Thanksgiving Day

A national holiday throughout the USA, annually proclaimed by the President and state Governors for general thanksgiving. First celebrated by the Plymouth colony in 1621 after the first harvest in their new home. In 1863 Lincoln proclaimed the fourth or last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. In 1941, F.D. Roosevelt fixed that day by decree. In most states, it is a great family festival, celebrated with turkey dinner cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

Lament for Thomas MacDonagh

He shall not hear the bittern cry
In the wild sky,where he is lain,
Nor voices of the sweeter birds
Above the wailing of the rain.

Nor shall he know when loud March blows
Thro' slanting snows her fanfare shrill,
Blowing to flame the golden cup
Of many an upset daffodil.

But when the Dark Cow leaves the moor
And pastures poor with greedy weeds
Perhaps he'll hear her low at morn,
Lifting her horn in pleasant meads.

Francis Ledwidge

GAA Bits in Brief

Matt Ruth, who played senior football with Tipperary, won an All-Ireland intermediate hurling medal with Tipperary, a Munster senior hurling medal with Limerick and an All-Ireland senior hurling medal with Kilkenny.

On 9 July 1944 Tipperary senior footballers, despite a game effort, lost the Munster final to Kerry by 1-6 to 0-5 on a wet day at Limerick Gaelic Grounds. Mick Cahill and William (Bunny) Lambe, at mid-field for Tipperary, had the better of the great Kerry mid-field pairing of Paddy Kennedy and Sean Brosnan. Mick Cahill was then 18 years of age. Tipperary had an outstanding goal-keeper in Jim Williams. All have now gone to their eternal reward. At right-half forward, Tipperay had the speedy Sean Cleary, thankfully hale and hearty, and living in Galway for many years.

Sunday, 21 August 1955 is a golden day in the annals of Tipperary football. Having drawn with Kerry in the Munster minor football final in Killarney, the replay was fixed for Semple Stadium, Thurles. The Munster Tribune of 26 August 1955 reported as follows:

A magnificent back-line, a forward line that played fine aggressive football and a sound mid-field, all combined to give Tipperary a great 0-9 to 1-5 victory over the mighty Kingdom. The outstanding Tipperary players were: Tom Walsh (Cahir), Davy Stapleton (Clonmel Commercials), Philly Tobin (Grangemockler), Liam Boland (Clonmel Commercials), Gus Danagher (Fethard) and Michael Moroney (Clogheen).

The cup was not available for presentation after the game but was presented to captain Liam Boland following the team's decisive win over Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final played at Limerick Gaelic Grounds on the following Sunday. Tipperary lost the All-Ireland final to Dublin by 5-4 to 2-7, through the concession of some very soft goals.

The Farmer's Son

Where'er are scattered the Irish nation,
In foreign lands or on Irish ground,
In every calling and rank and station
Good men and true will be always found:
But 'midst their masses
And ranks and classes,
When noble work must be dared and done,
No heart's more ready,
No hand's more steady
Than the heart and hand of a farmer's son.
His homely garb has not fashion's graces,
But it wraps a frame that is lithe and strong;
His brawny hand may show labour's traces,
But 'tis honest toil that does no man wrong.
For generous greeting,
For social meeting,
For genial mirth or for harmless fun,
'Midst high or low men,
'Midst friend or foemen,
Oh, where's the match for a farmer's son?
T.D. Sullivan

History Revisited? No Thanks!

Nearly 100 years ago the Bolsheviks came to power in Petrograd, Russia during the October revolution of 1917. They proclaimed the Bolshevik-controlled Soviets as the actual government of Russia. They had ousted the provisional government which was in place since the overthrow and murder of Tzar Nicholas II and his family in the February Revolution of 1917.

The Bolsheviks set up "The Russian Communist Party". The people they disliked, for one reason or another — or for no reason at all — were accommodated in mass graves, gulags and, except for certain privileged groups, were denied human and civil rights. These actions would resonate with those of the provo gangs in areas that they control on this island.

At the end of World War II, the United States and United Kingdom, having saved Russia from the Nazis, proceeded in a cowardly fashion to allow them to annex most of Eastern Europe and impose communist tyranny on those countries until the nineties. This was in line with what Stalin envisaged when his foreign secretary, Molotov, signed an "unbelligerent treaty" with the Nazi foreign minister, von Ribbentrop, in 1938.

The Irish terrorists, whose evil deeds surpassed those of the Bolsheviks prior to coming to power, are hoping to get into government after the next General Election with the support of Bolsheviks lackeys in this country. One has visions of Ireland being the new North Korea. I believe that there is still sufficient decency and intelligence left in the Irish people to prevent this from happening. But be afraid, be very afraid!