The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-09-24

The famous book of Kells, elaborated
! lettered and splendidly adorned, is care
fully kept under glass case there, nea
which other numerous and valuabl
documents in the curiously wrough
Irish lettering are deposited and vigil
! antly preserved.
All this is under the supervision o
Mr.. Ingrath, fit man as the head o
Trinity College library, who, apart from
being one of the most learned Of Trinity
fellows, is more known to the Irish racs
all 3ver the world as the author O
''Ninety Eight
! Oh, yes, Trinity can boast, with pro
priety, that the splendid array of genius
which issued from her walls can compare
favorably, and even rival, with the most
splendid talents that rebound such glory
to Cambridge and Oxford. And no
great minds alone, great hearts, too
Men who, in spite of the strong conser-
vative environments Of the college, have
broken through all 'prejudices and ira
ditions, and who, with their words and
lives, have contributed the strongest ele-
ment to the ever-resurrecting force of
Irish nationalism.
Gavan Duffy, the leader of the As in-
surrection, is strongly affiliated with
Trinity. Isaac Butt, the founder of the
Home Rule movement, was graduate OF
Trinity.
I said that the college was conservative,
and / must be careful to qualify the
meaning Of the word. The old preiudices
have long been shattered. The denomi-
national exclusiveness has been erased.
1t is true that neither the Catholics nor
Dissenters have divinity schools or
chapels there, but for the last twenty
years almost every other privilege and
prize at the disposal of the college has
been open to the competition and tie
option of everybody, irrespective Of creed,
race or nationality.
Special attention has been devoted to
the cultivation OF the Irish language,
and prizes and scholarships are being
rapidly founded, which gre calculated to
attract large number of students to the
study OF ancient Irish literature. In fact,
there is Trinity young man, Douglas
| Hyde, whose poems and lyrics in the
Irish tongue are attracting considerable
admiration and excitement among those
who understand them, and I have been
assured by Professor Sigerson that it
will only take generation or two when
the Irish language will be as commonly
taught in Trinity as the classics are at
present.
We are great politicians at Trinity! In
the philosophical and historical societies
the debates which are held weekly are
| sustained with the utmost seriousness,
frequently passion, often unaffected
vehemence. The subjects, three out of
five, are Of political nature. They dis
cuss those measures with as much ear
depended on their logic, and if ministers
and statesmen could be affected by what
is said there, very few OF the great men
Of the world would have survived the
structures passed upon them in the heat
of these great debates
They are great debates! Nobody could
stand up there and speak without mean
ing what he says; nobody would be toler-
ated five minutes if he attempted simply
to pose there. Al the inauguration of
these meetings, which take place annu-
ally, the greatest personages in the city
esteem it a special privilege to be pres.
ent, and it is then when the spirit of the
collegians manifests itself in more than
an intelligent manner.
One excellent feature we can boast
above all other colleges, we have very
few snobs at Trinity. The men who
fre quent them are generally sons of the
(higher middle class, and there is q rugged
common sense pervading the attitude
and manners of 1oost students which
bids fair warning to any one attempting
to display airs.
We seldom have lords sons at Trinity;
il my time there was only one, Lord
Ashb ourne's, the Irish chancellor's son
and half dozen baronets' sons The rest
we're all young men who came there in
search of the highest education the
country can possibly afford, or of pro-
fession for which the schools term could
afford an excellent qualification. They
view life healthily and without squeam-
ishness; they take keen interest in
everything around them; strong sense
of comradeship animates the bulk Of
Trinity men, and at this, the Booth ami
versary OF the college term, there is not
man all over the world who ever has
been connected with Trinity College
who does not hope that this year will
close the long transition period of Irish