The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-09-12

spense by Miss Elizabeth Lane. Miss
Lane delivered prolonged elougy on the
work and labors OF the Sisters in the
various religious orders, and quoted his
tory ancient and modern, in proof OF her
assertion. Miss Lane is an elOucutionist
of rare talent and her speech was lis
tened to with marked attention and pieas-
IRE. She received quite an ovation at its
close.
Sisters Of Erin: When I see. .yoll to
gather today, sisters OF my own city
and sisters Of ST. Joseph, and knowing
the occasion of this convfvial meeting,
it is with an ambition gratifed that !
address you thus And, when see with
| us our states first H;bernians, I turn, to
them and say feel it an honor to be able
to supplement my salutation with Brother
Hibernians And say it, not from an. ex-
uberance Of spirits, nor from the fact that
we have an heirloom in our fanlly--one
which my forefathers brought from the
Green Isle, the "Blarney Stone"-that we
are proud OF Missouri's representative to
! the recent convention iii Detroit, but
prouder yet to know that they were not
without peers; that from the provinces Of
cold Canada, from the states and territor-
| les of this glorious nation were men Of like
capacity---tne true type Of the Irishnan
under laws which make it possible for him
to utilize his God-given powers.
HIS great powers OF eloQuence I have
never eny:ed. Such. men ns Daniel O'Con-
| nell have used it N behalf OF our race. But
| for these few moments J. would iJ Were
mine, that might be worthy OF this toast.
| Nobier than the "E'rotlres.", nobie1 than
| the daughter is the one you call me
to respond. It's theme is one Which
| painter has failed fully to picture, author
| to pen, orator to crate or sculptor carve;
! for am to speak Of love; yea, the greatest
| love, that i<>r which man laid down his life
| for fel'ow man, and the incarnation Of this
| love IS q sister,.
From the time she bids farewell to the
| world and its pleasures, the sisters life
! is cne continuous sacrifice. Until the
prayer of her "Requiescat in Pace as
oelds to heaven, she knows no rest i'll her
labor OF love in behalf Of humanity. She
| is not the ephenleral philanthropist who
builds a publ:s editice and then so,iQuizes
| on the vanity of human wishes because he
| has. failed to regenerate mankind, but she
is the perennial philanthropist whose snde-
! ciduous work is crowned, not by q mitiga-
tion of evil, but by an ameliorat:on Of con-
ditons.
The life Of a Sister is the history of her
| order, and the history Of one order is the
history of all orders, wherever they may be
| and whether they be OF today or yesterday.
Let veteran Of our recent civil struggle
| tell of the bravery OF the Sisters on the
battlefield, and a veteran of the Crimean
or OF the FrancoP Prussian war will tell a
like anecdote. Read in sketch OF the
49,
South the hero.sm Of the Sisters, and you
| will find a like portriat in the pandenlic of
| Medieval Europe-the Black Death. War
and pestllence themselves become dim re-
membered stories CT the Old time entomb-
ed,' but the deeds of these handma:ds Of
the Lord form the ineffaceable eptaph on
l'the sacropha gus of this buried time.
But the Sister. waits not to hear the
trumpet of war or feel the breath Of pesti-
| Ience ere she goes forth on her mission.
For the friendless sick she erectsa hospital:
for the homeless child an orphansge. And
| when second childhood overtakes friend
! less ones, death calls for them at the Sis
ters' "Home for the Aged" But this is
not the end of her mission. Out On the
Bridge of Sighs she goes, takes Ewes pale
daughter by the hand and whispers loving
ly in her ear thetale Of the t'Prodgal,' and
| leads her to a refuge where the world S
cold scoi'n has no entry.
She ministers to the corporal and spir-
itual waMts, but she does not forget the
intellectual ones. Think of the extent of
this continent, from the north frigid to tile
south fr:gid zone; and that there is not q
city where the Sister has not founded her
institutions OF learning, and are not these
institutions considered ideal? Think that
these Sisters were taught by Sisters, and
SO on until we go back wilen this country
Wsfs net.
She was in France before the French
revolution. From her hands came such
women as Empress Josephine and Mrs. Ne
vile. The intellect of, her more il!ustrious
daughter-NIadame de ,Stael--was trained
by the Sisters. The mind of George Sand
was developed IN a convent. The French
revolution took fire, fed it's flames with. the
blood Of the Sisters, and then burned itself
out. Cut Of its ashes arose the new regime
of Napoleon. I. But the old house of Bourbon
and the new house Of Bonaparte alike lay
crushed at the feet Of new republic, and
with the rise of these new things again
appeared the old convents, and today it is
considered an invid:ous privilege to ma
triculate in a. fSacre Coeur'' of France.
To speak OF the Sisters work is to pay
the highest ,encomiunl to feminie ability.
Consider the splendor Of her achievem ents,
directed by her feminine mind and wrought
by her feminine hands, and we may we'll
smile at him or ner who talks Of the recent
emancipation Of woman. The black habit
Of the present Sister is the same black habit
which was held sacred even by rllffian
squire and dissolute knight in the Age Of
Chivalry, and the work she is doing row
is but an extension of her work. in those
days. Each age has thought it saw her
elimination, and looked forward to the next
for her dearth. But on she still goes, ,up-
| wards and onwards, side by side with
Mother Church, and no deaTth VIII she
know until the dearth Of Mother Church
herself. y .,.ss$- IA
II there is a pleasure in this world for
the Sister, It is to see others aiming to
do good That is why she today is en-
tsrtaining the Daughters of Erin and
extends them the hospitality Of her
home, and if we would accomplish the
aim of our organization we could do no
better than emulate the Workof the Sis
ter. 81 n #s
All, the Sister! Called to a life where
heaven iss entered ere tnis world IS past,
her vocation is TO be envied. But, then,
we each have a calling, and BY needing
| it faithfully we viii receive a like re-
ward. So thought 5s5 szss
Whenin a convent chapel, ,,ifs.s
One evening / knelt in prayer. sttsa j.