The Whitest Flower

by Brendan Graham

  Before they covered her in, Ellen took a lock from Katie’s hair, so golden-red, it could have been her own.

  Then she laid into the grave with Katie the shawl she had kept with her all the time since Australia.

  ‘This is Annie’s shawl,’ she said to the others.

  Slowly, then, handful by handful, gently, lovingly, their tears mixing with it, they put back the clay. Then the small stones to hold it together. Then the tufts of grass.

  Carefully, tenderly, each small thing was laid over Katie, as if not to hurt her, to bruise the soft, unripened skin of their little angelito.

  When they had finished, they prayed again into the soft green mound. Katie’s lazy bed.

  Then, Ellen, remembering something, her mind only halfconnecting it all together, got up, saying to the others, ‘Wait here a moment!’

  Barefoot, she ran down the Crucán, down the bóithrín, down into what was once their small field.

  There, on the lazy beds she saw them. Still there – as yet unblighted, dancing in the sun, waiting for her.

  ‘The Whitest Flower!’ she said as she picked a handful of them.

  She hurried back up to the spot where they waited, and, one by one, set the tiny, white flowers of the potato plant into the crevices between the tufts of grass they had replaced.

  They watched her, not understanding what it was she did. But knowing it was the end of something.

  GLOSSARY OF IRISH AND ANGLO-IRISH WORDS/SAYINGS

  A bhastaird! You bastard!

  A chroígeal! Bright heart! [lit.]/love!

  A Ellen bheag! Little Ellen! (addressing her)

  Anamandiabhail! In the name of the devil!

  An bhfuiltúann? Are you there? Are you in it?

  ArdheisDé go raibhaanam! At the right hand of God may his soul be!

  Básgansagart Death without a priest (no last rites)

  BeannachtaínaFéile Blessings of the Feast (to you) [lit.]/Happy Christmas

  Bitteen (Anglo-Irish) A small piece

  Blas Accent (e.g. Irish accent)

  Bockedy (Anglo-Irish) Broken, lame

  Bóithrín Little road/dirt track

  Bothán Hut/cabin

  Bótharslán! A safe road! A safe journey!

  Buachaill (A Bhuachaill!) Boy/Boy!

  Buíochas (… le Dia!) Thanks (… be to God!)

  Buíochas do phogandorais Thanks for the kiss for the door [lit.]/the kiss before death

  Bulóg Loaf (of bread)

  Bundleen (Anglo-Irish) Small bundle

  Cad is ainmduit? What is your name?

  Cailín Girl

  Cailleach Hag/crone

  Ceilí Irish dance gathering

  Cé leis é? Whose is it?

  Ciúnas, Ellen, tásiadagteacht! Quiet Ellen, they’re coming!

  Clachan (Anglo-Irish)/Clachán Cluster of cabins

  Clagars (Anglo-Irish) Heavy showers of rain Cliste Clever

  Craythur! (Anglo-Irish) ‘Poor thing!’/Creature

  Cronauning (Anglo-Irish) Humming, talk-singing

  Cúplaín Little twins

  Daidí (A Dhaidí!) Daddy/Daddy!

  Dalteen (Anglo-Irish)/Dailtín Brat/impudent pup

  Dar Dia! By God!

  Diadhuit! God be with you!/Hello!

  Dia’sMuiredhuit! God and Mary be with you!

  Dos Bush/Mop … of hair

  Drochbhéasach Bad mannered

  Dropeen (Anglo-Irish) A little drop

  Duine le Dia A person with God, a simple soul

  Éist do bhéal! Listen!

  Faic Nothing

  Fáilteromhat go dtí an Astráil! Welcome to Australia!

  FiabhrasDubh The Black Fever [lit.(/Typhus

  Gasúr Child/Young Person

  Glic Clever (in a sly way)

  Goltraí Crying song [lit.]/Sad song

  Grá (A ghrá!) Love/Love!

  Is miseatáann! It’s me who’s here/It’s me who’s in it!

  Kishogue (Anglo-Irish)/Ciseog Basket for carrying turf potatoes

  Leaba Bed

  Loy (Anglo-Irish) Narrow-bladed spade

  Mainlín (A mhaínlín!) Angel/Darling! (of a child)

  Mamaí (A Mhamaí!) Mammy/Mammy!

  M’anam/M’anamse! My soul!

  Meannánaerach Goat of the air [lit.]/Snipe

  Mo bhuíochasdhuit! My thanks to you!

  Mo thóin! My backside!/Me arse!

  Moladh le Dia! Praise to God!

  Níliomsa é seo … is leatsa é! This is not mine … it’s yours!

  Nollaigshonadhuit! A Happy Christmas to you!

  Ochóning (Anglo-Irish) Lamenting/keening

  Oíchemhaith (… leatfhén!) Good night (… to yourself!)

  One-een (Anglo-Irish) Small one

  Pisreoga/Piseoga Superstitions

  PúcaPooka (Halloween superstition/evil spirit)

  Ráiméis Nonsense

  Rascaleen (Anglo-Irish) Little rascal

  Rí-rá Commotion/noise

  Sagart Priest Saoirse Freedom

  Sar (Anglo-Irish) The devil a one/ne’er a one

  Sasanach English person

  Scailpeen (Anglo-Irish) Small shelter/Lean-to, with roof of grass/straw

  Sciathóg Shallow oval basket of sally rods/straw

  Scullogue (Anglo-Irish) Pejorative term for money lender Sean-daoine Old people

  Sean-fhocail(s) (Anglo-Irish)/Sean fhoclaí(pl.) Old saying(s)

  Sean-nós/Sean-nósanna (pl.) Old way(s)/custom(s)/old style of singing

  Sinn féinsinnféin!Ourselves are ourselves!

  Slane (Anglo-Irish) Narrow digging spade

  Slánagusbeannacht! Go safe and bless you! [lit.]/Goodbye!

  Slán go fóill! Goodbye for now!/Goodbye for a little while!

  Slieveen (Anglo-Irish) A sly one

  (The) Slám A handful [lit.]/Death Curse

  Sonasach Happy disposition

  Soologues (Anglo-Irish) Beads … of sweat

  Sponc Spirit/spunk

  Spraoiagusceol Fun and music

  Stór Dear/Love/Darling (of an adult)

  Stóirín Dear/Darling (of a child)

  Stookeens (Anglo-Irish) Little stacks … of turf

  Streelish (Anglo-Irish) Slovenly/Bedraggled

  Striapach Whore/Prostitute

  Suantraí/Suantraithe (pl.) Lullaby/sleep-song(s)

  Taig (Anglo-Irish) Papist/Catholic (pejorative term)

  Tallywoman (Anglo-Irish) Kept woman

  Tamailleen (Anglo-Irish)/Tamaillín A little while

  Td d’eadanciuínmobhuachaillbán, moghrása! Your forehead is quiet my fair-haired boy, my love!

  Tátúarais! You are back!

  Tiocfaidhárlá! Our day will come!

  Tooreen (Anglo-Irish) Tureen, a dish for soup

  Traithneens (Anglo-Irish) Straws/lots

  Ullagone (Anglo-Irish) Cry/Wail/Lament

  Note: Irish words and phrases directly translated in the text have been omitted from the above.

  QUOTATIONS

  The following quotations come in the main part, from the Famine years 1845-52. The rest are identified by year. Those persons quoted frequently are listed below.

  Sir Robert Peel – British Prime Minister, Tory Government, to June 1846.

  Lord John Russell – British Prime Minister, Whig Government, June 1846-52.

  Lord Clarendon – Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, from June 1847 (on the death of the previous Lord Lieutenant, Lord Bessborough).

  Charles E. Trevelyan – Permanent Assistant Secretary at the British Treasury with prime responsibility for Famine relief in Ireland.

  John Mitchel – Author; Young Ireland leader; transported to Van Diemen’s Land in 1848.

  IRELAND

  The Irish

  You see more ratted and wretched people here than I ever saw anywhere else.

  Queen Victoria

  The strongest men and the most beautiful women perhaps in the British dominions, are said to be, the greater part of them, f
rom the lowest rank of people in Ireland, who are generally fed from this root. Adam Smith, 18th century economist

  The wretched people seem to be human potatoes … a sort of emanation from ‘the root’ – they have lived by it and will die with it. Clarendon

  Quite obvious, that the Irish people are giving their children classical educations on smaller means than would be thought sufficient. Thomas Colville Scott, Scottish surveyor, Connemara, 1853

  Slothful, improvident and reckless. The Liverpool Mercury

  Whenever ten square yards of soil can be found between the rocks, it is scraped up with exemplary industry into ‘lazy beds’ for potatoes. Colville Scott

  I am haunted by the human chimpanzees I saw … To see white chimpanzees is dreadful; if they were black, one would not feel it so much, but their skins, except where tanned by exposure, are as white as ours. Charles Kingsley, English clergyman, 1860

  One would think that starving men would become violent. But such was by no means the case … The fault of the people was apathy.

  The Irish press is not proverbial for a strict adherence to unadorned truth.

  Anthony Trollope, English novelist

  The real question at issue is the improvement of the social and moral condition of the masses of the population. Peel

  We have granted, lent, subscribed, worked, visited, clothed the Irish, millions of money, years of debate … the only return is calumny and rebellion – let us not grant, clothe … any more and see what that will do. Russell

  Disgust … at the state of Ireland and the incurable madness of the people. Charles Greville, English diarist

  The missing link between the gorilla and the Negro. Punch – London Magazine

  Alas the Irish peasant had tasted of Famine and found that it was good … For our parts, we regard the potato blight as a blessing. The Times, London

  Blight/Hunger

  What may be the result of this is too fearful to contemplate. David Moore, Curator, Botanic Gardens, Dublin

  Some days before the disease appeared … a dense cloud resembling a thick fog, overspread the entire country, but differing from a common fog, being dry instead of moist and in having in almost every instance, a disagreeable odour. Canon John O’Rourke, Catholic clergyman and author, 1874

  27th [July] this doomed plant bloomed in all the luxuriance of an abundant harvest. Returning on 3rd inst. [August] I beheld with sorrow one wide waste of putrefying vegetation. Father Mathew, Temperance Movement leader to Trevelyan

  They picked over and picked out their blackened potatoes, and even ate the decayed ones. Asenath Nicholson, American author

  Irishmen could live on anything … there was plenty of grass in the fields even though the potato crop should fail. Duke of Cambridge

  In this fairest and richest of countries, men are suffering and starving by the million. William Makepeace Thackeray, English novelist; Punch satirist

  I saw a bunch of withered nettles there which I was told to be intended for breakfast. Lynch, Constabulary, Co. Clare

  A government ship sailing into any harbour with Indian corn was … sure to meet half a dozen sailing out with Irish wheat and cattle. Mitchel

  He … was hoarse from roaring with thirst. I procured some drink for him. As I passed next morning, he was relieved of his suffering. His corpse and that of his wife were borne to the grave. Fr. Quaide, Co. Limerick

  Distance from the workhouses … being in part about twenty-six miles … some unfortunate fathers and mothers, each carrying a child or two, had in the depth of winter to attend three reviews lest they should be too heavy in flesh for outdoor relief. Fr. O’Reilly, Co. Mayo

  It was enough to have broken the stoutest heart to have seen the poor little children in the union workhouse yesterday – their flesh hanging so loose from their little bones, that the physician took it in his hand and wrapped it around their legs.

  All the sheep were gone; all the cows, all the poultry killed; not one pig left; the very dogs which had barked at me before had disappeared; no potatoes. William E. Forster, Quaker, Co. Galway

  Even their bed-clothes and fishing nets had gone for one object; the supply of food. Society of Friends Report, Co. Donegal

  It is not a very unusual thing for men … to work all day without eating one morsel but during the hours for breakfast and dinner, lie down behind a fence, unwilling to be seen by those who have something to eat. Public Works Engineer, Queen’s County (now Co. Laois)

  The town of Westport … its streets crowded with gaunt wanderers sauntering to and fro with hopeless air and hunger-struck look. Forster

  In many districts their only food is the potato, their only beverage water … worst-fed, worst-housed, and worst-clothed peasantry in the world. The Devon Commission Report

  The exact corresponding event to an Englishman’s Sunday dinner was a Coroner’s Inquest in Ireland. Mitchel

  Though we met multitudes in the last stages of suffering, yet not one through that day asked charity and in one case the common hospitality showed itself by offering us milk when we asked for water. This day I saw enough, and my heart was sick-sick. Nicholson

  A girl of about twelve years of age … ran beside our car … we told her again and again, we would give her nothing … my companion gave way … he gave her a fourpenny; I confess I forgave him – it was hard-earned, though by a bad sort of industry. Sidney Godolphin Osborne, clergyman (on a journey from Leenane to Westport)

  Be quiet, be peaceable, be patient. Believe me that in a Christian country no man will be allowed to die of hunger. Reverend Duncan, Co. Galway

  Death

  The custom when all hope was extinguished was to get into the darkest corner and die, where passers-by could not see them. Nicholson, Co. Mayo

  Out of a population of two-hundred-and-forty, I found thirteen already dead from want. The survivors were like walking skeletons; the men stamped with the livid mark of hunger.

  Forster, Bundorragha (near Delphi), Co. Mayo

  Families found … in one putrid mass, where, in many cases, the cabin was tumbled upon them to give them decent burial. Nicholson, Co. Mayo

  Both the legs as far as the buttocks, appeared to be eaten off … Those who saw the body were of the opinion, from the agonised expression on M’Manus’s countenance, that he was alive when the pig attacked him. The Vindicator, Belfast

  Shocking to relate that the unfortunate victim, the deceased, cut off the feet from the ankles of one of the children and eat of them. Kerrigan, Constabulary, Co. Galway

  Entire villages prostrate in sickness, or almost hushed in the last sleep. Banner of Ulster

  ‘How can the dogs look so fat and shining here, where there is no food for the people?’ ‘Shall I tell her?’ said the pilot to Mr Griffith, not supposing that I heard him. Nicholson, Co. Donegal

  Landlords/Evictions

  The landlords exterminate right and left. Fr. Brady, Co. Cavan

  A Tenant, ‘Pat Heffernon’, who had actually improved a few acres of hill land … was afraid his rent was about to be raised when he saw us. Colville Scott

  Shortly before Christmas Day, William Heffron … came into the house and told us to leave – that he might throw it down. We all went out … The house was thrown down the moment we quitted it. We returned to the ruins and lived in a corner of it, having made a sort of tent there. The tent was thrown down by Heffron shortly after Christmas. Catherine Coyle, evicted tenant, Co. Mayo

  The tenants and labourers of Mr Gerrard from another part of his property were obliged to attend there (very much against their will) in order to assist in levelling those houses. Cummins, Constabulary, Co. Galway

  My fine virtuous, holy people have been starved to death. The landlords of all sects and creed have conspired for their destruction – the Catholic landlords the most cruelly disposed. Fr. Browne, Co. Mayo

  A good landlord is as rare as a white blackbird. James Daly, Editor, The Connaught Telegraph, 1879-92

  Relig
ion

  I attribute many of Ireland’s misfortunes to the principles of her dominant Church. Colville Scott

  We rise at four o’clock … and … hold … confession for the convenience of the poor country people, who … flock in thousands … to prepare themselves for the death they look to as inevitable. Fr. Quigley, Co. Clare

  The sufferings of the present time bear no proportion to the glory to come. Archbishop Murray, Dublin

  The Catholic and Protestant clergymen vie with one another in acts of benevolence. The Freeman’s Journal (Nationalist newspaper)

  How ungrateful of the Catholics of Ireland not to pour forth canticles of gratitude to the ministers who promised that none of them should perish and then suffered two million to starve. Archbishop MacHale, Tuam, Co. Galway

  A network of well-intentioned Protestant associations spread over the poorer parts of the country, which in return for soup endeavoured to gather the people into their churches, really believing that masses of our people wished to abandon Catholicism. Alfred Webb, Quaker

  Divine Providence has again poured out upon us the vial of its wrath. Fr. Mathew to Trevelyan

  If ever there was a time for England to make a great effort for the evangelization of Ireland it is the present; the poor are ready; the great distress has softened the hearts of the poor. General Irish Reformation Society Report

  Language and Culture

  Hang the harpers wherever found. Queen Elizabeth of England, 1603

  The Irish-speaking people have songs by the thousands. Thomas Davis, poet, Protestant nationalist, co-founder of The Nation

  Dancing is so universal among them. Arthur Young, English author and political commentator, 1777

  The Irish language, although evidently on the decline is still the vernacular tongue of about two millions of the population … the best Irish is spoken in Connaught … the language … is almost unknown in the King and Queen’s counties. Mr and Mrs S. C. Hall, Travel Writers, 1840

  That children of the Popish and other poor natives in Ireland might be instructed ‘gratis’ in the English tongue. British Parliament Select Committee on Education in Ireland, 1835

  The ‘land of song’ was no longer tuneful; or, if a human sound met the traveller’s ear, it was only that of the feeble and despairing wail for the dead. George Petrie, author, musicologist, 1855