Source: Burton E. Stevenson, The Charm of Ireland (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1915), pp. 396-397
Text: We went to a picture-show at Sligo, that night, and I have never seen a livelier audience. There was, of course, a cowboy film which was received with the keenest pleasure; and there was a lurid melodrama, which culminated in the hero flinging the villain over a high cliff, at which those present rose to their feet and stamped and cheered; and then King George was shown reviewing the Life Guards, and the crowd watched in moody silence — a silence that was painful and threatening. As the troops marched past, gallant and glittering, a sight to stir the blood, there was not the suspicion of a cheer or hand-clap — just a strange, breathless silence. We were to witness the same thing thereafter in “loyal” Derry — the most convincing evidence imaginable of the feeling toward England which every Irishman, Protestant or Catholic, carries deep in his heart.
Comments: Burton Egbert Stevenson (1872-1962) was an American author, journalist and librarian.
Links: Copy at Hathi Trust
