All Around Me Hat......

 I Wear a Tri-coloured Ribbon O..... 

She wandered quietly around the town humming and singing very softly to herself.

Strangely, but it seemed that she walked on air as her movements were otherwise totally silent.   It was also quite obvious to those of us youngsters who looked at her with sideways glances and enquiring eyes that ‘she was not all there’.

Needless to say but we children gave her a wide berth whilst the adults on the other hand gave her a knowing nod with the men raising their hats and caps to her.   It was as if they treated her with the deepest reverence and a great deal of respect.

To us seven or eight year old boys she was amusing in a curious sort of way as we did not know anything about her and kept our distance every time she approached us on the pavement.   She was very small, about five feet tall, weighed no more than six stone with a beautiful complexion.   It was not that she ever said or did anything to cause the apprehension that we always felt – it was just that she was odd to our childish unknowing minds................................

She was always immaculately clean and her clothing, although old, was also spotlessly clean.   She always wore a broad-brimmed straw hat and would you believe it but she had a large green, white and gold ribbon tied around it.   It was also obvious that she regularly changed the ribbon as it was forever crisp as new and brightly coloured.

The time I speak of is around 1950 back home in Ireland.   It was a time of hardship especially for the older generation.   The old lady was about sixty-two or three which is not old nowadays.   It was then of course after the sufferings of the two recent World Wars.  

She was, needless to say, not the only ‘character’ in the town in those days, if in fact she deserved that title, for there were numerous veterans from both wars including many with shell-shock and missing limbs.   Artificial arms and legs were unaffordable and a rarity in those days whilst crutches were the norm. 

We also had numerous other so-called characters such as the ‘sheriff’ who came in by bus from the countryside every Saturday dressed in an authentic cowboy outfit.   There were also the ‘Mario Lanza’ impersonators on the street corners singing their lungs out with renderings of the great hits of the day.  

Thinking back, the town was a hotchpotch of such odd individuals when all is said and done

However, the old lady with the ribbons on her bonnet was not to be confused with the others.   She had an air about her which made her seem more mysterious and spiritual than odd...................

Once, whilst standing behind her in a shop I heard her speak in a most beautiful accent.   She spoke in Gaelic to the assistant who did not have any idea what she was talking about.  

Without thinking, I interpreted what she had said much to the surprise of not only the assistant but also the old lady.   The smile on her face was quite serene and beautiful.   She thanked me in Gaelic and bought a small bar of chocolate which she presented to me.

As I left the shop she was standing outside on the pavement and called me over.   She began to speak rapidly in Gaelic which was much too fast for me to understand.   I apologised and she changed to English.   She asked my name, my age and the names of my parents.   It seemed that she knew my father who was also a lesser-known character in the town but not up to the standard of the Sheriff or any of the Mario Lanzas.  

We parted with good wishes in Gaelic and I thought no more of the incident.   However, I made up my mind that in future I would always stop and speak to her whenever I saw her in the street.

About a week later, my mum spoke to me.   “I hear that you are in favour with Miss Deignan, the old lady with the tri-colour on her bonnet, according to what she said to your father?”  

I asked her who she meant and she mentioned the old lady in the shop.   “She is a lovely old woman mum” I said quietly “and she gave me a small bar of chocolate for helping her”.   “You are a good lad Michael for if ever a person deserves help and kindness it is herself” mum said almost in a whisper.   

“Why does she always wear the ribbon mum?” I asked truly interested.   “Now keep it to yourself” mum began “and say nothing to your father.  You see  he is what’s called a Loyalist and all for the Royal Family.   You know, you must have really impressed her for her to even speak to him at all.   You see she is one of the truest Republicans that I have ever known”.   “Why not tell dad?” I asked.   “Well, you know he carries the British flag every November at the Remembrance Day Parade – well she is the direct opposite.   She wears the tri-colour to show her republican views” mum again answered in a whisper.

“They say” mum continued “that she was engaged to be married in 1916 to a fine young man.   When word arrived about the Uprising in Dublin that Easter, he up and left to join the Rebels.   He died in the General Post Office in O’Connell’s Street on Easter Monday.   She went into shock when she got the news and it took her years to recover – if in fact she ever truly did.   You see, she wears the ribbon on her bonnet to tell everyone that she is still very proud of him right to this very day.   She never met another young man and never married”.

Now the strange thing is that how I managed to grow up without going crazy about Irish politics I shall never know.   My dad’s side of the family were all truly staunch Loyalists whilst my mum and her family were totally committed to an Irish Republic.   I never got involved in either side but I do know that when I left to join the London Police, mum was more than a little disappointed in me for a year or two.

Oddly enough, when I began working in the East End of London, I honestly believed that every second person I spoke to was completely mad which reminded me of my hometown and kept the pangs of homesickness at bay.   However, nowhere over the many years since I first spoke to the old lady in my home town have I met such a wonderful person who was so proud of her beliefs.

I had a true love if ever a girl had one

I had a true love a brave lad was he
And one fine Easter Monday with his gallant comrades
He started away for to make Ireland free.

So all around me hat I wear a tricolour ribbon O,
All around me hat until death comes to me
And if anybody asks me why do I wear it
It's all for my own true love I never more will see.

--------Mike--------