Galway In Days Gone By

Poor but at peace

Christmas, 1924, finds Ireland at peace. Indeed, notwithstanding occasional excursions and alarms, the Saorstát to-day is probably amongst the most peaceable of the nations.

The nerves of many still remain on edge after the experiences of the last few years, and this possibly accounts for a great deal of the pessimism that is abroad in relation to our capacity to settle down and reconstruct a country that celebrated its victory by indulging in the questionable luxury of civil war.

Internecine strife has brought to many of our people very real poverty that a singularly bad year has tended to accentuate. For this reason, the Christmas of 1924 finds the bulk of us with less money to spend than we have been accustomed to during the plenteous years of the great European war.

Our position to-day is explained in great part by the fact that during the war years, we reached a false standard of living. Nevertheless, we are poor to-day, poor but at peace. And peace is the first foundation of happiness, the great gift that Christmas allies with a hope that springs eternal in every Christian breast.

Ill-will has brought us nothing but evil. Let us learn the nobler lesson of good-will this Christmas time. Mr. George Bernard Shaw, in his whimsical way, described Christmas as merely a conspiracy entered into by shopkeepers for their own purposes!

It is just the sort of “conspiracy” that we in Ireland need most: a conspiracy to promote good cheer and good will, to make money circulate and to stimulate trade.

Pictured: ON THE MARKET - Crowds flock to the Christmas Market outside St Nicholas' Collegiate Church in Galway City on December 19, 1970.