The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-22
ONE THOUSAND WERE THERE.
JUDGE JOHN w. WILLIS AND REV.
J.F. GLEASON DELIVER AD-
DRESSES.
FINE PROGRAMME OF SPORTS.
List of the Prize Winners I'm the Va
riOus Exhibits-A Pleasant Day
All Around.

~ N-~S
cient Order of Hibernians on their an
nual picnic Russell Beach was the
spot selected, and 600 people went there
on the morning train, leaving town
about S:35. The pretty spot on the
lake was at once appropriated. The
picnickers had taken with them A. o.
H. band and a string orchestra for
dancing. Some 400 additional members
and their friends left on the afternoon
train and Joined in the days pleas
IRE. Patrick E. Murphy was chairman
of the whole affair, and attended to
his duty in such thorough manner
as to leave no room for criticism. Judge
John W. Willis delivered an eloquent
address on the order, told something
of its origin, progress workings, etc.
and was followed by Father John t.
Gleason, of st. Josephs church, st.
Paul. In substance Father Gleason
said:
The hundreds of smiling, joyful faces
before and around me are ample evil
dence that this festival has made more
than a passing impression upon your
hearts. 1 would add to the joy of these
festivities by dwelling upon the high
blood hold in our great American re-
public.
Our people have been ever connected
honorably connected, with the growth
and development of the United States.
In the war of the Revolution Irish
blood stained every battlefield from
Bunker Hill to Yorktown, from the
waters of the ST. Lawrence to the
orange groves at Florida. The Irish
soldiers fought side by side with the
American patriot until the American
flag won it's place in the air and be-
came glorious forever. A Logan on
land, Barry on the sea, met the Brit
ish foe and battled fiercely for Ameri-
can freedom. In 1872 the same story
is repeated and Erin and Columbia.
fight side by side against their ancient
enemy. The struggle is bitter and pro-
longed, but again the Briton is de-
feated and men of Irish blood have no
small share in the glory of his defeat.
The memory of the great Civil War is
still fresh among us and we recall
with pride the name of Shields or OF
a Sheridan. We recall with pride that
thousands of IriShmen went down to
Southern battlefields to do and die for
their adopted country. And so 1 say
we have no apology to offer for the
record of our people beneath the starry
flag, a record of which any race may
feel proud, and we are justly proud IF
it today.
The present position of Irishmen IN
the United States is not less honorable
than their past record has been. Men
of Irish extraction occupy the highest
political positions within the gift OF
the American people; they may be
considered the dominant power in the
political life of our nation. Our coun-
thy, rich in resources and in marvellous
achievement, requires men worthy Of
high station and Of political trust. Our
country asks for citizens who are in
telligent and upright; our country asks
for men and women who exhibit in
their lives those natural virtues with
out which no nation can become great.
In the Irish race America finds those
virtues which make the moral man and
the upright citizen; in the Irish contri-
button to her populace America secures
perhaps the finest combination of heart
and conscience and brain beneath her
flag.
The Irish people are not only great
political power in our land, they are
great social and intellectual power as
well. Like true Americans they love
intelligence and education is their idol.
Everywhere in American schools the
Irish scholar and the Irish teacher
may be found; Irish-Americans are an
ornament of the American forum and
the American pulpit. A pure, perhaps
the purest element in American So
ciety is furnished by Irish-American
womanhood. America needs the pure,
chaste wOman-the woman of Irish
parentage.
But let me point out to you today
how the people Of Irish blood may be-
come still greater social and political
power. 1t is by union. The Irishmen
in America should be more closely
united. They need to remove the curse
which has hung like an evil fate over
their ancestral home-the curse of dis
union. AS they grow more numerous
here they should grow in union and
fraternal love-a growth encouraged
and foStered as we may see by socie-
ties like the Ancient Order of Hiber-
mans. IriShmen should be impressed
by the great truth to be learned from
these United States-in union and in
union alone there is strength. And
here I may mention the important duty
which faces the IriSh-American to be-
come in the fullest sense of the words
American citizens; they must be domi-
mated by the spirit of patriotism; they
must love this land of their nativity
or of their adoption.
In this land they found freedom and
opportunity To this land they should
give the full measure Of loyal and I'M
Swerving devotion. Like other races
which have immigrated here-the op-
pressed and down-trodden of every
land-the Irish owe debt to America,
which they can never fully pay. After
God and religion let us love best this
land where our eXiled forefathers
found an asylum and a home.
Finally allow me a word regarding
Irish devotion to their religious faith
No people possess such a shining rec
ord of fidelity and self-sacriffce to the
cause of religion. 1t may be said Of
the Irish nation as it was said of
ST. Paul, they fought the good fight
and they kept the faith" They kept
the true faith during centuries of trial
and of persecution; they kept it spite of
English armies and English dungeons.
Let us thank God that they are keep
ing 1T today amid prosperity as they
kept it Of old, amid storm and trial
But in this connection allow me to
point out duty. If the Irish people
today would honor their church, let
them be temperate and sober. Drunk
eness is the great sin of the human
race, and it's shadow falls on Erin as
on the other nations of the earth. Let
us labor as the American people are
labOring to Withstand It's ravages and
to lead sober, temperate lives, thereby
honoring God, our country and our
selves. In temperance! disunion! let us
crush these vices of our blood and
prove to the American people and to
the world, that the Kelt like the Saxon
can rise ION stepping stones Of his
dead self to higher things
The athletic games which were begun in
the morning and lasted through the day were
provocative of more than the usal amuse-
ment, and were witnessed by the many friends
Of the participants. The events were cap
tured indicated below:
Ladies 100-yard dash-Miss Gardner Min
neapolis; Miss Geraghty, st. Paul; Miss Sny-