FORM A Circumstances of Interview
NAME OF WORKER Wilbur Cummings ADDRESS Grand Island, Nebr.
DATE Nov. 11, 1938 SUBJECT Folklore
1. Name and address of informant Col. J. W. O'Brien, Wood River, Nebr.
2. Date and time of interview Nov. 11, 1938 9 to 11 A.M.
3. Place of interview At farm home 1 mile west 1/4 mile north Wood River
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in touch with informant No one, have known the informant for several years
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you No one.
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc. Typical, average farm home, the house just recently painted and trimmed in the conventional Irish green, but the out buildings have begun to show the ravages of weather and the lack of paint.
The interview took place in the kitchen of the home which was furnished with an old fashioned kitchen table covered with an oil cloth, a kitchen range, and the conventional wood box, clean but conveying to the visitor the impression the informant had endured many hardships of the early day and was going to, oh just coast on out, no bitter feelings but a keen enjoyment in the [reminiscence?] of the past. {Begin note}{Begin handwritten}C15 - 2/27/41 - Nebraska{End handwritten}{End note}
{Begin page}FORM B Personal History of Informant
NAME OF WORKER Wilbur Cummings ADDRESS Grand Island, Ne
DATE Nov. 11, 1938 SUBJECT Folklore
NAME AND ADDRESS OF INFORMANT Col. J. W. O'Brien, Wood River, Nebraska
1. Ancestry Irish
2. Place and date of birth Wood River, Hall Co., Oct. 12, 1869
3. Family Of direct Irish decent, parents original first colony to first settle near Wood River
4. Place lived in, with dates Continously in Hall Co, Near Wood River on old homestead.
5. Education, with dates About the fifth grade
6. Occupation and accomplishments, with dates Farmer, and auctioneer
7. Special skills and interests Auctioneer
8. Community and religious activities Catholic Church, politics, and general interest in all community affairs.
9. Description of informant Slender medium height very alert, with considerable facial expression, quite sociable displaying the typical Irish hospitality, adapt at grasping the nature of the desired information requested.
10. Other points gained in interview
NAME OF WORKER Wilbur Cummings ADDRESS Grand Island Nebr.
DATE Nov. 11, 1938 SUBJECT Folklore
NAME AND ADDRESS OF INFORMANT Col. J. W. O'Brien, Wood River, Nebraska Irish Songs and Omens
WEARING OF THE GREEN
Oh! Paddy dear, and did you hear the news that's
going [/around?], the Shamrock is forbid by law, to grow
on Irish ground; St. Patrick's day no more we'll
keep, his color can't be seen. For there's a
bloody law agin the wearing of the green. I met with
[Napper Tanday?], and he tuk me by the hand, and he
said "How's poor ould Ireland, and how does she stand?
[*?]She's the most distressful country, that ever you have
seen[;?] They're hanging men and women ther for wearin'
of the green.
Then since the color we must wear, is England's cruel
red. Sure Ireland's sons will ne'er forget, the blood
that they had shed[:?] You may take the Shamrock from
your hat, and [cast]? it on the [rod?]. But 'twill take
root and flourish still the under foot 'tis trod.
When the law can stop the blades of grass from growing
as they grown, and when the leaves in summertime, their
verdure dare not show.
*Then I will change the color, I wear in my [caubeen.?]
But till that day, please God I'll stick to {Begin deleted text}[wearin'g?]{End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}{Begin handwritten}wearin'{End handwritten}{End inserted text}
of the Green.
But if at last our color should be torn from Ireland's
heart. Her Sons with shame and sorrow from the dear
ould soil will part; I've heard whisper of a country,
that lies far [beyond?] the sea. Where, rich and poor
stand equal in the light of Freedom's day. Oh!
Erin, must we leave you? driven by the tyrant's
hand. Must we ask a mother's [welcome?] from a strange,
but happier land.
*Where the cruel Cross of England's thralldom never
shall be seen; And where, thank God, we'll live and
die still wearin' the green.
*Repeat as Chorus