By Pamela West-Finkle
July is a very busy month at the library! Not only do we have four Oceans of Possibilities Summer Reading Programs, Wednesdays from 11:15 to 12:30, we have a special musical theater performance on Saturday, July 23rd at 1 pm; Green Golly’s “Different Kind of Dragon” show, free to families and kids of all ages. For more information on the Green Golly project, visit www.greengolly.com.
Children, teens, and adults are also encouraged to sign up for our reading contest. Each page read, each event attended, each artistic project created will earn you points toward gift certificates and prizes.
Also in July is our Annual Community Party on Sunday, July 31st from 1 to 3 pm. Sweet and savory treats, live music, and lots of conversation will be on the docket. Please come out and help us celebrate our 100th Anniversary as a chartered library. We hope to see you!
To view our entire summer schedule of events, please visit our Facebook page or go to www.andeslibrary.org.
New Board of Trustees Member – Welcome Denise Muñoz!
At our May Board of Trustees meeting, new Andes resident Denise Muñoz was voted onto the board to take the spot left by Rima Walker last year. Denise Munoz holds a Masters in Clinical Psychology, LMSW, RYT-200, RMT (Reiki Master Teacher), and is an integrative therapist and co-founder of Earth Wellness Yoga. Denise is a Reiki Master and has practiced Reiki for almost 20 years. She is a mom to a beautiful vibrant three year old and serves as Director of an Early Childhood Program. Denise continues her work on the East Coast, leading mindfulness retreats for educators, facilitating mindfulness trainings for social workers and teaching Yoga at Streamside Yoga in Andes. Welcome Denise!
A Special Donation – Works of James O’Connor the Deaf Poet
A few weeks ago, a woman claiming to be James O’Connor’s descendent brought an 1886 copy of The Works of James O’Connor the Deaf Poet. The book is in rough shape so it won’t be circulated, but if you wish to read it in the library, you are more than welcome to come take a look at it. It features many poems about the Catskills, and one poem that mentions Andes in particular, seemed appropriate for the 4th of July holidays, so I’ve decided to share it with you. I have typed it exactly as it is in the text.
TRUE PAT-RIOT-ISM
by James O’Connor
(The following lines were written at Andes, on the evening of July 4th 1856, after witnessing a grand display of fireworks, accompanied by a fight between one David Furguson, and a wild Irishman whose given name was Dennis, but whose chivalrous conduct on the occasion, acquired for him the name of “Corporal Barney Sucker.”)
‘Twas the night of the Fourth, when all through the town,
Rum glasses tipped up, and old “rummies” tipped down,
That the freemen of Andes, who thought it no sin,
Had grown very mellow on whiskey, and gin.
Their hearts were inspired by the spirits they drank,
They selected a captain, who placed them in rank;
With torch-light processions, and bonfires so bright,
Those jolly old “cobies” illumined the night.
But the principal actor was Corporal Barney,
As brisk a young lad as e’er came from Killarney;
He was not very tall, he had brogues on his feet,
And his wearing apparel it fitted him neat.
When Barney left Erin, and crossed the rough wave
To this “Land of the free and the home of the brave,”
He was a pat-riot, as well you must know,
Whose “sprig of shillalah” was death to the foe.
Young Barney now wishing to show off his might,
Like Goliath of old, challenged David to fight;
Who let loose a “broadside,” his courage to try,
When Barney for quarters was soon heard to cry:
“O, spalpeen! You’ve kilt me! I’m murthered! I’m dead!
My innocent blood, you have wrongfully shed!
Farewell to ‘Green Erin,’ blessed land of my birth,
Och! Niver again shall I see you on earth!
“And, when I am dead, and laid under the sod,
Where Bridget, my swateheart, so often has trod.
May the saints take my sowl to the regions of bliss
But the divil fly off with such freedom as this.”
But that Barney was Dennis, and he proved unhurt,
For the foe shed no blood save the tearin’ his shirt.
But his priest, and his friends, were all grieved for his sake,
For they had expected good times at his wake.~