This is an of article that was featured in the Rockland's Senior Center "Voices" publication for 2009.

Takers/Users

EUGEE'S BLACK RABBIT
By
Denis Riney

The year is 1944. The setting for my story was in the Fall of that year. A world war was then raging threatening the survival of England.

England ruled over a British Empire that had its beginning when she engaged in the colonial settlement of Ireland dating back to the Norman invasion in 1171. With mounting agitation by the Irish, she would finally accede to return all but six counties of lands she had usurped. England's decision was a consequence of the Irish 1916 rebellion which intervened while WWI was underway. She held on to six counties which she retains to this day, and will in perpetuity, I imagine. Support for the descendants of those settlers whom she planted on the lands of native Ireland some three hundred years previously might be a "keep possession of” reason. However, my thinking as to their reasoning has to do with the ripple effect of not having an entity called Ireland to draw from (a devastating notion to say the least) or the impact of UK’s symbolic constructs, i.e. the Queen’s Flag, also referred to as the Royal Standard, picturing a golden harp on a background of blue to represent Ireland. The thought of granting freedom to the complete island of Ireland was a mind boggler on the effect it would have worldwide, on Britain, and on lands who cleave to her. The ugliness left by chiseling the symbol of Ireland from old buildings across her commonwealth and the removal of same from all manner of engravings across the breath of The Empire, would be painful to many. With the harp gone, with the thistle, the leek and the rose remaining, leaving a trinity of Scotland, Wales and England, history books would need to be revised, written and rewritten.

The citizens of an Ireland, consisting of twenty-six counties still within the Commonwealth, had a decision to make with another war looming. Would they continue shedding blood for their occupiers as in the past? They were now in a position to decide for themselves based on their sad history, mindful of promises made and broken time after time, concerning the freedom they sought. This time they would say, “No thank you. We’ll sit this one out.” In 1949 the Irish government proclaimed themselves a Republic and dropped their Commonwealth status.

Neutral Ireland turned out to be a blessing in disguise in that England once again had a resource close at hand from which she could draw. Secondly, she also had a buffer of protection on her western shore. It is puzzling why her attacking Saxon brothers on the continent failed to exploit what now is a wonder. Irish men and women were back and forth between Britain and home providing the work power needed to free up those who were deeply engaged in fighting for Britain. The Irish provided the supportive work that was needed, be it in the harvesting of crops, work relating to farming generally, in factories, the building of air strips, nursing, in hospitals, maintaining aircraft and in serving on merchant ships or ships loaned to England. My uncle served on such a ship as a Wireless Operator during WWI and WWII. Merchant shipping was essential to transport needed cargo, be it foodstuffs, munitions, troops, and the supplies to conduct a war against an enemy who appeared to be gaining the upper hand. Germany's U-boats played havoc on shipping, so much so, that during a one-year period ships were sunk as fast as they could be built. Winston Churchill expressed on January 27, 1942 the following: "But for the Merchant Navy bringing food and munitions of war, Britain would be in a perilous state and indeed, without them, the Army, Navy, and Air Force could not operate."

In Ireland rationing was instituted in the same manner as war- participating countries. Whatever we produced from the land, sea or air, it all would be shipped to England. I remember the pangs of being without while we were supposed to be neutral.

Old jam jars fetched a penny. Before long they were as scarce as the rabbits that we caught by snare or trap. Often a muzzled ferret was let loose within their burrows to drive the rabbits out into a netting to catch them. If the ferret’s muzzle became undone we could expect a long wait before the ferret would decide to reappear. A ferret's kill within a burrow was something we feared happening. The ferret, having his fill and then sleeping it off, would nonetheless have us imagining that we were still hearing the sounds of bolting rabbits underfoot.

Eugee, the second son of a neighboring family of seven children, was in his twenties, and had likeable qualities and an ability to get people to take pity upon him. Eugee managed to have acquired the necessary tools which he used in his hunt for game, fish and fowl. Eugee would ascend the Kerry hills with his trusty shotgun and invariably come back with a deer. On one occasion, when his older brother Mike was home from England, Mike related that when he congratulated Eugee for the tasty venison he had eaten the previous evening, Eugee's stuttering response was, "No, it was not deer. It was s-s-s-sheep.” Someone's sheep evidently had gone missing.

Eugee's hint of a few pennies to come, got me to accompany him on some of his "hunting with ferret" outings. With multiple rabbit holes there was the need for an additional pair of eyes to stay focused in case the ferret might exit a burrow and wander off. When rousting rabbits from their burrows we would hear the commotion that would end up with a rabbit caught in one of our nets. On occasion a rabbit would come bolting through a hole that was unknown to us, a lucky animal to survive for another day. I was then about the age of ten and would soon learn of Eugee being a "taker." He was a person who lacked empathy for his fellow humans or animals for that matter. He never once gave me a penny for my services.

Passing by our housing block on the main road to town one gained an appreciation that nearly everything was for sale. Now our "partial occupier" neighbor desperately sought whatever the newly freed people of Erin could provide. Since they already had cut down our forests, we couldn't help them too much with wood. The scene of country folks with their bicycles loaded down with rabbits heading for town was a common sight. A rabbit in 1944 fetched around two shillings and sixpence, a sum equal to today's dollar.

Those close to the sea went out in their boats as my father did after his day's work. Irish Sea Fisheries encouraged such activity and provided nets and hooked lines and boxes for use in shipping whatever was caught. The baited hooked lines and lead-laden nets would be left overnight to bob about in Kenmare Bay waters. In the early morning, after again rowing the three miles down the bay, there were high hopes for coming upon a good catch. All fish types were welcome be they herring, dog fish (a type of shark), ray fish or pollack. The catch went into the boxes provided by Irish Sea Fisheries. The catch was then salted and transported via train to Dublin to be shipped across the Irish Sea to England.

Dan, age thirteen (two years my senior), had been a rabbit hunting helper for Eugee and, like me, did not receive the promised coins. It was a common practice of Eugee to make promises. An opportunity presented itself when one or both of us noticed a black rabbit hanging inside the window of Eugee's home. A greyhound that he would use on his rabbit hunting outings was inside the house. It had signs of being a starved creature, with its ribs visible. There being no one home and the door unlocked (as was usual in that time), entry to the house was easy. In a matter of seconds one of us was inside and took possession of Eugee's black rabbit. Black rabbits were rare and being seen with one was something of a worry to us. Had it been the color of a regular gray rabbit it may have been less so.

Later on that evening we headed to town with our ill-gotten rabbit. Our plan was to sell the rabbit and we'd have money for the movies and ten pence to spare for purchasing ice cream and candy. Buddy Dan was sporting a loose overcoat under which he held the black rabbit by its hind legs. Nearing the town coming towards us was Jackie, the same age buddy of mine, and Eugee's young brother. Luckily it was now dark but nonetheless I feared that our prize might slip from Dan's grasp. After some small talk it was a relief when Jackie went on his way. When we presented the rabbit to the purchaser he remarked on its color and asked where it was caught. Dan quickly replied that we caught it in a snare on Murray's field. To this very day I feel how wrong it was for us to do such a thing. It was a deed that we managed to pull off without consequences.

Later we would learn that Eugee, upon arriving home and finding his black rabbit missing, set about abusing his poor starving greyhound. He imagined the animal had eaten his rabbit completely, pelt and all.

Eugee set out for America at the end of the war and it is believed he had saved enough money to pay for his passage.