It must give pleasure to anyone who works in newspapers to congratulate The Meath Chronicle on reaching its century. Modestly, the paper in its special book to mark the centenary points out that others were in the field before - the Anglo- Celt, for example - but 100 years of service is something to be very proud of. The pages, as you leaf over them, give you a picture of a rural society going through the vicissitudes of the last century and boldly asserting its and Ireland's new prosperity in 1997.
It records the cultural life, the tradition, the growth of schooling, the seasons as they rise and fall, and does much of it with good humour. Take this item from 1891: the heading reads "Navan Court House Smell". At the Navan Revision Court, the Revising Barrister, Mr Whittaker, said he noticed a very bad smell in court. Mr Knight (Clerk of the Crown and Peace): "They have a horse stabled underneath to heat the courthouse." Mr Whittaker: "It is absolutely disgraceful to have to sit in such a place." Sean O'Casey, a bit later, could have told him of worse smells in Dublin.
There is a very interesting item for the politically minded. In December 1905 W. P. Ryan (father of Desmond Ryan, who wrote so many books on the period, including Remembering Sion, probably his best) arrived in Navan to edit The Irish Peasant. Ryan was a member of the executive of the Gaelic League, a friend of Hyde, Dineen, Pearse, MacDermott and AE and turned The Peas- ant into a national newspaper, soon appearing twice weekly. Of its influence, one young Belfast man declared that reading just one copy by chance in a friend's office brought him instantly into the National Movement. A photograph appears of "The Peasant Printing and Publishing Co." It was closed down due to clerical pressure, but reappeared in Dublin.
What a picture of life around the county. On one page "Poacher Caught at Butterstream, Navan" and elsewhere a long dissertation on the significance of Loughcrew. Our history is spelled out with the Treaty ratified on one page, and, next page "Civil war is upon us. The comrades of the anti-English war are fighting each other."
Francis Ledwidge is not neglected. And headings such as "Refused to take a Bath" and "Man attacked by an Ass and Saved by a Dog" shows that sub-editors have a sense of humour. All praise to the Davis family and everyone who worked on this production. And, of course, evocative photographs.