In the normal scheme of things, far removed from that two-word misnomer of the easily forgotten Pro-Consol Merlyn Rees - a slur I choose not to repeat! - South Armagh now struggles to return to that idyllic rural backwater it was of old, preserver of the best of our ancient customs that the Newry Journal extols. 
The ‘dealing men of Crossmaglen’ go about their business. Crossmaglen Rangers go from strength to strength. Its people attempt to raise their families with a love of Irish culture in all its facets and preserve their children from the worst excesses that beset cities, towns and more populous places. And for the most part, they do so most successfully.
It maintains its sense of fun and irony. Its best-loved son of the last generation, Cardinal Tomás O’Fiaich (Father Tom, to his own) in his youth, penned a rhyme, The Boys of Crossmaglen, which included the stanza,
When first the border started and ‘twas seen that smuggling paid
King George he ordered out his men to try and stop the trade
‘But don’t’, says he, ‘pass Silverbridge, lest ye not be seen again
For there’s not a cop could ever stop the Boys from Crossmaglen.’
Where is Silverbridge? I hear you ask.
The storyteller would tell you,
‘Silverbridge is a crossroads, with a funeral parlour, a post office and a grocer’s shop – all under the wan roof! Two weemin were arguing one time, and one says to t’other,
‘Quit yer gerning – or I’ll go through ye,
like a funeral through Silverbridge!’
Patrick McCann of Dorsey extolled the opening of that other great local source of income, the Dole Office.
There’s an office lately opened in the town of Crossmaglen
Where the unemployed assemble as the clock is striking ten
And the Ministry of labour, in a courteous kind of way
Allows then two and ten a day, to keep the work at bay.
Among the crowd that clamours at the labourers’ bureau door
Are men who saw the brighter side of life in days of yore
Some who at the topmost rung a brief career began
Now descended to the level of the common working man.
So do not be downhearted if this world should treat you bad
There’s a goodly share of friendship in an unemployment card!
A little work for thirty weeks, or longer if you can
Then you’re welcome at this bureau in the town of Crossmaglen.__
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History 
