The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1894-04-28

Miss Donnelly has been twice hOnOred
in being being selected by the C'tholic
Committee of Philadelphia to write the
odes on the golden jubilee of the priest
hood as we'll as of the episcopal conse,
Grafton of Leo XIII. She was, more
over, chosen by the American Historical
Society to write an ode on the Philadel-
| phia Centennial celebration of the adop-
tion of our National constitution, and a
Columbian ode for the quadro centen-
nial of the history Of America On more
than one occasion she received signal
honors from Rome. In 1892 she was
nominated by his Excellency, the Gov
ernor of Pennsylvania, as one of the
auxiliaries to the Women's Board OF
Managers Of the Worlds Fair. Before
this hoard in Chicago she delivered a
poem, and read paper on "Woman's
Work in Literature" for the Catholic
Congress held in the same city in Sept.
1893.
Miss Donnelly's religious faith must
be one Of the most profound as well as
enthusiastic conviction, for it pervades
all her poetry Jesus, Mary and Joseph
are tho three leading figures in her ef-
fusions. One of the prettiest gems in
the volume, entitled 1.-THE Children of
the Golden Sheaf, is "Saint GATHERINGS
Crown" There foated before the self
sacrificing saint two crowns, one glowing
! with thousand diamonds and the 9TH
or crown of thorns. 8" "ris thine to
choose" said Jesus. She replied:
| ''Thy brow is red
| With piercing thorns; and shall bear
.Ajewelled crown, while Heaven mourns
Thy wounds? All mol and on her head
!. Sac smiling pressed crown of thorns?'
The stchlldren of the Golden Sheat"
from which this book takes it title are
wee dainty tots who deposit in little
box in the convent chapel a grain OF
wheat each every day for some weeks be-
fore receiving their first Communion.
Out of these grains snowy meal is fash
toned into altar bread, and they receive
it in the shape Of the Divine Host before
the ratings On the occassi n of their
first Communion. This is one of the
| most charming efusions of our poet.
Es'A Visit to the Babe Of Bethlehem" is
| also very fascinating. It opens as fol-
lows:
"a roof1ess she'd where the starlight
! Falls through the broken chinks,
On a donkey tethered against the wall
s And an OK which stares and blinks.
And q yelled and lovely lady
KneeliIg upon the floor,
And all aged man with bearded face
| Guarding the ruined door,
Hither, my little children,
Hither, my boys and girls,
And see the Babe with his cheeks of rose,
Bright eyes and golden cur.s!'
Miss Donnelly must be very fond Of
children-their tiny footprints are every.
where throught her poems. For in
stance, we find her describing the little
first commandments, the children and the
may flowers, 'The Flower Girls Gar
land" and "St. Nicholas and the Page"
1t is clearly evident that her "Vislon
of the Monk Gabriel" published eight
years before the Legend Beautiful" :"
furnished Mr.. Longfellow with his
theme since the closing lines of Miss
Donnelly's Legend" are as follows:
INT
head,
''If thou hadst stayed, o, son, I must have
fed"
These lines are textually reproduced
in the opening couplet of Longfellow:
''If thou hadst stayed, must have f1ed!"
That is what the yison said"
The critics on the whole have treated
Miss Donnelly just as we'll as her gifted
poetical effusions have merited. OF
course there were bilious scribes who
found their enjoyment in trying to prick
holes even in her best poems; but those
jealous critics were 'few and far be-
tween," compared with the large amount
of honest reviewers who wreathed green
laurels around her brow. Among these
latter was that eminent critic, DR.. Il.
Shelton Mackenzie, who once wrote OF
her: "sOut of the Solitude contains
some of the best poetry published in
this or any other country for many
long day. Miss Donnelly belongs to
Philadelphia, and we ought to be
proud of her." Miss Eliza Allan Starr,
of Chicago, has the following to say OF
her gifts: IAN imagination at home
among the most gorgeous accessories, an
absolute delight in rhythm and rhyme, a
touch of natural daring-bespeak the
presence of a dramatic genius" An
other critic has thus written of her: 1T
is impossible to read Miss Donnelly's
poems without the desire at least OF q
better lite, closer union with the infin-
ite Perfection"
There can be no doubt that the peru
sal and study Of Miss Donnelly's poetry