Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-04-02
GRAFTON.
The Past and Future OF the Irish Race.

GRAFTON.
The Past and Future OF the Irisl, Race.
| BY J. W. MURPHY, OF PLATTEyILLE.
Delivered ct Highland, Iowa county, Wisconsin,
March 18th, 1886.
Ladies and gentlemen: Tonight for
the first time in my life | stand before
an audience in your village and yet /
feel that / stand among friends. The
occasion that brings us here to-day
and the hallowed memories it recalls
remind us scattered children of the
Gael that:
Though widely divergent our paths now trend,
Tonight each ones clasping the hand of friend:
| For oppression that ground US through centuries
gray,
And as brothers in union together pray
That the clouds which have obscurcd every ray
! OF Lfberty's sunshine may soon pass away;
| And the sunburst of Erin triumphant once more,
May Hume each hin top and vale as Of yore."
| Saint Patrick's day-that name is
like talisman of old. At the sound
the centuries glide by as in dream
We gaze through history's glass on
scenes of toll and battle, of peace
and prayer, on fields white with the
wreck of ruined affairs, and deserted
halls, on fiOwery wales and orchard
| lawns, where sound of Sabbath bells
and monastery chime were floating on
the summer breeze. And as we gaze
upon these scenes we cannot wonder
that Ireland's sons dc ever as this day
returns, assemble to review their
country's glorious past, weep DER her
wrongs, and swear again that not I'M
| til their hearts are Stilled forever in
the hush of death will they forget that
dear old land.
1t has been said, and truly, that the
claims of country are second only to
those of religion, and of no other
people on earth is this more true than
Of the Irish The Irish emigrant turns
with an aching heart from the vessel
that is bearing him away forever from
| his childhood's home, and gazing on
her blue mountains sinking in the
! distance dim, he prayS that God Will
bless that dear old land, and that OPP
pression's curse will yet be lifted from
her. Thousands of miles may inter
vene between him and that home, but
his affections will still center there; and
time which weakenS almost every other
| tie but binds her closer in his heart.
And though far removed from those
dear scenes, we too, meet to offer at
| this same shrine of love our tribute of
affection. True, some of us who meet
here tonight have known no other
IE.,,l In ahi
and manhood we have lived beneath
the shadow of Columbias flag, and
when our days of toll are done, we
hope those same protecting folds of blue
may wave above us; and yet we do
not feel that by assembling here we
honor our native land the less. We
simply come to pay that tribute honor
ever yields to worth.
Men delve into Pompeii, buried deep
beneath the ashes of NesuyiuS, and
almost turn the Iiber from his course
in search of relics of old Roman days;
yet tonight we contemplate nation
that was old when Rome was young;
and in her pillared towers and gray
affairs of forgotten creed, we see
traces of a civilization cO-eXistent with
that which produced the pyramids of
Egypt All that we know of Ireland's
early history we CLEAN from her mon
uments and dim traditions; but enough
has been revealed to show that fifteen
centuries before the Christian era
Ireland was conquered by the children
of MilcsiuS, king who reigned in
Spain. From this the Irish are some
times sneeringly referred to as Mil
eSians by those ignorant of the glOri-
Gus ancestry that name implies. From
the landing of the MileSians until
the English invasion, a period of TWEEN
ty centuries, no foreign nation ever
conquered Ireland; and even then Ire
land was not conquered. Every other
nation i'll Europe has at some time
passed under the strangers yoke, and
lost its individuality, but the Irish
race is just the same to-day rs it was
two thousand years ago. Surely that
is a pedigree of which we may be
Justly proud. We read with pride of
Venice, that for seven centuries was
queen of the Adriatic, but here we see
a land whose flag for more than twenty
centuries had never known defeat.
The Roman legions that swept yictO-
riouS over every other land were never
able to effect landing on Ireland's
shores. For three hundred years the
Mortimer devastated her coasts and
fought for the supremacy, but in vain.
1t remained for her own sons to wreSt
from Erin'S brow the diadem that for
eign power could never gain.
The fact that Ireland accepted the
truths of Christianity without the
shedding of Il drop of blood speaks
volumes for the civilization of the Irish
people at that time. They Were SO
warlike that no other armies could
compete with theirs. And the war
like chiefs of Ireland penetrated into
the very heart of Europe. But when
Saint Patrick presented to these as
sembled martial kings the doctrine of
Christianity, its truth and beauty was
accepted at once. They heard and
they believed. Churches and monas-
terieS sprang up on every hand like
magic, and soon from an island of pa
gans Ireland became an island of
saints. There is no more beautiful
picture in all the romantic history of
those days than that of st. Patrick the
poor shepherd boy carried away from
home by an invader and made to tend
tockS on the black mountains, con
ceiving the idea of converting him
and his people. Truly that was moi
charity such as is born of this world
The moral sublimity of that act and
that life has no parallel in the history
of man. All the natural impulses of
the heart must have rebelled against
such Il course. 1t was contrary to hui
man nature. The idea of converting
the man who had torn him from home
and family. and compelled him to per
form the most degrading labor. would
to an ordinary mortal be worse than
death. And after our captive had
overcome the natural impulses of the