National Being | Page 8

obstructed by the traders in a general vision
of production other than his own, so he is obstructed by these dealers in

a general vision of the final markets for his produce. His reading is
limited to the local papers, and these, following the example of the
modern press, carefully eliminate serious thought as likely to deprive
them of readers. But Patrick, for all his economic backwardness, has a
soul. The culture of the Gaelic poets and story- tellers, while not often
actually remembered, still lingers like a fragrance about his mind. He
lives and moves and has his being in the loveliest nature, the skies over
him ever cloudy like an opal; and the mountains flow across his
horizon in wave on wave of amethyst and pearl. He has the
unconscious depth of character of all who live and labor much in the
open air, in constant fellowship with the great companions--with the
earth and the sky and the fire in the sky. We ponder over Patrick, his
race and his country, brooding whether there is the seed of a Pericles in
Patrick's loins. Could we carve an Attica out of Ireland?
Before Patrick can become the father of a Pericles, before Ireland can
become an Attica, Patrick must be led out of his economic cave: his
low cunning in barter must be expanded into a knowledge of economic
law--his fanatical concentration on his family--begotten by the isolation
and individualism of his life--be sublimed into national affections; his
unconscious depths be sounded, his feeling for beauty be awakened by
contact with some of the great literature of the world. His mind is
virgin soil, and we may hope that, like all virgin soil, it will be
immensely fruitful when it is cultivated. How does the policy of
co-working make Patrick pass away from his old self? We can imagine
him as a member of a committee getting hints of a strange doctrine
called science from his creamery manager. He hears about bacteria, and
these dark invisibles replace, as the cause of bad butter-making, the
wicked fairies of his childhood. Watching this manager of his society
he learns a new respect for the man of special or expert knowledge.
Discussing the business of his association with other members he
becomes something of a practical economist. He knows now where his
produce goes. He learns that he has to compete with Americans,
Europeans, and Colonials-- indeed with the farmers of the world,
hitherto concealed from his view by a mountainous mass of
middle-men. He begins to be interested in these countries and reads
about them. He becomes a citizen of the world. His horizon is no
longer bounded by the wave of blue hills beyond his village. The roar

of the planet begins to sound in his ears. What is more important is that
he is becoming a better citizen of his own country. He meets on his
committee his religious and political opponents, not now discussing
differences out identities of interest. He also meets the delegates from
other societies in district conferences or general congresses, and those
who meet thus find their interests are common, and a new friendliness
springs up between North and South, and local co-operation leads on to
national co-operation. The best intellects, the best business men in the
societies, meet in the big centres as directors of federations and
wholesales, and they get an all- Ireland view of their industry. They see
the parish from the point of view of the nation, and this vision does not
desert them when they go back to the parish. They realize that their
interests are bound up with national interests, and they discuss
legislation and administration with practical knowledge. Eyes getting
keener every year, minds getting more instructed, begin to concentrate
on Irish public men. Presently Patrick will begin to seek for men of
special knowledge and administrative ability to manage Irish affairs.
Ireland has hitherto been to Patrick a legend, a being mentioned in
romantic poetry, a little dark Rose, a mystic maiden, a vague but very
simple creature of tears and aspirations and revolts. He now knows
what a multitudinous being a nation is, and in contact with its
complexities Patrick's politics take on a new gravity, thoughtfulness,
and intellectual character.
Under the influence of these associations and the ideas pervading them
our typical Irish farmer gets drawn out of his agricultural sleep of the
ages, developing rapidly as mummy-wheat brought out of the tomb and
exposed to the eternal forces which stimulate and bring to life. I have
taken an individual as a type, and described the original circumstance
and illustrated the playing of the new forces on his mind. It is the only
way we can create a social order which will fit our character as the