Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-01-08
WONDERFUL FENIAN CIRC LIE.
HOW am Organization Was Effected
fnthe Heart OfTrInity College, Dub
James Monroe, ESQ.

fn1tIle Heart OfTrIntty College, Dub
lin.
The Irish police do not know to
this hour that there was a Fenian cir
Gle in full working order at one time
among the students of Trinity cellege,
Dublin, writes gentleman whose
nome de plume is The Man Taught
Them" to The New York Sun. All
the men who belonged to it are now
scattered over the world. Some are
officers in the British army; other are
In holy orders, and few have become
soldiers OF fortune, and are known IN
many foreign lands, while others have
taken to literature and journalism
and made this republic their home.
Most of them are out Of harms way,
and the few who remain IN Ireland
are wearing the wigs and gowns of
Irish barristers, and are above sUs-
picion, for, to all appearances they
have become loyal subject Of the
crown. The English officials are
never likely to guess the names of the
men who played conspirators inside
the wall of Trinity in the days not SO
1CnS ago AhCy may pC SIbCAIS o. CAlC
mess of English regiments; they may
be attending the queens receptions
in Great Britain or Ireland. The.au
thorities would as soon think of sus-
pecting the members of the queen S
household of treason as these mem
bers of old trinity, that nursey Of in
tellectuaI West Britonism In Ireland.
The very stones in the cOurt-yards
would rise in mutiny against SO foul a
charge, and yet there we were, full
fiedged, and a gOOdly number OF us
too, throwing aside the studies Of the
hour, and devOting our time TO CON
coctlng the ruin of the empire.
I laugh at our folly now, and 40
doubt so do all the rest. I was the
head and front of the grave offend
ing. It was On me that the teaching
devolyed, and it was to me that the
students looked for instruction In the
art of war. That was our heroic age
We threw aside Homer and Tele-
machus and applied ourselves to the
art of military engineering, while we
fondly hoped that we were going to
revolutiOnize the empire with s. piece
Of chalk and a blackboard. We
abandoned the study of Newton and
Kepler and took ur the military work
of Jonini and tire campaigns Of Ma
poleon. Coperni0us and pycho were
placed on the shelf to give US time to
learn the mysteries Of the trench and
the dangers of the escalade. We took
more interestin knowing how to make
a pOntoon than in Sir Charles Lyell
or odd Red Sandstone" and for the
time thought it better that we should
be able to sketch an outpost than read
Sanscrit or bother ourselves with
'L'Allegro" or Paradise Lost.
We only met once week for our
regular course of instruction, but we
were expected to read up meanwhile
and come prepared to tell why Napo-
leon did not win the battle of Boro-
demo, Or to discuss the question of our
hopes and fears IL the event of civil
war on our own green h1llsides. This
was to us more interesting then than
treatises on prehistoric man, the works
of Spencer, the history of the renais
sance, or the recreation we were sup
posed to have by reading Alfred de
Musset, Lamartlne, and Heine. We
wanted to know how battles could be
fought and won, and we studied the
histories of Gustavus, Adolphus.
Forstenson, Marlborough, Uragnol,
Monk, and even Tan2erlane We
thirsted to follow to the field some
warlike lord, and our regular studies
did not supply our thirst for the
knowledge necessary for our purpose.
It looked like dream now. After
many years Of sober experience and
battling with the world. / often Won
der at our credulity. But there we
were, week after week, seriously
going through our course of instruct
ion with ali the gravity of men who
were resolute and strong. Hours were
stolen from mathematics, from chem
istry, from the dissecting room, the
easel, and from the commentators on
the bible to devote orr time to the
phantom of hope and instruction IN
Ireland. The divinity students. the
law studens, the youths intended, by
their fathers, for the army were all
tie same-young and enthusiastic,
full OF hope, and brimful of folly
Our studies were mostly intellectual.
and we seldom shouldered our rifles
IN manual exercise. When we did all
the orders were given iii whispers
We took off our boots when march
ing. We did not make much noise
but when noise was Necessary two o.
three of our Number were detached
to keep hammering on a board as TIE
tramp, tramp, tramp of the classmn
fell apon the floor. There were SIT
dents at their studies all around Us,
and detection might mean expulsion,
and. perhaps. fifteen years imprison-
ment with hard labor. The lights
Were kept burning as usual The otter
door was indeed bolted, bat that was
all, and we laughed and were merry
enough, knowing that our boldness
was our safeguard, and that suspicion