Writing in the American National Geographical Magazine, I see, a recent visitor to the Aran Islands comments warmly upon the honesty of the people who live there.
He tells the story of a soft woollen pull-over that he dropped from the outside car on which he drove about the island. Days later he found the jersey draped over a large stone, with a smaller stone resting on it to keep it from being blown away.
In a village on the mainland not very far from that district an old man speaks slightingly of the honesty of the present day when compared with the days when he was young.
Forty years ago, he says, a case of porter could be left outside a small shop, with a corkscrew resting against the box. The passer-by who wanted refreshment drew a cork and drank his porter, then he left the money beside the empty bottle and went his way. Even when the owner of the shop was abroad, the old man says, a bottle of porter was never taken without payment, nor was the money touched that had been left.
The Irish Times, June 8th, 1931.