|
home >
writing tools and books > view
all books > true stories of an irish
upbringing
True Stories of an Irish Upbringing and Other
lies by Dan Daneen
Price $ 17.00>> 
 Youth
Group
The peers of my youth were an interesting group. They
were varied both in age, gender, educational standard
and financial background. I think it was this variety that
made them such an enjoyable lot. They were, like me, mostly
Protestant but not all. This gave us an understanding of each
other and society in general. We were all members of church
youth groups. I use the plural as we went to whichever group was
having the better event that week. Loyalty to our own church
was often forsaken when better attractions were elsewhere. The
Ireland of old was populated by young men who had their
priorities in the correct order. Therefore, girls did not rate as
highly as they do today. Sports were the main interest and if the
boys had a second love, it would have been drinking. Sometimes
an outcome of the drinking was our love of a little fight - either
as a participant or as a spectator. It was never truer that girls
of seventeen are much more ladies than boys of seventeen
are gentlemen!
These priorities caused the terribly low birth rate, as men did
not consider marriage worthwhile until they were in their
mid-thirties, and their mothers were getting anxious that they
would never leave home. In this situation we can see the
reasons that arranged marriages remained an excellent plan as
parents often desperate to see the end of their children took
matters into their hands. This combined with mothers who had a
great desire to be a grandmother was enough to get the wheels
in motion. “Love was something better left to a later age” was
common thinking, hence the old saying, “Ireland is a land of
happy wars and sad love songs!”
>> Back to table of
contents
|
