SOCIAL LIFE

The maintenance of healthy human contact is an expression of a normal and deep-seated human desire. This contact is essential for the development and preservation of a well-rounded personality. In the society under examination there were few formal gatherings but there was a highly-developed through informal social life. Each day, from early morning, neighbours dropped in for a chat in passing. The latest news was exchanged and discussed. At night, especially during the winter, ceili-ing was the custom. Each house had its quota of visitors who came around seven and stayed talking until eleven o'clock.

Radio and television were still in the future. There was but little contact with life outside the parish, and very few families took in a daily or weekly newspaper.

Other sources of human contact were the church on Sundays, the fair and markets, an occasional visit to Derry, and to the corpse-house when a neighbour died.

A society of this kind had a certain stability, as there was little to make unfavourable comparison possible - a major factor in creating discontent. On the other hand, stagnation and dullness were a serious danger and could lead to discontent among the young people, who rightly would seek more exciting activities.

A great limitation was the failure of those people whose position gave them a chance to act as leaders. The clergymen and teachers made no effort at leadership in fields outside their own day-to-day work. There was urgent need for such activities as would give the people an outlet for their talent and creative powers. The result was that the community made no contribution in the field of sport or the arts.

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