Irish Set Dancing

Famous quotes containing the words irish, set and/or dancing:

    “For every nineteenth-century middle-class family that protected its wife and child within the family circle, there was an Irish or a German girl scrubbing floors in that home, a Welsh boy mining coal to keep the home-baked goodies warm, a black girl doing the family laundry, a black mother and child picking cotton to be made into clothes for the family, and a Jewish or an Italian daughter in a sweatshop making “ladies” dresses or artificial flowers for the family to purchase.”
    —Stephanie Coontz (20th century)

    “The lady—bearer of this—says she has two sons who want to work. Set them at it, if possible. Wanting to work is so rare a merit, that it should be encouraged.”
    —Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

    “You and I are past our dancing days.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)