. In a corner he made a bed of fresh straw. The animal leaned over a little against the wall, and they knew she was grateful for the shelter and the support. Then the head began to sway in a weary rhythm from side to side as if the pain drove it on. Her breath quickened, broke into little pants. He noted the thin vapour that steamed from about her body. The Herd laid his hand on her snout. It was dry and red hot. He turned away leading the child by the hand, the lantern swinging from the other, throwing long yellow streaks of light about the gloom of the stable. He closed the door softly behind him.

II

It was late that night when the Herd got back from his rounds of the pastures. His boots soaked in the wet ground and the clothes clung to his limbs, for the rain had come down heavily. A rumble of thunder sounded over the hills as he raised the latch of his door. He felt glad he had not left the white goat tethered in the whins on the hill.

His little daughter had gone to sleep. His wife told him the child on being put to bed had wept bitterly, but refused to confess the cause of her grief. The Herd said nothing, but he knew the child had wept for the white goat. The thought of the child's emotion moved him, and he turned out of the house again, standing in the darkness and the rain. Why had they attacked the poor brute? He asked the question over and over again, but only the rain beat in his face and around him was darkness, mystery. Then he heard the voices higher up on the side of the hill, first a laugh, then some shouts and cries. A thick voice raised the refrain of a song, and it came booming through the murky atmosphere. The Herd could hear the words:

Where are the legs with which you run?
Hurroo! Hurroo!
Where are the legs with which you run?
Hurroo! Hurroo!
Where are the legs with which you run
When first you went to carry a gun?
Indeed, your dancing days are done!
Och, Johnny, I hardly knew ye!

And then came the chorus like a roar down the hills:

With drums and guns, and, guns and drum
The enemy nearly slew ye;
My darling dear, you look so queer,
Och, Johnny, I hardly knew ye!

The voices of the labourers passing from the tillage fields died away, and the rumble of thunder came down more frequently from the hills. The Herd crossed his garden, his boots sinking in the soft ground. Half way across he paused, for a loud cry had dominated the fury of the breaking storm. His ears were quick for the cries of animals in distress. He went on rapidly toward the stable.

The ground grew more sloppy and a thin stream of water came from the rim of his soft black hat, streaming down his face. He noted the flashes of lightning overhead. Through it all the cry of the white goat sounded, with that weird, vibrating "mag-gag" that was the traditional note of her race. It had a powerful appeal for the Herd. It stirred a feeling of passion within him as he hurried through the rain.

How they must have lacerated her, a poor brute chained to the sod, at the mercy of their abuse! The red row of marks along her gams, raw and terrible, sprang to his sight out of the darkness. Vengeance, vengeance! He gripped his powerful hands, opening and closing the fists. Then he was conscious of something in the storm and the darkness that robbed him of his craving for personal vengeance. All that belonged to the primitive man welled up in him. He knew that in the heart of the future there lurked a reckoning—something, somebody—that would count the tally at the appointed time. Then he had turned round the gable of the stable. He saw the ghostly white thing, shadowy in the blackness, lying prostrate before the door. He stood still, his breath drawn inward.

There was a movement in the white shape. He could discern the blurred outline of the head of the animal as she raised it up a little. There was a low moan followed by a great cry. The Herd stood still, terror in his heart. For he interpreted that cry in all the terrible inarticulate consciousness of his own being. That cry sounded in his ears like an appeal to all the generations of wronged dumb things that had ever come under the lash of the tyranny of men. It was the protest of the brute creation against humanity, and to the Herd it was a judgment. Then his eyes caught a murky gleam beside the fallen white shape, and the physical sense of things jumped back to his mind.

He remembered that in wet weather a pool of water always gathered before the stable door. He remembered that there was a glimmer of it there when he had led the white goat into the stable. He remembered how she had shown fear of it.

He stooped down over the white goat where she lay. Thin wisps of her hair floated about looking like dim wraiths against the blackness of the pool. He caught a look of the brown eyes and was aware that the udder and teats bulged up from the water. He sank down beside her, the water making a splash as his knees dropped into the place. The animal raised her head a little and with pain, for the horns seemed to weigh like lead. But it was an acknowledgment that she was conscious of his presence; then the head fell back, a gurgle sounding over one of the ears.

The Herd knew what had happened, and it was all very tragical to his mind. His wife had come out to the stable for something, and had left the door open behind her. The white goat, goaded by the growing pain, had staggered out the door, perhaps feeling some desire for the open fields in her agony. Then she had seen before the threshold of the door that which had always been a horror to her—a pool of water. The Herd could see her tottering and swaying and then falling into it with a cry, fulfilling her destiny. He wondered if he himself had the same instinct for the things that would prove fatal to him? Why was he always so nervous when he stooped to or lay upon the ground? Why did it always give him a feeling that he would be trampled under the hooves of stampeding cattle rounded up for treatment for the warble fly? He trembled as he heard the beat of hooves on the ground behind him. He peered about and for a while did not recognise the shape that moved restlessly about in the darkness. He heard the neigh of the brood mare. He knew then she had been hovering about the stable afraid to go in out of the storm. She was afraid to go in because of the thing that lay before the stable door. He heard the answering call of the young foal in the stable, and he knew that it, too, was afraid to come out even at the call of its dam. Death was about in that night of storm, and all things seemed conscious of it.

He stooped down over the white goat and worked his hands under her shoulders. He lifted her up and felt the strain all over his frame, the muscles springing tense on his arms. She was a dead weight, and he had always prided on her size. His knees dug into the puddle in the bottom of the pool as he felt the pressure on his haunches. He strained hard as he got one of his feet under him. With a quick effort he got the other foot into position and rose slowly, lifting the white form out of the pool. The shaggy hair hung from the white goat, limp and reeking, numerous thin streams of water making a little ripple as they fell. The limbs of the Herd quivered under the weight, he staggered back, his heavy boots grinding in the gravel; then he set his teeth, the limbs steadied themselves, he swayed uncertainly for a moment, then staggered across the stable door, conscious of the hammer strokes of the heart of the white goat beating against his own heart. He laid her down in the bed of straw and heard the young foal bounding out of the stable in terror. The Herd stood in the place, the sweat breaking out on his forehead, then dropping in great beads.

The white goat began to moan. The Herd was aware from the rustling of the straw that her limbs were working convulsively. He knew from the nature of her wounds that her death would be prolonged, her agonies extreme. What if he put her out of pain? It would be all over in a moment. His hand went to his pocket, feeling it on the outside. He made out the shape of the knife, but hesitated.

One of the hooves of the white goat struck him on the ankle as her limbs worked convulsively. His hand went into his pocket and closed around the weapon. He would need to be quick and sure, to have a steady hand, to make a swift movement. He allowed himself some moments to decide. Then the blade of the knife shot back with a snap.

The sound seemed to reach the white goat in all its grim significance. She struggled to her feet, moaning more loudly. The Herd began to breathe hard. He was afraid she would cry out even as she had cried out as she lay in the pool before the stable door. The terror of the things that made up that cry broke in upon the Herd. He shook with fear of it. Then he stooped swiftly, his fingers nervously feeling over the delicate course of the throat of the white goat. His hands moved a little backwards and forwards in the darkness. He felt the hot stream on his hands, then the animal fell without a sound, her horns striking against the wall. He stood over her for a moment and was conscious that his hands were wet. Then he remembered with a shudder that the whole tragedy of the night had been one of rains and pools and water and clinging damp things, of puddles and sweats and blood. Even now the knife he held in his fingers was dripping. He let it fall. It fell with a queer thud, sounding of flesh, of a dead body. It had fallen on the dead body of the white goat. He turned with a groan and made his way uncertainly for the stable door.

At the door he stood, thoughts crowding in upon him, questions beating upon his brain and giving no time for answer. Around him was darkness, mystery, Death. What right had he to thrust his hand blindly into the heart of this mystery? Who had given him the power to hasten the end, to summon Death before its time? Had not Nature her own way for counting out the hours and the minutes? Had not she, or some other power, appointed an hour for the white goat to die? She would live, even in agony, until they could bear her up no longer; and having died Nature would pass her through whatever channel her laws had ordained. Had not the white goat made her last protest against his interference when she had risen to her feet in her death agony? And if the white goat, dumb beast that she was, had suffered wrong at the hands of man, then there was, the Herd now knew, a Power deliberate and inexorable, scrupulous in its delicate adjustment of right and wrong, that would balance the account at the appointed audit.

He had an inarticulate understanding of these things as he moved from the stable door. He tripped over a barrow unseen in the darkness and fell forward on his face into the field. As he lay there he heard the thudding of hooves on the ground. He rose, dizzy and unnerved, to see the dim shapes of some cattle that had gathered down about the place from the upland. He felt the rain beating upon his face, the clothes hung dank and clammy to his limbs. His boots soaked and slopped when he stepped. A boom of thunder sounded overhead and a vivid flash of lightning lit up for an instant a great elm tree. He saw all its branches shining with water, drops glistening along a thousand stray twigs. Then the voices of the labourers returning over the hills broke in upon his ears. He heard their shouts, the snatches of their songs, their noise, all the ribaldry of men merry in their drink.

The Herd groped through the darkness for his house like a half-blind man, his arms out before him, and a sudden gust of wind that swept the hillside shrieked about the blood of the white goat that was still wet upon his hands.