, 1890-12-25
THE LIFE OF PARNELL
A Career That Is Unexam-
pied in History.
HIS EARLY B0YH00D DAYS
Tribute of a Washingtonian Who
Met Him at His Home
In Ireland.
[p. A. o'rarrell in Tacoma Globe.

fixed upon the Irish struggle, OF
which Parnel Is the central figure
a study of the man at this particu-
lar moment is therefore full of in
terest and of profit. ! remember
paying Parnel a visit In the autumn
of 1887, at his home among the
mountains of Wicklow. | can dis
tinctly r>collect how familiar he
was with the names of the various
mountain peaks, and how familiar
he was, too, with the sad and STIR
ring stories with which every glen
and vale of those romantic mount.
aims are in terwoven.
"When / was boy said Mr..
Parnell, with the sweet, yet wlthal
melancholy, intonation pecul-
lar to him, ~ used to know every
tradition of these glens and mount
aims, for my father took particular
interest In making them known
to me-"
1t was up there among the gray
old rocks and among the mountain
heather of Wicklow that | learned
the inspiration of ParnelPs life. The
boy was nurtured in the traditions
of dead heroes, for every glen and
hill was consecrated by the blood of
heroic men who had died in de-
fense of human right and for the
sacred right of human liberty.
In the whole range of history
there Is not a prototype of Parnell.
He has little of the fire and bril-
liancy of Perlcles rs OF the vulgar
magnetism of Cleon. Savonarola's
influence over Florence was due to
that magnificent flow of oratory
which moved the man of that iron
age to deeds that to us seem incredi-
BILE. Rienzi, half buftoon, half
patriot, owed his triumphs and
misfortune to the same fatal gift of
eloquence and so, too, with wild
daring, did magnificent Mirabeau.
His fatal gift of eloquence bore him
in triumph on the crest of the
whirlwind of revolution, for 1t made
him master of the intellects, If not
of the hearts of his countrymen.
But Parnell has neither eloquence
nor oratory? In manner he Is as
cold rs Ice, and as mysterious as
electricity. Yet for fifteen years his
influence over one of the most emo
tional races in the world has neither
limits nor bounds. In the ranks of
his parliamentary followers were
many men of marvellous talent and
genius, men far superior to him in
eloqucnce and knowledge, poets,
novelists, journalists and historians
r 81
paid unstinted obedience to Parnell
and loved him, even more passion
ately than the illiterate peasant on
the bogs aud mountains. Parnell
has never had companion or friend
In the sense that other men have
had. There can be blending of soul
with soul where he is concerned,
and those great dark, melancholy
eyes of his, as unfathomable as the
ocean, gaze at you with an express
sion that is mysterious and inde-
scribable.
Charles Stewart Parnell is now
about Az years of age. He is n lineal
descendant of the poet Parnell, who
was the first of the family to settle
in Ireland. A century ago, when
Ireland had u house of commons,
tho Parnells were among the fore
most patriots of the land, and they
fought against the dissolution of
that parliament, even when the
fight was hopeless.
Parnelps father, a young Irish
gentleman of means and fortune,
visited America fifty years ago, and
in Bostonmade the acquaintance of
the daughter of Commodore Stew
art. it is not too much TO say that
Stewart is the Nelson of the Ameri-
can navy, and when his daughter
married a Parnell and became the
mother of n family of young Irish
folks, 1t was not wonderful to eX-
pect that qualities would develop
therein that some day might aston
ish the world.
His American mother had much
to do with the molding of the future
man. Parnell was educated in the
most famous sch ools of England,
winding up with the university of
Cambridge. His collegiate course
over, he returned to Ireland and
for some years remained among the
mountains of Wicklow, mewing, as
Milton would say, and waiting for
the decisive moment when he
would cast In his lot with that
everlasting struggle for Irish free
dom. Sixteen years ago he was
elected to the house of commons,
but for almost year he did moth
ing but sit and wait, and watch
and listen. No one dreamed that
the tall, handsome, melancholy,
modest young man, gifted with that
rich, mellow voice and cold man
ners, could ever become the leader
of great social revolution.
Suddenly, as If struck by some
maniac craze, Parnell became all
life, all energy, all motion. Night,
noon and morning that tall, calm,
digniflcd figure was there like re-
proving angel, demanding the
"whys" and the ''wherefores" of
every piece of legislation before the
house Of commons and of every
penny expended 10y the govern
ment. The Unconditional Parnell
had laid cold. relentless grasp on
the machinery of the house, the
wheels would no longer work, and
the government of the mightiest
empire In the world was thrown in
to hopeless confusion.
English ministers aud Irish col
leagues by turns used threats, re-
M, Insurance and flattery to divert
Parnell from his species of guerilla
warfare, but they might rs well
have attempted to divert an ava
lanche or to reason with the whirl-
wind.
The house of commons was forced
to remodel the rules under which 1t
had worked for centuries, but even