"Aye, something'll have to be done, but I'm damned if I know what. I suppose when they've developed machinery more an' can make transit easier ... but sometimes I half think we'll have to breed people for the land ... thick people, slow-witted people, clods ... an' just let them root an' dig and grub an' ... an' breed!" He got up as he spoke, and paced about the room. "No, Henry, I've got no remedy for you! The Almighty God'll have to think of a plan, I can't!"
6
Sheila Morgan did not know any of the ancient Gaelic dances, nor did any one in Ballymartin. She knew how to waltz and she could dance the polka and the schottishe. "An' that's all you need!" she said. There were two old women in the village who danced a double reel, and Paddy Kane was a great lad at jigs....
"Perhaps later on," Marsh said, "we can get some one to teach them Gaelic dances!"
And so the classes began. Marsh had announced at the Language class that the first of the Dancing Classes would be held on the following Thursday ... and on Thursday every boy and girl and young man and woman in Ballymartin had crowded into the schoolroom where the class was to be held.
"There are more here than come to the Language class," Marsh exclaimed in astonishment when he entered the room.
"Dancing seems to be more popular than Gaelic," Henry replied.
"I don't know how we shall teach them all," Marsh went on. "I can't dance ... and she can't possibly teach them all!"
But there was no need to teach them to dance—they had all learned to dance "from their cradles," as some one said, and in a little while the room was full of dancing couples.
Sheila Morgan had gone smilingly to John Marsh as he entered the room. "We're all ready," she said, and waited.