The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-03-19
ST. Patrick,s Dav.

IF the apostle and patron saint Of Ire
land was not the myth which some author
tiles assert him to be, his birth occurred
nearly or quite fifteen hundred years ago.
There is but che other natal day that is
celebrated as generally and enthusiastic
ally as his, and that one is the foundation
of the Christian faith. The celebration is
indeed mainly confined to those in whose
veins runs the blood of Erin, but that
blood is now scattered so far and wide that
the festivities of the seventeenth of March
may lie said to belt the globe. To-day, in
every city, town or village where there are
a hundred men and women of Irish origin,
there will be some appropriate, or at least
ardent and sincere, recognition OF the
memories and associations which crown, as
with garland of immortal flowers, the
name and fame OF st. Patrick. And
wherever there is a single Irishman or
Irish woman, that name and fame will be
recalled with joy and pride as things too
sacred and too glorious to be forgotten. lu
noble mansions looking out upon the
bright waters of the Shannon, the Lstfey
and the Lee; in barracks on the plains OF
India, in huts among the snOw-capped
peaks of the Sierra Nevada, on wide des
ert sands and on the wider waste of ocean,
in the burning heat of the equator aud the
eternal cold of the pole, under every sky
and every flag, on every sea aud every
shore-lrish hearts to-day will turn fondly
yet sadly toward him who seems to repre-
sent all that Irish hearts hold dear.
1t Is hardly necessary to say to those
who have given the matter any thought,
that this offering of grateful reverence is
| not bestowed upon a man who died four
teen centuries ago and of whom so little is
known that even his existence has been
seriously doubted. He is eulogized in
sermons and orations, his portrait is borne
in professions, he is baptized in music and
wine, but after all st. Patrick is only the
convenient curtain behind which stands
the altar of Ireland This is called St,
Patrick day. 1t is really Irelands day,
and if the saint had never been
born, Irish prtriotism would have
selected some other anniversary
upon which to lavish the wealth
of that affection which nothing can change
or chill. In all history there is nothing
like this Irish love of country. On the
banks of the Bosphorus and the Tiber the
Greeks forgot Greece, on the banks of the
Seine and the Guadalquiver Romans for,
got Rome, on. the tanks of the Susquehanna
and the Ohio Germans forget Germany
| On the banks of the Mississippi the
Frenchman forgets France and the Eng
ishman England; but when aud where
does an Irishman ever forget ireland
Germans, Frenchmen, Englishmen never
entirely lose their interest 10 an affiliatior
with Fatherland; but their feelings fol
the ancestral sod are tame and cold com.
pared with the feelings of Irishmen for the
Emerald isle. Yet this wild, passionate
affection cannot come from the circum
| stances that surrounded them there. Fol
more than FIVE hundred years Ireland bat
been the unhappiest OF homes for hel
children. By thousands and millions they
have fled away from her to live and die il
foreign lands; yet this voluntary exile ha'
only strengthened and frightened thu
links of that chain which binds them t
| the mother whom a cruel fate has robbed
of her offspring.
| 1t cannot be that such a deep and all
absorbing love as finds expression on thi.
| day is destined to accomplish nothing
| The prospects of Irish nationality are Ger
| tainly not encouraging, nor is it easy t.
determine whether that nationality, i
gained now or in the near future, will b,
a blessing or the reverse. But we believ
that at some time and in some way tin
yoke which weighs so heavily will b
broken, and Ireland, redeemed and revivi
fed, take her place among the nations O
the earth. The grave over which so mucI
blood and so many tears have been poCr
ed in vain, that has been consecrated b,
so MANY wasted homes and so many IN
answered prayers, cannot always refuse t
give up its dead. The resurrectio
may be long delayed, but sooner or late
it will come, and the sun of liberty arts
to set NJ more,-S. Louis Rep, l7th.